The Republican senator died earlier this month; his funeral is attended by members of Congress as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for 9:30am ET on Tuesday, will be closed to the media, the New York Times is reporting.
The meeting is expected to be much more cordial than the one last year where Trump openly berated Zelenskyy and said, “you don’t have the cards”. The administration and rightwing influencers have shown a shift on Ukraine as of late, and Trump and Zelenskyy had a friendly meeting at a Nato summit earlier this month.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Minnesota, the first US state to prohibit prediction markets, was prevented from enforcing the law by a federal court ruling just days before the ban was scheduled to take effect. But while Minnesota was stopped from enforcing a total ban, the state may ultimately be allowed to prohibit some types of prediction-market wagers. The Trump administration and the two largest prediction markets -- Kalshi and Polymarket -- sued Minnesota after the state enacted the law in May. The cases were consolidated, and a ruling (PDF) issued yesterday imposed a preliminary injunction blocking the law that was scheduled to take effect on August 1. Minnesota lawmakers saw prediction markets as indistinguishable from gambling, but the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) argues it has exclusive authority to regulate the platforms under federal law. One of the primary legal questions is whether event contracts are "swaps," which are regulated by the CFTC. Swaps are defined broadly in US law to include contracts in which payment "is dependent on the occurrence, nonoccurrence, or the extent of the occurrence of an event or contingency associated with a potential financial, economic, or commercial consequence." US District Judge Katherine Menendez in the District of Minnesota, a Biden appointee, said Minnesota's total ban on prediction markets is likely to violate US law because many trades on Kalshi and Polymarket are swaps. Menendez wrote: "Specifically, it appears that whether the Minnesota statute is expressly preempted turns on whether the state law attempts to regulate trades in event contracts that qualify as "swaps" within the meaning of the CEA [Commodity Exchange Act]. And there are several examples of event contracts hosted by Kalshi and Polymarket US that fit that definition because they concern the occurrence of events with clear potential economic, financial, or commercial consequences that are neither remote or unattenuated. Kalshi and Polymarket US are designated contract markets, so the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate transactions involving those 'swaps.'" Menendez said the CFTC, Kalshi, and Polymarket met their burden of showing they are likely to succeed on the merits, so she issued "a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Minnesota's prediction market statute until a final decision on the merits is reached." But she said Minnesota may be able to prohibit some types of event contracts offered on Kalshi and Polymarket because not all of them appear to meet the definition of swaps. For example, Menendez doesn't think prediction-market bets on the outcome of Love Island USA meet the legal definition of swaps. Minnesota could continue litigating the case in district court or ask a federal appeals court to overturn the preliminary injunction.
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Ukrainian and Israeli leaders converge on Washington with criss-crossing fortunes, but knowing they can count on little from US counterpart
The converging visits of Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington offer an unusually eloquent snapshot of a world in turmoil, unmoored from decades-old certainties.
Some things remain the same. The US is still an almighty military and economic power and for both foreign visitors, a White House encounter with Donald Trump is critical to their governments and the wars they are fighting.
Continue reading...White House has halted changing vaccine schedule as it is unpopular, but anti-vaxx Trump set on ‘alleviating autism’
Donald Trump is pushing longtime vaccine opponent and current health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be more aggressive on cutting vaccines in the US, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
Trump has a long record of anti-vaccine statements, but the White House recently put a hold on vaccine changes after polling indicated they were a losing issue in the midterm elections.
Continue reading...Ukraine seeks more firepower for air defenses and Israeli prime minister tries to repair relationship with US president
Donald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine seeks more firepower for its air defenses and the Israeli prime minister tries to repair his strained relationship with the US president.
It was Netanyahu’s first visit to the Oval Office since he and Trump launched their joint military campaign against Iran on 28 February.
Continue reading...The Republican senator died earlier this month; his funeral is attended by members of Congress as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for 9:30am ET on Tuesday, will be closed to the media, the New York Times is reporting.
The meeting is expected to be much more cordial than the one last year where Trump openly berated Zelenskyy and said, “you don’t have the cards”. The administration and rightwing influencers have shown a shift on Ukraine as of late, and Trump and Zelenskyy had a friendly meeting at a Nato summit earlier this month.
Continue reading...The Republican senator died earlier this month; his funeral is expected to be attended by members of Congress as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for 9:30am ET on Tuesday, will be closed to the media, the New York Times is reporting.
The meeting is expected to be much more cordial than the one last year where Trump openly berated Zelenskyy and said, “you don’t have the cards”. The administration and rightwing influencers have shown a shift on Ukraine as of late, and Trump and Zelenskyy had a friendly meeting at a Nato summit earlier this month.
Continue reading...ICE report reviewed by the Guardian discloses a patient was ‘subject to force feeding, hydration or urinary catheterization’, which experts have described as torture
The Trump administration subjected at least one person undertaking a hunger strike in immigrant detention to forcible medical treatment – engaging in medical practice that healthcare associations and international human rights groups have described as torture.
A document from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) health service agency, reviewed by the Guardian, confirms for the first time that the administration has used forced treatment on a hunger striker since Donald Trump began his second term. The document, published online in February by the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), discloses that an unnamed patient who began hunger strikes between October and December of last year and “was subject to force feeding, hydration, or forced urinary catheterization, or involuntary blood draws”.
Continue reading...In recordings made in 2016 and 2017 former president also appears to describe possessing classified information
Former US president Joe Biden appeared to discuss sensitive information and describe possessing classified documents in audio recordings released on Monday by the Oversight Project, a conservative activist group.
The heavily redacted transcripts and recordings were made in 2016 and 2017, while Biden was working with a ghostwriter on his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. No classified material was ever alleged to have appeared in the book.
Continue reading...The Republican senator died earlier this month; his funeral is expected to be attended by members of Congress as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set for 9:30am ET on Tuesday, will be closed to the media, the New York Times is reporting.
The meeting is expected to be much more cordial than the one last year where Trump openly berated Zelenskyy and said, “you don’t have the cards”. The administration and rightwing influencers have shown a shift on Ukraine as of late, and Trump and Zelenskyy had a friendly meeting at a Nato summit earlier this month.
Continue reading...DEF CON has banned "Meta-style glasses with recording capabilities," with no exceptions being made even for those with prescription versions. "Be sure to pack non-violating eyewear if you need them," DEF CON said. The Register reports: [The conference's official photo policy] has not been updated since 2023, predating the recent growth of camera-equipped eyewear developed by Meta with EssilorLuxottica under its Ray-Ban and Oakley brands. It states that public photography is permitted but with several caveats that essentially prohibit capturing the image of anyone, except on-stage speakers, unless the photographer obtains consent from the subject(s). "Love to see a 'no pervert glasses' policy at DEF CON," said EFF director of cybersecurity Eva Galperin.
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