A Haitian American organization has filed suit in federal court against the American Red Cross, the International Red Cross and related entities, accusing the well-known charities of exploiting “the poverty and calamities” of an impoverished Haiti to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of humanitarian aid only to mismanage and misappropriate the funds to enrich themselves. The class-action lawsuit was filed Monday morning in the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida on behalf of the Haitian Diaspora Political Action Committee and individual Haitian-American plaintiffs, including Frantz St. Fort, the husband of a former director of the Haitian Red Cross in Port-au-Prince. The complaint before Judge Cecilia Altonaga accuses the Red Cross affiliates, including the Haitian Red Cross, and members of the leadership teams, of leveraging the 2010 earthquake and several subsequent natural disasters in 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023 for personal gain. More than a half billion dollars were raised in the name of relief efforts, the lawsuit says. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his death

Dusty May, No. 14 Michigan try to continue strong start vs. Arkansas

Lawyers for a voting machine company that’s suing Fox News want to question founder Rupert Murdoch about his contentious efforts to change his family trust , the attorneys told a court Monday. Election-tech company Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation suit regards Fox's reporting on 2020 voting fraud claims. But Smartmatic’s attorneys suggest the separate succession fight over Murdoch's media empire might shed light on any Fox Corp. involvement in editorial matters. It's an important, if technical, question as Smartmatic seeks to hold the deep-pocketed Fox parent company responsible for statements that the news network aired. Fox contends that there's no such liability and that it was engaging in journalism, not defamation, when it broadcast election-fraud allegations made by then-President Donald Trump 's attorneys. Rupert Murdoch may already have given a deposition — out-of-court questioning under oath — in the defamation suit. Such records aren't public at this stage, but plans for his deposition were briefly mentioned at a 2022 hearing. Smartmatic now is seeking to talk to Murdoch about his efforts to rewrite his plans for his businesses after his death. The matter is playing out behind closed doors and in sealed files in a Nevada probate court. The New York Times has reported that Rupert Murdoch wants to keep his eldest son, Lachlan , in charge of the conglomerate's newspapers and television networks in order to ensure a continued conservative editorial outlook . Smartmatic wants to get the 93-year-old patriarch on record while the probate matter plays out, company attorney Edward Wipper told a judge Monday. Fox News lawyer K. Winn Allen said the probate case “has nothing at all to do with” Smartmatic's claims and is “not appropriate” fodder for the suit. Fox Corp. declined to comment after court. Fox News' lawyers, meanwhile, want Smartmatic to provide records about a U.S. federal criminal case against people, including Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate, accused of scheming to bribe a Filipino election official . Piñate has pleaded not guilty. Smartmatic isn't charged in the criminal case, and Smartmatic attorneys have said the matter was irrelevant to the defamation suit. Fox lost prior bids for a court order to get the information, but a hearing on the network's renewed request is set next week. It's unclear how soon Judge David B. Cohen will decide on that request or on Smartmatic's bid to dig into the Murdoch family trust case. Both requests are part of pretrial information-gathering, and no trial date has been set. Smartmatic says it was a small player, working only with California's heavily Democratic Los Angeles County, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In subsequent Fox News appearances, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell portrayed Smartmatic as part of a multi-state scheme to steal the vote from the Republican. Federal and state election officials , exhaustive reviews in battleground states and Trump’s own attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. Nor did they uncover any credible evidence that the vote was tainted. Dozens of courts, including by judges whom Trump had appointed, rejected his fraud claims. Fox News ultimately aired an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations against Smartmatic — an interview done after the company demanded a retraction . The network is countersuing Smartmatic , claiming it violated a New York law against baseless suits aimed at squelching reporting or criticism on public issues. The New York defamation suit is one of several stemming from conservative-oriented news outlets' reports on Trump’s 2020 vote-rigging claims. Smartmatic recently settled with One America News Network and Newsmax . Fox News settled for $787 million last year with Dominion Voting Systems, another election-technology company that sued over conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump’s 2020 loss. Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press

The decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.Middle East latest: Blast rocks Beirut moments after Biden announces Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

Just days after disgraced former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz celebrated the public assassination of a CEO, Vox Media announced she is out at the end of the year, reports the far-left Semafor. Earlier this year, Vox signed a deal to distribute Lorenz’s Power User podcast and YouTube program. This was in February, months before Lorenz parted ways with the Washington Post — seemingly for lying to her bosses about declaring Joe Biden a “war criminal” in some dumb meme. At the time, the far-left Axios described the podcast/YouTube deal as “a huge win for Vox Media, which is trying to become a top destination for premiere talent to partner on distribution, monetization and strategy for their podcasts.” I guess no one — including Axios, Semafor, or Vox — bothered to look at the number of actual views Lorenz’s average YouTube video earned... Most are less than five thousand. Of the most recent ten posted, only two exceeded five thousand views. Newsflash: other than the neurotic trainwreck that is her life, Taylor Lorenz is not an interesting person. She’s boring. She’s predictable. If she was capable of composure or self-respect, no one would know her name. Axios made it sound like Lorenz chose Vox — as in, Vox was lucky to get her business. “There’s a tremendous amount of support for my work at The Post, ” she told Axios, “but Vox Media has a robust infrastructure in place to support my ambitions for the show, including a top-tier slate of technology and business shows and scale across video platforms.” “Several of their other podcasts already publish across audio and video platforms, and I think my show will benefit from the cross-collaboration and cross-promotion within their tech and business podcast roster,” she added, and I’m assuming Axios edited out all the “likes” and “you knows” from this moron’s statement. So she chose Vox, and now Vox is dumping her. Ha ha. As I mentioned last week when Lorenz cheered the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson... The middle-aged Lorenz, who frequently crybabies about being harassed online, immediately used her Bluesky account to digitally jump for joy over the news. Worse, she then put targets on the backs of other healthcare company officials and CEOs. Which is exactly what she did over at Bluesky (aka “Twitter for Pussies”). And Bluesky is where the left goes to show who they really are. Bulwark editor Jonathan Last is an even more recent example. After the fallout hit, Lorenz only made things worse. Instead of apologizing, she went the gaslight route with this bullshit : Let me be super clear: my post uses a collective “we” and is explaining the public sentiment. It is not me personally saying “I want these executives dead and so we should kill them.” I am explaining that thousands of Americans (myself included) are fed up with our barbaric healthcare system and the people at the top who rake in millions while inflicting pain, suffering, and death on millions of innocent people. But-but-but I thought Obamacare cured the American healthcare system...? Well, apparently not, if we’re trying to explain why Americans want healthcare CEOs gunned down in public. According to the latest reports, the person currently in custody as a suspect for the CEO shooting is a leftist, a Taylor Lorenz fellow traveler. No surprise there. You know, if Vox Media were truly interested in turning down our country’s political temperature, they would announce that there is a zero-tolerance policy at their outlet for celebrating and/or encouraging murder or any kind of violence, and that’s why Lorenz was shown the door. FREE-FREE-FREE for the holidays: an autographed bookplate if you purchase John Nolte’s first and last novel, BORROWED TIME, between now and December 20. After you’ve made the purchase, email your request to JJMNOLTE at HOTMAIL dot COM with an address and any personalization requests. For example, something like; “To Rachel Levine: The sexiest man alive.” Borrowed Time , is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here . Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook .State Treasurer Vivek Malek is urging public pension systems to adopt policies to prevent the use of retirement assets for political contributions. (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent) Every public pension program in Missouri should adopt policies against making political contributions from retirement funds, State Treasurer Vivek Malek wrote in a letter sent Monday to system managers. In the letter, Malek wrote that contributions this fall by funds set up to pay pensions for sheriffs and prosecutors to the campaign committee promoting passage of Amendment 6 were “ deeply concerning.” Using the money contributed by taxpayers and employees for political purposes rather than market investments does not help the funds pay current and future benefits, Malek wrote. “In fact, these expenditures imprudently risk system resources and erode the public’s trust,” Malek wrote. Missouri state pension board bans use of fund for political donations The letter, sent to 90 state and local pension funds , comes just a few days after the 11-member Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Retirement System voted to prohibit the use of its pension funds for political contributions . Malek is a trustee of MOSERS because of his office. The policy change was presented to the board by MOSERS staff after inquiries from Malek. During the meeting, Malek said the retirement system should be focused on maximizing the return on its investments to pay benefits. “All public employee retirement systems in Missouri, including MOSERS, should not expend any funds supporting or opposing ballot measures or the election of candidates for public office,” Malek said. “Keeping MOSERS free from such activities upholds the trust of those we serve and reinforces our commitment to remaining focused solely on our fiduciary responsibilities.” State Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Republican from Noel who is also on the MOSERS board, said last week he intends to file legislation barring political contributions from public pension funds. Amendment 6 , defeated with 61% of voters opposed, would have imposed fees on criminal cases to fund pensions for sheriffs and prosecutors. On Oct. 2, the Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System contributed $30,000 to the campaign, followed on Oct. 8 by a $50,000 contribution from the Prosecuting Attorneys and Circuit Attorneys Retirement System. The fees that had funded the two pension systems were declared unconstitutional in 2021. To shore up its finances, state lawmakers this year appropriated $5 million in general revenue to the sheriffs fund. The various pension funds for state, local and University of Missouri employees hold about $100 billion in net assets and some could, if any substantial portion were used for politics, provide far more than any other potential donor. That is why strict policies are needed, Malek said. “Recent expenditures of public pension funds in direct support of a ballot measure merit serious consideration of the appropriate use of these funds and a thoughtful response that safeguards our public pension systems’ mission,” the letter states. After the MOSERS action, The Independent sent inquiries to five retirement systems authorized by state law. The sheriffs and prosecutors systems did not respond to emails seeking comment on the MOSERS action. The three largest — for educators and public school employees; for local government employees; and for Department of Transportation and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers — all said long-standing policies and state law already prohibit the use of retirement funds for political donations. MOSERS had $8.9 billion in net assets on June 30, according to the latest annual report . It provides benefits to the largest number of former state employees, but it is not the wealthiest retirement fund created in state law. That distinction belongs to the system providing benefits for former educators and school district employees, known as PSRS/PEERS, which held $55 billion in assets on June 30, 2023. “PSRS/PEERS has long had a board policy that prohibits systems’ funds from being used for political purposes,” Executive Director Dearld Snider said. “The systems have never used and will never use systems’ funds to make contributions to political campaigns or ballot initiatives.” The local government system, known as LAGERS, has about $11 billion in assets. “It has been a longstanding practice of LAGERS to not use system assets for political purposes,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Althoff wrote in an email. The retirement system for Missouri Department of Transportation workers and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers has $3.7 billion in assets. Known as MPERS, it is maintained as a separate system because it is mainly funded by fuel taxes and vehicle fees, as are the agencies it serves. MPERS does not have a specific policy mirroring the MOSERS action and is unlikely to consider one, fund director Scott Simon wrote in an email. “What we do have are governing statutes that provide all assets of the fund are dedicated to and held in trust for the members and the purposes set forth in our governing statutes,” Simon wrote. “Nowhere in those statutes does it authorize the use of assets for political purposes (i.e., candidates, ballot initiatives, etc.).”

Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his deathPHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies and right-handed pitcher Joe Ross finalized a one-year contract on Monday. The 31-year-old Ross made 10 starts and 25 total appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers last season. He went 3-6 with a 3.77 ERA. Selected by the San Diego Padres in the first round of the 2011 amateur draft, the 6-foot-4 Ross has pitched in 123 career games across seven seasons with the Washington Nationals and Brewers. In his career, he has combined for a 4.19 ERA with 469 strikeouts to 170 walks. He's 29-34 with a 4.19 career ERA. Ross is the latest in an offseason of minor moves for the NL East champs. The Phillies acquired left-hander Jesús Luzardo from the Miami Marlins and signed free-agent outfielder Max Kepler to a $10 million, one-year deal. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB The Associated Press

The Western tourists going to Iraq for vacation