The Most Revolutionary Act

Uncensored updates on world events, economics, the environment and medicine

The Most Revolutionary Act

Author Archives: stuartbramhall

Unknown's avatar

About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

Israel Recalls Ambassador to Spain

Posted on by
3

Israel recalls ambassador from EU country

File photo: Protests outside the Israeli embassy in Madrid, Spain, January 2002. ©  Quim Llenas/Cover/Getty Images

RT

The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that it was recalling its ambassador in Madrid, Rodica Radian-Gordon, for consultations after comments made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez about the ongoing war. Madrid’s ambassador in Tel Aviv was also summoned for a protest.

Speaking with the Spanish broadcaster TVE, Sanchez said he had “serious doubt” that Israel was in compliance with international humanitarian law while waging war on the Palestinian group, given the imagery coming from the enclave and the “growing numbers of children dying.”

“Because of the outrageous remarks by the Spanish prime minister, who again repeated baseless claims, I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador in Spain for consultations in Jerusalem,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on X (formerly Twitter).

“Israel is acting, and will continue to act, according to international law, and will continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is eliminated from Gaza,” Cohen added.

Sanchez also urged the European Union to recognize the Palestinian state as a political solution to the current crisis. “It is in Europe’s interest to address this issue out of moral conviction because what we are seeing in Gaza is not acceptable,” he told TVE.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also denounced the Spanish PM’s “shameful remark on a day in which Hamas terrorists murdered Israelis in our capital Jerusalem.” Three civilians were killed and at least eight others injured in a bus stop shooting for which the Palestinian group has claimed responsibility.

Sanchez incited Israel’s ire last week, when he accused Netanyahu’s government of the “indiscriminate killing” of Palestinian civilians and suggested that Madrid might recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally. He made these comments at a press conference with his Belgian colleague Alexander De Croo, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7 incursion, which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis in settlements bordering Gaza. Since then, Israeli air and artillery strikes have left more than 15,000 Palestinians dead, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The US has also warned Netanyahu about the conflict, according to Israel’s Channel 12. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Israeli War Cabinet they don’t have enough “credit” to keep the war going for months and insisted they need to stop targeting the UN and civilians when they move against southern Gaza.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/588303-israel-spain-ambassador-gaza/

Jan 6 Committee Tapes Have Disappeared

Posted on by
4

Zero Hedge

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times,

The disappearance of videotapes of witness interviews conducted by the Democratic-led House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has alarmed the chairman of the House panel that replaced it.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chairs the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee that is currently investigating security lapses connected to the Capitol riot and potential ramifications for upcoming criminal trials, is questioning the disappearance of the video evidence.

“All of the videotapes of all depositions are gone,” Mr. Loudermilk told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show Thursday night.

“We found out about this early in the investigation when I received a call from someone who was looking for some information off one of the videotapes, and we started searching, and we had none,” Mr. Loudermilk explained.

“I wrote a letter to Bennie Thompson asking for them. And he confirmed that they did not preserve those types. He didn’t feel that they had to.”

According to Mr. Loudermilk, the videotapes met the requirements for congressional evidence under House rules because some of the segments were shown at hearings, and the now-defunct J6 committee, led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), ought to have kept all of the recordings.

“According to House rules, you have to preserve any data and information and documents that are used in an official proceeding, which they did. They (J6 Democrats) actually aired portions of these tapes on their televised hearings, which means they had to keep those,” Mr. Loudermilk said.

“Yet he chose not to.”

The lawmaker explained why he believes this is an important piece of evidence to maintain, citing that some witnesses, such as former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, have changed their testimony over time, and even transcripts might not be sufficient to obtain a full understanding of the testimony.

“I want to see what her body language is when she gave her original testimony,” Mr. Loudermilk said of the former White House staffer. “I want to see what her voice inflection is, was she very confident in what she was saying at that time, but then later decided to change it?

“This is why it’s so important that we have those videotapes and I believe that’s probably why we don’t have them … I believe they exist somewhere. We’ve just got to find where all these videos are.”

Mr. Thompson’s office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

The disclosure may also affect the criminal proceedings that are taking place in federal court in Washington, and state court in Georgia, where former President Donald Trump and his associates are accused of crimes connected to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

A court recently denied President Trump’s legal team’s request for specific material from the Jan. 6 committee. District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan turned down the former president, saying his requests were essentially a fishing expedition.

In her seven-page ruling, she reprimanded President Trump for his demands, claiming that they were too broad and too unclear. It further claimed that he was abusing his authority by trying to get information that was available through other channels in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17.

“Defendant has not met his burdens with respect to his proposed Rule 17(c) subpoenas,” Judge Chutkan said.

“He has not sufficiently justified his requests for either the ‘Missing Materials’ themselves or the other five categories of documents related to them.”

The judge went on to quote United States v. Cuthbertson, adding that the “broad scope of the records that defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less ‘a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence’ than they do ‘a general fishing expedition that attempts to use the [Rule 17(c) subpoena] as a discovery device.'”

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/jan-6-committee-tapes-have-disappeared-says-house-republican

It’s time for criminal charges to be filed against NZ Ministry of Health officials

Posted on by
4

The leadership of the NZMH chose to look the other way when their own employee notified them of a serious safety issue. Instead of doing their duty to investigate his allegations, they decided to besmirch him instead. They should be charged with criminal negligence.

Steve Kirsch

Executive summary

Earlier this week, a courageous whistleblower sent an email to the New Zealand Ministry of Health (NZMH) officials notifying them that the data that they have in their possession can only be explained if the COVID vaccines are killing thousands of New Zealanders.

The NZMH authorities didn’t publish a cohort time-series analysis to confirm or deny the leaker’s accusation. They did no analysis whatsoever on their own data.

Instead, the officials resorted to ad hominem attacks on the leaker to besmirch him and try to distract the public.

The NZMH has a duty to investigate the leaker’s allegations by doing a simple analysis that anyone can do. It takes about 15 minutes of effort. I know that because I’ve done it myself on the NZMH data. It shows the vaccines should be immediately stopped. The NZMH officials chose not to spend the 15 minutes and not to look. There’s a term for that; it’s called criminal negligence.

They’ve been notified of a serious problem and they chose to look the other way. It’s time for criminal charges to be brought the leadership.

You don’t have to take my word for it. You can now download the NZMH data and verify this for yourself.

See Data from US Medicare and the New Zealand Ministry of Health shows, beyond any doubt, that the COVID vaccines have killed millions for details.

The New Zealand mainstream media is asleep at the wheel. They are simply parroting whatever the NZMH officials say and not asking any questions.

Here are two articles from the New Zealand press showing that instead of showing the definitive time-series cohort analysis data, the NZMH officials simply claimed that the leaker was a spreader of misinformation and the press eats it up without asking any questions!!! What ever happened to investigative journalism?

and

The leaker’s data has been validated by two of the world’s most highly respected experts on data, risk, and epidemiology

See the slide deck, slides 85 and 86 for what they said. They basically said that this data removes all doubt about the vaccines killing massive numbers of people.

The cohort time series analysis is trivial to do. It shows the COVID vaccines killed on average 1 person per 1,000 shots

I did the analysis on the New Zealand data. It’s crystal clear that the shots are kill shots for anyone with a modicum of skill in the field.

If you don’t have the skills you can acquire them within minutes from my slide deck.

So on average 1 death per 1,000 doses. There were 12M doses given in New Zealand. So that’s an estimated excess death of 12,000 people in New Zealand.

So now we finally know what caused over 10,000 excess deaths in New Zealand since the shots rolled out, don’t we? Mystery solved!

Why isn’t the New Zealand mainstream media demanding to see the cohort time-series analysis from the NZMH?

The New Zealand press should be asking the NZMH for the cohort time-series analysis so they can do their own independent analysis of the data and determine whether the NZMH was telling the truth or not.

Instead, the New Zealand press simply accepts ad hominem attacks with no data.

Impressive!

The NZMH should be opening an investigation, but not into the leaker. They should be doing an internal investigation as to how they screwed up so badly and missed this HUGE HUGE safety signal.

The leaker is a hero. The villain in this story is how the NZMH epidemiologists were all asleep at the wheel and not looking at the data. Those epidemiologists have blood on their hands for refusing to look at the data.

They can’t lie about the data anymore. We know exactly what it says.

The epidemiologists at the NZMH have blood on their hands for not reporting this.

[…]

https://kirschsubstack.com/p/its-time-for-criminal-charges-to

Etruscan Architecture: Sanctuaries and Sacred Places

Posted on by
Reply

Built by Etruscans, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (509 BC) is the largest Etruscan-style temple in the world

Episode 9 Sanctuaries and Temples

The Mysterious Etruscans

Dr Steven L Tuck (2016)

Film Review

Etruscan rulers spent massive amounts on religious sanctuaries, with many dating from the 6th century BC. Ceverteri on the west coast of central Italy, was one of the largest. It was dedicated to Une/Astarte. A goddess equivalent to the Semitic goddess Ishtar, Une was her Etruscan name, and Astarte her Phoenician name (Ceverteri was visited frequently by Phoenician traders).

The Etruscans overthrew the kings and aristocrats who ruled them in the 6th century BC, and the building of religious sanctuaries was part of the public works programs started by their new republican leaders.

They were extremely competitive with their Greek neighbors in the size of their sanctuaries and some had multiple temples. Smaller than those of the Greeks, their temples were built of wood (as opposed to marble) and covered with terra cotta tiles to protect them from rain damage. The Romans went on to build Etruscan-style temples in Egypt and Morocco.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy,

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/239710/239625

Republican Sen Eric Schmitt Vows to ‘End COVID Tyranny’ of CDC and NIH

Posted on by
6

Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt listens to a speaker during the Governor's Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo. Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced a bill Thursday to roll back the federal overreach of public health authorities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy obtained by The Post. AP

Josh Christenson

New York Post

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced a bill Thursday that would give Congress greater oversight of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy of the measure exclusively obtained by The Post

The bill, known as the “End COVID Tyranny Act,” would mandate congressional appointment and term limits for the directors of both agencies, as well as require a majority vote by both chambers to approve a public health emergency lasting longer than 90 days.

An advisory committee for the CDC director would also be appointed by Congress and with the approval of the US comptroller general.

The measure would further mandate foreign research labs that receive US government funding to pass quarterly inspections on animal welfare and cleanliness standards.

View this document on Scribd

The legislation comes six months after President Biden ended the COVID public health emergency and national emergency declaration begun under his predecessor, Donald Trump, in March 2020.

Many controversial COVID-era policies bypassed legislative approval, with federal and state authorities unilaterally imposing lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine passports — only to face criticism and reverse course later.

While Trump instituted the first lockdowns via executive order, he resisted a national mask mandate and left office before having to consider federal COVID vaccination requirements.

Biden issued a federal employee mask mandate on his first day in office and required non-citizens to present proof of vaccination when entering the US.

The latter measure was rolled back in May, along with all vaccine requirements for federal workers, which had been blocked by an appeals court two months prior.

The Biden administration also saw an attempt to force vaccinations or COVID tests on private employers overturned by the Supreme Court.

“Mandates, vaccine passports, forced lockdowns, and further overreach imposed by Joe Biden and his army of federal bureaucrats during the COVID pandemic set an extremely dangerous precedent that still persists to this day,” Schmitt said in a statement.

“Missourians do not need faceless officials buried in a cubicle in Washington telling them how to live their lives – as Senator, I intend to protect Missourians from further rule-by-decree from unelected bureaucrats,” he added.

“The End COVID Tyranny Act limits the power of executive branch actors and returns the critical role of oversight to the Article I branch, the people’s branch.”

[…]

Via https://nypost.com/2023/11/30/news/sen-eric-schmitt-vows-to-end-covid-tyranny-of-cdc-nih/

Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found in Thousands of Private Wells Near U.S. Military Bases

Posted on by
1
military water pfas forever chemicals feature

By Patricia Kime

KFF Health News

Water tests show nearly 3,000 private wells located near 63 active and former U.S. military bases are contaminated with “forever chemicals” at levels higher than what federal regulators consider safe for drinking.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that analyzed the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) testing data, 2,805 wells spread across 29 states were contaminated with at least one of two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, above 4 parts per trillion, a limit proposed earlier this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

That new drinking water standard is expected to take effect by the end of the year.

But contamination in those wells was lower than the 70 parts per trillion threshold the Pentagon uses to trigger remediation.

EWG researchers said they did not know how many people rely on the wells for drinking, cooking and bathing, but the 76 tested locations represent just a fraction of the private wells near 714 current or former military sites spread across the U.S.

According to EWG, Texas had nearly a third of the contaminated wells, with 909.

Researchers recorded clusters of tainted wells in both urban and rural areas, from Riverside County and Sacramento in California to Rapid City, South Dakota and Helena, Montana.

“They are going to have to test more bases,” said Jared Hayes, a senior policy analyst with EWG, in an interview with KFF Health News. “Those 2,805 are going to be a small number when they start testing drinking water wells near every single base.”

The DOD officials are investigating hundreds of current and former domestic U.S. military installations and communities that surround them to determine whether their soil, groundwater or drinking water is contaminated with PFAS chemicals.

The DOD is a major contributor of PFAS pollution nationwide — the result of spills, dumping, or use of industrial solvents, firefighting foam and other substances that contain what has been dubbed forever chemicals because they do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body.

Exposure to PFAS has been associated with health problems such as decreased response to vaccines, some types of cancer, low birth weight and high blood pressure during pregnancy, according to a report published last year by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A study published this year linked testicular cancer in military personnel to exposure to PFOS, the main type of PFAS chemical used in firefighting foam.

In July, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study estimated that at least 45% of U.S. tap water contains at least one type of PFAS chemical.

USGS researchers tested 716 locations nationwide and found the forever chemicals more frequently in samples that were collected near urban areas and potential sources of PFAS like military installations, airports, industrial sites and wastewater treatment plants, according to Kelly Smalling, a USGS research chemist and lead author of the study.

“We knew we would find PFAS in tap water,” she told KFF Health News in July. “But what was really interesting was the similarities between the private wells and the public supply.”

Drinking water sources near military installations that test above 70 parts per trillion draw immediate action from the DOD. Those responses include providing alternate drinking water sources, treatment or water filtration systems.

Below that threshold, federal officials leave it up to homeowners to weigh and mitigate the health risks of contamination, Hayes said.

“It’s unclear what, if anything, these private individuals are being advised,” Hayes said. “If DoD is saying that 70 parts per trillion is the level they are going to provide clean water … the understanding would be if it’s below that, it must be fine.

The Pentagon bases its 70 parts per trillion standard for PFOS and PFOA chemicals on a 2016 health advisory issued by the EPA. Officials have said they’re waiting for the new federal standard to go into effect before changing DOD parameters.

The DOD did not respond by publication deadline to questions about EWG’s findings, or how it will address the new EPA limits.

While EWG’s examination found that thousands of wells contained PFAS at levels above the new EPA standard, but below the military’s 70 ppt threshold for action, it also learned that the DOD had found 1,800 private wells that registered higher than 70 ppt and had provided mitigation services to the owners of those wells.

Hayes said the combined levels of PFOS and PFOA in some wells were as high as 10,000 ppt.

Hayes said it’s unclear how long people near those military sites have been drinking contaminated water. “Chances are it’s been years, decades,” he said.

Federal law requires public water systems to be monitored regularly for pollutants, but private wells have no similar requirements.

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/forever-chemicals-private-wells-military-bases-kff/

 

New Zealand Government will inform WHO it does not agree to International Health Regulations amendments

Posted on by
5
By Rhoda Wilson | The Exposé

The newly sworn-in New Zealand government intends not to be pushed around by UN resolutions or by the World Health Organisation anymore.

According to a coalition agreement with New Zealand First, the new government will undertake a “National Interest Test” before accepting any agreements from the United Nations or the World Health Organisation’s proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations.

To this aim, the New Zealand Cabinet must “reserve against” proposed amendments to International Health Regulations by 1 December 2023.

On Friday, centre-right National signed coalition agreements with libertarian ACT New Zealand and populist New Zealand First allowing the three parties to form a government, bringing an end to six years of left-wing governments in New Zealand.

Yesterday, New Zealand Governor General Cindy Kiro, who represents British monarch King Charles III as head of state, swore National Party leader Christopher Luxon in as New Zealand’s 42nd prime minister along with ministers of his cabinet at Government House in Wellington. Parliament is expected to sit next week and begin working on new policies.

On the day they were signed, Friday, the incoming government released its coalition agreements which outlined a number of policy plans.  You can read the coalition agreement between the New Zealand National Party and ACT New Zealand HERE, and between New Zealand National Party and New Zealand First HERE.

According to the coalition agreement with New Zealand First, one of the most urgent issues the new government must address is that the Cabinet will tell officials not to agree to any policy changes suggested by the World Health Organisation (“WHO”). The coalition agreement states:

Strengthening Democracy and Freedoms

Ensure a ‘National Interest Test’ is undertaken before New Zealand accepts any agreements from the UN and its agencies that limit national decision-making and reconfirm that New Zealand’s domestic law holds primacy over any international agreements.

As part of the above, by 1 December 2023 reserve against proposed amendments to WHO health regulations to allow the incoming government to consider these against a “National Interest Test.”

Coalition Agreement between the National Party and the New Zealand First Party

[…]

Via https://alethonews.com/2023/11/30/new-zealand-government-will-inform-who-it-does-not-agree-to-international-health-regulations-amendments/

Facebook sues FTC, hoping to block ban on monetizing kids’ Facebook data

Posted on by
Reply
Photo illustration in which the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a Meta logo
Getty Images | Chesnot

Meta (Facebook) sued the Federal Trade Commission yesterday in a lawsuit that challenges the FTC’s authority to impose new privacy obligations on the social media firm.

The complaint stems from the FTC’s May 2023 allegation that Meta-owned Facebook violated a 2020 privacy settlement and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The FTC proposed changes to the 2020 privacy order that would, among other things, prohibit Facebook from monetizing data it collects from users under 18.

Meta’s lawsuit against the FTC challenges what it calls “the structurally unconstitutional authority exercised by the FTC through its Commissioners in an administrative reopening proceeding against Meta.” It was filed against the FTC, Chair Lina Khan, and other commissioners in US District Court for the District of Columbia. Meta is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the FTC proceeding pending resolution of the lawsuit.

Meta argues that in the FTC’s administrative proceedings, “the Commission has a dual role as prosecutor and judge in violation of the Due Process Clause.” Meta asked the court to “declare that certain fundamental aspects of the Commission’s structure violate the US Constitution, and that these violations render unlawful the FTC Proceeding against Meta.”

Meta says it should have a right to a trial by jury and that “Congress unconstitutionally has delegated to the FTC the power to assign disputes to administrative adjudication rather than litigating them before an Article III court.” The FTC should not be allowed to “unilaterally modify the terms” of the 2020 settlement, Meta said.

The FTC action “would dictate how and when Meta can design its products,” the lawsuit said.

Democrats slam “baseless,” “embarrassing” suit

Meta’s lawsuit was criticized by US Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce Committee. “This lawsuit is embarrassing,” Pallone said in a statement. “It speaks volumes that Meta would rather launch a frivolous lawsuit against the agency tasked by Congress with protecting American consumers, especially our children, than do the serious work needed to reform their platforms.”

Pallone predicted that Meta will lose the lawsuit and called it “a stunt intended to distract from the serious concerns regarding Meta’s social media platforms and business practices.”

US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) issued a similar criticism. “Meta’s baseless lawsuit is a weak attempt to avoid accountability for its repeated failures to protect kids’ privacy online,” Markey said.

The FTC declined to comment on Meta’s lawsuit when contacted by Ars today.

Meta pins hopes on SCOTUS decision

Meta filed its lawsuit two days after a US District Court ruling that went against the company. Judge Timothy Kelly denied Meta’s motion to block the FTC proceedings, writing that “the Court lacks jurisdiction over claims related to potential changes to the 2020 administrative order and the FTC’s authority to reopen its proceedings and modify that order.”

Meta’s lawsuit cites an April 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Axon Enterprise v. Federal Trade Commission. That ruling “confirmed a new avenue for pre-enforcement challenges to the administrative proceedings of federal agencies,” allowing defendants “to short-circuit the administrative process and go directly to a district court to challenge the proceedings up front,” Columbia Law Professor Ronald Mann explained on SCOTUSblog.

Meta’s lawsuit against the FTC quotes Judge Kelly as saying the case could be subject to a review under the Supreme Court’s Axon precedent:

On November 27, 2023, this Court—per Judge Kelly—denied Meta’s motion. Judge Kelly held that the Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain Meta’s claims in the United States v. Facebook, Inc. action because the 2020 Order was not part of the Court’s Stipulated Order entered in that action. His decision did not address Meta’s constitutional challenges to the structure of the Commission and the FTC Proceeding, but he had explained at oral argument that if he determines that he lacks jurisdiction over the 2020 Order “what has to happen is Meta has to go and file another lawsuit and, maybe, it will be assigned to me, but, maybe, it will be assigned to one of my colleagues, and… whoever it’s assigned to would go through the issue of whether there’s Axon jurisdiction at this point.”

Meta, in addition to filing a lawsuit against the FTC in US District Court, appealed Judge Kelly’s ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

US: Supreme Court ruling doesn’t help Meta

The US government argued in an August 2023 court filing that the Axon ruling doesn’t give Meta the right to avoid the administrative proceeding. “In Axon, the Supreme Court concluded that district courts retain federal question jurisdiction under the FTC Act to hear a limited subset of claims challenging ‘the structure or very existence of an agency,'” the US said. “The Court was emphatic that it was not expressing ‘newfound enthusiasm’ for immediate judicial review.”

The US said Meta is “hoping to expand Axon beyond its limits,” and that applying the standard in Axon “mandates a conclusion that Meta’s procedural and scope challenges should be raised in a court of appeals after a final Commission decision, and this Court lacks jurisdiction to decide them.”

The FTC alleged that Facebook violated its obligations “by continuing to give app developers access to users’ private information after promising in 2018 to cut off such access if users had not used those apps in the previous 90 days. In certain circumstances, Facebook continued to allow third-party app developers to access that user data until mid-2020.”

Facebook also “misled parents about their ability to control with whom their children communicated through its Messenger Kids app” from late 2017 until mid-2019, the FTC said. “Despite the company’s promises that children using Messenger Kids would only be able to communicate with contacts approved by their parents, children in certain circumstances were able to communicate with unapproved contacts in group text chats and group video calls,” the FTC said.

[…]

Via https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/meta-sues-ftc-hoping-to-block-ban-on-monetizing-kids-facebook-data/

Twitter ordered to turn over info on users who interacted with Trump

Posted on by
5
X ordered to turn over info on users who interacted with Trump
©  Getty Images / Drew Angerer

 

RT

The US Justice Department issues a search warrant after media organizations sued over a lack of transparency

The special counsel prosecuting Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has ordered X (formerly Twitter) to turn over account information on any users who interacted with the former president, according to a heavily redacted search warrant released by the US Department of Justice on Monday.

The warrant requests “all information from the ‘Connect’ or ‘Notifications’ tab for [Trump’s] account, including all lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets posted by the account, as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e. ‘mentions’ or ‘replies’).” This is in addition to Trump’s own search history, direct messages, a list of every user he “followed, unfollowed, muted, unmuted, blocked, or unblocked,” and “content of all tweets created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted” by the then-president from October 2020 to January 2021.

Even advertising information, topic preferences, communications with X’s support staff, and data that was deleted but remains available to the platform must be turned over to the prosecutor, according to the document.

“There is no benign or reasonable justification for that demand,” FBI whistleblower Steve Friend opined in a post on X on Tuesday. Many Trump supporters took to X to express their disdain for the order, denouncing Smith as an “enemy of the people” and calling on Congress to defund his investigation.

The Justice Department released the warrant and several other filings in response to a Freedom of Information request from media organizations objecting to the secrecy of the investigation. The existence of the warrant only became public in August with Trump’s indictment, even though special counsel Jack Smith had ordered X to turn over the information in January. The warrant included an order forbidding the company from informing Trump about the search.

While X initially refused to comply due to the gag order, arguing it was a violation of the First Amendment, Smith countered that informing the ex-president would result in “statutorily cognizable harm,” resulting in “destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or other serious jeopardy to an investigation or delaying of trial.” The platform ultimately agreed to release the data, but missed a court deadline, resulting in a $350,000 fine for contempt of court.

Trump was indicted in August on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing a congressional proceeding and conspiracy against rights related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. While the election-interference case is just one of many felony indictments filed against the Republican this year, he has recently inched ahead of incumbent Joe Biden in polls of likely 2024 voters.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/news/588287-trump-twitter-interactions-warrant-prosecutor/