Earlier Star Trek incarnation. Photo via YouTube

The real world controversies of Donald Trump, Russian probes, healthcare, terrorists, climate change and economic struggles weren’t all that important Sunday for die-hard Trekkies as the big news was the casting for the next Star Trek TV series.

Wilson Cruz has been cast as Dr. Hugh Culber, medical officer of the Starship Discovery and love interest of the starship’s science officer (Anthony Rapp), on “Star Trek: Discovery,” it was announced at Comic- Con in San Diego Sunday.

Cruz is best known for his portrayal of Rickie Vasquez on the critically acclaimed 1994-95 ABC teen drama “My So-Called Life.”  He also plays attorney Dennis Vasquez on the Netflix teen drama 13 Reasons Why” and will return for its second season.

Cruz also appeared on “ER,” “Party of Five,” “The West Wing” and “NCIS”, the film “Nixon” and on Broadway in “Rent.”

“Star Trek: Discovery” is set to premiere on Sept. 24 on CBS, with all subsequent episodes streaming on CBS All Access, the network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service.

“Star Trek: Discovery” is the first entry from the “Star Trek” franchise not to make a starship captain the protagonist. It stars The Walking Dead” alumnus Sonequa Martin-Green as the first officer of the USS Shenzhou, who was raised as a Vulcan by Sarek (James Frain), the father of Spock.

While “Star Trek: Discovery” will feature a new ship and new characters. it will also includes at least a second character from the original series, the outlaw conman Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson), the subject of two episodes of the original series.

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Los Angeles native Randy Newman famously sang “I love L.A.” His new tune could be titled “I hate Putin.”

He performied his sarcastic blast at Russia’s president on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and pulled few punches.

He can drive his giant tractor
Across the Trans-Siberian plain
He can power a nuclear reactor
With the left side of his brain
And when he takes his shirt off
He drives the ladies crazy
When he takes his shirt off
Makes me wanna be a lady
It’s the Putin Girls!

Randy Newman peforms “Putin” on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Image via YouTube.com

“[It] features on the songwriter’s new LP Dark Matter, due out Friday. The album, Newman’s first since 2008’s Harps and Angels, also features songs about the Kennedy brothers, legendary blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson, science and religion and more.”

Some revelations:

Randy Newman takes a shot at @GovMattBevin in song about Putin on CBS Late Show, saying KY among places where people are better than leaders

— Al Cross (@ruralj) August 2, 2017

Randy Newman writing a song about Putin is a bit like Woody Allen setting his next rom-com in Pyongyang. https://t.co/WYzIP5w93W

— Jonathan O'Brien (@obrien_jonathan) July 20, 2017

Jesus. Randy Newman’s song about Vladimir Putin contains the worst pun I’ve ever heard. Genuinely went through me like an electric shock.

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) July 19, 2017

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. Photo by Peter Nicholls via Reuters

Orange County Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher says he has met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is still living in asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

In a statement, Rohrabacher’s office said the Australian fugitive “emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved” in the theft of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. The emails were published by WikiLeaks.

The conversation between Rohrabacher and Assange, which was first reported by the Daily Caller, “ranged over many topics,” according to the statement. It said “the congressman plans to divulge more of what he found directly to President Trump.”

The Justice Department, along with multiple House and Senate committees, are investigating potential ties between Trump’s campaign and election meddling.

Rohrabacher, who has long been criticized for his fondness for Russia, believes he is the only congressman who has visited Assange, the Los Angeles Times reported.

His spokesman did not respond to requests for additional comment, including questions about how the trip was funded and whether the White House was aware of the trip, according to The Times.

–City News Service

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Lady Justice. Photo via Shutterstock

A Culver City man who worked for a defense contractor was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for his guilty plea to economic espionage and violating the Arms Export Control Act by selling sensitive satellite information to a person he believed to be a Russian spy.

Gregory Allen Justice told an undercover investigator he was enamored with television spy thrillers such as “The Americans,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to court records, Justice, 49, pleaded guilty in May to charges stemming from an undercover sting operation in which he sold sensitive satellite information to an FBI agent masquerading as a Russian intelligence officer.

Although he told the would-be Russian spy he needed money to care for his ailing wife, bank records showed Justice was actually spending his money on another woman who hoodwinked Justice in an online relationship, prosecutors said in remarks reported by The Times. She sent him photos of a European model that she falsely claimed were of herself and persuaded him to send money and gifts through the mail, court records show.

Last month, prosecutors filed a brief with U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, recommending he sentence Justice to seven years and three months in prison — a harsher punishment than they would have otherwise requested. They revealed that Justice had asked the undercover agent during one of their final meetings to supply him with Anectine, a powerful muscle relaxant that can cause cardiac arrest in overdoses, The Times reported.

Justice told the agent that doctors had administered the drug to his wife in the past and he wanted to use it to help ease her chronic problems breathing during sleep. That excuse, prosecutors wrote in a filing, was a lie.

–City News Service

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who’s been criticized for advocating friendlier relations with Russia, is getting increased scrutiny from Republican leaders for travel and hearing requests, congressional aides said in remarks reported Wednesday.

The heightened attention follows Rohrabacher meetings with Russians linked to the Kremlin. Those meetings led to the ouster this summer of Rohrabacher-aide Paul Behrends from his post as staff director of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, which is chaired by Rohrabacher, the Orange County Register reported.

Behrends helped arrange the controversial meetings with Russians, according to news reports cited by the Register.

“The committee has taken a more hands-on approach with the subcommittee since the departure of Behrends,” a senior congressional aide told the Register. The aide acknowledged that Rohrabacher’s travel and hearing requests are receiving more scrutiny from the Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees the Costa Mesa Republican’s subcommittee and which was responsible for Behrends leaving his post.

Rohrabacher spokesman Ken Grubbs said that some hearings proposed by Rohrabacher have been nixed. Among those was a request by Rohrabacher — a staunch defender of President Donald Trump — to hold hearings on alleged links between Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Kremlin. That suggestion arose amid increasing focus on possible ties between associates of Trump and the Kremlin.

“He proposed that either his subcommittee or the full committee take up the issue of the Kremlin’s dealings with the Clintons as part of a broad look into Russia’s role in our political process,” Grubbs told the Register. “He was turned down.”

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, expressed concern over news reports in July about Rohrabacher’s meetings with Russian officials. It was determined that neither Royce’s committee nor Rohrabacher’s subcommittee was an appropriate venue for a Kremlin-Clintons investigation, a senior congressional aide told the Register.

“This type of investigation would be best handled by the Department of Justice,” the aide said. “Right now, our focus remains talking the serious threats posed by North Korea, Iran and radical Islamic terrorists.”

—City News Service

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

A Democratic candidate hoping to unseat Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in 2018 called on the Huntington Beach Republican to return a $1,000 campaign contribution from former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who pleaded not guilty Monday to money laundering charges.

“Congressman Rohrabacher met with and received a campaign contribution from his ‘old friend’ Paul Manafort, who has now been charged with conspiracy against the United States,” said Hans Keirstead, a stem cell research scientist. “At the bare minimum, the congressman must return the campaign donation.”

Messages left with Rohrabacher’s congressional spokesman and to his campaign were not immediately returned.

Rohrabacher received the contribution on March 22, 2013, Federal Elections Commission records show.

“It’s alleged that Manfort improperly received funds from foreign interests and committed various money laundering and other fraud crimes,” Keirstead said. “His money is tainted.

Rohrabacher should give back the Russian-tainted money as soon as possible,” Keirstead said. “Our congressman needs to convince the people of Orange County that he wants the full, unvarnished truth about foreign interference in our elections. Rep. Rohrabacher must support the bill protecting (special counsel) Robert Mueller’s authority in this special investigation from executive action by President Trump.”

–City News Service

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Jill Stein, Green party presidential candidate. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Jill Stein is having her “Russigate” moment, decrying a McCarthyist “smear campaign” against her for attending a Russian dinner that notably included Michael Flynn and a gent named Putin.

In a 45-minute “Fireside Chat,” the 2016 Green Party presidential candidate on Facebook said she supported the “mission” of the Robert Mueller investigation.

(She also takes aim at The Washington Post, which she called The Bezos Post after world’s richest man Jeff Bezos of Amazon.)

But now that she’s on the investigator’s radar, Stein is going on the offense.

“Stein cast doubt Friday on the United States intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election,” Newsweek said. “Stein’s comments came days after it was revealed that she had become embroiled in the Russia investigation when the Senate Intelligence Committee requested documents from her campaign.”

About that 2015 Russia Today event:

“There was no translator at the table,” Stein told CNN. “Vladimir Putin came in very late, with three, four people that I thought were his bodyguards, turns out they were core people in his administration, but you never would have known that.

“There were no introductions, no conversations. Russians spoke Russian, I spoke to the only person in earshot who spoke English, who was a German diplomat that was sitting to my right. So it was really quite a non-event.”

In any case, Stein thinks the Russia probes are off-base saying in a tweet: “Focusing exclusively on alleged foreign hacking is a mistake. We need a full inquiry into all potential sources of election interference, including partisan operatives, corporations that control our voting machines, voter suppression schemes and more.”

Stein’s tweetstorm on Russia:

Anyone who says "if you didn't vote for Hillary Clinton you must've been influenced by Russia" is basically saying they don't have a real argument. Voters can think for themselves. https://t.co/QjL1xzhIaa

— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) December 21, 2017

Why is asking to see evidence so controversial in America just 14 years after the Intelligence Community lied us into the catastrophic Iraq War together with both Wall Street parties and corporate media? https://t.co/GzwqN9XQom

— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) December 22, 2017

Focusing exclusively on alleged foreign hacking is a mistake. We need a full inquiry into all potential sources of election interference, including partisan operatives, corporations that control our voting machines, voter suppression schemes and more. https://t.co/RQ1mM7SKIm

— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) December 22, 2017

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Customs inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport intercepted eight Pomeranian puppies that were smuggled into the country from Russia, authorities said Monday.

Inspectors on Aug. 9 stopped two “27-year-old citizens of Russia (who) arrived from Moscow and applied for admission into the United States,” said Jaime Ruiz of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“The travelers initially declared they were bringing four dogs for their vacation in Mexico,” Ruiz said. “Upon review of the four dogs’ medical history, CDC officials determined that the documentation accompanying the four dogs was fraudulent because the dogs’ ages were falsified on their rabies vaccination certificates and they were too young to receive rabies vaccination.”

CBP personnel discovered four other puppies hidden in an abandoned carry-on bag left by the travelers in the inspection area, Ruiz said.

“The travelers admitted that they attempted to smuggle eight puppies into the U.S. without the proper import documentation with the intent of delivering them to waiting clients,” Ruiz said. “One of the travelers stated that she expected to get paid $600 to smuggle the dogs into the U.S. Both passengers were found inadmissible into the U.S., and returned to Russia, along with the eight puppies.”

Smuggled puppies “are an issue of concern because of the high risk of human exposure to deadly animal diseases, including rabies,” said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, Customs and Border Protection Area Port Director for LAX.

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A former member of the United States military who lived in Corona was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison for conspiring to unlawfully export to Russia thermal imaging riflescopes, night vision goggles and other defense items without a license in violation of federal law.

Igor Panchernikov, 41, who once served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Panchernikov pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act. He has been in federal custody since July 2022 after Israel extradited him to the United States.

From December 2016 to May 2018, Panchernikov conspired with other individuals to knowingly export from the U.S. to Russia defense articles without obtaining from the State Department a valid license or other approval for such exports.

Panchernikov’s accomplices purchased defense articles — including thermal riflescopes, weapons sights, monoculars and night vision goggles — from various online sellers located in the U.S. and directed the sellers to mail those items to Panchernikov’s residence in Riverside County, according to federal prosecutors.

After receiving the items, Panchernikov mailed two of the items under fictitious sender names to accomplices in Russia and mailed 17 defense articles to Elena Shifrin, 61, of Mundelein, Illinois, who then mailed these items to Russia.

Shifrin pleaded guilty in February 2022 to one federal count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act. Her sentencing hearing is expected in the coming months.

Vladimir Pridacha, 58, of Volo, Illinois, has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in the case and has an Aug. 29 trial date scheduled.

Two other defendants — Boris Polosin, of Russia, and Vladimir Gohman, of Israel — are fugitives, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.