Tag Archive for: Rep.

US trade rep seeks close economic security ties in Asia

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TOKYO — The United States hopes to deepen trade ties with Japan as it fortifies cooperation on economic security with its Asian allies and partners, the top U.S. trade envoy said Wednesday.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s visit to Tokyo follows a trip to the Philippine capital, Manila, that she said highlighted a newly emerging partnership among the three countries as they build both economic and defense ties.

Tai met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to discuss making supply chains more resilient and secure, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Tai also reviewed the status of negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, a new trade pact proposed by Washington, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with Japan, it said.

The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hayashi responded by welcoming more U.S. engagement in the regional economy, saying Japan will proactively discuss the plan with other partners.

Japan and the United States have been promoting multilateral cooperation, most recently with the Philippines as they share common concern over China’s growing influence and assertiveness in both security and economic activities.

But the U.S. has stepped up diplomacy across the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopping over the weekend in Vietnam, which Washington sees as a key component of its strategy for the region given the country’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China.

Tai also met Wednesday with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The trade ministry said the two discussed strengthening supply chains — an issue that gained urgency amid shortages of computer chips and other goods during the pandemic. They also discussed ways to cooperate in the protection of human rights in business, the ministry said.

Japan and the United States have set up a taskforce that aims to eliminate human rights violations in international supply chains and to ban use of materials from…

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5 seek SC House seat vacated by retiring Rep. Chip Huggins | Columbia News

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COLUMBIA — A crowded field is running to fill the seat of retiring state Rep. Chip Huggins.

The Lexington County Republican served for 23 years in the district that covers the fast growing area north of Lake Murray, and parts of Irmo.

Now, five candidates — four Republicans, who will compete in a primary run off June 14, and one Libertarian — are seeking the office.

The Republicans include: Jay Kilmartin, a businessman who owns The Melting Pot restaurant; two Lexington-Richland School District Five board members Rebecca Blackburn Hines and Catherine Huddle; and Christian Stegmaier, a Columbia area attorney.

John Davis, the lone Libertarian, runs a computer security business.

Stegmaier, a Columbia area attorney, ran for office once before seeking the state Senate seat currently held by Democrat Dick Harpootlian. He said the growth around Irmo and Chapin is what drove him to run in the current race.

“We need someone focused on building roads and infrastructure that meet our significant needs,” he said.

Stegmaier also wants to increase funding for South Carolina’s public universities and K-12 education.

Kilmartin, a first-time candidate, calls himself a “liberty-minded” Republican with a pro-business stance.

Other candidates did not immediately return calls from The Post and Courier.

In other Lexington County races, incumbent Micah Caskey faces a primary challenger in District 89, covering most of West Columbia and Cayce, as does Cal Forrest in District 39, which falls south and west of Lake Murray with towns like Gilbert, Batesburg-Leesville and Saluda.

Caskey, an attorney, has held office since 2016, taking over the seat from the influential and long-serving former S.C. House Ethics Committee chairman Kenny Bingham. After defeating West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles in a runoff, Caskey went on to win that year’s general election. 

Caskey is challenged in 2022 by Melanie Shull, a former music teacher and founder of Christian faith magazine Living Real.

Forrest also has served since 2016, defeating the then incumbent Ralph Shealy Kennedy in the primary before going on to win the General Election.

Forrest is challenged by Katie Hall of Saluda, a mother and…

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Hacker Poses As Support Rep To Breach Cox Communications

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Cox Communications, the third-largest cable provider in the U.S., has sent notifications to customers who were impacted by a recent data breach. According to the company, the hacker gained access to its systems by impersonating a support rep.

A copy of the notification shared by Bleeping Computer’s Lawrence Abrams reveals that Cox became aware of the attack on October 11.

This is the second incident related to a Cox company in the past six months. In June, Cox Media Group (CMG) suffered a ransomware attack that knocked TV and radio broadcasts offline.

The breach notification does not mention when the breach actually occurred, though it’s possible that information was not yet known at the time the notifications were sent out. Cox also notes that impacted accounts were secured, an investigation was launched and law enforcement officials notified on the day the attack was discovered.

Customers were notified that the attacker “may have viewed” private details of their accounts. That data potentially includes the customer’s Cox account number, access PIN, security questions and answers, list of active Cox services, Cox.net email address, name, address and telephone number.

It does not appear as though customer financial information was compromised, though Cox is still advising that those impacted carefully review their payment card statements for fraudulent transactions.

Cox customers who received a notification are also being a year of identity monitoring from Experian to “relieve concerns and restore confidence.”

The company is also advising that users change their passwords if they have re-used their Cox password with another…

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Woman Threatens Rep. Steve King With A Lawsuit For Using A 12-Year-Old Meme On His Facebook Page

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No matter what your political leanings are, this is just a very dumb thing to do. (via BentFranklin in the Techdirt Chat window):

The mother of the boy in the iconic “Success Kid” meme has threatened to sue Representative Steve King for using her son’s image in his campaign. In a series of tweets Monday, Laney Griner said she never gave his campaign permission to use the meme and called King a “vile man.”

Griner claimed King used an infamous copyrighted image of her son Sam, a minor, to raise money in a fundraising campaign without her permission.

Here’s the Facebook post by Rep. Steve King that got Griner so upset she’s threatening to waste money on a losing lawsuit (via Eric Hananoki):

The post isn’t smart or funny and suggests King’s supporters can only meme effectively by using other people’s money. It’s unclear how much money is needed to trigger liberals with bad memes, but the number of emojis deployed suggests it might be a lot.

Griner demanded “immediate removal” of the pictures of her meme son. King’s people complied. She also demanded King post an explanation stating that it was used without permission and for all donations resulting from the post be refunded to donors. It’s unknown if this has happened.

She’s also threatening a lawsuit, which seems like a really bad idea. Griner may not want her son associated with Rep. King (and really, who can blame her) but this also seems to be about something else: money.

“The majority of U.S. consumers reject your political and other views, often vehemently, as they have a right to do,” Griner’s attorney said in the cease-and-desist letter. “Those people may be repelled by any association with your politics and campaign and, therefore, unwilling to purchase products from legitimate licensees of the ‘Success Kid’ meme.“

I’m not sure what the overlap between Steve King fans and people-who-buy-licensed-meme-goods is, but I’m guessing probably not enough to show any substantial loss in the income column. This is about politics, rather than unlicensed use, as Griner’s tweets make perfectly clear.

It’s highly unlikely anyone viewed Steve King’s post and thought the 11-month-infant (who is now a 13-year-old boy) supports King and his extremely controversial views. Enforcing IP rights selectively is always a bad look — one that makes rightsholders look opportunistic, rather than truly wronged by whatever incident has prompted the enforcement effort. According to Know Your Meme, there were 66,000 instances of the meme using her copyrighted photo at Quickmeme alone. And that was in 2011. No one’s making any noise about these but when Steve King uses it, suddenly it’s a whole thing.

This isn’t about IP protection. It’s about politically-expedient enforcement. Griney could have asked Steve King to take it down and told everyone how displeased she was with this use. But she didn’t do that. She hired a lawyer, issued a cease-and-desist, and threatened a lawsuit. Sure, she’s well within her rights. But she’s not doing anything to erase the perception that copyright is a handy tool for censorship and the silencing of people you just simply don’t care for.

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