Bits n’ pieces from east, west and beyond
East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.
A recent sampling:
Following a recent downturn in inflation, an announcement from Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries that they are cutting output of crude oil will impact prices at the gas pump and likely push inflation upward again, according to CBS News.
Gas pump prices are already on the rise and by summer the national price for regular gas is expected to be $4 a gallon.
In a pre-trial ruling in Delaware Superior Court regarding Dominion Voting Systems in their defamation case against Fox News, the judge stated that evidence demonstrates it is “CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion [made by Fox News] about the 2020 election are true.”
Fox attorneys had argued that statements made were “opinions,” but the judge combed through statements and cited 20 occasions where lies were stated as facts and other occasions when material was deliberately omitted by Fox to change the meaning of what was presented. Fox has claimed that the case could damage press freedoms, but analysts say Fox knowingly lied on air and there will be no threat to “objective journalists” who do not lie.
Dominion has extensively used emails and private messages from Fox media personalities to shore up their case. The trial was recently delayed. Dominion seeks $1.6 billion in damages; they disagree with Fox statements that Dominion rigged the 2020 election by flipping votes from Trump to Joe Biden.
All Trump indictment info that follows is from a variety of media sources:
A Manhattan District citizens’ grand jury voted recently to indict former President Donald Trump over allegations of bribery and corruption going back as far as 2016. He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
This is the first time in U.S. history that a president has been criminally charged.
Trump used the Manhattan charges to raise funds and reported $4 million raised within days.
Starting in 2033, without intervention, Social Security recipients will not receive full benefits, according to the recent report from the Board of Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. It was noted that lawmakers can change that. The funds impact more than 60 million people. Lawmakers who fail to act are endorsing a 20% cut to SS benefits, according to the D.C. think tank, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The Biden Administration’s proposed fix for a SS and Medicare: raise taxes on incomes over $400,000, and reduce what Medicare pays for prescription drugs.
Using snatches of your voice from on-line sources, imposter scammers can now convincingly portray callers as friends or relatives urgently in need of funds, to be handed over to the scammers, The Washington Post reported. In 2022 the FTC said there were 36,000 reports of such swindles.
A Virginia teacher shot by a 6-year-old student has filed a lawsuit seeking $40 million, AP said. Damages are sought based on allegations that school officials ignored multiple warnings about the young shooter. The teacher was shot in the hand and chest in her classroom, spent two weeks hospitalized and had four surgeries.
The school’s superintendent at the time was dismissed after the shooting and the assistant principal retired.