TIME FOR BALLOONING? NOT SO FAST
SENATE BILL TARGETS ONLINE POLITICAL ADS
Senators introduced a bipartisan bill Thursday that would require Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social media companies to disclose who pays for political ads that appear on their online platforms.
The Honest Ads Act, by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and John McCain, R-Ariz., came after revelations that groups allegedly linked to the Kremlin exploited U.S. social media to try to influence the 2016 presidential election.
MAN GETS 15 YEARS IN TERRORISM CASE
A federal judge in Chicago gave a 15-year prison sentence Thursday to a man convicted of seeking to join terrorists in Syria.
Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan said the group that Abdella Ahmad Tounisi, 23, sought to join, Jabhat al-Nusra, was affiliated with those “who called for the destruction of the U.S.”
BUSH ATTACKS BIGOTRY, WHITE SUPREMACY
Former president George W. Bush called on Americans to reject bigotry and white supremacy.
“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication,” Bush said in a speech Thursday for the Bush Institute’s Spirit of Liberty event in New York.
“When we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed. It is the failure of those charged with protecting and defending democracy,” he said.
CATALONIA LIKELY TO LOSE SELF-GOVERNING POWERS
The crisis over Catalonia’s quest for independence escalated Thursday as Spain prepared to strip the region of some of its selfgoverning powers after its leader refused to abandon secession.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont wrote to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, threatening to proclaim independence.
Spain has called a Cabinet session for Saturday to invoke Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows for seizing the powers of any autonomous region.
TALIBAN FIGHTERS KILL 58 AFGHAN TROOPS
The Taliban killed at least 58 Afghan troops in a wave of attacks, including an assault that nearly wiped out an army camp in Kandahar province.