Month: March 2018

Categories
News

News quiz, week ending March 30

1. About how many people are estimated to have attended the March For Our Lives in Washington?

a. 450,000
b. 600,000
c. 800,000

2. What caused snow across mountains in Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania to turn orange?

a. Dust from a solar storm that drifted through the atmosphere
b. Dust from pollution caused by manufacturing in China
c. Dust from a sandstorm in the Sahara

3. What flight was the CEO of Qantas Airways referring to when he called it “a game changer?”

a. A flight from Perth to London
b. A flight from Sydney to London
c. A flight from Perth to Doha

4. Why did Jewish groups in Britain protest outside Parliament?

a. To object to a decision by the government to sell weapons to the Israeli military
b. To object to what they say is a failure by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to tackle anti-Semitism within the party’s ranks
c. To object to the Labour Party’s alleged criticism of Israel

5. Louis Vuitton named Virgil Abloh as the company’s next artistic director of men’s wear. Which of the following is Abloh best known for?

a. Luxury goods
b. Women’s wear
c. Street wear

6. What foreign leader was aboard an armored train that pulled into Beijing on Monday?

a. Kim Jong Un
b. Moon-Jae
c. Narendra Modi

7. The announcement by the Commerce Department that the U.S. census would reinstate a question about what provoked a backlash?

a. Race
b. Citizenship
c. Sexual orientation

8. A cyberattack hobbled which U.S. city?

a. Chicago
b. Austin
c. Atlanta

9. Why did protestors temporarily take over Sacramento’s city hall on Tuesday?

a. To protest the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by two Sacramento police officers
b. To protest problems that the city has found in drinking water supplied to some communities
c. To protest what they charge is a failure of the city to use minority-owned firms in construction projects

10. Donald Trump nominated Ronny Jackson to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. What is Jackson’s current job?

a. Director of the National Security Council
b. Assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs
c. Trump’s doctor

11. Which of the following toys are a haven for bacteria, according to a study published Tuesday?

a. Rubber ducks
b. PlayStation VR
c. Lego

12. The oldest documented human footprints in North America where found where?

a. Cuatrocientas, Mexico
b. Calvert Island, British Columbia
c. Helena, Montana

13. Which technology company did Donald Trump attack via Twitter?

a. Facebook
b. Google
c. Amazon

14. Which country held a presidential election that opposition and human rights groups largely labeled a facade?

a. Spain
b. Egypt
c. Peru

15. Who took to Twitter to publish a spoof of an animated series about the Marvel superhero Deadpool that he was working on when the FX network cancelled it?

a. Donald Glover
b. Jay-Z
c. Ta-Neshi Coates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers
1. c
2. c
3. a
4. b
5. c
6. a
7. b
8. c
9. a
10. c
11. a
12. b
13. c
14. b
15. a

Categories
News

News quiz, week ending March 23

1. What action did Russia take in response to British allegations over the poisoning of a former spy?

a. Ordered the closure of the U.K. embassy
b. Charged the U.K. with a breach of international law
c. Expelled 23 British diplomats

2. Sunday’s election victory by Vladimir Putin marks how many terms for Russia’s president?

a. Three
b. Four
c. Five

3. What is the name of the carbon fiber and titanium safety device installed on the cockpits of cars that compete in Formula One?

a. Side
b. Halo
c. Aeroscreen

4. Police in France questioned former President Nicolas Sarkozy over allegations that he receives millions of euros in election funding from which government?

a. The regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi
b. The Chinese government
c. The Russian government

5. Why did Karen McDougal sue the National Enquirer?

a. To recover for an defamatory article about an affair that she allegedly had with Donald Trump
b. To declare as void a contract that prevents her from speaking about an alleged affair with Donald Trump a decade ago
c. For failure to uphold its promise to allow her to be a contributor in return for her agreeing to remain silent about an alleged affair with Donald Trump

6. Where will the ashes of Stephen Hawking be interred?

a. In St. Paul’s Cathedral
b. In outer space
c. In Westminster Abbey

7. What did Israel confirm for the first time this week?

a. That it bombed a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007
b. That it carried out a cyberattack in 2010 that delayed Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear reactor
c. That it recently destroyed Iranian missiles held at a base in Syria

8. Larry Kwong died on Thursday. What milestone did he achieve?

a. He was the National Basketball Association’s first player of Asian descent
b. He was the National Hockey League’s first player of Asian descent
c. He was Major League Baseball’s first player of Asian descent

9. What “incredibly sad news” did the CEO of Uber tweet about?

a. An Uber vehicle in autonomous mode struck and killed a pedestrian
b. An investigation found that female workers at Uber endured a pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination
c. An Uber driver was among the people killed in a series of bombings across Austin

10. Who said: “I know that there was a lot of pressure to speak sooner, but my assessment was that it was more important that what we said was fully accurate.”

a. Christopher Wylie
b. Mark Zuckerberg
c. Sheryl Sandberg

10. Which actress from “Sex and the City” will challenge Andrew Cuomo of New York for the Democratic nomination for governor?

a. Sarah Jessica Parker
b. Cynthia Nixon
c. Kristin Davis
d. Kim Cattrall

11. Why did retailer Best Buy say it would no longer sell phones from Huawei?

a. Because of U.S. Government concerns that Chinese electronics could be used for spying or cyberattacks
b. Because Huawei could not certify that it’s batteries satisfy U.S. safety standards
c. To protest a decision by the Chinese government to block Best Buy from online sales in that country

12. Who will replace HR McMaster as Donald Trump’s national security adviser?

a. John Dowd
b. John Kelly
c. John Bolton

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1.c
2. b
3. b
4. a
5. b
6. c
7. a
8. b
9. a
10. b
11. a
12. c

Categories
Privacy

FTC probing whether Facebook violated consent decree, report

In Nov. 2011, Facebook settled charges by the Federal Trade Commission that it deceived consumers by advising them they could keep their information on the social network private and then allowing it to be shared and made public.

In the wake of the revelations about Cambridge Analytica, the FTC reportedly is examining whether Facebook violated the terms of the settlement.

Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling firm, derived data from more than 50 million Facebook profiles that it accessed via a third-party app. A data scientist at Cambridge University harvested the data starting in June 2014.

That may have contravened the 2011 settlement. Among the charges by the FTC that led to the settlement:

Facebook represented that third-party apps that users’ installed would have access only to user information that they needed to operate. In fact, the apps could access nearly all of users’ personal data – data the apps didn’t need.

The FTC further charged:

Facebook told users they could restrict sharing of data to limited audiences – for example with “Friends Only.” In fact, selecting “Friends Only” did not prevent their information from being shared with third-party applications their friends used.

The settlement barred Facebook from misrepresenting the privacy or security of users’ personal information.

Categories
Economy U.S.

Trump’s lie to Canada’s prime minister about trade suggests disregard for the U.S. economy

At a fundraising dinner last Wednesday, President Trump boasted to supporters that he told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada that the U.S. ran a trade deficit with his country without knowing whether the assertion was true.

It’s not. Though news coverage of the incident focused on the fabrication, the lie, which by now one expects from Trump, also shows that the president cherry picks the trade that he recognizes. And in the calculus of Trump, goods trump services.

As it happens, the U.S. runs a trade surplus with Canada. On the whole, Canadians buy more from us than we buy from them. Though Americans  purchase more goods – think vehicles, machinery and plastics – from Canadians than they buy from us, they buy more services, including software, movies and travel, than Americans buy from them.

Our goods trade deficit with Canada was $12.1 billion in 2016, but our trade surplus with our neighbor to the north was $24.6 billion, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

A similar dynamic holds for China, which Trump also likes to jawbone about trade. As I’ve noted previously, the U.S. imports more goods from China than it exports, but it exports more services to China than it imports. The difference was $37 billion in 2016, up 12.3% from year earlier.

To be sure, the deficits in goods are real. But for Trump, the hammering on trade deficits – regardless of facts – plays to a political base in the Rust Belt, where, apparently, the president has concluded he needs to shore up his base in the hope of reelection.

But the focus disregards the economic well-being of millions of Americans elsewhere. And it’s not just in the so-called blue states such as California or New York that house many of the software, entertainment and financial firms that trade in services.

Canada represents the largest export market for U.S. agriculture. Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, says Trump’s proposed tariffs and threats to abrogate the North American Free Trade Agreement show a preference for the Rust Belt over the Farm Belt. “I think he’s looking at the Rust Belt primarily,” Roberts told Bloomberg.

Categories
Law

Kmart customer injured in fight with store employee cannot sue security company, appeals court rules

A Kmart customer who was injured in a fight with a store employee inside the store cannot sue a company that Kmart hired to provide security, a New York appeals court has ruled in a case that highlights when a contract provides a third party with legal rights.

In addition to suing Kmart, Abel Santiago, the customer, sought to sue U.S. Security Aviation Services, which Kmart hired for “the protection of… customers… in the premises” at a store in the Bronx.

At trial, Santiago obtained permission from the court to sue both Kmart and U.S. Security, which he argued that he relied on, to his detriment, to secure the premises. The appeals court in Manhattan disagreed, reasoning that by law the contract between Kmart and U.S. Security afforded no legal rights to Santiago.

In general, a contract does not give rights to someone who is not a party to the agreement. Though a third party can obtain legal rights under a contract, those rights generally vest only when the third party learns of the contract and relies on it. Such rights also can arise if the agreement is so comprehensive that it displaces the obligation of the store, in this case Kmart, to secure its premises.

Santiago testified when the fight occurred he knew nothing of the contract between Kmart and U.S. Security. He further said he did not rely on the agreement, which in practice limited the role of U.S. Security to deterring shoplifting.

Nor did the contract displace the obligation of Kmart, which Santiago could sue, to secure its store “because Kmart retained supervisory authority over the security guards and required U.S. Security’s staff to complete training in accordance with its (Kmart’s) safety policies and procedures,” Justice Peter Moulton wrote for a unanimous court in a ruling dated Feb. 27.

By its terms, the contract also excluded third parties from obtaining legal rights as part of the agreement.

That distinguishes the facts of Santiago’s case from, for example, a 1994 ruling by the Court of Appeals involving a nurse who was injured when a wall-mounted fan at the hospital in Schenectady where she worked fell on her as she tended to a patient.

In that case, the court allowed the nurse to sue the company that the hospital had hired to inspect, maintain and repair the facilities as part of an agreement that also required the maintenance company to train and supervise all service personnel.

“We hold that when a party contracts to inspect and repair and possesses the exclusive management and control of real or personal property which results in negligent infliction of injury, its assumed duty extends to non-contracting individuals reasonably within the zone and contemplation of the intended safety services,” the court wrote.

Categories
News

News quiz, week ending March 16

1. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front party in France, announced that the party now has a new name that officials hope will broaden its appeal. What is the new name of the party?

a. Union Nationale
b. Rassemblement National
c. Front Nationale

2. This designer, who dressed the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, died at the age of 91.

a. Cristobal Balenciaga
b. Hubert de Givenchy
c. Riccardo Tisci

3. Why did the Metropolitan Opera in New York fire James Levine, its conductor?

a. An investigation found that he had engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct
b. As part of a move to reverse a falloff in attendance
c. To make way for a successor after four decades with Levine at the helm

4. President Trump blocked the purchase of which U.S.-based maker of semiconductors, citing national security concerns?

a. Broadcom
b. Intel
c. Qualcomm

5. Who did President Trump name to head of the Central Intelligence Agency?

a. Mike Pompeo
b. Gina Haspel
c. David Shulkin

6. Stephen Hawking will be remembered for which one or more of the following?

a. The properties of black holes
b. The nature of gravity
c. Advocacy for space exploration

7. What prompted United Airlines to apologize?

a. A dog died on a flight during which it was stored in a passenger’s overhead compartment
b. The airline cancelled flights in and out of Boston ahead of a storm that failed to materialize
c. A computer glitch led the airline to overbook passengers

8. Which of the following  did Prime Minister Theresa May announce in return for Russian allegedly poisoning a former Russian spy who lives in Britain?

a. That the U.K. would withdraw from the soccer World Cup in Russia
b. That no members of the royal family would attend the World Cup
c. That the U.K. would lobby the United Nations to adopt economic sanctions against Russia

9. Why did thousands of students walk out of their schools on Wednesday?

a. To protest gun violence
b. To advocate for action to halt climate change
c. To affirm their support for the #metoo movement

10. What is the happiest country in the world, according to a United Nations report?

a. Norway
b. Canada
c. Finland

11. Angela Merkel began her latest term as German chancellor. How many terms does this make?

a. Four
b. Three
c. Two

12. Rihanna denounced an ad from which social network that joked about domestic violence between the singer and her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.

a. Twitter
b. Snapchat
c. Instagram

13. The founder of which once high-flying startup was charged by U.S. authorities with massive securities fraud?

a. Uber
b. Theranos
c. Jawbone

14. Google announced it would ban advertisements for which products?

a. Cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings
b. Automobile safety restraints
c. Drones

15. This week marked 10 years since the collapse of which Wall Street financial firm?

a. Washington Mutual
b. Lehman Brothers
c. Bear Stearns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1. b
2. b
3. a
4. c
5. b
6. a, b and c
7. a
8. b
9. a
10. c
11. a
12. b
13. b
14. a
15. c

Categories
News

News quiz, week ending March 9

1. Russia denied involvement in the attempted murder of a double agent and his daughter in which country?

2. Sir Roger Bannister died on Sunday. What milestone did he achieve?

3. Italy held an election to choose members of its two houses of parliament. Which of the following statements about the outcome is true?

– The voting produced a surge of support for populist and far-right parties.
– Italians voted largely for parties that are skeptical of Italy’s membership in the European Union.
– No single party won a majority.

4. The U.S. is likely to overtake which nation to become the world’s largest producer of oil by 2023, according to the International Energy Agency?

5. The Trump administration on Tuesday sued the state of California, alleging which of the following:

– That California’s laws governing vehicle emissions contravene federal law
– That California’s sanctuary laws violate the Constitution
– That California’s laws implementing Medicaid violate federal law

6. What did the adult film actress Stormy Daniels ask a Los Angeles judge to do in a lawsuit against President Trump that she filed on Tuesday?

– Declare that an agreement that obligated her to remain silent about a sexual relationship with Trump is void
– Stop the president’s lawyers from contending that her alleged decade-old affair with Trump did not happen
– Order Trump to  pay Daniels $130,000 that he allegedly promise to pay her

7. Who led the team of researchers that found the wreckage of the USS Lexington, which sank in 1942 after being attacked by the Japanese navy off the coast of Australia?

– Sir Richard Branson
– Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen
– Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos

8. Florida’s legislature passed a gun control bill. Which of the following provisions does the bill not contain:

– Raise the minimum age for gun purchases to 21 from 18
– Allow superintendents to arm counselors, coaches and librarians
– Ban assault weapons
– Allow police to temporarily confiscate guns from anyone subject to involuntary psychiatric evaluation
– Ban bump stocks

9. Senior officials from which nation announced the news that President Trump has agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?

– South Korea
– Japan
– China
– Australia

10. President Trump said tariffs on steel and aluminum may not apply to which two nations?

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1. England

2. He was the first athlete to break the four-minute mile.

3. All are true.

4. Russia

5. That California’s sanctuary laws violate the Constitution

6. That an agreement that obligated her to remain silent about a sexual relationship with Trump is void

7. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen

8. Ban assault weapons

9. South Korea

10. Canada and Mexico

Categories
Law

Trump lawsuit against California over immigration may rely on Obama era precedent

In charging the the state of California with interfering with  immigration enforcement, the Trump administration may rely in part on a ruling by the Supreme Court during the Obama administration that upheld the power of the federal government to regulate immigration

In 2010, the state of Arizona passed a law that aimed to ease the ability of officials there to identify, prosecute and deport immigrants who were in the country unlawfully. The Obama administration sued to block enforcement of the measure, which the administration contended interfered with federal enforcement.

A majority of the court agreed. Federal law trumped the Arizona measure, which required that aliens carry proof of registration with the federal government, barred unauthorized immigrants from seeking employment in the state, and allowed state police to arrest someone without a warrant based on suspicion they should be deported.

All conflicted with federal law, the court found. Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy noted that the federal government has broad authority over immigration.

“With power comes responsibility, and the sound exercise of national power over immigration depends on the nation’s meeting its responsibility to base its laws on a political will informed by searching, thoughtful, rational civic discourse,” he wrote. “Arizona may have understandable frustrations with the problems caused by illegal immigration while that process continues, but the state may not pursue policies that undermine federal law.”

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the Trump administration accused California of undermining federal immigration enforcement by enacting a series of laws that promote so-called sanctuary policies.

In a speech on Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions accused the state of intentionally using “every power the legislature has to undermine the duly established immigration laws of America.”

California officials responded that the state’s legislation does not interfere with federal law enforcement. Governor Jerry Brown accused the administration of attempting “to further divide and polarize America.”

He pointed to a statement he made last October when he signed the measures. “In enshrining these new protections, it is important to note what the bill does not do,” he wrote. “This bill does not prevent or prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security from doing their own work in any way.  They are free to use their own considerable resources to enforce federal immigration law in California.”

Legal experts agreed. The laws in Arizona and California differ, with the legislation in the Golden State unlikely to interfere with federal enforcement, Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor of law at Santa Clara University who studies state regulation of immigration, told the Associated Press.

Arizona created a “parallel immigration enforcement system” with its own laws, while California is setting standards for cooperation with federal immigration officials,”  Gulasekaram said.

Categories
Law

Trump administration sues California over immigration enforcement

The Trump administration is suing the state of California, charging the state with undermining the ability of the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

At issue in the lawsuit filed Tuesday are three laws enacted last year by California that reinforce so-called sanctuary policies, which aim to protect immigrants who are in the state without documentation from deportation.

One statute bars employers in California from cooperating voluntarily with immigration agents. The second authorizes the state’s attorney general to monitor immigration enforcement by federal agents. A third relieves local officials of an obligation to inform federal agents about immigrants who may be living in the country illegally.

Taken together, the laws “violate the Supremacy Clause, by, among other things, constitution an obstacle to the United States’ enforcement of the immigration laws and discriminating against federal immigration enforcement,” the Justice Department charged in court papers filed in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

The lawsuit comes amid a crackdown by the Trump administration on sanctuary policies and follows the arrests by federal agents of 232 people in Northern California as part of the administration’s intensifying  enforcement in the region.

Libby Schaaf, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, warned of imminent raids by federal immigration agents in the San Francisco Bay area. The warning helped about 800 people avoid arrest, said federal officials, who blasted the mayor and said they would investigate her for obstructing justice.

“I do not regret sharing this information,” Schaaf said. “It is Oakland’s legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws.”

Categories
News

News quiz, week ending March 2

1. Why did President Xi of China make headlines on Sunday?

2. The United Nations Secretary General demanded on Monday that a cease-fire resolution adopted for which country take effect immediately?

3. Under a proposal by the European Union, how long will social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook have to remove posts and videos that have been flagged as “terrorist” by police or law enforcement?

4. Republican lawmakers in Georgia approved a bill that would repeal a tax break that benefits which airline, in retaliation for the airline’s announcing it would eliminate discounts for members of the National Rifle Association?

5. The U.S. cable giant Comcast is considering an offer of $22 billion to buy which UK-based broadcaster?

6. Which of the following measures did Dick’s, the largest U.S. retailer of sporting goods, announce on Wednesday?
– That it was ending sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores
– That it will no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age
– That it will no longer sell high-capacity magazines
– That it never has nor ever will sell bump stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly

7. President Trump said Thursday said he would impose tariffs on imports of what metals?

8. What was the “Beast of the East”?

9. Which leader said on Thursday that his nation has developed nuclear weapons that could overcome any U.S. missile defenses?

10. Which of the following movies is not nominated for Best Picture at the 90th Academy Awards?
– Lady Bird
– Darkest Hour
– The Post
– Mudbound
– The Shape of Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1. The Communist Party that he heads announced that its central committee had recommended repealing a limit of two terms for the president and vice-president.

2. Syria

3. One hour

4. Delta

5. Sky

6. All of them

7. Steel and aluminum

8. A storm that brought as much as 20 inches of snow and bitter cold to the United Kingdom

9. Russian President Vladimir Putin

10. Mudbound