Uber's $59 Million Fine Over Sexual Assault Data Was Just Reduced To $150K

Uber has 'come to an arrangement' with a California regulator that would reduce a $59 million fine to just $150,000, according to the proposed agreement filed Thursday.

In December of 2020, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) fined the ride-sharing company $59 million and threatened to suspend its license if they didn't comply with a request for data on sexual assaults, according to The Verge.

Under the terms of the new deal, however, Uber will provide anonymized data on sexual assault incidents and will give accusers the ability to opt-in to being contacted by CPUC in the future. The company will also contribute $5 million to the California Victims Compensation Board, and $4 million towards developing industry-wide efforts to report and respond to these types of incidents. Uber will deposit the combined $9 million with the CPUC's Fiscal Office.

The CPUC fine was in response to a damning 84-page safety report published in 2019, which included aggregate data on thousands of sexual assaults in the US between 2017 and 2018 during trips taken in Uber vehicles.

Uber called the report “jarring,” but declined to provide more specific information about the assaults when the CPUC came asking. The CPUC also wanted to know more information about who at the company authored the report, especially because Uber admitted in the fine print that it did not “assess or take any position on whether any of the reported incidents actually occurred.” (The CPUC has regulatory authority over transportation companies in California and regularly investigates complaints against them.)

Uber refused to answer the CPUC’s questions and hand over the data on the grounds that it would put sexual assault survivors at risk. It appealed the CPUC’s fine in January, calling the $59 million fine “extraordinary” and claiming that the CPUC was “penaliz[ing] Uber for its good-faith efforts to stand with survivors.” -The Verge

Uber has faced numerous lawsuits stemming from alleged sexual assault. In April, 2019, a Washington DC woman sued the company for negligence and consumer protection violations after she says a driver sexually assaulted her. In 2017, a woman in India who says she was raped in 2014 by an Uber driver also sued the company - after an Uber executive illegally disclosed a portion of her medical records to other Uber employees, including former CEO Travis Kalanick.

In 2019, 19 women sued Uber competitor Lyft for failure to prevent sexual assault perpetrated by drivers on the platform, then doing virtually nothing to investigate the complaints.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/ubers-59-million-fine-over-sexual-assault-data-was-just-reduced-150k

Ghislaine Maxwell, Lisa Marie Presley among New York’s worst tax deadbeats

Ghislaine Maxwell isn’t just an alleged sex trafficker — she’s also a major tax deadbeat.

The disgraced socialite, who is accused of serving as Jeffrey Epstein’s madam, is one of the worst income tax scofflaws in New York state — owing $1,520,558.84, according to a warrant filed by the Tax Department.

The alleged pedo procurer is awaiting criminal trial for allegedly recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse in the 1990s and early 2000s. She is number 47 on the state Tax Department’s list of top individual tax delinquents.

Maxwell is locked up in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

She pleaded not guilty in April and has appealed five times to be released from jail pending trial — but has been rejected each time.

She is not alone in having a trail of tax arrears.

Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of the late famed crooner Elvis Presley, owes $636,950.33 in back income taxes — putting her at No. 177 on the list.

The younger Presley, now 53, was famously married to pop superstar Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1996.

The tax warrant won’t bring the “Memories” or “Peace in the Valley” her dad, Elvis, crooned about.

Disgraced “Taxi King” Eugene Freidman, meanwhile, retained the No. 1 spot on the tax cheat list for the second year in a row.

Freidman was sentenced in 2019 to five years’ probation after he admitted to engaging in tax fraud and agreed to cooperate in the federal probe of President Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen. He owes the state $18.7 million, the Tax Department said.

Rounding out the top 5 tax cheats are Anthony J. Frascone, Jr., Anthony P. Frascone, Frederick Goldring and Gary B. Flom. The five men owe a combined $44 million.

Reps for Maxwell and Presley had no immediate comment.

https://nypost.com/2021/07/18/ghislaine-maxwell-lisa-marie-presley-among-nys-worst-tax-deadbeats/

Jordan’s King Abdullah II to Become 1st Arab Leader to Visit White House Under Biden

US President Joe Biden on Monday will host King Abdullah II of Jordan, the first Arab leader to visit the White House under the current administration, as Biden attempts to reaffirm traditional commitments to the region after the revisionism of the previous US president, Donald Trump.

"It will be an opportunity to discuss the many challenges facing the Middle East and showcase Jordan’s leadership role in promoting peace and stability in the region," the White House stated in a preview of the summit.

In April, Biden threw his support behind King Abdullah II when the monarch faced an alleged coup attempt by his half-brother, Prince Hamzah. The rare rift within the royal family was swiftly quashed with the rebellious Prince silenced and his purported co-conspirators facing trial.

The United States sees Jordan as instrumental in handling the Israeli-Palestinian and Syrian crises.

"His Majesty’s visit will highlight the enduring and strategic partnership between the United States and Jordan, a key security partner and ally of the United States," the White House said in a statement.

Abdullah II has been on a visit to the United States since July 1. According to the Royal Palace, he met with US Central Command head Kenneth McKenzie and US Special Operations Command head Richard Clarke. The king also participated in a Sun Valley economic forum in the US state of Idaho.

https://sputniknews.com/world/202107181083410285-jordans-king-abdullah-ii-to-become-1st-arab-leader-to-visit-white-house-under-biden/

Jeffrey Epstein may have had links to Israeli leaders - The Rolling Stone

Robert Maxwell, a notable conduit between Israeli leaders and other governments, reportedly introduced Epstein to Israeli leaders.

Jeffrey Epstein's dealings in the arms world may have led him to working for the Israeli government, according to a report by The Rolling Stone.

The report's author, Vicky Ward, cites four separate sources, some of which are considered more reliable than others. According to the report, Robert Maxwell - a conduit between the Israeli government and other governments during his life - introduced Epstein to Israeli leaders.

Maxwell invested tens of millions of dollars into Israel's economy, serving as a point man for its governments. According to a Washington Post article published after his death, he visited Jerusalem once a month and even considered purchasing the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team.

However, Epstein claimed in a 2002 interview with Ward that he had never met Maxwell. He did, however, have a well-known relationship with his daughter Ghislaine who is currently awaiting trail for charges related to helping Epstein in alleged sex-trafficking of minors.

Epstein did visit Israel in 2008, almost moving permanently to avoid jail time. He decided against it, however, facing 13 months in jail, before being released on July 22, 2009.

According to The Rolling Stone report, Epstein spent the last years of his life bragging to people, including journalists, that he was an advisor to an assortment of foreign leaders - including Israel. The article states he was known as a "hyper-fixer," somebody who can go between different cultures and networks.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/jeffrey-epstein-may-have-had-links-to-israeli-leaders-the-rolling-stone-674244

Peter Schweizer: Hunter Biden Selling Art to Anonymous Buyers Is Genius-Level Corruption

Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), said on this week’s broadcast of “Sunday Morning Futures” that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s sale of his art to anonymous buyers is “genius” in a very corrupt way.

Partial transcript as follows:

BARTIROMO: So, Peter, right now, Hunter is getting ready to sell art. He has told us that this is his new job. He is a first-time artist, no training, of course. The pieces are being priced between $75,000 and a half-a-million dollars apiece. You call this scheme genius. Why?

SCHWEIZER: It is genius because — in a very corrupt way, because what was the criticism of Hunter’s previous moneymaking schemes? When he worked went to work for Burisma, the energy company, the criticism was he was getting a million dollars a year. He had no background in Ukrainian energy regulation, no background in energy. Well, art is different than the business world. It’s entirely subjective.

So, if somebody is prepared to send half-a-million dollars to an artist for a piece of art, who can question it? So, in that sense, it’s very genius. But this opens the gateway to massive corruption, Maria, because the art owner, the art partner that he has that’s going to be marketing his art has been very clear that he’s going to market these things overseas. He’s been wanting to break into the Chinese art market for years. And the Senate, actually, in 2019 issued a report talking about how the art world is rife with money laundering and corruption involving foreign oligarchs, because it’s so hard to trace. So it’s a massively troublesome problem. And their explanations simply don’t carry any weight.

BARTIROMO: Well, the White House is saying that, in an effort to be — quote, unquote — “transparent,” they are not going to tell anybody who’s ponying up half-a-million dollars to buy Hunter Biden’s art. What’s to stop a Chinese company, or an Iranian company, a Chinese company tied to the Chinese military and the Communist Party to pay half-a-million dollars for art, and then say, wink, wink, take this company off the blacklist, further my efforts here, further my efforts there, I just bought your art for half-a-million bucks?

SCHWEIZER: Maria, let me underline and underscore what you just said. That’s absolutely correct. There’s nothing stopping them from doing it. And, in fact, the White House’s proposed ethics solution —I will put that in quotation marks — is the exact opposite of what’s called for here. Their solution of transparency is to actually hide who is engaged in the transaction. It’s ludicrous.

Look, I have been critical of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their foreign deals over the years. You have to give them credit. When Hillary Clinton was in the Senate and later as secretary of state, Bill Clinton was collecting a lot of speaking fees from foreign entities. They disclosed those. And to their credit, they disclosed those. In this case, I don’t think Hunter Biden should be doing this to begin with. But if he’s going to do it, they need to disclose and have an independent party verify who is actually paying him for this artwork.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/07/18/peter-schweizer-hunter-biden-selling-art-to-anonymous-buyers-is-genius-level-corruption/

Afghanistan recalls ambassador, top diplomats from Pakistan in wake of envoy’s daughter kidnapping and torture

Kabul has called back its ambassador and senior diplomats from its embassy in Islamabad, citing security threats days after the Afghan ambassador’s daughter was briefly kidnapped and tortured by unknown assailants.

“The Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan called back Afghanistan’s Ambassador and senior diplomats from Pakistan until all security threats are addressed including the arrest and trial of the perpetrators of abduction,” the Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement on Sunday.

An Afghan delegation will be sent to Pakistan to monitor the investigation of the kidnapping, the ministry said, without specifying the day when the delegation will arrive in the neighboring country. Any further actions would be based on the findings of this group, it added.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “unfortunate and regrettable.” It also said that “security of the ambassador, his family and personnel of the Embassy and Consulates of Afghanistan in Pakistan has been further beefed up.” The Pakistani foreign secretary met with the ambassador before his leave and assured him that Islamabad would fully cooperate with Kabul in this case.

Silsila Alikhil, the daughter of the Afghan envoy to Islamabad, Najib Alikhil, was abducted on Friday as she was returning to her home in the Pakistani capital. She was coming back in a taxi after visiting a bakery when the driver picked up another man, who then verbally abused and assaulted her, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.

The unknown assailants allegedly held her captive for several hours and tortured her. She was then found with injuries and rope marks on her body and was taken to a hospital.

“The abduction of [the] Afghan ambassador's daughter & her subsequent torture has wounded the psyche of our nation. Our national psyche has been tortured,” Afghanistan’s Vice President Amrullah Salen said in a Twitter post on Sunday.

https://www.rt.com/news/529550-afghan-ambassador-recalled-pakistan-kidnapping/

>>14150560

>Facebook says

kek

Cyber Ninjas Found So Many Issues with the Voting Machines and Processes in Maricopa County It’s a Wonder the Previous Auditors Didn’t Find These Issues Too

Ben Cotton’s team is auditing the IT-related practices and policies in the 2020 Election in Maricopa County. He shared some important items during his presentation last week that any good IT auditor would find.

We pointed out previously that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors hired two election firms because they knew these firms would give them a clean bill of health.

But Ben Cotton and his team were selected by the Cyber Ninjas to address the IT work related to Maricopa County’s results in the 2020 Election. Investigator Cotton from CyFIR performed work that the previous auditors should have covered.

It’s a difficult task for these auditors because Maricopa County has been completely uncooperative, even with basic questions, referring auditors to lawyers. This all provides more support that the subjects under audit, the auditees, are guilty and doing everything they can to postpone the election.

Dominion has two full-time staff onsite servicing the Maricopa County election system. The current Dominion software was installed in August 2019. Since that date, there have been no antivirus updates, no operating system updates, or any security patches. Administrator accounts were also created on that date, each having the exact same password. These are actions of a ‘worst in class’ IT Department and it is a deliberate subterfuge of an election system. Common practice is to update patches on a much more regular basis.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/cyber-ninjas-found-many-issues-voting-machines-processes-maricopa-county-wonder-previous-auditors-didnt-find-issues/

State data shows one-third of NY hospital workers are unvaccinated

Nearly a third of staffers at Big Apple hospitals are still unvaccinated — more than nine months into the campaign to inoculate medical workers and all New Yorkers against the killer bug, state data reviewed by The Post reveals.

The figures compiled by the state Health Department also show that nearly 40 percent of hospital staff across three boroughs have either refused or have not received their COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccination rate among hospital workers was only 61 percent for those in the Bronx, 62 percent in Brooklyn and 64 percent in Staten Island, state statistics received through July 14 found.

Just two-thirds, or 67 percent, of staffers at Queens hospitals have gotten their COVID jabs.

Even in hospital-heavy Manhattan, just 76 percent of workers were vaccinated — matching the statewide average. That means one in four medical staffers are still unvaccinated.

There are some 450,000 workers employed by hospitals in New York State, according to a 2018 SUNY study. That means more than 100,000 workers are unvaccinated.

https://nypost.com/2021/07/18/one-third-of-ny-hospital-workers-are-unvaccinated-data-shows/

https://nypost.com/2021/07/18/one-third-of-ny-hospital-workers-are-unvaccinated-data-shows/

Philip Anderson: Capitol Police Killed Rosanne Boyland on Jan. 6 – “She Was Holding My Hand When She Died”

Trump supporter and activist Philip Anderson says the Capitol Police killed Rosanne Boyland. He knows this because he was next to her when she died. He was holding her hand. And Philip nearly died himself.

Activist Philip Anderson spoke with The Gateway Pundit on the Jan. 6 protests at the US Capitol and how the Capitol police murdered Rosanne Boyland and nearly took his life too.

This is an amazing eyewitness report that has been ignored by the fake news media because it does not fit their narrative. A black Trump supporter was gassed with clouds of pepper spray, pushed down, and then nearly trampled to death as police officers continued to push people on a pile outside the US Capitol.

Anderson describes how Rosanne Boyland was the first woman killed by Capitol police that day. Ashli Babbitt was the second woman killed by police.

This photo shows Philip Anderson nearly unconscious being dragged away by Trump supporters after being crushed under a pile on Jan. 6. Roseanne Boylan was next to him when she died.

The Gateway Pundit spoke with Philip Anderson on Saturday night — six months after the Jan. 6 protests and rally.

Philip Anderson fell and was being smothered as police officers continued to push Trump supporters on top of him. Philip told The Gateway Pundit how he was holding Rosanne’s hand when she died.

Philip posted this on social media before his account was taken down.

Via Make America Stop Hate on Instagram.

Here is video of Rosanne Boyland being trampled as Capitol Police continued to push protesters on top of her.

You can see protesters dragging Philip Anderson’s body away after he lost consciousness.

Via The New York Times state propaganda outlet:

https://youtu.be/jWJVMoe7OY0

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/philip-anderson-capitol-police-killed-rosanne-boyland-know-holding-hand-died-audio/

Double child murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork WON'T be put onto sex offenders register when he is freed within days and 'plans to change his name'

Pitchfork, 61, to be free after serving33 years at HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire

Monster raped and strangled Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, both 15, in 1980s

Outraged victims' families fear 'he will be able to walk into the pub as a new man'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9799771/Child-killer-Colin-Pitchfork-WONT-sex-offenders-register-freed-days.html

>>14150766

Kim Clement second Snowden prophesy?

“And Then…Another Snowden Arises With Highly Embarrassing Moments!”

>>14150791

*Oxymorans

Macron Threatens Business Owners Who Fail to Check Patrons’ Covid Passports with One Year Prison Sentence, €45,000 Fine

French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that a Covid passport would be required in order to enter restaurants and theaters.

Macron also announced a new mandatory vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers.

Tourists visiting France will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test via a digital passport.

Macron’s ‘big stick’ approach to forcing vaccination includes threats of heavy fines and prison time for both business owners and patrons who don’t comply with his covid passport mandate.

The Guardian reported:

Macron announced that from 21 July, anyone visiting a theatre, cinema, sports venue or festival with an audience of more than 50 people would need a health pass proving they were either fully vaccinated, had tested negative or were immune.

The same requirement will be extended to bars, cafes, restaurants, shopping centres (though not supermarkets), hospitals, long-distance trains, coaches and planes from 1 August, he said – including for children aged between 12 and 17 from 1 September.

People unable to present a valid health pass risk up to six months in prison and a fine of up to €10,000 (£8,500), according to the draft text of the law, while owners of “establishments welcoming the public” who fail to check patrons’ passes could go to jail for a year and be hit with a €45,000 fine.

Meanwhile, non-essential free coronavirus testing will also end in September, “to further encourage vaccination”, and healthcare professionals and retirement home workers who have not been vaccinated by 15 September will be suspended for a month to allow them to do so. Thereafter, they risk dismissal.

According to reports, 66% of French have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 53% are fully vaccinated.

Thousands of protesters hit the streets in Paris this weekend protesting against the new vaccine mandates imposed by Macron.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/macron-threatens-business-owners-fail-check-patrons-covid-passports-one-year-prison-sentence-e45000-fine/

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/macron-threatens-business-owners-fail-check-patrons-covid-passports-one-year-prison-sentence-e45000-fine/