Your First Look at Today's Top Stories

Having trouble viewing this email? View the web version.

Sponsored By

FFTP Sponsored Banner – 8/1/24 – 8/14/24

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Congressional Oversight Committee Opens Probe Into Google Suppressing Searches Into Donald Trump’s Assassination Attempt

Just the News: Already facing a potential breakup from a devastating antitrust court ruling, Google got more bad news Wednesday when the main congressional oversight committee announced it had opened a probe into whether the search engine misled Americans about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last month. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., revealed that Google told his staff last week that its search engine’s autocomplete feature “omitted the Trump assassination attempt” from relevant searches because the firm failed to update “a safety protocol” against violence to recognize the former president had, in fact, been shot July 13 during an assassination attempt in Butler, PA (Just the News). Daily Mail: Google had admitted that its auto-complete results omitted the Trump assassination attempt as a ‘safety protocol concerning predicted assassination attempts of current political leaders’ (Daily Mail).

Kamala Harris Campaign Caught Editing Headlines in Google Ads

Axios: The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side. It’s a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn’t violate Google’s policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard (Axios). Townhall: Harris campaign accused of REWRITING news headlines in paid Google ads to manipulate users. Google blames “a glitch in their system” for the failure to disclose the manipulated advertisements. “Well that’s cheating” (X).

Judge Rules UCLA Must Protect Jewish Students on Campus

Associated Press: A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the University of California, Los Angeles, cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing classes and other parts of campus. The preliminary injunction marks the first time a U.S. judge has ruled against a university over the demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed in June by three Jewish students at UCLA (Associated Press). Wall Street Journal: Pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment with metal barriers and required anyone who wanted to cross to pledge allegiance to the views of the protesters, according to three Jewish students who sued university administrators in June. Those permitted to enter the area were given wristbands. The encampment was set up for about a week starting at the end of April. The students said that the encampment blocked pathways to classrooms and later access to finals. The Jewish students who filed the lawsuit said UCLA helped activists enforce a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus. They said security officers upheld the restriction instead of helping Jewish students through. The students—including an undergraduate and two law students—said their free speech and civil rights had been violated (Wall Street Journal).

Columbia University President Resigns After One Year Due to Her Handling of the Anti-Israel Protests on Campus

New York Post: Columbia University president Minouche Shafik has resigned from the elite institution. Shafik is stepping away after just one year at the helm, which was marked by constant — and sometimes destructive — anti-Israel protests. The embattled president had been facing mounting calls to resign for months over her handling of the protests, which broke out following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. She was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress after refusing to say whether the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered antisemitic (New York Post). Axios: Shafik is the third Ivy League president to step down following backlash to congressional testimony earlier this year on alleged campus antisemitism as elite colleges publicly navigated balancing the right to protest and student safety. The resignation comes after three other Columbia administrators resigned last week for engaging in text messages that “touched on ancient antisemitic tropes,” as Shafik previously put it (Axios).

Los Angeles Prosecutor Sues DA George Gascón for Retaliation

National Review: A Los Angeles prosecutor is accusing progressive district attorney George Gascón of retaliating against him for pushing back on Gascón’s soft-on-crime approach, beginning with the Gascón administration’s efforts to protect a convicted male sex offender who attempted to get himself housed in a women’s facility by pretending to be transgender. L.A. County deputy district attorney Shea Sanna filed a whistleblower lawsuit Monday against Gascón and the county in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, Gascón began a series of retaliatory actions after he issued a directive that forced Sanna to unlawfully hide evidence against a convicted child sex predator, James Tubbs, who now goes by the name Hannah Tubbs (Washington Examiner). Fox News: Sanna raised other ethics issues, including a potential violation of Marsy’s law, which protects victims’ rights, and saw additional retaliation, according to the complaint. He was later ordered to drive 70 miles from his office in Antelope Valley to meet with top Gascon aide Joseph Iniguez and suspended for “misgendering” Tubbs. He was ordered to make the same drive at least two more times, in what the complaint alleges was an “intentionally abusive and malicious manner” (Fox News).

Biological Male Trans Golfer Blames Women for Their “Failures” If They Do Not Beat Him

New York Post: Hailey Davidson, a transgender golfer who nearly qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year, took a shot at athletes who complain about competing against trans athletes. Davidson, who was banned from the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour in March as the organization changed its eligibility standards earlier in the year, made the remark. “I will never understand athletes who blame a transgender competitor on their own athletic failures,” Davidson wrote seemingly out of the blue. “If you don’t take accountability for your failures then you will never actually be good enough to make it” (New York Post). Townhall: Earlier this year, Townhall covered how Davidson acknowledged that transgender athletes have an advantage against women. He made the admission in a sit-down interview with Good Morning Britain. “I 100 percent agree, the men do have advantages. Say you get a trans person on hormones for a year, no surgery, nothing, of course, for the most part, they’re going to have an advantage,” Davidson said, adding that he does not believe that transgender people should be banned from sports. “I do believe there need to be guidelines in effect,” he added. “I don’t get what the fear of me, one person, is doing,” he said of the backlash about his win in the women’s tournament (Townhall).

Biden on Inflation: "I told you you're going to have a soft landing ... my policies are working”

CNBC: The White House hosted 100 digital content creators and industry professionals Wednesday to speak with key officials about the “creator economy,” a sector that has boomed as social media platforms make it easier for users to monetize their content. President Joe Biden appeared at the Creator Economy Conference, the first event ever hosted by the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy (CNBC). CSPAN: Reporter asks about inflation. President Biden: “I told you you’re going to have a soft landing… my policies are working. Start writing that way, okay” (X).

Ukraine Plans to Spend $20 Billion Moving to Green Energy

Reuters: Ukraine will need $20 billion in investments to develop its renewable power sector under a plan which seeks to boost its share in the country’s energy mix to 27% by 2030, the government said on Tuesday. The country’s energy sector has lost half of its generating capacity as a result of Russian missile and drone attacks, which intensified in spring 2024, forcing it to rely on its nuclear plants as well as solar and wind generation (Reuters). HotAir: This is, of course, totally insane. Imagine how easy it would be to destroy an entire field of solar panels with a few artillery shells, not to mention the problem of having to build backup power plants to run when the wind doesn’t blow, and the sun doesn’t shine. Green energy projects ALWAYS require backup generating capacity, and given how vulnerable solar panels are in particular, it is inconceivable that the total cost of providing this energy will be astronomical and wasted. Ukraine can do this, though, in the midst of an existential war because they have the unlimited resources of the United States government behind them. There is no way that this wasn’t instigated by Biden’s people, nor could it be done without US funding (HotAir).

Taliban Holds Parade With U.S. Military Equipment on Anniversary of Biden’s Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal

Katie Pavlich: The third anniversary of President Joe Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan is here and the Taliban, which took over the country as the U.S. fled Kabul and left behind Bagram Airbase, is celebrating with a military parade featuring the equipment left behind. After 20 years of war, the Taliban conquered the capital city of Kabul on August 15, 2021 (Townhall). Marsha Blackburn: Disgusting. Preventable. Taliban terrorists paraded through Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan today with the U.S. military equipment that was foolishly left behind in the botched withdrawal. Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ weakness, our enemies are mocking us (X). Open Source Intel: Check out the military vehicles and helicopters left behind by the U.S. for the Taliban three years ago—now parading through the streets of Afghanistan (X).

10.

Largest Cyberattacks Against Iranian State Infrastructure Targets Central Bank of Iran

The culprits are unknown. Jerusalem Post: The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and other banks were targeted on Wednesday as part of a significant cyber attack that led to widespread disruptions in the country’s banking system. According to reports, all the computer systems of the banks in Iran were paralyzed following the cyber attack. Initial estimates indicated that this could be one of the largest-ever cyberattacks against Iranian state infrastructure (Jerusalem Post). I24News: Anonymous activists stuck notes to ATM machines mocking the regime. “Dear customers,” the message read, “it is not possible to withdraw money from the bank because all of Iran’s budget and national resources have been invested in the war for the benefit of the corrupt regime of the Islamic Republic.” The last major cyber attack targeted Iran’s fuel infrastructure, with Tehran blaming the US and Israel (I24 News).