“When you bribed Robert #Menendez, did you do that alone or w/other people?” a prosecutor asked Uribe.
“With other people,” he responded, & then named Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman who founded a NJ halal meat co that prosecutors say was used to funnel #bribes to the senator & his wife.
Menendez & his wife are charged w/conspiring to accept cash, gold bullion & other bribes for Menendez to direct aid to #Egypt & to meddle in #criminal cases in NJ. One of those cases involved Uribe
#KetanjiBrownJackson also accepted 4 tickets worth nearly $4k from #Beyoncé to one of her concerts, & 2 pieces of art worth $12.5k to display in her chambers.
“Justice Jackson is Crazy in Love w/Beyoncé's music. Who isn’t?” said court spox Patricia McCabe.
Justice #Sotomayor reported a turn as a character on a #PBS children’s show “Alma’s Way,” a cartoon about a Puerto Rican girl & her family from the Bronx. The justice was paid ~$1.9k for voice work on 1 episode in which she played herself.
The reports show several #SCOTUS justices earning additional income from teaching at #law schools & accepting free travel to speak at events at universities & #legal orgs.
Justice Samuel #Alito was granted an extension to file his report, as he has received in past yrs.
Fed #ethics law requires top ofcls from all branches of govt, incl the justices, to file annual disclosures listing investments, gifts, outside income & spousal income source so the public can assess #conflicts of interest.
As of Jan, Chief Justice #JohnRoberts earns an annual salary of $312,200, while associate justices each earn $298,500. The judiciary’s rules limit justices to “outside earned income” of no more than about $32k per year, which many collect through teaching positions.
Book-writing payments do not count as outside income…. ≥4 #SCOTUS justices have forthcoming #books about their lives & the #law. Reports released Fri show #Kavanaugh is at work on a book, for which he has so far received $340k.
While #Biden has so far avoided naming #Trump during his time abroad, he has increasingly warned of the dangers posed by the kind of #authoritarian & #isolationist impulses the fmr president has embraced in his push to return to the #WhiteHouse. #POTUS, who has said in the past that America’s very #democracy is at stake in the coming #election, …[has juxtaposed] #DDay’s 80th anniversary to sound the alarm about the advance of #antidemocratic forces across the globe.
#Wages were strong: Avg hourly #earnings rose 0.4%, up 4.1% from a year earlier. That was also stronger than expected, since #WageIncreases have been easing since early 2022.
The household survey, from which the #unemployment rate is drawn, showed 408k fewer people #working in May than in April. That data has been out of joint for some time w/the survey of #employers, from which the #JobGrowth figure is tallied, suggesting revisions down the line.
The data is unlikely to affect the #FederalReserve’s decision next week on #InterestRates, when most economists expect policymakers to leave rates unchanged at their currently high level. #Fed ofcls have noted they are most focused on progress in suppressing inflation#.
In other data released this week, the ratio of #JobOpenings to #unemployed workers in April declined to prepandemic levels after peaking at more than two to one in early 2022. #Employers aren’t #hiring very quickly, but they’re not laying many people off, & #workers are less likely to quit their #jobs than they were in 2019.
The drop in #LaborForce participation came largely from those between the ages of 20–24, declining from 72.4% in April to 70.8% in May.
#SCOTUS Justice Samuel A. #Alito Jr. has offered multiple accounts of how politically charged flags [#insurrectionist flags] came to fly outside his homes in VA & NJ — the type of display that is generally off-limits for judges, who must remain #impartial & avoid even the appearance of #bias as they handle cases.
#Inflation soared under President #Biden in 2021 & 2022, as the #economy emerged from the #pandemic recession [that began under Trump]. Its causes were complex, including snarled #SupplyChains, stimulative policies by the #FederalReserve &, to a degree, federal fiscal policies incl’ing #Covid relief bills signed by #Trump &…Biden.
What #Republicans call “Bidenflation” has become one of the president’s biggest liabilities in his rematch w/ #Trump. In response, #Biden has sought to simultaneously cheer #progress in #stabilizing or bringing down #prices — #growth has slowed sharply from a yr ago — while acknowledging the pain #voters still feel in their pocketbooks.
Biden has also attacked #corporations for pricing practices in certain sectors such as meatpacking, snack foods, concert tickets & gasoline.
#Biden has worked to limit prices for #PrescriptionDrugs like insulin & inhalers, rein in #bank#overdraft & #creditcard fees & make airline #travel cheaper & more transparent, achievements that he often discusses on the campaign trail.
“We’re taking on #corporate#greed to bring down the #price of gas, food & rent, eliminating junk fees,” #POTUS told a crowd of cheering supporters in Philadelphia last week.
The federal #government is facing a dwindling window to #regulate the use of #ArtificialIntelligence in campaigns before the #2024election. The #FCC chair announced a plan last month to require #politicians to disclose #AI use in TV & radio #ads. But the prop is facing opposition from a #FEC top ofcl, which has been considering its own new rules on AI campaign use.
The dispute — along w/ #inaction at the #FEC & #Congress — could leave #voters w/limited federal #protections against those who use #AI to #mislead the public or mask their #political msgs…. New #generativeAI technologies have already proved capable of creating uncannily realistic images.
“AI has the potential to be very influential in our #elections, & right now, there’s a total vacuum of #regulation on this issue,” said Ellen Weintraub, the Democratic vice chair of the FEC.