News From Around the Web
#10 Former Trump Official Files Class-Action Lawsuit Seeking $50 Million for Lawmakers Who Say They Haven't Been Paid Enough - Bryan Metzger for Newsbreak
You may have heard that some lawmakers think the $174,000 annual salary for rank-and-file House and Senate members is too low. According to a new class-action lawsuit, it's gotten to that point in part because lawmakers' wages have been "unconstitutionally suppressed" — and current and former lawmakers may be collectively entitled to $50 million in damages as a result. "This is a vindication of the Constitution and the principles the founders were trying to achieve," Ken Cuccinelli, the lawyer and former Trump White House official leading the suit, told Business Insider in an interview...
#9 Former MLB Slugger Steve Garvey Edges Ahead of Adam Schiff in California US Senate Primary - Stepheny Price for Fox News and Steve Garvey on X
Baseball legend Steve Garvey has edged ahead of U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff in California's U.S. Senate primary. As of Wednesday morning, Garvey, a former 10-time MLB All-Star, led Schiff by an incredibly slim margin of just 4,801 votes with more than 5 million votes tallied — about 85% of expected returns. "As California's votes are counted, it's clear that our message of unity, common sense, and compassion resonates across the state," Garvey said. "I am deeply honored by the trust and support shown in these preliminary results... A Saudi robotics company's unveiling of a "male" humanoid robot didn't go as planned after it appeared to inappropriately touch a female reporter. Saudi robotics company QSS debuted "Muhammad the Humanoid Robot" at DeepFest in Riyadh last week. The robot, dressed in traditional Saudi attire, spoke Arabic and English. In a DeepFest post on X, Muhammad was described as "the first Saudi robot in the form of a man," as well as a national project to highlight Saudi Arabia's AI achievements. During a presentation, a reporter for Al Arabiya, Rawya Kassem, stood in front of Muhammad as she spoke to the audience. A viral video of the incident showed the robot appearing to extend a hand forward to touch her backside... The mystery of the billions of dollars worth of stock sold by some of the wealthiest in the world despite the market continuing at an all-time high remains. The mass sale has prompted fears of an economic downturn, or it could be fears of a looming hike in taxes. The tech bubble showed it was under extreme strain throughout 2023, with mass layoffs hitting Silicon Valley, while President Joe Biden has promised a hike in taxes for the super-rich should he win reelection in November. As JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon pointed out in a grim earnings statement in October: 'This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.' At the tail end of last year, it was reported that wealthy investors kept less than 25 percent of their net assets in the stock market... In anticipation of a potential influx of illegal immigrants from Haiti, Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered additional state assets to the Keys and southern waters of the State of Florida. “For quite some time, the State of Florida has been dedicating significant resources to combat illegal vessels coming to Florida from countries such as Haiti,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Given the circumstances in Haiti, I have directed the Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard, and state law enforcement agencies to deploy over 250 additional officers and soldiers and over a dozen air and sea craft to the southern coast of Florida to protect our state. No state has done more to supplement the (under-resourced) U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts; we cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida.” The former president’s unexpected support of TikTok appears to align with the interests of a billionaire backer — for the second time. After he spent much of the last year of his presidency trying to ban TikTok, Donald Trump’s abrupt effort to defend the Chinese-owned app late last week caught many in Washington by surprise. But for people who’ve been watching Trump’s TikTok policies closely, it was part of a pattern: Changing course when an interested billionaire donor was in the mix... The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a national security threat. The bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. whenever it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he’s assembling a team of investors to make a bid to buy TikTok. This comes a day after the House passed a measure to ban the Chinese-owned social media giant or force a sale to a US-operated owner. “It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” Mnuchin told CNBC Thursday morning. Even though TikTok is likely unprofitable, “it’s worth a lot of money,” he added. Mnuchin said he would give existing US investors the option to roll over their stakes in TikTok but stressed that no entity would have more than 10% control. But he declined to name any individuals on the team he’s putting together. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China,” he said... A Canadian law that aims to make social media platforms safer is getting flak for what some decry as government overreach. Introduced late last month, the Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, would allow judges to imprison adults for life if they advocate for genocide. The law would also allow a provincial judge to impose house arrest and a fine if there were reasonable grounds to believe a defendant "will commit" an offense – a provision Wall Street Journal columnist Michael Taube likened to the 2002 film "Minority Report." The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has made the decision to remove the "Duty, Honor, Country" motto from its mission statement. Officials stressed that the phrase would remain West Point's motto, however, and that the mission statement has changed on a regular basis; this new mission statement is West Point's tenth since 1925. "Duty, Honor, Country" hadn't been included as part of the mission statement until 1998. In a letter sent to students and supporters, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said the phrase would be replaced in the mission statement with the words "Army Values." A comet the size of Mount Everest will be visible to the naked eye for the first time in almost 100 years. The cosmic event has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see such a comet with the naked eye. People are comparing the comet, called 12P/PonsBrooks, to the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars because it has "horns." sticking out. If you want to catch a glimpse of it, look towards the west to find the Great Square of Pegasus, that's four stars that are nearly equal in how bright they are, and Comet 12P/PonsBrooks will make a V-shape coming off of it...
#8 A 'Male' Humanoid Robot Was Unveiled in Saudi Arabia, It Then Inappropriately Touched a Female Reporter - Joshua Zitser for Business Insider, MegaUpDaes on X
#7 So Why Are America's Mega-Rich, Including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, Off-Loading Billions of Dollars in Stock? Paul Farrell For Dailymail.Com
#6 Florida Gov. DeSantis Deploys State Guard, Law Enforcement To Keys As Wave Of Haitian Migrants Expected - Jorge Borges for Tampa Free Press, Ron DeSantis X
#5 Trump’s TikTok Flip Raises Concerns Over Billionaire Clout - Brendan Bordelon for Politico, CBS News, and X
#4 House Passes a Bill That Could Lead to a TikTok Ban if Chinese Owner Refuses to Sell - AP News, Communicator, and Thomas Massie on X
#3 Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is Interested in Buying TikTok - Elisabeth Buchwald and Matt Egan for CNN
#2 Canadian Law Endorsed By Trudeau Government Could Imprison People for Life for Speech Crimes - Bradford Betz for Fox News
#1 West Point Military Academy Drops 'Duty, Honor, Country' from Mission Statement - Lawrence Richard for Fox News and Tom Fitton X
And Now for Something Special
Comet Bigger Than Mount Everest Will Blaze Through Sky In Once-in-a-Lifetime Event - John O'Sullivan and Rebecca Robinson for The Irish Star
