Broke, Woke & Trending Folk 7/19: Gershkovich sentenced, major global tech outage, USPS leaks, questions plague assassination attempt, and much more

13

For ads-free news, click here.

Here is a collection of stories happening across the country, displaying the state of the economy, the heartbeat of American culture, and the craziness of modern-day politics…

1) One-Third Of Democrats Believe Attempted Assassination Of Trump Was Staged

From Daily Wire: According to  new poll, one-third of Democrats believe that the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally last Saturday was staged.

The Morning Consult poll found 34% of surveyed Democratic voters thought it was either definitely or probably credible that Trump staged the shooting. Only 45% found that theory implausible.

 

2) Possible identity of suspicious woman at Trump rally:

From Paul Szypula via X/Twitter: Reports are now that the woman sitting behind President Trump may be FBI Agent Janeen DiGuiseppi. She was named assistant director of the Insider Threat Office at FBI Headquarters in DC in 2023 by Christopher Wray. What do you think?

 

3) Unprecedented IT Outage Cripples Businesses Around the Globe

From Yahoo Finance: Computer systems at businesses and public services around the globe were disrupted after a botched update of a widely used cybersecurity program took down Microsoft Corp. systems. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer George Kurtz posted on X on Friday that the fault had been identified and “a fix has been deployed,” adding that it wasn’t a cyberattack. Compounding the issue, Microsoft also reported an apparently unrelated problem with its Azure cloud service.

Hitting airlines, banks and healthcare systems, there have been few outages of this scale. The cascading failures underscore vulnerabilities of the modern economy and the central role of security software, which has deep access to operating systems.

“This is unprecedented,” Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, told Bloomberg News. “The economic impact is going to be huge.”

The scale of the disruption reflects the enduring ubiquity of Microsoft’s Windows, and the sizeable adoption of CrowdStrike’s security software. Windows is installed on more than 70% of machines, according to StatCounter, and CrowdStrike is the global leader in modern corporate protection software, according to estimates by research firm IDC.

 

4) Russia sentences journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on espionage charges

From Fox News: A Russian court has handed down its sentence for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after over a year of proceedings.

The court found Gershkovich, 32, guilty of “gathering secret information” while reporting on a trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg.

He has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Prosecutors claimed Gershkovich gathered secret information on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 90 miles north of Yekaterinburg that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment.

The U.S. government classifies Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” and is seeking his immediate release through diplomatic channels. He has also personally denied all charges, along with The Wall Street Journal.

 

5) Economist warns Americans over Biden’s potential tax hikes

From Fox Business: A Trump economist is sounding the alarm on Biden’s potential tax rates if the president is re-elected in November.

During an appearance on “Mornings with Maria” Thursday, Heritage Foundation economist Steve Moore called the tax rates under Biden “scary” as his trillion-dollar budget for 2025 includes $5.5 trillion in new taxes.

“I mean, look at the capital gains tax rate. That would almost double under Biden,” Moore warned.

As part of the budget proposal, Biden called for a 25% minimum tax rate on households worth more than $100 million, raising the capital-gains tax rate, quadrupling the corporate stock buyback tax to 4%, raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, increasing the Medicare tax paid by wealthy Americans, implementing a global minimum tax on multinational corporations and closing the carried interest loophole used by private equity and hedge fund managers.

 

6) California Fast Food Restaurants Struggling to Survive Due to $20 Minimum Wage

From Breitbart: A new California law championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) boosted the hourly wage for fast food workers from $16 to $20 an hour. The law took effect on April 1, 2024. It didn’t take long for fast-food restaurants across the state to feel the impact on their bottom line. Many have been forced to lay off employees, cut hours, and increase prices to offset the state’s new wage requirement.

The Cheng family operates seven Wendy’s restaurants in Southern California. To offset the mandatory wage increase, they’ve had to reduce their workforce nearly by half, cut hours for remaining staff, and increase prices by 8 percent to stay in business. Wendy’s is not the only chain to suffer from the new mandate. Rubio’s California Grill has reportedly shut down dozens of locations across the state. Jersey Mike’s has had to cut part-time staffers. Other chain restaurants, including McDonald’s and In-N-Out, have been forced to raise menu prices. The iconic Arby’s in Hollywood had to shutter its doors after 55 years. They could not overcome the increased food costs, inflation, and the new minimum wage law. Instead of earning $20 an hour, many fast-food employees in California are now making $0 and must find new jobs in an already difficult market—the opposite result of the new law’s intended outcome.

Jot Condie, president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, told the Associated Press, “When labor costs jump more than 25 percent overnight, any restaurant business with already-thin margins will be forced to reduce expenses elsewhere.”

 

7) Whoopi Goldberg mocks Trump’s 17-year-old granddaughter:

From Nicholas Fondacaro via X/Twitter: Whoopi Goldberg attacks Donald Trump’s grandkids: “I know his grandchild was up on the thing and they’re trying to humanize him and change your idea about who this guy is. Don’t fall for that!”

 

8) USPS shared customer postal addresses with Meta, LinkedIn and Snap

From TechCrunch: The U.S. Postal Service was sharing the postal addresses of its online customers with advertising and tech giants Meta, LinkedIn and Snap, TechCrunch has found.

On Wednesday, the USPS said it addressed the issue and stopped the practice, claiming that it was “unaware” of it.

TechCrunch found USPS was sharing customers’ information by way of hidden data-collecting code (also known as tracking pixels) used across its website. Tech and advertising companies create this kind of code to collect information about the user — such as which pages they visit — every time a webpage containing the code loads in the customer’s browser.

 

9) Houthi group launches drone strike in Tel Aviv near US Embassy

From Washington Examiner: Houthi rebels launched a drone attack in Tel Aviv on Friday in what is believed to be a retaliatory act for Israel’s war with Hamas.

The attack killed a 50-year-old man and injured at least ten others, according to reports. The strike happened in Tel Aviv’s central district, reportedly where multiple diplomatic missions are located, including a U.S. Embassy branch office. The attack led to much confusion in Israel’s city, including reports that the drone was noticed before the attack. Human error was blamed for not intercepting it and failing to activate sirens ahead of time.

Shortly after the strike, the Houthi group claimed responsibility. Yahya Sare’e, a spokesperson for the Houthi organization, reportedly claimed the attack was a success and a “significant military operation” that detected vulnerabilities in Israel’s defense efforts. According to reports, a new drone used was able to bypass “the enemy’s interception systems.” Sare’e also said that such strikes would continue.

 

10) VIDEO: Riot in England:

From End Wokeness via X/Twitter: The current scene in Harehills, England. Is this what cultural enrichment looks like?

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

CLICK HERE FOR COMMENTS SECTION