Mendocino County Today: Monday, March 26, 2018

• Contested Raids
• Navarro Mouth
• Spotty Data
• Little Dog
• Cayler Retiring
• Coast
• HCOE Team
• Riflegirl
• Horsemeat
• Laos Diary
• Insurance Shortfall
• Profane Wrestler
• Marbut Presentation
• Water Grenades
• William McAllister
• Ukefest
• Yesterday's Catch
• Killing Methods
• American Dream
• Student Protests
• Gun March
• Castor Oil
• Food Fads
• Chickenhawks
• Trump Vortex
• Stormy Interview

TWO MORE POT GROWERS have filed claims against the county for alleged wrongful raids last September.

Mr. William Knight of Ukiah says in his claim (on the Supervisors agenda for routine rejection next week) that he was in the County’s 9.31 program last year when “Sheriff Inspector Randy Johnson told me to move my garden to the flats. I moved to the flats and got raided by the Sheriffs Department and Fish and Wildlife. Also, Mendocino Ag Department does not know what they are doing and is giving false information about Lake and Streambed Alteration (LSA) requirements and Fish and Wildlife requirements. I am currently in the permit process with the Ag department.”

Mr. Knight says his damages include unnecessary damage to his fences even though he gave the raiders the lock codes and keys, in addition to the loss of the marijuana that was destroyed. He's claiming $603,000 in damage.

Mr. Knight says that the person who caused the damage was Undersheriff Randy Johnson and the Mendocino County Ag Department. He attached a receipt from the Ag Department for his pot cultivation permit application. According to the receipt, "this receipt when signed and embossed certifies that the Department of Agriculture is in receipt of an application to cultivate cannabis at the above listed address. The garden at this site is considered to be in compliance or working towards compliance until such time as a permit is issued or denied.”

Signed by Diane Curry, Interim Agriculture Commissioner

* * *

Javier Sandoval of Willits has filed a similar complaint also claiming that he was in the 9.31 program for the last few years. “When Sheriff Inspector Randy Johnson said to move my garden to the flat area by Highway 20 which drew attention. I got raided by the Sheriff department, and Fish and Game and Wildlife and Mendocino Ag Department claiming something about a stream crossing. It was all lies. They have no idea what they are doing and are giving false information about Lake and Streambed Alteration requirements and Fish and Wildlife. I am currently in the permit process with the Ag department." Mr. Sandoval claims a loss of $300,000. He also says the person responsible was Sheriff Randy Johnson and the Mendocino County Ag department.

FUZZY VIEW OF NAVARRO RIVER MOUTH

Another reason we like going to the Whitesboro Grange is the wonderful view of the Navarro River from Navarro Ridge Road. (MendocinoSportsPlus)

MISSING NOAA WEATHER DATA

National Weather Service’s three-day climate data for Boonville ended Saturday, 3/24/18 at 5:50 a.m. (it is now Sunday, 3/25, 7:56 a.m.). I wish this organization, which we fund, would pay closer attention to its equipment.

wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=eka&sid=BNVC1&num=72&raw=0

JUST IN: At some point during today (Sunday), the National Weather Service finally posted data from the Boonville station. It previously had gone AWOL for more than a day. Bizarre, but at least we finally know how much rain and how much wind we had Saturday and Sunday. Also just in time to record a night of potential frost.

(Marshall Newman)

LITTLE DOG SAYS, “I asked Skrag if he watched Stormy on 60 Minutes last night. ‘Cats never talk about private matters in public,’ he says, ‘only dawgs do that,’ and he walks off with his ratty raccoon tail in the air.”

FORMER MENDO TRASH CZAR, and former Willits City Manager, current Cloverdale City Manager Paul Cayler is retiring early.

pressdemocrat.com/news/8077399-181/october-fires-vacation-clarify-cloverdale

COASTAL TRAIL

(Photo by Judy Valadao)

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

AVA,

I just received a letter from HCOE. Thinking it might be some last-minute tax information I opened it to be greeted by the following: "My name is Monica Dekat and I am your new Humboldt County Office of Education California School Employee Association President…"

I could read no more. Who are these people? Where do they come from? Isn't there an old adage about the importance of one's job being inversely proportional to the number of words in their job title?

John Potter

Loleta

Ed reply: Beats me, but there seem to be an awful lot of them.

GUNS! THE NEXT GENERATION!

(Jordan Walton, Grafton, Wisconsin)

MARCH 29, 1943: So the dowager plunks down $10 and buys a stack of the choicest T-bones, each an inch thick, and serves them up at her dinner party. And of course the guests exclaim over them. “What delicious steak, Martha. How in the world did you manage to get them?” The hostess beams, then quietly tells them what they’ve just eaten with much gusto was: Horsemeat! There are daintily shocked gasps. But then the memory of those savory bites overcomes the first impulses of horror, and the talk of the mustang roasts was gay over the dessert. And the next day one of those guests went down to Scottie’s Pony Market at 607 Washington in Oakland and loaded up with prime cuts. The antipathy to horsemeat is fast vanishing, says Jim Augustine, the East Bay’s one and only mustang meat jobber. It’s no longer a fad. What with the meat shortage and war rationing, it’s become as accepted as the hot dog. When he opened this first store last January business was pretty slack. Now on a Saturday, customers are three deep at the counter. A fair Saturday will bring 1200 customers. Jim now runs four horsemeat stores in the Bay Area. “Another slice of Dobbin, Henry?”

Campbell Bruce (San Francisco Chronicle)

DAD’S VIETNAM WAR FLIGHT LOGS

AVA,

I hope this note finds you happy and well in Mendo. I'm doing okay. As usual I'm homesick as hell but trying to make the best of a bad situation one day at a time.

My father was a pilot who flew for Continental Air Services in Laos during the Vietnam War, as did my father's good friend from Anderson Valley, Don Ornbaun. Our whole family lived in Vientiene, Laos from 65-70. Anyway, I possess my dad's old flight log books that he wrote in at the end of each day. Spectacular events that read like an action-packed novel. If you want I would like to share with you and your readers some of the adventures of a Mendocino hero.

A couple of years ago you interviewed the nice lady who owns a bookstore in the town of Mendocino. I would very much like to have her P.O. Box. I want to acquire some books on the history of Mendocino/Northcoast with a focus on the logging industry. My great-grandfather came to the north coast, Fort Bragg, as a boy around 1900. That side of my family worked in the woods for four generations. My son would be the fifth generation but he passed away in a tragic accident in my logging truck at fifteen years of age.

That's all for now. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for everything.

Your loyal and grateful reader,

Mark Patrick Radcliffe
T-86131/1-123
PO Box 4000
Vacaville, CA 95696

SURPRISE (From the Press Democrat): "The next blow: Many fire victims don’t have enough insurance to rebuild"

(Which besides the homeowner’s tragic loss, means that the tax base for the affected counties will not recover to pre-fire levels as the bureaucrats predicted.)

pressdemocrat.com/business/8117171-181/insurance-shortfalls-hamper-sonoma-county

3AM, WILLITS

On March 23, 2018 at about 3:00 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a reported disturbance at a residence in the 24000 block of Birch Terrace in Willits. Deputies were advised there was an unknown person at the door of the reporting person’s residence ringing the door bell and yelling profanities. A Deputy arrived and contacted Michael Eugene Herman, 41, of Corpus Christi, Texas, on the front porch of the residence and he was screaming very loudly.

The Deputy exited his patrol vehicle and Herman fled on foot around the side of the house. The Deputy gave chase and made contact with Herman, who was intoxicated. A second Deputy arrived and located both Herman and the first Deputy wrestling on the ground after Herman became physically aggressive towards the first Deputy. Herman physically resisted the Deputies and refused to comply with verbal commands to stop resisting. Herman refused to place his hands behind his back after being told he was under arrest. Herman continued to overpower the Deputies and appeared to be under the influence of more than just an alcoholic beverage. During the struggle Herman punched one of the Deputies a couple times in the face, and grabbed the Deputy by the neck. Finally, one of the Deputies wrestling with Herman was able to release his K9 partner “Ruddick” from his patrol vehicle via remote control to assist in subduing Herman. With the assistance of K9 Ruddick, Herman was subsequently restrained and arrested on charges of Obstructing or resisting a Peace Officer and Battery on a Peace Officer. Herman was transported to Howard Memorial Hospital where he was medically evaluated and was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail. One of the Deputies sustained minor injuries during this incident and was treated/released from Howard Memorial Hospital.

TOMMY WAYNE KRAMER reports on Robert Marbut’s homelessness presentation in Ukiah last week. (Hint: It didn’t go over very well with the homeless enablers, er, advocates.)

ukiahdailyjournal.com/opinion/20180325/assignment-ukiah-here-to-jeer-not-to-think

WATER GRENADES

(Tales from Covelo)

by Zeek Hopkins

One year I was given a soccer ball. We were always and forever chasing that thing. Living on the top of a hill wasn’t easy and the ball often would roll off down the hill and we would have to go chasing after it. Some years later it got under foot and was kicked out of the way and then rolled down under the truck and that was the end of it as a ball. After that it was cut open and used as a helmet for water ball fights. There was a spring on the west side of the meadow that ran near the house. It has wonderful blue and yellow clay and we would dig it up and make water balls with it. . A ball of clay the size of a golf ball was what we would start out with. Then we would hollow the ball out and dip it into the spring s water pool and then top the opening with ta patch. Then we would make a whole stack of water balls like this and lay in wait for the next kid to walk by and start pelting them. One team would get the pile on the north side of the spring and the other would keep the spring as their base. The soccer ball helmet went to the youngest person on the teams. There would be hell to pay if we injured one of the little kids so we had to make sure they were “safe” at all times. The spring was surrounded by flue flag and meadow grasses. An occasional scoulers popcorn flower would be found here and sometimes kitten’s ears were seen along the edge of the spring. Mosses grew in the grass and were soft in the summer, but wet any time other than that. One winter I took a skate board and turned it into a snow board. This was before snow boards were even a thing that people had.

APRIL 3, 1918: Dr. William F. M. McAllister, the last survivor of John Brown’s raid, and for nearly half a century a well-known physician and politician in San Francisco, died last night at 839 Haight Street. McAllister was a boy of seventeen when he shouldered a musket and marched away to Harper’s Ferry with John Brown. He went through the Civil War coming out as a Major, and in 1870 left Pennsylvania for San Francisco. He was United States Commissioner of Immigration at this port for a number of years. For fourteen years he was medical director of the Veterans’ Home in Yountville and for a number of years a surgeon in the Pacific Mail Service, an employment in which he made 103 trips between San Francisco and Hong Kong.

(San Francisco Chronicle)

MENDOCINO COAST UKEFEST 2018

Friday, April 13 6:30-9pm

Mendocino Coast UkeFest Kick-Off - Jam and sing-along, meet the instructors. Redwood Coast Senior Center, 490 N Harold St, Fort Bragg. All ages and levels of experience are encouraged. Bring your ukulele or just come in to sing along. Free admission. uke@mcn.org or call Pattie 937-1732

Saturday, April 14 9am -3pm Mendocino Coast UkeFest 2018 - A daytime ukulele festival to celebrate the ukulele, a fun and friendly instrument with workshops and jamming. Redwood Coast Senior Center, 490 N Harold St, Fort Bragg. A choice of two workshops each at 10am and 1:30pm, open mic follows. $30 for the day. Net proceeds benefit RCSC. For more information email uke@mcn.org or call Pattie 937-1732

Saturday, April 14 3-9pm Mendocino Coast UkeFest 2018 - Free admission events at Redwood Coast Senior Center, 490 N Harold St, Fort Bragg, begin at 3pm for open mic with Pizza Party and Salad Bar dinner starting at 5PM. Performances from 5:30-8:30PM feature “The Ukeholics and the Tiny Orchestra of Boonville”, "The Random Holler Jug Band" and more. For more information email uke@mcn.org or call Pattie 937-1732 

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 25, 2018

DAVID ALCAZAR, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI, parole violation.

TRAVIS BENEVICH, Willits. Suspended license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

GABRIEL BOWES, Covelo. Harboring a wanted felon, parole violation.

JOHN COUTHREN, Ukiah. Rape by force, violence, duress, menace or fear of bodily injury.

RICKEY ESQUE JR., Ukiah. Battery, failure to appear.

SHAWN GOTT, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, controlled substance, resisting, probation revocation.

MICHAEL HERMAN, Corpus Christie/Willits. Battery on peace officer, resisting.

AARON KOSKI, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent Flyer)

BRANDON LAWSON, Willits. Toluene, probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER MANGRUM, Willits. Forged vehicle registration, controlled substance, suspended license.

JOSE MARTINEZ-LOPEZ, Boonville. DUI.

DEBORAH MCCLOUD, Covelo. False impersonation of another, resisting, probation revocation.

MICHAEL MONTANO, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

MICHAEL TINAJERO, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DAYLEE WATSON, Covelo. Harboring a wanted felon, probation revocation.

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE DAY:

(1) The whole gun control issue is ludicrous. If America was totally disarmed, a smart nutcase would just construct a home made bomb. It could be a nail bomb, a chemical bomb or a biological bomb. It wouldn’t have to be very big, just big enough to place just outside a classroom. Boom! More than 17 killed at once. One could almost say that guns being legal actually cuts down the number of deaths because it’s far easier and safer to get and load an assault rifle or handgun than painstakingly putting together a bomb which would probably be a more effective killing weapon.

(2) Columbine was actually planned out as a bomb attack. Klebold and Harris made about 200 small grenades they called “crickets,” and a half dozen large bombs using acetyline welding tanks packed with black powder, which they placed around the school. The guns they had were relatively simple sawed off double barrel shotguns, which they deployed when many of the bombs failed to detonate. In the school massacre in Bath, Michigan on May 15, 1927, a board of ed member wired the whole school with dynamite and set it off with school in session. Many were killed in the blast, and he shot survivors as they ran out of the destroyed building with a .38 revolver. 48 dead. If there’s a will there’s a way.

MY AMERICAN DREAM

by Stephen Schwartz

This work is a collective inspiration and has no need for an author or copyright. Please do not reproduce for sale. No cash nexus. Surrealism forever.

“The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.” – August Spies, Haymarket martyr

I dreamed General Sherman led the anarchists to victory in the Spanish civil war

With General Grant commanding the Bosnian revolt of the dahijas

And Sheridan at the head of the troops of the Paris Commune

I dreamed Ben Franklin appeared suddenly

With Big Bill Haywood at the founding of the IWW

And that Thomas Paine busted Joe Hill out of jail in Salt Lake City

I dreamed Frederick Douglass advised the Rif rebels of Abd El Karim El Khattab

Sweeping the French and Spanish before them

And Hamilton and Madison

Argued with Lenin and Trotsky in Smolny

I dreamed that Lincoln rescued Imam Husayn at the Battle of Karbala

That Betsy Ross and Molly Pitcher joined Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth in the Underground Railroad

That Emma Goldman lectured with Mary Magdalen in the Garden of Gethsemane

On the fate of sex workers in modern society

It was a seminar with Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

I dreamed Amadeo Bordiga Errico Malatesta and Gaetano Salvemini took over America’s great universities as academies for spiritual and sexual education

Inspired by the Italian Left – and to hell with Gramsci

I dreamed William Faulkner gave up his Nobel Prize and demanded it be awarded to Victor Serge

I dreamed the Seventh Cavalry killed Custer and deserted to the side of Crazy Horse

At the battle of the Greasy Grass

They cut off his hair and presented it to Sitting Bull

With Ann Coulter as an extra special trophy of war

I dreamed John Brown assassinated Trump

I dreamed Jesse James cried in remorse at having been a Reb terrorist

And in expiation he assassinated Trump

I dreamed Wovoka of the Ghost Dance rebellion assassinated Trump

I dreamed Leon Czolgosz assassinated Trump

I dreamed Alexander Berkman assassinated Trump

I dreamed Ricardo Flores Magón blew up Leavenworth Prison and assassinated Trump

I dreamed Pancho Villa occupied the border up to 100 miles inside New Mexico

Where his forces were joined by the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters and the women’s brigades of the Kosovo Liberation Army

I dreamed André Breton punched Nazi Spencer in the face

Again and again through eternity

I dreamed Kenneth Rexroth danced madly with the decapitated head of Matthew Slimebach

In downtown Indianapolis

Forever and ever

I dream of all Nazis fascists racists white supremacists homophobes transphobes Islamophobes chetniks

Waking up in Antarctica where they are dying of a rare form of penguin cancer

Five minutes more and they’ll have their white genocide

White corpses white bones white nothing against the white of Antarctica

Forever and ever

I dream of Twitter Jack Dorsey waking up a transgender sex worker addicted to heroin dying of AIDS and evicted from an SRO forever

I dream of Mark Zuckerberg facing Heather Heyer at Charlottesville in the afterlife forever

I dream of THE NEW REPUBLIC transformed into a poodle-grooming studio

For people who think fascists and Antifa are morally equivalent

(Oh, right, it’s that already)

I dream of Kurdistan

I dream of Catalunya

I dream of Scotland

I dream of Antifa

I dream of my America

Never white never white never white

We’re Partisans marching and our anthem is EYES ON THE PRIZE

The song I taught in Croatia in 1989 and heard in Kosovo where everyone knows about Rosa Parks

Like Leary said at the Human Be-In 1967

It’s all real and this is really it

In Barcelona there’s a plaza named for Orwell this is really it

In Kurdistan women fight ISIS inspired by Murray Bookchin this is really it

In Ukraine Makhno has risen from the dead and leads the masses against all tyrants this is really it

This is really it

This is really it

It’s the world revolution at last

It’s the hour Bobby Burns sang when tyrants are laid low

It’s the time Yeats described when a terrible beauty is born

It’s the hour Bobby Dylan sang when the ship comes in

It’s the hour when the whole world sings SOLIDARITY FOREVER

It’s Revolution – The Festival of the Oppressed!

MILLIONS OF STUDENTS DEMAND “NEVER AGAIN” TO GUN VIOLENCE

by Shepherd Bliss

Sonoma County, Northern California — Over a million students and allies walked out of classes in the U.S., from Maine to Hawaii, and elsewhere in the world on March 14. Ten days later, March 24, hundreds of thousands of defiant marchers flooded the streets in Washington, D.C., and at more than 800 places on every continent except Antarctica. What might they do next?

Many surviving Parkland students are becoming familiar faces in D.C. Politicians hear from them regularly and some respond positively. They have captured the nation’s attention with their soaring speeches and emotional chants at what is being described as “sibling marches.”

They are protesting the killing of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. They gathered on street corners, in downtowns, gyms, football fields, auditoriums, and elsewhere. The first events typically took 17 minutes to honor those who were murdered.

This was the largest wave of protests in American history, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. This show of strength reveals a political awakening by youth. “Welcome to the revolution,” said one student. “We need to turn this moment into a movement,” said another, which some call the #Never Again Movement.

Since the 1999 Columbine shooting, 187,000 students have experienced a shooting. “Many are not the same,” added the Washington Post.

Three groups gathered in different cities here in semi-rural Sonoma County. A March for Our Lives group took to the center of our small-town Sebastopol (population 8000) and another at Courthouse Square in Sonoma County’s capital Santa Rosa. It was organized by Moms Demand Action and the Sonoma County Junior Commission on Human Rights.

Some vets and active duty military persons attended the Sebastopol gathering and spoke against assault weapons.

The Love Choir led singing at the Sebastopol action. They wore shirts saying “Peacetown USA.” Their lyrics included the following: “I’m going to lay down my sword and shield. We’re going to study war no more.” A popular chant was “We shall not be moved.” One sign read “Liberty, Not Death for My Grandchildren.”

The town of Sonoma was the site of another rally, in its Plaza. Fourteen students from Sonoma Valley High School traveled to D.C. to join the March 24 action there.

“Make safe schools a priority” was the goal of the Santa Rosa gathering. It offered student speakers, opportunities to pre-register to vote, and other options for concerned citizens of all ages to become involved with advocacy.

Signs such as the following were held: “Books Not Bullets!” “Love Kids, Not Guns.” “Send Prayers to the NRA.” “We Adults Have Failed Our Young People.”

One student held a sign bearing 17 blood-red hands and the message “How Many More!” A student wore a t-shirt that read “Young and Powerful.”

Politicians Support Students

California Congressman Jared Huffman met with nearly 1000 students and adults the day after the first large march. “There is a lot of evidence right now about the power of young voices,” he said. “Many of us have been beating our heads against the wall of gun reform for years and getting nowhere. These young people are stepping up and speaking so eloquently. They are changing the country.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) has been meeting regularly with high school age activists. He urges them to dig in for a long fight, “like the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements.”

Sebastopol Mayor Patrick Slayter attended both rallies in his town. He supports greater gun control and was heartened by the student activism.

“This fits in with the history of the country. The way change is made is the bottom up,” said History Professor Nolan Higdon of Cal State East Bay.

“These kids are all right,” a Chronicle headline reports the day after the first march. Between 1990 and 2004 92 million Americans were born. They represent the largest generation in history, becoming 1/3 of the U.S. population this year. That’s a lot of votes.

“It’s going to look scary to politicians,” said Rebecca Schneid,16, editor of the Parkland student newspaper. The U.S. may be at the beginning of a new, rapidly growing movement. It could grow and change history dramatically.

The New York Times quoted senior Ally Sheehy as saying, “The ‘children’ you pissed off will not forget this in the voting booth. We are a force to be reckoned with.”

“How disgusting and broken our political system is right now in America,” added senior David Hogg, a survivor of the recent Parkland massacre.

Organizers demand tighter background checks on gun purchases and a ban on assault weapons, like the one used in the Florida bloodbath.

A small number of pro-gun demonstrations have also happened, especially in rural areas. Some have chanted “NRA is the only way.” Arguments and scuffles have broken out between the two sides.

Conservative supporters of guns organized smaller, competing rallies this weekend in places that include Helena, Montana, and Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, in a Pennsylvania town each classroom now has a 5-gallon bucket of stones.

Student leaders vowed to continue walkouts April 20th, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting in Colorado. They plan to continue direct actions, register young people to vote, lobby legislators, and even run for office.

Many students walked out of classes in the l960s to protest the American Wars on the People of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. My generation was a leader in ending those wars, as this generation can lead us to stricter gun laws, and thus fewer school and other mass shootings.

By walking out, today’s students may have initiated a massive movement for change, including more even than the importance of dealing with guns—at a time when the U.S. desperately needs change and new leadership.

We adults have failed to provide safety for our young people.

(Dr. Shepherd Bliss {3sb@comcast.net} is a retired college teacher, farmer, and has contributed to 24 books.)

MORE GUN REGULATION MARCH PICS

CASTOR OIL & MYSTICISM

by Juan José Millás

(Translated by Louis S. Bedrock)

My mother placed enormous importance on the condition of the tongue. In the morning, she would line us up and, one by one, we would show her our tongues. She would then decide which of us had to take castor oil and which of us did not. The castor oil had a repugnant taste; however, my brother Antonio seemed to like it. At times, he would take mine and that of my sister Elvira.

—How can you like it? —I would ask him.

—I don’t like it but I’m acclimating myself little by little to the things I don’t like.

Years later, I was surprised to observe that my brother’s manner of dealing with the world was found in textbooks with the name of asceticism. The ascetic seeks the good through the evil; or torments himself to achieve well-being, if you prefer. My brother was an ascetic without ever having heard that curious word.

Some days he would deliberately stain his tongue with ink so he’d be given a double dose of the potion. He asserted that he began the day more calmly with an undeserved punishment. He predicted that the future would be full of undeserved things that we’d have to swallow and he was not wrong about that.

I was less complaisant than my brother, or perhaps more mystical, which means I thought the good came at no cost or just by luck, and used to wash my tongue with a wet towel and soap.

Since then, I’ve maintained the custom of examining my tongue in the mirror when I get up. It’s not an unusual custom: many characters in movies do it. What I don’t know is if we’re all looking for the same thing. Perhaps in the tongue, as in the lines of the hand, one can read the future, or at least the recent past.

At night, I have nightmares; in fact, I wake up with my tongue dirty. So, I go to the kitchen and take not one, but two teaspoons of castor oil: one for me and one for my brother Antonio, who died last spring. Although I have not been able to get accustomed to all the things I don’t like, I’ve developed an interesting tolerance toward them.

Through the years, as I’ve come to understand that mysticism is a chimera, I am becoming an ascetic. Each day I discover a small torment to inflict upon my tongue.  I don’t do it for God or for the Devil nor for the hunger in the world; I do it for the past, toward which I maintain a warped loyalty.

BAD NEWS FOR FOOD CRANKS

Debunked! Juice detoxes. Gluten free. Superfoods. The truth about all those fashionable healthy eating fads - by a scientist who admits she once fell for them, too

Scientist Pixie Turner reveals that a juice diet is expensive and doesn't lead to positive, long-term lifestyle habits, and that many regain the pounds after returning to eating food.

CHICKENHAWKS FLOCK TO WHITE HOUSE

Stephen Metcalf on Slate:

...Donald Trump’s selective service file reads as follows: Between 1964 and 1966, as American troop commitment in Vietnam escalated and the military draft began in earnest, Trump received three 2-S classifications—student deferments—for being enrolled at Fordham University and later at Wharton business school.

In the ’60s, graduate school was an easy way to extend a student deferment until you turned 26, at which point you aged out of the draft… In July 1968, Trump received a 1-A classification, signaling he was fit to serve on the basis of a physical he had taken roughly two years earlier.

Then, in October 1968, Trump was examined again, and classified 1-Y. He was no longer protected by a grad student deferral, but it didn’t matter. He had been made exempt from military service due to an unspecified medical condition.

Not surprisingly, Trump has dissembled on the issue, claiming his high draft lottery number prevented a call-up. But Trump’s publicly available files show he received his 1-Y classification before the lottery went into effect in 1969.

When Trump’s biographer confronted him about the timeline, a curious exchange ensued. “As he talked, Trump slipped off his black loafer and pointed to his heel, where a little bulge pushed against his sock. ‘Heel spurs,’ he explained, ‘on both feet’.”

By his own account, Trump was a golden boy athlete through high school, “always the best player” on the field, one who excelled “not just in baseball, in every sport.” Yet somehow, thanks to a minor protuberance, he was declared unfit for military service…

(Rob Anderson, District5Diary)

FULL STORMY DANIELS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Anderson Cooper: For sitting here talking to me today you could be fined a million dollars I mean aren't you taking a big risk?

Stormy Daniels: I am.

Anderson Cooper: I guess I'm not 100% sure on why you're doing this.

Stormy Daniels: Because it was very important to me to be able to defend myself

Anderson Cooper: Is part of talking w-- wanting to set the record straight?

Stormy Daniels: 100%.

Anderson Cooper: Why does the record need to be set straight?

Stormy Daniels: Because people are just saying whatever they wanted to say about me, I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I'm not okay with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, "Oh, you're an opportunist. You're taking advantage of this. Yes, I'm getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they've been making, doing the same thing that they've always done?

Anderson Cooper: A lotta people are using you for a lotta different agendas.

Stormy Daniels: They're trying to. Like, oh, you know, Stormy Daniels comes out #MeToo. This is not a 'Me Too.' I was not a victim. I've never said I was a victim. I think trying to use me to-- to further someone else's agenda, does horrible damage to people who are true victims.

Stormy Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford. She's 39 years old, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has been acting in, directing, and writing adult films for nearly 20 years. She was one of the most popular actresses in the adult industry when she was introduced to Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July, 2006. She says he invited her to dinner, and she met him at his hotel suite.

Anderson Cooper: How was the conversation?

Stormy Daniels: Ummm (LAUGH) it started off-- all about him just talking about himself. And he's like-- "Have you seen my new magazine?

Anderson Cooper: He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine.

Stormy Daniels: Right, right. And so I was like, "Does this-- does this normally work for you?" And he looked very taken-- taken back, like, he didn't really understand what I was saying. Like, I was--  does, just, you know, talking about yourself normally work?" And I was like, "Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it." (LAUGH) And I'll never forget the look on his face. He was like--

Anderson Cooper: What-- what was his look?

Stormy Daniels: Just, I don't think anyone's ever spoken to him like that, especially, you know, a young woman who looked like me. And I said, you know, "Give me that," and I just remember him going, "You wouldn't." "Hand it over." And-- so he did, and I was like, turn around, drop 'em."

Anderson Cooper: You-- you told Donald Trump to turn around and take off his pants.

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: And did he?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little -- you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats.

Anderson Cooper: This was done in a joking manner.

Stormy Daniels: Yes. and-- from that moment on, he was a completely different person.

Anderson Cooper: How so?

Stormy Daniels:  He quit talking about himself and he asked me things and I asked him things and it just became like more appropriate.

Anderson Cooper: It became more comfortable.

Stormy Daniels: Yeah. He was like, "Wow, you-- you are special. You remind me of my daughter." You know-- he was like, "You're smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you."

Anderson Cooper: At this point was he doing The Apprentice?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. And he goes, "Got an idea, honeybunch. Would you ever consider going on and-- and being a contestant?" And I laughed and-- and said, "NBC's never gonna let, you know, an adult film star be on." It's, you know, he goes, "No, no," he goes, "That's why I want you. You're gonna shock a lotta people, you're smart and they won't know what to expect"

Anderson Cooper: Did you think he was serious, or did you think he was kind of dangling to get you to wanna be involved him?

Stormy Daniels: Both.

Anderson Cooper: Melania Trump had recently given birth to-- to a son, just a few months before. Did that-- did he mention his wife or child at all in this?

Stormy Daniels: I asked. And he brushed it aside, said, "Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even we have separate rooms and stuff."

Anderson Cooper: Did you two go out for dinner that night?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: You had dinner in the room?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: What happened next?

Stormy Daniels: I asked him if I could use his restroom and he said, "Yes, you know, it's through those-- through the bedroom, you'll see it." So I-- I excused myself and I went to the-- the restroom. You know, I was in there for a little bit and came out and he was sitting, you know, on the edge of the bed when I walked out, perched.

Anderson Cooper: And when you saw that, what went through your mind?

Stormy Daniels: I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into. And I was like, "Ugh, here we go." (LAUGH) And I just felt like maybe-- (LAUGH) it was sort of-- I had it coming for making a bad decision for going to someone's room alone and I just heard the voice in my head, "well, you put yourself in a bad situation and bad things happen, so you deserve this."

Anderson Cooper: And you had sex with him.

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: You were 27, he was 60. Were you physically attracted to him?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Not at all?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did you want to have sex with him?

Stormy Daniels: No. But I didn't-- I didn't say no. I'm not a victim, I'm not--

Anderson Cooper: It was entirely consensual.

Stormy Daniels: Oh, yes, yes.

Anderson Cooper: You work in an industry where condom use is-- is an issue. Did-- did he use a condom?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did you ask him to?

Stormy Daniels: No. I honestly didn't say anything.

Anderson Cooper: After you had sex, what happened?

Stormy Daniels: He said that it was great, he had-- a great evening, and it was nothing like he expected, that I really surprised him, that a lotta people must underestimate me-- that he hoped that I would be willing to see him again and that we would discuss the things we had talked about earlier in the evening.

Anderson Cooper: Being on The Apprentice.

Stormy Daniels: Right.

Daniels says she and Mr. Trump stayed in touch. She says he invited her to a Trump Vodka launch party in California, as well as to his office in Trump Tower in New York.

Anderson Cooper: So he definitely wanted to continue to see you.

Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure. Yes.

Stormy Daniels: And this was not a secret. He never asked me not to tell anyone he called several times when I was in front of many people and I would be like, "Oh my God, he's calling." They were like, "Shut up, the Donald?" And I'd put him on speakerphone, and he wanted to know what I was up to and "When can we get together again? I just wanted to give you a quick update, we had a meeting, it went great. There's-- it's gonna be spectacular, they're totally into the idea," and I was like mhmm that part I never believed.

Anderson Cooper: Did you still get the sense that he was kind of dangling it in front of you--

Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure, oh yeah.

Anderson Cooper: To keep you interested, to keep you coming back.

Stormy Daniels: Of course, of course. I mean, I'm not blind. But at the same time, maybe it'll work out, you know?

Anderson Cooper: Did you view it as this is a potential opportunity. "I'm gonna see where it goes?"

Stormy Daniels:  I thought of it as a business deal.

"A guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.'"

In July 2007 -- a year after they met -- Daniels says Mr. Trump asked to meet with her privately at his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss a development regarding her possible appearance on Celebrity Apprentice.

Stormy Daniels: I remember arriving, and he was watching Shark Week. He made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks.

Anderson Cooper: It wasn't at that point a business meeting, it was just watching Shark Week.

Stormy Daniels: Yeah.

Anderson Cooper: Did you have sex with him again?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Did he want to?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper: How do you know he wanted to?

Stormy Daniels: Because he came and sat next to me and, you know, touched my hair, and put his hand on my leg, and r-- referenced back to how great it was the last time.

Anderson Cooper: How did you get out of it?

Stormy Daniels: Well, I'd been there for, like, four hours. And so I then was like, "Well, before, you know, can we talk about what's the development?" And he was like, "I'm almost there. I'll have an answer for you next week." And I was like, "Okay, cool. Well-- I guess call me next week." And I just took my purse and left.

According to Daniels, Mr. Trump called her the following month to say he'd not been able to get her a spot on Celebrity Apprentice. She says they never met again and only had sex in that first meeting in 2006. In May 2011, Daniels agreed to tell her story to a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000 dollars. Two former employees of the magazine told us the story never ran because after the magazine called Mr. Trump seeking comment, his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue. Daniels says she was never paid, and says a few weeks later, she was threatened by a man who approached her in Las Vegas.

Stormy Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T-- taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin' all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, "Leave Trump alone. Forget the story." And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." And then he was gone.

Anderson Cooper: You took it as a direct threat?

Stormy Daniels: Absolutely.

Stormy Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna-- drop her.

Anderson Cooper: Did you ever see that person again?

Stormy Daniels: No. But I-- if I did, I would know it right away.

Anderson Cooper:  You'd be able to-- you'd be able to recognize that person?

Stormy Daniels: 100%. Even now, all these years later. If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know.

Anderson Cooper: Did you go to the police?

Stormy Daniels: No.

Anderson Cooper: Why?

Stormy Daniels: Because I was scared.

When a gossip website reported a few months later that she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump, Stormy Daniels publically denied it. Five years later, Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president.

Stormy Daniels: Suddenly people are reaching out to me again, offering me money. Large amounts of money. Was I tempted? Yes-- I struggle with it. And then I get the call. "I think I have the best deal for you."

Anderson Cooper: From your lawyer?

Stormy Daniels: Yeah.

The deal was an offer not to tell her story. It came from Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen. In return for signing this non-disclosure agreement, Cohen would pay her $130,000 dollars through a Delaware-based limited liability corporation he had established in mid-October 2016 called essential consultants. Daniels says the agreement was appealing because it meant she would receive some money but also not have to worry about the effect the revelation of the affair would have on her child who was now old enough to watch the news. She signed the agreement eleven days before the election.

Anderson Cooper: Was it hush money to stay silent?

Stormy Daniels: Yes. The story was coming out again. I was concerned for my family and their safety.

Anderson Cooper: I think some people watching this are going to doubt that you entered into this negotiation-- because you feared for your safety. They're gonna think y-- that you saw an opportunity.

Stormy Daniels: I think the fact that I didn't even negotiate, I just quickly said yes to this v-- very, you know, strict contract. And what most people will agree with me extremely low number. It's all the proof I need.

Anderson Cooper: you feel like if you had wanted to go public, you could have gotten paid a lot of money to go public--

Stormy Daniels: Without a doubt. I know for a fact. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, in my heart, and some people argue that I don't have one of those, but whatever, that I was doing the right thing. I turned down a large payday multiple times because one, I didn't wanna kiss and tell and be labeled all the things that I'm being labeled now. I didn't wanna take away from the legitimate and legal, I'd like to point out, career that I've worked very hard to establish. And most importantly, I did not want my family and my child exposed to all the things that she's being exposed to right now. because everything that I was afraid of coming out has come out anyway, and guess what? I don't have a million dollars. (LAUGH) You didn't even buy me breakfast.

15 months after she signed the non-disclosure agreement, in January 2018, the Wall Street Journal published this story, quoting anonymous sources, saying that Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen had paid her for her silence. Daniels says she was not the source of the story. But once it was published, she says she was pressured by her former attorney and former business manager to sign statements that Michael Cohen released publically, denying she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Anderson Cooper: So you signed and released-- a statement that said I am not denying this affair because I was paid in hush money I'm denying it because it never happened. That's a lie?

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Anderson Cooper:  If it was untruthful, why did you sign it?

Stormy Daniels: Because they made it sound like I had no choice.

Anderson Cooper: I mean, no one was putting a gun to your head?

Stormy Daniels: Not physical violence, no.

Anderson Cooper:  you thought that there would be some sort of legal repercussion if you didn't sign it?

Stormy Daniels: Correct. As a matter of fact, the exact sentence used was, "They can make your life hell in many different ways."

Anderson Cooper: They being…

Stormy Daniels: I'm not exactly sure who they were. I believe it to be Michael Cohen.

President Trump's attorney Michael Cohen has denied ever threatening Stormy Daniels. The payment Cohen made to her is now the subject of complaints to the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission, alleging that it was an illegal campaign contribution.

What makes the dispute between Stormy Daniels and the president more than a high-profile tabloid scandal is that her silence was purchased eleven days before the presidential election, which may run afoul of campaign finance laws. The president's long-time lawyer Michael Cohen says he used $130,000 of his own money to pay Stormy Daniels. Cohen has said the money was not a campaign contribution. But Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission appointed by President George H.W. Bush, told us he doesn't agree.

Trevor Potter: The payment of the money just creates an enormous legal mess for I think Trump, for Cohen and anyone else who was involved in this in the campaign.

Anderson Cooper: Are you saying that can be seen as a contribution to benefit a campaign?

Trevor Potter: I am. it's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he's allowed to give. And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.

The payment Stormy Daniels received is the subject of complaints by watchdog groups to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission, which Trevor Potter used to be chairman of. He's now president of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, which supports the enforcement of campaign finance laws.

Anderson Cooper: If the president paid Michael Cohen back, is that an in-kind campaign contribution that the president should've then reported?

Trevor Potter: It is. If he was then reimbursed by the president, that doesn't remove the fact that the initial payment violated Cohen's contribution limits. I guess it mitigates it if he's paid back by the candidate because the candidate could have paid for it without limit.

Anderson Cooper: What if the president never reimbursed Michael Cohen?

Trevor Potter: Then he is still out on the line, having made a illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign.

Anderson Cooper: You're saying this is more serious for Michael Cohen if the president did not pay him back?

Trevor Potter: Yes. I think that's correct.

We wanted to speak with Mr. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen about this, but he did not respond to our calls and written request for comment. Cohen told The New York Times last month he used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels and said, "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump Campaign… reimbursed me for the payment." this past week, Cohen told Vanity Fair magazine, "What I did defensively for my personal client, and my friend, is what attorneys do for their high-profile clients. I would have done it in 2006. I would have done it in 2011. I truly care about him and the family -- more than just as an employee and an attorney."

Michael Avenatti: It's laughable. It's ludicrous. It's preposterous.

Anderson Cooper: Lawyers don't do that, you're saying. You-- you--

Michael Avenatti: Ever.

Michael Avenatti is Stormy Daniels' attorney.  He's a Los Angeles trial lawyer who is suing the president in a California court, seeking to have Stormy Daniels' non-disclosure agreement -- or "NDA" -- declared invalid, in part because the president never signed it on the lines provided for his alias -- "D.D.," David Dennison.

Anderson Cooper: Michael Cohen has said, "Look, this had nothing to do with the election." He would've made this agreement months before.

Michael Avenatti: So why didn't he? It just slipped his mind? It's just a coincidence that, in the waning days of the campaign, he thought to himself, "Oh, you know, I know I've been thinkin' about this for years. Perhaps now is a good time to get that NDA executed with Stormy Daniels."

Avenatti disputes the notion that Cohen was working in a purely personal capacity when he arranged the hush money for Stormy Daniels. He's found documents that show Michael Cohen used his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment. He also says the non-disclosure agreement Stormy Daniels signed in 2016, when she was represented by a different lawyer, was FedExed to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower in New York.

Michael Avenatti: That is a copy of the Federal Express confirmation

The cover letter from Daniels' previous attorney also identifies who he thought Michael Cohen was working for.

Michael Avenatti: To Mr. Cohen as executive vice president and special counsel to Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, again-- listing the 5th Avenue address. this idea that there's a separation now between Mr. Cohen, individually, and the Trump Organization or Mr. Cohen, individually, and Donald Trump, it-- it-- it's nonsense.

Anderson Cooper: There are people who argue that this much ado about nothing, that if this was not a story about, an adult film actress and the President of the United States, no one would pay attention.

Michael Avenatti: This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.

Avenatti points to this recent court filing in which the president's lawyers claim Daniels is already liable for damages "in excess of $20 million" for unspecified violations of her non-disclosure agreement. And in that article in Vanity Fair this past week, Michael Cohen said that when he wins damages from Stormy Daniels, "I might even take an extended vacation on her dime."

Anderson Cooper: You're saying they're tryin' to intimidate her.

Michael Avenatti: There's no question. You threaten someone-- with a $20 million lawsuit, it's a thuggish tactic. It's no different than what happened in the parking lot in Las Vegas.

Anderson Cooper: People make threats in lawsuits all the time. People, you know, say, "You're gonna have to pay a lot of money when you lose this-- this case."

Michael Avenatti: People don't threaten people with $20 million lawsuits, that they're gonna take their home and take an extended vacation on the money they receive. People don't conduct themselves like this. They don't. And they shouldn't.

Anderson Cooper: Stormy Daniels did sign the agreement. She got $130,000. Isn't she welching on a deal?

Michael Avenatti: No, she's not welching on a deal, 'cause there never was a deal.

Anderson Cooper: But she still took the money.

Michael Avenatti: She took the money. But the fact of the matter is Mr. Trump never signed the agreement. He was obligated to sign the agreement in order for the agreement to spring into effect.

That's not true, according to Michael Cohen, who has said only his signature was required. What was also required under the non-disclosure agreement was for Stormy Daniels to turn over all "video images, still images, email messages, and text messages," she had regarding Mr. Trump.

Anderson Cooper: Did you do that?

Stormy Daniels: I can't answer that right now.

Anderson Cooper: You don't want to say one way or the other if you have text messages or other items?

Stormy Daniels: My attorney has recommended that I don't discuss those things.

Anderson Cooper: You seem to be saying that she has some sort of text message, or video, or-- or photographs. Or you could just be bluffing.

Michael Avenatti: You should ask some of the other people in my career when they've bet on me bluffing.

Anderson Cooper: In college and law school, you did opposition research for Democratic political operative Rahm Emanuel. Some people looking at that would say you're politically motivated,

Michael Avenatti: I haven't done anything in politics in over 20 years.

Anderson Cooper: But this is not the usual case you take on. You were a former Democratic operative. And you're talking about deposing the president. That sounds political.

Michael Avenatti: No, it sounds righteous.

Anderson Cooper: How so?

Michael Avenatti: Because my client is credible. She's tellin' the truth.

Trevor Potter, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, says the agency's investigations often take a long time and usually result only in monetary penalties. But there is another scenario that could present a problem for the president: special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In March, the Washington Post reported that the "special counsel has examined episodes involving Michael Cohen," including his efforts to launch a Trump-branded project in Moscow in the fall of 2015 when Mr. Trump was seeking the Republican nomination.

Anderson Cooper: is there any way that special counsel Robert Mueller could investigate the Stormy Daniels payment?

Trevor Potter: Yeah that's the wildcard here.

Anderson Cooper: As a prosecutor, you wanna get leverage over somebody that you could then use to get them to give you other information on which--

Trevor Potter: Correct.

Anderson Cooper: --you're really interested in?

Trevor Potter: Correct.

That's what special counsel Mueller appears to be doing with Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's former campaign chairman, who faces multiple charges including tax and bank fraud.

Anderson Cooper: Paul Manafort has been charged with crimes that don't have anything to do with Russia in some cases.

Trevor Potter: Well, and that certainly preceded the campaign. And so-- clearly, the Justice Department, the deputy attorney general who is ultimately in charge of this, has determined that looking at what Manafort did in other contexts-- is relevant to the investigation. And I think you can say exactly the same thing about Cohen. He was-- involved-- indisputably with Trump Organization activities with Russia and negotiations with the Russians. Mr. Cohen is in the middle of a place that's of great interest to the Special Counsel.

Anderson Cooper: Is there any recent precedent for prosecuting somebody for an undisclosed campaign contribution?

Trevor Potter: As it happens, there is. There's sort of a pretty spectacular one.

Former Senator John Edwards was prosecuted, but never convicted, for payments a supporter and his campaign finance chairman made a year before the 2008 election to a woman who'd had Edwards' child.

Trevor Potter: I think the Edwards case is not as strong as the facts we have so far in the Trump case.

Anderson Cooper: Why do you think the potential case against Cohen or Trump is a stronger case than the Edwards case?

Trevor Potter: The timing of it. It wasn't the year before the election. It's right in the middle of the run-up to Election Day. When-- Trump's conduct with women was a prime campaign issue. In fact, it was what everyone was focused on.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not respond to our request for comment from the president. But we did receive a letter from Mr. Trump's attorney Charles Harder, who asked that we show on camera and read on air one of the statements Stormy Daniels signed in January, denying reports she'd had an affair with Mr. Trump. It says, in part:

"My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more."

Anderson Cooper: If Stormy Daniels denied the affair in 2011, which you say is a lie, denied the affair in early January 2018, denied the affair in late January of 2018, doesn't that hurt her credibility? I mean, she's lying, she's lying, she's lying.

Michael Avenatti: I think there's no question that it calls into question her credibility. I also think that there's no question that when the American people take all of the facts and evidence into consideration, that they are going to conclude that this woman is telling the truth. And Anderson, to the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have an alternative version of the facts let them come forward and state it unequivocally.

Anderson Cooper: But come on. You would not sign statements one, two, three times about something which you knew to be a lie.

Michael Avenatti: If the President of the United States' fixer made it clear to me, either directly or indirectly, that I needed to sign it, and I was in the position of Stormy Daniels, I might sign those statements.

"I have no reason to lie"

Stormy Daniels: I felt intimidated and s-- honestly bullied. And I didn't know what to do. And so I signed it. Even though I had repeatedly expressed that I wouldn't break the agreement, but I was not comfortable lying.

Anderson Cooper: How do we know you're telling the truth?

Stormy Daniels: 'Cause I have no reason to lie. I'm opening myself up for, you know, possible danger and definitely a whole lot of s***.   

Anderson Cooper: But, you know, there is a potential financial upside maybe somebody will want you to write a book. Maybe, you know, you can go on a bigger tour and make more money--

Stormy Daniels: That's--

Anderson Cooper: --dancing?

Stormy Daniels: That's a lot of ifs. I could also get shunned. I mean, I could automatically be alienating half of my fanbase right at this very moment.

Anderson Cooper: Jenna Jameson-- another well-known-- adult film actress said recently about you, "The left looks at her as a whore and just uses her to try to discredit the president. The right looks at her like a treacherous rat. It's a lose-lose. Should've kept her trap shut."

Stormy Daniels: I think that she has a lotta wisdom in those words.

Anderson Cooper: The president watches 60 Minutes, if he's watching tonight, what would you say to him?

Stormy Daniels: He knows I'm telling the truth.

(Produced by Andy Court and Evie Salomon.)