Hanging By A Threat
August 11, 2022
Some Good News
- Biden signs semiconductor bill into law, but Trump raid overshadows event (NPR)
- With primary win, Becca Balint is likely to be Vermont’s first female and openly gay member of Congress (NBC)
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass
The Mother Of All Problems
Before SCOTUS struck down Roe v. Wade in June, concerns about the digital privacy implications of abortion restrictions were mounting. Afterward, the deluge of toughened anti-abortion laws caused digital rights experts to warn that people’s search histories, location data, messages, and other digital information could be used by law enforcement agencies investigating or prosecuting abortion-related cases. Many Republican-controlled states had already passed laws severely curtailing access to the procedure. But as states like Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, and others rushed to criminalize it, the potential use of personal data to find and punish people looking for information about abortion services online became even more worrisome.
That concern became reality for a careless Nebraska woman and her teenage daughter. Investigators uncovered Facebook messages between Jessica Burgess, 41, and her 17-year-old daughter in which the two discussed using medication to induce an abortion and plans to burn the fetus afterward. When first interviewed, the two told investigators the teen had unexpectedly given birth to a stillborn baby in the shower in the early morning hours of April 22. They said they put the fetus in a bag, placed it in a box in the back of their van, and drove several miles north of town, where they buried it.
In early June, mother and daughter were charged with a single felony for removing, concealing, or abandoning a body, and two misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person and false reporting. But investigators continued reviewing private Facebook messages between the two in which Burgess tells her daughter that she’s obtained abortion pills for her, and gives her instructions on how to take them to end her 24-week pregnancy. Prosecutors then added additional felony abortion-related charges against Burgess and her now 18-year-old daughter, who will be tried as an adult.
A Facebook spokesman declined to talk about the details of this case, but the company has said that officials at the social media giant “always scrutinize every government request we receive to make sure it is legally valid.” The company also said it gave investigators information in about 88% of the 59,996 times the government requested data between June and December, 2021. (CNN, Cincinnati, Texas Tribune, NPR, AP, Missouri Independent, NBC)
Guess Who’s Vaxxed, Vaxxed Again
- The polio virus, which can cause paralysis, had been considered eradicated throughout the U.K. and Europe. But since February, British authorities have found the virus in London sewage 116 times. The situation is somewhat complicated as the samples detected are linked to a polio vaccine used in other countries.
- Parts of the world still dealing with polio outbreaks use the oral polio vaccine, which is safe, but uses a live virus. It provides a huge amount of immunity, but has the potential to spread from person to person in areas where not a lot of people are protected. This becomes problematic if it continues to spread, as the safe form of the virus used in the vaccine can mutate and evolve until it can once again lead to paralysis.
- The U.K. Health Security Agency says most of the samples detected are the safe vaccine form of polio, but “a few” have mutated enough to be dangerous. An emergency campaign is set to begin in which the polio vaccine will be offered to a million children aged one to nine living in Greater London. (BBC)
Good Bribes Only
- Ahmad Abouammo, 44, worked at Twitter from 2013 to 2015 managing media partnerships with high-profile users in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2014, he met Bader Binasaker, an aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, when Binasaker was touring Twitter’s headquarters. Binasaker developed a relationship with Abouammo and successfully recruited him with the gift of a $40,000 watch.
- Thereafter Abouammo, a dual U.S. and Lebanese citizen, repeatedly accessed the email accounts and phone numbers of accounts that criticized the Saudi government – including the anonymously run account “mujtahidd” – and shared the information with Binasaker. Abouammo took bribes close to three times his annual salary for almost a year.
- On Tuesday, an 11-person jury found Abouammo guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia by passing on private user information in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was also found guilty of money laundering, falsification of records, and one count of wire fraud. “They paid for a mole,” the prosecutor said. “We all know that that kind of money is not for nothing.” (WSJ, $)
Additional World News
- Poland warns of repercussions if Brussels keeps blocking funds (Reuters)
- James Marape returned as prime minister in Papua New Guinea after fraught election (Guardian)
- Ukraine says 9 Russian warplanes destroyed in Crimea blasts (AP)
- Sri Lanka’s ousted president seeking entry to Thailand after weeks in Singapore (Reuters)
- No declaration Wednesday in Kenya’s vote, commission says (AP)
- U.S. and Iran Weighing ‘Final’ E.U. Offer on Nuclear Deal (NYT, $)
- Low Rhine water levels threaten Germany’s economic growth (Reuters)
Silence In The Courtroom
- Donald Trump appeared for a court-ordered deposition Wednesday before lawyers from N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James’ office. Attorneys questioned the former president for four hours about the Trump Organization’s business practices, during which time he gave one relevant answer: his name. For the other 450 questions, Trump took his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
- During his presidency, Trump famously asked why anyone would take the fifth if they’re innocent. On Wednesday, he said: “Now I know the answer … When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt … you have no choice.”
- Meanwhile, the noose around Trump’s closest circle of accomplices continues tightening. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tried getting out of appearing for court-ordered testimony in Atlanta Tuesday before a special grand jury investigating Trump by saying he was too sick to fly. Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney gave him until August 17 to appear, saying if air travel wasn’t compatible with Giuliani’s condition right now, a week would give him “plenty of time to make the … 13-hour drive.” (NBC, CBS)
Hanging By A Threat
- The CEO of Memetica, a threat analysis company, said he’d seen a “massive surge” in threats targeting the Florida judge identified by some media outlets as the magistrate who approved the FBI warrant to search Trump’s residence, including on message boards “that played a notable role in the lead-up to January 6.”
- The threats have been so violent that the biography, contact information, and office address of the judge were removed from the court’s website. Other posts called for the assassination of Attorney General Merrick Garland, the killing of “all feds,” and for “civil war.” (CNN)
Additional USA News
- 2 U.S. Military Members Killed in ‘Weather-Related Incident’ in Georgia (NYT, $)
- Trump seizes on FBI search to fuel backlash (CNN)
- Four takeaways from the Wisconsin, Vermont and Minnesota primaries (CNN)
- Democrats betting on progressives to keep control of Senate (Politico)
- Why Americans are increasingly dubious about going to college (NBC)
- Sheriff’s Dept. under fire as trial starts over Kobe Bryant crash photos (LAT, $)
- Employee Kept Arsenal, Including Assault Rifle, at Hospital, Police Say (NYT, $)
Scarebnb
- Bree Robertson likes to travel and share her adventures on her TikTok account @atypicaladventure. In June, Robertson and her partner/travel buddy moved from their homes in Wellington, New Zealand, to Canggu, a coastal village on Bali’s south coast. A few weeks later, Bree thought a nature lodge in Bali would be the ideal place to celebrate the couple’s ten-month anniversary.
- She found a villa on Airbnb with an infinity pool, on-site restaurant, and gorgeous views overlooking the rainforest. After reading a smattering of good reviews she booked a private room for one night in mid-July. On the day of their anniversary, the couple hopped on their motor scooters and drove about two hours from their apartment in Canggu to Sidemen, a village in east Bali.
- Alas, upon arrival they didn’t find a manicured lawn, sparkling blue water, or an inviting restaurant. The grounds were overgrown, the pool filled with algae, and the restaurant shuttered, its stacked chairs lining the exterior. The villa was abandoned – not a single person was on the property. Realizing they’d arrived at a ghost town, it just became too funny. It was a really good attitude to adopt, since at that point all the couple could do was laugh. Then it started raining and suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore. The couple hopped back on their scooters and found another place to spend the night. Airbnb gave Bree a full refund, but it took the company another month to remove the listing from its website. (Insider)
Additional Reads
- Emmett Till death: Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham (CNN)
- Shrouded in secrecy for years, Russia’s Wagner Group opens up (Al Jazeera)
- The Double Life of the Bloodsucking Sea Lamprey (Wired)
- New York company raises $120k to make Zelenskyy action figure (Al Jazeera)
- Beluga whale rescued from Seine River euthanized in transit, French authorities say (CNN)
- New giant deep-sea isopod discovered in the Gulf of Mexico (Phys.org)
- Scientists Investigate Upside-Down Lightning Bolt That Touched the Edge of Space (CNET)