US religious-freedom group seeks clarity after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new Office of Religious Affairs The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has announced plans to launch a probe into a new religious affairs office recently unveiled by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The Wisconsin-based nonprofit said on Thursday that it is seeking transparency into the office’s funding, operations and plans to assess troops’ “spiritual fitness.” The announcement came shortly after Hegseth said the Pentagon was establishing the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) to address what he described as a decline in religious community in the military following an era of “political correctness.” In his State of the Force address on Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Hegseth said the new office’s head is expected to serve as the secr...
Posts
The sale of the newly built fighter jets has drawn repeated rebukes from Beijing The US has delivered Taiwan’s first two newly built F-16 fighter jets, part of an $8 billion order that has repeatedly drawn condemnation from Beijing. The two aircraft, the modern F-16V Block 70 variant, arrived in Taiwan on Friday. They are the first of 66 new fighters approved for sale by Washington in 2019. Beijing has long opposed US arms sales to Taiwan, which it considers part of China. The delivery came a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Washington and urged US President Donald Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence” and “handle the Taiwan question with caution.” The new jets will join Taiwan’s existing fleet of older F-16 variants, which Taipei has operated since the late 1990s. The first aircraft from the 66-plane order were initially expected in 2023, but deliveries...
An appeals court blocked a Minnesota law prohibiting AI-generated sexualized images after Elon Musk’s xAI argued that it is unconstitutional and violates free-speech protections A US appeals court has blocked Minnesota’s ban on AI-generated fake nude images, handing Elon Musk’s xAI an early victory in its free-speech challenge to the law. The state’s anti-nudification legislation – the first in the nation – which took effect last month, targets apps and websites that enable non-consensual sexualized deepfakes, with fines of up to $500,000 per image. It was spearheaded by state Senator Erin Maye Quade after a man allegedly used social media photos to create explicit images of more than 80 women without their consent. Quade likened the measure to longstanding laws against peeping through windows to take photographs. Musk’s xAI challenged the law in July on First Amend...
Berlin is using its economic weight and influence in Brussels to steer Europe toward confrontation with Moscow “What’s good for a Russian is death to a German.” Russian speakers often use this tongue-in-cheek saying to explain the differences between the Russian and German mindsets, whether in everyday matters – such as how mustard should taste – or in deeper questions of worldview and existence. Many scholars, including the distinguished Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, have attributed this unmistakable civilizational divide between Europe’s two largest peoples to geography, climate, and landscape, which shaped different ways of life. Living in a predictable climate, Germans developed a habit of methodical, steady work. They could plan ahead because their surroundings allowed them to anticipate the results of their efforts with considerable certainty. Russians, by ...
A New Mexico jury found the Facebook parent company liable for willfully deceiving users about its protections Meta Platforms is facing between $35 billion and $40 billion in civil penalties from the US state of New Mexico, Reuters has reported. At the upper end, the fine would rank as the largest financial penalty ever imposed on a US corporation. The case stems from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which erupted after a whistleblower revealed that the British political consulting firm had obtained data from tens of millions of Facebook users without their consent through a third-party app. The data was used to profile voters and target them with political messaging, including during Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy months later, while Facebook faced billions of dollars in fines and compensation claims over its handling of user data....
Powerus wants to manufacture Ukrainian designs in America as Kiev pursues arms exports amid multiple procurement scandals A US drone company linked to President Donald Trump’s sons wants to bring Ukrainian military technology to America, Reuters has reported, as Kiev pursues billions in arms exports despite multiple corruption scandals in its procurement programs. Powerus is negotiating with Ukrainian defense firms and wants to manufacture their technology in the US, potentially including long-range attack drones. Its Guardian interceptors, introduced in March, were also jointly developed with Ukrainian partners, according to company president Brett Velicovich. The company completed a merger with golf course operator Aureus Greenway Holdings on Thursday. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump hold an indirect investment in Aureus through American Ventures, which regulatory filings projected would own 9.9% o...