WORLD NEWS
Austria Launches Digital ID in the Form of Driver’s Licenses
Austrians can now generate mobile driving licenses (mDLs) on their smartphones, the federal ministry of Internal Affairs announced.
To generate the mDL, Austrians are required to download the eID smartphone app, register for a digital ID then upload their physical driving license. The announcement did not clarify why fingerprint or face recognition is required.
“ID Austria has not only developed a state-of-the-art proof of identity, it is also an important contribution to cyber security in Austria,” said Minister for Interior Gerhard Karner, to Biometric Update, during the launch.
“This prevents identity theft and puts a stop to cybercrime. The digital driver’s license as the first digital ID in Austria is a milestone on the way into digitization. I invite you – use the ID Austria and use the digital driver’s license.”
According to Florian Tursky, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Telecommunications, the mDL is the first step to digitization.
“With the eID app and the digital driver’s license, we have also taken the first important step,” he said. “The aim is to eventually make as many ID cards and documents available on mobile phones as possible.”
According to a report by Der Standard, users can control what information to show, meaning the mDL could be used for other things like proof of age. When more data is required, like when hiring a vehicle, a user can use the app to provide more details.
In the US, some states have mDLs. Arizona and Georgia partnered with Apple to generate mDLs in the Apple Wallet.
King Charles 50p coins struck for the first time
Manufacturing has begun of the first coin to enter general circulation carrying the image of King Charles.
The 50p coin has started to be struck at The Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales, and will enter tills, wallets and purses in December.
Sculptor Martin Jennings, who created the portrait of the King, said that witnessing the coin being produced was a “quite remarkable experience”.
He said it took months of painstaking work to get the image right.
He used pictures of King Charles on his 70th birthday to create a likeness of the monarch, in what is the smallest work he has ever had to produce.
“It has to be an exact portrait but also that says something about the lasting values of the institution he represents,” Mr Jennings said.
“In subtle and tiny ways, you can put these things across.”
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Elon Musk Buys Twitter, Fires Top Executives
Tesla CEO and world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, is now in charge of the social media platform Twitter. The official announcement of the takeover deal’s completion is expected on Friday.
Twitter will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange beginning on Oct. 28, according to a recent delisting notice, as the firm will be taken private.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have been fired, according to multiple media reports.
Musk tweeted “The bird is freed” late Thursday night, and then “let the good times roll” a few hours later.
Mail-In Ballot Total Surges Past 10 Million Across US Ahead of 2022 Midterms: Research
More than 10 million people have cast mail-in ballots ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, according to an election monitoring project.
Another 5 million or so have voted early and in person, research from the U.S. Elections Project shows as of Oct. 27. This week, a number of states opened early in-person voting, including Texas.
The project, which is managed by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, tracks early voting activity among states that have reported data. Texas, California, Florida, and Georgia have reported more than 1.5 million in-person and mail-in votes as of Oct. 27, the project numbers show.
“It does seem very robust, early voting … I think we’re looking at more like a 2018 election, definitely,” McDonald told ABC News on Oct. 24, referring to the high turnout.
More than three dozen states have already opened early voting. For the 2022 midterms, early voting phases range from 46 days to three days before Election Day, the National Conference of State Legislatures says.
“Congratulations, Georgia voters! We’ve reached 1 MILLION cast votes. Election officials deserve our thanks for rising to the challenge & working hard to serve our communities,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, wrote on Twitter on Oct. 25.
Georgia has two key races, including for the U.S. Senate and governor’s office. Incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is facing Republican Herschel Walker, a former NFL and college football star, while Gov. Brian Kemp is facing a rematch with Democrat activist Stacey Abrams.
Nancy Pelosi’s Husband ‘Violently Assaulted’ By Home Invader
An assailant broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul’s home in San Francisco early Friday morning, violently attacking him, according to a spokesperson for Pelosi.
“Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi. The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. Mr. Pelosi was taken to the hospital, where he is receiving excellent medical care and is expected to make a full recovery,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement.
The attack was carried out with a hammer, law enforcement sources told CNN.
‘Never Got My Permission’: Trump Responds to Bob Woodward Releasing Interview Recordings
Former President Donald Trump took to his own social media platform Tuesday to condemn Bob Woodward, alleging the veteran journalist has no right to publicize his early talks.
In his new audiobook published Tuesday titled “The Trump Tapes,” Woodward compiled eight-hour raw audios he taped from previous conversations with Trump, during the-then chief executive’s last year in charge.
Newly released clips of a total of 20 past interviews show the then-president discussed issues including nuclear weapons and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with the longtime Washington Post journalist, who made his name for breaking stories about the Watergate scandal in late 1972.
“As he fully understands, writer Bob Woodward never got my permission to release tapes of my various interviews with him,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Oct. 25.
Trump argued that the conversation recordings were solely to serve Woodward’s printed publication in 2020 about his presidency. “Those tapes were allowed only for purposes of making sure that he got my quotes & statements correct for ‘the WRITTEN WORD,’ in other words, for his, nevertheless, highly inaccurate book,” he added.
“The tapes are much better than the book,” Trump continued, “at least if they were not bludgeoned to death by him to make me look as bad as possible, but he & his publisher had NO right to use my ‘VOICE’ or them!”
Trump to Hold Rallies in 4 States Ahead of Midterm Elections
Former President Donald Trump is set to go on a rally blitz for candidates he has endorsed in at least four battleground states during the final days before the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Trump is scheduled to hold rallies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio in the span of five days until the eve of the elections, according to separate press releases issued through the Save America political action committee on Oct. 26.
The first stop is Sioux City, Iowa, on Nov. 3, when Trump is scheduled to “advance the MAGA agenda,” referring to his campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, by campaigning for Republicans including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), both seeking reelection to their current positions.
Two days later, Trump will hold a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, lining up behind state Sen. Doug Mastriano for governor and Mehmet Oz for Senate in the Commonwealth.
“As Biden’s approval rating plummets, Pennsylvania crime spikes, and Pennsylvanians grapple with a 74% hike in heating oil, coupled with record inflation, just weeks away from winter,” the release states. “The America First Movement offers the Keystone State an alternative vision for America: safe streets, cheap gas, low inflation, and a thriving American economy.”
CEO of Michigan Election Software Firm Seeks Dismissal of Charges
The head of a Michigan election software company facing felony charges in California for allegedly storing poll worker data in China filed a motion on Thursday to dismiss the case, arguing the alleged conduct, even if true, is not criminal.
Eugene Yu, founder and CEO of Konnech Inc, has been accused of violating the company’s contract with Los Angeles County, which restricts the sharing of election workers’ personal information to citizens and permanent residents inside the United States. He was charged with grand theft by embezzlement and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which brought the charges, has said the investigation was triggered by a complaint from Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, a Texas nonprofit and prominent purveyor of debunked voter-fraud claims.
In a filing to the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Yu’s lawyers asked for the complaint to be dismissed, arguing that prosecutors had wrongly sought to criminalize a run-of-the-mill contract dispute.
“This is a deeply misguided prosecution,” attorneys Gary Lincenberg, Thomas Reichert, and Alexis Wiseley wrote. “This is a civil breach of contract case that has been dressed up in a costume that doesn’t fit.”
A Bryan County substitute teacher says she was terminated from her job at McAllister Elementary School after she reported a children’s book containing illustrations that go against her religious values.
Part of the school’s new library read-aloud program, children’s book “All Are Welcome” contains illustrations of nontraditional forms of marriage, including depictions of a same-sex male couple.
Since being fired, teacher Lindsey Barr lawyered up and began a lawsuit against Bryan County Schools and McAllister Elementary in Georgia for violating her constitutional rights—and her rights as a parent.
Also a mom of three sons, all currently attending Bryan County Schools, Barr said she learned about the book on Aug. 15 through the school librarian, who made it public on Facebook ahead of the read-aloud program, adding that she was already on “high alert” after previous interactions.
“I believe in traditional marriage, as outlined by the Bible, that marriage is held between a man and a woman—deeply held religious beliefs,” she told The Epoch Times. “This book depicted images that were contrary to that.”
Federal Appeals Court Denies Trump Bid to Keep Tax Returns Shielded From House Committee
Former President Donald Trump has lost an appeal to keep six years of his income tax returns shielded from the House Ways and Means Committee, amid a longstanding battle between the Democrat-led House and Trump over his financial records.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee, had in December 2021 dismissed Trump’s effort to block the Department of the Treasury from turning over his tax returns to the House committee.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday denied (pdf) Trump’s request to rehear his appeal of McFadden’s decision. The appeals court’s decision had no noted dissents.
The latest development comes after a three-judge panel on the same federal appeals court in August unanimously denied Trump’s appeal of the decision and upheld McFadden’s decision.
The overall lawsuit stems from a request from Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), first made in 2019 and resubmitted in 2021 after President Joe Biden took office, seeking six years of Trump’s tax returns, starting the year before Trump took office.
Biden, Harris to Campaign for Fetterman After Rocky Debate Performance
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will head to Pennsylvania on Oct. 28 and make a rare joint appearance to campaign on behalf of Senate hopeful John Fetterman, a fellow Democrat, after his rocky debate performance fueled concern inside his party, reports and public records indicate.
Biden and Harris, who rarely appear together, are scheduled to attend the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s 3rd Annual Independence Dinner on Friday, along with the party’s 2022 candidates, including Fetterman.
Fetterman, who experienced a stroke five months ago, appeared onstage Tuesday to debate rival Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz as the two vie for a key Senate seat.
The impact of the stroke was apparent during the debate as Fetterman used closed-captioning posted above the moderator to help him process the words he heard, which led to occasional awkward pauses.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has temporarily blocked the Jan. 6 Committee’s subpoena seeking phone records belonging to Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward, while the high court considers her emergency appeal.
The Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena had asked Ward’s phone carrier, T-Mobile, to produce call and text message records from November 2020 to January 2021.
Kagan’s decision on Wednesday is granting an emergency application that Ward and her husband filed earlier in the day seeking to prevent their phone records from being turned over to the Jan. 6 committee, after a lower appeals court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, voted 2-1 to deny her request.
Kagan gave the Jan. 6 committee until Friday evening to respond to Ward’s Supreme Court filing.
Lifelong Democrat Lawmaker to Vote Republican in NY Governor Race: ‘Hochul Has No Clue’
Frustrated with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s halfhearted attempt to get serious on crime, a decades-long Democrat state lawmaker says he will vote for her Republican challenger in the upcoming election.
“The No.1, No.2 and No.3 issues for New Yorkers are crime, crime, crime,” Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat who had served as an assemblyman in the New York State Legislature for 35 years until 2018, told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD News after the last and only debate before the Nov. 8 gubernatorial race.
During the hour-long debate on Tuesday night, Hochul faced off with Rep Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and took on topics including the economy, abortion, and COVID vaccine mandates. But the most heated exchange took place when Zeldin charged Hochul with failing to address rampant subway crimes and hate crimes targeting Jewish and Asian communities.
Wisconsin Judge Hands Win to Republicans Over Mail-In Ballot Lawsuit
A judge in Wisconsin on Wednesday rejected a request to allow election officials to count mail-in ballots with incomplete addresses on them.
Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell refused a request from the League of Women Voters, a group that sought a temporary injunction and argued it “would upend the status quo and not preserve it,” “frustrate the electoral process by causing confusion,” and said her court doesn’t want to “add to the confusion” by issuing a temporary injunction with just two weeks to go before the 2022 midterms, reported The Associated Press.
“I believe that voters catching snippets of the court’s decision from local media or by word of mouth could reasonably conclude that markings made by their witnesses on the witness certification portion of the absentee ballot would suffice in any shape or form,” Trammell said, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. “A higher court could potentially disagree, and if that is the case, then there is a risk that such voters’ absentee ballots would not be counted in the upcoming election.”
The ruling was a win for the Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislat
State Legislature Elections: Minimal National Press, Big Voter Impact
There are 435 U.S. House and 34 U.S. Senate seats on midterm referendums nationwide, with voters also set to elect 36 governors. But these contests will only be seen by people in most states when they go to the polls on Nov. 8.
Also on tap will be 133 ballot measures in 37 states and elections for 6,279 of 7,383 state legislature seats across 46 states.
Amid the sustained shrinkage of local and state media outlets and mushrooming growth of 24/7 cable news networks and digital news sites that nearly exclusively focus on national issues and midterm races, state legislatures garner increasingly less coverage beyond undermanned capitol news bureaus that are often mere shells of their former staffing.
But make no mistake: State lawmakers adopt policies, impose regulations, and issue decisions that have more relevancy and impact in voters’ day-to-day lives than those that come from Congress.
GOP Lawmakers Seek Answers on Boston University’s ‘Potentially Risky’ COVID-19 Experiments on Mice
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are seeking answers from Boston University over its “potentially risky gain-of-function research with coronaviruses.”
Researchers with the university said in a preprint paper first released on Oct. 14 that they had created a new strain of COVID-19 by combining the Omicron variant’s spike protein and the original Wuhan strain of COVID-19 variant. Dubbed Omicron-S, the lab-made hybrid killed 80 percent of mice infected with it.
The research has ignited intense debate, with concerns expressed about the nature of the work and the potential harm that such an experiment could have on humans.
The university has since issued a lengthy statement defending the research after public backlash, saying critics have misrepresented the goals of the study. It also denied that the research constituted gain of function—experiments that make pathogens more deadly or infectious.
But the university’s response hasn’t quelled the concerns.
“Americans deserve the peace of mind that proper oversight is conducted to ensure the safety & accountability of any risky scientific research,” committee Republicans wrote on Twitter on Oct. 26.
The Twitter post also contained a link to a letter some House Republicans sent to Boston University President Robert Brown regarding the situation.
The letter’s signers include Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the committee’s ranking Republican member; Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations; and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) of the Subcommittee on Health.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Elon Musk Says Twitter Won’t ‘Become a Free-for-All Hellscape’
Elon Musk wrote in a note to advertisers on Thursday that Twitter cannot be a “free-for-all hellscape” ahead of a Friday deadline to complete the purchase of the social media firm.
“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences,” Musk wrote on Twitter in a message, titled, “Dear Twitter Advertisers.” The tech billionaire did not elaborate.
There were reports, including one from the Wall Street Journal, indicating that some Twitter advertisers expressed worry in private to Musk and Twitter that the social media platform would have little-to-no content moderation. In previous months, Musk sharply criticized Twitter’s content moderation policies and accused it of having a left-wing bias.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk also wrote Wednesday. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Kieley Taylor, global head of partnerships at GroupM—an advertising agency—told the WSJ that some brands would stop advertising on the platform if former President Donald Trump’s account is reinstated, for example. Trump was banned in January 2021 after months of him voicing concerns about irregularities during the 2020 election, with Twitter moderators claiming that his speech on Jan. 6 was linked to the breach at the U.S. Capitol.
Earlier this year, Musk indicated that he wanted Trump back on Twitter, although Trump has since started his own social media website, Truth Social. Trump has publicly said that he would not rejoin Twitter even if he is allowed back on the platform, telling Fox News several months ago that using Truth Social is “much better than being on Twitter.”
Teetering On The Brink: 63 Percent Of Americans Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck
We have reached a point where nearly two-thirds of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. So what happens if millions of those people suddenly lose their paychecks during the severe economic downturn that is ahead of us? In 2008, unprecedented numbers of Americans found themselves unable to pay their mortgages when the recession struck, and foreclosures surged to absolutely shocking levels. Unfortunately, we have set ourselves up for the same thing to happen again. Most Americans are literally teetering on the brink of financial disaster, and it won’t take much to push them over the edge.
According to a survey that was just released, 63 percent of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck in September…
As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.
As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.
Why aren’t more people alarmed by the fact that nearly two-thirds of the entire country is just barely scraping by from month to month?
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Facebook Parent Meta Stock Plunges 24 Percent, Making Zuckerberg Poorer by More Than $10 Billion
Facebook parent Meta saw its stock price plunge more than 20 percent intraday on Oct. 27, amid broader carnage in U.S. tech stocks as investors pulled back amid the impact of soaring inflation on ad spending.
Shares of Meta were down as much as 24 percent on Thursday, trading at around $100, a low not seen since 2016. At its peak, the stock was trading at $382 per share.
The stock plunge sent Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth down by more than $10 billion, according to a Bloomberg estimate.
Driving Meta’s slump was the company’s third-quarter earnings report, which showed a miss on earnings per share ($1.64 versus $1.89 expected), met expectations on revenue ($27.7 billion versus $27.4 billion expected), and showed weaker than expected guidance for the fourth quarter.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which lost more than $9 billion in the first three quarters, showed bigger than expected losses in the third quarter, $3.67 billion versus $3.09 billion expected.
Zuckerberg told investors during an earnings call that Meta is facing a number of headwinds, including a “volatile macroeconomy, increasing competition, ads signal loss, and growing costs from our long-term investments.”
SURVEILLANCE STATE
ID2020 — Your Digital ID of the Future Has Arrived
The ID2020 Alliance is a public-private partnership founded by Bill Gates’ GAVI: The Vaccine Alliance, The Rockefeller Foundation, Microsoft, Accenture and Ideo.org
General partners in the alliance include, among others, Facebook, Mastercard, the United Nations International Computing Centre and Okta, an identity platform
The ID2020 Alliance is painting itself as the global identification superpower, intent on creating a digital ID that will track you throughout your life, via the help of multibillion-dollar corporations
In the end, the global superpowers won’t go so far as to create a worldwide digital ID that can simply be left behind when you feel like it; they’ll want something more permanent, something that can’t be left at home, like an implantable microchip
Whatever the “final” digital ID ends up being called, it will include your digital identity, vaccination status and other health data, along with programmable central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), for starters
HEALTH
Fasting Prevents and Halts Diabetes
The prevention, treatment and reversal of Type 2 diabetes begins with improving your insulin sensitivity, which fasting accomplishes and which may be an important factor for those struggling with other obesity-related conditions
Data reveal working out before breakfast and putting off eating until lunch may reduce your overall caloric intake during the day and aid in weight loss and management
The study participants fasted from sunup to sunset; but eating just hours before going to sleep may result in other negative health effects as under the best circumstances your stomach takes hours to empty, increasing your risk of heartburn and reflux if you lie down too soon after meals
Eating within three hours of bedtime may be one of the worst things you can do, as it detrimentally affects the health of your mitochondria
Although beneficial, fasting should not be done if you are underweight, pregnant, breastfeeding or have an eating disorder, and while it supports your health, I recommend using a cyclical ketogenic diet with fasting for the greatest health benefits
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
How to Make Sauerkraut in a Crock
Homemade sauerkraut is loaded with beneficial bacteria and simple to make. We’ll share how to how to easily make sauerkraut in a crock or bucket. All you need is cabbage and salt, a container, and time.
CANCEL CULTURE
The House Jan. 6 Committee, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and other bodies around the country are targeting lawyers who defend those involved in the events surrounding Jan. 6, according to experts and attorneys, who describe such moves as an unprecedented attack on democracy.
Conservative attorneys have faced ethics charges, been threatened with criminal charges, or been harassed via the service of subpoenas for documents that amount to nothing more than a “fishing expedition,” the experts said.
Some of the targeted attorneys include Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, and John Eastman, who represented or aided former President Donald Trump in his challenges to the 2020 election, as well as prominent criminal defense attorney Bob Costello, who represented Giuliani and Steve Bannon on several separate matters.
The tactic has been employed to prevent these attorneys from adequately representing their conservative clients and is part of the broader trend of canceling conservatives, the experts said.
They added that the development is one of the most dangerous aspects of the Jan. 6 committee’s work.
Google Denies Manipulating Search Results For GOP Senate Candidates
The Media Research Center is calling on Google to “stop its war on democracy” and “provide algorithmic transparency” after the watchdog organization demonstrated manipulated search results for Republican Senatorial campaign websites.
“The Media Research Center is calling upon Google to stop its war on democracy. To regain the trust of conservatives it must provide algorithmic transparency to show that liberal groups and candidates are treated the same way as conservatives,” the MRC stated. “MRC is also calling upon members of Congress to take action protecting American’s free speech liberties. Congress should investigate Google’s search bias and its results on the midterm elections.”
In truth, it’s not even a close call whether Google manipulated the search results. The astounding reporting by MRC has unmasked the tech giant as a partisan player with its thumb on the scale for Democratic candidates.
The findings revealed that campaign websites for 10 Republicans among the 12 tight races were found significantly lower on results pages compared to their opponent’s sites among organic search results.
Seven Republican candidate’s websites were completely hidden from the first page of Google search results, according to the MRC. While Republicans were hidden, eight Democratic candidates had websites that were promoted within the first six results on Google.
“Google’s bias is undeniable when shown in comparison to other search engines. Bing and DuckDuckGo both show, with on (sic) exception, all 12 Democrat and Republican senate candidate’s websites within the top five organic search results,” the Media Research Center said.
For its part, Google looked right into the camera and solemnly swore — no fingers crossed, no fibbing — that they don’t know what happened but it’s impossible for their non-partisan, completely innocent algorithms to be biased against those evil — er, those Republican candidates.
“While we cannot respond to specific claims without seeing the research, there is no validity whatsoever to allegations of political bias on Google Search. As third parties have found, political ideology is not a factor in our search ranking systems. We don’t and would never manipulate search results, modify our products or enforce our policies in any way to promote or disadvantage any particular political ideology, viewpoint, or candidate,” a Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
And if you believe that, I’ve got a beautiful old bridge spanning the Chicago River I’d like to sell you.
GOOD NEWS
For the first time in American history, a total lunar eclipse will occur on election day come November 8, 2022.
A total lunar eclipse—not to be confused with a partial or penumbral lunar eclipse—occurs when the entire lunar sphere is blocked out by the Earth’s shadow. This happens about twice a year on average, but to have it happen on America’s election day is a first in the nation’s 246-year history, which began on July 4, 1776.
This alignment of celestial laws and civic duty won’t happen again in our lifetime—so make a wish in the wee hours before you vote.
ICYMI
Astros cheat, lawyers prosper and fans strike out in sign-stealing scandal
On Friday night, the Houston Astros will go to bat against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of baseball’s Fall Classic. For many, this will call back Major League Baseball’s finding in 2020 that the Astros engaged in illegal sign-stealing during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Most notably, it occurred during the 2017 World Series, when the Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games (4-3).
Baseball is the national pastime—and litigation is a close second. So just as day follows night games, lawyers were called up by some claiming to have been injured by the Stros’ no-no. Those in pinstripe suits came out swinging.
Three Astros Phanatics filed suit, alleging that the team engaged in fraud and deceptive trade practices by selling season-tickets knowing that it was violating the rules against electronic sign-stealing.
A camera located in the outfield of the team’s stadium captured the hand signals from the catcher that tell the pitcher what type of pitch to throw next. This was viewed by the Astros on a screen outside their dugout and relayed to the batter through the use of noise signals—banging on a trash can. Knowing whether a fastball or curveball or other off-speed pitch was coming gave the batter an advantage.
The ticketholders claimed that they would not have purchased the ducats if they had known about this scheme.
The trial court denied the Astros’ motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals of Texas, in In re Houston Astros. (2021), corrected the court’s error.
The appeals court agreed with the team that there is no cognizable claim based on how a sports team plays a game. As the court saw it, the plaintiffs’ tickets were nothing more than a revocable license to enter the stadium, sit in their assigned seat and watch the game. And they were not denied these rights.
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