Mar 11, 2017

Trump backer out at Energy Dept. after anti-Muslim tweets surface

The Energy Department cut ties Friday with Sid Bowdidge, a political appointee and former Trump campaign worker who has made inflammatory anti-Muslim comments on Twitter, according to Buzzfeed and other outlets. Bowdidge had been working at DOE's Office of Technology Transitions, but as Greentech Media notes he appears to lack any related policy background.

In 2015 the massage therapist from New Hampshire responded on Twitter to a CNN tweet about the San Bernardino shooters with a tweet stating: "Scum suckling maggots of the world. Exterminate them all." He has also tweeted that "Obama won't use the term radical Islam because they're his relatives!!!!"

Why it matters: Trump's operation has already been under the microscope for installing temporary "beachhead" political appointees at agencies who have little or no relevant experience.

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Rebecca Falconer

Updated 24 mins ago - Energy & Environment

In photos: Thousands evacuated as Southern California fire grows

A plane makes a retardant drop on a ridge at the Apple Fire north of Banning in Riverside County, which "doubled in size" Saturday, per KTLA. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A massive wildfire that prompted mandatory evacuations in Southern California over the weekend burned 26,450 acres and was 5% contained by Monday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The big picture: As California remains an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., some 15 separate fires are raging across the state. About 7,800 people were under evacuation orders from the Apple Fire, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, as hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze. CalFire said Monday that a malfunction involving a "diesel-fueled vehicle emitting burning carbon from the exhaust system" started the Apple Fire.

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Axios

Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 7 p.m. ET: 18,178,736 — Total deaths: 691,111 — Total recoveries — 10,835,789 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 7 p.m. ET: 4,698,335 — Total deaths: 155,331 — Total recoveries: 1,468,689 — Total tests: 57,543,852 — Map.
Politics: White House will require staff to undergo randomized coronavirus testing — Pelosi says Birx "enabled" Trump on misinformation.
Sports: 13 members of St. Louis Cardinals test positive, prompting MLB to cancel Tigers series — Former FDA chief says MLB outbreaks should be warning sign for schools.
1 🎥 thing: "Tenet" may be the first major film to get a global pandemic release.

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Orion Rummler

1 hour ago - Technology

Twitter faces FTC fine of up to $250 million over alleged privacy violations

Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket

The Federal Trade Commission has accused Twitter of using phone numbers and emails from its users to make targeted ads between 2013 and 2019, Twitter said in an SEC filing published Monday.

Why it matters: Twitter estimates that the FTC's draft complaint, which was sent a few days after its Q2 earnings report, could cost the company between $150 million and $250 million. The complaint is unrelated to the recent Twitter hack involving a bitcoin scam.

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