Also on today’s menu:
National Guardsmen To Help Staff State Prison
Better Benefits, Reduced Deficit
TSA Demands Steps Against Cyberattacks
Many have recognized that the electronic media have been moving away from legitimate news and putting more focus on entertainment, where the profits lie, but no outlet has reached the level of depravity of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. It took Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit to reveal that Fox was not just slanting the news, but was purposely lying to viewers because of a fear that its customer base would choose another news source if it stopped supporting the conspiracy theories that invigorated them.
The lawsuit, claiming that the news outlet repeatedly aired allegations they knew were untrue — that Dominion had engaged in fraud that doomed President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign — has led to testimony and the release of several inter-office communications showing that Murdoch did nothing to stop the deception, even though, as he admitted under oath, he was aware that Fox commentators Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Sean Hannity had endorsed the false claims, and that “The election was not stolen.” Hannity testified in a deposition that he did not believe the fraud claims “for one second.”
Yet, even now, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson is saying that footage from the January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol shows that the rioters were peaceful. Armed with exclusive access to 41,000 hours of video captured by Capitol Police cameras, provided by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Carlson is selecting clips that downplay what really happened.
Michael Fanone, a former Washington, D.C., police officer who was severely injured while defending the Capitol on January 6, commented, “But as much as I feel anger and disgust about Tucker, I reserve equal disdain for McCarthy. His decision to hand over footage of restricted areas of the Capitol to a partisan actor who has routinely and gleefully spread misinformation about the attack endangers everyone working in the building. But it is not out of character: It is a damning reflection of just how extreme — or how opportunistic — the House speaker truly is.”
National Guardsmen To Help Staff State Prison
Commissioner Helen Hanks of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections told the Executive Council that 51 percent of the staff positions at the state prison for men in Concord are vacant, with the remaining staff working overtime to fill the need. The problem has been a concern since 2017.
To deal with the inadequate staffing, the New Hampshire National Guard has assigned 18 members to serve there for the next three months.
Hanks said the prison needs to have competitive pay if it is to fill its vacancies. Current starting pay is $20 an hour, with a pay increase scheduled.
Better Benefits, Reduced Deficit
President Joe Biden Jr. plans to release his fiscal 2024 budget plan today and administration officials say it would reduce federal budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. Among the president’s recommendations to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid from cuts is increased taxation for companies and people earning more than $400,000 a year.
The tax reforms would “ensure the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share while cutting wasteful spending on special interests, like Big Oil and Big Pharma,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday. Biden hopes to raise the Medicare tax on income above $400,000 from 3.8% to 5%, and expand the federal government’s ability to negotiate drug prices to keep the healthcare program solvent.
The budget plan would boost federal funding for childcare and early childhood education by billions of dollars to ensure free preschool for all 4-year-olds in the belief that lack of access to affordable childcare is depressing women’s participation in the workforce.
TSA Demands Steps Against Cyberattacks
The Transportation Security Administration has used its emergency powers to amend its security directives for airport and aircraft operators, compelling them to develop plans for hardening their digital networks and infrastructure against cyberattacks.
It is the latest effort by federal agencies under the Biden administration to establish baseline cybersecurity rules in recognition of the persistent cybersecurity threats taking place against U.S. infrastructure. The move follows TSA’s host of new regulations for the oil, gas, and pipeline sectors in 2021 after the ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline led to temporary gas shortages up and down the East Coast.
Pro-Russian hackers hit a handful of U.S. airport websites with Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks last year, temporarily disrupting their availability.
Café Chatter
On Free-For-All: Don't care for Sununu At all
— Louise Tilton
Support Our Efforts
Do you have a story to tell?
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where, each weekday, we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international. Mondays are reserved for more personal observations which only paid subscribers will receive, while Tuesday through Friday will draw from news stories published by various sources.
The News Café relies on subscriptions, rather than on advertising and grants, for its support. That frees us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues without having to weigh whether it would upset advertisers or fit into grant guidelines. Our only obligation is to provide information we believe is useful to our readers.
Subscriptions to this newsletter are available for as little as $5 per month. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
If you’re unable to pay but still want to receive all of the free public posts in your in-box, click the Subscribe button and select a free subscription.
Visit us at www.libertymedianh.org