World News
Dutch restaurant group suing state over Covid closures, warns industry is on brink of bankruptcy with no end to lockdown in sight
RT – The Netherlands’ largest restaurant association has said it will sue the Dutch state in a bid to get the government to drop its ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, due to their devastating impact on the hospitality sector.
Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) said on Monday it was taking legal action based on the fact that the government has not provided epidemiological evidence for the restrictions that have forced the industry to close.
KHN has also criticized a lack of state financial support for restaurateurs and the government’s failure to announce an exit plan for the current shutdown. The amount the association is seeking through the lawsuit has not been disclosed.
The association’s chairman, Rober Willemsen, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the government and its decision to uphold the current measures, warning that the “catering industry is going to hell.”
U.S. News, Politics & Government
The Justice Department and FBI are investigating whether Roger Stone and Alex Jones played a role in the Capitol siege, report says
Business Insider – The Justice Department and FBI are looking into whether Roger Stone and Alex Jones played a role in the deadly insurrection on January 6, according to The Washington Post.
The right-wing influencers and ‘Stop the Steal’ organizer Ali Alexander, are being investigated to help gain a greater understanding of what inspired the rioters to ransack the US Capitol building, The Post reported.
Investigators intend to explore whether there is a link between those who stormed the Capitol and those who may have influenced them by promoting election fraud conspiracy theories, the paper said.
The investigation does not necessarily mean that the men will face criminal charges, people familiar with the case told The Post.
Five Trump election challenge appeals denied in Supreme Court double-blow
Independent – The Supreme Court has denied former President Donald Trump and his allies’ challenges to the election results in five states. Appeals were filed in December in an attempt to overturn the results in the states to sway the election in favour of Mr Trump. The ruling ends the election challenges pushed in court by Mr Trump and his associates.
Appeals were turned away by the Supreme Court for challenges to the results in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Two of the filings came from Mr Trump personally, Bloomberg News reported.
The Pennsylvania case that the court declined to take up was focused on mail-in ballots. Republicans say the state’s Supreme Court overstepped its authority by extending the deadline by which time ballots could arrive by three days because of the pandemic and mail delivery delays.
Dominion Sues MyPillow, CEO Mike Lindell Over Election Claims
The voting-machine maker’s lawsuit alleges defamation, seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages
Wall Street Journal – One of the largest makers of voting machines in the U.S. on Monday sued a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump, alleging that the businessman had defamed the company with false accusations that it had rigged the 2020 election for President Biden.
Dominion Voting Systems sued Mike Lindell, chief executive of Minnesota-based MyPillow Inc., and his company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages.
In its complaint, the company cites a number of statements made by Mr. Lindell, including in media appearances, social-media posts, and a two-hour film claiming to prove widespread election fraud. Mr. Lindell said he helped produce the film, which he released online in early February.
The complaint alleges that Mr. Lindell made false claims about the integrity of Dominion’s voting machines and that he knew no credible evidence supported his claims that the company had stolen the election from Mr. Trump—what Dominion has called the “Big Lie.”
3 Supreme justices: 2020 election practices could have ‘catastrophic’ consequences
WND – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review election lawsuits by Pennsylvania Republicans challenging the state’s extension of the deadline for mail-in ballots.
Three justices dissented — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — with Thomas warning of “catastrophic” consequences if the court doesn’t address the issue of authorities “changing the rules in the middle of the game.”
Alito, joining with Gorsuch in dissent, pointed out that lower courts are divided on the issue.
“In the cases now before us, a statute enacted by the Pennsylvania Legislature unequivocally requires that mailed ballots be received by 8 p.m. on election day. … Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court … altered that deadline and ordered that mailed ballots be counted if received up to three days after the election,” he said.
Trump to claim total control of Republican Party: Report
WND – Former President Donald Trump is expected to tell attendees at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference that he’s still in charge, according to reports.
“Let’s just say that singing Kumbaya isn’t in the plans,” commented the RedState blog.
It will be Trump’s most significant public statement since he left Washington last month. Shut down by Twitter and Facebook, he was largely silent until interviews last week regarding the death of Rush Limbaugh.
Axios cited sources saying Trump “plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans’ ‘presumptive 2024 nominee’ with a vise grip on the party’s base.”
A longtime adviser told Axios that Trump’s speech will be a “show of force,” sending the message: “I may not have Twitter or the Oval Office, but I’m still in charge.
The report said “payback” is his “chief obsession.”
Trump will meet with advisers this week at Mar-a-Lago to plan his next moves, Axios reported, “and to set up the machinery for kingmaking in the 2022 midterms.”
Economy & Business
House Democrats unveil full $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill with minimum wage increase
Google has fired Margaret Mitchell, the founder and former co-lead of the company’s ethical AI team. Mitchell announced the news via a tweet.
Google confirmed Mitchell’s firing in a statement to TechCrunch; Google said:
After conducting a review of this manager’s conduct, we confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our security policies, which included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees.
In January, Google revoked corporate access from AI ethicist Margaret Mitchell for reportedly using automated scripts to find examples of mistreatment of Dr. Timnit Gebru, according to Axios. Gebru says she was fired from Google while Google has maintained that she resigned.
Earlier this month, Mitchell published the email she said she sent to Google’s press team the day her corporate email access was cut off. The email spoke about Gebru’s firing and how it appeared to be “fueled by the same underpinnings of racism and sexism that our AI systems, when in the wrong hands, tend to soak up.”
Mitchell’s letter, which you can read in full here, details the different ideas and structures at play that led to Dr. Gebru’s departure from Google. Mitchell argues what happened to Gebru “appears to stem from the same lack of foresight that is at the core of modern technology, and so itself serves as an example of the problem.”
Science & Technology
If you live in this state, your personal data might’ve been leaked in a huge security breach
BGR – We’re only mid-way through the second month of 2021, and already the data breaches are mounting. Following the disclosure we mentioned in recent days, of what may be the largest-ever publication of hacked user credentials posted to the internet, now comes word that California state residents may have had their personal data stolen via a cyberattack on a vendor associated with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
According to a new warning from the state’s DMV, more than a year’s worth of customer data that includes license plate numbers and individual addresses may have been compromised via the data breach. The breach targeted Automatic Funds Transfer Services, a financial services and data management company that contracts for services with California’s DMV, which the DMV uses to verify car owners’ change of address. The key phrase here, though, is “may have been compromised.”
According to a new warning from the state’s DMV, more than a year’s worth of customer data that includes license plate numbers and individual addresses may have been compromised via the data breach. The breach targeted Automatic Funds Transfer Services, a financial services and data management company that contracts for services with California’s DMV, which the DMV uses to verify car owners’ change of address. The key phrase here, though, is “may have been compromised.”
Google fires top AI ethics researcher Margaret Mitchell
Tech Crunch – Google has fired Margaret Mitchell, the founder and former co-lead of the company’s ethical AI team. Mitchell announced the news via a tweet.
Google confirmed Mitchell’s firing in a statement to TechCrunch; Google said:
After conducting a review of this manager’s conduct, we confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our security policies, which included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees.
More Stories
Today’s News: May 03, 2024
Today’s News: May 01, 2024
Today’s News: April 30, 2024