Your First Look at Today's Top Stories

Having trouble viewing this email? View the web version.

Sponsored By

Friday, April 21, 2023

Democrats Threaten Twitter Files Journalist Matt Taibbi with Perjury Charge, Jail Time

Fox News: Independent journalist Matt Taibbi is being threatened with jail time by a top Democrat on Capitol Hill over testimony he gave about his reporting on the Twitter Files. Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, sent a letter to Taibbi regarding a comment he told lawmakers, which she alleged included an error that was previously propped up by MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan in a tense interview exchange regarding the name of one of the federal agencies swept up in the Twitter Files. The error was a specific reference to CISA, the government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, when he meant to refer to CIS, the Center for Internet Security, which is a private organization. Taibbi later addressed and corrected the error in his reporting (Fox News). Reporter Lee Fang: Mehdi’s viral deception that Taibbi lied under oath about DHS/CISA now has House Dems explicitly threatening Taibbi w/ imprisonment. Taibbi was accurate in this quote, yet here’s a letter from Rep. Stacey Plaskett citing Mehdi to float a threat of 5 years of jail against Taibbi (Twitter). Washington Times: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Florida Democrat, said the Twitter Files raised ethical concerns with how journalists “receive and present certain information.” She called the two journalists “Elon Musk’s handpicked journalists” and accused Mr. Taibbi of profiting from the series of bombshell revelations (Washington Times).

Linkedin Allows Recruiters to Filter by Particular Demographics Such as Race, Gender

Daily Wire: LinkedIn implemented features that appear to let recruiters filter potential job candidates by their demographic characteristics. Users on the professional social media network who edit the demographic information on their profiles, such as their race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and current or former military service, can let the platform use the information for “diversity in recruiting” tools, which “allow your demographic information to be used in LinkedIn recruiting features to help recruiters find a more diverse group of qualified candidates.” The Daily Wire verified the existence of the features after screenshots posted by concerned LinkedIn users circulated on social media (Daily Wire). Linkedin: LinkedIn may use your personal demographic information in recruiting features to surface qualified members that may diversify the group of candidates displayed to recruiters (Linkedin).

House Votes Down Party Lines, Passes Legislation Protecting Female Athletics

The bill heads to the senate where democrats have a majority. Spencer Brown: When the United States House of Representatives voted to pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act on Thursday, every Democrat lawmaker present — 203 in total — voted against protecting women’s sports. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Greg Stuebe (R-FL) would amend federal law to make it illegal “for a recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls” and to clarify that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The vote on the legislation came down 219 to 203 with 13 members of the House not voting on the measure (Townhall). Kevin McCarthy: HouseGOP passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. It’s a great day in America for fairness, families, and female athletes (Twitter). Fox News: WOMAN IN THE ARENA: Rep. Stefanik stands her ground, saying she’s committed to protecting women and girls in sports (Twitter).

Republican Judiciary Committee Advances Border Security Legislation

Washington Examiner: Republicans have cleared the first hurdle in a quest to pass key border security and immigration legislation and fulfill leadership’s campaign promise to resolve the crisis as its first order of business. The House Judiciary Committee approved the Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023 after a marathon 12-hour bill markup that began early Wednesday morning and stretched into the evening (Washington Examiner). Washington Times: The measure passed on a 23-15 party-line vote. It comes as the chaos at the southern border stretches into a third year under Mr. Biden, and just weeks before the administration will give up its most important border tool, the Title 42 powers that had allowed some illegal immigrants to be quickly expelled. Republicans said their legislation would amount to a reset of the chaos and return the border and asylum systems to what they were intended to be: A chance for the U.S. to have an orderly process for admitting those the country wants (Washington Times).

Federal Judge Allows Rep. Jim Jordan to Subpoena DA Alvin Bragg

CBS: A federal judge rejected an effort by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to block a Congressional subpoena of a former prosecutor for that office who had worked on an investigation into former President Donald Trump. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ruled that she has no standing to block the subpoena, writing that the House Judiciary Committee has claimed to have legitimate legislative purposes for its inquiry. The committee and its Republican chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, have aggressively confronted Bragg in the weeks since Trump was indicted in Manhattan (CBS). Insider: A federal appeals court has hit the brakes, for now, on Republican plans to question former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, a move that stymies the House Judiciary Committee’s probe of Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush-money prosecution (Insider).

Biden Asks Russia to Not Use Sensitive US Technology Kept in Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine

CNN: The US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month. In the letter, the director of the Energy Department’s Office of Nonproliferation Policy, Andrea Ferkile, tells Rosatom’s director general that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the United States Government.” “It is unlawful under United States law for non-authorized persons, including, but not limited to, Russian citizens and Russian entities,” the letter says, “such as Rosatom and its subsidiaries, to knowingly and willfully access, possess, control, export, store, seize, review, re-export, ship, transfer, copy, manipulate such technology or technical data, or direct, or authorize others to do the same, without such Russian entities becoming authorized recipients by the Secretary of the US Department of Energy” (CNN).

Cleveland Fed Reserve President Predicts Interest Rate Will Surpass Five Percent

Reuters: Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Thursday the U.S. central bank still has more interest rate increases ahead of it, while noting the aggressive move to boost the cost of borrowing over the last year to quash high inflation is nearing its end. “In order to put inflation on a sustained downward trajectory to 2%, I anticipate that monetary policy will need to move somewhat further into restrictive territory this year, with the fed funds rate moving above 5% and the real fed funds rate staying in positive territory for some time,” Mester said, referring to the central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate (Reuters). Daily Wire: The release of the dire prediction from Federal Reserve officials comes shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asserted that she is “not anticipating a downturn in the economy” and after President Joe Biden claimed that his policies created a “more dynamic economy for the long haul.” Both officials have also been criticized for downplaying the severity of inflationary pressures over the last two years (Daily Wire).

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Invests Taxpayer Money in Creating Female Crash Test Dummies

Outkick: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg found a new use for U.S. taxpayer dollars: female crash test dummies. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) praised Buttigieg for his efforts at a transportation committee hearing Thursday. DeLauro calls the inclusion of female dummies “the start of the fight for gender inequity among vehicle safety and crash victims” (Outkick). Townhall: Rep. Rosa DeLauro highlights the vital work that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is doing to ensure that “female dummies” are used in vehicle crash testing “to fight the gender inequity among…crash victims” (Twitter).

BuzzFeed News is Closing Due to Companywide Layoffs

BuzzFeed won a Pulitzer Prize for pushing Steele Dossier. NBC: BuzzFeed News is shutting down. In an email to staff shared with NBC News, BuzzFeed Inc. CEO and co-founder Jonah Peretti said the move was part of a 15% workforce reduction across a number of teams… Moving forward, BuzzFeed will have a lone news brand, HuffPost, which BuzzFeed acquired in 2020 and which Peretti said “is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience.” Affected BuzzFeed News staffers will be have an opportunity to apply for “a number of select roles” at HuffPost and BuzzFeed.com (NBC).

10.

Oakland Athletics Purchase Land in Las Vegas, Prepare to Exit the Golden State

ESPN: The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land near the Las Vegas Strip, where they intend to construct a major league ballpark, team president Dave Kaval said. The agreement is for a 49-acre site owned by Red Rock Resorts, the parent company of Station Casinos. Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof would be built on the site, adding that other developments, including restaurants and an amphitheater, are being discussed. The A’s will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A’s hope to break ground by next year and would hope to be moved into their new home by 2027 (ESPN). Daily Wire: While the A’s didn’t specifically mention state policy as a contributing factor for their pending departure, one can’t help but imagine that California’s oppressive business climate and general governance insanity under Governor Gavin Newsom (D) may have contributed to the decision to go to income-tax-free Nevada (Daily Wire).