Supreme Court refuses to hear conservative group’s appeal in their effort to question Hillary Clinton over her use of personal email while Secretary of State. “Judicial Watch had sought to depose Clinton and aide Cheryl Mills over Clinton’s use of a personal email server in connection to the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Clinton’s emails were subject to numerous investigations including by the FBI, which declined to charge her with violating federal records-keeping requirements or other crimes.” https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/545361-supreme-court-rebuffs-bid-for-hillary-clinton-deposition-about
New Hong Kong election law reduces number of directly elected seats to 20, all Election Committee members will be appointed by the government. “Prior to these changes, Hong Kong’s 70-seat legislature was more or less split between directly elected seats and so-called functional constituencies, seats chosen by trade and industry bodies that usually favor allies of Beijing.” https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/30/asia/china-hong-kong-elections-intl-hnk/index.html
37 worker rights complaints have reportedly been filed against Amazon by employees. “NBC News interviewed more than two dozen Amazon warehouse workers, nine of whom said they had been fired, disciplined or retaliated against for protected (union organizing or concerted action) activity and three of whom filed NLRB complaints since the pandemic began.” https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/fired-interrogated-disciplined-amazon-warehouse-organizers-allege-year-retaliation-n1262367
Some Tesla customers claim they are being double-charged for their cars, unable to get the company to reverse the duplicate transactions. “I had almost $53,000 unauthorized stolen from my bank account. And nobody, nobody has called me, emailed me, there’s no sense of urgency in resolving this.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/29/tesla-double-charged-some-customers-for-new-cars.html
Dept. of Defense contractually obligated to continue providing expensive assistance to Afghan government, even if U.S. troops leave. “… the Pentagon could potentially have to pay hundreds of millions in settlements (to military contractors) or face years of litigation if the US pulls out of the country on schedule or by the end of the year as President Joe Biden suggested is likely…. In total, there are at least 18 contracts totaling $931 million issued since the Doha agreement was signed on February 29, 2020, related to Afghanistan with completion dates after the May 1st withdrawal deadline.” https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/29/politics/pentagon-contractors-afghanistan/index.html None of these contracts has an escape clause in case the conflict ends? Genius! Even if the war ends, the public money keeps flowing!
Amazon security engineer thought aggressive tweets pushing back at legislators meant the company’s Twitter account had been hacked. “These tweets are unnecessarily antagonistic (risking Amazon’s brand), and may be a result of unauthorized access by someone with access to the account’s credentials…. ‘You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us…. You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them.'” https://theintercept.com/2021/03/29/amazon-twitter-hack-union-jeff-bezos/
Jobs for Economic Recovery Act would put unemployed Americans on the federal payroll, like New Deal programs during the Great Depression. “The legislation would enable unemployed Americans to work in wage-paying jobs, carrying out useful projects, until they can be absorbed in the recovering labor market.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/30/descendants-fdr-and-his-cabinet-urge-biden-embrace-new-deal-scale-public-jobs
States dropping restrictions and reopening economically fills CDC director with feeling of ‘impending doom’. “(Rochelle) Walensky’s remarks came as new data from Johns Hopkins University showed that U.S. is currently averaging more than 63,000 new coronavirus cases each day, up 16% from a week ago. Around 970 people are dying from the virus each day as the nation closes in on 550,000 total deaths, according to the data.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/29/cdc-director-warns-impending-doom-covid-cases-rise-across-us
Federal jury acquits two police officers, is deadlocked over a third, over beating of black undercover officer mistaken for a Black Lives Matter protester. “(Luther) Hall was beaten during the protests following the acquittal of Jason Stockley in September 2017…. (Officer Randy) Hays admitted to beating Hall with his baton and said he saw (Officer Steven) Korte kick him in the face.” https://www.courthousenews.com/no-guilty-verdicts-in-trial-of-white-cops-accused-of-beating-black-undercover-officer/
Federal appeals court rules that Michigan’s election laws make it too hard for independent candidates to get on the ballot. “Christopher Graveline wanted to run as an independent candidate for Michigan attorney general in 2018. ‘… we break no new ground in concluding that the combination of the 30,000-signature requirement, the geographic-distribution requirement, and the filing deadline imposes a severe burden on independent candidates….. The evidence shows that an unaffiliated candidate has never been on the Michigan ballot, even though defendants’ records show that several candidates formed their campaign committees well in advance of the filing deadline,’ the ruling states.” https://www.courthousenews.com/michigan-ballot-rules-too-strict-for-independents-sixth-circuit-holds/ Dissenting George W. Bush appointee argues that just because no independent candidate has ever been able to get on the ballot doesn’t prove that it’s impossible. I once spent about 8 hours in the hot sun trying (unsuccessfully) to get Jill Stein on the ballot in Nevada. I collected about 8 signatures on a Saturday, after being told I could only set up my table in the nature park’s almost empty satellite parking area, far from the park’s main entrance gate. I suggest this judge give it a try sometime.
Federal appeals court grants qualified immunity to Denver police officers who tried to delete bystander video of them repeatedly punching a restrained suspect in the head. “The point, at least when (the Supreme Court) came up with (qualified immunity),” (attorney Sarah) Schielke explained, “is to protect officers that are acting in good faith. Cut to now, and you have (George W. Bush appointee) Judge (Jerome) Holmes saying, ‘we don’t care if the officer knew he was acting in bad faith.’ Qualified immunity is really absolute immunity.” https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/premium/attorneys-blast-federal-decision-disregarding-denver-officer-training-on-first-amendment/article_4c4b5ffa-90c7-11eb-9186-9f9d25a55e29.html
‘Captain Underpants’ book withdrawn from sale over allegations of ‘passive racism’. “(The Adventures of Ook and Gluk) follows a pair of (caveman) friends (one white and one black) who travel from 500,001 B.C. to 2222, where they meet a martial arts instructor (Master Wong) who teaches them kung fu and they learn principles found in Chinese philosophy.” https://www.courthousenews.com/captain-underpants-book-pulled-for-passive-racism/ They use Master Wong’s training to save the world from an evil capitalist who is using time travel to enslave cave people and exploit their natural resources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Ook_and_Gluk Can’t have impressionable kids reading stuff like that!
Progressive News Service 