Welcome to The Free Press Report’s Weekly Digest. This week a lot has happened – Saudi Arabia was accused of collecting data on American critics, thousands of flights were delayed after an archaic computer system crashed, and a former CEO was fined over his inappropriate relationships. Read on for more of the stories you might have missed.
Market Recap
U.S. Politics
Saudi Arabia using golf to “build an intelligence file” on 9/11 families. The upstart Saudi-financed LIV Golf tour has been accused of using its U.S lawsuit against the long-established PGA Tour to collect data on the families of 9/11 victims. PGA’s public relations firm is Clout Public Affairs (helmed by an ex-chief of staff to US Senator Ted Cruz), which separately represents 9/11 Justice, a grassroots organization that is involved in an unrelated suit against Saudi Arabia relating to terrorist activity and other atrocities. Clout said “LIV has brazenly hired a firm in the United States to track and monitor the activities of these 9/11 victims and families, while simultaneously, through the underlying lawsuit, using antitrust discovery to now sift Clout’s communications with these families, even if they have nothing to do with LIV, golf, or golfers.” [BBG]
Progressive Prosecutor won’t prosecute hit and runs. Buta Biberaj, the Democrat commonwealth attorney for Virginia’s Loudoun Country, has released a memo saying that her office will stop prosecuting a range of “low-level” crimes including reckless driving, petty theft, and hit-and-runs. Biberaj said that her office is “inundated” with cases and needs to focus on only the most serious offenses. But Loudoun County Board of Supervisors chairwoman Phyllis Randall, a fellow Democrat, said “I don't believe the issue is anything else but her ability to manage her office." This isn’t Biberaj’s first controversy – last year, a judge accused the radical Democrat of "deliberately misleading the court and the public" in order to "sell" a plea deal. [WFB]
Pete Buttigieg makes excuses after aviation crisis. On Wednesday, a “mega-meltdown” at The Federal Aviation Agency – which is overseen by Buttigieg – grounded all flights across the U.S. Last week, Buttigieg had lambasted the Southwest Airlines company for its technical problems, but when his own agency caused global aviation chaos, he responded by saying that “this is an incredibly complex system,” and insisted that “glitches or complications happen all the time.” In fact, the fiasco at the FAA was not a glitch or complication, but was in fact a system-wide failure of the decades old Notam communication software. This should have been no surprise – JetBlue said that Notam is so unreliable that it has already developed its own backup system. [WSJ]
Social & Business
Ex-McDonald’s CEO lied to investors. Stephen Easterbrook has agreed to pay a $400,000 SEC fine to settle allegations that he misrepresented his exit from the company to shareholders and failed to disclose improper relationships with employees. Esterbrook was president and CEO of McDonalds from 2015 until 2019, when he was dismissed for entering into a relationship with a company employee in violation of anti-fraternization policy. On Monday, the SEC accused Esterbrook of securing himself a “substantial equity compensation,” by lying about the number and extent of his improper relationships. [BBG]
Twitter offers free adverts to brands that return to the platform. After Musk’s buyout sparked an exodus of advertisers, the social media site has seen its revenue slump. Now, Twitter has reportedly offered to match advertisers’ spending up to $250,000. [Reuters]
World View
Nepal plane crash leaves at least 40 dead. The Yeti Airlines ATR 72 short haul aircraft was carrying 68 passengers and 4 crew members when it crashed just a few kilometers from its destination at Pokhara International Airport. A Yeti Airlines spokesperson said “we don’t know right now if there are survivors.” [Indian Express]
Putin ally demands Japanese leader disembowel himself. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of “shameful subservience” to the U.S, and advised that he commit seppuku – a ritualistic suicide that has traditionally been thought of as washing away shame in Japanese culture. [Reuters]
British national executed in Iran. Alireza Akbari, Iran’s former deputy defense minister, was accused of being a Western spy. Akbari was a force for reform in the Middle East, engineering the 1988 U.N. resolution that ended the Iran-Iraq war. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the execution "a callous and cowardly act carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people". [Reuters]
Crypto
Youtube influencer forced to apologize over “scam” cryptocurrency game. Logan Paul, who has over 23 million subscribers, had encouraged his fans to buy “cryptocurrency collectibles” for the game CryptoZoo, which he called a "really fun game that makes you money". But a year after its official launch, the game still doesn’t exist. Another Youtuber, Coffeezilla, accused Paul of scamming investors and selling millions of dollars worth of “worthless” NFTs. Paul responded by announcing he had hired "conmen" and "felons" to run his project. [BBC]