pelespirit

Bullet Points From Report

• From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women forengaging in sexual activity with him

.• In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.

• During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions

.• Representative Gaetz accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.

• In 2018, Representative Gaetz arranged for his Chief of Staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent.

• Representative Gaetz knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.

• Representative Gaetz has acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House

Underage Sex Portion

The Committee provided Representative Gaetz with the names of 15 women who were alleged to have received payments from him or on his behalf relating to sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, as well as the approximate payment amounts and transaction years, but he did not provide any explanation for those payments.

Representative Gaetz responded publicly to allegations that his payments to women were for sex by stating that “someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”105 He also repeatedly denied having ever paid for sex.106 When given the opportunity to put that assertion in writing in this matter, however, Representative Gaetz refused to respond, asserting that “asking about [his]sexual history as a single man with adult women is a bridge too far.

”Representative Gaetz did broadly address the allegation that he engaged in sexual activity with a minor; he asserted in his September 26, 2024, letter to the Committee: “Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum.”107 The Committee’s September 4 letter, however,specifically asked him whether he was present at the July 15, 2017, party at Mr. Dorworth’s,whether he ever engaged in sexual activity with Victim A and when, and whether he ever gave Victim A money (directly or indirectly) and if so, for what purpose. Representative Gaetz did not answer any of those questions.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25469466-read-the-house-ethics-committees-report-about-former-rep-matt-gaetz/#document/p1

Former Miami-Dade Congressman David Rivera has been charged for a second time with secretly working as an unregistered foreign agent in the United States.

But this time, Rivera is accused of trying to lobby a Trump administration official between 2019 and 2020 on behalf of a wealthy Venezuelan businessman who authorities say paid the former U.S. representative $5.5 million while trying to get himself removed from a federal government sanctions list.

Rivera, 59, was charged Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. with failing to register as a foreign agent for Raúl Gorrín, a Caracas TV mogul close to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and with laundering lobbying payments through Rivera’s firm, Interamerican Consulting, Inc.

In the complaint, the Department of Justice alleges Mangione kept a notebook in the months leading up to the fatal shooting, writing in an Aug. 15 entry that “the target is insurance.” Mangione allegedly wrote that an attack on an insurance company "checks every box."

In a later entry that federal authorities cited in the complaint, they claim that Mangione marveled at his luck upon discovering the New York conference outside of which Thompson was killed.

“This investor conference is a true windfall ... and — most importantly — the message becomes self-evident,” the notebook read.

Prosecutors further allege the notebook “describes an intent to ‘wack’ the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the operator of Zelle, as well as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo "for failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud" at the payment provider, according to a statement on Friday.

CFPB, the government's consumer financial watchdog agency, alleges customers of the top three banks lost more than $870 million over the seven years that Zelle has been in existence due to the banks' failures to protect them.

Among the CFPB allegations are that Zelle and the banks failed to implement proper fraud prevention safeguards, allowing scammers to proliferate, and that banks failed to properly investigate customer complaints about Zelle.

Zelle is operated by a company called Early Warning Services, which is co-owned by seven of the largest banks in the U.S.: Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday temporarily banned drone flights over 22 areas across New Jersey amid complaints of strange and often bright drones in the night sky.

“At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure,” the FAA said in a statement to CNBC.

The TFRs will last until Jan. 17 and cover large parts of central and northern New Jersey, including Elizabeth, Camden and Jersey City, the second most populous city in the Garden State.

Remember that one teacher who made going to school fun and inspired you to pursue your passions? Students at a new charter school in Arizona won’t, because they don’t get to have teachers. Instead, the two hours of academic instruction they receive each day—yes, just two hours—will be directed entirely by AI.

By a 4-3 margin, the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools on Monday approved an application from Unbound Academy to open a fully online school serving grades four through eight. Unbound already operates a private school that uses its AI-dependent “2hr Learning” model in Texas and is currently applying to open similar schools in Arkansas and Utah.

Under the 2hr Learning model, students spend just two hours a day using personalized learning programs from companies like IXL and Khan Academy. “As students work through lessons on subjects like math, reading, and science, the AI system will analyze their responses, time spent on tasks, and even emotional cues to optimize the difficulty and presentation of content,” according to Unbound’s charter school application in Arizona. “This ensures that each student is consistently challenged at their optimal level, preventing boredom or frustration.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office cannot continue prosecuting the Georgia election interference case involving President-elect Donald Trump, the Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled.

However, the court declined to dismiss the case itself. Fulton County prosecutors quickly notified the court that they intend to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

"While this is the rare case in which DA Willis and her office must be disqualified due to a significant appearance of impropriety, we cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment under the appropriate standard," the appeals court judges wrote. The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to disqualify Willis.

Sean O'Brien, the union's president, said in a statement late Wednesday that "if your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed." The Teamsters had given Amazon until December 15 to agree to contract talks.

"We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it," said O'Brien. "These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they've pushed workers to the limit and now they're paying the price. This strike is on them."

We (ProPublica) heard the same story again and again this year:

The women were having miscarriages. They were bleeding and in pain.

They needed a medical procedure to clear their uterus, but their doctors delayed it or didn’t even counsel them about it. Our yearlong investigation found that abortion laws are affecting how physicians treat pregnancy loss and other complications because the procedures used in these cases are also used for abortions.

We wrote it in consultation with dozens of doctors, including those who hold positions at leading medical organizations and those who regularly treat patients who are miscarrying.

This guide does not provide medical or legal advice. We encourage you to seek out other reliable resources and consult with experts you trust.

In this article:

• What Is a Miscarriage?
• What Are the Treatment Options?
• What Is a D&C?
• What Is a D&E?
• How Have D&Cs and D&Es Been Affected by Abortion Bans?
• How to Find Doctors Who Will Offer All Options
• How to Prepare for Emergencies
• How to Choose a Hospital
• What to Do if You’re Experiencing Signs of a Miscarriage
• What to Do if You Aren’t Getting Care You Need

In Amite County, about 900 children attend the local public schools — which, as of 2021, were 16% white. More than 600 children attend two private schools — which were 96% white. Other, mostly white students go to a larger segregation academy in a neighboring county.

“It’s staggering,” said Warren Eyster, principal of Amite County High until this school year. “It does create a divide.”

The difference between those figures, 80 percentage points, is one way to understand the segregating effect of private schools — it shows how much more racially isolated students are when they attend these schools.

The FTC’s September 2024 complaint alleges Rytr’s service generated detailed reviews that contained specific, often material details that had no relation to the user’s input, so almost certainly would be false for the users who copied them and published them online. Accordingly, the complaint charges Rytr violated the FTC Act by providing subscribers with the means to generate false and deceptive written content for reviews. It also alleges Rytr engaged in an unfair business practice by offering a service that is likely to pollute the marketplace with a glut of fake reviews.

The final order settling the Commission’s complaint prohibits Rytr from engaging in similar illegal conduct in the future. It also bars the company from advertising, promoting, marketing, or selling any service dedicated to – or promoted as – generating consumer reviews or testimonials.

The results of an ethics investigation into now-former congressman Matt Gaetz will be made public after a secret vote to share the report in the final days of 2024.

Members of the House Ethics Committee voted again earlier this month, reversing a decision to withhold the findings of a long-running probe into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use.

The report is expected to be made public as lawmakers prepare to leave Washington for the holidays, CNN reported. Gaetz, 42, responded on X, arguing his actions in his thirties were “not criminal” and he now leads a different life.