Trump Media CEO Nunes loses defamation lawsuit over Rachel Maddow show
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan ruled on Friday that no reasonable jury could find Maddow demonstrated actual malice toward Nunes in March 2021 when discussing a package addressed to him from pro-Russia Ukrainian legislator Andrii Derkach on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."
Nunes received the package in December 2019, when the Republican was the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Maddow told viewers that Nunes "refused to hand it over to the FBI, which is what you should do if you get something from somebody who is sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent."
Nunes said Maddow knew the package was turned over promptly. She and her executive producer, who were not defendants, claimed to rely on other sources when creating the segment. NBCUniversal is a unit of Comcast (CMCSA.O), opens new tab.
In a 24-page decision, Castel said Nunes, a longtime supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, failed to show Maddow was aware of a July 2020 article in Politico saying the FBI had received the package.
The judge found no clear and convincing evidence that Maddow had a "high degree of awareness of probable falsity," or any evidence that "defendant's admitted political bias caused defendant to act with a reckless disregard of the truth."
Nunes' lawyers and Trump Media did not immediately respond on Monday to requests for comment. Lawyers for NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Derkach in September 2020 for trying to interfere in that year's U.S. presidential election to help Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York charged Derkach in December 2022 with unrelated money laundering and sanctions violations. He remains at large.
The case is Nunes v NBCUniversal Media Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-01633.
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The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Takeaways from AP's report on Alaska Natives' response to oil and mining proposals
President Donald Trump 's administration and its allies have pushed aggressively for drilling, mining and logging in Alaska. This has intensified long-standing debate over extraction projects in the nation's largest state, particularly within Alaska Native communities. Some view such projects as key to jobs and economic development. Others see them posing environmental risks as they've already faced severe fishing restrictions on the state's longest rivers due to a collapse in the salmon population. Scientists are unsure of the causes of the salmon collapse — which possibly include warming waters and commercial fishing — but opponents of extraction say its possible impacts could be similar in terms of endangering subsistence traditions and food sources. They say this risks, in turn, damaging their sacred connections to the land and to cultural traditions tied to fishing and hunting. How has the administration pushed for extraction projects? Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office in January seeking to 'maximize the development and production of the natural resources' in the state. Congress, in its recent budget bill, authorized an unprecedented four new sales of oil and gas leases in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. It also authorized more sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the northern part of the state. Extraction proposals take years to become reality, if ever. Previous lease sales have generated limited interest, and the extent of oil reserves in the Arctic refuge remains uncertain. Members of Trump's Cabinet visited Alaska in June. They called for doubling the amount of oil coursing through its vast pipeline system and building a massive natural gas pipeline as its 'big, beautiful twin.' The administration is also boosting the proposed Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project, which would include construction of a 200-mile road in wilderness areas and open the way for more mines. Private corporations are pursuing projects, some in collaboration with Alaska Native corporations — which sometimes are in conflict with their Indigenous shareholders — and landowners. One is an oil exploration project in the Yukon Flats. Another is a proposed major gold mine in southwestern Alaska, which would require a massive dam to contain millions of tons of chemical and mineral waste. Project proponents say the dam will be safely built, incorporating the surrounding geology and state-of-the-art design. Trump's policy shifts came even as he removed one of the most prominent Alaska Native names from the official map. He returned the federal name of 'Mount McKinley' to the largest mountain in Alaska and North America. For all their disputes over extraction, Native and Alaska political leaders were largely united in wanting to keep its traditional Athabascan name of Denali, which translates to 'the high one.' What are the views of Alaska Natives favoring such projects? They say the projects can be done safely and bring much-needed jobs and economic development. They say this enables Native communities to fund services while retaining their subsistence hunting, fishing and other cultural traditions. 'We find that balance,' said PJ Simon, first chief of the Allakaket Tribal Council. 'We don't want handouts by the federal government. We want to stand on our own two feet.' Regional and local Native-run corporations, with the mandate of pursuing economic development for the benefit of Native shareholders, are actively involved in extraction proposals. In some cases, they own land and mineral rights in areas eyed for drilling or mining. What about Alaska Natives opposing such projects? They fear large-scale drilling and mining will overwhelm their ancient subsistence traditions. They say any short-term profits will precede a long-term legacy of environmental impacts to rivers, tundra and hunting grounds. 'Our people have been stewards of this land for millennia, and we've taken that relationship seriously because we have to sustain our resources,' said Gloria Simeon of Bethel, a small regional hub in southwestern Alaska, and a member of the environmental advocacy group Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition. Already, tribes are struggling with severe fishing restrictions on their longest rivers, the Yukon and Kuskokwim, because of a collapse in salmon populations, which they have relied on for generations. The salmon collapse has been blamed on such factors as commercial overfishing and climate change. But many fear that extractive industries will create similar and permanent damage to caribou, salmon and other traditional food sources. 'We're already dealing with salmon problems,' said Chief Brian Ridley of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a Fairbanks-based coalition of Athabascan tribes across Interior Alaska that oppose proposed drilling projects and the Ambler road project. 'The concern is if we start going down this path anywhere along the Yukon or any of the rivers and there's a spill, would that completely eliminate all the salmon stocks?' He said it's not just theoretical. A mine disaster in Canada last year caused a massive release of cyanide-laced debris, which caused fears that contamination might spread. Such a mining accident in the Yukon watershed could 'really take all the gains that we've gotten of trying to get the fish stocks back and really put us back to zero,' Ridley said. Why are subsistence hunting and fishing so important? Alaska Native people have relied for generations on hunting and fishing to survive the brutal winters — and in modern times, as a healthier alternative to expensive groceries. Fish camps and caribou hunts are closely interwoven with cultural traditions, where elders transmit skills and stories to younger generations. 'Protecting the river and the land and the Earth is part of the partnership and the relationship that we have as caregivers,' said Simeon. Who are Alaska Natives? Alaska Natives consist of diverse cultural and language groups in the state, among them the Aleut, Athabascan, Iñupiat, Tlingit and Yup'ik. They widely share a history in the region dating back thousands of years. They also share cultural and spiritual traditions, including those closely associated with subsistence hunting, and a belief in a sacred connection to the land, water and wildlife. Specific practices vary, and many follow both traditional and Christian practices. More than 1 in 5 Alaskans identify as Alaska Native or American Indian alone or in combination with another racial group, the highest ratio of any state, according to 2020 U.S. Census figures. The 1971 Alaska Claims Settlement Act, which resolved long-standing land claims with the federal government, resulted in establishment of regional and local for-profit corporations run by Native leaders for the benefit of Native shareholders. In some cases, such corporations are involved in extraction projects that tribal coalitions from the same area oppose. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Schools are using AI surveillance to protect students. It also leads to false alarms — and arrests
Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it. The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the school's surveillance software. Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says. Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her ' Mexican,' even though she's not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: 'on Thursday we kill all the Mexico's.' Mathis said the comments were 'wrong' and 'stupid,' but context showed they were not a threat. 'It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?' Mathis said of her daughter's arrest. 'And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.' Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices. Thousands of school districts across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to track kids' online activities, looking for signs they might hurt themselves or others. With the help of artificial intelligence, technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement. Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words. "It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students' lives, including in their home,' said Elizabeth Laird, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Schools ratchet up vigilance for threats In a country weary of school shootings, several states have taken a harder line on threats to schools. Among them is Tennessee, which passed a 2023 zero-tolerance law requiring any threat of mass violence against a school to be reported immediately to law enforcement. The 13-year-old girl arrested in August 2023 had been texting with friends on a chat function tied to her school email at Fairview Middle School, which uses Gaggle to monitor students' accounts. (The Associated Press is withholding the girl's name to protect her privacy. The school district did not respond to a request for comment.) Taken to jail, the teen was interrogated and strip-searched, and her parents weren't allowed to talk to her until the next day, according to a lawsuit they filed against the school system. She didn't know why her parents weren't there. 'She told me afterwards, 'I thought you hated me.' That kind of haunts you,' said Mathis, the girl's mother. A court ordered eight weeks of house arrest, a psychological evaluation and 20 days at an alternative school for the girl. Gaggle's CEO, Jeff Patterson, said in an interview that the school system did not use Gaggle the way it is intended. The purpose is to find early warning signs and intervene before problems escalate to law enforcement, he said. 'I wish that was treated as a teachable moment, not a law enforcement moment,' said Patterson. Private student chats face unexpected scrutiny Students who think they are chatting privately among friends often do not realize they are under constant surveillance, said Shahar Pasch, an education lawyer in Florida. One teenage girl she represented made a joke about school shootings on a private Snapchat story. Snapchat's automated detection software picked up the comment, the company alerted the FBI, and the girl was arrested on school grounds within hours. Alexa Manganiotis, 16, said she was startled by how quickly monitoring software works. West Palm Beach's Dreyfoos School of the Arts, which she attends, last year piloted Lightspeed Alert, a surveillance program. Interviewing a teacher for her school newspaper, Alexa discovered two students once typed something threatening about that teacher on a school computer, then deleted it. Lightspeed picked it up, and 'they were taken away like five minutes later,' Alexa said. Teenagers face steeper consequences than adults for what they write online, Alexa said. 'If an adult makes a super racist joke that's threatening on their computer, they can delete it, and they wouldn't be arrested," she said. Amy Bennett, chief of staff for Lightspeed Systems, said that the software helps understaffed schools 'be proactive rather than punitive' by identifying early warning signs of bullying, self-harm, violence or abuse. The technology can also involve law enforcement in responses to mental health crises. In Florida's Polk County Schools, a district of more than 100,000 students, the school safety program received nearly 500 Gaggle alerts over four years, officers said in public Board of Education meetings. This led to 72 involuntary hospitalization cases under the Baker Act, a state law that allows authorities to require mental health evaluations for people against their will if they pose a risk to themselves or others. 'A really high number of children who experience involuntary examination remember it as a really traumatic and damaging experience — not something that helps them with their mental health care,' said Sam Boyd, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Polk and West Palm Beach school districts did not provide comments. An analysis shows a high rate of false alarms Information that could allow schools to assess the software's effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves. Gaggle alerted more than 1,200 incidents to the Lawrence, Kansas, school district in a recent 10-month period. But almost two-thirds of those alerts were deemed by school officials to be non-issues — including over 200 false alarms from student homework, according to an Associated Press analysis of data received via a public records request. Students in one photography class were called to the principal's office over concerns Gaggle had detected nudity. The photos had been automatically deleted from the students' Google Drives, but students who had backups of the flagged images on their own devices showed it was a false alarm. District officials said they later adjusted the software's settings to reduce false alerts. Natasha Torkzaban, who graduated in 2024, said she was flagged for editing a friend's college essay because it had the words 'mental health.' 'I think ideally we wouldn't stick a new and shiny solution of AI on a deep-rooted issue of teenage mental health and the suicide rates in America, but that's where we're at right now,' Torkzaban said. She was among a group of student journalists and artists at Lawrence High School who filed a lawsuit against the school system last week, alleging Gaggle subjected them to unconstitutional surveillance. School officials have said they take concerns about Gaggle seriously, but also say the technology has detected dozens of imminent threats of suicide or violence. 'Sometimes you have to look at the trade for the greater good,' said Board of Education member Anne Costello in a July 2024 board meeting. Two years after their ordeal, Mathis said her daughter is doing better, although she's still 'terrified' of running into one of the school officers who arrested her. One bright spot, she said, was the compassion of the teachers at her daughter's alternative school. They took time every day to let the kids share their feelings and frustrations, without judgment. 'It's like we just want kids to be these little soldiers, and they're not,' said Mathis. 'They're just humans.' ___ This reporting reviewed school board meetings posted on YouTube, courtesy of DistrictView, a dataset created by researchers Tyler Simko, Mirya Holman and Rebecca Johnson. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
South Park targets Donald Trump once again
The latest South Park episode continues its satire of Donald Trump, his colleagues, and supporters. Titled Got a Nut, the episode features parodies of figures, including a miniature JD Vance, Kristi Noem, and Cartman imitating Charlie Kirk. The plot sees Mr Mackey join ICE due to financial struggles, leading to a scene where an animated Kristi Noem parodies her controversial dog-killing confession during an ICE orientation. The episode depicts Trump inviting Mackey to his Mar-a-Lago complex, where he is shown in bed with Satan, with the mini JD Vance offering assistance. This instalment follows a social media exchange where the Department of Homeland Security used a South Park image to promote ICE, prompting a sarcastic retort from the show's official account.
