Friday, December 2, 2022

Friday, December 2, 2022

And another day of removing hurdles, paid sick days, tax fraud schemes, a price cap on Russian oil, Greenberg gets 11 years, Alex Jones files for bankruptcy, Ye praises Hitler, double standards, flu, and TikTok comes to a close:


“After all, tomorrow is another day.” -- Margaret Mitchell


Covid Deaths

US: 1,106,607

World: 6,644,705


Covid Cases

US: 100,787,779

World: 649,273,133


Trump probe: Court halts Mar-a-Lago special master review. A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information.


Railroad workers aren’t the only Americans without paid sick days. The US does not have a national standard on paid sick leave, a rarity among industrialized nations. Roughly 1 in 5 civilian workers lack paid sick days, but the prevalence of the benefit varies widely by occupation and wage, according to federal data. Public sector workers, management and professional employees and higher-earning staffers are more likely to have access to paid sick days. However, many others are not as fortunate. Roughly one-third of workers in service, construction, extraction and farming occupations don’t have paid sick days. About half of part-time workers lack the benefit, as do more than 40% of those in the lowest quarter of wage earners. Overall, about 33 million workers have no paid sick days, according to Family Values @ Work Action, an advocacy organization.


Prosecutor: Donald Trump knew about exec’s tax fraud scheme. Donald Trump “knew exactly what was going on” with top Trump Organization executives who schemed for years to dodge taxes on company-paid perks, a prosecutor said Thursday, challenging defense claims that the former president was unaware of the plot at the heart of the company’s tax fraud case. -- You know he fucking knew what was going on.


G-7 joins EU on $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil. The Group of Seven nations and Australia joined the European Union on Friday in adopting a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, a key step as Western sanctions aim to reorder the global oil market to prevent price spikes and starve President Vladimir Putin of funding for his war in Ukraine.


High court to rule on Biden student loan cancellation plan. The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide whether the Biden administration can broadly cancel student loans, keeping the program blocked for now but signaling a final answer by early summer. That’s about two months before the newly extended pause on loan repayments is set to expire.


Joel Greenberg sentenced to 11 years after cooperating with federal probe into Matt Gaetz. Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, previously pleaded guilty to underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US government. He has been in jail since early 2021 and will get some credit for time served. “I have never seen a defendant who has committed so many different types of crimes in such a relatively short period,” said district Judge Gregory Presnell, who has been on the federal bench for decades and has sentenced more than 1,000 defendants. Presnell did praise Greenberg’s cooperation against others allegedly involved in sex crimes and fraud schemes, saying the cooperation was “more than I’ve seen in 22 years.” -- Now get Gaetz.


Infowars host Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy. Infowars host Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy protection Friday in Texas, citing debts that include nearly $1.5 billion he has been ordered to pay to families who sued him over his conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.


Ye praises Hitler in interview with Alex Jones. In an hourslong interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the rapper Ye praised Hitler, made antisemitic jokes and talked about his recent meeting with former President Donald Trump. -- The man is trash, which is actually insulting to trash.


LeBron James says there’s a double standard in reporters asking about Kyrie Irving but not Jerry Jones' photo. -- And LeBron James would be correct. The photo captured Jones among a white mob in 1957 preventing Black students from entering a segregated high school they attended.


Flu season worsens as 44 states report high activity. Health officials said Friday that 7.5% of outpatient medical visits last week were due to flu-like illnesses. That’s as high as the peak of the 2017-18 flu season and higher than any season since. The annual winter flu season usually doesn’t get going until December or January, but this one began early and has been complicated by the simultaneous spread of other viruses.


Amazon loses 10% of its vegetation in nearly four decades. The Amazon region has lost 10% of its native vegetation, mostly tropical rainforest, in almost four decades, an area roughly the size of Texas, a new report says.


FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok. FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn’t share our values.”


Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.


Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.


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