America

WASHINGTON - The Biden administration has declined to comment on whether Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be extended for Haitians. “By law, TPS designations are made by the Department of Homeland Security after consultation with the appropriate agencies,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told VOA. “So, we wouldn’t want to comment on any sort of internal deliberations when it comes to TPS.” TPS is a designation made by the secretary of homeland security to individuals from countries severely impacted by natural disasters or armed conflicts. It allows beneficiaries to live and work in the United States for a period of time. The TPS status Haitians currently hold was enacted by the Obama administration on January 21, 2010, nine days after a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the island nation, killing at least 250,000 people and displacing 5 million others. In October 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden made a campaign stop in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, … [Read more...] about Homeland Security Will Decide Whether to Extend TPS for Haitians, Biden Administration Says

New York Times columnist David Brooks failed to disclose his financial ties to social media giant Facebook, according to a report from BuzzFeed News. Brooke’s project at the Aspen Institute , titled “Weave,” is defined as a “cultural movement renewing America’s social fabric, which is badly frayed by distrust, division and exclusion,” according to its website . The Aspen Institute, a non-profit organization based out of Washington, D.C, received a $250,000 donation for the project from Facebook in 2018, according to the BuzzFeed News report . NEW: NYT columnist David Brooks draws a second salary for leading an Aspen Institute project funded by Facebook, Jeff Bezos’ dad, & others. He didn’t disclose this to readers. The Times refused to say if the paper was aware of Brooks’ second salary: https://t.co/7WN3zrtrKp — Craig Silverman (@CraigSilverman) March 3, 2021 Several of Brooks’ columns in the New York Times have mentioned his project by name, as well as … [Read more...] about REPORT: NYT Columnist Fails To Disclose Financial Ties To Facebook, Jeff Bezos’s Father

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Thursday that he anticipates Twitter will soon brief congressional investigators on Russian activity on its platform, according to The Wall Street Journal. As the leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Warner has raised concerns for months that Russia tried to influence the election by promulgating “fake news.” Social media platforms like Twitter are often used for people to consume as many informational tidbits as possible in a short period of time. Users accompany their 140-character-or-less tweets with a link to a news story, but other users and observers often read just the brief caption and treat it as a sufficient morsel of news, misleading people in the process. Completely false stories also make their way to the platform. Many credited or blamed Trump winning the presidency to the apparent rise of “fake news,” but economists at Stanford and New York University conducted a study that showed otherwise . … [Read more...] about Twitter Expected To Brief Congress On Potential Russian Interference, Says Report

Facebook’s trending news section, which was accused of censoring conservative news, was managed by a staff full of liberal employees. The social media company has fired the 15-18 employees who worked on trending news, in an attempt to replace any possibility of bias with an algorithm. Gizmodo reported in May that Facebook “news curators” buried conservative stories. This caused Republican South Dakota Sen. John Thune to send a letter to Facebook inquiring about its trending news section. “Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet,” Thune wrote. Facebook denied the charges in Gizmodo’s article and claimed to have a staff with diverse opinions. “Diversity in all its forms — including ideological — is one of our core values, and we believe that adding voices to the conversation creates a richer and more vibrant community,” Facebook’s general … [Read more...] about Facebook’s News Content Staff Was Filled With Liberals

Secretary of State Antony Blinken Antony Blinken Hillicon Valley: High alert as new QAnon date approaches Thursday | Biden signals another reversal from Trump with national security guidance | Parler files a new case Biden reignites war powers fight with Syria strike Biden signals another reversal from Trump with national security guidance MORE on Wednesday labeled U.S. relations with China as the biggest geopolitical challenge of the 21st century and the one that animates the Biden administration’s foreign policy strategy. The secretary’s remarks, made during his first major foreign policy speech, were delivered as President Biden Joe Biden The West needs a more collaborative approach to Taiwan Abbott's medical advisers were not all consulted before he lifted Texas mask mandate House approves George Floyd Justice in Policing Act MORE is expected later today to release an outline for “interim strategic guidance” for U.S. national security … [Read more...] about Blinken calls US-China relations biggest challenge of century in major speech