SHERIFF’S DEPUTY SENTENCED FOR ASSAULTING TAILGATER OUTSIDE STADIUM

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 46-year-old Kenneth Achtyl of Hamburg has been sentenced by Orchard Park Town Court Justice Jorge S. de Rosas to a 1 year conditional discharge.

On Sunday, December 3, 2017, at approximately 1:00 p.m., the defendant, while on-duty as a deputy with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, struck the victim in the face with his police baton causing physical injury. The victim suffered a broken nose and a concussion. The defendant also knowingly wrote a false statement in a report regarding the behavior of the victim during the arrest.

All charges against the victim in this case were dismissed.

A jury found Achtyl guilty of one count of Assault in the Third Degree, one count of Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree, and one count of Official Misconduct. All of the charges are Class “A” misdemeanors.

As part of his sentence, Achtyl was ordered to perform 150 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine on each count.

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Steve Herman, executive director at the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation, quoted Trump's comment, "Everyone else has accepted it."

"Except Hamas, according to President Trump, explaining his plan calls for a 'Board of Peace' to be headed by himself," said Herman.

It prompted national security lawyer Bradly P. Moss to remark, "So, you know, a peace plan missing a vital party."

"The new official Trump plan for Gaza. Quite a few things to parse out, including accountability mechanisms, who actually makes up the stabilisation force, and what mandate they would have," said Dr. H.A. Hellyer, a geopolitics and security expert on the Middle East and Europe at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

Even senior Washington Examiner writer David Harsanyi had questions: "This plan has been tried more than once. Palestinians have never been able to meet #1."

Bloomberg's Washington Correspondent Josh Wingrove couldn't help but notice that the plan, "previously described as a '21-point plan,'" now "includes 20 points and an image of proposed withdrawals."

"The points include a call for Gaza's governance to be supervised by a 'Board of Peace' - chaired by Trump himself," added Wingrove.

White House columnist Niall Stanage, at "The Hill," also questioned, "It runs to 20 points but how will point 1 — upon which all else may hinge — be defined or verified and by whom?"

"If Trump is to be the head of the newly established transitional administration in Gaza, it means Gaza is becoming a mandate of the USA. Blair is the Mandate Governor," observed Tuğçe Varol, an academic working on Russian and Turkish foreign policy.


Top GOP leader bemoans Dems are ‘holding government funding hostage’



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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) penned an opinion piece for The Washington Post on Monday, claiming that leaders must avert a spending crisis with a bipartisan appropriations process and claiming "Democrats are holding government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands, totaling more than $1 trillion. And they’re ready to shut down the government if Republicans don’t comply."

Thune was among a group of leaders slated to meet Monday with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, which includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

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Thune argues that "Republicans are open to discussion and negotiation on a number of issues."

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Thune claims that "Democrats have decided to abandon the process."