In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook faced significant pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to censor certain content related to COVID-19. This revelation comes over a year after Zuckerberg provided the committee with thousands of documents as part of an investigation into online content moderation. “There’s a lot of talk right now around how the U.S. government interacts with companies like Meta, and I want to be clear about our position,” Zuckerberg wrote, emphasizing Meta’s role in promoting free speech and safe connections. He disclosed that in 2021, “senior officials” from the Biden administration “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.” Zuckerberg noted that when Facebook resisted the censorship demands, the administration expressed frustration. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure,” he stated. He further added, “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” Reflecting on the situation, Zuckerberg admitted, “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.” He reassured that Meta would resist similar pressures in the future, asserting, “I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards to pressure from any Administration in either direction – and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The Taliban on Monday rejected concerns and criticism of the United Nations over new vice and virtue laws which ban women in Afghanistan from baring their faces and speaking in public places. Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the U.N. mission in the country, UNAMA, said Sunday the laws provided a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future. She said the laws extend the “ already intolerable restrictions ” on the rights of women and girls, with “even the sound of a female voice” outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. Zabihullah Mujahid, main spokesman for the Taliban’s government, in a statement warned against “arrogance” from those who may not be familiar with Islamic Sharia law, particularly non-Muslims who might express reservations or objections. “We urge a thorough understanding of these laws and a respectful acknowledgment of Islamic values. To reject these laws without such understanding is, in our view, an expression of arrogance,” he said. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers last Wednesday issued the country’s first set of laws to prevent vice and promote virtue. They include a requirement for a woman to conceal her face, body and voice outside the home. They also ban images of living beings, such as photographs. “After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” Otunbayeva said. In response to the UNAMA statement, Mujahid added, “We must stress that the concerns raised by various parties will not sway the Islamic Emirate from its commitment to upholding and enforcing Islamic Sharia law.” (AP)
A lawyer for Rudy Giuliani said Monday that the charges against his client in Arizona’s fake elector case should be thrown out because Giuliani did nothing criminal in contesting Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in the state over Donald Trump. An indictment said Giuliani spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona after the 2020 election and presided over a downtown Phoenix gathering where he claimed officials made no effort to determine the accuracy of presidential election results. Attorney Mark Williams said Giuliani was exercising his rights to free speech and petition the government. “How is Mr. Giuliani to know that, oh my gosh, he presided over a meeting in downtown Phoenix,” Williams asked sarcastically. “How is he to know that that’s a crime?” Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen is hearing arguments over whether to dismiss charges against Republicans who signed a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona and others who are accused of scheming to overturn the presidential race’s outcome. Cohen hasn’t yet issued decisions on the dismissal requests. Arguments over whether to throw out the case will continue Tuesday. While not a fake elector in Arizona, the indictment alleged Giuliani pressured Maricopa County officials and state legislators to change the outcome of Arizona’s results and encouraged Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. At least a dozen defendants are seeking a dismissal under an Arizona law that bars using baseless legal actions in a bid to silence critics. The law had long offered protections in civil cases but was amended in 2022 by the Republican-led Legislature to cover people facing most criminal charges. The defendants argue Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes tried to use the charges to silence them for their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions taken in response to the race’s outcome. They say Mayes campaigned on investigating the fake elector case and had shown a bias against Trump and his supporters. Prosecutors say the defendants don’t have evidence to back up their retaliation claim and they crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes’ office also has said the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider charging the former president, but prosecutors urged them not to. Dennis Wilenchik, an attorney for defendant James Lamon, who had signed a statement claiming Trump had won Arizona, argued his client signed the document only as a contingency in case a lawsuit would eventually turn the outcome of the presidential race in Trump’s favor in Arizona. “My client, Jim Lamon, never did anything to overthrow the government,” Wilenchik said. Prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said the defendants’ actions don’t back up their claims that they signed the document as a contingency. One defendant, attorney Christina Bobb, was working with Giuliani to get Congress to accept the fake electors, while another defendant, Anthony Kern, gave a media interview in which he said then-Vice President Mike Pence would decide which of the two slates of electors to choose from, Klingerman said. “That doesn’t sound like a contingency,” Klingerman said. “That sounds like a plan to cause turmoil to change the outcome of the election.” In all, 18 Republicans were charged with forgery, fraud and conspiracy. The defendants consist of 11 Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona, […]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott today announced that since signing Senate Bill 1 into law in 2021, Texas has removed over one million people from the state’s voter rolls, including people who moved out-of-state, are deceased, and are noncitizens. That removal process has been, and will continue to be, ongoing.
“Election integrity is essential to our democracy,” said Governor Abbott. “I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crackdown on illegal voting. These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state. The Secretary of State and county voter registrars have an ongoing legal requirement to review the voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, and refer any potential illegal voting to the Attorney General’s Office and local authorities for investigation and prosecution. Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated. We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
Since Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in 2021, Texas has removed over 1 million people from the voter rolls, including:
Over 6,500
noncitizens
Over 6,000
voters who have a felony conviction
Over 457,000
deceased people
Over 463,000
voters on the suspense list
Over 134,000
voters who responded to an address confirmation notice that they had moved
Over 65,000
voters who failed to respond to a notice of examination
Over 19,000
voters who requested to cancel their registration
Total
Over 1.1 million
Of the over 6,500 noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, approximately 1,930 have a voter history. The Secretary of State’s office is in the process of sending all 1,930 records to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation and potential legal action. To better crackdown on illegal voting, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 1243 into law last year, increasing the penalty for illegal voting, including voting by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.
In 2021, Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 1113, and House Bill 574 into law. Senate Bill 1 elevated lying while registering to vote to a state jail felony, criminalized ballot harvesting, required the Secretary of State to conduct randomized audits of elections every two years, banned distribution of unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and ballots, and required ID for mail-in ballots. Senate Bill 1113 empowered the Secretary of State to withhold funds from counties that fail to remove noncitizens from their voter roll. House Bill 574 made it a second-degree felony to knowingly count invalid votes or refuse to count valid votes.
In 2017, the Governor signed Senate Bill 5, which increased the penalty for election workers who knowingly permit noncitizens and other ineligible persons to vote.
{Matzav.com}
A federal judge in Texas on Monday paused a Biden administration policy that would give spouses of U.S. citizens legal status without having to first leave the country, dealing at least a temporary setback to one of the biggest presidential actions to ease a path to citizenship in years. The administrative stay issued by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes just days after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program that could benefit an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country, plus about 50,000 of their children. One of the states leading the challenge is Texas, which in the lawsuit claimed the state has had to pay tens of millions of dollars annually from health care to law enforcement because of immigrants living in the state without legal status. President Joe Biden announced the program in June. The court order, which lasts for two weeks but could be extended, comes one week after the Department of Homeland Security began accepting applications. “The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date,” Barker wrote. The judge laid out a timetable that could produce a decision shortly before the presidential election Nov. 5 or before a newly elected president takes office in January. Barker gave both sides until Oct. 10 to file briefs in the case. The policy offers spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status, who meet certain criteria, a path to citizenship by applying for a green card and staying in the U.S. while undergoing the process. Traditionally, the process could include a years-long wait outside of the U.S., causing what advocates equate to “family separation.” The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the order. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cheered the order. “This is just the first step. We are going to keep fighting for Texas, our country, and the rule of law,” Paxton posted on the social media platform X. Several families were notified of the receipt of their applications, according to attorneys advocating for eligible families who filed a motion to intervene earlier Monday. “Texas should not be able to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and their immigrant spouses without confronting their reality,” Karen Tumlin, the founder and director of Justice Action Center, said during the press conference before the order was issued. The coalition of states accused the administration of bypassing Congress for “blatant political purposes.” The program has been particularly contentious in an election year where immigration is one of the biggest issues, with many Republicans attacking the policy and contending it is essentially a form of amnesty for people who broke the law. To be eligible for the program, immigrants must have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years, not pose a security threat or have a disqualifying criminal history, and have been married to a citizen by June 17 — the day before the program was announced. They must pay a $580 fee to apply and fill out a lengthy application, including an explanation of why they deserve humanitarian parole and a long list of supporting documents proving how long they have been in the country. If approved, applicants have three years to seek permanent residency. […]
Leaders in Tennessee’s capital seek to implement measures to constrain the white supremacist activists spreading hate on the city’s streets after a flurry of activity this summer.
WTVF-5 reports that Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, the Metro Council and the city’s Department of Law have collaborated on multiple proposed legal changes.
Measures include requiring buffer zones around demonstrations; prohibiting the display of distracting flags on overpasses; banning the distribution of leaflets on private property; and criminalizing face masks for reasons not exempted from medical, religious or costume purposes.
These efforts come following four demonstrations in the city by the Goyim Defense League on July 6, 14, 15 and 16.
(JNS)
An apparent cyberattack disrupted internet, phones, email and other systems at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for a third day on Monday as Port of Seattle officials worked to investigate the outages and restore full service. “We’re working around the clock to get necessary systems back online and to mitigate impacts to our passengers,” the airport’s aviation managing director Lance Lyttle said in a press conference Sunday. Lyttle said the airport is investigating with the help of outside experts and is working closely with federal partners, including the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection. Officials have not released details about the full scope of the outage, but Lyttle said it was not affecting TSA’s ability to screen passengers. Some airlines, including Delta and Alaska Airlines, reported no service interruptions from the outage. Both of the airlines use Sea-Tac as a hub. Still, the outage did affect the Port of Seattle’s baggage sorting system, prompting airlines to warn passengers to avoid checking bags if possible to avoid potential delays, as well as its lost and found system. The airport also warned travelers to allow extra time at the airport and to use airline mobile applications to get boarding passes and bag tags when possible. Still, many travelers faced security lines that were longer than normal and long waits at baggage claims and checking. Terminal screens were also out throughout the airport, making it difficult for some to determine their assigned gate. In a Facebook post, the airport said passengers should look for airport staff in green for assistance. Thai Un, 46, and his family were among those affected. He described frenzied scenes at the airport as he arrived there Sunday with his wife and four young children ahead of their flight to Maui. They waited in line for 45 minutes to drop off their checked bags, then discovered as they continued through the airport that none of the screens displaying flight information were working. The screens next to individual gates that indicate the next boarding flight weren’t working either, he said, and as a result, airline personnel were largely relying on the intercom to inform passengers about where they needed to go. Once on the plane, the pilot told passengers there would be a delay as crews were having to manually check bag tags, Un said. After landing in Maui, two of his family’s bags didn’t make it, while another family was missing all of their luggage, including the car seats for their young children, Un said. “We had to go to the customer service,” he said. “Sure enough, we turn around, there’s about 30 people in line, all in the same boat as we are. It was just chaotic.” While Un’s family ended up receiving their two missing bags later that day, navigating the travel havoc was still stressful, he said. “Any airline or airport, they should have a backup process in place,” he said. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the airport said port teams were making progress but that there wasn’t an estimated time for when systems would return to normal operations. (AP)
Amazon is preparing to launch its delayed overhaul of personal voice assistant Alexa in October, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post, as it faces new competition from artificial intelligence voice assistants from rivals.
Access to the upgraded version of the assistant will require a paid subscription, the documents said.
The release, scheduled to occur just weeks before the presidential election, will include a new “Smart Briefing” feature that provides daily, AI-generated summaries of news articles selected based on a customer’s preferences, the documents said.
Alexa has previously struggled to accurately answer questions about political news events, such as who won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Rival tech companies, including Microsoft and Google, have programmed their own AI chatbots Copilot and Gemini to decline to answer questions about politics, in light of concerns about misinformation in a year of consequential global elections.
But Amazon documents said that “AI features that help customers curate, summarize, and explore current events was also rated as one of the top customer requests.” News summaries can create a daily habit and drive “recurrent engagement,” according to the internal communications, used to track progress ahead of product launches.
A subscription to the new assistant could cost as much as $10 a month, the documents said, but the original version, referred to as “classic Alexa,” will remain free to use. Amazon management is planning to make final decisions on pricing, subscription structure and the product name this month, according to documents obtained by The Post.
The company declined to comment on this story. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)
Other features of the new Alexa, sometimes referred to as Remarkable Alexa or Project Banyan in the documents, include help finding recipes and a chatbot aimed at children. The documents also describe new conversational shopping tools, which if they boost e-commerce sales could, along with subscription fees, help Amazon recoup some of its investment into Alexa.
More than 500 million Alexa devices have been sold, but Amazon has not disclosed revenue or other financial details for the project. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that development costs and consumers mostly using free functions of Alexa have contributed to the company’s devices business losing tens of billions of dollars.
Amazon first announced that Alexa would get a major AI overhaul in September 2023. The project was seen as Amazon’s response to the emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which prompted leading tech companies to invest more heavily in AI. An internal Amazon document from earlier this year obtained by The Post said the revamped assistant was due to launch in September 2024.
The mid-October launch described in the new internal documents would mean it took Amazon more than a year to bring the project to fruition, slower than other major tech companies have launched some major AI projects since the debut of ChatGPT.
Amazon has not released a general-purpose chatbot similar to ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini or Microsoft Copilot, although it has launched a shopping assistant called Rufus. But the documents said that alongside the new Alexa the company plans to launch Project Metis, a web-based product, previously reported by Business Insider, that is meant to directly compete with ChatGPT-style tools.
The new Amazon Alexa is supposed to feel more conversational and charismatic, according to the documents. They describe how the assistant will learn to recognize the individual voices of new customers and ask people questions about themselves so as to be more helpful later.
“Tell me something about what you like to do on the weekends?” the device might ask, or, “Would you like to tell me more about your family?” If a user tells the assistant about their family’s dietary restrictions future recipe suggestions can take that into account. The more the AI assistant can predict customer’s needs, the more “like-able” customers will perceive it to be, the documents said.
The new AI Alexa will also help customers with other daily tasks, like finding recipes. “Food assistance was ranked one of the top 3 areas where customers want more help from AI enabled assistance,” according to the documents.
Many new features are aimed at making the Amazon shopping experience easier, which could help Amazon recoup its investment into Alexa through increased e-commerce sales.
Customers who pay for AI Alexa will be able to ask it questions about product details and appearance, like “what colors do the shoes come in?,” “what are the ingredients?” or “do you have any deals on headphones?”, according to the documents. A forthcoming product referred to as Shopping Scout can notify customers when an item they’re looking to buy goes on sale is described as “a marquee feature to drive subscriptions.”
Amazon also hopes AI Alexa will prove compelling to children. An experience called Explore with Alexa 2.0 will allow verified children to “have back-and-forth, exploratory conversations with Alexa about any topic under the sun,” the documents said. The children’s experience will be “safe and moderated,” the documents said, and in compliance with regulation.
(c) Washington Post
The famous Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster in New York City was shut down indefinitely after coming to a stop mid-ride this week. The 97-year-old wooden roller coaster at Luna Park was on its ascent on Thursday when ride operators took it out of service due to a damaged chain sprocket in the motor room. The operator stopped the ride and several people were removed from the roller coaster without injury, according to New York City’s Department of Buildings. Video posted on social media shows a person being carefully escorted down the tracks. Inspectors with the buildings department were at the scene Friday and issued the owners of Luna Park violations for the damaged equipment and for failure to immediately notify the department about the incident. A posting on Luna Park’s website Sunday said the Cyclone will reopen when the repair is complete and the ride passes inspection. “At Luna Park in Coney Island, safety is our number one priority and ride maintenance, and thorough testing happens daily before Luna Park opens and throughout the day as necessary,” the statement read. “The Coney Island Cyclone is a 97-year-old roller coaster that is meticulously maintained and tested daily.” (AP)
Israeli intelligence sources revealed that Yahya Sinwar has been hiding among displaced Palestinians in Gaza, disguised as a woman, after abandoning the network of terror tunnels beneath the enclave. Israeli forces came close to capturing Sinwar during a raid on his Gaza hideout 10 days ago, according to intelligence officials. Brigadier General Dan Goldfus, outgoing commander of the IDF’s 98th Division, said, “We were close. We were in his underground compound. The coffee was still hot.” Shalom Ben Hanan, a former leader of three divisions within Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, confirmed that Israeli forces have come within minutes of capturing Sinwar more than once. “As we have discovered through other elimination operations, Sinwar will not remain in any underground location for more than 24 to 36 hours,” Ben Hanan explained. “He knows our advanced technology can detect these locations, and he needs to stay on the move to avoid being found.” Israeli assets in Gaza have reportedly been equipped with instant DNA kits that can confirm Sinwar’s identity within moments during field operations. Additionally, a large reward has been offered for information leading to his capture, with sources noting that Sinwar is deeply unpopular among many Gazans, who blame him for leading the region to ruin. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Russia battered much of Ukraine on Monday, firing scores of missiles and drones that killed four people, injured more than a dozen and damaged energy facilities in attacks that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “vile.” The barrage of over 100 missiles and a similar number of drones began around midnight and continued through daybreak in what appeared to be Russia’s biggest onslaught in weeks. Ukraine’s air force said swarms of Russian drones fired at eastern, northern, southern, and central regions were followed by volleys of cruise and ballistic missiles. “Like most previous Russian strikes, this one was just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said, adding that most of the country was targeted — from the Kharkiv region and Kyiv to Odesa and the west. Explosions were heard in the capital of Kyiv. Power and water supplies in the city were disrupted by the attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russia fired drones, cruise missiles and hypersonic ballistic Kinzhal missiles at 15 Ukrainian regions — more than half the country. “The energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists,” Shmyhal said, adding that the state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, has been forced to implement emergency power cuts to stabilize the system. He urged Ukraine’s allies to provide it with long-range weapons and permission to use them on targets inside Russia. “In order to stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the place from which the Russian missiles are launched,” Shmyhal said. “We count on the support of our allies and will definitely make Russia pay.” U.S. President Joe Biden called the Russian attack on energy infrastructure “outrageous” and said he had “re-prioritized U.S. air defense exports so they are sent to Ukraine first.” He also said the U.S. was “surging energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s energy grid.” The Russian Defense Ministry said the attacks used “long-range precision air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones against critical energy infrastructure facilities that support the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. All designated targets were hit.” At least four people were killed — one in the western city of Lutsk, one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, one in Zhytomyr in the country’s center, and one in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, local officials said. Thirteen others were wounded — one in the Kyiv region that surrounds the capital, five in Lutsk, three in the southern Mykolaiv region and four in the neighboring Odesa region. Blackouts and damage to civilian infrastructure and residential buildings were reported from the region of Sumy in the east, to the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in the south, to the region of Rivne in the west. In Sumy, a province in the east that borders Russia, local administration said that 194 settlements lost power, while 19 others had a partial blackout. The private energy company DTEK introduced emergency blackouts, saying in a statement that “energy workers throughout the country work 24/7 to restore light in the homes of Ukrainians.” In the wake of the barrage and the power cuts, officials across Ukraine were ordered to open “points of invincibility” — shelter-type places where people can charge their phones and other devices and get refreshments […]
HaGaon HaRav Ben-Tzion Mutzafi, a leading Sephardi posek, slammed those who violate Israeli law and enter Palestinian villages, endangering their lives and those of IDF soldiers who are forced to rescue them. Someone sent HaRav Mutzafi a shaila: “We live in the Shomron. I know that my daughter and her husband buy eggs and drinks in an Arab village. They don’t want me to interfere. I know they’re not the only ones.” Harav Mutzafi did not mince words and responded: “Their din is like those who commit suicide and they also endanger the lives of our soldiers who are fighting for our welfare.” The Rav added: “And animals of the worst kind that exist on earth are supported by these [purchases].” In recent months, following a number of attacks and robberies of Jews in Area A, Israel Police issued a warning against entering Palestinian areas. The police statement said: “Recently, we have witnessed many cases of Israeli citizens entering Area A, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Entry into these areas is prohibited by law for Israeli citizens and may cost human lives, as has happened in recent days.” “Many Israelis enter these areas knowingly for the purpose of shopping, trading, repairing their cars, etc., thus risking their lives and often encounter incidents of assault, robbery, theft, as well as being a target for harm for nationalistic reasons.” “Also, entering the areas may be caused by a mistake in navigation or lack of familiarity with the roads in Yehudah and Shormon. Therefore, the entrance to the prohibited area is marked with a clear red sign that makes it clear that traffic in this direction should be avoided.” “Passengers in the area should be aware that traveling in Yehudah and Shomron requires additional vigilance and paying attention to the travel route.” “In addition, drivers using the various navigation applications can choose the option that prevents them from entering dangerous places but it is not a substitute for vigilance and looking out for the red warning signs at the entrances to the villages.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
SpaceX is set to launch a crew of four private astronauts to space early Tuesday morning, part of a groundbreaking mission aimed at performing the world’s first commercial spacewalk.
On board the mission, called Polaris Dawn, is billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously flew to orbit with SpaceX in 2021 and provided funding for the flight and its development. Flying with him are two lead SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, as well as Isaacman’s friend and former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet.
The crew, who will ride inside a modified SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, are slated to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:38 a.m. local time on August 27. SpaceX also has launch opportunities at 5:23 a.m. or 7:09 a.m. If the mission is delayed, the company can also launch on Aug. 28 during those same times.
The signature moment of the mission is set to occur on the third day of flight, when Isaacman and Gillis plan to step outside of an open hatch on their Crew Dragon spacecraft and each perform a spacewalk. The two will go out one at a time for about 15 to 20 minutes each while tethered to the vehicle.
It’s unclear how SpaceX plans to incorporate spacewalking into future missions, but the company is eager to test out the new capability.
“I think we’ll be really interested to see where the company does take it,” Gillis said in an interview prior to launch. “Obviously, this is the first step, and this is a really important step.”
While only Gillis and Isaacman will be leaving the spacecraft, the entire crew will be wearing SpaceX’s new space suits, as the full interior of the Crew Dragon will be exposed to the vacuum of space for the maneuver. The entire procedure, from venting out the atmosphere of the spacecraft to re-sealing the vehicle, should take about two hours.
Though the main focus of the mission will be on the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn plans to perform a number of secondary objectives, as well as break some spaceflight records. The first phase of flight will see the Crew Dragon spacecraft reach a height of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth, making it the farthest humans have flown into space since the Apollo astronauts reached the moon. If the mission is successful, both Menon and Gillis will hold the record for women who have traveled the farthest from Earth.
Because of the distance the crew is traveling, they’ll be exposed to a much higher radiation environment than what most astronauts experience while traveling to the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit. That will allow SpaceX to collect critical research about how the space environment affects the human body.
Additionally, SpaceX also plans to perform an in-flight demonstration of its Starlink service. A mounted “plaser” inside the spacecraft will attempt to connect with Starlink internet satellites, to test out connectivity that future missions might use.
The entire Polaris Dawn mission should last roughly five days before the crew returns back to Earth, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
(c) Washington Post
An Army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said Monday. Travis King’s attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt, told The Associated Press, that King intends to admit his guilt to military offenses, including desertion and assaulting an officer. Nine other offenses, including possession of sexual images of a child, will be dismissed under the terms of the deal. King will be given an opportunity at a Sept. 20 plea hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, to discuss his actions. “He wants to take responsibility for the things that he did,” Rosenblatt said. He declined to comment on a possible sentence that his client might face. Desertion is a serious charge and can result in imprisonment for as much as three years. The AP reported last month that the two sides were in plea talks. King bolted across the heavily fortified border from South Korea in July 2023, and became the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years. His run into North Korea came soon after he was released from a South Korean prison where he had served nearly two months on assault charges. About a week after his release from the prison, military officers took him to the airport so he could return to Fort Bliss to face disciplinary action. He was escorted as far as customs, but instead of getting on the plane, he joined a civilian tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. He then ran across the border, which is lined with guards and often crowded with tourists. He was detained by North Korea, but after about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced that it would expel him. On Sept. 28, he was flown to back to Texas, and has been in custody there. The U.S. military in October filed a series of charges against King under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, as well as kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity. Those allegations date back to July 10, the same day he was released from the prison. (AP)
The Associated Press was roasted on X on Monday after sharing a story with the title She’s the sitting vice president. She’s the candidate of change. How Harris is having it both ways.
“Vote for change… by voting for the person who’s currently in office,” one X user wrote.
“Are you guys nuts?” another wrote, before blasting the outlet as a propaganda arm of the Harris campaign.
“AP isn’t biased at all,” another wrote.
“Probably because you hacks write headlines like this,” another tacked on.
“Change? Yeah, changing the US into Venezuela,” another quipped.
ABC News is also running cover for Kamala’s conflicting messages, saying “In every presidential cycle candidates run on experience or freshness, but Harris so far appears to be successfully harmonizing two seemingly competing messages, much to the frustration of former President Donald Trump and his allies.”
From ABC News:
‘She has this powerful and unique and interesting advantage that we have never seen before in our politics,’ said Patrick Gaspard, CEO of the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund and a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee under President Barack Obama.
‘She is both an incumbent,’ he said, and ‘she’s been able to seize the ‘change’ banner away from Donald Trump.
Kamala can be both an incumbent and a candidate for change as long as the media refuses to do its job.
{
Matzav.com}
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the arrest in France of the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, wasn’t a political move but part of an independent investigation. Durov was detained Saturday at Le Bourget airport in a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday. It said in a statement that the suspected violations include complicity in selling child sexual abuse material and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. In France’s first public comment on the arrest, Macron posted on the social media platform X that his country “is deeply committed” to freedom of expression but “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.” Denouncing what he called false information, Macron said the arrest “is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.” Durov’s detention was extended until Monday night and can be prolonged until Wednesday evening before authorities must release or charge him, the prosecutor’s office said. Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Russian government officials have expressed outrage at his detention, with some calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics: in 2018 Russian authorities themselves tried to block Telegram but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020. Telegram, which says it has nearly a billion users worldwide, was founded by Durov and his brother after he himself faced pressure from the Russian authorities. In 2013, he sold his stake in VKontakte, a popular Russian social networking site which he launched in 2006. The company came under pressure amid Russian government’s crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012. Durov said the authorities demanded that the site take down online communities of Russian opposition activists, and later that it hand over personal data of users who took part in the 2013 popular uprising in Ukraine, which eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president. Durov said in a recent interview that he had turned down these demands and left the country. The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, and Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news. Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war, and deliver missile and air raid alerts. In a statement posted on its platform after his arrest, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.” “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” Telegram’s post said. “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.” A French investigative judge extended Durov’s detention order on Sunday night, […]
Negotiations are ongoing in Cairo to reach a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas, despite the hundreds of rockets that Hezbollah launched at Israel on Sunday after the Jewish state thwarted a major attack, the White House said.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, told reporters at a briefing on Monday that the Biden administration believes talks in Cairo are still moving forward.
“There continues to be progress, and our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive,” Kirby said. “Despite the rocket and drone attack by Hezbollah over the course of the weekend, which Israel did a terrific job defending against, it has not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get this ceasefire deal in place.”
A reporter asked why negotiations had appeared to break down. Kirby said leaders and high-level mediators had departed from the talks to make way for more practical conversations.
“The talks actually progressed to a point where they felt like the next logical step was to have working groups at lower levels sit down to hammer out these finer details,” he said.
One unresolved element the working groups are grappling with is how the mechanics would work for Hamas to release hostages and for Israel to exchange Palestinian prisoners held in jail. The negotiations also addressed who would be released and on what kind of timetable.
Kirby rejected the idea that talks had broken down, insisting that the Biden administration continues to believe that a deal is just as urgently needed as when U.S. President Joe Biden outlined the proposal in May.
“We want to get it done as soon as possible,” he said. “I think we’re all watching what’s going on in the region writ large very, very closely and monitoring the situation. We don’t want to see an all-out war, and we’re doing everything we can to try to prevent that.”
“We’re maintaining a pretty robust force posture there to be able to defend ourselves and defend Israel should it come to that. Hopefully it won’t,” he added. “We want to get this ceasefire deal as soon as possible. We haven’t let our interest in doing that wane.”
“We haven’t taken our foot off the gas,” he said.
After Hezbollah claimed that its attack was a “success” and completed, Kirby said that Iran continues to be “postured and prepared” to strike the Jewish state.
“It’s not something we take lightly. We look at it every day,” Kirby said. “It’s a dynamic situation. We have to treat it like that.” JNS
{Matzav.com}
Kamala Harris is the most far-left, radical Democratic candidate for president in the history of the United States. Once ranked the most liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate, Harris has staked out extremely progressive positions on border security (or lack thereof), immigration, healthcare, fracking, education, energy, and more. And, because she’s an opportunist, she’s flip-flopped on nearly every issue.
But don’t just take our word for it. Listen to Kamala Harris, in her own words. These are the soundbites the media mob doesn’t want you to hear.
CLICK HERE for a PDF of Kamala’s most radical policy positions —>
CLICK HERE to listen to Kamala’s most radical (and ridiculous) soundbites, including:
- KAMALA HARRIS PROMISES TO SCRAP THE FILIBUSTER TO PASS GREEN NEW DEAL
- KAMALA HARRIS DEFENDS HER RECORD AS A PROSECUTOR REGARDING NOT INVESTIGATING FATAL SHOOTINGS INVOLVING POLICE
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS WE SHOULD HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT FELONS LIKE BOSTON BOMBER BEING ALLOWED TO VOTE
- KAMALA HARRIS’ RADICAL PROMISES IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPEECH
- KAMALA HARRIS: WE NEED TO RAISE TAXES ON THE RICH
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS I WOULD CHANGE DIETARY GUIDELINES TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF RED MEAT YOU CAN EAT
- KAMALA HARRIS’ SUPPORT FOR PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTORS
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS YOU DON’T GET TO KEEP YOUR INSURANCE — SUPPORTS MEDICARE FOR ALL
- KAMALA HARRIS TELLS A DEATH JOKE ABOUT TRUMP
- KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTS MAYOR’S MOVE TO SLASH POLICE FUNDING.
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS PROTESTS SHOULDN’T STOP
- KAMALA HARRIS VOICING SUPPORT FOR PROTESTS
- KAMALA HARRIS ENDORSES GREEN NEW DEAL
- KAMALA HARRIS CALLS FOR BANNING PLASTIC STRAWS
- KAMALA HARRIS: I WOULD BAN FRACKING ON PUBLIC LANDS.
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS WORKERS IN FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY NEED TO TRANSITION
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS GREEN NEW DEAL PRINCIPLES ARE SOUND AND IMPORTANT
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS SHE WILL NOT VOTE FOR A BORDER WALL
- KAMALA HARRIS: MY MEDICARE FOR ALL PLAN WILL COVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
- KAMALA HARRIS ASKS ACTING ICE DIRECTOR IF HE’S AWARE THAT SOME PERCEIVE ICE TO BE LIKE THE KKK
- KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTS DECRIMINALIZING ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS
- KAMALA HARRIS SAYS WE NEED MEDICARE FOR ALL
- KAMALA HARRIS: ASSAULT WEAPONS SHOULD NOT BE ACCESSIBLE
- KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTS MEDICARE FOR ALL, END TO EMPLOYER INSURANCE
- KAMALA HARRIS: MANDATORY BUYBACK OF ASSAULT WEAPONS IS A GOOD IDEA
- KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORTS THE CONFISCATION OF UP TO 10 MILLION GUNS
- KAMALA HARRIS THREATENS EXECUTIVE ACTION ON GUN CONTROL IF ELECTED
- …and many, many more.
CLICK HERE to listen to Kamala’s most radical (and ridiculous) soundbites, —>
CLICK HERE for a PDF of Kamala’s most radical policy positions —>
{
Matzav.com}
Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, saying a judge’s decision that dismissed the prosecution was at odds with longstanding Justice Department practice and must be reversed. Smith’s team said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made a grievous mistake by ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. That position, prosecutors wrote in a brief filed with the Atlanta-based appeals court, runs counter to rulings by judges across the country as well as “widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.” If allowed to stand, they warned, it could ”jeopardize the longstanding operation of the Justice Department and call into question hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch.” “The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded,” prosecutors wrote. “In ruling otherwise, the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels.” The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts have long considered a straightforward criminal case given the breadth of evidence, including surveillance video and an audio recording of Trump’s own words, that Justice Department investigators accumulated during the course of the investigation. But over the last year, the case has been snarled by delays as Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, entertained assorted Trump team motions before ultimately dismissing the prosecution in a stunning decision that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt. It’s unclear how long it will take for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide the matter, but even if it overturns Cannon’s dismissal and revives the prosecution, there’s no chance of a trial before the November presidential election. Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case. In a statement Monday, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said “not only should the dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida be affirmed, but be immediately joined by a dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts.” The case, one of four federal and state prosecutions brought against Trump, includes dozens of felony charges that Trump illegally retained classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida and obstructed the government’s efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty. At issue in the appeal is a provision of the Constitution known as the Appointments Clause, which requires presidential approval and Senate confirmation for certain public figures, including judges, ambassadors and “all other officers of the United States.” But the clause also includes an exception for what it says are “inferior officers” who can be appointed directly by the head of an agency. Smith, according to the Justice Department, fits that category and Garland was empowered to name him directly to the role of special counsel. Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 by Garland to investigate Trump’s handling of the documents as well as his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Both investigations resulted in criminal charges, though the election subversion prosecution also faces an uncertain future following a […]
In a new campaign advertisement, Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, seems to hold US President Joe Biden responsible for the October 7 Hamas invasion and massacre in Israel due to his handling of Iran.
The video, which Trump shared on X on Monday, begins with reversed footage of Gaza being bombarded, while a voiceover mentions that “thousands,” including Americans, “were brutally killed” in the attack (approximately 1,200 people lost their lives).
“Before Iran assisted Hamas in planning the attack, before Biden handed billions of taxpayer dollars to Iran — Trump was tough on Iran,” the ad states, with an image of the former US president meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed.
At the conclusion of the video, Trump speaks directly, emphasizing that “unyielding strength” is the only practical strategy in foreign policy.
“When I’m back in the White House, our enemies will know, if you spill a drop of American blood, we will spill a gallon of yours,” he asserts.
The accusations against Biden are supported by New York Post headlines from October 8 — a day after the Hamas attack — reading: “Iran helped plan Hamas attack” and “Biden $6 billion ransom to Iran.”
In August, Biden consented to the unfreezing of Iranian assets that were under sanctions — not American taxpayers’ money — as part of a Qatari-mediated deal to secure the release of five Americans held in Iran. After the October 7 attack, the US House of Representatives moved to block the transfer.
Iran has denied foreknowledge of the attack, and Israel has not accused it of direct involvement, although Tehran has provided support to Hamas through training and funding and shares Hamas’s explicit goal of Israel’s destruction. Reports indicate that the attack was a well-kept secret among Hamas’s leadership.
In 2018, following Netanyahu’s urging, then-President Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, reinstating US sanctions designed to prevent Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons. In response, Iran increased its uranium enrichment to unprecedented levels.
On Thursday, Trump posted on social media, claiming that “Iran was BROKE” when he left office and blaming his 2024 election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for the October 7 attack.
Trump, who has often called himself the most pro-Israel US president in history, has reportedly criticized Netanyahu for failing to prevent the attacks.
The two did not communicate for about three years after Netanyahu did not endorse Trump’s unfounded assertion that he won the 2020 election. However, the two leaders appear to have mended their relationship. Netanyahu visited Trump’s home in Florida on July 26 during a trip to the US. The day before their meeting, Trump urged Israel to “finish up [the war] and get it done quickly,” adding that Israel was “getting decimated with this publicity.”
{Matzav.com}
Pages
