Democratic lawmakers are calling for Congress to rein in Big Tech, possibly forcing Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple to break up their businesses, while making it harder for them to acquire others and imposing new rules to safeguard competition. The proposals in a report issued Tuesday follow a 15-month investigation by a House Judiciary Committee panel into the companies’ market dominance. Those kinds of forced breakups through a legislative overhaul would be a radical step for Congress to take toward a powerful industry. The tech giants for decades have enjoyed light-touch regulation and star status in Washington, but have come under intensifying scrutiny and derision over issues of competition, consumer privacy and hate speech.

A high-ranking government whistleblower who alleges the Trump administration fumbled its coronavirus response resigned Tuesday, saying he has been forced out. Lawyers for Dr. Rick Bright said he was sidelined at the National Institutes of Health, where he had been transferred this spring after being ousted as head of a biodefense agency. Attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said NIH superiors ignored a national coronavirus testing strategy that Bright developed because he had become politically toxic within the Trump administration. “NIH leadership declined to support Dr. Bright’s recommendations because of political considerations, plain and simple,” the lawyers said. “This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

 
The post Marc Garfinkel Returns with even more Never Seen Before Magic Tricks online this Chol Hamoed Wednesday @ 12pm EST appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

Facebook said it will ban groups that openly support QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and “deep state” government officials. The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts for “representing QAnon” — even if they don’t promote violence. The social network said it will consider a variety of factors to decide if a group meets its criteria for a ban, including its name, the biography or “about” section of the page, and discussions within the page, group or Instagram account. Mentions of QAnon in a group focused on a different subject won’t necessarily lead to a ban, Facebook said.

A grand jury on Tuesday indicted the St. Louis couple who displayed guns while hundreds of racial injustice protesters marched on their private street. Al Watkins, an attorney for the couple, confirmed to The Associated Press the indictments against Mark McCloskey, 63, and Patricia McCloskey, 61. A spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner declined comment. The McCloskeys, who are both attorneys, have become folk heroes among some conservatives. They argue that they were simply exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms, and were protected by Missouri’s castle doctrine law that allows the use of deadly force against intruders. The case has caught the attention of President Donald Trump, and Republican Missouri Gov.

Prof. Eran Segal of Weissman Institue published worrying data on the morbidity and mortality rate in the Chareidi sector on Tuesday, indicating a dramatic rise in the number of Chareidi niftarim as well as a rise in the number of Chareidi COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in serious condition. The data shows a 36% rise in the number of Chareidi niftarim in the past week and a 16% rise in the number of seriously ill patients., while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Chareidi sector rose to 28%. Segal added that the rise of coronavirus cases in the general population has stopped and in the Arab population there has been a decrease in the number of cases, the number of seriously ill patients and the number of fatalities.

Following the diagnosis of Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky with the coronavirus on erev Sukkos, his son, HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky, Rosh Yeshivas Kiryat Melech, tested positive for the virus and a day later, HaRav Chaim’s grandson, Yanky Kanievsky, tested positive as well. Father and son had not spent time together in the period before Sukkos so they apparently caught the virus from different sources. Since Yeshivas Kiryat Melech recently suffered from a coronavirus outbreak, with hundreds of bochurim testing positive for the virus, it’s likely that HaRav Shlomo caught the virus at the yeshivah. The other Rosh Yeshiva at Kiryat Melech, HaRav Yaakov Karp, also contracted the coronavirus but has Baruch Hashem recovered.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com It seems to be a simple enough halachic question. But is it so innocuous? Or is there something more to it that is involved?  Does the question touch upon the deepest and most fundamental aspects of who we are as a nation?  Have we hit upon one of our greatest contemporary or not-so-contemporary challenges of our existence? Let’s get to the question and answer first.

Hundreds of members of the Borough Park Orthodox community took to the streets Tuesday night defying orders to disperse and lighting a fire in protest of new state-mandated restrictions imposed on area synagogues, schools and non-essential businesses over a COVID-19 surge. One large crowd huddled closely together at the corner of 50th Street and 15th avenue at about 9 p.m. as community activist Heshy Tischler ripped Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio over the order that shuts down schools completely and limits houses of worship to 10 people in certain COVID-19 hot spots. Much of Borough Park is subject to those measures – the most restrictive – which also shutters non-essential businesses.

The following important update was released moments ago by the Chaim VChessed Organization: As Chaim V’Chessed has reported extensively, since the start of the current lockdown, single students have been barred from entering Israel. Married students have been granted entry permits under limited circumstances only. We are pleased to convey that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has now reversed this rule. Authorized schools will be able to obtain permits for their students, for entry into Israel beginning October 18.