Doctor Attempted To Hire Hells Angels To Order Hit On Witness In His Opioid Fraud Trial

A doctor in Connecticut charged with distributing fraudulent opioid prescriptions now also faces obstruction of justice raps for attempting to hire a hitman to kill a witness set to testify against him. Anatoly Braylovsky, a 50-year-old doctor from Wallingford, Connecticut, has been arrested on Friday, Aug. 27, a few days after his attempt to hire a hitman from the biker gang Hells Angels went awry, the Daily Beast reported.
Read more: https://www.latintimes.com/doctor-attempted-hire-hells-angels-order-hit-witness-his-opioid-fraud-trial-483994?source=Snapzu

China cuts children's online gaming to one hour

Regulators are restricting game-playing for under 18s to an hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58384457?source=Snapzu

On YouTube, you’re never far from a dying kitten

Staged animal rescue videos featuring brutal violence and cruelty are racking up millions of views on YouTube
Read more: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/youtube-animal-abuse-rescue?source=Snapzu

Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello Pleads for Help to Get Female Guitar Students Out of Afghanistan

Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is advocating for a group of young female musicians in Afghanistan to get them out following the Taliban takeover.
Read more: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9622154/rage-against-the-machine-tom-morello-female-guitar-students-afghanistan-plea/?source=Snapzu

Single-use plastic plates and cutlery to be banned in England

Polystyrene cups will also be banned but campaigners say action to cut plastic waste is ‘snail-paced’
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/27/single-use-plastic-plates-and-cutlery-to-be-banned-in-england?source=Snapzu

Hackers are trying to topple Belarus’s dictator, with help from the inside

Opposition from inside the regime of Alexander Lukashenko is helping hackers run what may be the most comprehensive cyberattack on a nation ever.
Read more: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/26/1033205/belarus-cyber-partisans-lukashenko-hack-opposition/?source=Snapzu

Eric Clapton releases song seen as criticising official response to Covid

Eric Clapton, a staunch critic of measures designed to tackle the Covid pandemic, has released a song entitled This Has Gotta Stop. While the song does not directly mention lockdown measures or vaccines, the musician has performed on anti-vaccine songs in recent months. His latest offering has been interpreted by some as an attack on the measures recommended by health officials.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/29/eric-clapton-releases-song-seen-as-criticising-official-response-to-covid?source=Snapzu

Ukrainian troops rescue Canada-bound Afghans in daring operation

A plane carrying Afghan translators, including one who worked for The Globe and Mail and another who served the Canadian military, as well as their families, has arrived in Kyiv following a daring operation by Ukrainian soldiers stationed at Kabul airport.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-ukraine-leads-daring-rescue-of-canada-bound-afghans/?source=Snapzu

Ed Asner, the Iconic Lou Grant on Two Acclaimed TV Series, Dies at 91

The seven-time Emmy winner was funny on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and serious on his own newspaper drama, then delighted movie audiences with 'Up.'
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ed-asner-dead-lou-grant-1235004802/?source=Snapzu

Hate robocalls? You'll love what's coming today

Voice providers are running up against a June 30 deadline to implement the Stir/Shaken technology to help curb annoying and costly robocalls.
Read more: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/robocalls-are-out-of-control-a-new-mandated-technology-helping/?source=Snapzu

Toyota suspends self-driving vehicles after Olympic village accident

Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda apologized for the incident in a YouTube video.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/toyota-suspends-self-driving-vehicles-after-accident-olympic-village-n1277849?source=Snapzu

Russia’s hypersonic missiles: Can the world avert an arms race?

Moscow takes a lead in new technology that can evade conventional defences and fly at seven times the speed of sound.
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/counting-the-cost/2021/8/28/russias-hypersonic-missiles-can-the-world-avert-an-arms-race?source=Snapzu

'This is just no way to live': What it's like delivering parcels for Amazon

When internet shoppers want their items yesterday, who pays the price? This is what it's like to deliver parcels for the world's biggest online retailer.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/amazon-flex-delivery-drivers-voice-safety-concerns/100404498?source=Snapzu

Someone Unearthed This 1976 Clip Of Arthur C. Clarke Predicting The Future Of Technology, And It's Amazing How Much He Got Right - Digg

Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer best known for penning "2001: A Space Odyssey," accurately foresaw the future of the way we live.
Read more: https://digg.com/video/someone-unearthed-this-1976-clip-of-arthur-c-clarke-predicting-the-future-of-technology?source=Snapzu

Florida radio host who called himself ‘Mr Anti-Vax’ dies of Covid-19

A conservative radio host from Florida who criticised coronavirus vaccination efforts – and called himself “Mr Anti-Vax” – before contracting Covid-19 himself has died, his station said on Saturday.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/29/conservative-radio-host-anti-vaxxer-dies-covid-marc-bernier?source=Snapzu

How to Pass Your Values On to Your Children

If you don’t play an active role in raising your children, you’re leaving it to chance. Here are 15 ways to pass your values on to your kids.
Read more: https://www.franksonnenbergonline.com/posters/how-to-pass-your-values-on-to-your-children/?source=Snapzu

Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’

Three Texas authors expose the myth that the 1836 battle at a San Antonio mission was about freedom. It was about slavery
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/29/forget-the-alamo-review-texas-slavery-mexico-burrough-tomlinson-stanford?source=Snapzu

Government to ban single-use plastic cutlery

The government has announced plans to ban single-use plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups in England as part of what it calls a "war on plastic". Ministers said the move would help to reduce litter and cut the amount of plastic waste in oceans. A consultation on the policy will launch in the autumn - although the government has not ruled out including other items in the ban.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58360064?source=Snapzu

Ecological Amnesia: Life Without Wild Things

We have forgotten the primeval forests and expansive grasslands where wildlife thrived, an ecological amnesia. We must work to remember, regenerate, and restore
Read more: https://www.wilderutopia.com/international/earth/ecological-amnesia-life-without-wild-things/?source=Snapzu

Harvard University’s new chief chaplain is … an atheist

Greg Epstein, unanimously elected by his fellow university chaplains, says: ‘I want to be a positive force’
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/28/harvard-university-chief-chaplain-atheist?source=Snapzu

Gun that killed Billy the Kid sells for $6 million

The gun that killed American Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid sold for more than $6 million at auction on Friday in Los Angeles, more than double the pre-sale estimate.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/gun-that-killed-billy-kid-sells-6-million-2021-08-27/?source=Snapzu

Buy a luxury building, then lower the rent: A housing fix for California's middle class?

A new program involving local subsidies aims to help middle-income Californians afford better housing. Critics say it's a bad use of public funds. 
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-23/luxury-apartment-lower-rent-affordable-housing-california-middle-class?source=Snapzu

Bitcoin Has No Value: People Bank's Of China Official Announces Further Crackdown

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and other cryptocurrencies "are not legal tenders and have no actual value support," according to Deputy Director of the Financial Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Yin Youping. What Happened: According to a report by local news outlet People's Daily Online, Youping said that cryptocurrencies are purely speculative assets.
Read more: https://us.yahoo.com/finance/news/bitcoin-no-value-people-banks-195931100.html?source=Snapzu

January 6th Capitol attack investigators demand records from tech giants

Since the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, a "Select Committee" has been formed in the House of Representatives to investigate the circumstances that led to a mob breaching the country's seat of government. Part of that wide-ranging investigation will apparently involve a close look at the biggest social media companies in the world. The committee today announced that it was requesting records relating to the attack from 15 companies, who were asked to respond in the next two weeks.
Read more: https://www.engadget.com/us-select-committee-social-media-company-records-demand-211356022.html?source=Snapzu

Google Report Shows 'Reverse Warrants' Are Swiftly Becoming Law Enforcement's Go-To Investigative Tool

Thanks to its never-ending collection of location data, Google has become a prime target for law enforcement investigators. Using so-called "reverse warrants," investigators ask Google to turn over information for all devices in a geofenced...
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210821/10494847401/google-report-shows-reverse-warrants-are-swiftly-becoming-law-enforcements-go-to-investigative-tool.shtml?source=Snapzu

Wildfire Smoke Linked to Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in the West

Thousands of coronavirus cases and hundreds of deaths may be attributable to the particulate matter in wildfire smoke
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wildfire-smoke-linked-covid-19-cases-and-deaths-west-180978450/?source=Snapzu

Oh No, Jeopardy!’s Other New Host Is Pretty Bad Too

Mayim Bialik, neuroscientist and sitcom actor, is the last remaining host of Jeopardy! following the high-profile departure of executive producer Mike Richards as the late, great Alex Trebek’s replacement. But where Richards was taken down by his skeevy treatment of women, Bialik is courting her own controversy thanks to the resurfacing of past comments she’s made about vaccinations and birth via Caesarean section.
Read more: https://kotaku.com/oh-no-jeopardy-s-other-new-host-is-pretty-bad-too-1847549769?source=Snapzu

TikTok Is Using Shrek Porn to Fight an Anti-Abortion Website

In a series of events that perfectly follows the natural life cycle of the internet, an anti-abortion group set up a website to enable Texans to become anonymous “pro-life whistleblowers”—that is now being beset by trolls, including at least one wielding Shrek porn.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn9ae/tiktok-shrek-porn-anti-abortion-website?source=Snapzu

Taliban wants to help fight climate change, terrorism, despite links to executions, oppression: reports

This is not your grandfather’s Taliban. At least that’s what a senior official for the ruling militant organization in Afghanistan might have the world believe. Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a member of the Taliban’s Cultural Commission, says the group wants to help fight climate change and global terrorism, according to Newsweek.
Read more: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/taliban-climate-change-terrorism-executions-oppression?source=Snapzu

ISIS-K, the group behind the Kabul airport attack, sees both Taliban and the U.S. as enemies

Terrorism experts say the Islamic State offshoot will try to ramp up attacks with U.S. leaving Afghanistan.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/isisk-afghanistan-bombing/2021/08/26/436a65fc-06a6-11ec-ba15-9c4f59a60478_story.html?source=Snapzu

54 Years Late, Dorothy Parker Finally Gets a Tombstone

The beloved author wrote many witty epitaphs but never suggested where her remains should end up. Her fans helped complete her ashes’ odyssey. Dorothy Parker was born during a hurricane. So the poet, known for her mordant wit, might have gotten a dark chuckle that Hurricane Henri derailed plans for the long-in-coming unveiling of her headstone at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx last Sunday.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/nyregion/27dorothy-parker-gravestone.html?source=Snapzu

Adult film star Ron Jeremy indicted on rape and other sexual assault charges

Porn star Ron Jeremy has been indicted on more than 30 counts of sexual assault involving 21 women over the past two decades, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Jeremy, whose legal last name is Hyatt, is accused of sexually assaulting the women over a 23-year span between 1996 and 2019, according to the district attorney's office. The victims range in age from 15 to 51.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/25/entertainment/ron-jeremy-sexual-assault-charges-indictment/index.html?source=Snapzu

TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook are struggling with ivermectin misinformation

Platforms face the latest wave of COVID-19 misinformation.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/27/22644579/tiktok-reddit-facebook-ivermectin-covid-19-misinformation?source=Snapzu

California Wants To Become The First State To Pay People With Addiction To Stay Sober

Frustrated by out-of-control increases in drug overdose deaths, California's leaders are trying something radical: They want the state to be the first to pay people to stay sober. The federal government has been doing it for years with military veterans and research shows it is one of the most effective ways to get people to stop using drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, stimulants for which there are no pharmaceutical treatments available.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/26/1031220835/california-bill-treatment-addiction?source=Snapzu

YouTube suspends pay of 14 Brazilian creators over misinformation allegations

Fourteen YouTube channels have had their payments suspended by the company amid allegations that they spread misinformation about the country’s 2022 election. "In compliance with the decision of the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of August 16, YouTube informs that it has suspended access to the revenue attributed to those responsible for the 14 channels indicated by the TSE," a YouTube spokesperson told The Hill in a statement.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/569667-youtube-suspends-pay-of-14-brazilian-creators-over-misinformation?source=Snapzu

He Was On The Fence About The Vaccine, Then THIS Happened

Read more: https://snapzu.com/Gozzin/he-was-on-the-fence-about-the-vaccine-then-this-happened?source=Snapzu

Several U.S. Cities Using AI Tool To Monitor Residents' Social Media

Nearly 200 cities across the country, including six in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, are using a tech tool to keep an eye on what you say online. Brooklyn Park and Woodbury have contracts with the company Zencity, which, according to its website, uses artificial intelligence to aggregate social media posts and comments about things happening in the community.
Read more: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/08/24/cities-monitoring-resident-social-media-zencity/?source=Snapzu

HBCUs clear student balances and cancel debt with federal funds

The Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the finances of many Black Americans, including student loan borrowers. Black college graduates owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than white college grads, and over 50% of Black borrowers say their net worth is less than what they owe on student loans.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/hbcus-clear-student-balances-cancel-debt-federal-funds-rcna1774?source=Snapzu

Celebrities Disappear From Internet as China Moves Against Fan Culture

China announced further steps to control celebrity fan culture, which regulators say has become “chaotic.”
Read more: https://variety.com/2021/digital/asia/china-celebrities-disappear-internet-fan-culture-crackdown-1235050381/?source=Snapzu

Canadian travellers fined $5,700 each for getting wrong COVID-19 test before returning from U.S.

Three travellers say Canadian authorities fined them for getting the wrong COVID-19 tests in the U.S. before flying home to Canada.
Read more: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/canadian-travellers-fined-5-700-each-for-getting-wrong-covid-19-test-before-returning-from-u-s-1.5560090?source=Snapzu

The Most Translated Books From Every Country in the World

These maps show the books translated into the most languages from every country in the world, a great way to start reading in translation!
Read more: https://bookriot.com/most-translated-books/?source=Snapzu

Murder suspect stops trial to plead guilty to killing teen after Valentine’s Day dance nearly 50 years ago

A Texas man accused of killing of a 17-year-old girl after a Valentine’s Day dance nearly 50 years ago stopped his own murder trial to enter a guilty plea this week, earning him life behind bars.
Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-texas-man-accused-dance-stops-trial-guilty-20210826-lcyu4rkbazfhjdbibk3cu4rycu-story.html?source=Snapzu

Months after Ma’Khia Bryant’s killing, Columbus police more emboldened than ever

On 20 April, millions held their breath as they waited for a judge to read the verdict that the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been found guilty of the murder of George Floyd. About 20 minutes before the verdict, Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old foster child, was fatally shot by a police officer a few hundred miles away in Columbus, Ohio.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/26/ma-khia-bryant-columbus-ohio-police?source=Snapzu

The New Chief Chaplain at Harvard? An Atheist.

The Puritan colonists who settled in New England in the 1630s had a nagging concern about the churches they were building: How would they ensure that the clergymen would be literate? Their answer was Harvard University, a school that was established to educate the ministry and adopted the motto “Truth for Christ and the Church.” It was named after a pastor, John Harvard, and it would be more than 70 years before the school had a president who was not a clergyman.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/us/harvard-chaplain-greg-epstein.html?source=Snapzu

The great infodemic: time to consider a fake news tax

In a speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference on 15 February 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that “fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous”. In fact, we are in a middle of what the WHO calls an infodemic: “too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak”.
Read more: https://www.bruegel.org/2021/08/the-great-infodemic-time-to-consider-a-fake-news-tax/?source=Snapzu

Jeff Bezos Dick Rocket Goes on Sale for $69 in Scale Model Form

Model rocket maker Estes is releasing a 1/66th scale model of the Blue Origin rocket New Shepard, meaning that anyone will be able to launch their own version of the spacecraft 400 feet into the air. But if you’re wondering, yes, the Estes version looks exactly like the real version. Which is to say that it looks like a dick.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/jeff-bezos-dick-rocket-goes-on-sale-for-69-in-scale-mo-1847560824?source=Snapzu

Ten federal agencies are expanding their use of facial recognition

The Government Accountability Office has revealed in a new report that 10 federal agencies are planning to expand their use of facial recognition. In a survey involving 24 federal agencies on their use of facial recognition technology, the Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Interior, Justice, State, Treasury and Veterans Affairs departments told GAO that they're planning to use facial recognition in more areas through fiscal year 2023.
Read more: https://www.engadget.com/ten-federal-agencies-expanding-facial-recognition-070044629.html?source=Snapzu

Man sentenced to prison after admitting plot to kidnap Michigan governor

Ty Garbin gets six and a quarter years after pleading guilty with five others still charged with plot to seize Gretchen Whitmer
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/25/michigan-governor-kidnap-plot-sentence-ty-garbin-gretchen-whitmer?source=Snapzu

Ron Jeremy Indicted On 33 Sexual Assault Charges By Los Angeles DA & Grand Jury; Ex-Porn Star Pleads Not Guilty Again

Behind bars for over a year, Ron Jeremy was in court again Wednesday to now face the hard justice of a grand jury.
Read more: https://deadline.com/2021/08/porn-ron-jeremy-rape-indictment-la-district-attorney-george-gascon-harvey-weinstein-1234822009/?source=Snapzu

How social media helped the tech-savvy Taliban retake Afghanistan

Online communities are not just used for propaganda but are valuable fundraising tools and crucial to recruitment, says politics lecturer Weeda Mehran
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/24/tech-savvy-taliban-afghanistan-propaganda-fundraising-recruitment?source=Snapzu