Big Tech, free speech advocates join to oppose journalism bill
WASHINGTON — Top social media companies and free speech advocates, groups that usually take opposing views over tech policy, are coming together to oppose a measure that would allow journalism organizations to jointly negotiate with tech companies.
The groups are opposing any inclusion in the fiscal 2023 Pentagon policy bill of a bipartisan proposal introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and co-sponsored by 14 senators from both parties. The bill would allow news organizations to collectively bargain for compensation in exchange for content distribution on platforms including Google, Facebook and others.
The matching House measure is sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and has dozens of co-sponsors from both parties.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill on a bipartisan, 15-7 vote in September. The House Judiciary Committee has not marked up Cicilline’s bill. But a flurry of advertising and letter writing recently is a measure of the companies’ and groups’ nervousness that the bill could become part of the defense authorization measure that lawmakers are seeking to finalize this week.
—CQ-Roll Call
Could the attack on North Carolina power substations be considered domestic terrorism?
RALEIGH, N.C. — At a news conference Sunday, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields called those behind this weekend’s attack on two substations in his rural county “cowards.” But many want authorities to go further and label the perpetrators something else: domestic terrorists.
On social media, commenters categorized the attack as terrorism, with several viral TikTok and Twitter posts reiterating the unsubstantiated claim that the destruction of the substations with firearms was in protest of a nearby drag show performance Saturday.
Talk of terrorism has also been present in Moore County, around 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, where more than 30,000 remain without power. On Monday, a sign outside a coffee shop in the county seat of Carthage read: “Closed due to domestic terrorism,” while a local law firm had a similar message taped to its dark storefront.
But what is domestic terrorism, why is it prosecuted differently than international terrorism, and did it actually occur in Moore County? Toward that last question, those who study terrorism say it’s not possible to know until the culprits — and their motives — are identified.
—The News & Observer
Pagan nurse files religious discrimination lawsuit
LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas nurse and self-described pagan has sued the hospital that fired her after it rejected her request for a religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
Labor and delivery nurse Julia Kidd last week filed a federal lawsuit against University Medical Center alleging it had engaged in religious discrimination. The lawsuit claims she was fired in retaliation for requesting the exemption and for seeking redress through the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.
Kidd, who is 55, had been working at Clark County’s public hospital for 18 years when she requested a religious exemption from its mandate that employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. UMC denied her request, and when she continued to refuse to get vaccinated, fired her in January.
The nurse said she is a practitioner of paganism, an alternative nature-based religion. She described herself as a solitary practitioner whose spiritual practice centers on invocation and communing with nature.
—Las Vegas Review-Journal
Third Russian airfield hit by drone as Moscow accuses Ukraine
A third Russian airfield came under drone attack Tuesday after Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out strikes against two bases used by its long-range bombers, the deepest retaliation on its territory since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion.
An oil storage tank caught fire after the drone strike at a Kursk region airfield, state-run Tass news service reported Tuesday, citing a Telegram post by local governor Roman Starovoyt.
The incident followed attacks Monday on military bases in Russia’s Saratov and Ryazan regions that damaged two aircraft and killed three service personnel when drones crashed after being intercepted by air-defenses, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The airfields are home to strategic aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Ukraine hasn’t confirmed it carried out any of the attacks. The Saratov and Ryazan regions, southeast of Moscow, are at least 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the border between the two countries, while Kursk is about 100 kilometers from Ukraine.
—Bloomberg News
