“President Biden paused an arms shipment to Israel last week to prevent the U.S.-made weapons from being used in a long-threatened assault on the city of Rafah, administration officials said on Tuesday night, a sign of the growing rift between the United States and Israel over the conduct of the war. The president withheld 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah, where more than one million Gazans have taken refuge, the officials said. The administration is reviewing whether to hold back future transfers, including guidance kits that convert so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions. The decision to delay the delivery of the 3,500 bombs was the first time since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack that Mr. Biden has used his power to curtail arms as an instrument to influence Israel’s approach to the war that followed.” (05/08/24)
“TikTok has filed a lawsuit challenging a law that seeks to force its Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app to a US entity or be banned. The complaint was filed on Tuesday in Washington DC’s federal appeals court. TikTok argues that the new law is unconstitutional and violates American’s First Amendment right to free speech, according to the suit. TikTok also alleges it has been denied equal protection under the law, which, it alleges, is akin to unlawful seizure of property, according to the documents.” (05/07/24)
“Jailed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his columns written for The Washington Post criticizing the war in Ukraine and the crackdown on democracy and free speech. The $15,000 prize went to the 42-year-old politician, author and historian for ‘passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country,’ the Pulitzer board said in an announcement. The winning work comprised seven columns all published between January and June of 2023 written from his prison cell after being imprisoned the previous year on charges of treason and spreading fake news about the war for which he was sentenced to 25 years.” (05/07/24)
“Region 7 Representative Beth Vest has filed a derivative lawsuit against Libertarian National Committee Chair Angela McArdle, alleging severe breaches of fiduciary duty and misconduct that threaten the integrity and operations of the Libertarian Party. Vest, who announced the lawsuit on the LNC Business List on Monday, stated that members have a responsibility to ‘seek corrective action when they believe the board, or the chairman, has not acted in the best interest of the party.’ … The lawsuit, filed on May 3, alleges that McArdle engaged in detrimental actions including mismanagement of assets, self-dealing, and undermining the party’s mission. Central to the lawsuit are accusations of using her position for personal benefit, misappropriating funds, self-appointing to key roles without proper oversight, and inappropriately hiring her life partner in a crucial fundraising role without a competitive process, contributing to a decline in donations and membership.” (05/06/24)
“Donald Trump’s criminal trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents has been postponed indefinitely in a blow to the Justice Department’s efforts to obtain a jury verdict before November’s presidential election. US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the criminal proceeding in Florida, set a new schedule for motions in the case and announced that the May 20 trial date will be pushed back indefinitely. In an order issued Tuesday, Cannon said setting a new trial date at this time ‘would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court.'” (05/07/24)
“U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Tuesday that the Israeli government’s decision this week to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah was directly connected to American lawmakers’ recent approval of billions of dollars in additional military aid. ‘It’s no coincidence that immediately after our government sent the Israeli apartheid regime over $14 billion with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu began a ground invasion of Rafah to continue the genocide of Palestinians — with ammunition and bombs paid for by our tax dollars,’ Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian American in the U.S. Congress, said in a statement. Tlaib was one of 37 House Democrats who voted against the foreign aid package that included military assistance for Israel, which has repeatedly used U.S. weaponry to commit atrocities in Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden signed the package into law late last month.” (05/07/24)
“New York Governor Kathy Hochul is facing backlash for saying that black children in the Bronx don’t know the word ‘computer.’ ‘Right now, we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is,’ she said. ‘They don’t know these things.’ The Democrat made the comments while speaking to a technology panel in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Ms Hochul later said that she misspoke and regrets it. She was at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday to discuss New York’s artificial intelligence initiative. During a fireside chat, Ms Hochul spoke of a new AI consortium involving universities and state schools. She said funds raised by the state would help build a supercomputer that will be accessible to researchers and attract more federal grants.” (05/07/24)
“Law enforcement in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia today jointly named Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev as the alleged operator of the LockBitSupp handle and the organizational mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware group, which has been on a multiyear hacking rampage exporting an estimated $500 million from its victims. For years, the leader of LockBit has remained an enigma. Carefully hiding behind their online moniker, LockBitSupp has evaded identification and bragged that people wouldn’t be able to reveal their offline identity — even offering a $10 million reward for their real name. Law enforcement’s linking of Khoroshev to LockBitSupp comes after police in the UK infiltrated the LockBit group’s systems and made several arrests—taking its servers offline, gathering the group’s internal communications, and putting a stop to LockBit’s hacking spree.” (05/07/24)
“For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic form of late-in-life Alzheimer’s disease — in people who inherit two copies of a worrisome gene. Scientists have long known a gene called APOE4 is one of many things that can increase people’s risk for Alzheimer’s, including simply getting older. The vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases occur after age 65. But research published Monday suggests that for people who carry not one but two copies of the gene, it’s more than a risk factor, it’s an underlying cause of the mind-robbing disease. The findings mark a distinction with ‘profound implications,’ said Dr. Juan Fortea, who led the study the Sant Pau Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.” (05/07/24)
“Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to lead the House in 2025, and isn’t apologizing for meeting with his defectors as he works to beat back an ouster attempt. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are making demands of Johnson as he looks to stave off a motion to strip him of his gavel. But GOP members argue concessions could come at a price. … ‘It’s not a negotiation, okay, this is how I’ve operated as speaker,’ Johnson told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. ‘I committed to do it before I became speaker and we’ve been doing this for the last, last six months.’ ‘On almost on an hourly basis I hear suggestions and ideas and thoughts from members, my door has been open from day one.'” (05/07/24)
