Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Pardon

From The New York Times:

Deep Within Relief Bill, Horse Racing Gets New Tools to Clean Up

A provision deep in the coronavirus stimulus package puts the United States Anti-Doping Agency in charge of regulating thoroughbred racing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/sports/horse-racing/horse-racing-doping-usada.html?smid=em-share

The eagle Demands

Trump and or joseph g Cairo pardon Nassau oTB

Manager Susan Oddo

Who was suspended for four days when a bettor watched the race after a tv was turned on in the Levitown branch

Teamsters local 707 Kevin McCaffrey ....

Queens Republican club Christmas party

December 30, 2020

VICKIE PALADINO, A COUNCIL CANDIDATE IN QUEENS’ DISTRICT 19, LEADS THE WHITESTONE REPUBLICAN CLUB. THE ORGANIZATION HELD AN EVENT DEC. 9 WHERE ATTENDEES WENT MASKLESS AS THEY DANCED AND SANG. IMAGE VIA MATT BINDER/TWITTER

By David Brand

At least one person has been hospitalized for COVID-19 after attending an indoor Christmas dance party hosted by the Whitestone Republican Club earlier this month, the Eagle has learned.

James Trent, chair of the affiliated Queens Village Republican Club, was admitted to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset where he is recovering from COVID-19, he said from his hospital room Wednesday morning.

Trent said he first began experiencing COVID symptoms two days after attending the Dec. 9 party, which featured a conga line of maskless patrons dancing to the BeeGees in a widely viewed video first reported by the Eagle.

Trent said he was surprised that he got COVID after attending the party because he “wasn’t doing anything risky.”

“I wasn’t on the conga line. I ate by myself,” he said. “I don’t know how I got this."

When asked whether he regretted attending the party, Trent said it was an “interesting question.”

"It was a wonderful time and a great party, but I’m not happy I got sick," he said.

Video of the Dec. 9 event shows about 50 attendees in an indoor catering room, with numerous maskless patrons on the dance floor at Il Bacco Ristorante in Little Neck. Former Queens Assembly candidate James Martinosky and current City Council candidate Vickie Paladino led the conga line through the crowd.

Nassau otb goes to mit

MIT-designed robot can disinfect a warehouse floor in 30 minutes -- and could one day be employed in grocery stores and schools

By Allen Kim, CNN

OTB pardon now

Federal judge: No surprise 'criminal like Trump pardons other criminals'

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt was appointed by President Clinton in 1997.

Nassau OTB manager susan Oddo is pardoned by trump or Joseph Cairo for being convicted by. .... and receiving four day suspension for turning on tv in Levitown branch so bettors could watch the races

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge in Iowa who has warned against political corruption is ridiculing President Donald Trump’s pardons, including those issued to convicted Republican campaign operatives and former members of Congress.

“It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals,” senior U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview Monday. In a bit of humor, he said: “But apparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey.”

Pratt was referring to pardons Trump grantedto his former campaign aides convicted during the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, former GOP congressmen who committed crimes, and security contractors convicted of killing innocent civilians in Iraq. Trump also pardons turkeys — this year two from Iowa — annually before Thanksgiving.

Pratt has been on the bench since his appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1997. He has had a reduced caseload since 2012, when he assumed senior status.

Pratt made the remarks when asked for comment on pardons granted to two former top aides for Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign, who were convicted in a corruption scheme related to the Iowa caucuses.

He noted that the framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to stop U.S. officials from “enriching themselves” while in office by banning gifts and payments from foreign powers. Ongoing lawsuits have accused Trump of illegally profiting off the presidency through his luxury Washington hotel. A White House spokesman declined comment on Pratt’s remarks.

Trump last week pardoned Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton and campaign manager John Tate, who were convicted at trial of concealing $73,000 in payments that went to state Sen. Kent Sorenson in exchange for Sorenson’s endorsement of Paul. Benton and Tate were sentenced to six months of home confinement and probation.

Sorenson was an up-and-coming conservative, and he made news when he defected as Michele Bachmann’s campaign chairman to endorse Paul days before the 2012 caucuses. Paul’s campaign and Sorenson denied that any money would change hands. Only later did the public learn that Paul’s campaign secretly paid Sorenson, routing the money through a film production company as “audio/visual expenses” to conceal its true nature on disclosure reports.

Pratt oversaw Sorenson’s case, sentencing him to 15 months in prison in 2017 even though prosecutors recommended probation after Sorenson pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Sorenson’s testimony helped convict Benton, Tate and former Paul deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari.

Pratt did not oversee the trio’s trials. But he issued a lengthy opinion detailing his reasoning for sending Sorenson to prison, saying Monday, “I couldn’t believe what was going on.”

Pratt noted in the opinion that Sorenson took secret payments — $133,000 from the Bachmann and Paul campaigns — while serving as a state official. He said those who abuse positions of public trust for personal gain must face severe consequences, in order to deter misconduct and promote public confidence.

Otherwise, he warned, “political corruption will slowly corrode the foundations of our democracy until it collapses under its own weight.”

The White House noted in a statement that the pardons for Tate and Benton were supported by Paul’s son Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Lee Goodman, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who said the “reporting law violated was unclear and not well established.” An appeals court that upheld their convictions in 2018 rejected that argument.

Neither Sorenson nor Kesari received pardons, but Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds restored Sorenson’s right to vote and hold public office earlier this year.