News From Around the Web
#1 Hegseth Blocks Eight Navy Senior Officer Promotions - Lara Seligman for The Wall Street Journal/MSN, ABC News, Peter Baker, Fact Post (community note), and The New Republic on X
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked the promotion of eight Navy captains to be one-star admirals, including two female and two Black officers, according to current and former U.S. officials. At the same time, Hegseth is trying to promote at least one member of his inner circle who was previously passed over for promotion several times, some of the people said. Hegseth also is trying to prevent a number of one-star admirals from pinning on their second stars, spurring a debate among Navy leadership that has already delayed by months the planned promotion of a group of senior officers, some of the people said...
#2 Bill Gates Public Image Takes Hit After Epstein Files - Lesley Abravanel for OK! TMZ, Daily Mail, The Wall Street Journal, NDTV Profit, Owen Gregorian, and Tuck's News on X
Bill Gates' public image has suffered significant damage due to unsealed documents, photographs, and ongoing congressional investigations linking him to convicted child abuser Jeffrey Epstein, according to an explosive exposé by the Wall Street Journal. “Justice Department files show that Gates met with Epstein multiple times despite concerns from his then-wife, that Epstein knew about some of Gates’ extramarital relationships and that two of Gates’ close advisers had exchanged hundreds of messages with Epstein for years up until 2019, the year he died,” wrote Emily Glazer in a WSJ story titled “Bill Gates’ Image Is Cracking.”
#3 Tuesday Is a Big Primary Day. Here Are Key Races to Watch - Saige Miller for npr, The Bear Pundit, PIX11 News, AIPAC Tracker, ABC News, PJ Media, and Val Biancaniello on X
Six states — California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota, and New Mexico — hold elections on Tuesday. Most of the attention is on California and Iowa, where there are competitive primaries for governor. In both states, the Democratic Party also sees a road map to control of Congress in the fall. In California's unique primary system, voters send the top two vote-getters to November's general election, regardless of candidates' political parties. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited, and California voters will also pick who should move on to the general election in five new Democratic-leaning congressional districts...
#4 Trump Administration Appears to Back Off $1.8 Billion ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund After Rare GOP Backlash - NBC News, U.S.A.I., John Solomon/Bailey Nelsons, News Nation, Good Morning America, and NewsRadio WHAM 1180 on X
The Trump administration signaled Monday it is backing off on creating a $1.8 billion fund announced by the Justice Department that could send money to allies of President Donald Trump deemed to be “victims of lawfare and weaponization.” It comes after a fierce and rare backlash from Senate Republicans, who threatened to team up with Democrats to block the fund. About half the Republican conference appeared ready to vote with Democrats to restrict or kill it, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week...#5 The Organic Label Is a Promise. Thousands of Grocery Stores Were Breaking It. - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, Natalie Nichols, Jaie Avila, A Voice For Choice Advocacy, and TheSaltyMom/J “541” M on X
Most of us who shop in the organic produce section are making a deliberate choice. We know it costs more—anywhere from 20 to 60 percent more, depending on what’s in the cart. We pay it anyway because the deal we think we’re making is simple: no synthetic pesticides, no chemical treatments, cleaner food. That’s what the label says. That’s what we’re buying. Turns out thousands of grocery stores across the United States have been quietly adding a footnote to that deal—one nobody bothered to mention at checkout...
#6 Divided Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration’s Ban on Transgender Military Service Is Unconstitutional - Melissa Quinn and Jacob Rosen for CBS News, Transgender World, WAMC News, Ken Hughes, Straight Arrow, and @GlobalRightWatch on X
A divided federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Trump administration's policy banning transgender individuals from serving in the military is likely unconstitutional. A panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit split 2-1 in finding that the ban rolled out by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last year was driven by animus toward transgender people. Judges Judith Rogers and Robert Wilkins agreed that the Trump administration's policy targeting transgender service members likely violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection...
#7 Pope Names Mexican-American Broadcasting Executive to Lead Vatican Communications - AP News, Edward Pentin/Jozef/Ann DeHaven, Gary Buckley™, The Straits Times, and Catholic Sat on X
Pope Leo XIV took a step Tuesday toward overhauling the Vatican’s communications operations by naming the Mexican-American president of the Catholic U.S. media conglomerate EWTN News as its new head. Maria Montserrat Alvarado replaces Paolo Ruffini as prefect of the Dicastery of Communications, the office that controls the Vatican’s television, radio, online, publishing, and newspaper operations. It enjoys one of the biggest budgets of any Vatican department. By naming a layperson and a woman to head a major Vatican department, Leo is following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who promoted several women to leadership positions in the Holy See governing hierarchy, which remains dominated by male clergy...
#8 Judge Allows Group to Fly ‘86 47’ Flag in DC, Rejecting Claim It Is a Threat to Trump - Peter Charalambous for ABC News, Lloyd Jassin, General Mike Flynn 45 Achieved, Lorraine, Timi_deeney, and DeVory Darkins on X
Sharing the message "86 47" might have gotten former FBI Director James Comey indicted, but a federal judge is allowing a progressive group in Washington, D.C., to continue displaying a flag with the slang phrase after concluding that it is "difficult to fathom ... that a reasonable observer would view the flag as a true threat." Though the lawsuit is unrelated to Comey's criminal case, the ruling is a setback for the Department of Justice as it seeks to prove that the phrase "86 47" could be interpreted as a threat to kill President Donald Trump...
#9 Amazon’s Ring Sued Over Facial Recognition Feature, Latest Privacy Concern for Doorbell Maker - Greg Bensinger for Reuters/Yahoo Finance, Economic Times, NoiseToAlpha, Abbas Khan ⟠, and Conscioius on X
Amazon was sued on Monday by a Virginia resident over what he said were privacy violations, after the company's Ring doorbell cameras at friends' and family members' homes collected and stored images of his face using facial recognition software. The plaintiff, Charles Sigwalt, who is seeking class-action status, sued Amazon in federal court in Seattle, alleging a feature known as “Familiar Faces” retains images of passersby without their consent. He is seeking at least $5 million in damages for the class...#10 Google Requests Permission to Release 32M Mosquitoes in California and Florida - Sanya Mansoor for The Guardian, Pete Santilli, 3rd Degree Byrne, Richard,
PJtheDJinNYC, and NEWSMAX/The Ex-Pharmacist on X
Google wants to “stop bad bugs with good bugs”, and it’s not talking about coding. The tech company has asked the US government for permission to release up to 32 million sterilized mosquitoes in California and Florida. As part of its successful “Debug” program, Google is tapping into its tech expertise to raise an army of sterile male mosquitoes to lower the number of illness-spreading bugs. Mosquitoes – the world’s deadliest animal – kill more people than any other creature in the world every year by spreading lethal diseases such as dengue, West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya, and malaria. A notice from the federal register shows the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing Google’s request to release up to 16 million mosquitoes annually, in Florida and California, over the span of two years. The EPA will decide whether to greenlight Google’s request for an experimental use permit after a public comment period, which ends on 5 June...
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