Cyrus Vance, Jr., Allegedly Turned Blind Eye to Weinstein Accusations
The Manhattan district attorney notorious for his “gravity knife” prosecutions, Cyrus Vance, Jr., is now being investigated for apparently turning a blind eye to a 2015 sexual assault allegation against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
From The New York Times:
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo directed the state attorney general on Monday to review how the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., handled a 2015 sexual assault allegation against the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Mr. Vance decided not to prosecute Mr. Weinstein even though his accuser, an Italian model, had provided police officers with a recording of Mr. Weinstein apologizing when she asked him why he had groped her breasts the day before.
Mr. Vance said at the time that there was insufficient evidence, a defense he repeated last year after an outpouring of accusations against Mr. Weinstein reopened scrutiny of the decision, and also cast light on Mr. Vance’s acceptance of campaign donations from Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers.
Vance is a champion of New York’s “gravity knife” ban, which has incarcerated thousands for merely carrying a knife that can open with a flick of the wrist and disproportionately targeted minority groups.
Here’s more about the New York law in question:
Teen Supports Wanderlust with Knifemaking
It’s admirable to see a 19 year old take an interest in knifemaking, especially in a creative way that indulges wanderlust while also honing a craft.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Noel decided he didn’t want to go to college just yet. He also knew he couldn’t move down to San Francisco and pay rent on both an apartment and a steel-working shop. “I decided I could make my shop inside a trailer,” he says. “Then I wouldn’t have to pay rent, and I could go anywhere and make knives.”
These days he drives up and down the state: to Malibu and Santa Barbara for craft shows, staying afterward to surf, or up to the Sierra, where he can ski in his off hours. Sometimes he sets up his outdoor workshop by the side of the road, opening up the trailer to turn on the propane forge and set up his belt grinder, which runs on generator power.
One wonders, though, what retirement will look like when the getting is this good at 19. Read the full article here.
Video: Make a Knife From an Artillery Shell
The videos explaining how to make knives out of [crazy thing] sure are entertaining, and they reveal where a mastery of knifemaking basics can take you. Here’s one featuring an 88mm artillery shell.
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