#New York Pressure Cooker Attorney

[feminaferitas]

@thycarnifex cleaned up nicely for the high school reunion, where Jackie Taylor arrives fashionably late.

She didn't want to appear overeager by arriving on time.

Jackie wasn't really coming here to reconnect with her old classmates -- she's not really sure why she's here at all. Maybe it was because the title of Class Queen still meant something to her after all this time. Maybe it was because she wanted to see if it still meant something to everyone else instead.

Her life now was a mystery to most everyone, and she preferred it that way. Jackie barely kept in touch with her old teammates, let alone anyone else from their graduating class. Not that the class year meant much when she'd been a part of the group of students lost for 19 months in the wilderness. Maybe that's why she was here -- proof of life, proof that she didn't disappear. Jackie Taylor's best revenge was living well.

Or, well, simply living.

Of course, walking into the pressure cooker called a gymnasium was bound to be filled with social landmines, unpleasant pleasantries, and her past catching up to her present. Jackie had left Wiskayok and left it hard -- the only trace of her was the fond memories everyone had of their perfect little princess. No one really knew her these days, a successful attorney in New York City. Vegan. Lesbian. Currently single, most days staving off the dread that accompanied her memories of survival. No wilderness, just urban jungle. So why, oh why, did she come back to Wiskayok?

Perhaps for the one thing she left behind, the one she couldn't take with her --

"Shauna," she said. It was a statement of fact more than a greeting. This -- she -- was the reason Jackie had come. Fuck all the rest. She eyed the woman up and down, wondering what traces of her former best friend were to be found all wrapped up in formalwear. Jackie's bad arm had a pins and needles feeling in it just being here, but she pushed it down for the moment.

"You look... really good, Shipman."

[ajklegal]

New York Pressure Cooker Lawyer

If you or a loved one suffered a severe burn or other injury caused by a pressure cooker explosion, don't wait, contact our experienced pressure cooker attorney today!

[news4dzhozhar]

Led by two prominent African American congresswomen, 35 Democrats have urged Joe Biden to commute the sentences of all 49 federal prisoners left on death row – days after the Trump administration finished its rush to kill 13 such prisoners.

Early last Saturday Dustin Higgs, 48, became the last of those prisoners to be killed, after Trump lifted a long-standing moratorium on federal executions. Biden entered the White House on Wednesday.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, of the 49 people still on federal death row, 21 are white, 20 are black, seven are Latino and one is Asian.

Among those prisoners is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of planting pressure-cooker bombs on the route of the Boston Marathon in April 2013, killing three and injuring 264. His death sentence was overturned last year, a decision that is now before the supreme court.

In a letter sent to Biden on Friday, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Cori Bush of Missouri led lawmakers in calling on Biden “to take swift, decisive action”.

“Commuting the death sentences of those on death row and ensuring that each person is provided with an adequate and unique re-sentencing process is a crucial first step in remedying this grave injustice,” they said.

The representatives said they looked forward to the new administration enacting “just and restorative policies that will meaningfully transform our criminal legal system for the better”.

Addressing Biden, they wrote: “By exercising your clemency power, you can ensure that there would be no one left on death row to kill.”

Such a gesture, they said, would be “an unprecedented – but necessary – action to reverse systemic injustices and restore America’s moral standing.”

Pressley has been consistently outspoken in her opposition to capital punishment. In July 2019, soon after Trump attorney general Bill Barr announced the lifting of a 16-year moratorium on federal executions, the Massachusetts Democrat proposed legislation to “prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for any violation of federal law, and for other purposes”.

“The death penalty has no place in a just society,” Pressley said then.

But by the time Trump left office, he had overseen the most executions by a US president in more than a century.

Among those supporting the new appeal is Kelley Henry, a supervising assistant federal public defender based in Nashville and an attorney for Lisa Montgomery, who on 12 January became the first woman killed by the US government in nearly 70 years.

“Congress is right,” Kelley told CNN on Friday. “President Biden must go further than just not carrying out executions and should immediately commute all federal death sentences.

“When the supreme court, without any explanation, vacates lower court stays to allow the execution of a woman whose mental illness leaves her with no understanding of why she is being executed, we know the federal death penalty system is broken beyond repair.”

New White House press secretary Jen Psaki would not be drawn on specific plans to address the federal death penalty.

“The president, as you know, has stated his opposition to the death penalty in the past,” Psaki said. “That remains his view. I don’t have anything more for you in terms of future actions or mechanisms, though.”

Karen Bass of California, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York were among other well-known names to sign the letter to the new president.

Appealing to Biden in December, Pressley said: “With a stroke of a pen, you can stop all federal executions.”

[creepingsharia]

Florida: Punta Gorda Woman Converts to Islam, Buys Cellphones for ISIS to Use as IED Detonators, Sentenced to 5 Years

Friday, May 29, 2020

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Alison Marie Sheppard, a/k/a “Aiisha Abdullah,” (35, Punta Gorda) to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The court also sentenced Sheppard to a term of 15 years supervised release.

Sheppard had pleaded guilty on May 17, 2019.

According to court documents, from approximately January 2017 until July 18, 2017, Sheppard knowingly attempted to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, by purchasing and shipping 10 cellphones that she intended for ISIS to use to detonate improvised explosive devices.

Beginning in early 2016, Sheppard used Facebook and social media applications to network and find like-minded individuals who supported a Salafi jihadist mindset and ISIS, and she posted videos that she had created to her YouTube channel to instruct her online friends. Sheppard also posted the videos on social media sites in support of her beliefs. Many of these videos broadcasted the teachings of Islamist extremists who supported violent jihad. Among her postings supporting ISIS in social media accounts, Sheppard published screenshots of an online ISIS magazine that contained articles glorifying terrorist acts committed by ISIS members.

 Sheppard also used social media applications to engage in encrypted communications with individuals she believed were supporters of ISIS. One of those individuals was someone Sheppard believed had later traveled to the Middle East to join ISIS. Sheppard sent that person an ISIS e-book detailing how ISIS members travel in and out of Syria, including operational security measures to assist foreign fighters in evading detection in their pursuit to join ISIS. That individual was later apprehended by the FBI and began cooperating with federal law enforcement. Sheppard also began communicating with two other individuals who she believed were ISIS supporters, but who were, in fact, undercover law enforcement officers. During one of those conversations, Sheppard told the undercover officer that she had sworn allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the now-deceased former leader of ISIS.

In June 2017, while engaging in online social media conversations with the cooperating individual and the two undercover law enforcement officers, Sheppard offered to purchase and ship cellphones that ISIS could use to detonate improvised explosive devices. Later, in July 2017, Sheppard purchased 10 cellphones from five stores in Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, and Rotonda West, Florida. She arranged to have the phones mailed to one of the undercover officers, believing that they would be forwarded to the Middle East and that ISIS would use them as timers for “pressure cooker” bombs.   

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department Intelligence Section. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey F. Michelland, Assistant United States Attorney Jesus M. Casas, and Trial Attorney David C. Smith of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Attachment(s):  Download Plea Agreement

[deniscollins]

The Price of Wells Fargo’s Fake Account Scandal Grows by $3 Billion

What would you do if you were a newly hired Wells Fargo manager and realized that for several years employees used fraud to meet impossible sales goals by opening millions of accounts in customers’ names without their knowledge, signed unwitting account holders up for credit cards and bill payment programs, created fake personal identification numbers, forged signatures and even secretly transferred customers’ money: (1) continue with this practice, (2) refuse to do so, (3) inform authorities, (4) something else, if so, what? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $3 billion to settle criminal charges and a civil action stemming from its widespread mistreatment of customers in its community bank over a 14-year period, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

From 2002 to 2016, employees used fraud to meet impossible sales goals. They opened millions of accounts in customers’ names without their knowledge, signed unwitting account holders up for credit cards and bill payment programs, created fake personal identification numbers, forged signatures and even secretly transferred customers’ money.

In court papers, prosecutors described a pressure-cooker environment at the bank, where low-level employees were squeezed tighter and tighter each year by sales goals that senior executives methodically raised, ignoring signs that they were unrealistic. The few employees and managers who did meet sales goals — by any means — were held up as examples for the rest of the work force to follow.

“This case illustrates a complete failure of leadership at multiple levels within the bank,” Nick Hanna, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “Wells Fargo traded its hard-earned reputation for short-term profits, and harmed untold numbers of customers along the way.”

Now the bank is grappling with the lingering consequences. Part of Friday’s deal, which includes a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is a deferred prosecution agreement, a pact that could expose the bank to charges if it engages in new criminal activity.

“We are committing all necessary resources to ensure that nothing like this happens again,” Wells Fargo’s chief executive, Charles W. Scharf, said in a statement on Friday.

As part of its agreement with the S.E.C., the bank will set up a $500 million fund to compensate investors who suffered when Wells Fargo failed to inform them that its community banking business was not as strong as the fake accounts made it seem. The money is included in the $3 billion settlement total.

During the final five years of abuse, the bank quietly fired thousands of employees for falsifying records in response to customer complaints, according to court filings, and disciplined tens of thousands more.

In the filings, prosecutors described how, even after some Wells Fargo executives tried to curb the sales abuses, the bank hid the problem from investors by changing its public descriptions of its sales practices over several years. The intent was to be clearer about the limitations of the bank’s strategy, known as “cross-selling,” without tipping investors off to the problems that senior executives had uncovered, the filings said.

The practices covered by the settlement — which includes an admission by Wells Fargo that it falsified banking records and harmed customers’ credit ratings — are not the only misbehavior the bank has revealed since 2016. Since the allegations came to light in a settlement with California authorities and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the bank has also admitted it charged mortgage customers unnecessary fees and forced auto loan borrowers to buy insurance they did not need.

The mortgage and auto loan claims are not part of Friday’s deal, and Justice Department officials declined to comment on whether they intended to take more action against the bank. They said the settlement also did not include similar conduct that fell outside the 14-year period.

Wells Fargo is still under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for abruptly closing customers’ accounts, and has said in regulatory filings that the authorities are looking into improper fees it charged wealth management customers.

Friday’s deal is also unrelated to a continuing criminal investigation of former Wells Fargo executives’ individual roles in the sales practices scandal. On Jan. 23, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined former top executives millions of dollars each for overseeing the bank while it abused customers. A former Wells Fargo chief executive, John G. Stumpf, agreed to pay $17.5 million. Carrie L. Tolstedt, Wells Fargo’s former head of retail banking, is contesting a $25 million fine.

Ms. Tolstedt was described by title, but not by name, in the court papers filed by the Justice Department as part of Friday’s settlement. She appeared as “Executive A,” who the filings said was the “senior executive vice president in charge of the community bank” from 2007 to 2016, a position Ms. Tolstedt held during that time.

According to the papers, Executive A ignored concerns that other executives raised about cross-selling, lied to regulators and Wells Fargo’s board, and tightly controlled the bank’s public disclosures.

In 2015, the bank developed a new way to calculate the volume of accounts it was opening for customers, noting whether the accounts were used or simply sat dormant. But it never released the figures produced by this new method, “in part because of concerns raised by Executive A and others that its release would cause investors to ask questions about Wells Fargo’s historical sales practices.”

“Ms. Tolstedt acted appropriately and in good faith at all times, and the effort to scapegoat her is both unfair and unfounded,” her lawyer Enu Mainigi said in an email to The New York Times.

Friday’s $3 billion penalty, while large, is not record breaking. In 2015, a judge ordered BNP Paribas to pay nearly $9 billion for sanctions violations. Friday’s fine is not even the largest against Wells Fargo. In 2012, when the country’s five largest banks paid a total of $26 billion to state and federal authorities to settle investigations into their mortgage lending practices in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, Wells Fargo’s portion was $5.35 billion. Including Friday’s penalty, the bank has paid more than $18 billion in fines for misconduct since the financial crisis.

Senior Justice Department officials told journalists in a briefing on Friday that the bank’s payments to other authorities, including $1 billion in fines to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2018, were a mitigating factor in determining how much it would owe in the current settlement.

Wells Fargo’s profits last year totaled nearly $20 billion.

In early 2018, the Federal Reserve imposed growth restrictions on Wells Fargo that will be lifted only after the bank has shown its regulators that it has made significant changes to prevent bad behavior like the fake account scandal. Since taking over in October, Mr. Scharf has not offered any hints about when that goal might be accomplished.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

House Democrats Pledge to Subpoena White House (Foreign Policy) As White House officials refuse to hand over documents related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to push Ukraine to investigate a potential political opponent, those leading the impeachment inquiry have pledged to issue a subpoena by Friday to force the White House to cooperate. The chair of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, said that officials had repeatedly refused to share documents with the House. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Trump had involved Vice President Mike Pence in his efforts to push Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

Do sanctions on foreign countries work? The government doesn’t know. (Washington Post) The Trump administration has made sanctions a key part of its foreign policy arsenal, placing enormous economic pressure on nations like North Korea and Iran in a bid to force concessions in negotiations with the United States. But is there real evidence that this tactic works? The U.S. government, it turns out, can’t be sure. A new report released by a government watchdog this week found that although the agencies that implement sanctions track their economic impact, they do not measure whether the sanctions achieve their aim in forcing a target to change its behavior.

Mexican Supreme Court Justice Resigns Amid Corruption Questions (Reuters) A Mexican Supreme Court Justice has resigned, the president’s office said on Thursday, after the judge faced questions about a possible probe by Mexico’s financial intelligence unit.

Ecuador Declares State of Emergency as Fuel Protesters Battle Police (Reuters) Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency on Thursday as protesters hurled stones and erected burning barricades after the end of decades-old fuel subsidies as part of a $2 billion government fiscal reform package.

EU vows to hit back over US tariffs as businesses count cost (AP) The European Union warned Thursday it will retaliate against the U.S. decision to slap tariffs on a range of the bloc’s exports--from cheese to wine--that could cause job losses in Europe and price increases for Americans. If the U.S. imposes countermeasures it will be pushing the EU into a situation where we will have to do the same,” said the European Commission’s spokesman, Daniel Rosario. “This is a move that will first and foremost hit U.S. consumers and companies and will make efforts towards a negotiated settlement more complicated,” he said.

Ex-hurricane Lorenzo approaches Ireland, Britain (Washington Post) Former Hurricane Lorenzo is now “Storm Lorenzo,” named by the Irish Meteorological Service as the powerful tempest approaches. Winds as high as 80 mph, localized flooding and travel disruptions are all anticipated as the post-tropical cyclone gets set to make landfall in Europe. With forward speeds topping 45 mph, Storm Lorenzo is cruising--enough so that the worst of the weather will only occur over a 9 to 12 hour period. For Ireland, the roughest was expected from dinner time on Thursday overnight into early Friday morning.

What is Boris Johnson’s strategy? (Foreign Policy) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his new plan for the Irish border after Brexit, though it was quickly criticized by EU leaders. (It was later rejected by the EU Brexit steering group.) Johnson’s political game isn’t focused on striking a deal with Europe but rather on the snap general election expected after the Oct. 31 deadline, Owen Matthews reports for FP. “There is now more confidence that Johnson can pass blame for an extension onto Brussels and a Remainer-dominated Parliament and win an election,” he writes.

In austerity-scarred Portugal, fiscal discipline is a vote winner (Reuters) Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa aims to retain power at Sunday’s parliamentary election with a pledge that looks like an unlikely vote-winner for western Europe’s poorest country--no backtracking on tight spending controls. As populist governments across the rest of Europe look to ramp up spending amid fears of recession, Costa has campaigned for fiscal discipline to preserve the hard-won results of austerity imposed in the wake of Portugal’s 2011 debt crisis. And the strategy appears to be working. The center-left Socialists are well ahead in opinion polls after recording the lowest budget deficit in the 45 years of Portugal’s democratic history.

Peru’s constitutional crisis (Foreign Policy) Peru’s biggest political crisis in decades continues. After the president, Martín Vizcarra, dissolved Congress, Congress then suspended the president. Vice President Mercedes Aráoz, who stepped in to succeed him, has already resigned. It’s not clear if Vizcarra’s move is legal--meaning that it’s not clear who is in power, though Vizcarra appears to have the army’s support.

Hong Kong Leader Invokes Emergency Powers to Try to Quell Escalating Violence (Reuters) Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam on Friday invoked colonial-era emergency powers for the first time in more than 50 years in a dramatic move intended to quell escalating violence in the Chinese-ruled city. The wearing of masks, common by protesters, has been banned.

Hong Kong’s Loss is Singapore’s Gain (Bloomberg) The potential benefit to Singapore from the turmoil in Hong Kong: $4 billion. That’s the upper end of an estimate from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of the money investors have moved to Singapore amid escalating political protests in the former British colony. The New York-based bank estimated that there has been a maximum outflow of Hong Kong dollar deposits totaling $3 billion to $4 billion to Singapore, an alternative financial center for the region, as of August.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal troubles (Foreign Policy) Israel’s acting prime minister is still struggling to form a coalition while his lawyers try to convince the attorney general not to indict him. Netanyahu met with his former ally turned rival Avigdor Lieberman but made no progress toward forming a coalition or a national unity government. Meanwhile, Haaretz reported that the Knesset’s speaker, Netanyahu’s Likud party colleague Yuli Edelstein, said that Netanyahu has agreed to take a “leave of absence” if he is indicted.

Nigerian police to get stun guns, new rules of engagement in push to reduce deaths (Reuters) Nigerian police plan to acquire stun guns and revise their rules of engagement in an effort to curb the use of deadly force, the inspector general of the force said on Thursday. Last month, a United Nations special rapporteur described Nigeria as a “pressure cooker of internal conflict” due to security problems and what it said was an excessive use of lethal force by police and military.

[bigyack-com]

The Price of Wells Fargo’s Fake Account Scandal Grows by $3 Billion

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $3 billion to settle criminal charges and a civil action stemming from its widespread mistreatment of customers in its community bank over a 14-year period, the Justice Department announced on Friday.From 2002 to 2016, employees used fraud to meet impossible sales goals. They opened millions of accounts in customers’ names without their knowledge, signed unwitting account holders up for credit cards and bill payment programs, created fake personal identification numbers, forged signatures and even secretly transferred customers’ money.In court papers, prosecutors described a pressure-cooker environment at the bank, where low-level employees were squeezed tighter and tighter each year by sales goals that senior executives methodically raised, ignoring signs that they were unrealistic. The few employees and managers who did meet sales goals — by any means — were held up as examples for the rest of the work force to follow.“This case illustrates a complete failure of leadership at multiple levels within the bank,” Nick Hanna, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “Wells Fargo traded its hard-earned reputation for short-term profits, and harmed untold numbers of customers along the way.”Now the bank is grappling with the lingering consequences. Part of Friday’s deal, which includes a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is a deferred prosecution agreement, a pact that could expose the bank to charges if it engages in new criminal activity.“We are committing all necessary resources to ensure that nothing like this happens again,” Wells Fargo’s chief executive, Charles W. Scharf, said in a statement on Friday.As part of its agreement with the S.E.C., the bank will set up a $500 million fund to compensate investors who suffered when Wells Fargo failed to inform them that its community banking business was not as strong as the fake accounts made it seem. The money is included in the $3 billion settlement total.During the final five years of abuse, the bank quietly fired thousands of employees for falsifying records in response to customer complaints, according to court filings, and disciplined tens of thousands more.In the filings, prosecutors described how, even after some Wells Fargo executives tried to curb the sales abuses, the bank hid the problem from investors by changing its public descriptions of its sales practices over several years. The intent was to be clearer about the limitations of the bank’s strategy, known as “cross-selling,” without tipping investors off to the problems that senior executives had uncovered, the filings said.The practices covered by the settlement — which includes an admission by Wells Fargo that it falsified banking records and harmed customers’ credit ratings — are not the only misbehavior the bank has revealed since 2016. Since the allegations came to light in a settlement with California authorities and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the bank has also admitted it charged mortgage customers unnecessary fees and forced auto loan borrowers to buy insurance they did not need.The mortgage and auto loan claims are not part of Friday’s deal, and Justice Department officials declined to comment on whether they intended to take more action against the bank. They said the settlement also did not include similar conduct that fell outside the 14-year period.Wells Fargo is still under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for abruptly closing customers’ accounts, and has said in regulatory filings that the authorities are looking into improper fees it charged wealth management customers.Friday’s deal is also unrelated to a continuing criminal investigation of former Wells Fargo executives’ individual roles in the sales practices scandal. On Jan. 23, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined former top executives millions of dollars each for overseeing the bank while it abused customers. A former Wells Fargo chief executive, John G. Stumpf, agreed to pay $17.5 million. Carrie L. Tolstedt, Wells Fargo’s former head of retail banking, is contesting a $25 million fine.Ms. Tolstedt was described by title, but not by name, in the court papers filed by the Justice Department as part of Friday’s settlement. She appeared as “Executive A,” who the filings said was the “senior executive vice president in charge of the community bank” from 2007 to 2016, a position Ms. Tolstedt held during that time.According to the papers, Executive A ignored concerns that other executives raised about cross-selling, lied to regulators and Wells Fargo’s board, and tightly controlled the bank’s public disclosures.In 2015, the bank developed a new way to calculate the volume of accounts it was opening for customers, noting whether the accounts were used or simply sat dormant. But it never released the figures produced by this new method, “in part because of concerns raised by Executive A and others that its release would cause investors to ask questions about Wells Fargo’s historical sales practices.”“Ms. Tolstedt acted appropriately and in good faith at all times, and the effort to scapegoat her is both unfair and unfounded,” her lawyer Enu Mainigi said in an email to The New York Times.Friday’s $3 billion penalty, while large, is not record breaking. In 2015, a judge ordered BNP Paribas to pay nearly $9 billion for sanctions violations. Friday’s fine is not even the largest against Wells Fargo. In 2012, when the country’s five largest banks paid a total of $26 billion to state and federal authorities to settle investigations into their mortgage lending practices in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, Wells Fargo’s portion was $5.35 billion. Including Friday’s penalty, the bank has paid more than $18 billion in fines for misconduct since the financial crisis.Senior Justice Department officials told journalists in a briefing on Friday that the bank’s payments to other authorities, including $1 billion in fines to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2018, were a mitigating factor in determining how much it would owe in the current settlement.Wells Fargo’s profits last year totaled nearly $20 billion.In early 2018, the Federal Reserve imposed growth restrictions on Wells Fargo that will be lifted only after the bank has shown its regulators that it has made significant changes to prevent bad behavior like the fake account scandal. Since taking over in October, Mr. Scharf has not offered any hints about when that goal might be accomplished.Stacy Cowley contributed reporting. Read the full article

[americanpoliticstoday]

New Jersey Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS Gregory Lepsky, 22, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for planning to construct and use a pressure cooker bomb in New York on behalf of a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.

[ajklegal]

New York Pressure Cooker Lawyer

New York Pressure Cooker Lawyers

If you have been injured in a pressure cooker explosion, seek immediate medical attention. After the accident, it is important to take the necessary steps to preserve the pressure cooker so that it may be properly inspected. If possible, also preserve the receipt and original box. Contact an experienced New York Pressure Cooker Lawyer who has experience in fighting for the rights of those injured by the manufacturers of products!

Popular Pressure Cooker Brands That Have Been Recalled:

• Tristar Power Pressure Cooker XL

• Philippe Richards Pressure Cooker

• Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

• NuWave Nutri-Pot Pressure Cooker

• Wolfgang Puck Pressure Cooker

• Mirro Pressure Cooker

• Elite Bistro Pressure Cooker

• Breville Fast Slower Cooker

• Cuisinart Pressure Cooker

• Prestige Smart Plus Pressure Cooker

• Wolfgang Puck Pressure Cooker

• Fagor Pressure Cooker

• Ninja Foodi and Ninja Instant

• Crock-Pot Express Pressure Cooker

• And more

If you or a loved one suffered a severe burn or other injury caused by a pressure cooker explosion, don't wait, contact our experienced pressure cooker attorney today!

[halsteadproperty]

Buying a condo in NYC? Here's how to tell if new construction is quality construction

Prospective buyers of apartments in new buildings in New York are faced with more choices than ever before. Beyond the questions of how big an apartment you're looking for, at what price, and in what neighborhood, new construction brings the added variable of whether the construction work is any good. No seller or landlord is going to tell you his or her work is shoddy, but choosing wrong can turn your dream apartment into years of headaches and expensive contractors. So how do you know you're getting quality construction in a brand spanking new building?

We asked around. Here's what to look for, and what to ask.

Engage your senses

The quality of the construction of a building isn't just reflected in what you can see. It's also in what you feel, hear (or don't hear), and even smell, and you should start evaluating at the front entrance.

"Your experience should be a good one from the first door knob you touch," says Steve Glascock, president and managing partner of Anbau, a condo developer with projects including Citizen360 and 207W79. Glascock encourages prospective buyers to take a deep breath upon walking into his company's buildings, because their duct work goes up to the roof for a supply of air that is then double-filtered.

"It makes a big difference to people," he says.

Sound Advice

One of the biggest issues affecting quality of life in any building is noise, and solid construction will incorporate multiple ways to protect residents from errant sounds, from any number of sources—the street, the neighbors, your own kids in the next room. Everyone we spoke to talked about the importance of noise control.

"It's part of what makes urban living easy or hard," says Doug Steiner, president of Steiner Equities Group.

"People don't think about it when they're looking," says Russell Goss, an architect, licensed contractor, and CEO of New York City-based Blueberry Builders. "Then they move in and their neighbor flushes the toilet and they hear it and they have to deal with it."

Quality windows, specifically soundproof windows, will help cut external noise.

"We live in a busy urban city, but that doesn't mean we have to listen to traffic in our apartment," Glascock says.

Anbau buildings have acoustically attenuated windows, which reduce noise with three layers of glass and lamination. Another bonus: these types of windows, installed in a Chelsea building near where a pressure cooker bomb exploded last year, injuring dozens, sustained damage in the blast but did not shatter.

Also when it comes to windows, you want solid casements and rubber gaskets.

"If they feel light and flimsy, they probably don't perform very well," Glascock says.

There are some things you won't be able to tell yourself, but that you should ask brokers and contractor about. Architect Barry Rice recommends inquiring about any acoustical testing conducted, and the sound transmission coefficient, or STC, for the building, which should be disclosed in the building's attorney general offering plan. He offers a rating of 40 as solid, and anything upwards of that as great.

Rice notes that in the smaller buildings (four or five stories) more often found outside of Manhattan, sound leakage can be more of an issue given the lightweight construction materials that can be used in building them. High rises are more robust due to the concrete and steel their heights necessitate.

Floor construction should include an acoustical isolation membrane, as well as a subfloor, to which the flooring material is attached. The big point is that you don't want the surface on which you're walking to be adhered to the concrete slab that is ultimately, the literal floor of your apartment. Why do you care about your floor so much? Because unless you're on the top floor, it's also your upstairs neighbor's floor, which is kind of your ceiling. Either way, a membrane and subfloor are the hallmark of thoughtful, quality construction.

You also want floors constructed using a leveling compound (a cheaper way to do it is to shim sub-floors), and Glascock says that if they're wood floors, you should ask how many sandings they can endure. "It should be about seven or eight," he says.

Similarly, walls should feel and sound solid—try knocking on them. An insulation material called sound attenuation batt can be used to help cut noise between apartments and rooms within apartments. Another construction technique to reduce sound transference is to stagger the spacing of studs in walls.

The Steiner Equities Group knows a thing or two about building acoustically sound spaces, thanks to its extensive work in film and television at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn. The Deuce, The Wolf of Wall Street, Girls, Men in Black 3, Zoolander 2, and The Affair, are just a handful of productions shot there. In addition to soundproof windows, the company's condo buildings incorporate two layers of sheetrock in hallways, sound-muffling air gaps in elevator walls (also knows as cavity walls), and additional soundproofing in communal amenity spaces and the walls between apartments.

Finally, there are some design elements that seem like they might offer some sound protection, but really don't unless they're done well, at significant cost. Rice points to pockets door, particularly in rentals, where it's doubtful a developer took on the expense of doing them right.

Design language

An apartment in a quality building will also reflect a thoughtful design process and function well. For example, if the layout of the kitchen feels odd, it probably is, and it may have been compromised because it was too expensive to make it right.

"You want to get the [kitchen] triangle right," Glascock says. Also, "If the door of the bathroom hits the toilet, that's awkward."

Has the living room been reduced to the size of a postage stamp to make a one bedroom a two bedroom? How big are the closets? Are there any?

Steiner suggests looking for redundancy, which when it comes to engineering is a good thing. He defines redundancy as "the inclusion of extra components that are not strictly necessary to functioning, in case of failure in other components." His prime example: two elevators, so that tenants aren't relegated to the stairwells if one elevator fails.

"Having one elevator is an easy way for buildings to save money," he says.

It's not just about the design of the individual apartment. A quality building will be thoughtful about the layout in both public communal spaces and practical areas dedicated to helping the building function. Rice offers as an example a mailroom that can accommodate packages in an organized fashion, as well as deliveries (such as groceries) requiring refrigeration.

Stephen Kliegerman, president of Halstead's property development marketing arm, points out that if a building is still under construction, common spaces are often the last ones to be completed, as the individual living spaces are a priority and some wear and tear is expected with move-ins. In that case, he recommends checking out renderings.

"Things like furniture can change, but is that space reflective of what's in the marketing materials? Does it look like the same thing you were sold?" he says.

Materials and fixtures matter

Not everything is conceptual. Some aspects you can see and feel. Is the hardware on doors and cabinets substantial? Are the doors solid core doors?

"I hate flimsy doors—even on closets," Steiner says.

A telltale sign of a stock kitchen (as opposed to a kitchen custom-designed to the space) is the use of blank filler panels. Of course, you want high-quality appliances in your kitchen, and while no one brand was identified as the gold standard, Miele did come up a few times. Glascock notes that higher-end appliances will feature (or have the ability to accept) panels, instead of being limited to stainless steel.

He also names less obvious (until you really need them) fixtures and features in outdoor spaces, such as gas hookups for grills, hose-bits for water, and a surface that will drain well, as indicators of a building constructed with care.

Thoughtful aesthetics matter, too. At the Bauhaus-inspired development NOMA on West 30th Street, senior sales director Tim McCarthy points to a consistent look and quality throughout each apartment.

It's the little things

Bring your A-game to checking out the details in every room. Does the kitchen have soft-closing drawers? Are the hinges on the cabinets substantial? Are the cabinet doors level? In the bathroom (or anywhere tile is employed): are the grout lines even? Is the pattern matched well? Is there a tile askew? Is the sealant on the bathtub and shower done well? Other things to consider: Is the closet set-up more than just a rod? Are the light-plates and socket covers straight? Do all the outlets work?

Paying attention to these kinds of details is important for a number of reasons, according to Halstead's Kliegerman.

"Those are some of the things that are going to bother you for years to come, and they can be costly to fix," he says. Additionally, "If they're doing things like that well, that care most likely carried through to other areas of the job that you can't see."

Enlisting proper professionals

Goss makes the point that many nice features (large windows, HVAC, and NEST heating/cooling systems) need to be installed by people who know how to do so correctly, and that that kind of information isn't checked by the city.

"The more you have, the more there is to break," he says. "What's the warranty on the NEST system? Was it installed by a certified NEST installer? It probably wasn't. [If it breaks], now it's your problem."

Similarly, Goss would ask if a third-party waterproofing consultant was brought in, as those large windows are prone to leaks and often aren't airtight.

Many of these issues aren't on the radar of the average apartment-hunter, which is why ultimately, Goss recommends enlisting the help of an architect or contractor who knows what questions to ask.

"Bringing in someone with a construction background may be worth the cost," he says. "Otherwise you run the risk of being taken advantage of."

Track record and transparency

It's not just about what you can see, feel, hear etc. It's also about the paper trail (or lack thereof).

Rice recommends, first and foremost, getting the development's offering plan, which is on file with the state Attorney General's Office. In addition to nitty-gritty details like ceiling heights, acoustic performance, et al., the plan will identify the key players in the operation.

"Any good real estate attorney would probably recognize the names of the contractors involved," he says. If they don't, that may be a red flag, and you should do some research to check them out. Part of your due diligence should also involve finding out if the developer or contractor has ever been sued.

And while no bank will give you a loan if some very basic filings don't exist, Ross says it can't hurt to ask if the project is signed off by the Department of Buildings, if the certificate of occupancy has been acquired, and if you can get a copy of the ACP-5 form (indicating a project is not an asbestos project). It's less about the specific information requested, Ross says. Rather, "It's, can they provide the information? How organized are they?"

Responsiveness

Even with the most well-intentioned developer and contractors, things happen, and how a developer responds to requests speaks volumes.

"Problems will occur. It's construction. It's not an exact science," Kliegerman says. "How your developer responds to your concerns or problems is as important if not more... Some developers do the minimum amount [to fix things]. Others go the extra mile and want their clients to be happy, and be repeat customers. They realize a little extra work goes a long way."

(Source: Brick Underground)

[creepingsharia]

New Jersey: Man pledged allegiance to Allah, planned to "kill as many people as possible" in NYC

New Jersey: Man pledged allegiance to Allah, planned to “kill as many people as possible” in NYC

Source: Point Pleasant man wanted to make bomb for ISIS, feds say NEWARK – A Point Pleasant man appeared in federal court Friday to face charges that he planned to build and set off a pressure cooker bomb in New York City in support of ISIS, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey. Gregory Lepsky, 20, was ordered held without bail after he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda…

[bountyofbeads]

Mueller’s Teflon to be tested in Congress. His past testimony holds clues.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/26/mueller-congress-testimony-investigation/

Can't wait for the Republican members of Congress to be caught with their pants down for not reading the Mueller report. Bye bye plausible deniability.

"In light of the news that Special Counsel Mueller will testify in Congress I'd like @RepAdamSchiff @RepJerryNadler @tedlieu @RepMikeQuigley & all/any other members of the two committees to ask these questions. Most Americans have not read the #MuellerReport - enlighten them." Oeishik M. G. C. JD @TributeProjects

https://t.co/QY72sXiLC1

Mueller’s Teflon to be tested in Congress. His past testimony holds clues.

By Isaac Stanley-Becker | Published June 26 at 6:29 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted June 26, 2019 |

“May I finish?” the witness asked. “May I please finish?”

The appeal was made in June 2013 by Robert S. Mueller III, then in the twilight of his term as the FBI director. Bent over the witness table in a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, he put up his left hand in protest.

The top law enforcement official asked Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican of Ohio, to stop interrupting him. The lawmaker fired back: “I’m asking basic questions about the investigation.”

At issue six years ago in the oversight hearing were allegations that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny.

The topic when Mueller appears before Congress next month will be an even more explosive one. The former special counsel is scheduled to testify on July 17, before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.

The president offered only an abbreviated response to the announcement Tuesday evening from the committee’s two Democratic chairmen. “Presidential Harassment!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

But the president’s loyalists in Congress — Jordan among them — will probably have much more to say to Mueller, whose 22-month investigation concluded with a report indicating that prosecutors did not decide whether Trump had engaged in criminal behavior because of Justice Department policy preventing the indictment of a sitting president.

Stepping down from his role in May, Mueller spoke briefly about his team’s findings, saying that if prosecutors “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” The Constitution, he said, “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”

“Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report,” he said at the time.

That vow is unlikely to stop lawmakers —— Republicans and Democrats alike — from trying to draw out the flinty former special counsel.

Rep. Douglas A. Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he hoped Mueller’s testimony would “bring to House Democrats the closure that the rest of America has enjoyed for months.”

Asked on Fox News Tuesday night what questions he would put to Mueller, Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee, did not list any specific questions but likened Mueller’s team to Chernobyl, the 1986 nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine.

For his part, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, suggested on CNN that Democrats would aim to find out where Mueller disagreed with the framing of his report following its summary by Trump’s attorney general, William P. Barr.

Insight into their possible tactics in questioning Mueller, and into the way he might respond, lies in his previous appearances before Congress. They show that adversarial committee members have been ready to go after the top law enforcement official, pressing him for details about investigations and faulting him for being unable or unwilling to answer. So, too, the encounters show that Mueller has been an assertive witness, unafraid to return fire and accuse lawmakers of making erroneous claims.

��Your facts are not altogether—” Mueller told Rep. Louie Gohmert, the Texas Republican, during the same 2013 oversight hearing in which he clashed with Jordan over the IRS. Both men still sit on the Judiciary Committee.

As his microphone was cut off, the witness appeared to say that Gohmert’s facts were not “well-founded.”

The lawmaker was asking why the FBI had not canvassed Boston mosques before the detonation of two homemade pressure cooker bombs, which killed three people and injured hundreds more near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in April 2013.

“May I finish my—” Mueller continued.

But Gohmert interjected: “Sir, if you’re going to call me a liar, you need to point out specifically where any facts are wrong.”

The exchange ended in an impasse, as Mueller insisted he had already answered the lawmaker’s question, and Gohmert insisted he had not.

Mueller is well-practiced at answering questions before Congress and not answering others.

Since President George W. Bush nominated him to head the FBI in the summer of 2001, Mueller has made dozens of appearances before Congress. The man whose voice Americans hardly know has spent hours speaking into microphones at congressional hearings, preserved by C-SPAN.

Mueller has answered questions on a range of hot-button topics, in front of both friendly and hostile audiences. Beginning his tenure at the FBI just days before the 9/11 attacks, Mueller was called to testify before a joint House-Senate panel on intelligence gathering. In the years since, he has regularly appeared to defend budget requests and to comply with congressional oversight. He has been asked to weigh in on momentous questions, from the Patriot Act to Russian espionage.

Perhaps most pertinent to the topic of the July hearings is a line of questioning pursued at Mueller’s confirmation hearing in 2001.

The questioner was none other than Jeff Sessions, the former senator from Alabama who was forced out as Trump’s attorney general in November. His resignation followed months of escalating attacks from the president, who resented the Cabinet official for recusing himself from handling the Russia investigation.

The confirmation hearing unfolded in the wake of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, who was acquitted by the Senate in February 1999. The legal saga, fresh in the memory of Republican senators, prompted them to ask Mueller how he would manage an inquiry implicating the president.

The concern emphasized by the GOP lawmakers was that an FBI director — and law enforcement more generally — might be swayed by political pressure exerted by an attorney general. The worry finds a parallel today in criticism of Barr’s handling of Mueller’s conclusions.

[Barr under fire for news conference that was a boon for Trump]

“Under those circumstances, I hope that you will keep your options open, because you have a 10-year appointment,” Sessions told the nominee. “That is for a reason, so that if something serious occurs, and there has been a threat to the orderly operation of justice, that you would use that independence for a good reason.”

It wasn’t a question. But Mueller asked: “May I respond to that, Senator?”

"Please,” Sessions told him.

Mueller allowed that there could be circumstances in which he would “feel it necessary to circumvent the ordinary course of proceedings,” sidestepping the authority of the attorney general. He pointed to a situation “where one believes that political pressure is being brought to bear on the investigative process.” He said he might look “somewhere else in the executive, beyond the attorney general,” or else possibly disclose his misgivings to Congress.

“But I would look and explore every option if I believed that the FBI was being pressured for political reasons,” he said. “And if that were the situation as described here, I would explore other alternatives or a variety of alternatives in order to make certain that justice was done.”

Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.

[deealicifptacocrusade-blog]

What if you are on the concourse

He appeared to pay attention to the proceedings. He was not on his phone, he was not in a beer line, he was not chewing on nachos all things that occur countless times during an anthem at just about any sporting event in this country.Still, the cause has remained at the forefront of the national discourse, as President Donald Trump again trumpeted the issue through the weekend, beginning with a tweet on Saturday evening."Very important that NFL players STAND tomorrow, and always, for the playing of our National Anthem," he wrote. 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The USA should not give consideration to socks as an integral part of the uniform.Cheap Jerseys free shipping wholesale jerseys from china Getting in the pressure cooker and knowing what it takes, it great for our team. We got nine girls in their first Olympics playing in a big game like this, I thought we played with a lot of composure, said Wickenheiser. Didn panic. Day two started off with a solid roar with much better smelling conditions and running all over with small packs circling the pen. We saw as many grey fox races at the gate as we did coyote races. At the end of the day 2 Need No Help Breeze owned by Need No Help Kennels had the High Speed drive hound with 695 speed drive followed closely by Brim Fly Guy with 670 speed drive owned by https://www.wholesalejerseyslan.com Smooth Moves Kennels wholesale jerseys from china. ...

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SANTA FE, Texas  | Texas students who supported Parkland endure own shooting

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/Vuj68g

SANTA FE, Texas  | Texas students who supported Parkland endure own shooting

SANTA FE, Texas  — Only weeks ago, a dozen students from Santa Fe High School in Texas offered support for survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting by participating in a nationwide walkout seeking stricter gun control.

On Friday, it was Parkland students who declared their solidarity with teens in Santa Fe after a 17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at the Houston-area school, killing 10 people. It was the nation’s deadliest such attack since the Florida massacre that killed 17 and energized the teen-led gun-control movement.

Sophomore Kyle Harris, who took part in the walkout last month, was in first period when a fire alarm went off. Then, he heard teachers urging him to flee.

“The scariest thing is hearing a teacher who knows your name personally call you by your name and tell you to run,” Harris tweeted.

The suspected shooter, who was in custody on murder charges, also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby, said Gov. Greg Abbott.

Investigators offered no motive. In a probable cause affidavit, however, authorities said the suspect admitted to the shooting.

The gunman also told investigators that when he opened fire Friday morning, “he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told,” according to the affidavit.

The governor said the assailant intended to kill himself but gave up and told police that he did not have the courage to take his own life.

The deaths were all but certain to re-ignite the debate over gun regulations, coming just three months after the Florida attack.

“It’s been happening everywhere. I’ve always kind of felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too,” Santa Fe High School student Paige Curry told Houston television station KTRK. “I don’t know. I wasn’t surprised. I was just scared.”

Another 10 people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe, a city of about 13,000 people roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston, the governor said. The wounded included a school police officer who was the first to confront the suspect and got shot in the arm.

Hospitals reported treating a total of 14 people for injuries related to the shooting.

Zachary Muehe, a sophomore, was in his art class when he heard three loud booms.

Muehe told The New York Times that a student he knew from football was armed with a shotgun and was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Born to Kill.”

“It was crazy watching him shoot and then pump. I remember seeing the shrapnel from the tables, whatever he hit. I remember seeing the shrapnel go past my face,” he told The Times.

Michael Farina, 17, heard the fire alarm and thought it was a drill. He was holding a door open for special education students in wheelchairs when a principal came bounding down the hall, telling everyone to run. Another teacher yelled out, “It is real!”

Students were led to take cover behind a car shop across the street from the school. Some still did not feel safe and began jumping the fence behind the shop to run even farther away, Farina said.

“I debated doing that myself,” he said.

The gunman yelled “Surprise” before he started shooting, according to Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The suspect was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who appeared to have no prior arrests or confrontations with law enforcement. A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP.

Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening by video link from the Galveston County Jail. A judge denied bond and took his application for a court-appointed attorney.

McCaul, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects the Justice Department to pursue additional charges, possibly involving weapons of mass destruction.

Pagourtzis played on the junior varsity football team and was a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church. Acquaintances described him as quiet and unassuming, an avid video game player who routinely wore a black trench coat and black boots to class.

The suspect obtained the shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun from his father, who owned them legally, Abbott said. It was not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.

Investigators were determining whether the shotgun’s shortened barrel was legal, Texas Sen. John Cornyn said.

The assailant’s homemade explosives included pipe bombs, at least one Molotov cocktail and pressure-cooker bombs similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack, authorities said.

While cable news channels carried hours of live coverage, survivors of the Feb. 14 Florida attack took to social media to express grief and outrage.

“My heart is so heavy for the students of Santa Fe High School. It’s an all too familiar feeling no one should have to experience. I am so sorry this epidemic touched your town — Parkland will stand with you now and forever,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Jaclyn Corin said in a tweet.

She also directed her frustration at President Donald Trump, writing “Our children are being MURDERED and you’re treating this like a game. This is the 22nd school shooting just this year. DO SOMETHING.”

In Texas, senior Logan Roberds said he was near the school’s art room when he heard the fire alarm and left the building with other students. Once outside, Roberds said, he heard two loud bangs. He initially thought somebody was loudly hitting a trash can. Then came three more bangs.

“That’s when the teachers told us to run,” he said.

At that point, Roberds said, he told himself, “Oh my God, this is not fake. This is actually happening.”

Roberds said additional gun-control measures are not needed, citing the need for defense against intruders.

“What are you going to do if some guy comes in your house and points a gun at you? You can’t do nothing with a knife,” he said.

Friday’s assault was the deadliest in Texas since a man with a semi-automatic rifle attacked a rural church late last year, killing more than two dozen people.

There were few prior clues about Pagourtzis’ behavior, unlike the shootings in Parkland and the church in Sutherland Springs, Abbott said, but the teen wrote in journals of wanting to carry out such an attack and then to end his own life.

“This young man planned on doing this for some time. He advertised his intentions but somehow slipped through the cracks,” Cornyn said.

In the aftermath of the Florida assault, survivors pulled all-nighters, petitioned city councils and state lawmakers, and organized protests in a grass-roots movement. Within weeks, state lawmakers adopted changes, including new weapons restrictions.

In late March, the teens spearheaded one of the largest student protest marches since Vietnam in Washington and inspired hundreds of other marches from California to Japan.

__

By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)

___

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Man gets 18 years in prison for Islamic State group aid plot

Visit Now - https://zeroviral.com/man-gets-18-years-in-prison-for-islamic-state-group-aid-plot/

Man gets 18 years in prison for Islamic State group aid plot

NEW YORK –  A man who admitted to scheming to help the Islamic State extremist group has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in a case that prosecutors say involved plotting a never-realized bombing in New York City.

Munther Omar Saleh was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn. The 22-year-old pleaded guilty last year to charges that he planned to help the Islamic State group. As part of his guilty plea, Saleh admitted that he had sought to communicate with and support the group and assaulted a federal officer.

Prosecutors said he escorted a co-defendant to an airport for a planned trip to join the Islamic State group overseas (the co-defendant was arrested before he could join the group), researched how to build a pressure-cooker bomb and discussed potential landmarks as targets with an Islamic State recruiter.

“I’m in NY and trying to do an Op,” Saleh told a confidential source in an intercepted conversation, according to court papers.

Later, Saleh charged, while armed with a knife, at a federal officer who was watching him, prosecutors said.

“Saleh attempted to turn our city into a staging ground for violent attacks,” William Sweeney, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a statement. Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said Saleh’s sentence would deter “those who contemplate waging violent jihad in New York City at the direction of a foreign terrorist organization.”

Saleh’s lawyer, Deborah Colson, said her client was relieved that the case was concluded.

“Mr. Saleh is sincerely remorseful, and he is committed to making amends,” she said in an email.

Saleh, an American citizen, was a college student when he was arrested in 2015. His case was linked to five other conspirators in New York and New Jersey. At least four of them also have pleaded guilty.

In a letter to the judge earlier this year, Saleh said he was drawn to the Islamic State group because he saw it as an “Islamic resistance movement” amid the Syrian civil war. He said he became alarmed and “started exercising very bad judgment” when he noticed law enforcement following him.

“I am sorry for my shameful behavior,” he wrote.

[ralphmorgan-blog1]

New York explosion: Suspect in pipe bomb pledged allegiance to ISIS, officials say

(CNN)It was the latest lone wolf attack to target New York City. And it might have been worse.

Authorities said the explosion in a walkway below Port Authority Bus Terminal was an isolated attempted terrorist attack. Officials said the suspect, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, pledged allegiance to ISIS and said he acted in response to Israeli actions in Gaza.

Investigators said the suspect had at least two devices, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. The device that detonated was a foot-long pipe that contained black powder, a battery, wiring, nails and screws. It was attached to Ullah with Velcro and zip ties. Investigators did not elaborate on the second device, the source said.

The explosive chemical ignited in the pipe but the pipe itself did not explode, lessening its impact, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"Fortunately for us, the bomb partially detonated," he said. "He did detonate it, but it did not fully have the effect that he was hoping for."

Latest developments

Ullah's movements: The suspect was first spotted on a security camera as he began to climb the subway station stairs to the 18th Avenue F. train platform in Brooklyn at 6:25 a.m. about an hour before the attack, according to one law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation.

He then switched to the A train at Jay St./MetroTech stop in Brooklyn before exiting the train at the Port Authority Bus Terminal stop in Manhattan, the same law enforcement official says.

How bomb was made: The suspect made the bomb last week at his apartment in Brooklyn, according to one law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Suspect's condition: Ullah is at Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for lacerations and burns to his hands and abdomen, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. Five people were treated for minor injuries in area hospitals.

His prior credentials: Ullah held a Taxi & Limousine Commission license from March 2012 to March 2015, after which the license was not renewed, TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg said. It's unclear "whether he drove for any particular base, or whether he simply got the license but didn't drive at all," Fromberg said.

Residency: He is of Bangladeshi descent and lives in Brooklyn, two law enforcement sources told CNN. Ullah came to the United States in 2011 on an F43 family immigrant visa, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tyler Houlton. He is a lawful permanent resident.

What his neighbor says: Alan Butrico owns a Brooklyn building next to the home where he says Ullah lives with his family. He said Ullah lives in the basement, while his sister and brother live above him. "He wasn't friendly at all. The family was very quiet themselves. They don't talk to nobody. They just stay there," he said, adding that his tenants reported hearing "screaming and yelling" coming from Ullah's home the last two nights. The tenants did not call police, he said.

'Just a lot of chaos'

The blast detonated around 7:20 a.m. in an underground walkway connecting two subway lines beneath the bus terminal, which accommodates 220,000 passenger trips a day.

On grainy surveillance footage, commuters are seen walking through a tunnel when a burst of smoke erupts into the hallway, quickly filling it. Commuters flinch and take cover. When the smoke clears, a man can be seen lying on the ground in the hallway.

Francisco Ramirez said he was exiting a bus when he heard two blasts, even though he was wearing headphones.

"From what I saw it sounded like it came from the subway, but I'm just guessing," he said. "It was two distinct explosions seconds from each other. As I was making my way toward the outside, I kept getting shoved by cops and there were cops at every entrance blocking and there was police and SWAT everywhere.

"It was scary. It was just a lot of chaos but I didn't see any injuries."

Marlyn Yu Sherlock was at a retail store on the main floor of the terminal when people began flooding out of the subway entrance, "screaming, running in panic," she said.

"The PA system was still blaring Christmas carols," Sherlock said. "It took about four minutes before men in black cop uniforms started shooing people out of Port Authority. As I walked further away from the building, I kept asking the heavily armed cops what it was. They said 'suspicious package.'"

Terror links?

Police Commissioner James O'Neill called it a "terror-related incident." A key point of the investigation will be determining if Ullah intended to detonate the device in the hallway, he said.

Four Port Authority Police Officers confronted the suspect in the smoke-filled passageway and intervened, the president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association said. He identified the officers as Sean Gallagher, Drew M. Preston, John "Jack" F. Collins and Anthony Manfredini.

"Today, four courageous Port Authority police officers risked their lives confronting an armed terrorist to protect others from harm," Paul Nunziato said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the incident an "attempted terrorist attack" and said there were no credible, specific threats against the city at this moment.

By Monday afternoon, all subway stations with direct access to the terminal were reopened. The passageway remained closed.

Previous attacks

The incident comes a few weeks after a deadly terror attack in Lower Manhattan.

A man was charged with killing eight people and injuring a dozen others as he drove a pickup truck down a bicycle path near the World Trade Center on Halloween. He was arrested after the truck hit a school bus, stopping it in its tracks. He exited the vehicle and an officer shot him.

The suspect, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, was indicted last month on murder and terror-related charges, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said. Saipov pleaded not guilty to 22 federal counts.

The Halloween incident was the deadliest terror attack in New York City since the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.

The incident came less than a year after a pressure cooker bomb went off in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, wounding 30 people. A second pressure cooker bomb was found a few blocks away but didn't detonate. In October, a jury convicted Ahmad Rahimi of eight federal charges in connection with the September 2016 incident.

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