Netflix Password Crackdown May Be “A Net Positive In The Long Term,” Analyst Claims
Netflix sent a message this week to some accounts with multiple users, threatening them with a service cut-off if illegally sharing passwords but offering the incentive of a free 30-day trial in certain territories. The message read: “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”
Netflix said the move was “designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.”
Research company Magid claims 33% of Netflix users share their password with at least one other person. That led one analyst to cheer the attempt to cut-off the freeloaders while discounting the negative fallout from such actions during a pandemic that has left many stuck at home and unemployed.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Allegheny County Sheriffs arrested a 20-year-old man in the Knoxville neighborhood on Friday night after it was found he had a handgun, marijuana, more than $5,000 in cash, and several unopened packs of scratch-off lottery tickets.
Daylight saving time officially starts Sunday, March 14 at 2 a.m., shifting the clocks to put more daylight into the afternoon hours. Since most people likely won’t hop up at 2 a.m. to make the change – or know that their smart devices handle it for them – it’s best to move the clocks ahead one hour before going to bed on Saturday, March 13.
As a mother of those two daughters at Obama Academy, Austin is distraught. Since the beginning of the school year, she says neither has been able to connect with the remote classes despite seven trips to the technology support center at the school.
“I can’t get into the account,” said Ciara Austin. “The computers won’t let me in. I can’t get to the teachers and say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’”
Like scores of other students who — for various reasons — have not been attending their remote classes, the district recently took the Austins to court for truancy. In a statement, the district says it determined there is nothing wrong with the laptops.
“We have provided support and engaged multiple times with this family and have found no problem with the district-issued technology. Any problem with connectivity is the result of user error.”
Giant Eagle is looking to fill more than 700 permanent full and part-time positions across the company’s Pittsburgh-area Giant Eagle and Market District supermarkets.
The company will conduct socially distant, in-person hiring events at host locations throughout the area March 15 to March 19. Candidates will meet with recruiters and have the opportunity for same-day job offers. All event participants will be required to wear a mask or other face covering.
Interested candidates are encouraged to visit www.GiantEagle.com/OnTheSpotOffers for complete event detail, a full list of host locations and to explore open positions and submit their application in advance to expedite the in-person interview process.
Portland police detained a crowd of over 100 protesters during a Friday night demonstration, stemming a march only minutes after it began.
The mass detainment was an apparent use of kettling, a police tactic of surrounding a crowd and containing people within a perimeter. Police told the crowd they were detaining everyone within the boundary for the “investigation of a crime” but did not specify the nature of the alleged crime.
Demonstrators initially gathered in the Pearl District about 8:30 p.m. and started marching roughly a half-hour later. Police threatened to arrest protesters minutes after the march started, saying those walking in the street were blocking traffic and would be subject to arrest, citation or crowd control munitions if they didn’t move.
Police announced about 9:20 p.m. they were setting up a perimeter around the group and detaining everyone. Police said the detention was “temporary” and that they would remove demonstrators “one at a time.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called on Andrew Cuomo to resign on Friday evening as sexual-harassment allegations against the embattled New York governor continue to pile up. “We commend the brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct,” they said in a statement. “Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has los the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign.”
Their call for his resignation comes after some of the most influential Democratic members of New York’s congressional delegation said Cuomo should resign in the wake of mounting scandals. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who has represented Manhattan in Congress for three decades, said in a statement that Cuomo had “lost the confidence of the people of New York.” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, meanwhile, said in a joint statement that Cuomo can “no longer effectively lead.” Freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones, calling Cuomo “unfit” for office, cited not only the sexual-harassment claims but also evidence of a plot to cover up COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes. Rep. Grace Meng, a former Democratic National Committee vice chair, joined the resignation calls as well. Later, Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez, long-tenured Manhattan and Brooklyn Democrats who chair House committees, called on Cuomo to resign, as did Reps. Yvette Clarke and Adriano Espaillat.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III approved a request from the U.S. Capitol Police for 2,300 National Guard troops to remain in Washington, D.C. through May 23, 2021. There are currently 5,200 troops deployed to the Capitol.
On Thursday, the Fox News Channel obtained a copy of a memo written by Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, in which he explained why the National Guard “cannot and should not fulfill the Capitol Police’s troop request at this time.”
Hokanson argued that “the National Guard is already over-stretched due to coronavirus constraints, civil disturbances and wildfires. Efforts to date have not secured enough volunteers among supporting states to meet the USCP request of 2,280 soldiers, nor Option B of 1000 soldiers.”
“I am concerned that the continued indefinite nature of this requirement may also impede our ability to man future missions as both adjutants general and guardsmen alike may be skeptical about committing to future endeavors,” he added.
According to Fox, Hokanson’s memo circulated within the White House National Security Council over the past week.
WASHINGTON — More than two months after the U.S. Capitol was attacked on Jan. 6, the Justice Department has yet to answer a key question: Was the siege planned well in advance?
Or was the decision to storm the building made on the spot by demonstrators who conspired to go to Washington to engage in violent protest in the streets?
A federal prosecutor said during a court hearing Friday for nine defendants facing conspiracy charges that “we do not have at this point someone explicitly saying our plan is to force entry into the Capitol in order to stop the certification.”
In the days immediately following the riots, federal prosecutors suggested in court documents that two separate extremist groups made up of followers of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, planned to forcibly enter the Capitol and stop the official counting of Electoral College votes for president.
Democrats hate for anyone to earn a living without relying on help from them – and they’ll do all they can to put a stop to it.
The PRO Act, passed by the House of Representatives last month and endorsed by Biden this week, could obliterate as many as 57 million jobs — that’s how many Americans freelanced in 2019, according to a survey released that year — by essentially outlawing freelance employment.
Like the other two stimulus payments, you can track the status of yours using the IRS’s Get My Payment tool. However, the tool is not available yet for the American Rescue Plan (ARP) payments, as the IRS needs time to review the law’s tax provisions. Treasury officials said Friday evening the tool would be available starting Monday, March 15.
Those with direct deposit set up with the IRS will receive their payments first. After those deposits, the IRS will mail paper checks and pre-paid debit cards to everyone else who qualifies. The Get My Payment tool will tell users what type of payment they can expect.
Users have reported problems using the tool in the past. The IRS said previously that the system can get overwhelmed when too many people use it. It also showed incorrect bank account information and deposit dates for some users during the disbursal of the second, $600 payment earlier this year.
Previously, the IRS has updated the tool once a day. If there is no update on the status of a payment, then users can check again the next day.
When the tool does go online, it will not show the status of the first two stimulus payments. People who were eligible for those but haven’t yet received one or both will need to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 tax returns.
(CNN)Addressing a pandemic-worn nation a year after coronavirus brought life to a halt, President Joe Biden on Thursday offered a plan to lift the country from crisis using a pair of upcoming dates: May 1, by which he will order states to allow all adults to receive vaccines; and July 4, when he said Americans can again celebrate Independence Day in person.
The deadlines offered distinct time frames for frazzled citizens looking for a sign that the worst year in recent memory is receding; they also carry inherent risk if they are not met. In a speech — his first in prime time — that actively sought to rebut the denials and divisions cultivated by his predecessor, Biden said the efforts he’s undertaken after 50 days in office could allow for a semblance of normality within months.
“After this long hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation but begin to mark our independence from this virus,” he said.
He cast the effort to beat back the virus as a collective and patriotic initiative, even as he lamented the untold losses suffered by Americans over the past year.
(CNN)Severe weather, historic snowfall and flash flooding are forecast for the next few days in areas of the central United States, from the Rockies to the Mississippi River Valley.
This storm system begins with its first threat over the Rockies, as intense bands of snowfall will dump feet of powder across Colorado and Wyoming.
Dangerous travel conditions will exist across portions of interstates 25, 70, and 80 — so drivers are urged to use extreme caution.
“Very difficult to impossible travel conditions expected across all of southeast Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle,” the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, said Thursday. “Expect extended periods of whiteout conditions, low visibilities, and possible power outages.”
But that’s just one side of the system. The south and eastern sides of the system — which will be pulling in warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico — will be fueling several days of severe storms, with the possibility of tornadoes.
Nearly 20 million people will be under the threat for severe storms at some point Friday through Sunday across half a dozen states with damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes.
In addition to all that, the cold front will eventually stall across the Southern Plains, resulting in heavy rain over much of the same region throughout the next couple of days which will lead to flooding.
The largest asteroid to zoom past Earth this year will do so on March 21, NASA says.
Astronomers will get a valuable opportunity to observe a space rock up close as asteroid 2001 FO32 swoops past our home planet on March 21, but the rock won’t come closer than 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced today (March 11) in a statement.
“There is no threat of a collision with our planet now or for centuries to come,” the statement read.
A National Guard member stationed in Washington, DC, to protect the Capitol died after suffering a medical emergency while off duty, a spokesperson for the force said Thursday.
The Guard member’s name and details about their death were not immediately released.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Guard’s joint task force in DC said the death was under investigation.
“Joint Task Force District of Columbia is sad to confirm the death of a National Guard member serving with the U.S. Capitol security mission due to an apparent medical emergency. The individual was not on duty at the time, and the incident is under investigation,” the spokesperson said.
More than 2,000 Guard soldiers are stationed in the nation’s capital and are scheduled to remain there until at least May, the Pentagon ordered earlier this week.
Relief payments from the American Rescue Plan Act will start being sent out within days, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. Some Americans could receive the money as early as this weekend, she added.
The first people to receive the checks are likely those who have direct deposit set up with the IRS. That’s because the government already has their account information on file and doesn’t need to go through the process of printing, sorting and mailing physical checks or pre-paid debit cards.
Americans who don’t have direct deposit will have to wait for the payments to be produced and sent, a process that can be time consuming.
Other issues have cropped up in the past, too. The last round of checks saw taxpayers complaining that payments had been deposited into the wrong bank accounts, which resulted in a delay in receiving the funds.
To be eligible for the full $1,400, individuals must have an adjusted gross income (AGI) below $75,000. Married couples filing jointly must have an AGI under $150,000 to receive the full $2,800.
To see how much relief you could expect to receive, personal finance website Grow created a calculator that factors in your filing status, annual income and the number of dependents you have.
(CNN)Matthew McConaughey says he is seriously considering a run for Texas governor.
The “True Detective” star, whose home state is Texas, says he is thinking it over and it may be what he wants to do with the next chapter of his life.
On a recent episode of Crime Stoppers of Houston’s “The Balanced Voice” podcast, McConaughey told host Rania Mankarious that running for governor is “a true consideration.”
“I’m looking into now again, what is my leadership role?” he said. “Because I do think I have some things to teach and share, and what is my role? What’s my category in my next chapter of life that I’m going into?”
Talk show host Sharon Osbourne lashed out at critics Wednesday after they questioned her support for embattled British TV personality Piers Morgan, who is under fire for his attacks on Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
On her CBS panel show “The Talk,” Osbourne said she shouldn’t be criticized for standing by her friend Morgan, who stormed off the set of ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” this week and left the show.
The consequences of that combination are deadly, experts say. “We are going through the worst-case scenario since the beginning of the pandemic. You just have to look at the trends in the average number of deaths,” Gonzalo Vecina Neto, a Sao Paulo University professor of Public Health, recently told Reuters television. “This could have been avoided and the most important factor is gatherings.”
Brazil has broken its own record three times this month for number of deaths in a 24-hour period. On Wednesday, Brazil’s Health Ministry registered a devastating new high — 2,286 lives lost to the virus. In total, more than 270,000 people are known to have died due to Covid-19, making Brazil’s the second-highest national death toll after the United States.
The House on Thursday passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, a measure that would require universal background checks on all commercial gun sales, part of a new push for gun control after Democrats won control of the Senate.
Some Republicans strongly objected to the expanded checks, one saying they’re “meant to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals.” Despite their criticism, eight Republicans backed the bill, which passed 227-203.
The plan will send stimulus checks to most Americans, extend unemployment aid, expand the child tax credit and put money into Covid-19 vaccinations.
President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Thursday afternoon.
The plan, his top priority as president, sends direct payments of up to $1,400, extends a $300 per week unemployment insurance supplement, expands the child tax credit and puts funds into vaccine distribution.
Democrats passed the legislation on their own in Congress, as Republicans question the need for a major stimulus package while the economy improves.
A former Mutual Aid Ambulance supervisor is charged with theft after an audit indicated he acquired personal vehicle parts and tires for a himself and a relative last year that were purchased through the Greensburg-based service’s business account, according to court documents.
Ben Malesky, 56, of Cook Township, also instructed other workers he supervised in the vehicle maintenance garage to save scrap metal to take to local recycler for cash, but he kept the money, Greensburg police Det. Charles Irvin alleges.
Malesky is charged with two counts of theft by unlawful taking and single counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and theft of services.
According to court documents, an ambulance service audit “showed several discrepancies related to the ordering of parts and work performed on the personal vehicles of Malesky and some relatives.”
Hundreds of Pittsburgh-area residents have been struck by a string of identity theft incidents in the form of fraudulent debit cards.
Local police departments have been receiving reports that residents have been mailed a debit card from Chase Bank that they did not sign up for.
Bethel Park police, along with 21 other municipalities that make up the South Hills Area Council of Governments, have been working together to investigate the incidents.
The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Merrick Garland as U.S. Attorney General, handing the reins of the Justice Department over to a longtime federal judge who’s pledged to de-politicize the agency.
He was confirmed by a vote of 70 to 30. Among the Republicans who voted in Garland’s favor were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Republicans who voted against Garland included two likely 2024 presidential candidates, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas.
“America can breathe a sigh of relief that we’re finally going to have someone like Merrick Garland leading the Justice Department. Someone with integrity, independence, respect for the rule of law and credibility on both sides of the aisle. He understands that the job of the attorney general is one to protect rule of law, unlike the previous attorneys general under President Trump,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said before the vote.
Congresswoman Mary Miller to oppose latest federal gun control measure – H.R. 8
Washington, D.C. – On the heels of approving massive new restrictions on law enforcement that effectively “defund the police,” the far-left leaders of the House are now pushing additional, unenforceable gun control legislation that will only hurt law abiding citizens and won’t make communities safer, according to Congresswoman Mary Miller.
H.R. 8 is the latest reincarnation of so-called “Universal Background Checks.” All gun purchasers at a retail store must go through a background check. In the case of online purchases, the online vendor sends the person to a licensed firearms dealer to do a background check. Police are present at gun shows to do background checks. The only sales in which a background check does not occur is private sales. In essence, H.R. 8 is nothing more than an attempt to end private sales of firearms.
“The idea that this is going to make us safer is laughable,” Miller said. “Criminals looking to get their hands on firearms to use in crimes are not going to submit to background checks. Only law-abiding citizens will follow the law. This is a back door means of setting up a national registry of firearms – something I completely oppose.”
Miller said a better approach is to make sure law enforcement agencies are working together and sharing information and to make sure they have the tools they need to enforce the gun laws already on the books.
“The problem with gun violence is not that we don’t have enough gun laws,” Miller said. “We have enough gun laws. What we need is to make sure the laws we have are enforced. Look at what happened in 2019 in Aurora when five people were shot and killed. The shooter had moved to Illinois from another state and because his background information was not updated – he was allowed to get a FOID card in Illinois and purchase firearms. Then when he applied for a conceal carry permit, his criminal background was discovered and his FOID card was revoked but his guns were never surrendered as required by law. If the gun laws had been enforced – a terrible tragedy could have been avoided. We need better enforcement – not more laws. Instead of passing terrible legislation like H.R. 8, we need to do a better job of providing law enforcement agencies with the resources they need to enforce existing gun laws.”
To require a background check for every firearm sale.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1.SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.
SEC. 3. FIREARMS TRANSFERS.
Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking subsection (s);
(2) by redesignating subsection (t) as subsection (s); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (s), as redesignated, the following:
“(t) (1) (A) It shall be unlawful for any person who is not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession of the firearm for the purpose of complying with subsection (s).
“(B) Upon taking possession of a firearm under subparagraph (A), a licensee shall comply with all requirements of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring the firearm from the inventory of the licensee to the unlicensed transferee.
“(C) If a transfer of a firearm described in subparagraph (A) will not be completed for any reason after a licensee takes possession of the firearm (including because the transfer of the firearm to, or receipt of the firearm by, the transferee would violate this chapter), the return of the firearm to the transferor by the licensee shall not constitute the transfer of a firearm for purposes of this chapter.