US News
gizmodo.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20687199 > As Elon Musk likes to do whenever disaster hits somewhere in the world, Hurricane Helene was another opportunity to show off his generosity and make himself part of the news. This time, Musk made headlines with a promise that SpaceX Starlink would be free for 30 days to help in places where fiber and cellular infrastructure might have been knocked offline. More than 200 people have been identified as dead in the disaster. > > But the catch is that it’s really not free at all. It really looks like not much more than a glorified new-customer promotion. > > For one, anyone interested in taking up the offer still has to pay approximately $400 for the dish itself (including shipping and tax) and they’re getting automatically rolled into a $120 per-month contract when the free month ends.
www.rawstory.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21206424 > Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones accused Vice President Kamala Harris of having the ability to control hurricanes through so-called "weather weapons." > > Jones kicked off his Tuesday broadcast by promising to explain how he knew the government could control the weather. > > >"I'm going to be covering today, and I've sent the crew over 20 clips, and I've got over a hundred documents right here," he explained. "I'm gonna do a big presentation for everybody on what's really going on with weather weapons." > > Jones claimed to have interviews and government documents that would prove his point. > > >"Then we have the bold headlines that I put up on X that the Kamala Harris, you know, the Biden-Harris administration is in control of this hurricane," he said of Hurricane Milton. > > >"So they have the power certified easily with just five or six big aircraft," he opined. "And that's the old technology, not the lasers that are all certified and the Doppler radar. They also have on ships and in large oil drilling platforms that they've launched. They could totally just make this thing stop and dump the water in the ocean." > > Jones insisted that the technology to control hurricanes was used before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. > > >"And on 9/11, the hurricane was gonna hit," he asserted. "Remember in 2001, but that meteorologists never saw anything like it. It just turned away from the coast went away because that was gonna get in the way of some of the stuff the deep state was up to." > > Scientists have said it is currently impossible to control weather events like Hurricane Milton.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20647818 > McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers. > > The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company — and their subsidiaries, alleging a price fixing scheme for beef specifically. In a federal complaint, filed Friday in New York, McDonald’s accused the companies of anticompetitive measures such as collectively limiting supply to boost prices and charge “illegally inflated” amounts. > > This collusion caused the beef market to become “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” McDonald’s suit reads — later noting that the injury it has sustained as one of those buyers is what “antitrust laws were designed to prevent.” > > McDonald’s alleges that the meat packers’ conspiracy dates back nearly a decade, at least as early as January 2015, and continues today. Its suit argues these companies’ actions violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.
www.thedailybeast.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19094557 > https://12ft.io/https://www.thedailybeast.com/arizonas-pro-trump-police-union-endorses-kari-lakes-democratic-rival-ruben-gallego?ref=home
abcnews.go.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17850004 > The convicted rioters are rebranded as hostages, not inmates.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17364201 > WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Sentinel nuclear warhead program is 81% over budget and is now estimated to cost nearly $141 billion, but the Pentagon is moving forward with the program, saying that given the threats from China and Russia it does not have a choice. > > The Northrop Grumman Sentinel program is the first major upgrade to the ground-based component of the nuclear triad in more than 60 years and will replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. > > It involves not only building a new missile but the modernization of 450 silos across five states, their launch control centers, three nuclear missile bases and several other testing facilities. > > The expansiveness of the program previously raised questions from government watchdogs as to whether the Pentagon could manage it all. > > Military budget officials on Monday said when they set the program’s estimated costs their full knowledge of the modernization needed “was insufficient in hindsight to have a high-quality cost estimate,” Bill LaPlante, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters on a call. > > The high cost overrun triggered what is known as a **Nunn-McCurdy breach,** which occurs if the cost of developing a new program increases by 25% or more. By statute, the under secretary of defense for acquisition then must **undertake a rigorous review of the program to determine if it should continue; otherwise the program must be terminated. **
www.theguardian.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17350565 > **_Satanic Temple objects to governor’s push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains_** > > Dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools, and it’s a consequence of hard-right governor Ron DeSantis’s push for more religion in education. > > Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains under a state law that [took effect this week](https://floridapolitics.com/archives/682166-public-school-chaplains-other-education-laws-take-effect-monday/) opening campuses to “additional counseling and support to students” from outside organizations. > > Although [HB 931](https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/931/?Tab=BillHistory) leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education. > > Without the bill, DeSantis said at its signing in April: “You’re basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That’s wrong.” > > **The satanists see the law, which comes amid a [vigorous theocratic drive](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/27/oklahoma-public-schools-bible-teachings) into education by the religious right nationally, as an equal opportunity: if Christian chaplains are permitted access to students, often at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of their lives, then so are they**.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17364145 > Most medical students at Johns Hopkins University will no longer pay tuition thanks to a $1 billion gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Monday. > > Starting in the fall, the donation will cover full tuition for medical students from families earning less than $300,000. Living expenses and fees will be covered for students from families who earn up to $175,000.
www.newsnationnow.com
- Satellite images renew fear over growing Chinese military presence in Cuba - CSIS: Images pinpoint four Chinese military sites across Cuba - Cuban official: Island isn't harboring Chinese military interests
arstechnica.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17029482 > In an open letter to publishers, more than 30,000 readers, researchers, and authors begged for access to the books to be restored in the open library, claiming the takedowns dealt "a serious blow to lower-income families, people with disabilities, rural communities, and LGBTQ+ people, among many others," who may not have access to a local library or feel "safe accessing the information they need in public." > > During a press briefing following arguments in court Friday, IA founder Brewster Kahle said that "those voices weren't being heard." Judges appeared primarily focused on understanding how IA's digital lending potentially hurts publishers' profits in the ebook licensing market, rather than on how publishers' costly ebook licensing potentially harms readers.
