Source: Reuters

More than two dozen U.S. insurers affiliated with Travelers Cos (TRV.N) have sued two Saudi banks, companies affiliated with Osama bin Laden's family, and several charities for at least $4.2 billion over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The lawsuit filed late on Wednesday night in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan is the latest effort to hold entities in Saudi Arabia liable for the attacks.

Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked airplanes crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. and a Pennsylvania field.

The 10 defendants in the lawsuit include Al Rajhi Bank 1120.SE, National Commercial Bank 1180.SE, aviation contractor Dallah Avco, the Mohamed Binladin Co, the Muslim World League, and other charities.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-sept-idUSKBN17F2FX?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-sept-idUSKBN17F2FX?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

They're threatening a government shutdown—against their own party.

The comeback strategy Republicans adopted after back-to-back election wipeouts in the 2006 midterms and Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 drew heavily on two relentless tactics:

First, GOP leaders promised to reward their core supporters with unrealistic bounties once they returned to power;

Second, they attempted to extort those concessions from unwilling Democrats using procedurally extreme legislative maneuvers.

https://newrepublic.com/article/142024/republicans-holding-hostage

An Oklahoman congressman is under fire after he seemingly dismissed the notion that his constituents pay for him to go to Congress, calling the idea “bullcrap” in a viral video making the rounds on social media.

Markwayne Mullin, speaking at a town hall Tuesday in Jay, Oklahoma, was responding to a question from the audience when he responded to a claim that constituents pay for him to work in Congress.

“You say you pay for me to do this. Bullcrap. I pay for myself. I paid enough taxes before I got there and continue to through my company to pay my own salary. This is a service. No one here pays me to go,” said the 39-year-old Republican who represents Oklahoma’s second district, which covers much of the eastern part of the state.

When several audience members pushed back against this claim, Mullin went on, “I’m just saying this is a service for me, not a career, and I thank God this is not how I make my living.”


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article144264444.html#storylink=cpy

Smart design company Skipping Rocks Lab has successfully crowdfunded their next big move.

The eco-friendly water bottle of the future could be an edible, drinkable, compostable bubble. From London-based creators Skipping Rocks Lab, Ooho! is poised to be an antidote to the wasteful and manipulative world of plastic bottled water.

Since 2014, it's been surging through the UK startup scene, and already Ooho! has raised £605k in two days of crowdfunding on Crowdcube. Half of the money will be used to develop Skipping Rocks Lab machinery, and the other half will pay for research and development into making the material, which is already comparable to plastic in cost of production, cheaper, faster, and better.

https://creators.vice.com/en_us/article/drinkable-water-bubble-plastic-bottle-killer

https://twitter.com/BentInfinity/status/852500503288303616

$75,535 to sell our internet history
How much for a town hall with your constituents?

Paid for by www.actiontogethersuncoast.com
A Florida Indivisible Group

&feature=youtu.be

Source: The Verge

Apr 12, 2017, 3:32pm EDT

Just under three hours after Burger King unveiled a new advertisement designed to hijack your Google Home to read a long-winded description of its Whopper burger, Google has disabled the functionality. It was fun / horrifying while it lasted!

As of 2:45PM ET, Google Home will no longer respond when prompted by the specific Burger King commercial that asks “What is the Whopper burger?” It does, however, still respond with the top result from Wikipedia when someone else (i.e., a real user) other than the advertisement asks the same question. Google has likely registered the sound clip from the ad to disable unwanted Home triggers, as it does with its own Google Home commercials.

After the ad debuted at 12PM ET today, many users have edited the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper, adding a slew of troll-tastic descriptions including “cancer-causing,” “a chocolate candy” (in reference to the Hershey candy) and ingredients like “toenail clippings” and “rat.” Briefly, some users were able to get their Google Homes to respond with the edited entries (as did we, in a test yesterday). Wikipedia has now locked the entry, allowing changes to be made only by authorized administrators.

Read more: http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/12/15277278/google-home-burger-king-whopper-ad-campaign

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designed to hijack your Google Home

Washington – Today, Rep. Ted Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) released the following statement regarding the revelation that the FBI obtained a secret court order to surveil Trump campaign advisor Carter Page due to fears he was acting as an asset of the Russian government.

“The revelation that Trump Campaign Team Member Carter Page's communications were monitored by the FBI – via a secret court order – is stunning and explosive. This means an independent FISA court judge authorized FBI surveillance of Page due to probable cause that he was acting as an agent of the Russian government at the height of the 2016 U.S. Election.”

“There is nothing more important than the American people’s right to know the whole truth about any possible collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign. That’s why a special prosecutor must be appointed by the Department of Justice to investigate this urgent matter. That is exactly what Reps. Kathleen Rice, Stacey Plaskett and I called for last week in a letter to acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.”

“The new revelations about Page, along with Michael Flynn's pending request for immunity, add urgency to our request for a special prosecutor. At stake is the legitimacy of the Presidency and the integrity of our democracy. The acting Deputy Attorney General must appoint a Special Prosecutor now.”


https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-lieu-statement-need-special-prosecutor-wake-fisa-warrant-carter-page

Offhand remark an unexpected moment as foreign ministers meet
Top diplomat still finding footing in protocol-rich meetings

With one offhand remark, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson left European diplomats befuddled at a gathering in Italy.

“Why should U.S. taxpayers be interested in Ukraine?” Tillerson asked foreign ministers discussing Russia’s intervention there at a Group of Seven gathering Tuesday in Lucca, Italy.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who later recounted the exchange to reporters, said he responded that American taxpayers ought to want a European Union that’s “strong politically, strong from a security point of view, and strong economically.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-11/tillerson-asks-why-u-s-taxpayers-should-care-about-ukraine?utm_content=politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics