Progressive billionaire and Democratic Party activist and megadonor George Soros received the nation’s highest civilian honor from President Joe Biden at a Saturday White House event.

Soros was one of 19 people to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, joining the likes of Hillary Clinton, Bill Nye, and Magic Johnson during a ceremony that was broadcast live in its entirety by CNN

Alex Soros accepted the award on behalf of his 94-year-old father, embracing the president as the White House celebrated the billionaire investor and progressive activist, saying of him:

Accepting on behalf of George Soros is Alex Soros. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to George Soros. Born into a Jewish family in Hungary. George Soros escaped Nazi occupation to build a life of freedom for himself and countless others around the world. Educated in England, he settled in America as he became an investor and philanthropist, supporting key pillars of open societies, rights and justice, equity and equality. Freedom now and in the future. His inspiring generosity reminds us all of our capacity and our obligation to stand up to the abuse of power and to be guardians of democracy and all people yearning to be free.

Soros’s contributions to progressive causes – as his support for progressive district attorneys in urban areas as of late – have made him a target for conservatives for years. Many on the right lashed out after the White House announced the billionaire would receive the award.

Soros and Biden took serious flak from Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and countless others on Saturday morning.

Musk said Soros receiving the award was a “travesty” after the Tesla CEO previously said Soros “hates humanity.

Others who received awards Saturday included Bono, Magic Johnson, Geroge Romney, and Michael J. Fox.

Mitt Romney accepted the award on behalf of his later father, who the Biden administration said was a lifelong “public servant.”

Watch above via CNN.

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File

A federal judge on Friday denied a request from a Jan. 6 Capitol rioter to be allowed to leave house arrest for a day to attend the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump this month.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said Friday that Russell Taylor of California had attempted to “thwart” the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 election win after he and scores of others disrupted the proceeding.

Taylor was invited to the Trump inauguration by former GOP congressman Chris Stewart of Utah, who is a family friend. Stewart appealed to the court on behalf of Taylor. Last month, Taylor’s attorney Dyke E. Huish told NBC News, “Mr. Taylor has some family friends who knew the congressman.”

Huish added, “It’s really a boring story. They’re just friends, and he said ‘Hey, would you like to come to the inauguration?’ and he sent off a letter, and I’ve got to ask the judge permission, and here we are.”

Judge Lamberth ruled against Taylor traveling to D.C. from California to attend the swearing-in this Friday on the grounds that it would be “inappropriate” for such a “hallowed” event given the circumstances, despite that invitation.

The judge said Taylor had taken accountability for encouraging violence at the Capitol four years ago but added, “To attend the Presidential Inauguration, which celebrates and honors the peaceful transfer of power, is an immense privilege.”

Lamberth added:

It would not be appropriate for the Court to grant permission to attend such a hallowed event to someone who carried weapons and threatened police officers in an attempt to thwart the last Inauguration, and who openly glorified ‘[i]nsurrection’ against the United States.

[…]

But Mr. Taylor’s cooperation and good conduct while on probation do not diminish the seriousness of his acts on January 6, 2021, to which he has voluntary admitted, nor do they entitle him to the permission he now seeks.

Prosecutors said of Taylor, “[i]n any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers.” In their case against Taylor, prosecutors added:

He organized a “group of fighters” to travel to Washington D.C. to obstruct Congress’s certification of the 2020 Presidential Election. He called on his followers to “[m]arch into the Capitol Jan 6.” And Taylor led not just by words, but by deeds. On January 6, Taylor, while wearing an exposed knife on top of a bullet proof chest plate and carrying bear spray, a hatchet, and other weapons in his backpack, led a mob that overran a police line on the inaugural stage and stormed the Capitol.

Taylor would ultimately plead guilty to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding. He was sentenced last year to six months of home detention.

Screenshot via The Don Lemon Show

Isaac Hayes III told Don Lemon he has no intention of dropping a lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump over his team playing the classic song Hold On, I’m Coming, co-written by Hayes’s father, the late Isaac Hayes.

Hayes joined Lemon on The Don Lemon Show on Friday and said his issue with Trump is not politically motivated, but comes down to a simple matter of copyright infringement.

“There are multiple counts of copyright infringement, what we call willful copyright infringement and so we got a temporary injunction to stop him from ever playing that song again and he did stop playing that song. And now it comes to the point of the case because the case is not over — now is it that they want to settle this case or do they want to take this case to trial?” he said.

According to Hayes, the rights to 1966’s Hold On, I’m Coming (sung by the soul duo Sam & Dave) reverted back the families of co-writers Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter in early 2022. It was not long after this that a cease-and-desist was sent to Trump’s campaign, warning them not to play the song at rallies. That order was violated, according to Hayes, and he argued Trump would do the exact same thing in his position.

“If someone used Trump’s IP, would he sue them to tell them to stop? Absolutely. This is no different from me and it was not a political motivated issue for me,” he said, who added that he licenses the song out to major companies for six figures.

A judge in September banned Trump’s team from playing Hold On, I’m Coming at rallies until the case with Hayes’s family is settled.

Lemon asked Hayes if he has “concerns” Trump could retaliate through the Department of Justice or the Internal Revenue Service once he’s back in the White House, but Hayes dismissed these concerns, saying he won’t move in a “state of fear.”

“I’m a believer in God, I’m a believer in what I’m doing is the right thing to do — Donald Trump has enemies, there are a lot more people he can be mad at, and he might have time for that, but again, I’m not going to move in a state of fear over a simple matter of copyright infringement. If he wants to be petty then let him be petty,” he said.

Watch above via The Don Lemon Show (relevant portion begins at 29:00).

CSPAN quickly turned away from one Friday call in which a man claiming to be a former Republican called for an “insurrection” against President-elect Donald Trump.

During Washington Journal, Greta Brawner took calls from viewers to get their thoughts on the House Speaker vote and the first day of the new 119th Congress, where Republicans have a one vote majority.

One caller into the show identified as Glenn, an independent from California, called House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a “horrible” leader in the House and argued he should not be reelected. Trump endorsed Johnson ahead of Friday’s vote.

Glenn explained he was a former Republican and he would “never vote” for Johnson.

As Brawner asked Glenn for more thoughts on his turn away from the Republican Party, he declared he’d “love” to see Democrats and independents join together for an insurrection to prevent Trump from taking office. This was moments after Glenn explained Trump was the reason he ditched the Republican Party in the first place because he refuses to support Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He referred to the former president as an “insurrectionist” while saying he’d “love” for an insurrection against Trump before he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Check out the full exchange below:

GRETA BRAWNER: “Your message to lawmakers?”

GLENN: “I would really not vote Johnson in as Speaker. Sorry. He was horrible, he held up all the financing, he is just not a good Speaker, nobody trusts him, I don’t trust him. I was a Republican, I am now Independent, and I would never vote for the man.”

BRAWNER: “So you were a Republican, now an Independent. So what made you switch to be an Independent?”

GLENN: “Donald Trump. Sorry. I cannot support an insurrectionist. I just can’t. And I would really love to see Democrats and Independents do an insurrection on Donald Trump.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.

When you think about data privacy on the iPhone, the focus is usually on ad tracking companies and other third-parties that might be siphoning off your personal information without you knowing about it. Unfortunately, it's time to start paying attention to the data that Apple itself collects, too. Although Apple has continually repeated its commitment to privacy, the company hasn't always followed through on those promises. In a recent development, indie app developer Jeff Johnson noticed that a Photos feature called Enhanced Visual Search is enabled by default and shares photos data with Apple in the background.

What is Enhanced Visual Search?

In iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, Apple introduced Enhanced Visual Search to let you "privately match places in your photos with a global index maintained by Apple." This, Apple says, allows you to use search in the Photos app to look for landmarks and points of interest, making it easier to locate specific pictures. This feature is similar to Visual Look Up, which lets you identify plants and animals using your iPhone. 

Enhanced Visual Search is definitely useful, but enabling it by default does raise concerns. Even though Apple says its implementation privately matches your photos with its database, I'd rather opt-in before having my data sent over.

How to disable Enhanced Visual Search on iPhone, Mac

Credit: Pranay Parab

If, like me, you're uncomfortable with this new feature, you can disable it quite easily. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Apps > Photos and scroll to the bottom of the page. You can disable Enhanced Visual Search here. On your Mac, open the Photos app and click the Photos button in the menu bar up top. Go to Settings > General to disable Enhanced Visual Search.

On a related note, iOS 18 also lets you automatically remove location data from photos when you're sharing them with others, which will help further secure your privacy.

In a recently resurfaced YouTube video, the man identified by authorities as being responsible for the terrorist attack in New Orleans on Wednesday introduced himself as a manager at a Texas-based real estate company.

Early Wednesday morning, a man intentionally drove a truck through Bourbon Street as New Year’s Day celebrations were underway. The attack killed 15 and injured dozens of others.

Shortly after, the FBI identified the suspect as 42-year-old veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Jabbar was born and raised in Texas. Authorities also said an ISIS flag was found in his truck.

After serving in the armed services for more than a decade, Jabbar went into real estate in his home state. In the video, he introduced himself and briefly touched on his background.

“Good evening. I’m Shamsud-Din Jabbar, property manager with Blue Meadow Properties and team lead at The Midas Group at Core Realty,” he said in the video. “I just wanna say hello and let you know a little bit about me.

He continued:

I’m born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and now live in Houston; and I’ve been here all my life with the exception of traveling for the military, where I spent 10 years as a human resources specialist and IT specialist, where I learned the meaning of great service and what it means to be responsive and take everything seriously — dotting I’s and crossing T’s — to make sure that things go off without a hitch. So I’ve taken those skills and applied them to my career as a real estate agent.

According to ABS-CBN News, records show Jabbar was a registered agent until February 2023.

Most people know that if you have life insurance, you need to name a beneficiary—the person or entity that receives the payout. For most of us, that’s the beginning and end of our relationship with the concept, in part because we don’t have the sort of wealth we imagine necessitates worrying about where it goes (the median net worth in the U.S. is just $192,900, after all), and in part because people might assume that our spouse or family will just automatically inherit everything.

But you should name beneficiaries for more than just life insurance. Designating beneficiaries for your assets and estate offers several real benefits, and if you haven’t updated those designations in a while you should review and change them sooner rather than later.

Advantages of beneficiaries

You might assume that if you die your property and assets will pass automatically to your spouse, children, or closest relative (like a sibling). But that’s not necessarily the case—and even if it eventually turns out that way, dying without a will or beneficiaries (called “intestate succession”) can trigger a lengthy and frustrating probate process controlled by state laws. This can sometimes take years to complete, causing a lot of emotional and financial stress for your loved ones.

And even if you have a last will and testament, you should designate beneficiaries for your assets, because beneficiaries supersede your will. If your will states that your asset goes to your spouse, but you listed your brother as the beneficiary, your brother will wind up receiving that asset. The bottom line is that designating beneficiaries gives you control over what happens to your money after you pass, and spares your family and other loved ones a lot of grief.

Most of your financial assets should have an up-to-date beneficiary named, including:

• Life insurance: Probably the most obvious case for most of us. If you receive life insurance as a benefit from your job, you should make sure you’ve designated a beneficiary.

• Bank accounts: Your checking and savings accounts can have beneficiaries, and naming one can make the process of accessing them after your death much faster and much easier.

• Investment & retirement accounts: This includes health savings accounts (HSAs) and 529 accounts.

• Annuities: Similarly, naming a beneficiary for any annuities you’ve bought can make the process of transferring it to someone else much easier.

When figuring out beneficiaries for your assets, there are two more things to consider:

• Keep them updated. If you haven’t reviewed your named beneficiaries recently, conduct a quick audit to make sure your choices still reflect your current relationships and desires (the obvious example here would be an ex-spouse who’s still listed as your life insurance beneficiary).

• Contingent beneficiaries. You should also make sure that every asset has a contingent beneficiary named—a “backup” in case your primary beneficiary has predeceased you.

How to select your beneficiaries

Once you realize how important it is to name beneficiaries for all your accounts, the challenge becomes choosing the right person. While this might seem obvious to many of us, there are a few key considerations:

• Age: Minors can’t inherit directly, so naming a child as a beneficiary adds complication instead of removing it. Most life insurance policies and financial accounts won’t allow it, and if you manage to do it the asset might wind up in a trust administered by state government until the beneficiary is an adult.

• Capability. When choosing beneficiaries, think about the person’s capability. If they’re going to be placed in charge of a significant financial asset, ask yourself if they have the experience and necessary knowledge to handle it going forward.

• Circumstances. While naming someone to receive a financial windfall might seem like an obviously good thing—beneficiaries benefit, after all—take a moment to think about the potential negative impact that a sudden jump in net worth might have on someone in terms of tax liability or qualifying for benefits. This is especially important if you’re designating several beneficiaries to share an asset—dividing it up equally is the easiest thing to do, but might not be the best thing to do if your designated beneficiaries have very different economic realities.

• Clarity. While most financial accounts require a specific name for beneficiaries, if you have the option of being less specific—don’t. Naming “all my children” as beneficiaries, for example, gets complicated if one of your children predeceases you, for example.

• Insurable interest. Many life insurance policies require that your beneficiary have an “insurable interest” in you—they must rely on you in some financial sense. Naming a beneficiary that lacks an insurable interest can lead to a host of complications, so make sure your desired beneficiary will pass muster with your insurer.

Finally, keep in mind that in many cases you can name a charitable organization as a beneficiary. Since beneficiary designations trump wills, this is an easy way to control who benefits from your estate after you pass.

New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome remained locked down early Wednesday, just hours ahead of kickoff at the Sugar Bowl after a terror attack in the city.

The city will host a College Football Playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame but it is unclear if the game will go on as scheduled.

Per ESPN, the building – which is roughly a mile from where police say 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar rammed a crowd of people on Bourbon Street, killing ten – was locked down for “security sweeps” early Wednesday afternoon. ESPN reported:

There was no immediate word that the Sugar Bowl, scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. ET, might be delayed. The game between Notre Dame and Georgia is serving as a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that there was no immediate indication that the game would be delayed but that officials were waiting to get an all-clear from authorities that it would be safe to keep the event at the 70,000-seat stadium on schedule. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive and fluid nature of the discussions with authorities.

New Orleans Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said earlier Wednesday that the Sugar Bowl would be played as scheduled.

Police said Jabbar, who is from Texas and served in the US Army, crashed a truck into a crowd at a New Year’s celebration in New Orleans’ French Quarter. He was killed by police but not before he reportedly took the lives of 10 people and injured at least 35 more.

The suspect was allegedly carrying an ISIS flag and was armed with an assault rifle at the time of the terror attack, which took place at around 4:15 a.m. ET.

Jabbar also reportedly had at least one explosive device with him during the attack.

Late Wednesday morning, the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans issued a joint statement on Wednesday’s events:

Aubry Killion, a reporter with WDSU-TV in New Orleans, tweeted that sources had told him the game would be played Thursday night because of the attack but a secondary source had not confirmed the report as of Wednesday afternoon.

Screenshot

The suspect in the deadly Bourbon Street attack has been identified.

According to NOLA.com, law enforcement sources say 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar was the suspect believed to have sped down Bourbon Street in a pickup truck early Wednesday. At least Ten people were killed in the attack and more than 35 were injured. The source told NOLA.com Din jabbar was carrying an ISIS flag in the truck. ABC News previously reported law enforcement was looking into the suspect’s potential ties to ISIS.

Law enforcement previously confirmed the suspect was killed after emerging from his vehicle with an assault rifle. An FBI special agent on the scene confirmed an explosive device was found — though it had not yet been determined to be viable. ABC News is reporting that multiple explosive devices were recovered, and were deemed to be viable.

Fox News is reporting the truck the suspect drove crossed the U.S. border at Eagle Pass, TX just over a month ago.

This story is breaking and will be updated.