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A Pennsylvania appellate court Wednesday denied the latest in a string of legal challenges seeking to roll back certification of the election results, ending the last active court battle in the state over the outcome of the race.
In a four-page opinion, Commonwealth Court President Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt dismissed the suit brought by a group of nine GOP state lawmakers, led by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, saying they had waited too long to file their challenge.
They “are unable to demonstrate a clear right to relief or likelihood of prevailing on the merits because their underlying action … is really an improper and untimely election contest,” she wrote.
Big yikes: “Offices overtake malls as most distressed asset class”
At the end of the second quarter, about $24.8 billion of U.S. office properties were in distress, according to the report. The figure, which accounted for the value of properties that were either troubled or repossessed, jumped 36 percent from the first quarter.
Replacing actors on set with A.I. means you’re replacing
a hairstylist, a makeup artist, a costumer, a script supervisor, a stuntman, a driver, a stand in, smaller skeleton crews, etc. Cause the studios will say there’s no need for these other jobs cause no actors.
Who is Shelby White?
Cops seize stolen artifacts worth $69M from Met trustee emeritus’s home
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/who-is-shelby-white-cops-seize-stolen-artifacts-worth-69m-from-met-trustee-emeritus-s-home/ar-AA1e4rIX
cops recovered numerous stolen artifacts from her house. According to reports, the confiscated items are worth $69 million and were collected by Shelby White and her late husband Leon Levy over several years.
89 artifacts have reportedly been removed from White’s possession by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Special Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the last two years. An April statement by Manhattan DA Alvin L Bragg, Jr said, “Our investigation into the collector Shelby White has allowed dozens of antiquities that were ripped from their countries of origin to finally return home.”
“Just weeks ago, when the Met announced its new, stricter initiative on antiquities, [Shelby] White was appointed to a 12-member task force of trustees that will offer ‘their experience and counsel’ to help shape the museum’s collecting practices”: How do you buy $69 million in stolen antiquities and not face criminal charges? @ManhattanDA seized 71 looted antiquities from her — and another 17 that she had loaned to the @metmuseum
Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger Shelby White is the villain of the piece (literally). But there is enough in it to make me sympathetic to her. P.S. A veteran journalist told me 30 years ago: A journalist’s personal view is encapsulated in the last quotation he uses — his ending quote. Investigators were also allowed to search for evidence that Shelby White was part of a criminal conspiracy related to the looted antiquities she and her husband collected. https://twitter.com/ChasingAphrodit/status/1681710527515590656/photo/1 Indeed, antiquities were not the only thing seized from Shelby White‘s Sutton Place apartment.
Interesting thread on the Shelby White investigation.
What hasn’t gotten as much attention is that she’s also a patron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, which is in charge of enforcing the country’s anti-antiquities trafficking law. Antiquities are often seized under civil forfeiture law, which allows the government to grab things if there is a preponderance of evidence that they were stolen.
The Shelby White case was not that. It was criminal. Her collecting practices do not fit the model of how a museum should be pursuing knowledge and preserving the historical record.” https://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-profoundly-generous-supporter-of-met.html
An April ’22 search warrant allowed @ManhattanDA to seize a huge volume of evidence relating to how the targeted antiquities were acquired.
Kevin David Mitnick, 59, died peacefully on Sunday, July 16, 2023, after valiantly battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year. Kevin is survived by his beloved wife, Kimberley Mitnick, who remained by his side throughout their 14-month ordeal. Kimberley is pregnant with their first child. Kevin was ecstatic about this new chapter in his and Kimberley’s life together, which has now been sadly cut short. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/las-vegas-nv/kevin-mitnick-11371668
“Mitnick was a hacker hero of mine in my youth. I think I’ve understood his role as jester prior to conviction less as I’ve grown older, but there’s something about the boyhood charm of being so divorced from the potential consequences of one’s actions that is almost unique.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-dead-hacker.html
RIP Kevin Mitnick (1963 – 2023)
“I read Takedown as a teengager, about one of the greatest hackers of our time. Opened more doors to this future than people will admit.
Suffered from asperger syndrome yet never used it as justification for his actions.” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36795173
Black-hat hacker turned security consultant #KevinMitnick has died at the age of 59. He had pancreatic cancer. Mitnick’s death was confirmed by Kathy Wattman, spokeswoman for KnowBe4, a security awareness training company that employed him most recently. Mitnick rose to notoriety following a spree of cybercrimes and a two-year long manhunt by the FBI in the mid-1990s. He also wrote several books on computer security, including The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers. #CyberSecurity #infosec #hacking
Luxury tests limits of its immunity to downturns Compagnie Financiere Richemont is testing the limits of luxury’s immunity to downturns. The $93 billion Swiss luxury conglomerate dropped 10% on Monday after it reported a 2% year-on-year drop in U.S. revenue in the three months to June. Shares of other big luxury players, including $236 billion Hermes International and $502 billion LVMH , also fell 4.2% and 3.7% respectively.
#BITCOIN
THREAD Operation choke point was real, Gensler anointed himself to block crypto
Having credible custodians (+ self-custody) are the solutions to relying on failed companies like FTX. Policy makers and regulators in the USA should be welcoming these regulated firms – not standing in their way
@MattWalshInBos Jul 17 SAB 121 and how Gary Gensler, the lead henchman of Elizabeth Warren’s anti-crypto army, is turning the SEC into a merit regulator and using an obscure accounting rule to prevent major banks from touching crypto in the United States… SAB 121 is saying that a bank that offers Bitcoin custody, would need to treat the customer bitcoins as if they were the asset of the bank. This means taking a capital charge (i.e., holding more US Dollars) against the asset. To be clear, this accounting treatment would be in conflict with every other asset that custodians safekeep. For example, State Street has over $40 trillion in customer assets under custody. Imagine them having to put those on their own balance sheet? It makes zero sense. BNY is the most trusted custodian on earth. They launched digital assets in 2022 but according to their filings have ‘de minimis’ assets. They are the custodian on none of the Bitcoin ETF proposals. Why is the SEC decapitating BNY’s crypto custody business? In a WSJ opinion piece, Hal Scott and John Gulliver of Harvard Law School point out the absurdity of a rule that would prevent some of the most trusted financial institutions in the world from participating in the crypto economy:
The beauty of #Bitcoin lies not only in its ability to revolutionize finance but also in its potential to uplift communities.
Microtransactions are opening doors for creators, entrepreneurs, and those excluded from traditional systems.
#Bitcoin fosters innovation and economic growth.
“Some ‘crypto’ assets appear to be here to stay, and they continue to cause risks for financial markets, investors, and consumers” according to President Biden’s economic report.
How a Saudi firm tapped a gusher of water in drought-stricken Arizona
A Post investigation – based on government documents and interviews with public officials, ranchers in the valley, farmworkers, and townspeople who live near the alfalfa fields – found that Arizona’s lax regulatory environment and sophisticated lobbying by the Saudi-owned company allowed a scarce American resource to flow unchecked to a foreign corporation. To advance its interests before the state, Fondomonte hired an influential Republican lawyer as well as a former member of Congress. And it sought to win over its rural neighbors, providing a high school with donations that included Fondomonte-sponsored sports bags and face masks emblazoned with the company logo to protect students from covid. The new governor is Democrat Katie Hobbs Only after the state threatened to cancel Fondomonte’s leases last month did the company disclose how much it pumps annually in the Butler Valley, according to communications released as part of a public-records request. Its consumption is equivalent to that of a city of more than 50,000 people, experts said. The governor’s aides are now preparing plans not to renew Fondomonte’s leases in the Butler Valley when they expire next year
Young labor organizers are meeting with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders at the White House today. Workers from Starbucks, SEGA, Minor League Baseball and more will talk union organizing, strikes, and supporting labor across the country.
BREAKING: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie continues to dig deep under Donald Trump’s thin skin as his PAC releases a brutal new attack ad hitting Trump for being to afraid to debate in the primary. The ad is already infuriating MAGA world. Entitled “Trump’s Choice” it attempts to bait Trump into getting on stage for the debate by asking him: “Are you a chicken or just a loser?”
The answer, of course, is that Donald Trump is both. He’s terrified of being humiliated and he is in fact a historic loser, having been crushed by Joe Biden in 2020 despite being the incumbent. The attack warns Trump that if he shows up to the debate his opponents “will bring up the impeachments, the indictments” and “how you lost to Joe Biden, lost the House, lost the Senate.” It also warns that if he doesn’t go he’ll be “called a coward, a chicken” and be “reduced to throwing spitballs from the sidelines.”
“So, Donald, you need to decide: Are you a chicken or just a loser?” it concludes.
This is exactly the kind of thing that drives Donald Trump and his fragile ego insane with fury. Chris Christie would make an absolutely terrible president, but it’s great having him in the race for moments like this alone.
Who really runs Canada? @JustinTrudeau
“We penetrate the cabinets. Yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of this cabinet or even more than half are actually our young global leaders of the World Economic Forum.”
The US government has approved the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill. The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday birth control pill Opill will be available without a prescription for women of all ages. In a statement, the agency said the move would help reduce women’s barriers to accessing contraception. The manufacturer of Opill has said it will most likely be available over the counter in early 2024. Doctors say that the progestin-only pill – often known as the “minipill” – is a particularly safe form of contraception because it does not contain oestrogen, meaning it has fewer side effects and health risks.
LEAD POISONING AT&T and Verizon’s ancient lead cables have US lawmakers demanding action. “Corporate irresponsibility”: Telcos accused of failing to act on health risks.
Newly raised concerns about lead-covered telephone cables installed across the US many decades ago are putting pressure on companies like AT&T and Verizon to identify the locations of all the cables and account for any health problems potentially caused by the toxic metal.
US Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wrote a letter to the USTelecom industry trade group this week after a Wall Street Journal investigative report titled, “America Is Wrapped in Miles of Toxic Lead Cables.” The WSJ said it found evidence of more than 2,000 lead-covered cables and that there “are likely far more throughout the country.”
WSJ reporters had researchers collect samples as part of their investigation. They “found that where lead contamination was present, the amount measured in the soil was highest directly under or next to the cables, and dropped within a few feet—a sign the lead was coming from the cable,” the article said.
Markey wrote to USTelecom, “According to the Wall Street Journal’s investigation, ‘AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the US, under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead… As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work and play.'”
Markey wants answers
Politicians want to put LNG facility in tiny Chester, Pennsylvania
ENERGY COMPANY PLOTTED GAS PLANT IN SMALL PENNSYLVANIA TOWN — BUT NO ONE TOLD RESIDENTS
Lawmakers helped with a plan to put the natural gas export facility in already-polluted Chester, Pennsylvania. https://theintercept.com/2023/07/17/chester-pennsylvania-liquefied-natural-gas/
“Do not go to law school. The legal field is in big trouble. That’s going to be one of the first disrupted by AI,” Geoff Lewis has said.. “I talk to folks who spend thousands of dollars a week on legal bills; they’re already using ChatGPT to generate complex contracts.”
New Lawsuit Against Bing Based on Allegedly AI-Hallucinated Libelous Statements “ But it turns out that this combines facts about two separate people with similar names: (1) Jeffery Battle, who is indeed apparently a veteran, businessman, and adjunct professor, and (2) Jeffrey Leon Battle, who was convicted of trying to join the Taliban shortly after 9/11. The two have nothing in common other than their similar names. The Aerospace Professor did not plead guilty to seditious conspiracy.”
How 2013 film The Congress predicted Hollywood’s current AI crisis With US actors striking in part because of the threat of AI to their livelihoods, a 10-year-old, little-seen movie starring Robin Wright now seems eerily prescient, writes Caryn James. Green is in fact a fictional character portrayed by Danny Huston in the little-known film The Congress. Released in 2013, it predicted the current crisis about the use of artificial intelligence in the industry, one of the most contentious issues in both strikes, with astonishing clarity and detail. I
If the WGA’s proposed wage increase was implemented, it would cost Disney $75 million annually.
Disney made $4.1 BILLION in revenue last year.
Writers are asking for 0.01% of that revenue.
0.01%
An iPhone’s viewfinder can see through tinted windows. If an officer uses his iPhone to see through a suspect’s tinted car window, is that a 4A “search”? No, D.Conn rules, as iPhones are in “general public use” under Kyllo. (op by Meyer, J.) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tFS1wmG8LtYdpvz_w-qnwYwa9Rac8DsZ/view
Woopsie!
Common typo causes millions of emails intended for members of the US military to be sent to accounts in Mali
Oh wow. Millions of emails intended for Pentagon employees were inadvertently sent to email accounts in Mali because of typos caused by the similarity of the US military’s email address (.mil) and the domain for the West African country (.ml).
The personal information in the emails — which included details like travel itineraries and hotel numbers — “could be used to conduct targeted cyberattacks or to track the movements of Pentagon personnel…” https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/17/politics/email-typos-mali-military-emails/index.html
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THREAD Operation choke point was real, Gensler anointed himself to block crypto