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☆ In the spotlight: London hosts Olivier Awards for theatre
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Paul Mescal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party after the 95th Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., March 12, 2023. The London theatre community will gather at the Royal Albert Hall for the annual ceremony, named after the famed British actor Laurence Olivier and which celebrates the best productions in the capital. These include nods for best entertainment or comedy play, choreography, directing, costume design and music, as well as a best actress nomination for Mei Mac, who plays younger sibling, four-year-old Mei. Paul Mescal, who was nominated at this year's Oscars, has been recognised in the best actor category for playing Stanley Kowalski in a revival of Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”. "Killing Eve" star Comer is up for best actress in one-woman play "Prima Facie", in which she portrays a barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault before herself being assaulted.

☆ 'My Neighbour Totoro,' Paul Mescal, Jodie Comer win at Olivier awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Jodie Comer poses with the award for Best Actress for "Prima Facie" accompanied by Paul Mescal at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain, April 2, 2023. It won best entertainment or comedy play as well as the director, set, lighting, sound and costume design category prizes. It won best revival, best actor for Paul Mescal for his role as Stanley Kowalski and best actress in a supporting role for Anjana Vasan, for her portrayal of Stella. "Killing Eve" star Jodie Comer won best actress in one-woman play "Prima Facie," in which she portrays a barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault before herself being assaulted. won best musical revival and best actor in a musical for Arthur Darvill.

☆ Lindsey Graham tried to fundraise for Trump on Fox News hours after the former president was indicted: 'Give the man some money so he can fight!'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Lindsey Graham tried to raise funds for Trump's war chest just after the former president was indicted. Graham told Fox News viewers to donate to Trump and "give the man some money" to fight the case. During the interview, Graham also called the New York indictment of Trump "legal voodoo." After Trump falsely predicted that he would get arrested on March 14, the Trump campaign pumped out multiple fundraising emails calling for contributions. The Democratic Governors Association and multiple Democrat PACs have sent out their own donation requests since Trump's indictment, The Times reported.

The lobbying comes amid a sustained effort by TikTok to play down fears raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. She defended the work of TikTok's team in Washington and said the company is trying to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns. At the furthest end of the extreme is the legislation from Hawley and Buck that simply seeks to ban TikTok outright by directing the president to block transactions with ByteDance. Hawley has not eased his campaign to ban TikTok. But after, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the majority of callers voicing opposition to a TikTok ban.

☆ Bipartisan US lawmakers introduce bill aimed at Google, Facebook ad clout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The bill targets Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Meta's (META.O) Facebook, as well as Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O), according to Senator Mike Lee's office. The bill would prohibit big digital advertising companies, with Google the biggest, from owning more than one part of the stack of services that connect advertisers with companies with space for advertisements. The bill would only impact companies that do more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions. Affected companies would have to do more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions. In the last legislative session, Congress passed bills to give enforcers bigger budgets and strengthen state attorneys general but legislation aimed at reining in big tech died.

☆ Republicans are starting to split over exactly how — and whether — to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Republicans generally support banning TikTok, but they're beginning to disagree on how. Sen. Rand Paul has also come out against a TikTok ban, blocking a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley. But even among Republicans who favor a TikTok ban, there are growing concerns about the RESTRICT Act — arguably the most prominent proposal put forward to deal with the issue. "So, I think we should ban TikTok. "It's worse than banning TikTok, because it can be applied to lots of other companies," said Paul.

☆ Republican Senator Rand Paul blocks bid to ban Chinese-owned TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked a bid to fast-track a ban of popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which more than 150 million Americans use, citing concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies. Republican Senator Josh Hawley had sought unanimous consent for a TikTok ban bill. We're going to be just like China and ban speech we're afraid of?" Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a TikTok video on Friday opposed a TikTok ban, calling it "unprecedented" and said Congress has not gotten classified TikTok briefings. Then President Donald Trump's attempts in 2020 to ban TikTok were blocked by U.S. courts.

☆ Republican Senator Rand Paul opposes TikTok ban push in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - Republican Senator Rand Paul on Wednesday opposed efforts in Congress to ban popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which is used by more than 150 million Americans. Republican Senator Josh Hawley said this week he hoped to get unanimous consent for a TikTok ban bill. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew appeared before Congress last week and faced tough questions about national security concerns over the ByteDance-owned app. Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a TikTok video Friday opposed a TikTok ban, calling it "unprecedented" and said Congress has not gotten classified TikTok briefings. Last week, three Democrats in the House of Representatives opposed a TikTok ban, as do free speech groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

☆ Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley just teamed up on a bill that would let the government 'clawback lavish pay and bonuses when executives explode their bank'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley are teaming up to put the heat on executives of failed banks. Mike Braun and Catherine Cortez Masto, introduced a bill called "Failed Bank Executives Clawback Act," which would require that federal regulators "claw back" compensation of executives from the five-year period before their bank fails. "It's time for Congress to step up and strengthen the law so bank executives bear the cost of failure, not line their pockets and walk away scot-free." In the days and weeks following Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — and President Joe Biden — have scrutinized the circumstances that led to the bank's failure. Warren has also pushed to roll back 2018 tweaks to the Dodd-Frank Act, which raised the threshold of holdings that require banks to have greater oversight.

House lawmakers tore into top U.S. bank regulators Wednesday, questioning their competency and saying examiners were asleep at the wheel, at a second day of congressional hearings this week about how Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed practically overnight on March 10 and March 12. "We need competent financial supervisors, but Congress can't legislate competence," House Financial Services chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told top officials at the Federal Reserve, Treasury and FDIC at the beginning the hearing. "The light touch cautions from the Fed to SVB management are clearly not what Congress intended for bank supervision," said Waters. Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, Mich., demanded raw, confidential supervisory information about the banks, available to regulators ahead of the collapses. Members of the Republican majority House challenged many of the decisions made by regulators in the hours and days after SVB collapsed and Signature Bank followed 48 hours later.

☆ Sen. Rand Paul says the GOP would 'permanently lose elections for a generation' if TikTok is banned
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Rand Paul is speaking out against a possible ban on TikTok, contradicting much of his own party. He said a ban amounts to a "national strategy to permanently lose elections for a generation" for the GOP. "Before banning TikTok, these censors might want to discover that China's government already bans TikTok," wrote Paul. In recent weeks, calls to ban TikTok over concerns over Chinese government surveillance have only grown in Washington. Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, who have both introduced nationwide TikTok ban bills.

☆ Josh Hawley splits Senate GOP over 'duplicative' idea to create a new office tracking US aid to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Senate rejected a bill from Josh Hawley to establish a new office to oversee Ukraine aid. Many Republicans said they were confident in the Biden administration's aid tracking efforts. "We already have a very extensive operation to oversee spending in Ukraine," said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Hawley's bill did win over at least one Republican who's a vocal supporter of aiding Ukraine: Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The underlying AUMF repeal bill, which is backed by a large bipartisan majority of senators and has been endorsed by the White House, is expected to pass the Senate on Wednesday.

☆ Senate GOP populists push Republican colleagues to back railway regulations, arguing 'their voters' are the most affected by disasters
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Vance, Hawley, and Rubio are touting a bill to enact new regulations on the rail industry. They're trying out a new argument for their Republican colleagues: these are your voters. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Marco Rubio of Florida, are touting the Railway Safety Act of 2023. "When derailments occur, it is predominantly Republican voters—their voters—who bear the brunt and who rush to put out the fires." "Look, I think if the vote were held today, we'd get 65 votes in the Senate," he told Insider.

☆ Abortion pill mifepristone ruling in Texas case could hinge on 1873 Comstock Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A federal judge in Texas may try to invoke an obscure 19th-century law called the Comstock Act to roll back mail delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone. His rationale could hinge in part on the Comstock Act. The anti-abortion group's attorneys argued that the Comstock Act and other laws ban mail delivery of mifepristone. The Comstock Act has not been enforced in decades, said Rachel Rebouche, an expert on reproductive health law at Temple University. Congress passed the Comstock Act in 1873 after an anti-vice crusader named Anthony Comstock successfully lobbied lawmakers to declare "obscene" materials as not mailable.

☆ Dozens of Senate Republicans oppose overturning the law that made the disastrous 2003 Iraq invasion possible
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Bryan Metzger | John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Senate began the process on Thursday to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq War AUMFs. "It should be easy to remove," quipped Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a supporter of repeal. "I don't want to do anything that reduces the President's ability to kill somebody like Soleimani," said Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. For Sen. Paul, repealing the Iraq War AUMFs — which he called "symbolic" — isn't going far enough. The 2001 AUMF opened the door for the invasion of Afghanistan, launching the longest war in US history.

☆ Ted Cruz's publisher shaved off his mullet on the cover of his new book about 'cultural Marxism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ted Cruz's infamous mullet was edited out of a photo on the cover of his new book by the publisher. The Texas Republican announced last week that he's writing his third book, titled "Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America." A person familiar with the matter told Insider that the decision to edit Cruz's mullet out of the picture was made by his publisher, the conservative outfit Regnery Publishing, and not the senator himself. "Is the routine touching up of a photo for a book cover considered newsworthy?" Cruz later began sporting a mullet fade as the Senate began debating impeachment charges against former President Donald Trump for incitement of an insurrection, prompting the Houston Chronicle to ask "What the hell is going on with Ted Cruz's hair?"

☆ DeSantis and other prominent Republicans blame 'woke' politics for Silicon Valley Bank's collapse instead of bankers miscalibrating risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Nicole Gaudiano | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some Republicans blamed "woke" investment strategies for Silicon Valley Bank's downfall. Economists and banking experts so far have chalked up Silicon Valley Bank's failure to much more apolitical circumstances. Silicon Valley Bank then had to sell its assets at a loss to fork over cash it didn't have, an increasingly untenable chain reaction that ended only when regulators shut the institution down. Regulators closed the Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, a stunning break to a period of relative banking stability in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. "I don't know if making money's now woke," Baker said.

☆ Republicans are slamming the bailout of Silicon Valley Bank's customers, saying it's a giveaway to the rich
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Federal regulators bailed out Silicon Valley Bank depositors following its Friday collapse. The joint statement made from the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC noted that the bailout will not be funded by taxpayers — the FDIC's insurance fund, which stands at about $125 billion, will cover all SVB depositors. "I don't know if making money's now woke," Baker said. "Banks like S.V.B. President Joe Biden referenced the 2018 law in Monday remarks on SVB, saying that "we must reduce the risks of this happening again."

☆ House Votes 419 to 0 for Declassification of Intelligence on Covid-19 Origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Lindsay Wise | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The House on Friday voted 419 to 0 to pass a bill requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and the Covid-19 pandemic. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) ), the COVID Origins Act of 2023 passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week. It now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature. The White House hasn’t issued a formal position on the bill.

☆ Congress sends bill to Biden requiring his administration to declassify intelligence on COVID-19's origins
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The House passed a bipartisan bill that would require the Biden administration to declassify information related to COVID-19's origins. The origins of COVID-19 have long been debated and theorized. The House of Representatives unanimously approved the bill, titled the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, in a 419-0 vote on Friday. The bill comes after the US Energy Department recently concluded with "low confidence" that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak. Indeed, lawmakers could likely override a potential veto with a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.

☆ Live updates: East Palestine, Ohio train derailment Senate hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Chris Isidore | Aditi Sangal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

In the lead-up to a Senate committee hearing on the toxic train derailment that spilled chemicals in the Ohio town of East Palestine last month, a bipartisan group of senators is introducing a new bill aimed at shoring up rail safety. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 will be introduced by Republican Sens. Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Democratic Sens. It has a provision requiring “well-trained, two-person crews aboard every train.” And it boosts the maximum fines for rail carriers for wrongdoing. Data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets show that Norfolk Southern, the company involved in the Ohio derailment, spent $1.8 million on federal lobbying last year.

☆ Josh Hawley, Meet Lina Khan’s FTC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Readers sometimes ask why we pay so much attention to regulatory agencies, and there are two answers. One is that someone in the press has to do it, and the other is because the administrative state is where most of the abuse in government is these days. See nearby for an example at the Federal Communications Commission, but another is what we’ve been reporting about the Federal Trade Commission under the unrestrained Chair Lina Khan . Republicans in the House are now shining a light on Ms. Khan, and there seem to be few limits on her agency’s willingness to use its power against those she dislikes.

☆ Senators warn Big Tech on Section 230: ‘Reform is coming’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —US senators said Wednesday that bipartisan support is growing for revising a federal immunity law for tech platforms and websites known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a warning aimed squarely at large social media platforms. “Here’s a message to Big Tech: Reform is coming,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chaired a technology subcommittee hearing to consider changes to the law. “I can’t predict it’ll be in the next couple of weeks, or the next couple of months,” Blumenthal said. The case could have major repercussions for how social media sites rank, present and promote content online. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a vocal tech industry critic, acknowledged that the effort to revise Section 230 has been “very slow.”“As a Republican, I would love to blame that on my Democrat colleagues,” Hawley said.

☆ Effort to Ban Stock Trading Among Executive Branch Officials Renewed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Andrew Ackerman | Rebecca Ballhaus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill that would ban lawmakers and their spouses from owning or trading individual stocks last year but it didn’t move forward. WASHINGTON—Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) is expected to introduce legislation Monday that would ban senior executive branch officials from owning or trading individual stocks, a push to toughen restrictions on conflicts of interest in the federal government. Mr. Hawley’s bill is the latest fallout from a Wall Street Journal series that identified a sweeping pattern of financial conflicts across the executive branch, including finding that more than 2,600 officials invested in companies overseen by their agencies.

☆ Senators to launch bill that will help ban or prohibit foreign technology like TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., said Sunday he is introducing a broad bipartisan bill this week that will outline an approach to banning or prohibiting foreign technology, like the popular video-sharing app TikTok. TikTok is a short-form video platform that is used by more than 100 million Americans. Warner's legislation comes after U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill that would grant President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok. The bill passed the Republican-controlled committee 24-16 along party lines, with unanimous GOP support and no Democratic votes. TikTok is no stranger to challenges from U.S. officials, as former President Donald Trump declared his intention to ban the app by executive action in 2020.

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