News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

FBI Gunned Down Utah Man Accused of Threatening Joe Biden

The FBI gunned down a Utah man accused of making death threats against President Joe Biden during a raid on his home on Wednesday morning.

Seventy-five-year-old Craig Deleeuw Robertson was being charged with three counts of interstate threats, threats against the president, and influencing, impeding, and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat, according to a criminal complaint.

Robertson allegedly threatened Biden this week, just days before he was scheduled to visit Utah on Wednesday.

“PERHAPS UTAH WILL BECOME FAMOUS THIS WEEK AS THE PLACE A SNIPER TOOK OUT BIDEN THE MARXIST,” one of his Facebook posts allegedly read.
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“I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle, Robertson allegedly wrote on Monday.

Robertson also reportedly posted numerous photos online of the firearms he kept in a gun cache inside his house.

The FBI deemed these threats “credible,” and attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at Robertson’s home in Provo, Utah, but ended up shooting and killing him around 6:15 a.m. local time.

Biden was expected to arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah, an hour away from the Provo residence, just hours after the shooting occurred.

Two FBI agents conducted surveillance at Robertson’s home in late March after he allegedly made threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
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When the FBI agents contacted Robertson in March, he defended his post, arguing it “was a dream,” and he told them to come back with a warrant, according to the charging documents.

“HEY FBI, YOU STILL MONITORING MY SOCIAL MEDIA? CHECKING SO I CAN BE SURE TO HAVE A LOADED GUN HANDY IN CASE YOU DROP BY AGAIN,” Robertson allegedly posted on Facebook on Monday.

What a crazy way to use the social media networks!

Katie Hobbs Asked Twitter to Censor Users
Criticizing Her Trump ‘Neo-Nazi’ Post

Days after the 2020 election, Breitbart News reported that Hobbs said Trump had a “neo-nazi base” while she was serving as a Democrat state senator in 2017. Hobbs’ tweet appeared to be a reaction to the false narrative that Trump praised neo-nazi rioters in Charlottesville.

.@realDonaldTrump has made it abundantly clear he's more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.

— Katie Hobbs

The President is on the side of the freaking Nazis. Don't just say stuff – DO SOMETHING!!! https://t.co/Es9ScskF58

— Katie Hobbs

It took you a day and a half to figure this out? Also if you're not condemning @POTUS for not condemning nazis, it's just words. https://t.co/OI0JAlvOYX

— Katie Hobbs
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• Aug. 12, 2017: Trump condemned “violence “on many sides” in Charlottesville after neo-Nazi and Antifa clashes
  
• Aug. 14, 2017: Trump condemned “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups” in White House statement
  
• Aug. 15, 2017: Trump condemned neo-Nazis “totally,” praised non-violent protesters “on both sides” of statue debate
  

On Thursday, Fox News revealed that Hobbs emailed Twitter in an attempt to censor critics who were upset with her posts about Trump and his base, relying on recently obtained emails.

Supreme Court Allows Apple to Keep App Store ‘Tax’
Pending Appeal in Epic Games Case

Epic Games had asked the Supreme Court to lift an injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which delayed an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, which banned the current App Store practice of preventing third party app developers from offering users the option to pay outside of Apple’s ecosystem, avoiding the 30 percent charge popularly known as the Apple Tax.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, acting for the Supreme Court, denied Epic’s request to lift a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that effectively delayed implementing an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers barring certain App Store rules, while Apple pursues a Supreme Court appeal.

The 9th Circuit in April had upheld the injunction but in July put that decision on hold. Kagan handles emergency matters for the Supreme Court arising from a group of states including California.

Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2020, accusing Apple of acting as an illegal monopolist by requiring consumers to get apps through its App Store and buy digital content inside an app using its own system – for which it charges up to a 30% commission.

While the ruling represents a setback for Epic Games, it merely ensures the 9th Circuit’s injunction remains in place. Apple must still win its appeal before the Supreme Court to overturn Judge Rogers’ injunction.

Virgin Galactic rockets its first tourist passengers into space

Virgin Galactic launched its first tourist passengers into the weightlessness of space Thursday, the culmination of a nearly two-decade commercial pursuit, the company said.

The three passengers — Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, and her teenage daughter Anastatia Mayers — floated gravity-free through the Virgin spacecraft about 45 minutes after taking off.

“They are officially astronauts. Welcome to space,” said Virgin Galactic announcer Sirisha Bandla as the spacecraft pushed above 80 kilometers (50 miles) in altitude, the level marking the edge of space where the pull of gravity is minimal.
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After a few minutes in space, the craft began descending and safely landed in the US state of New Mexico, on the same runway from which it took off.
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“The pure acceleration, Mach-3 in eight-and-a-half seconds was completely surreal,” he said.
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The spaceflights involve a giant, twin-fuselage carrier aircraft that takes off from a runway, gains altitude, then drops a rocket-powered spaceplane that soars higher.

This mission, named Galactic 02, is the company’s second commercial flight.

The first at the end of June carried a group of senior Italian Air Force officers who had carried out several experiments on board, rather than civilians making the trip purely for pleasure.

Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic has sold around 800 tickets for seats on future commercial flights — 600 between 2005 and 2014 for $200,000 to $250,000, and 200 since then for $450,000 each.