[JustTheNews] Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich got his state $85 million in a recent lawsuit settlement.
Arizona settled for that amount with Google LLC. The tech giant deceptively obtained users’ location data and used it to make billions in profit. It’s one of the largest consumer fraud lawsuits in Arizona history.
“When I was elected attorney general, I promised Arizonans I would fight for them and hold everyone, including corporations like Google, accountable,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a press release. “I am proud of this historic settlement that proves no entity, not even big tech companies, is above the law.”
Most of the $85 million will go into the state general fund and need legislative appropriation to be spent. However, $5 million is going to attorney general education programs, according to Brnovich’s office.
General Brnovich started investigating Google after a 2018 Associated Press article revealed the company misled and deceived its consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data. Google did so by tracking smartphones even when consumers disabled the “Location History” setting.
General Brnovich sued Google in May 2020. He became the first attorney general in America to sue Google in state court for deception through so-called “dark patterns” built into the tech giant’s software, including apps and Android phones. Dark patterns are “coercive design tactics used to manipulate users’ behavior,” according to the Attorney General’s office.
In the lawsuit, General Brnovich alleged that Google engaged in “deceptive and unfair practices” to its users by tracking their location data even after being told to stop.
“When users turned off their Location History in settings, Google continued to surreptitiously collect their location through other settings such as Web & App Activity and the company used that information to sell ads,” the Attorney General’s office said in its press release. “The software is pre-programmed into Android phones purchased by consumers.”
In 2019, more than 80% of Google’s revenues ($135 billion out of $161 billion) came from advertising. It uses detailed information about users, including their physical location, to target advertising to them without their knowledge or consent, according to the Attorney General’s office
[JustTheNews] One memo showed that more than 660 FBI employees retired or resigned after being investigated for sexual misconduct but before receiving a final disciplinary letter.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Merrick Garland after whistleblowers saying hundreds of FBI employees who were investigated for sexual misconduct quit before being disciplined.
The whistleblowers provided Grassley with an internal Justice Department memo, titled "Retirements and Resignations During Unwelcome Sexual Conduct Adjudications."
The document showed that from 2004 to 2020, over 660 FBI employees, including 45 top-level officials, retired or resigned after an internal probe into alleged misconduct but before receiving a final disciplinary letter.
Over sixteen years, that’s about 40 per year out of an entire employee base of 35,000, or about one tenth of 1% each year. How does that compare to private businesses, the Catholic Church, school teachers, and so forth?
The data does not include FBI employees who resigned or retired before an investigation was opened, so the most accurate number may be higher.
Grassley also said he received another department document, titled "Inconsistent Adjudication of Non-Consensual Sexual Misconduct." The document showed that higher-ranked FBI employees are "more likely to have their sexual misconduct case adjudicated" and are "subjected to lesser penalties" than lower-ranked employees.
"Simply put, these two documents show a systemic failure within the Justice Department and FBI to protect female employees from sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the workplace and a failure to sufficiently punish employees for that same misconduct," Grassley wrote in the letter that was also addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Iowa senator also asked for more data from the Justice Department so that he could better understand what changes, if any, have been made to address the issues in the FBI.
#2
..."more likely to have their sexual misconduct case adjudicated" and are "subjected to lesser penalties" than lower-ranked employees.
So like perps with long arrest records before they're finally prosecuted for doing something really horrendous, so the management at our Stasi. Now we know why they went soft on Hunter. Professional courtesy.
[MSN - DetroitFreePress] Ending a six-hour siege outside a hotel in Dearborn by dozens of police from numerous departments and joined by federal officers as well as Michigan State Police , officers at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday took into custody a gunman whom they said fatally shot a hotel clerk in a dispute over money the man owed for his stay.
Ibrahim Samra, Raneen Houhou, Hiam Beydoun, and Kamal Mustafa all look towards stand near the scene where an active shooter barricaded himself inside the Dearborn Hampton Inn in Dearborn on Oct. 6, 2022.
The incident closed Michigan Avenue in West Dearborn through the afternoon rush hour, and the usually busy artery remained closed Thursday night.
Dearborn police said the man, 38, had a history not only of drug abuse and gun involvement but also of mental illness. That prompted both the city's police chief and its recently elected mayor to join an increasing call for the nation and Michigan to provide more mental-health treatment for Americans. No officers or hotel guests were injured but the hotel clerk, 55, of Riverview, was “just trying to do his job” when the suspect shot him with a rifle at the outset of the incident around 2 p.m., Dearborn police Chief Issa Shahin said.
“There was a confrontation over a bill. (The gunman) was upset, asking for a refund,” and the shooting occurred on the 3rd floor, he said. Police arrived after about two minutes, and “when we saw him going up the hallway, he saw us and ducked into his room,” after which the suspect began shouting threats to officers, Shahin said.
Standing beside Shahin was Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who said it was “about time” that the nation did more to treat mental illness.
Officials declined to identify the victim or the suspect, or to say where the suspect was from. Getting the suspect to surrender took tireless and expert negotiating by the Dearborn police crisis team, Shahin said. The chief had made an appeal through evening TV broadcasts, urging the suspect to turn himself in.
Several members of the suspect's family assisted in the negotiations, including at least one who came to the scene, a police spokesman said earlier. Shahin, a veteran of the department and appointed in December as Dearborn's first Muslim police chief, managed the negotiations and siege of the suspect's hotel room from a command post inside the hotel, the spokesman said.
"We don’t believe he’s a local resident," Dearborn police spokesman Cpl. Dan Bartok said. But he noted that the gunman's relatives, who assisted with the negotiations, "didn’t fly in."
#3
We don’t believe he’s a local resident," Dearborn police spokesman Cpl. Dan Bartok said
No shit, Sherlock. Also, everybody from the police chief to the fuckin' mayor seems to be a goddamn moslem of some kind. It's a wonder Dearborn's not become Malmo yet.
about time” that the nation did more to treat mental illness.
WH: Sorry CCP no war today....
The Sun's not out to recharge our equipment.
CCP: But we're ready now....
WH: Our Weather Bio-Matter Being indicated that next Thursday week would work.
CPP: Sorry, we can't waste that much energy for 4 million troops for that long. It has to be no later than Tuesday. Or We'll have to start w/o you.
-------------
ALL SARCASTIC HUMOR ASIDE
Seriously, how long will it take the REAL USA to undo all the stupid CRAP these unelected idiots likely dreamed up while doing drugs ?
[Stars and Stripes] AUSTIN, Texas — Two brigade commanders within the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood have been relieved of command because of a loss of confidence in their judgement and ability to command, according to officials at the Texas Army base.
Maj. Gen. John Richardson, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, removed Col. Jon Meredith as commander of the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team and Col. Anthony Wilson as commander of the 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade, said Col. Wayne Marotto, spokesman for Fort Hood.
"The cases are not related, and the reliefs were based on two separate investigations. To protect the privacy of the individuals involved, the Army does not comment on investigations," Marotto said.
Those investigations are ongoing, he said.
Meredith took command of 1st Brigade in May 2021 while the unit was deployed to Poland. He stepped in after the previous commander, Col. Michael Schoenfeldt, was removed for bullying staff. At the time, Meredith pledged to "move forward and forge something new."
Meredith’s past command positions included the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kan., from 2016 to 2018, according to his official Army biography. He was the armor branch chief at Human Resources Command from 2018 to 2020.
His wife, Col. Ann Meredith, is the commander of Fort Hood’s 89th Military Police Brigade and is not under investigation, Marotto said.
Wilson took command of the sustainment brigade in June 2021, according to his official Army biography. Before coming to Fort Hood, Wilson was the division chief of plans and integration for the Army’s logistics office at the Pentagon. He also previously commanded the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Fort Drum, N.Y.
An external review of Fort Hood released in December 2020 put the spotlight on the leadership within the 1st Cavalry Division because many of its brigades were found to have little trust between soldiers and leaders. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Broadwater, then division commander, was suspended while a new investigation occurred. That investigation cleared him just as Richardson stepped into command in July 2021.
#1
Col. Michael Schoenfeldt, was removed for bullying staff. At the time, Meredith pledged to "move forward and forge something new."
You have only 18 months Colonel. Everyone must be smiling broadly very soon. We'll be checking with your Union Steward CSM and conducting weekly unannounced 'Sensing Sessions' to monitor your progress WOKEness.
Wondering a little deeper about the hinted vs. actual reasons.
Given the near total New Normal social upheaval of the US military, and how hard it would be to get removed for just being the odd ball or practicing moral oddities (He--> Her / It playing).
Could the LSD's DC Swamp, also be weeding out those in command that aren't Pro-Biden and won't follow their Agenda future plans?
#5
When you take over a command whose previous commander was relieved for "bullying" you have a poisonous command climate and need to assess carefully what key subordinates were the ringleaders of the last campaign. If the Command structure that selected you is the same one that removed your predecessor, unless they allow you to conduct significant staff realignment, you are severely constrained in the latitude of your "command grip". This is a combat command, and "bullying" almost certainly hints at the "woke" infiltration of weak leaders within the 04-05 command structure. Soft support from above and minefield below does not a happy climate to work in to prepare hard, competent leadership for warfighting!
#2
Took a friend and his wife from a non-legal state (both retired) to one of Illinois' legal chain stores so see what could come their way. (one of the Z______ stores). Eyes bugged out... and they never wandered near the order counters. They were shocked at the prices of the t-shirts advertising the various brands of pot and pot products.
#7
If the people they are pandering to get too baked to remember to vote, it's a good thing.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/07/2022 10:28 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"much more potent drugs"
Authors who write the above, didnt know any hippies in the 60's or 70's. There's always been boutique weed w/ high thc. Cheech and Chong were always searching for the Acapulco Gold or Maui Wowi.
Are some experts better than other experts? I dont hold them in high regard as the 'experts' also said the earth was flat once...
#9
Just don't get injured in the workplace because they will want you to pee in a disposable cup ...not for the lawyers, oh no!, it's for your benefit.
[Breitbart] The recovery efforts in southwest Florida are still underway as the state bounces back from the powerful Category 4 storm that smashed the coast last week. One the main highlights of the recovery efforts, thus far, is the construction of a temporary bridge connecting Pine Island to the mainland, which is now fully operational, providing access to countless residents, emergency responders, and linemen.
"Construction on the Pine Island bridge has been completed today — just three days after construction began. Happy to have the state step in and help get our Pine Island residents back on their feet," DeSantis said, sharing a video showing Publix trucks making their way across the finished bridge:
#5
A few years back a trailer home built on stilts was made fun of, Mississippi River Flood Plain if I remember correct.
Was it Redneck Fabulous? Absolutely. I had to admire not only how solid it was built (plumb and thick, not some shod job) but what all it took to crane the home onto the stilts.
[MAIL] Chinese activists and police have stopped a truck crammed full of 1,408 cats and dogs on a 750-mile journey to slaughterhouses for the meat trade in China.
Cruel conditions and rampant illness meant 370 had already died on what the activists are calling the 'death truck' from Fucheng, north China, to Yulin in the south.
China has no animal protection laws that charities can use to prosecute traders for cruelty, but the two truck drivers were able to be detained for transporting sick animals between provinces without the right paperwork.
Hao Da-yue of the Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA) activist group, which helped rescue the animals in Xiao Tao city, said: 'I've attended many rescues of dogs and cats from the meat trade, but never before have I encountered such a shocking scene.
'This was a death truck, crammed full with desperate, frightened, traumatised animals caged up with their dead and dying companions.'
#6
"Be kind, please, to noisy shucai
From birth till the moment they die!
It costs nothing to treat
What you're going to eat
More politely," say Kongzi, "so why
Not be nice? Nod and smile as they cry!"
[MAIL] Beijing recruited leading scientists from a top United States nuclear laboratory in a decades-long plot to advance its own military, a damning report has suggested. "Shocked! Shocked, that there is espionage going on here."
Now Congressional Republicans have demanded an investigation into the claims at least 162 scientists who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico returned to China to 'support a variety of domestic research and development programs' between 1987 and 2021.
The report suggests that the majority of the scientists were from China and the recipients of Beijing-backed professional development and scholarship programs.
It is the latest worrying development that has seen the Chinese Communist Party looking to increase its influence in the U.S. The GOP have also demanded oversight of China buying farmland near military bases in North Dakota.
Weapons research is among the projects that the former US-based scientists are said to have worked on since returning to China.
The recent findings by Strider Technologies were brought to new light in a letter to the Biden administration spearheaded by Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida.
Waltz's Wednesday letter said China's ruling Communist Party goes after 'seemingly innocuous key civilian technologies, acquires them illicitly, and exploits the “dual-use” potential of these technologies to build up their military capabilities.'
#3
We have just as many national labs as when the military was at its max in 1960. Welfare for the gifted. I'd close the place but it remains a dump storage site for high level contaminated materials since they've dragged their feet on the mountain in NV. Not that its stop the National Forest Service from trying to burn it down.
#8
Los Alamos was penetrated from the very beginning by the Communist physicists who worked on the bombs. That tradition continued when Chinese Communists were brought in with studiously careless inattention the consequences.
#9
I wish I remembered calculus and rocket science like I do history and politics. IIRC I was playing Everquest and listening to Art Bell... had to been around Y2K and I remember Los Alamos had a Chinese Spy problem back then. I also remember that nothing came of it except investigations and reports.
South Korea scrambled 30 fighter jets along with other war planes today
It was in response to twelve North Korean fighter jets and four bombers
The North Korean warplanes were flown close to the South Korean border
This came after Kim Jong-un fired two more ballistic missiles towards Japan
These missile tests were the sixth round conducted in the last two weeks
Many experts believe Kim's goal is to eventually win US recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and the lifting of said sanctions, though the international community to date has shown no sign of allowing that to happen.
Thursday's missiles were launched 22 minutes apart from the North's capital region and landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The first missile flew 350 kilometres (217 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 80 kilometres (50 miles) and the second flew 800 kilometres (497 miles) on an apogee of 60 kilometres (37 miles).
The flight details were similar to Japanese assessments announced by DMinister of Defense of Japan Yasukazu Hamada, who confirmed that the missiles didn't reach Japan's exclusive economic zone.
[ConservativeTreehouse] The economic data coming in the past week is in alignment with prior forecasts. Bottom line, energy driven inflation has collapsed consumer spending, inventories climbing, vendors are cancelling orders, and this is peak season for transpacific shipping- which has now recorded the most rapid drop in history.
A single transpacific container shipment cost $19,000 in 2021, then $14,500 in 2022 as the intentional slowdown began. Now it’s only $3,900 as entire fleets of cargo shipments are cancelled due to lack of demand by U.S. purchasers.
Folks, get ready…. because it’s not going to get better. Prior farm costs, an outcome of energy price increases, are now reaching the supply chain. Food costs will continue increasing throughout the holiday season.
(Wall Street Journal) […] Trans-Pacific shipping rates have plummeted roughly 75% from year-ago levels. The transportation industry is grappling with weaker demand as big retailers cancel orders with vendors and step up efforts to cut inventories. FedEx Corp. recently said it would cancel flights and park cargo planes because of a sharp drop in shipping volumes. On Thursday, Nike Inc. said it was sitting on 65% more inventory in North America than a year earlier and would resort to markdowns.
[…] One response to the melting demand has been to reduce sailing trips. In September, container capacity offered by ship operators in the Pacific was down 13%, dropping the equivalent of 21 ships that can each move 8,000 containers in a single voyage, from a year earlier, according to shipping-data providers Xeneta and Sea-Intelligence.
For the two weeks starting Oct. 3, a total of about 40 scheduled sailings to the U.S. West Coast from Asia and 21 sailings to the East Coast from Asia have been scrapped, according to the data companies as well as customer advisories viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Typically at this time of year, an average of two to four sailings a week are blanked, the industry’s term for canceled sailings.
[…] “In the first week of October, one-third of previously announced capacity will be blanked and for the second week, it will be around half,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta. “The downturn pace in recent weeks has been very fast and it looks like carriers misread the low volumes of a nonexistent peak season.”
The period between late summer and early fall typically is the busiest time of year for the largest carriers, as retailers and other importers build inventories ahead of the holiday shopping season. (more)
All of this has to do with the intentional destruction of the oil, coal and gas industry. Western national economic collapse is a feature of the Build Back Better agenda. The economy will continue to be lowered until it small enough to be replaced by “climate friendly” energy resources, windmills and solar farms.
The more consumers demand to keep their standard of living, the harder the central banks will squeeze to inflict the pain. The western leaders and their banking benefactors do not want us owning things that require energy resources. The economic pain will continue (in western nations) until citizens acquiesce to eating bugs and sustainable algae cakes, while taking mass transportation instead of personal vehicles.
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
10/07/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Looks like a soft peak shipping season - bad news for carriers, retailers and distributors. The only bright note is that since they are already short handed they shouldn’t have to scramble as hard for pickup workers in the next couple months.
#3
It also has to with the reality that everyone bought what they wanted during Covid. The purchases of Goods vs Services has reverted to the services side and the ratio will soon return to normal.
#4
Current events times 2 or 4 worse than 2008. 401 plans and retirements huge losses. Farmers quitting. No lard, not much hops and so on. Much worse things to come. Middle class is being wiped out. Bungling Biden will not fix a thing.
#7
nothing like an incipient recession to alleviate supply chain problems
BLS data release today showed modest job growth but, once again, hourly wage increases failed to keep up with inflation (I think at least 12 months in a row like that)
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
10/07/2022 11:49 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Middle class is being wiped out. Bungling Biden will not fix a thing.
Are you daft? Wiping out the middle class is exactly what "Bungling Biden" and his crew of Obama retreads have in mind.
[Townhall] Washington, D.C. Democrats green-lit a bill Tuesday that would give residents, regardless of immigration status, the right to vote in local elections.
The measure was advanced by a vote of 12-1 and will go for a final vote before heading to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk.
"Our immigrant neighbors of all statuses participate, contribute and care about our community in our city," D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen said Tuesday, reports The Hill. "They, like all DC residents, deserve a right to have a say in their government.
"They raise families here, contribute to their community," he continued. "They run businesses that people depend on, and they pay taxes that we decide how to spend. Yet they have no ability to elect local leaders who make decisions about their bodies, their businesses and their tax dollars."
The lone vote against the measure came from Councilmember Mary Cheh, who objected to the 30-day residency period.
"This bill is eminently supportable, except for one aspect about it," she said. "And I asked this question of the committee as a whole: Could someone who took the bus from Texas, or was put on the bus from Texas, or wherever, and dropped off at the vice president’s property, and then remained in the District of Columbia for 30 days and was 18 years old — could that person then vote in our local elections? And the answer was yes."
#3
I'm okay with this as long as for EACH non-citizen vote, one Democrat elected official in the voting area is executed in return. Must start with the highest ranking ones first. If there isn't enough elected ones, then appointed ones are next. Sounds fair to me. And this must happen in EVERY election they vote in.
#4
It would be good to add euthanization of retired generals to that measure as well. And a three strikes rule for pols. Lose three runs for office in a row, organ donor program, report immediately.
Looking at Beetle the Micksican there.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/07/2022 13:31 Comments ||
Top||
#5
You can help with voter registration right here.
#2
#1 Salt water and batteries don't mix well.
Posted by: 3dc 2022-10-07 03:36
3dc,
Reality and batteries don't mix well. Our two-minute warning was that snap blizzard a couple years ago that locked up I95 all the way through Virginia, which should have alerted the Electroatti to what happens when you have to rely on that battery to keep you alive in conditions it was never intended to deal with. When you start getting larger numbers of EVs out there in the winter, people are going to start dying.
And in Florida - since we don't teach basic science any more and/or choose to ignore it - it's going to be ignored by the people jamming EVs down our throats because Florida.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/07/2022 9:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Historians will record that this was the era where we were putting lithium in batteries instead of in the water supply of blue areas, where it might have done some good.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/07/2022 10:30 Comments ||
Top||
#7
How will a Fire Dept handle Multiple Vehicle Accidents in 10-15 years?
Early retirement.
But if it makes you feel better, your local social worker squad will tape off the area then sweep up after the fires are out.
Kidding. Sort of. I'd go with a remote operated "concrete sprayer". The can openers will be as well I'd imagine, as the vehicles get lighter the frame materials get stronger, probably stronger than a crew served cutter/spreader could be carried. Then people to do the finer work.
Now that aspect will be interesting. The people in charge of that are today's high schoolers, and the bulk work is today's fifth graders. Basically the same problems Armed Forces Recruiters are having with candidates.
#8
I would avoid getting near any electric vehicle in a flood. You have an ungrounded 400 volt power source with nearly unlimited amperage. Don't become the path to ground.
A former policeman burst into a day care centre in northeastern Thailand on Thursday, killing dozens of children and teachers and then firing on more people as he fled in the deadliest rampage in the nation's history.
The assailant, who authorities said was fired from the force earlier this year because of a drug offense, took his own life after killing his own wife and child at home.
A witness said staff at the day care locked the door when they saw the assailant approaching with a gun, but he shot his way in.
In footage posted online after the attack, frantic family members could be heard weeping outside the day care, and one image showed the floor of one room smeared with blood and sleeping mats scattered about. Pictures of the alphabet and other colourful decorations adorned the walls.
At least 37 people were killed in the attack, according to police front man Archayon Kraithong. Another 12 people were maimed. At least 24 of the dead were children, mostly preschoolers.
The teacher who died, she had a child in her arms, a witness, whose name wasn't given, told Thailand's Kom Chad Luek television at the scene. I didn't think he would kill children, but he shot at the door and shot right through it.
Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old former police officer Panya Kamrap. Police Maj Gen Paisal Luesomboon told PPTV in an interview that he was fired from the force earlier this year because of drug-related offenses. In the attack he used multiple weapons, including a handgun, a shotgun and a knife, Paisel said.
Local police chief Damrongsak Kittiprapha told news hounds that the suspect was a sergeant on the force before he was fired, and that the main weapon he used was a 9mm pistol that he had purchased himself.
We are still investigating all of this and have to learn from it, he said. Today is the first day and we don't have all the details.
Police have not given a full breakdown of the corpse count, but they have said at least 22 children and two adults were killed at the day care in the northeastern Thai town of Nongbua Lamphu.
Firearm-related deaths in Thailand are much lower than in countries like the United States and Brazil, but higher than in countries like Japan and Singapore that have strict gun control laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.