Monthly Archives: January 2020

Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas said he was giving media interviews about his role in President Trumps attempts to convince Ukrainian officials to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden because he wanted to protect himself from Attorney General William Barr.

Parnas made that claim in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, the second part of which aired Thursday night.

Trump, Parnas said, was made more powerful when he got William Barr.

They're trying to scare me into not talking, Parnas said of officials in the Justice Department, adding that My wife is scared. My kids are nervous."

People are scared, he said of Trumps supporters. Am I scared, yes.

Parnas, who is under indictment on campaign finance charges in the Southern District of New York, which is overseen by Barrs office, went on to describe Trump as a cult leader.

I dont think Trump is like organized crime, Parnas said, I think hes a cult leader.

Parnas, who is free on bond, described a tense meeting in jail with his former lawyer John Dowd, who also represented Trump. According to Parnas, Dowd and Kevin Downing visited Parnas in jail to try to talk him out of cooperating with the House impeachment inquiry.

Were they telling you to sacrifice yourself to protect the president? Maddow asked.

Thats the way I felt, Parnas replied, adding that he told the two lawyers, If you dont get out of here right now, something bad is going to happen. He then fired them. His current lawyer, Joseph Bondy, was at his side for the interview.

Parnas has turned over voluminous documents and cellphone records to House investigators pertaining to his role as a go-between in the efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden.

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized Barr in harsh terms.

Does anyone think that the rogue AG is going to appoint a special prosecutor? Pelosi said in Washington in reference to the revelations stemming from Maddows interview with Barr. No, because hes implicated in all of this. This is an example of all of the presidents henchmen. And I hope that the senators do not become part of the presidents henchmen.

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Trump, meanwhile, continued to assert that he did not know Parnas.

I know nothing about him but I can tell you this, I dont know him, I dont believe Ive ever spoken to him, Trump told reporters at the White House Thursday.

There are numerous photographs of Trump and members of his family with Parnas, and he has turned over to the House emails indicating that Trump personally signed off on Dowd taking on Parnas as a client.

Parnas also said that after spending months pressing Ukraines government to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter, he has come to conclusion that such an investigation was not warranted.

After analyzing all the evidence and sitting back and, whats it called, really understanding whats going on, I dont think Vice President Biden did anything wrong, Parnas said. I think he was protecting our country and getting rid of probably a crooked attorney general.

A night earlier, Parnas described the direction Trump had given Giuliani, including linking the release of nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military aid to an announcement of an investigation of Biden. Parnas told Maddow that everybody was in the loop, including Vice President Mike Pence.

Trumps Senate impeachment trial begins Tuesday.

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Warning: This post contains spoilers.

All hail Ken Jennings, winner of the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament.

Jennings was the first competitor to win three games and end the tournament, which aired as a primetime special and pitted him against James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. The three secured their spots in the competition by being the highest money winners in the the shows 35-year history.

James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter competed on the primetime specials Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time. (Photo: Eric McCandless via Getty Images)

The competition for the $1 million prize, a trophy and, most importantly, bragging rights, was fierce. While Holzhauer managed to win the second match, Jennings led otherwise.

But Tuesdays match, the fourth overall, ended up being close, with Holzhauer and Jennings passing the lead back and forth in the latter half of the show. The fate of the night came down to the all-important Final Jeopardy! clue in the second game. The category was Shakespeares tragedies: He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy.

Rutter bowed out and took the moment to write a sweet message to Trebek, something hes done in the past. He wrote, Youre the best, Alex! When Trebek told him his answer was incorrect, Rutter protested. Its true, and I should get credit for it, he joked.

Jennings was the only contestant who answered the clue with the correct question: Iago. He wagered nothing, though a big move! so his winnings from earlier in the night (a whopping 65,600 points from the first round) added to the 23,000 he picked up later was enough to best Holzhauer, who answered the clue incorrectly, with Horatio. Holzhauer, a professional gambler, had bet everything, all 44,000, that he would answer it correctly.

Throughout the tournament, the trio of contestants were quick on the buzzer and gutsy bettors determined to win. Holzhauer started a trend when he mimicked pushing a stack of chips in to mean that he was betting it all on a Daily Double.

The way Holzhauer teased Jennings about his form when he attempted the move is an indicator of how much the men enjoyed playing against each other in the historic match.

Trebek was the subject of teasing, too. He didnt mind at all, though, as he seemed to relish every moment of the intense competition. That would make sense since this week, Trebek confirmed what viewers already suspected: He loves spending time with bright people and hates spending time with stupid people.

As Trebek opened the show Tuesday, he noted that he was bringing out the trophy for the winner. This is probably the last time we will see the three of you competing on this program, he told the fan favorites.

The tournament proved to be a ratings win. More people tuned in for each of the first three installments than did for some games of the NBA finals and the World Series in 2019.

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Mock drafts will start to look much differently once the college All-Star games are over, once the NFL Combine takes place, and once the colleges get through their pro days, but for now its interesting to get a feel for which positions the experts see the Chicago Bears moving towards.

In the latest mock draft from Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports, he has the Bears taking a quarterback with their first second-round draft pick, and heres what he had to say.

43. Bears (from Raiders) Georgia QB Jake Fromm

The most likely option for the Bears might be to borrow a page from the Titans playbook and rescue a Ryan Tannehill-ish QB on an expiring contract with the hopes that they can find an unpolished diamond to compete with Mitchell Trubisky. Other veteran options might include Teddy Bridgewater, Marcus Mariota or perhaps Alex Smith.

If they go with a rookie there, Fromm is the type of smart, experienced prospect who can be ready for action soon. As a passer and processor, hes similar to Smith, with whom Bears head coach Matt Nagy worked well in Kansas City.

Edholm didnt go in-depth on his second-round selections, but he does have four quarterbacks going in his first round (Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love). If the Bears are indeed targeting a quarterback with the 43rd pick, and if they have their pick of QBs other than those four first rounders, would you be on board with Fromm over Washingtons Jacob Eason, Oklahomas Jalen Hurts, or Washington States Anthony Gordon?

Or would you rather see the Bears go towards another position in the second round altogether? Edholm has Florida pass rusher Jonathan Greenard and Auburn offensive lineman Prince Tega Wanogho both available for Chicago at 43 in his mock, and both would fill a need for the Bears.

What would you do if you were the Bears and the actual draft fell this way?

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Chicago Bears get Jake Fromm in the latest Mock Draft from Yahoo Sports - Windy City Gridiron

NEW ORLEANS Six football seasons ago, Ed Orgeron was out of work, spending his Friday nights sitting in the stands of Mandeville High School (Louisiana) watching his son Parker play. On Saturday afternoons hed turn on the television.

Sitting on the sofa at my house, Orgeron said. I remember watching SEC games, going, I know I can compete with these guys given the right place.

Hed once been head coach at Ole Miss, but he won just three SEC games in three seasons. Hed essentially been retired into Southern football lore as a colorful character who couldnt coach a lick. Hed clawed his way back to become interim coach at USC, but even after going 6-2, the Trojans deemed the barrel-chested, thick-accented, proud-of-his-Cajun-roots coach a bad fit for Los Angeles.

You can laugh at USC, which hasnt won much since, but in the fall of 2014, it wasnt like Orgerons phone was buzzing with anyone who saw him as head-coaching material.

I said, Hey, maybe youll be an assistant the rest of your life, Orgeron said.

This is how life goes, certainly for Orgeron. Its never been neat and tidy, never been about everything turning to gold along the way, never been about some master plan masterfully followed.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron celebrates after their win in a NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game against Clemson, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, in New Orleans. LSU won 42-25. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

He grew up down in Larose, Louisiana, where the summer heat doesnt stop but dreams often do. He was rough around the edges.

He went to LSU to play football but quit, too immature to realize the opportunity. He was digging ditches for a phone company when Northwestern State gave him a second chance. He almost got tossed from there for partying too much.

He remained hell on wheels as he transitioned into coaching, and as mistakes piled up his career seemed to hang in the balance. He eventually got sober, got married and got to Ole Miss.

And then failed. And no one was willing to forget it.

I thought that I had learned from my mistakes at Ole Miss, Orgeron said. I thought that I was ready to be a head coach.

He was saying that while wearing a purple LSU golf shirt and a smile of satisfaction. Hed just stood under a shower of purple, white and gold confetti, and held the national championship aloft.

Fifty-eight years old and college footballs least likely coaching star was on top of a world that has frequently underestimated him, dismissed him, even mocked him. The accent. The grunts. The walk. Yet here he was, still standing. No ones cartoon character these days.

The powerhouse of a team he assembled, motivated and coached in Baton Rouge over the last four seasons had culminated here, dispatching Clemson and its 29-game win streak, 42-25.

LSU won 15 games this year. It lost none. It beat seven teams ranked in the top 10 at the time of kickoff, and four ranked in the top five. They rolled through the playoff winning by an average of 26.0 points. They did it with a modern, uptempo offense that you wouldnt think a career defensive line coach would sign off on.

This team is going to be mentioned as one of the greatest teams in college football history, Orgeron said.

How in the world this all happened, well, maybe no one knows. It is a testament mostly to a man who never wavered in his belief that he knew what he should be doing, who never listened to those who said otherwise, who never lost his pride no matter the jokes or cackles or cracks from the critics.

In his third or fourth or who knows what number act, Ed Orgeron finally put it altogether and this year there wasnt a damn thing college football could do to stop him. Not Dabo Swinney. Not Nick Saban. Not Tom Herman or Kirby Smart or Lincoln Riley or any other coach that looks and talks like coaches are supposed to look and talk.

Man, people are going to talk and all that, but you can't let it affect you, Orgeron said. I use that as internal motivation. People, they tease me the way I talk, tease me the way I look. And it's kind of funny. The things that I was doing at Ole Miss I was ridiculed for.

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Now I punch myself in the jaw and everybody at LSU likes it. So it just depends where you're at.

The marriage of Orgeron and LSU proved perfect, at least the second time around. When he was a player he was homesick and bailed. Now he cant imagine calling any place else home.

The quirkiness of this state, or this fan base, or these politics, he wades through it with ease. The combination of boastfulness We coming! yet with knowing restraint, speaks to the place.

I grew up wanting to be the head coach of LSU, he said. Im so proud of the state of Louisiana.

There was very little how you like me now in Orgerons voice on Monday, although no one would have blamed him if there were.

Instead he just spoke matter-of-factly. Maybe USC stepping over him was the best thing to happen because it got him to LSU.

Hell, everyone around here seems like theyve been busted up and knocked down a few times. This is a state built on work. It doesnt come easy. Ever.

What better than to have a coach who has been through it all the good, the bad and the self-inflicted mistakes. What better coach for this place to believe in? What better example for people of all ages and all backgrounds and all backstories to follow, that the dream isnt over as long as you still believe in it.

Its perseverance, Orgeron said.

Its getting to the head coaching mountaintop (twice) and getting sent back (twice) and knowing everyone in the sport was laughing at you and still sitting in high school bleachers and a living room couch and never doubting that everything was still possible.

Even the national title.

Just getting started, Orgeron said.

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Stay focused on Apples fundamental outlook, not the noise emanating from U.S. Attorney General William Barrs office down in D.C.

Thats the message from Apple (AAPL) investors dealing with their first mini controversy of 2020 for the tech beast. Apple continues to fight off attempts by Barr to help law enforcement to access encrypted devices. The latest attempt by Barr came this week, amid a call to access the phone of Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. Alshamrani is the gunman that opened fire at a Naval air station in Pensacola, Fl. last month that wounded eight and killed three others.

President Trump also weighed in on the dustup via Twitter.

We were devastated to learn of the tragic terrorist attack on members of the U.S. armed services at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida on December 6th.We have the greatest respect for lawenforcement and routinely work with police across the country on their investigations. When law enforcement requests our assistance, our teams work around the clock to provide them with the information we have. We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation. Our responses to their many requests since the attack have been timely, thorough andare ongoing, Apple said in an emailed statement to Yahoo Finance.

We are continuing to work with the FBI, and our engineering teams recently had a call to provide additional technical assistance. Apple has great respect for the Bureaus work, and we will worktirelessly to help them investigate this tragic attack on our nation, Apple added.We have always maintained there is no such thing as a backdoor just for the good guys. Backdoors can also be exploited by those who threaten our national security and the data security of ourcustomers. Today, law enforcement has access to more data than ever before in history, so Americans do not have to choose between weakening encryption and solving investigations.We feel stronglyencryption is vital to protecting our country and our users' data.

Apple has long viewed encryption as instrumental in ones privacy, and also a key selling point for its devices. If it were to unlock anyones phone, it could go a long way to damaging the Apple brand and possibly its bottom line.

Our outlook is very positive on Apple [this year], Sevens Report Research founder Tom Essaye said on Yahoo Finances The First Trade.

Essaye said Apples innovations in hardware and services are more important than political considerations, and that he expects a big year in terms of new products. I dont think this political scandal is anything to worry about. I would buy Apple on that dip. We saw this several years ago with the shooter in California. This is an ideological struggle. Apple will stick to it, but I dont think this changes the fortunes of the company going forward.

Apples stock has continued to power to fresh highs in 2020 in the face of Barrs efforts and Trumps new Twitter tirade. With the fundamentals of Apple potentially on an upswing in 2020, investors such as Essaye are clearly making bets ahead of that unfolding.

"We believe Apples ecosystem approach, including an installed base that exceeds 1.4 billion devices globally, is leading to record services revenue, and we expect the higher margin services revenue growth to continue outpacing total company growth, wrote Canaccord Genuity analystMichael Walkley in a new note Wednesday. Walkley raised his earnings per share estimates on Apple for 2021 and took up his price target to $355. He maintained a Buy rating on Apple.

Apples stock currently trades at about $313.

Weare also encouraged by the strong demand for the iPhone 11 lineup and believeApple will maintain its market share leadership of premium-tier smartphones that could be bolstered by a 5G upgrade cycle, added Walkley. Further, Apple has market share leading positions in wearables with Watch and AirPods, and both have strong sales and growth momentum."

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The LSU Tigers stand alone at the top of college football after beating Clemson 42-25 in the national championship game on Monday night, and once the clock ran out there was an absolute explosion of joy and happiness.

Few people were happier than former LSU player (and current wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns) Odell Beckham Jr. OBJ was at the game and loved every single minute of it, and even found a phenomenal way to celebrate once the game was over: He whipped out what appeared to be a wad of cash and started handing money to players on the field.

Its hard to tell in that video if its real money, but apparently its not. An official from LSU Athletics told the Advocate that the money was fake. Would it have been better with real money? Absolutely. Would that have violated NCAA rules? Also absolutely! Either way, its still one of the most baller ways to celebrate your alma mater winning a title. Money for everyone!

OBJ didnt just hand out (fake) cash, though. He celebrated at every opportunity.

Here he is being kicked out of the LSU band section.

And yet he wasnt done. He danced with players in the locker room, and joked about selling Justin Jeffersons cleats for a cool $200,000.

OBJ wasnt the only one celebrating, of course. The team and the entire region let it all hang out after LSUs victory. QB Joe Burrow smoked a well-earned cigar, everyone danced, and the players were greeted like members of a boy band.

LSU fans on Bourbon Street in New Orleans obviously had an amazing time.

A bar in Burrows hometown of Athens, Ohio, went absolutely crazy after LSU nailed down the win.

How will LSU coach Ed Orgeron celebrate? With a ham sandwich.

Classic Coach O.

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When it comes to Aaron Hernandez, the question always returns to why?

Why give up a life that seemingly had everything football fame, money, a devoted fiance, a beautiful daughter? Why kill, or be involved in the killing, of people who were unarmed and seemingly powerless against you? Why commit suicide in prison?

Why? Why? Why?

For years I wrestled with those questions and more while covering the Hernandez saga for Yahoo Sports from talking with Hernandez friends and family, law enforcement and prosecutors, former teammates and coaches, to sitting through two lengthy murder trials. Much of that work later manifested itself into Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, a Netflix docuseries that I served as an executive producer on.

Heres the truth: The whys have no conclusive answers, certainly not if you adhere to basic journalistic standards and try to sort through facts rather than chase sensational rumors (of which there are many). It is, I think, fair to say it was a perfect cocktail of circumstances that led to Aaron Hernandezs downfall.

That may not be the most exciting revelation, but to pick one thing out and place all the blame on it wouldnt be correct. Was it family issues? Was it CTE? Was it an unease with his sexuality? Was it an infatuation with guns and violence? It could be any. It could be all.

None are meant to provide an excuse for what he did, but rather to provide insight into the man who did it. Make no mistake, Aaron Hernandez made the decisions that devastated lives around him.

If youve watched the docuseries, you likely have questions or takeaway about this complicated and tragic case. What follows are my personal opinions, no better or worse than anyone elses.

Dennis Hernandez could be violent, close-minded and intimidating. He was also very good at keeping his sons in line. Aaron had a fairly structured life until Dennis died unexpectedly following a routine hernia surgery. Suddenly, at age 16, everything changed for Aaron.

With his brother D.J. off at the University of Connecticut, Aaron and his mother were alone in the house. Then Terri Hernandez took up with Jeff Cummings, who had been married to Aarons cousin, Tanya Singleton.

That upended everything and pushed Aaron to spend more time at Singletons house, where a far more permissive and partying lifestyle could be found. This was somewhat disastrous for a teenager who needed structure more than ever as he watched his family splinter.

Aaron was such a gifted high school football player that nearly every national power in America came to Connecticut, which isnt known as a recruiting hot bed, to try to sign him. He was committed to UConn, even though that program rarely signs such talents.

His father played at UConn and saw it as the perfect platform for Aaron good enough to expose him to the NFL, but small enough that he could grow and develop in a bit of a bubble. It wasnt far from home and D.J. was already there. UConn was the plan, no matter who came calling.

After Dennis death, though, Aaron visited Florida, which was the No. 1 program in America at the time under Urban Meyer. He almost immediately switched his commitment. The move worked out on the field; Aaron became an All-American and was part of a national title. Little else, however, was good.

Florida had Aaron leave high school a semester early and enroll in college so he could get extra practice time in before his freshman season. He was just 17. He was forced to prove himself on a daily basis, both athletically and socially, and his behavior became increasingly on the edge.

Meyer has always cited Aarons friends back in Connecticut for being bad influences on him, but when he left for Gainesville, he hadnt been surrounded by many unsavory people (he wouldnt befriend Alexander Bradley for a few years). It was at UF that he began to really change.

Would he have been a saint had he gone to UConn? Probably not. In hindsight, though, sending him off to the SEC at such an important and impressionable age wasnt a good choice.

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Bradley is a real criminal and a very tough guy. He is a gun and drug dealer out of Hartford, Connecticut, who began selling Aaron marijuana as he prepared for the NFL draft. The two soon were playing video games together and hanging out. They became friends.

This is where things really went bad for Aaron, particularly the night of the 2012 shootings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, who were shot dead in their cars after leaving a Boston nightclub.

Hernandez was found not guilty because it came down to the two men in the car (Bradley and Hernandez) each saying the other guy pulled the trigger. Since there was no way of truly knowing and Bradley was a compromised witness, Hernandez skated.

He wasnt, though, completely innocent. He was there that night. At the very least he witnessed the shooting deaths, never reported them and continued to hang out with Bradley. Worse, the vehicle involved wound up stashed at Tanya Singletons home in Bristol.

Months later, he and Bradley were in South Florida, where (after a night out) Bradley wound up in a ditch with a bullet through his eye. Whether it was actually Aaron who pulled the trigger that night, Bradley held Aaron responsible and vowed revenge.

Hernandezs resulting fear and paranoia of being killed by Bradley led to the renting of a flop house in Connecticut, bringing in Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace as bodyguards and reportedly asking the Patriots for a trade. Hernandez was so terrified of Bradley that he installed the home surveillance system that wound up providing the most devastating evidence against him in the Odin Lloyd murder trial. He also loaded up on weapons and spent much of his time high, particularly the weekend of the Lloyd murder.

There remains no known motive for the killing of Odin Lloyd, but Hernandezs state of mind while believing Bradley was trying to hunt him down must have played a significant role.

Odin Lloyd was a laid-back, yet hard-working guy from Dorchester, Massachusetts. His friends marveled at his sense of humor and the way he made everyone around him feel comfortable. He coasted through an adolescence in a dangerous neighborhood, seemingly liked by all. When he sought work as a landscaper, he showed up in a suit holding a rsum. He then rode his bike to work.

Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu were similar. Both hailed from Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa, and were working on cleaning crews that straighten up offices in downtown Boston after hours. One had been a police officer back home, the other a tour guide. They were seeking a better life and werent afraid to pursue it.

Maybe most painful is the realization that none of them were armed at the time of their deaths and none posed any physical threat to Hernandez or anyone else. All three of them were ambushed. It wasnt even a fair fight.

If there is one thing that will stick with me when it comes to this story is the pain, yet pride, that could be seen in the eyes of their families. A total tragedy. Just a sickening tragedy.

Shayanna and Shaneah Jenkins grew up in Bristol, raised by their single mother. They were once close. Shayanna started dating Aaron Hernandez in high school, moving with him to Massachusetts when he was drafted by the Patriots. They had a daughter together.

Shaneah, meanwhile, met Odin Lloyd while she was working her way through college and employed at a hotel in Connecticut. Odin was staying there working with an out-of-town construction crew. Odin used to hang around the front desk until he won her over. She later moved to Boston to attend the New England College of Law (where she would graduate) and be near her boyfriend and sister. Shaneah and Odin might have had a very nice life together.

During the trial, the sisters sat on opposite sides of the courtroom, each showing their allegiance. That Shay chose Aaron over Shaneah remains one of the most dramatic bits of betrayal/loyalty in a story full of both. Her carrying out a suspicious box from the mansion, which prosecutors believe contained the murder weapon, only to conveniently forget what dumpster she may have dropped it in, just sealed everything.

My opinion is that Shayanna Jenkins had a dream life going and never wanted to admit that it wasnt real so she chose to believe/pretend that Aaron was innocent and everything was fine. During the trials I found her smart, conversational and a devoted mother. Like everyone else, shes complicated.

The only person whose loyalty to Aaron that can approach, or even surpass, Shayannas is Tanya Singleton. The connection between the two was unshakeable. Singleton not only stashed the car from the Boston shooting deaths in her garage, she tried to help Wallace and Ortiz escape New England following the Lloyd murder.

She then refused to cooperate with authorities and was jailed on a contempt charge despite being riddled with cancer and the mother of two young boys. At no point did she ever crack and turn on Aaron before dying from her illness.

Ive covered a few high-profile cases and Baez is the best trial attorney Ive seen. He won not-guilty verdicts for both Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez.

However, the evidence in the Lloyd case was completely overwhelming.

At the time of the trial there was a belief by those outside the courtroom mainly talking heads on cable television that Hernandez could walk because he was a football star, a la O.J. Simpson. That took root when the jury spent nearly a week going over the evidence.

Talking to jurors after, however, it was never close. They were a very thorough group that took their responsibilities seriously. Hernandez never stood a chance. There was no way to overcome the home security video, the cell phone location evidence that placed him at the scene of the crime, the gun shells in the rental car and the testimony of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

While some will say Aaron was excited about Baez winning an appeal in the case and getting a retrial, its my opinion he knew that he would never, ever even get that far let alone ever win the case. He was guilty, 100 percent guilty.

No one knows why Aaron committed suicide. The people closest to him his family, friends and attorneys who spoke with him regularly were so stunned by his suicide that they initially wouldnt rule out foul play. The evidence, particularly his very personal suicide notes to his lawyer, fiance and daughter, made it clear he took his own life.

Two days before his suicide, a Boston sports radio show revealed the longstanding rumor that Aaron was bisexual. It was done in crude terms. Did that spur him to kill himself out of shame and/or embarrassment?

Again, no one knows. It remains a mystery. However, the way Hernandez planned out his suicide suggests that this wasnt a rash decision. It isnt easy to commit suicide in prison. To do so, he needed to complete time consuming tasks such as tying a bed sheet with so many knots that it was strong enough to hold his large body. He acquired enough soap that he could spread it across the floor of his cell and prevent himself from standing up if he had last-second regrets.

He wrote the notes, got enough cardboard to jam his cell door (so it would take longer for guards to open) and covered the window so he might not be immediately discovered. He then staged an elaborate death complete with blood drops on particular Bible verses and stigmata on his hands.

Its just an opinion, but that didnt seem to be a rushed suicide. It looked meticulously planned.

Aaron had signed a $40 million contract in 2012 but he played only one season under it. His first two years he made a relatively low salary (around $500,000 per year) as a fourth-round draft pick. He did, though, get a $12.5 million signing bonus. New England, and Hernandezs victims, went after his money when he was convicted.

Through a then-archaic Massachusetts law known as abatement ab initio, Hernandez could have his murder conviction thrown out if he died while that conviction was in the process of appeal. Conceivably, that would allow his family to fight for his millions because he would technically be innocent.

We dont know that he knew that. He did write youre rich in his suicide note to Shayanna Jenkins, but what that means is undetermined. Even if that was Hernandezs plan, it seems ill-conceived. First off, the Patriots, even if they were somehow obligated (and that remains a question), were not going to just hand over millions of dollars to the Hernandez estate.

They would fight it legally until there were no other options a lengthy and expensive battle for the Hernandez estate to take on against a billion-dollar operation. Even then, if Hernandez won, he would almost certainly lose civil suits to the family of Lloyd as well as Furtado and de Abreu.

There is no way of telling, but my opinion is he always planned on committing suicide after the second trial because he was 27 and knew he was facing 50 or so more years in prison. His life at that point was hopeless (he was never beating the Lloyd murder conviction) and he just didnt want to continue.

That isnt a particularly interesting opinion, but its the one that makes the most sense. As with nearly everything when it comes to Aaron Hernandez though, a mystery remains.

Yes. She is. The ability of Ursula Ward, Odins mother, to offer forgiveness to Aaron is one of the few positive aspects of the entire story.

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Washington (AFP) - Far from feeling the heat, President Donald Trump will be chilling in Davos, a fancy Swiss ski resort, when the Senate hears opening arguments in his impeachment trial next week.

Trump is so confident that his Republican party majority will stay loyal that he sees no risk in jetting to Switzerland for the annual World Economic Forum on Tuesday, right as lawmakers convene for the historic trial.

"I'm going to be going to Davos. I'll be meeting the biggest business leaders in the world, getting them to come here. I'll also be meeting with foreign leaders," Trump told reporters at the White House as his trial formally began on Thursday.

The contrast in settings will be extreme.

In Washington, Democratic lawmakers will argue that Trump is a corrupt leader who abused his power by trying to strong-arm Ukraine into a fake investigation aimed at tarnishing a top election rival, Joe Biden. They'll call for his removal from office.

More than 4,200 miles (nearly 6,800 km) away, Trump will swagger through Davos as the forum's unquestioned star.

Davos is where the world's movers and shakers gather each year for informal discussions on weighty issues. Detractors call it a talking shop for out-of-touch billionaires and celebrities, and this year most major international leaders are staying away.

The field will be clear for Trump to do what he does best -- tout his achievements and suck up the attention.

"We are booming," he said. "There's nothing even close."

"Every world leader sees me and says 'What have you done? This is the most incredible thing that we've ever seen.'"

Although the 2020 Davos theme is climate emergency, complete with an appearance by teenage activist Greta Thunberg, Trump has little belief in global warming.

He'll push his own agenda.

He'll "take on the perils of socialism," top advisor Kellyanne Conway told reporters Thursday.

"He'll continue to talk about the stock market, getting NATO members to pay up to provide for the common security, and also talk about the global economy."

Story continues

- Republican loyalty assured -

Not so long ago, Trump might have been more nervous about leaving his fate in the hands of Republican lawmakers.

The upstart businessman shocked the Republican establishment when he sought the 2016 nomination.

Mitt Romney, the unsuccessful Republican nominee from 2012, dismissed the real estate tycoon and TV show performer as having "a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world."

Another senator, Mark Kirk, branded candidate Trump a "malignant clown."

What a difference three years in the White House makes.

Today Trump is the undisputed king of the Republican Party.

Moderate old timers in the mold of Romney or the Bush political dynasty are marginalized. Fiercely partisan, fiercely loyal Trump acolytes are the norm.

Behind the scenes, Republican lawmakers sometimes express distaste for the president's style or frustration at his policies, but in public they march in lockstep -- and no one more so than Senate leader Mitch McConnell.

Whatever McConnell and the rest of the party think privately, polls indicating watertight Republican voter support for Trump give them no margin for maneuver in the impeachment trial -- unless they want to risk losing their own jobs.

The country at large is split evenly on whether Trump should be thrown out of office, but less than 10 percent of Republicans want that to happen.

There's little doubt that McConnell, the iron leader of the 100-seat upper chamber, will be able to keep his majority of 53 in line for Trump.

"What he wants, he's going to get," Conway said. "To be acquitted and exonerated and not convicted, not removed from office -- and re-elected."

Here is the original post:

During impeachment trial, Trump will be chilling in Swiss resort - Yahoo News

By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that the victims of the Ukrainian airliner shot down in Iran would still be alive if the recent escalation of tensions in the region had not happened, according to a transcript of an interview with Global News TV.

The U.S. killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in a Jan. 3 drone strike prompted Iran to launch a missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops on Jan. 8, hours before the passenger jet was shot down. All 176 aboard were killed, including 57 Canadians.

"I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families," Trudeau said in the interview.

Trudeau said Canada did not receive a heads up before the United States killed Soleimani, and that he "obviously" would have preferred one.

"The U.S. makes its determinations. We attempt to work as an international community on big issues. But sometimes countries take actions without informing their allies," he said.

Trudeau said that while the government was working as quickly as possible to bring the bodies home for burial, it was likely to take weeks or "perhaps even months."

Canada said on Monday that Iran had signaled that Canadian investigators would take an active role in the probe of the crash, which Iran said at the weekend had been caused by a missile it fired in a "disastrous mistake."

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Rosalba O'Brien)

Link:

Canada's Trudeau: Iran plane victims would be alive had there been no regional tensions - Yahoo News

Conservative group One Millions Moms is accusing Burger King of airing an inappropriate ad that crosses the line. The ad in question is for the Impossible Whooper, the vegetarian burger it launched in August.

One Million Moms is taking issue with a moment in the commercial when, as they write, One man is completely shocked that the burger is not beef, so he uses the d-word to describe how he feels about himself for being deceived by the taste of the burger.

The d-word referenced is damn. After taking a bite the man says, damn thats good.

One Million Moms is a division of the American Family Association which has been named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of its stance on LGBTQ issues and calls itself an organization for moms who are, fed up with the filth many segments of our society, especially the entertainment media, are throwing at our children. The organization has less than 100,000 Facebook followers but recently made headlines for igniting strong backlash to a Zola ad that aired on the Hallmark Channel and included a lesbian couple kissing. The ad was temporarily removed in response to the outcry, before the Hallmark CEO apologized and reinstated it.

With respect to the Burger King ad, One Million Moms has started a petition to have it removed rom the air; so far roughly 8,500 people have signed it.

Burger Kings Impossible Whopper ad is irresponsible and tasteless. It is extremely destructive and damaging to impressionable children viewing the commercial, the organization writes in their call to action. We all know children repeat what they hear.

This is not the first time that the organization has targeted Burger King. In May 2019, they protested against Burger Kings Real Meals campaign which employed the term DGAF and the word pissed.

So far Burger King has not made a statement in response to One Million Moms and did not immediately reply to Yahoos request for comment.

Related: Hallmark Pulls Same-Sex Advert Following One Million Moms Protest

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One Million Moms starts petition against 'irresponsible and tasteless' Burger King ad featuring a curse word - Yahoo Food