NY State Senator Introduces Bill Banning State Employees From Using TikTok
New York State Senator Chris Jacobs has introduced a new bill proposing to ban state employees from downloading and using the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok on their government-issued phones. “On the surface TikTok appears to be a harmless tool for creating short videos with music when in reality it is a data mining instrument that violates our privacy and could threaten our security,” Jacobs said in a June 22 press release from his office. He added: “It is just too easy for the information it collects to be accessed by the oppressive Chinese government waging a fierce economic war against our state and our country.” The bill, named “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” (S8600), was introduced by Jacobs last Thursday. It would add new language to section 103 of…
OTTAWA鈥擜 group of senators is calling on the Liberal government to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over China’s treatment of its Muslim minority, its increasing restriction of freedoms in Hong Kong, and its arrests of two Canadians.
The 12 senators are mostly Conservatives but some were appointed on the advice of Liberal prime ministers, including Justin Trudeau.
In a letter, they say China is “constantly and mercilessly perpetrating horrendous and utterly inhuman acts towards other groups.”
Canada has a law that lets the government target the personal finances of foreign officials responsible for violating human rights, freezing assets that are in Canada’s control and forbidding Canadian institutions to do business with them.
The Liberals are also facing pressure from the other direction, with one senator pressing the government Tuesday to consider intervening to free Chinese high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou from an extradition process in Vancouver.
Trudeau has rejected that idea, saying Meng’s case will go on without interference from politicians even though two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, are imprisoned in China in what Canada sees as retaliation.
Focus News: Sanction Chinese Officials Over Human Rights Violations, Senators Urge Trudeau
House Will Debate the Great American Outdoor Act in July
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced Monday that the House will debate and may vote to amend the Great American Outdoors Act, which would inject billions to maintain neglected national parks and permanently fund land and water conservation efforts. “The House will consider the Great American Outdoors Act under a rule on the floor during the work period at the end of July. This bipartisan bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 73–25, will permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and address the maintenance backlog at our national parks,” Hoyer said in a press statement. The Senate passed the legislation with bipartisan support last week, and it also has bipartisan support in the House. Hoyer said he will bring up the measure under regular rules that…
