Amazon builds property empire, quietly buying land across the U.S.

Starting about three years ago, the Seattle-based colossus quietly began searching for property in key U.S. markets such as Southern California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and the Bay Area. Between 2020 and 2022, Amazon tripled the amount of built industrial space it owns in North America, according to company filings. Sometimes Amazon buys existing buildings, such as defunct call centers, but it also purchases bare land, of which the company acquired about 4,000 acres in the same period, says real estate researcher CoStar Group. Amazon plans to use much of the real estate for a new generation of towering fulfillment centers that can store a wide variety of products close to customers in populous areas, according to people familiar with the strategy.

Buying land is a major shift for Amazon, which historically relied on a handful of developers to find property, build fairly simple warehouses and rent them back to the company. Now Amazon is increasingly taking parts of the development process in-house, often bidding against longtime partners for the best space. Source: Seattle Times / Bloomberg

Google’s Gmail censorship cost GOP candidates $2B since 2019, Republicans say, citing new study

Google’s Gmail cost Republican candidates over $2 billion in donations since 2019 by flagging most fundraising emails as spam, according to research shared exclusively with Fox News Digital by the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, National Republican Senate Committee.

The Republicans based their conclusions on a North Carolina State University study that found Gmail allows the vast majority of emails from Democratic to land in the user’s inbox while more than two-thirds of messages from conservative candidates are marked as spam.

Gmail “retained the majority of left-wing candidate emails in inbox (< 10.12% marked as spam) while sent the majority of right-wing candidate emails to the spam folder (up to 77.2% marked as spam)," the study found. Source: Fox News

Data breach exposes private info of all California concealed-carry permit holders

A data breach has exposed the personal information of every person with a California permit to carry a concealed weapon, authorities said Tuesday.

The California Department of Justice suffered the breach as part of the launch of its 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, which said it was informed of the leak Tuesday by the California State Sheriffs’ Assn.

“This public site allows access to certain information, however, personal information of concealed carry weapon permit holders is not supposed to be visible,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.  Source: LA Times

Senate sergeant-at-arms in charge of security during Jan 6 riot dies hours before today’s surprise hearing

Michael Stenger, who served as the Sergeant at Arms for the United States Senate during January 6 riot at the US Capitol last year, has died, Fox News’s Chad Pergram reported.

Mr Stenger’s death comes amid the House of Representatives’s attempt to investigate the riot at the US Capitol last year wherein supporters of former president Donald Trump raided the complex in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Mr Stenger assumed the role in 2018 after he served as chief of staff to his predecessor Frank Larkin, Roll Call reported at the time. He previously served in the United States Marine Corps and for 35 years in the US Secret Service. Source: Independent

Four officers who responded to Capitol riot have died by suicide

Two more Washington, D.C., police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have died by suicide, police said Monday.

Since the attack by a pro-Trump mob, four officers who defended the site that day have died by suicide.

Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead at his home Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Department said Monday, and Officer Kyle deFreytag was found dead July 10.

BBC staff told there are more than 150 genders in diversity training sessions

BBC staff have been told there are more than 150 genders and to develop their “trans brand” by declaring their pronouns on email signoffs.

The Telegraph has obtained pages of materials provided to radio staff by Global Butterflies, a little-known transgender group that the BBC drafted in for numerous training sessions in the summer and autumn of last year.

Emails were sent to BBC radio producers and programme editors, some from the heads of departments, urging them to attend the diversity classes. Source: UK Telegraph

‘God, What Have I Done?’: Man Suing Over Sex Change Says ‘Avalanche’ Of Detransitioners Looms

A British man who intends to sue the National Health Service (NHS) for greenlighting sex-change surgery while battling mental illness has gone public to reveal his painful plight in a bombshell interview.

Ritchie Herron, a biological male from Newcastle, told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview that the 2018 surgery left him badly damaged and that he knew immediately after the operation he had made a mistake. His situation first became public last week when he tweeted about it under a pseudonym.

“‘Oh God, what have I done?’” Herron recalls thinking as the fog of anesthesia cleared. Source: Daily Wire

California Drops ‘Good Cause’ Requirement for Concealed Carry Following SCOTUS 2A Ruling

California dropped its “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permit issuance days after the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry.

Breitbart News reported that SCOTUS’s June 23, 2022, ruling in NYSRPA v. Bruen struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance. Source: Breitbart

Study: Transgender-Identifying Youth Nearly Doubled in U.S.

The number of America’s young people identifying as transgender has almost doubled recently, with citizens ages 13 to 25 accounting for a disproportionate number of that population, according to a new study.

The University of California, Los Angeles, law school’s Williams Institute conducted a study based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showing a massive generational shift in those identifying as the opposite gender to which they are born. Source: Breitbart

Biological Man Enters Skateboarding Contest as Transgender, Look What He Did to Pre-Teen Girl Competitors

Ricci Tres, 29, of Los Angeles, a male who considers himself to be a woman and competes as a transgender athlete, won first place in a skateboarding tournament in New York City.

Shiloh Catori, a 13-year-old girl, came in second, while others placing in the top six included women or girls from the age of 10 to 28, with most of them 16 or under. Source: Western Journal