First Amendment constraints don’t apply to private platforms, Supreme Court affirms…
June 18, 2019
In a decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the conservative justices ruled that the First Amendment constraints didn’t apply to the nonprofit, which they considered a private entity. Providing a forum for speech wasn’t enough to become a government actor, the justices ruled...
The liberal justices on the court, in a dissenting ruling, argued instead that the terms under which the nonprofit ran the channels for the city should have bound it to First Amendment constraints. The nonprofit, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “stepped into the City’s shoes and thus qualifies as a state actor, subject to the First Amendment like any other.”...
Samsung tells owners of its QLED TVs to manually scan for malware every few weeks…
June 18, 2019
Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t gone down well with most people.
Samsung’s official Twitter account posted that scanning for ‘malware viruses’ is important to keep it running smoothly. “This also is true for your QLED TV if it's connected to Wi-Fi!” it added. The tweet included a video showing how to perform this process, which involves going to General Settings > System Manager > Smart Security > Scan.Gold rises as dollar weakens ahead of US Fed meeting…
June 18, 2019
Spot gold gained 0.5 per cent to $1,345.81 per ounce as of 0643 GMT. US gold futures also climbed 0.5 per cent to $1,349.80 an ounce.
"The overall sentiment in the gold markets is positive. There are expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates, which has weakened the dollar and remains a main driver for prices," said Helen Lau, analyst, Argonaut Securities...
Iran will not wage war against any nation, Hassan Rouhani says…
June 18, 2019
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on June 18 in a speech broadcast live on state TV... "Iran will not wage war against any nation," Rouhani said. "Those facing us are a group of politicians with little experience."... He added, “Despite all of the Americans’ efforts in the region and their desire to cut off our ties with all of the world and their desire to keep Iran secluded, they have been unsuccessful.”
It doesn’t feel like there will be war, instead what we’re seeing is tons of psychological and economic pressure on Iran to force them to come to the table. Remember, Iran also threatened to expose "Westerners" who accepted "bribes" to get the Nuke deal passed. Do you think Kerry and Obama are nervous? Why was Obama just in France? 10-
A new chip lets robots “imagine” their actions before they make a move. Robots that can rapidly plan out their movements could accelerate factory automation—and help keep fragile humans safe…
June 18, 2019
The company’s chip supercharges the mathematical computations behind a relatively simple motion-planning algorithm developed by Konidaris and others while he was at Duke University. By running the computations in parallel, the dedicated chip can perform them more than 10,000 times more quickly than a regular computer chip, while also using less power...
Free Speech Lawsuit Waiting To Happen: Harvard Rescinds Admission from Parkland Student Kyle Kashuv…
June 18, 2019
“Harvard rescinded my acceptance,” Kashuv wrote in a tweet. “Three months after being admitted to Harvard Class of 2023, Harvard has decided to rescind my admission over texts and comments made nearly two years ago, months prior to the shooting.”...
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Kashuv argued on Twitter on Monday morning that Harvard should recognize his desire for personal growth because of the institution’s own history of racism.“Harvard deciding that someone can’t grow, especially after a life-altering event like the shooting, is deeply concerning,” Kashuv wrote in a tweet. “If any institution should understand growth, it’s Harvard, which is looked to as the pinnacle of higher education despite its checkered past.”
WikiLeaks’ Vault7 CIA leaker tried to start ‘information war’ against govt – prosecutors…
June 18, 2019
Former CIA technician Joshua Schulte, who leaked documents confirming the CIA can spy on people through their “smart” appliances, along with a mind-boggling array of other sophisticated hacking tools, “smuggled contraband cellphones into the [Metropolitan Correctional Center], created encrypted email accounts and secret social media accounts, and drafted misleading ‘articles’ for public dissemination that were not only fraught with misinformation but also contained classified information,” a US government memorandum filed Monday claims. The memo adds that Schulte has “gone to extraordinary lengths… to try to blackmail the Government into releasing him by disclosing and threatening to disclose more classified information.”...
Manafort reportedly not being moved to Rikers Island after DOJ intervenes…
June 18, 2019
Earlier this month, a New York state judge granted a request from New York City District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to transfer the 70-year-old Manafort, who is already serving time for federal crimes, to Rikers Island while he awaits trial on a separate state case. Rikers Island is a New York prison notorious for violence.
But last week, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen sent a letter to prosecutors in Manhattan letting them know that he was monitoring where Manafort would be held. Federal prison officials then told the district attorney’s office Monday that he would not be held at Rikers while awaiting trial, but rather will be held in federal custody in Manhattan or Pennsylvania, according to the New York Times.
State Department identifies 23 violations, ‘multiple security incidents’ concerning Clinton emails as a part of ongoing investigation…
June 18, 2019
The information came in a letter to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is responsible for overseeing the security review.
"To this point, the Department has assessed culpability to 15 individuals, some of whom were culpable in multiple security incidents," Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the State Department's Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, wrote to Grassley. "DS has issued 23 violations and 7 infractions incidents. ... This number will likely change as the review progresses."...
Robocalls are overwhelming hospitals and patients, threatening a new kind of health crisis…
June 18, 2019
Doctors, hospital administrators, and nurses struggled to keep up with the constant barrage of robocalls. Most featured the same voice threatening in Mandarin that the person on the other line would be deported unless they gave up their personal information.
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“These calls to healthcare institutions and patients are extremely dangerous to the public health and patient privacy,” said New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr... “The FCC and Justice Department need to go after these criminals with the seriousness and urgency this issue deserves.”As lawmakers continue to debate the best course of action, hospital staffs are now being trained in the best practices to take if they receive one of these robocalls...
Fitton breaks down John Kerry’s links to Steele dossier…
June 18, 2019
Seoul: 2 North Korean fishermen defect to South Korea…
June 18, 2019
The fishermen were rescued by the South Korean coast guard on Saturday from a broken boat that drifted 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of the sea border between the Koreas off the peninsula's eastern coast. The defections by the two fishermen come at a delicate time in bilateral relations between the Koreas...
North Korea is highly sensitive about defections and often accuses South Korea of enticing its citizens to defect, something the South denies...
The Monopolies Of The Future Will Be Chinese — And State-Owned…
June 18, 2019
A last-minute escalation in the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington meant West Virginia state representatives and business leaders had to put on hold plans for a rare welcome to a team from Beijing last June. But the state isn’t giving up...
The expected visitors were from China Energy Investment, the oil and gas firm that had promised an $84 billion investment deal — larger than West Virginia’s GDP in 2017 of $75 billion — to inject life back into the state’s floundering energy industry.
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In 2010, there were 49 Chinese companies on the Fortune 500 list, compared to 139 from America. Now, they’re neck and neck. In 2018, China had 120 representatives on the iconic roll call of the world’s highest revenue-earning firms, against 126 from the U.S... But their rapid rise — none of them figured in the world’s top 45 companies just 15 years ago — suggests you’ll likely be hearing a lot more about these firms, all state-owned, in years to come.
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And already, the next band of aspiring Chinese monopolies is at the gates. Seven of the eight companies that rose the most in the latest Fortune 500 rankings are Chinese, including recognizable private tech giants Alibaba and Tencent. But leading that pack is none other than state-owned China Energy Investment, which rose 175 positions to rank 101 globally the year West Virginia hoped it would revive its energy economy...Cuomo signs bill granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants…
June 18, 2019
The law takes 180 days to go into effect, meaning the first licenses will be available in December. The measure on Monday passed the state Senate by a 33-29 count, often eliciting emotional remarks from both sides of the aisle during the floor vote...
Millionaire Stock Trader gets 9 years for fiery death of man helping him secretly dig tunnels for a nuclear bunker in a suburb of Washington, D.C….
June 18, 2019
Daniel Beckwitt, 28, had faced a maximum of 30 years in prison when Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Margaret Schweitzer sentenced him. In total, Beckwitt was sentenced to 21 years but the judge suspended all but nine years of the sentence... A prosecutor has described Beckwitt as a skilled computer hacker who had a paranoid fixation on a possible nuclear attack by North Korea. In 2016, Beckwitt spoke at a hacker convention using the alias “3AlarmLampscooter” and wearing a fire-resistant suit and visor that obscured his face.
another american tourist dies in dominican republic resort…
June 18, 2019
A State Department official confirms the death of another American tourist in the Dominican Republic last week, the eighth to die while on vacation in that country since last year. Joseph Allen, 55, of Avenel, New Jersey, was found dead in his hotel room at Terra Linda in Sosua on the morning of June 13, his sister confirmed to ABC.
Child porn ringleader stabbed, beaten to death by fellow inmates in prison…
June 18, 2019
No details of the fight were released. But the government said Maire’s death was being investigated as a homicide. He was from Binghamton, New York. Three other inmates had serious injuries, and two staff members had minor injuries...