Ep37: Top Headline News
HARTFORD , Conn. (AP) — The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened — the latest victory for victims’ relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists. The book, “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook,” has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was killed in the shooting.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted to block the sale of billions of dollars of munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, in a sharp and bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration’s attempt to circumvent Congress to allow the exports by declaring an emergency over Iran. Republicans joined Democrats to register their growing anger with the administration’s use of emergency power to cut lawmakers out of national security decisions, as well as the White House’s unflagging support for the Saudis despite congressional pressure to punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the killing in October of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Bill and Melinda Gates have launched a lobbying organization to advocate for issues in health, education, and poverty, The Hill reported on Thursday. The Gates Policy Initiative, which was announced on Thursday, will work with lawmakers on issues such as global health, global development, moving people from poverty to employment, and education for black, Latino, and rural students. The initiative, which will be a 501(c)(4) organization under the US tax code, is independent from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the billionaire couple's philanthropic organization.
Russia’s parliament has approved a controversial law that allows courts to jail people for online “disrespect” of government or state officials, including the president, Vladimir Putin. The law, which critics say is reminiscent of Soviet-era legislation used to target political dissidents, stipulates fines of up to 100,000 roubles (£1,155) for “indecent” online posts that demonstrate a “blatant disrespect for society, the country, Russia’s official state symbols, the constitution, or the authorities”. Repeat offenders can be hit with fines of up to twice this sum, or 15 days behind bars.
More than 20,000 Christians have signed a petition calling for the cancellation of Good Omens, the television series adapted from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 fantasy novel – unfortunately addressing their petition to Netflix when the series is made by Amazon Prime.
An independent tribunal sitting in London has concluded that the killing of detainees in China for organ transplants is continuing, and victims include imprisoned followers of the Falun Gong movement. The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who was a prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said in a unanimous determination at the end of its hearings it was “certain that Falun Gong as a source - probably the principal source - of organs for forced organ harvesting”.
Infowars founder Alex Jones and his lawyer, Norm Pattis, say the conspiracy theory aficionado was the target of a malware attack that left child pornography embedded on his servers, a move which they say sparked an FBI investigation. With Pattis by his side on his show Friday, Jones exploded into a five-minute rant before announcing he would fork over $1 million to whoever finds the culprit. “You’re trying to set me up with child porn, I’m going to get your ass. One million dollars, one million dollars you little gang member. One million dollars to put your head on a pike. One million dollars, bitch,” Jones shouted, adding, “You’re not going to ever defeat Texas, you sacks of shit.”
A North Carolina mom used a phone tracking app to find her missing teenage daughter who had been pinned underneath her car for more than seven hours after careening 25 feet down the side of a mountain. Catrina Cramer Alexander, of Mount Airy, N.C., said she resorted to the Find My Friends app after her 17-year-old daughter Macy Smith missed curfew and did not respond to texts or calls from her mother or brother.
Shipping containers full of illegal drugs have been found and seized by federal authorities at a Philadelphia port in what federal authorities describe as the largest seizure in the region's history. A senior law enforcement official said more than 15,500 kilos of cocaine were found in seven containers, which were found aboard a cargo ship, the MSC Gayane, that previously stopped in Colombia, Chile, Panama and the Bahamas.
LOS ANGELES — A former Scientologist has filed the first of what her attorneys say will be multiple lawsuits against the Church of Scientology International and its leader, alleging retaliation, child abuse, human trafficking and forced labor against her and other members who have left the church. The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks unspecified general, special and compensatory damages, as well as unpaid wages, from the church, its Religious Technology Center and its "ecclesiastical leader," David Miscavige, and 25 unnamed co-respondents at a jury trial.
