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Mother Sues TikTok After Daughter Dies Following ‘Blackout Challenge’+ More
Mother Sues TikTok After Daughter Dies Following ‘Blackout Challenge’
The mother of a 10-year-old girl alleged to have died after taking part in a viral social media challenge last December has launched a wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.
Tawainna Anderson’s daughter, Nylah, died in December after taking part in the “Blackout Challenge,” which encourages social media users to try to hold their breath until they pass out, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Thursday.
Anderson has accused TikTok and its parent company of negligence and having a “defective design,” blaming the platform’s algorithms for exposing a young child to a dangerous challenge. TikTok’s interface automatically suggests videos to users as they scroll the app’s main feed, known as its “For You Page.”
Court Opens Way for Flood of Texas ‘Censorship’ Lawsuits
Tech platforms are facing a new reality: Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Texans could immediately start suing giants like Meta and YouTube over content moderation decisions they don’t agree with.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed an earlier ruling that had stopped Texas from enforcing its social media law, HB 20, last week. Industry groups asked the Supreme Court Friday for an emergency stay.
The law’s supporters see it as a way to get Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media companies to stop what many on the right have long viewed as “censorship” of conservative viewpoints. Opponents point out that the law is likely to let virtually anyone challenge any content-related decision by the platforms, even though most content moderation involves blocking spam and porn and barring harassment and bullying.
HB 20, which applies to platforms with 50 million or more U.S. monthly users, bars “censorship” based on “viewpoint.” Texas passed HB 20 last September, but a federal district court judge blocked it from going into effect in December.
Louisiana Supreme Court Drops Charges Against Pastor Who Held Church During COVID Lockdown
On Friday, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tony Spell, the Central pastor who continued to hold church services in defiance of restrictions Gov. John Bel Edwards imposed to stop the spread of COVID.
The justices overruled lower courts, deciding that the restrictions on gatherings at churches and the stay-home mandate imposed were unconstitutional. The court ordered the charges against Spell be dropped.
In the opinion, the court wrote, “In this criminal proceeding, we find certain provisions of two executive orders, as applied to the defendant, violate his fundamental right to exercise religion, do not survive strict scrutiny, and are thus unconstitutional.”
Judge Tosses COVID Vaccine Objections of Hanford Workers
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by several hundred Hanford nuclear reservation and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory workers in Richland, Washington, over COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
The lawsuit was filed in November to halt enforcement of President Joe Biden’s executive orders requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for Department of Energy employees and the employees of contractors and subcontractors on federal projects, The Tri-City Herald reported.
But U.S. Judge Thomas Rice found that lawyers for the Hanford and national lab workers had not provided clear arguments nor specific information about most workers to make their case.
Rice had already refused to temporarily halt enforcement of the vaccine mandates while the lawsuit proceeded. The judge said 307 of the workers in the case had not shown they were harmed by the vaccine mandate or that a decision in their favor would redress any harm.
4 Air Force Cadets May Not Graduate Due to Vaccine Refusal
Four cadets at the Air Force Academy may not graduate or be commissioned as military officers this month because they have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, and they may be required to pay back thousands of dollars in tuition costs, according to Air Force officials.
It’s the only military academy, so far, where cadets may face such penalties. The Army and Navy said that as of now, not one of their seniors is being prevented from graduating at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, or the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, due to vaccine refusals. The graduations are in about two weeks.
Members of Congress, the military and the public have questioned if the exemption reviews by the military services have been fair. There have been multiple lawsuits filed against the mandate, mainly centering on the fact that very few service members have been granted religious exemptions from the shots.
AG: Kansas Penalized $350K for Failure to Enforce Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers
The Kansas Attorney General has confirmed that the state lost nearly $350,000 due to the failure to enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says on Thursday, May 12, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to again review the legality of President Joe Biden’s Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
AG Schmidt has claimed the mandate has caused disruption in the healthcare workforce — particularly in small, rural communities.
De Blasio Urges Mayor Adams to Keep His COVID Policies on Standby: ‘You May Need Them Real Soon’
Bill de Blasio doesn’t want Mayor Adams to turn the page on his signature pandemic policies just yet.
As COVID-19 cases continue to tick up across the five boroughs, the former mayor urged his successor Friday to be ready to rapidly reimplement some of the public health restrictions he has scrapped since taking over the helm at City Hall.
As mayor, de Blasio implemented the school mask requirement and Key2NYC, which required proof of vaccination for indoor activities like dining, drinking and fitness.
Major Vaccine Bills Are Dying in the California Legislature. Here’s Why.
San Francisco Chronicle via MSN reported:
When it comes to passing legislation to mandate or urge more people to get COVID-19 vaccines, there seems to be a common refrain at the California Capitol: Maybe next year.
Lawmakers still have months left in their 2021 session, but an ambitious slate of vaccine bills proposed by Democrats is on life support. Its two cornerstone bills — one to require employers to vaccinate their workers and another to require the shot for school children regardless of whether their parents object — have been dropped.
Legislators who sponsored the bills said while each of those measures faced unique setbacks, the situation also speaks to the dwindling appetite, both among some lawmakers and the public at large, for debating coronavirus rules.
It’s a dramatic shift from just a few months ago when legislators rolled out a half-dozen major vaccine bills and Gov. Gavin Newsom boasted that California would be the first state to require the COVID vaccine in schools. At the time, lawmakers braced for what they expected would be a flood of raucous, anti-vaccine protests in Sacramento.
Kansas Governor Vetoes Republican Plan to Ban Mask Mandates
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a bill that would prohibit government mask mandates in Kansas and curb the power of state and local health officials during outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Republican lawmakers saw the measure as protecting personal liberties, but Kelly said in her veto message that it would prevent adequate responses to outbreaks of diseases like measles, tuberculosis and even bird flu.
Big Tech Lobbyists Are Calling on the Supreme Court to Block a Texas Anti-Censorship Law, Warning It Would Open the Floodgates to Extremist Content
Two leading tech lobby groups have called on the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a Texas anti-censorship law, according to court documents filed Friday.
Texas’ HB 20 law was reinstated on Wednesday, having been blocked by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. The legislation makes it illegal for social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to “block, ban, remove, de-platform, [or] demonetize” users’ accounts.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice — which represent companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok — is contesting HB 20, warning it would encourage extremist content on the platforms.
The groups have called on the Supreme Court to block the law, warning it allows extremists to sue social media giants for censorship.
AI Can Now Predict a Person’s Race From Medical X-Rays
A key advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning is its ability to find patterns that are not apparent to the human eye. An astonishing new study published in The Lancet Digital Health shows that AI can predict a person’s race based on X-ray images with a high degree of accuracy, but scientists do not know exactly how.
“The deep learning models assessed in this study showed a high ability to detect patient race using chest X-ray scans, with sustained performance on other modalities and strong external validations across datasets,” the researchers reported.
The researchers conducted a number of tests in an effort to discover how AI could achieve this. They conducted experiments in hopes of isolating the specific image features that enabled AI to predict racial identity.
We’re Publishing the Facebook Papers. Here’s How Facebook Killed News Feed Fixes Over Fear of Conservative Backlash.
Mark Zuckerberg, whose platform received $81 million for ads on behalf of the two White House contenders, defensively belittled his own creation: Within days of the results, he told a tech conference crowd it would be “pretty crazy” to assume Facebook — the world’s largest communications platform — was capable of influencing voters “in any way.” Ten months later, Zuckerberg would claim to “regret” those words.
Soon after the off-the-cuff dismissal, however, sources inside Facebook told Gizmodo that political meddling had been a major concern at the company for the better part of a year. High-level discussions over its approach to false news, disinformation and other activities aimed at manipulating voters had been routinely held, the current and former employees said, anonymously out of fear of retaliation.
Facebook asserted at the time that accusations of political bias had no influence whatsoever over its decision-making. But look no further than the leaked statements of its own moderators among its employees for evidence that it does.
Today, Gizmodo is publishing our third batch of the Facebook Papers — documents that, among other things, shine a light on the company’s reluctance to take action against known sources of misinformation.
Elon Musk Issues Warning on Twitter Algorithm as Company’s Legal Team Reaches Out
Elon Musk warned Twitter users that they are “being manipulated” and told them to turn off the platform’s algorithmic newsfeed, coming as the firm’s legal department apparently said he committed a violation of a non-disclosure agreement.
“You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you do not realize…Easy to switch back and forth to see the difference,” Musk wrote on Twitter. The Tesla CEO advised other users to switch to seeing the latest Twitter posts immediately by tapping the Twitter home button, tapping the stars button on the upper right of the screen, and selecting “latest tweets.”
“I am not suggesting malice in the algorithm, but rather that it is trying to guess what you might want to read and, in doing so, inadvertently manipulate/amplify your viewpoints without you realizing this is happening,” Musk continued in another post.
Fed-Up NYC Parents Demand City Hall Meeting Over Toddler Mask Mandates + More
Fed-Up NYC Parents Demand City Hall Meeting Over Toddler Mask Mandates
Fed-up parents tired of the Adams administration blowing them off over the city’s prolonged toddler mask mandate have called on the mayor to address their concerns by next week.
More than 200 fuming parents of toddlers signed on to a letter sent to city officials Thursday requesting a sit-down with Adams and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vassan by May 17.
“We write this letter because our hundreds of phone calls and emails, and our direct requests for meetings, have gone unanswered,” reads the missive, obtained by The Post.
“We want to review the city’s analysis of how the benefits of covering the faces of babies who are still in diapers outweigh the harms,” read the letter. “We want to know why our young children continue to be masked even as every other resident of this city is given the option to unmask, regardless of vaccination status.”
Lawmakers Fail to Reverse Gov. Edwards’ Decision to Add COVID Vaccine to School Shots List
Come August, most high schoolers in Louisiana will have to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or submit a written exemption to attend school, after an effort among lawmakers to reverse the rule by Gov. John Bel Edwards fell apart Wednesday.
The Democratic governor’s decision last year to add the COVID-19 jab to the school shots list caused a stir among lawmakers, though at the time, they could do little more than ask Edwards to stand down. He didn’t budge. So, opponents tried a different strategy: a legislative resolution.
Authored by House Health & Welfare Committee Chair Larry Bagley, House Concurrent Resolution 3 would’ve repealed Edwards’ rule in its entirety. It passed the House and needed only to win approval in the Senate to go into effect.
But following a tense hearing Wednesday, the Senate Health & Welfare Committee voted 4-3 to reject the resolution, keeping Edwards’ rule alive.
How Privacy Fears Have Put Renewed Focus on the Potential ‘Chilling Effects’ of Facebook’s Smart Glasses
Flicking through the paper or listening to the radio over the past month, you might have encountered an awareness campaign for smart glasses promoted by Facebook, or Meta, as the company has rechristened itself. On its website, Facebook bills the new device as “an authentic way to capture photos and video, share your adventures, and listen to music or take phone calls”.
According to Facebook, smart glasses allow you to “easily record the world as you see it”, using in-built cameras and voice command controls. The glasses are “designed with privacy in mind”, using an LED in the frames that light up “to let people nearby know when you’re taking a photo or video”.
Not everyone is satisfied with this explanation. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) and its Italian counterpart, the Garante, last year issued a statement expressing concerns about the product. They pointed out that in contrast, when it comes to smartphones, “it is generally the case that the camera or the phone is visible as the device by which recording is happening”, making people aware they are being recorded.
They argued that the effectiveness of the smart glasses’ LED in notifying individuals that they are being recorded had not been proven.
Maine’s Largest City Reinstates Public School Mask Mandates
Portland, Maine, has reinstated its COVID-19 mask mandate for public schools in the city amidst rising cases of the virus in the Pine Tree State.
On Thursday, school kids in Maine’s largest city had to put masks back on while indoors and on buses after Superintendent Xavier Botana notified the school district of the change earlier this week. Students had temporarily stopped wearing masks in March.
McMaster University Wins Court Decision Over Student Vaccine Mandates
An Ontario court decision that vindicated a process that saw four devout Christian students kicked out of their university classes over vaccinations may provide a blueprint for future mandates, according to a health law expert.
This ruling, the first on the merits of vaccine mandate policies in Ontario courts, focused on McMaster University’s decision-making process when it rejected vaccine exemption requests from the students.
The decision, released on April 29, comes at a time when many mandatory vaccine policies are ending across Canada. Yet, others remain in place, such as federal mandates for air travel.
Eastside Firefighters Dismissed Over Vaccine Mandate Push to Get Jobs Back
Anger, confusion and concern erupted during a Thursday evening meeting of the Eastside Fire and Rescue’s board of directors as firefighters who lost their jobs over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate joined a roomful of supporters to speak out during public comment and demand that accommodations be granted.
The former firefighters said public safety is at stake because of the staffing cuts as they vowed to mount a legal challenge to win back their jobs.
According to officials, 14 veteran firefighters were let go because they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Joe Rogan Calls Trudeau ‘Creepy F****** Dictator’ Over Trucker Protests
Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan, once a fan of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said on the Thursday episode of The Joe Rogan Experience that Trudeau’s handling of the trucker protest earlier this year made him change his mind about the “creepy f****** dictator.”
Rogan spoke to Concordia University professor Gad Saad about Canada and how his views on the prime minister had changed as a result of the three-week protest that shut down central Ottawa. The truckers were protesting against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and occupied the center of the Canadian capital from January 28 until the demonstration was broken up by police on February 20.
“But just the way he labeled those truckers as racist for no reason, the people that were protesting against mandates, he decided that they were misogynists and racists,” he went on.
“The way he did it. He just cast a pejorative label on them with no evidence, with no provocation, it was just like ‘I’m going to label them this so that I can impose laws to stop them from doing what is essentially a peaceful protest,'” Rogan said.
Elon Musk Criticizes Pitch by ‘Disinformation Czar’ to Allow Verified Twitter Accounts to Edit Others’ Tweets
The head of the Biden administration’s new Disinformation Governance Board pitched the idea of allowing verified accounts to “edit” Twitter and add context to others’ tweets, roiling Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose $44 billion bid for the social media platform was accepted last month.
Musk called the idea “disconcerting” on Thursday evening, then followed that up about 30 minutes later by tweeting, “Don’t Diss Information.”
The Tesla CEO has pitched several potential changes to Twitter since his bid was accepted by the board last month, including reversing former President Trump’s ban, open-sourcing the platform’s algorithm, adding a slight fee for government accounts and generally promoting free speech on what he has called the “de facto public square.”
Employers Are Being Warned That the Use of Algorithms and AI Technology in Hiring Could Violate the Americans With Disabilities Act
The use of algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) technology in hiring workers could risk violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers have been warned.
Increasing use of algorithms and AI tools by employers during hiring processes, in performance monitoring, and in determining pay or promotions, could result in discrimination against people with disabilities, the Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said in a joint statement Thursday, warning it would be a violation of the act.
EEOC chair Charlotte Burrows said last year that about 83% of employers and 90% of Fortune 500 companies use automated tools in their hiring processes, Bloomberg Law reported.
The DOJ and EEOC said that people whose disabilities would not affect their ability to do the job could be screened out by the use of algorithms and AI technology in the hiring process. Facial and voice analysis technologies may rule out qualified people with autism or speech impairments, the departments said, while personality tests could screen out those with mild mental disabilities.
Musk Says $44 Billion Twitter Deal on Hold Over Fake Account Data
Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that his $44-billion cash deal for Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is “temporarily on hold” while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.
Twitter shares initially fell more than 20% in premarket trading, but after Tesla CEO Musk sent a second tweet saying he remained committed to the deal they regained some ground. The stock was off 12% in heavy volume ahead of the market open as investors fretted over the takeover.
Spam or fake accounts are designed to manipulate or artificially boost activity on services like Twitter. Some are tied to improve commercial results, while others are designed to create an impression that something or someone is more popular.
U.S. Cities Are Backing off Banning Facial Recognition as Crime Rises
Facial recognition is making a comeback in the United States as bans to thwart the technology and curb racial bias in policing come under threat amid a surge in crime and increased lobbying from developers.
Virginia in July will eliminate its prohibition on local police use of facial recognition a year after approving it, and California and the city of New Orleans as soon as this month could be next to hit the undo button.
Janelle Monáe: ‘Erasure Is Happening Right Under Our Noses’
Four years after releasing the studio album “Dirty Computer” — a pop opus about love and rebellion in a dystopian future — Janelle Monáe has followed up with a new science fiction book set in the same world. On Thursday, the singer and actor spoke with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about the unsettling parallels between the bestselling anthology and the current state of politics in the U.S.
Across five short stories, the protagonists of Monáe’s “The Memory Librarian” rebel against a eugenicist society in the not-too-distant future that uses surveillance to root out citizens who are “dirty computers” and wipe their minds. Monáe’s book and album, as well as an accompanying short film, all advocate using love as a rebellious act in the face of oppression while celebrating the beauty of diversity.
“(‘The Memory Librarian’) deals with this totalitarian society literally taking people’s memories away from them, and giving them new identities so that they can manipulate and control them,” Monáe explained to Amanpour.
‘Less Is More’ Comes to Big Data
The likely demise of Roe v. Wade is putting a new spotlight on privacy rights and personal data. But even as some big tech companies are beginning to try to limit how much data their existing products collect, the industry keeps rolling out new waves of devices and services that scoop up even more personal info.
Any trove of data will sooner or later end up at the other end of a request, or order, to be shared with law enforcement. The newest generation of gear, including autonomous vehicles and always-on cameras, could provide the state with a persistent and omnipresent method of surveillance.
The machine learning algorithms that underlie everything from search engines to speech recognition only work when trained on mountains of data, creating another incentive for companies to build info stockpiles.
“Not only will more data be collected but exponentially more,” says Evan Greer, deputy director of Fight for the Future. “It’s inevitable that mountains of additional data being collected will be abused.”
Fauci’s Next Lockdown May Be Free Speech + More
Fauci’s Next Lockdown May Be Free Speech
Anthony Fauci delivered a bizarre commencement address on Saturday at the University of Michigan, where he implied freedom of speech should be the next lockdown target.
After botching the COVID pandemic, team Fauci needs a backup plan to reduce their accountability in the upcoming midterm elections.
Fauci sang from the same song sheet recently used by other officials in the Biden Administration. Their top priority has become to control information and demonize those who dare to question the powers-that-be, in order to limit the political fallout that would otherwise drive liberals out of office.
“It is our collective responsibility not to sink to a tacit acceptance of the normalization of untruths,” Fauci urged the college graduates.
Kyrie Irving’s Long-Term Nets Career in Doubt — GM Refuses to Commit, Hinting COVID Vaccine Refusal Is Possible Reason
Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks would not say Wednesday if he hopes the team’s star point guard Kyrie Irving will be in Brooklyn long-term, showing frustration after Irving’s refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine bled into the Nets’ on-court success, contributing to the franchise’s disappointing 2021-22 season.
Marks said the Nets’ front office is still “discussing” the situation when asked by a reporter if Brooklyn is committed to Irving long-term.
Irving, who remains unvaccinated against COVID-19 and is one of the most prominent advocates against vaccine mandates, played in just 29 of the Nets’ 82 games last season due to New York City COVID-19 vaccine rules that ended in March.
Marks indicated in the press conference the Nets’ hesitation may be related to Irving’s vaccine-related absence, saying the team is looking for players who can “be available” and “want to be something bigger than themselves.”
A Law Inviting Texans to Sue Social Media Companies Over ‘Censorship’ Is Back
A controversial Texas law that would open social media companies up to lawsuits from aggrieved users just notched a surprise win. A trio of federal appeals court judges issued the ruling Wednesday, which pauses a temporary injunction that blocked the law from taking effect last year.
The law, HB 20, would prohibit tech platforms from removing or restricting content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person” or “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression” — some extremely broad criteria with a lot of room for interpretation.
Two tech industry groups, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, pursued an injunction against the law last year, which was granted in December. During a hearing about HB 20 on Monday, one of the judges inexplicably told the trade groups that their tech industry clients were “internet providers” not websites.
Proponents of the Texas law, crafted to punish tech companies for perceived anti-conservative bias, may have notched a win on Wednesday, but things certainly aren’t settled for HB 20 given its potentially massive implications for social media platforms operating in the state. NetChoice has already stated its intention to appeal the order.
Creeping COVID Cases Result in Few Schools Mask Mandates
U.S. COVID-19 cases are up, leading a smattering of school districts, particularly in the Northeast, to bring back mask mandates and recommendations for the first time since the Omicron winter surge ended and as the country approaches 1 million deaths in the pandemic.
The return of masking in schools is not nearly as widespread as earlier in the pandemic, particularly as the public’s worries over the virus have ebbed. But districts in Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have brought masks back, with a few in Massachusetts also recommending them even as the school year enters its final weeks.
Maine’s largest school district, in Portland, said this week masks would return, with Superintendent Xavier Botana saying that was the “safest course at this time” amid rising cases. Bangor, Maine, schools also brought back a universal mask requirement.
Hawaii Public School Students to Remain Masked for Summer
Public school students in Hawaii will be required to wear masks while indoors for summer classes and related activities.
State officials said at a news conference Wednesday that the measure is meant to keep students and families safe. Hawaii is the only state in the nation that still has a universal indoor mask requirement for public school students.
Hawaii’s State Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble said officials are still discussing whether to keep the rule in place for the fall term.
Canadian Soldier Charged for Speaking Against COVID Vaccine Mandate in Uniform
A Canadian soldier who publicly spoke out against federal vaccine requirements while in uniform has been charged. The Department of National Defense says Warrant Officer James Topp faces two charges of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.
A charge sheet provided by Topp’s lawyer, Phillip Millar, says the army reservist is accused of criticizing vaccine requirements for military personnel and other federal employees on two occasions in February while wearing his uniform.
Canadian Armed Forces members are restricted in what they can say while in uniform, but Millar argues such restrictions should not apply to policies that affect them personally.
Defense Department spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande says a second Armed Forces member charged with the same offense received a $500 fine after being found guilty.
Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ Is ‘Un-American’ Abuse of Power: McCarthy
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy slammed President Joe Biden‘s new Disinformation Governance Board as an “un-American abuse of power” while he threw his support behind a Republican bill that would terminate the new bureau, which conservatives have dubbed the “Ministry of Truth” in comparison to George Orwell’s novel 1984.
“It’s a scheme conjured up by Washington Democrats to grant themselves the authority to control free speech,” McCarthy said at a Wednesday press briefing. “They fear Americans having unfettered access to information because it will challenge the power that they want to have over people’s lives.”
While the Department of Homeland Security has said the “working group” will target disinformation that threatens national security, critics of the bureau warn that it is an attempt from the federal government to police free speech on the internet.
‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Patti LuPone Publicly Rips Broadway Patron Over Mask Policy
It’s the on-stage outburst that has Broadway buzzing, from a stage legend known for not holding back her feelings about theater etiquette.
Tony- and Grammy-award-winner Patti LuPone, starring in the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” was part of a cast talkback with the audience following Monday night’s performance.
Witnesses and producers said it was during that time when LuPone politely and repeatedly asked two people in the theater to pull their masks above their noses.
“That is the rule. If you don’t want to follow the rule, get the f— out!” the Broadway icon yelled at the theatergoer, to cheers from the audience. “Who do you think you are that you do not respect the people that are sitting around you?”
North Korea Reports First COVID Outbreak, Imposes Nationwide Lockdown
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered a nationwide lockdown after acknowledging a COVID-19 outbreak in the country for the first time.
The Hermit Kingdom had claimed a perfect record in keeping the virus out since the start of the pandemic. The claim has been widely doubted as COVID-19 has spread to nearly every place in the world.
It’s unclear how many people have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, but experts warn that it could have serious consequences due to the socialist country’s poor healthcare system. Experts say Kim may have made the highly unusual admission because he may be looking for outside help.
Ending England’s COVID Restrictions Was Divisive — but the Data Shows We Were Right
It is now five months since the Omicron variant was first detected in the U.K. — and although its impact was less severe than many initially feared, it’s estimated that more than 30 million people in England have been infected, with 200,000 hospitalized and even more suffering with long COVID across the UK, and over 20,000 deaths.
Behind these headline figures lies a more complicated reality, yielding important lessons about the impact of government-mandated restrictions that could help end disagreements between some scientists and help us deal with future waves.
The first Omicron (BA.1) wave, beginning in December, showed us that it was possible to get over a peak without a lockdown. The second (BA.2) wave from March to April was the first time a wave peaked in England without any government-mandated restrictions, as all legal mandates ended on February 24.
Elon Musk Is a Hero, but He Shouldn’t Have to Be
Freedom of speech in the online public square hangs by a single thread spun by a benevolent billionaire named Elon Musk. His purchasing of Twitter to restore this key component of democracy is triggering shrill cries from leftists, who demand the power to censor tech platforms and silence anyone with whom they disagree. Those shrill cries have only intensified, now that Musk has announced his plans to reverse Twitter‘s infamous ban of former President Donald Trump.
But Musk is taking a step that shouldn’t be necessary. In a functioning system, Twitter would not need to be saved through a complete shareholder buyout requiring tens of billions of dollars that only the richest few on Earth could possibly amass.
Big Tech must indeed be held accountable for its role in corrupting internet platforms and systems. However, this enforcement must come from American citizens, who stand to lose the most from Big Tech’s abuses, through their elected representatives — not a billionaire benefactor.
Elon Musk Hit With SEC Investigation Over Tardy Twitter Stake Disclosure: Report
Elon Musk is facing an investigation into the details of him taking a substantial stake in Twitter, with federal regulators saying he was late in filing a key form in the process, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations require shareholders to make a public disclosure when they reach a 5% ownership stake in a company. Musk did so, but only on April 4, 10 days after his stake met the requirements for disclosure, according to WSJ.
The SEC rule is supposed to allow existing shareholders to receive a warning that the company may be facing a buyout attempt, and the delay in Musk’s case allowed him to purchase additional stock without providing that warning, according to WSJ.
DuckDuckGo Slams Google’s New Tracking Systems
DuckDuckGo has once again taken issue with Google’s plan to replace third-party cookies in Chrome by calling out the search giant’s new Topics and FLEDGE tracking and ad targeting methods.
While Topics uses your browsing history in Chrome to automatically collect information about your interests to share with tracking companies and other businesses, FLEDGE enables Google’s browser to target users with ads based on their browsing history.
Although Google’s intentions behind replacing third-party cookies with Topics and FLEDGE may be good, DuckDuckGo points out in a new blog post that tracking, targeting and profiling will still occur once Privacy Sandbox is rolled out in Chrome.
EU Drops Air Travel Face Mask Mandate + More
COVID: EU Drops Air Travel Face Mask Mandate
Face masks will not have to be worn in airports and on flights in Europe, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday.
The easing of the measure will be effective as of May 16. However, authorities stressed masks were still the most effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“It is a relief to all of us that we are finally reaching a stage in the pandemic where we can start to relax the health safety measures,” EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky said. “For many passengers, and also aircrew members, there is a strong desire for masks to no longer be a mandatory part of air travel. We are now at the start of that process.”
Italy, France, Bulgaria and other European countries have already been easing or ending their COVID measures.
Musk, Bezos, Gates Lose Billions in Net Worth in Tech Downturn
Three big-name tech billionaires have been hit with sizable blows to their net worth as the technology sector has soured in recent days.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq sank 4% on Monday, making the total decline approximately 10% since the Federal Reserve announced continued hikes of half percentage points on interest rates.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are often ranked as the three most wealthy private individuals in the world — and all three have been hurt by recent market developments.
Musk lost approximately $12.8 billion Monday, according to the Dow Jones Market Data Group. Bezos’ net worth fell $5.97 billion, and Gates lost $1.05 billion.
LA School Board Delays Student COVID Vaccine Mandate Without Any Discussion
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved a delay of a student vaccine mandate for COVID-19 that had been scheduled to take effect next fall, under a recommendation from Supt. Alberto Carvalho.
The 8:30 p.m. vote at the conclusion of a nearly 12-hour board meeting took place without comment from either Carvalho or board members. It was a striking anticlimax after board members had determinedly adopted the vaccine requirement last year — and were resolute in defending it against lawsuits.
The decision aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement last month that he is pausing a state mandate that, at one point, was expected to take effect before the upcoming school year.
Ted Cruz Bill Would Give Troops Refusing COVID Vaccine Honorable Discharge
GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is calling for all service members who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine to be granted an honorable discharge under new legislation introduced.
Cruz and 13 of his Republican colleagues sponsored the Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act, which will require the secretary of defense to make an effort to retain unvaccinated service members. This comes as all U.S. military services have begun disciplinary actions and discharges of troops for vaccine non-compliance.
Cruz said the proposed bill is a counter to the Biden administration’s efforts to “coerce and punish service members who decline the COVID-19 vaccine.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the Biden administration is trying to coerce our men and women in uniform to violate their conscience and religious beliefs, let alone on an issue as polarizing as the COVID-19 vaccine,” Cruz said in a statement. “The AMERICANS Act will ensure that these and similar efforts to politicize our military on this issue are blocked.”
King County Sheriff’s Office Gives Update on Deputy Firings Due to Vaccine Mandate
With vacancies soaring at the King County Sheriff’s Office, acting King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall gave an update on how the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination mandate has impacted staffing and operations at the sheriff’s office during a King County Council committee meeting Tuesday.
During the council’s Government Accountability and Oversight Committee meeting, Cole-Tindall said her number-one priority is finding a solution to recruit more deputies.
Recently, King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn pushed to end the firing of unvaccinated deputies due to the staffing shortages amid an uptick in violence in King County.
“I’ve disagreed with the policy, and the vaccine mandate at the sheriff’s office from the beginning because of the substantial loss of personnel,” said Dunn. “Whether they were forced into retirement … or the fear of disclosing information, or not granted an exemption and I see there are (around) 112 deputy vacancies. It’s substantial.”
WHO Chief Censored on China’s Internet After Calling Zero-COVID Unsustainable
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is being censored on China’s internet after questioning the sustainability of the country’s zero-COVID policy.
The censorship on Weibo and WeChat, China’s two largest social media platforms, targets WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ comments that expressed rare disagreement with Beijing’s policies.
“When we talk about the zero-COVID strategy, we don’t think that it is sustainable, considering the behavior of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future,” Tedros told a media briefing Tuesday, citing the increased transmissibility of Omicron.
The criticism from Tedros, who was accused of being too close to China earlier in the pandemic, came just days after Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to double down on the policy and “resolutely struggle” against all critics.
Scarred by COVID Lockdown, Some Indian Migrants Stick Closer to Home
Hungry and thirsty, Mohammed Tanveer walked and hitchhiked 1,900 km home after losing his job in the first coronavirus wave in 2020 — and, like many Indian migrants, has vowed never to work so far from his family again.
Mr. Tanveer was among 11 million migrants who traveled thousands of miles home in scorching heat, many dying of exhaustion or in accidents, after losing their jobs in one of the world’s longest and strictest COVID-19 lockdowns.
With recurring waves of COVID-19 and precarious working conditions, many migrants are finding jobs closer to home where possible, or forging stronger support networks in destination cities, according to labor rights campaigners.
Elon Musk Slams ‘Strong Left-Wing Bias’ in Twitter Censorship
Billionaire Elon Musk, Twitter’s presumptive future owner, took a public swipe Monday at what he called the platform’s “left-wing bias,” when asked to weigh in on censorship decisions.
“Twitter obv has a strong left-wing bias,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
Musk’s comment came in response to alt-right conservative commentator Mike Cernovich, who accused Twitter of turning a blind eye to tweets from liberal accounts that incite violence. “When Twitter employees invariably lie to you about enforcement policy, maybe they can explain why a verified account is allowed to incite terrorism without any care in the world about being banned,” Cernovich wrote.
Musk later followed up by sharing more thoughts on speech on the social media platform.
The EU Wants Big Tech to Scan Your Private Chats for Child Abuse
All your WhatsApp photos, iMessage texts, and Snapchat videos could be scanned to check for child sexual abuse images and videos under newly proposed European rules. The plans, experts warn, may undermine the end-to-end encryption that protects billions of messages sent every day and hamper people’s online privacy.
The European Commission today revealed long-awaited proposals aimed at tackling the huge volumes of child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM, uploaded to the web each year. The proposed law creates a new EU Centre to deal with child abuse content and introduces obligations for tech companies to “detect, report, block and remove” CSAM from their platforms.
The law, announced by Europe’s commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, says tech companies have failed to voluntarily remove abuse content and has been welcomed by child protection and safety groups.
Thousands of Popular Websites See What You Type — Before You Hit Submit
When you sign up for a newsletter, make a hotel reservation, or check out online, you probably take for granted that if you mistype your email address three times or change your mind and X out of the page, it doesn’t matter. Nothing actually happens until you hit the Submit button, right? Well, maybe not. As with so many assumptions about the web, this isn’t always the case, according to new research: A surprising number of websites are collecting some or all of your data as you type it into a digital form.
Researchers from KU Leuven, Radboud University and the University of Lausanne crawled and analyzed the top 100,000 websites, looking at scenarios in which a user is visiting a site while in the European Union and visiting a site from the United States.
They found that 1,844 websites gathered an EU user’s email address without their consent, and a staggering 2,950 logged a U.S. user’s email in some form. Many of the sites seemingly do not intend to conduct the data-logging but incorporate third-party marketing and analytics services that cause the behavior.
GOP State Legislators Move to Police Social Media
Republican state legislators across the country are eyeing new restrictions on the type of content that major social media companies can police. In the absence of federal action on tech reforms, the state-level proposals are leaving industry experts worried about a patchwork of regulations and a flood of litigation.
Legislators in at least 18 states have considered bills that would impose penalties for censorship or content limits based on ideological viewpoints. The specifics vary, but many of the proposals would allow users who believe their views have been censored or silenced to bring lawsuits in state courts.
By preventing Big Tech companies from continuing to engage in viewpoint discrimination, we hope to protect the free exchange of ideas and information in Ohio,” Ohio state Rep. Scott Wiggam (R) said at a recent committee hearing introducing his state’s version of the measure. He called it “an anti-discrimination bill, at its heart. It will prevent Big Tech from censoring the expressions of Ohioans based upon their point of view.”