https://nypost.com/2024/04/17/business/google-fires-28-employees-involved-in-sit-in-protest-over-1-2b-israel-contract/

Link: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/putin-tells-middle-east-pull-back-catastrophic-clash-2024-04-16/

>MOSCOW/DUBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged all sides in the Middle East to refrain from action that would trigger a new confrontation which he warned would be fraught with catastrophic consequences for the region, the Kremlin said.

>Putin, who has forged much closer ties with the Islamic Republic since sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi by phone about what the Kremlin called "retaliatory measures taken by Iran."

>Iran launched drones and missiles at Israel late on Saturday in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two senior commanders.

>Putin, in his first publicly aired comments on Iran's attack, said the root cause of the current instability in the Middle East was the unresolved conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

>"Vladimir Putin expressed hope that all sides would show reasonable restraint and prevent a new round of confrontation fraught with catastrophic consequences for the entire region," the Kremlin said.

>"Ebrahim Raisi noted that Iran's actions were forced and limited in nature," the Kremlin said. "At the same time, he stressed Tehran's disinterest in further escalation of tensions."

>Tehran gave a slightly different readout of the call, with state media quoting Raisi as declaring that Iran would respond more severely, extensively, and painfully than ever to any action against Iran's interests.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/15/trump-hush-money-trial-key-arguments

On Monday, 15 April 2024, Donald Trump went to Manhattan court for his trial in Manhattan, making him the first US president, former or present, to face a criminal jury. More than 500 prospective jurors have been summoned to Manhattan supreme court in preparation for a selection process that could span days.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, in spring 2023 charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged hush-money scheme involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal. The charge is a class E felony.

Bragg’s office contends that Trump facilitated payoffs to the women through his then attorney, Michael Cohen, to cover up alleged extramarital liaisons that could have damaged his candidacy in the 2016 election. They say that the illicit “catch and kill” payoff scheme spanned from August 2015 to December 2017. Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges in Manhattan related to his involvement in that particular scheme, among other crimes.

Trump has maintained his innocence. As with the other criminal and civil cases against him, Trump has largely claimed these proceedings are a politically motivated witch-hunt, intended to impede his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-klaus-schwab-hospital-dead-alive-607968130071

CLAIM: World Economic Forum executive chairman Klaus Schwab was recently admitted to the hospital in serious condition and might have died.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Posts making these allegations began spreading widely after a website that says it publishes “satire, and comedic opinion pieces and editorials” posted an article about Schwab’s supposed hospitalization. A WEF spokesperson told The Associated Press that the claims are untrue.

THE FACTS: Social media users are spreading baseless rumors about Schwab’s health.

“BREAKING: Klaus Schwab was apparently admitted to the hospital seriously ill,” reads one X post that had received approximately 25,000 likes and 8,800 shares as of Monday. “Anyway, that doesn’t BUG me.”

The word “bug” appears to be emphasized in reference to another false claim, that the WEF wants to replace meat with bugs.

Other posts go a step further, stating that Schwab “may be dead.”

But the WEF founder is not deathly ill or worse, according to Yann Zopf, a spokesperson for the organization.

“These claims are entirely baseless and unfounded,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “Professor Schwab’s health is excellent. Like many high-profile individuals and organizations, he and the World Economic Forum have been targeted by conspiracy narratives, as well as misinformation and disinformation campaigns.”

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/17/smartmatic-one-america-news-network-oann-lawsuit-settlement

Smartmatic reached a settlement with One America News Network Tuesday in its lawsuit that accused the conservative broadcaster of peddling disinformation about the voting machine company's technology in regards to the 2020 presidential election.

The big picture: The lawsuit was one of several Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems filed against conservative-leaning networks and pro-Trump figures, accusing them of broadcasting baseless conspiracy theories about their voting equipment and software.

The suit accused OANN of "falsely" stating that Smartmatic "rigged" the 2020 presidential election for President Biden in key swing states, despite Los Angeles County being the only place in the U.S. where the company provided services that year.

Details: A federal court filing in D.C. shows the claims were dismissed without prejudice on Tuesday, with each party bearing its own attorneys' fees, costs and expenses.

Erik Connolly, Smartmatic's lead attorney, said in a statement to media that the company had "resolved its litigation against OANN through a confidential settlement."
OANN attorney Chip Babcock told CNN the case "has been resolved pursuant to a confidential agreement."

Flashback: The settlement comes one year after Fox News settled a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for over $787 million.

What we're watching: Smartmatic has lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax pending before the courts over reporting on its machines.

Fox has filed a countersuit against the firm and the network citing First Amendment protections and public interest in the election claims by former President Trump and his allies following his 2020 election loss.

We need to get rid of legislative immunity. shit like California's fee shifting bullshit and Washington's judge shopping is proof that all this shit is in bad faith. Make it so any politician who votes for and any governor that signs a gun law that is found to be unconstitutional has to pay back the state and the plaintiff all their legal fees and goes to jail or is hanged.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-has-passed-lots-of-new-gun-laws-could-they-be-in-legal-trouble/
Local Politics
WA has passed lots of new gun laws. Could they be in legal trouble?
April 15, 2024 at 6:00 am Updated April 15, 2024 at 6:00 am
Rifle magazines and accessories for sale at a gun store in Miami Beach, Fla. (Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg, 2023)

Rifle magazines and accessories for sale at a gun store in Miami Beach, Fla. (Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg, 2023)Less
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David Gutman By David Gutman
Seattle Times staff reporter
When a Cowlitz County judge ruled last week that Washington’s ban on high- capacity magazines is unconstitutional, he added one line, on Page 43 of his 55-page opinion, that could just be a little-noticed throwaway, or could prove shockingly prescient.

There are, Judge Gary Bashor wrote, “few, if any, historical analogue laws by which a state can justify a modern firearms regulation.”

The high-capacity magazine ban, Bashor wrote, pointing to U.S. Supreme Court precedent, fails because there are no “relevantly similar” laws from around 1791, when the Second Amendment was adopted.

Bashor’s ruling was immediately placed on hold, and the state’s ban on high-capacity magazines remains in effect, while the state Supreme Court considers the issue.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/murder-rates-down-new-york-san-francisco-philadelphia-508b6855
Homicides in American cities are falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels they were at before a pandemic-era jump.

Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared with the same period in 2023, according to crime-data analyst Jeff Asher, who tabulated statistics from police departments across the country.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/blue-city-mayor-defunds-police-force-by-more-than-8-million-to-aid-migrants/ar-BB1lJJv8?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=0b9d85b81b474dc496cd458149949452&ei=53 their trying to get people to hate law enforcement to encourage terroristic behavior, creating problems which originally never existed to that extent their making it. and everyone is eating it up like a 10" white hung dick.

While the rest of the world can’t peel their eyes away as Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial gets under way in New York, the former president himself appears to be far less enthralled by the proceedings.

Jury selection got under way on Monday in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former president, as he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

But, according to some courtroom reporters, Mr Trump appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open – and at one point may have even fallen asleep.

“Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported.

The observation quickly inspired a new nickname for the 77-year-old former president: “Sleepy Don.”

Soon, the moniker spread like wildfire on social media.

“My theory: Trump’s legal team sedated him,” Mother Jones DC bureau chief David Corn wrote.

“Looks, he’s old. The judge is keeping Sleepy Don from his nap time,” Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted.

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Super PAC, wrote that Mr Trump had worn himself out with his post-trial Truth Social rants.

“#SleepyDon was up late rage-posting on Truth Social,” the account posted.

The former president’s apparent courtroom nap eventually began trending, with users flocking to the hashtag #DonSnorleone, a reference to the mafia kingpin Don Corleone from the Godfather series. Others chose another pun for Mr Trump: The Nodfather.

Several other social media users joined in the joke.

“I prefer Presidents who don’t fall asleep before the lunch break in their hush money paid to a porn star election interference trial,” one user mocked.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-hush-money-sleepy-don-b2529108.html

Ukraine appears to be losing.
Centrenergo has lost all of its power plants.
DTEK has lost 80% of its power generation capabilities.
Ukraine is being forced now to triple energy imports and cease energy exporting.
It really sucks Ukraine has to deal with the disastrous effects of the 2014 democrat-planned coup in Ukraine
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ukraine-double-power-imports-monday-with-no-exports-grid-operator-says-2024-04-15/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68813529
Ukraine's power plants at the mercy of Russian missiles

Officials in Ukraine say they can "count on one hand" the thermal and hydro power plants across the country that are not yet badly damaged or totally destroyed. As Ukraine scrambles to repair what it can, and keep the electricity flowing to homes and industry, Russia's assault has not stopped.

The attack on 22 March was deliberate and devastating. Five Russian missiles struck the same spot, mangling turbines, generators and transformers and taking the plant offline. A week later, Russia targeted the city's power plants again.

For Ihor Orlovskiy this feels personal.

"It's like looking at the ruins of your own home. It brings pain and tears," the deputy director says, leading me across chunks of metal and stone to the spot where the missiles exploded.

He's worked here since Soviet times.

"It's a very bitter feeling. But this mobilises us too, to build back. Because we know a city of more than a million people is depending on us."

There have been six attacks on this plant since the start of the full-scale invasion, but the one in March was the worst by far.

It was also the most demoralising: it took engineers a full year to repair one section of the plant, then two weeks after it was restarted Russia hit exactly the same spot.