News Dump for Apr. 18, 2024

US

ABC – US submits assurances to UK over Julian Assange extradition, moving case forward again
The United States has reportedly sent assurances to the United Kingdom intended to facilitate the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange — including that he will not face the death penalty — signaling, for now, that the U.S. is continuing to move forward with its efforts to prosecute Assange on espionage charges.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-submits-assurances-uk-julian-assange-extradition-moving/story?id=109340170

WAPO – Opinion Clarence Thomas doesn’t recuse himself from Jan. 6 case, By Ann Telnaes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/17/ann-telnaes-cartoon-clarence-thomas-jan-6-supreme-court/

AJC – OPINION: Mike Luckovich: Unfortunate woman
https://www.ajc.com/opinion/mike-luckovich-blog/0417-mike-luckovich-unfortunate-woman/Z422YXATVVD3XGKIEJNJBLVDIQ/

CNN – Senate kills the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas
The Senate made short work of the articles of impeachment against Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, ending the historic trial before it began in earnest as the Democratic majority brushed aside GOP efforts to prolong the dead-end process.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/senate-mayorkas-impeachment-articles/index.html

CNN – How every senator voted on the rejection of Mayorkas impeachment charges
The pair of votes, which split along partisan lines, swiftly killed a Senate trial that had only just begun, with Democrats and three independents voting to stop the process. The Republican-controlled House impeached Mayorkas in February.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/senators-vote-mayorkas-impeachment-dg/index.html

AP – House’s Ukraine, Israel aid package gains Biden’s support as Speaker Johnson fights to keep his job
President Joe Biden said Wednesday he strongly supports a proposal from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending crucial bipartisan support to the precarious effort to approve $95 billion in funding for the U.S. allies this week.
https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-aid-house-speaker-f08102e171dcac2d66d513980d828d49

Bloomberg – Google Fires Workers Protesting $1.2 Billion Israeli Contract
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has fired 28 employees after they were involved in protests against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon.com Inc. to provide the Israeli government with AI and cloud services.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-18/google-suspends-workers-protesting-1-2-billion-israeli-contract

CNBC – Biden admin, U.S. ports prep for cyberattacks as nationwide infrastructure is targeted
U.S. physical infrastructure is increasingly the target of hacks, with Google’s cybersecurity firm Mandiant releasing a report Wednesday teasing out links between Russian hackers and a January attack on a water filtration plant in a small Texas town. The nation’s largest ports are also at risk, and Biden administration cybersecurity officers and key port executives held a call on Wednesday to discuss security issues, including the Chinese-made cranes that have received government scrutiny this year.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/17/biden-admin-ports-prep-for-cyberattacks-as-us-infrastructure-targeted.html

Daily Beast – ‘You Need Therapy!’: Raskin and Comer Shouting Match Sends House Hearing Off the Rails
The heated back-and-forth began with Rep. James Comer (R-KY) interrupting Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) with debunked claims.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jamie-raskin-and-james-comer-shouting-match-sends-house-hearing-off-the-rails

Politico – What we learned from a day of Boeing hearings
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington pledged a bill responding to the latest Boeing safety mess by year’s end.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/17/boeing-hearings-takeaways-00152931

MSNBC – WATCH: ‘A clear violation’: Gagged Trump posts Fox lie about criminal case jury pool
In what MSNBC Legal Analyst Andrew Weissmann called a clear violation of his criminal case gag order, Donald Trump posted a claim by a Fox host about the jury pool in his New York criminal trial. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell is joined by Weissmann and Adam Pollock, former Assistant Attorney General for New York State.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/-a-clear-violation-gagged-trump-posts-fox-lie-about-criminal-case-jury-pool-209227845605

MSNBC – WATCH: Report: Justice Department to pay victims of Larry Nassar $100 million
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Justice Department has found that the FBI failed to take proper action when first alerted to the actions of Larry Nassar, and will pay his victims $100 million.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/report-justice-department-to-pay-victims-of-larry-nassar-100-million-209195589634
WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/larry-nassar-fbi-failures-18067a65

NBC Boston – Man charged in pipe bombing of Satanic Temple in Salem
Sean Patrick Palmer of Perkins, Oklahoma, was arrested more than a week after a pipe bomb was thrown onto the porch of the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/man-charged-in-pipe-bombing-of-satanic-temple-in-salem/3342253/

TWEET – LISTEN: New voicemail on Trump’s indicted lawyer John Eastman’s phone from Bank of America canceling his account.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1780931981489918231

Guardian – Trump to return to court for third day of jury selection in hush-money trial
Seven people have been picked from a vast jury pool – five more jurors and six alternates remain to be chosen for the historic trial
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/18/trump-day-three-juror-hush-money-trial

CNN – 911 outages reported in parts of 4 states, including in Las Vegas, officials say
Law enforcement agencies in at least four states have reported 911 service interruptions Wednesday evening, and service was later restored in some areas. Authorities in South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska and Nevada announced outages in multiple cities, but details about what was causing the outages weren’t immediately available.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/us/911-lines-down-in-multiple-cities-officials-say/index.html

CNN – Trump and Polish President discuss NATO members increasing their defense spending
Former President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed NATO spending in a dinner meeting at Trump Tower in New York City Wednesday, according to a readout of the meeting from the Trump campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/trump-polish-president-duda-meeting-nato

Daily Beast – Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants a Space Laser to Stop Migrants
The MAGA congresswoman, who has notoriously made bizarre comments about “Jewish space lasers” in the past, called for the technology in a proposed amendment to a bill that would provide funding for Israel during its war against Hamas in Gaza.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-wants-a-space-laser-to-stop-migrants
Yes it’s real: https://rules.house.gov/bill/118/hr-8034

Coming out on August 6th!
AP – Nancy Pelosi book, ‘The Art of Power,’ will reflect on her career in public life
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has completed a book about her years in public life, from legislation she helped enact to such traumatizing moments as the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol and the assault at her San Francisco home that left her husband with a fractured skull.
https://apnews.com/article/nancy-pelosi-memoir-art-of-power-b4c4560955a67ae1e6190fc531df35ae

TWEET: Breaking on MSNBC: Juror 2, the oncology nurse, has been excused from duty.
She had concerns about her identity becoming public and said friends and family have already inquired about whether she’s a juror. The juror added that, given these outside influences, she was concerned about her ability to be fair and impartial.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1780955725877178705

CNN – Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says
A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. The hack in the small town of Muleshoe, in north Texas, coincided with at least two other towns in north Texas taking precautionary defensive measures after detecting suspicious cyber activity on their networks.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/russia-hacking-group-suspected-texas-water-cyberattack/index.html

Meidas Touch – Donald Trump Asks To Delay The Mar A Lago Documents Case
This morning, on day three of Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York City, his attorneys filed a reply in south Florida asking Judge Cannon to delay the upcoming deadlines for Trump’s expert disclosures and CIPA Notice for an additional three weeks after he conclusion of Trump’s New York trial. The primary reason for the delay is because Trump’s attorneys, namely Todd Blanche, are focused on the New York trial and need additional time to make filings in south Florida.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/donald-trump-asks-to-delay-the-mar-a-lago-documents-case

CREW files criminal complaint against Trump over Chicago business
BREAKING: We just filed a criminal complaint against Donald Trump. The FBI and DOJ need to investigate him for knowingly and willfully making false statements about debts owed to his Chicago business on his public financial disclosure reports.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action/legal-complaints/crew-files-criminal-complaint-against-trump-over-chicago-business/

WORLD

The Hill – Russia, Iran turning Israel and Ukraine into ‘battlefield laboratories,’ experts say
“Together, Russia and Iran are using Ukraine and the Middle East as battlefield laboratories to improve their weapons and develop techniques to overcome U.S. and allied defensive systems,” Dana Stroul, director of research at the Washington Institute, told lawmakers at a hearing on the “Despotic Duo.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/4601166-russia-iran-israel-ukraine-battlefield-laboratories/
STATEMENT: https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117148/witnesses/HHRG-118-FA13-Wstate-StroulD-20240417.pdf

Forbes – Ukraine Aims Its Explosive Sport Plane Drones At Russia’s Only 1,900-Mile Strategic Radar
Twice in a week, Ukrainian drones have targeted the Container radar
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/04/17/ukraine-aims-its-explosive-sport-plane-drones-at-russias-only-1900-mile-strategic-radar/?sh=66a1f6d534eb

SCIENCE

Guardian – Dead satellites are filling space with trash. That could affect Earth’s magnetic field
Our ozone is pennies thick – and soon we’ll put at least an Eiffel Tower’s worth of metallic ash into the ionosphere every year
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/16/dead-satellite-space-earth-magnetic-field

Newsweek – Fool’s Gold May Be Valuable After All After ‘Unheard Of’ Discovery
Fool’s gold or iron pyrite—a common mineral that resembles its precious counterpart—may be more valuable than scientists originally thought, as it has been found to be abundant in lithium. Lithium is vital to the future development of green energy. This is because the material, which is highly reactive, is a key element in batteries—including of the kind used in electric vehicles (hence the name, lithium ion batteries).
https://www.newsweek.com/fools-gold-valuable-unheard-discovery-1890375

NatGeo – Every 80 years, this star appears in the sky—see the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon
For a week between now and September, the rare recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis will flare bright enough to be a new star.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/t-coronae-borealis-rare-sky-phenomenon

Wow! What a photo!
WAPO – Massive Mt. Ruang eruption sends plumes nearly 70,000 feet high
Indonesian volcano’s explosion — at least the third this week — may have injected aerosols into the stratosphere.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/04/17/indonesia-volcano-eruption-ruang/

WAPO – Great Barrier Reef experiencing one of its worst coral bleaching events
In the Great Barrier Reef marine park, 73 percent of the reefs surveyed have prevalent bleaching — which means that more than 10 percent of the coral cover is bleached, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which manages the area, said Wednesday. Very high and extreme bleaching was observed across nearly 40 percent of the reef system.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/18/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-australia/

TEXAS

Fort Worth Star Telegram – Walmart issues apology for Uvalde, Texas T-shirt amid social media backlash
Walmart has issued an apology for selling a T-shirt that read, “Where the heck is Uvalde, Texas” amid social media backlash. A photo of the shirt was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, by Brett Cross, father of Robb Elementary School shooting victim Uziyah Garcia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/walmart-issues-apology-uvalde-texas-184538743.html

KXAN – Geothermal energy showcased in Austin, potential powerhouse for Texas’ grid
A historic area on South Congress unveiled a geothermal HVAC system on Wednesday morning. Penn Field hosts businesses like Google Fiber and Pandora alongside a former World War 2 airfield. Now, the property is revamping its energy sources by using Earth’s internal heat to power heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings.
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/geothermal-energy-showcased-in-austin-potential-powerhouse-for-texas-grid/

CNN – Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says
A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. The hack in the small town of Muleshoe, in north Texas, coincided with at least two other towns in north Texas taking precautionary defensive measures after detecting suspicious cyber activity on their networks.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/politics/russia-hacking-group-suspected-texas-water-cyberattack/index.html

MISC

CNBC – Elon Musk says in email that Tesla sent ‘incorrectly low’ severance packages to some laid-off employees
Tesla sent some laid off-workers “incorrectly low” severance packages, according to an internal email reviewed by CNBC. In his brief email, CEO Elon Musk apologized and said the issue with erroneous severance packages would be “corrected immediately.” Tesla said earlier this week that it would be cutting more than 10% of its global workforce, which totaled around 140,000 at the end of 2023.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/17/tesla-says-in-email-it-sent-some-incorrectly-low-severance-packages.html

Well that’s bad news. Condolences to his family.
AP – Allman Brothers Band co-founder and legendary guitarist Dickey Betts dies at 80
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died at his home in Osprey, Florida, David Spero, Betts’ manager of 20 years, confirmed. Betts had been battling cancer for more than a year and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spero said.
https://apnews.com/article/dickey-betts-allman-brothers-dies-obituary-fe2e01a963d446538b2f10fd134165e8