Following the $787 million defamation settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems in 2023, CNN did a lot of gloating and spiking the ball as they used it as a cudgel to attack the credibility of their cable news rival. But that celebration seems to have come back to bite them as U.S. Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young won a motion, on Thursday, to cite CNN’s coverage as evidence that CNN supposedly took the possibility of defamation seriously, in his upcoming $1 billion defamation trial. In a filing on Monday, Young’s lead counsel, Vel Freedman explained the importance of examining CNN’s coverage of the Fox News settlement:  If CNN recognized the significance of the Dominion settlement as a cautionary tale and yet still chose to defame Young, that fact demonstrates the insufficiency of prior monetary amounts in deterring CNN’s misconduct. Such evidence illuminates the severity of CNN’s disregard for journalistic standards, underscores it knowingly undertook risk for clicks and viewers, and bolsters the argument that punitive award is necessary to deter CNN and others from future defamation. Freedman also noted that in reporting on the settlement, Jake Tapper (one of the CNN journalists partially responsible for putting CNN in hot water) “made these statements as a CNN agent acting within the scope of his employment. The statement is probative because it is CNN’s acknowledgement of proper journalistic standards.” In the reporting in question, Tapper proclaimed: “This is a time for all journalists to be extra careful about our own reporting, to make sure that we adhere strictly to facts and cogent analysis.” In a filing in support of their motion to bar mention of the Fox News-Dominion settlement, on Tuesday, CNN counsel Charles Tobin suggested that Young’s desires to cite CNN’s reporting on the matter “lay bare the fundamental gamesmanship at play.” However, he did note that “the reporting at issue in the lawsuit was published in November 2021, nearly a year-and-a-half prior to the April 2023 Fox-Dominion settlement” [emphasis his]. But that would also mean that CNN was doing a victory lap and mocking Fox News while they were embroiled in their own possibly costly defamation suit; a suit that has largely gone unmentioned in the wider media industry that reveled in Fox News’s embarrassment. In his order to allow the mention of the settlement, exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, Judge William Scott Henry of Florida's 14th Circuit Court said CNN’s “general request to exclude all references to the Dominion settlement appears to be overly broad.” “While the amount of the settlement would not be relevant to assigning an amount if punitive damages were to be awarded in this case, the Court can envision a myriad of ways in which the lawsuit could be brought up during the course of the trial that could be appropriate based on the circumstances,” he continued. Concluding: “ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendant’s Motion in Limine to Exclude All References to Fox News’ Dominion Settlement, or Prior Statements About Fox News or President Donald Trump is DENIED. However, the subjects and areas of inquiry raised in the Motion may be subject to contemporaneous objection at trial.”

Florida police said that a man died in a car accident after he allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend 70 times. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said that officers were called to a residence on Hibbard Trail in Chuluota at about 12:45 a.m. on Friday over a report of a stabbing of two people. 'Stevens had been charged with domestic violence battery against Lindsay in November.' When they arrived, they found 40-year-old Kristin Stevens dead with up to 70 stab wounds from a kitchen knife, according to Sheriff Dennis Lemma. An unidentified man at the scene told them that he awoke to find 42-year-old James Christopher Lindsey on top of Stevens and stabbing her. He claimed that Lindsey had used a hammer to break into the home. That man tried to help her but was stabbed in the leg and fled to a neighbor's home to call 911. Lindsey's 16-year-old child was also in the home but was unharmed. At about 5 a.m. the suspect's body was found on Fort Christmas Road in the Orange County area after he had been ejected from a car crash. Police said he had been driving at speeds over 100 mph and lost control of the vehicle. Police said Lindsey and Stevens had been involved in domestic violence incidents since 2014. Stevens had been charged with domestic violence battery against Lindsay in November. A judge denied a request from police that he be required to wear an ankle monitor as a condition of his bond. “This is a heartbreaking and traumatic incident that will have a lasting impact on families and a community,” said Sheriff Lemma. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. Our team will continue to work diligently to uncover the full details surrounding the case.” Lindsey's booking photo was included in a news video from WKMG-TV on YouTube. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Perhaps I’m showing my age, but I maintain that the late ‘90s and early ‘00s marked the creative height of PC gaming. Half-Life, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Fallout - the era gave birth to some of the greatest shooters and RPGs of all time. Thief and its two sequels are arguably the greatest works of this period. Stylish, challenging, and early pioneers for a type of environmental storytelling that dominates games to this day, the influence of Looking Glass and Ion Storm’s Thief trilogy is hard to overstate. And now, spiritually at least, it’s making a return. From PC legends Warren Spector, Greg LoPiccolo, and Paul Neurath, whose collective credits include Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima, and of course Thief itself, this is a new stealth heist game built on the shoulders of Garrett. Welcome to Thick As Thieves. Continue reading Thief has a new spiritual sequel, built by the Deus Ex and System Shock devs

If you're one of the many who's been playing Baldur's Gate 3 constantly over the last year, a DnD-inspired rival is coming in 2025 to challenge for your time. Solasta 2 is a massive, dice-heavy RPG that offers a bigger world and more strategic depth than its predecessor, all wrapped in familiar systems to those who know the Forgotten Realms. Continue reading DnD inspired RPG Solasta 2 is coming to challenge Baldur’s Gate 3 in 2025

CRT Harms Kids: Green Bay, WI Mom Threatens School District With Suit Over Racist Reading Support Policy

New Lawsuits Accuse Sean 'Diddy' Combs of Drugging, Sexually Assaulting 3 Men

Image: Chris Welch / The Verge Apple’s rumored combo Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip might be introduced with some of the company’s home products in 2025, including a new HomePod Mini and Apple TV, reports Mark Gurman for Bloomberg. Apple’s new chip, codenamed “Proxima,” is meant to be a major transitional change for the company’s devices that reduces reliance on Broadcom, which makes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi components for various devices in Apple’s lineup. Sources speaking to Gurman say the chips have been in development for several years and will be produced by TSMC — the same manufacturer that makes Apple Silicon chips. Gurman didn’t specify when the new HomePod Mini and Apple TV might debut next year. The Proxima chip could also appear in iPhones later in 2025 and in the iPad and Mac in 2026, Gurman says. Apple is also working on a standalone security camera, Gurman says. Gurman has previously reported that the company is gearing up to introduce a wall-mounted smart display for controlling your smart home next year as part of a bigger push into the home.

Image: The Game Awards Geoff Keighley’s enormous and expensive video game commercial show celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. It’s that time of the year. The Game Awards 2024 starts December 12th at 7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT on Twitch and YouTube. This year marks the awards’ tenth anniversary so expect some big surprises to celebrate the occasion. We already know Borderlands 4 will make an appearance as well as the next game from Hazelight Studios, the developers behind Game of the Year 2021 It Takes Two. Keighley’s BFF Hideo Kojima will probably show up to show off more of Death Stranding 2 or maybe even his new game / movie hybrid project OD. And with 2025 mere weeks away, the GTA VI hype season will officially start, likely with a new, potentially record busting trailer. Here are all the news, trailers, and surprises for this years Game Awards. As for me, the only thing I’m excited about for TGAs 2024 is the possibility of Flute Guy and Metaphor: ReFantanzio Monk Guy sharing the same stage.

Not a photo of an Nvidia LAN, since I can’t find my old photos of them! | Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images It’s been 13 years since Nvidia hosted its last LAN party, inviting hundreds of people to physically haul their gaming PCs onto a decommissioned aircraft carrier and jack them in for networked gaming bliss. Now, the GeForce LAN is finally coming back — and you’re theoretically invited, should you manage to reserve one of the 400 available spaces right here on December 16th at 6AM PT / 9AM ET. The GeForce LAN 50 will run January 4th through January 6th, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, with satellite events in Berlin, Taipei, and Beijing, and it promises to be a “online & in-person 50 hour gaming marathon” with contests, tournaments, raffles, and swag. It’ll kick off 4:30PM PT on January 4th, and you’ll need to provide a fully refundable $125 deposit to sign up. Nvidia tells me those 400 slots are for everyday gamers, and do not count the influencers who may also show up. If you can’t or don’t want to make it, Nvidia says it’ll offer one small set of rewards online — if you stream Diablo IV, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, The Finals, or WoW from its GeForce Now cloud gaming service “continuously for 50 minutes,” there’ll be some kind of in-game reward. Nvidia will also be offering prizes in a marketing celebration it’s calling “GeForce Greats”. The LAN party is happening right before Nvidia’s CES 2025 keynote in Las Vegas, where we’re expecting the company to announce the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, and possibly the RTX 5070 as well, and the fact that this is the “GeForce LAN 50” is probably a tease for those 50-series cards — the last LAN that Nvidia hosted was the “GeForce LAN 6,” not “GeForce LAN 49” or anything like that. Starting in 2004, the GPU company began to host major LAN parties almost every year until it stopped in 2011. Here’s one of my minor claims to nerd fame: I helped set a Guinness World Record for the largest, longest LAN party at one in 2008. Image: Sean Hollister Record scratch, freeze frame, yep that’s me (on the left)... That Nvidia LAN wasn’t held on an aircraft carrier, but rather the San Jose Convention Center, as part an event that Nvidia called “NVISION 08.” The company never held another NVISION, but it rebooted its event the very next year, at the very same location, as the GPU Technology Conference (GTC). There was a time Nvidia would sponsor third-party LANs as well. Apparently Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a soft spot for LANs, making a surprise visit to a small one in Vietnam last year. While gamers have largely moved online for multiplayer games, the LAN party subculture has been getting a bit of nostalgic attention as of late — there’s even a coffee table book now documenting the era.

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing “numerous counts” against Elon Musk, according to a letter from his lawyer that Musk posted to X. It has also “reopened an investigation into Neuralink.” The letter is short on specifics — such as what the charges may be, and how many Musk companies are affected. Instead, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, complains that “the Commission Staff issued a settlement demand that required Mr. Musk agree within 48 hours to either accept a monetary payment or face charges on numerous accounts.” Even this is somewhat unclear; presumably, Spiro means that Musk would pay a penalty rather than accept money from the SEC. Oh Gary, how could you do this to me? pic.twitter.com/OoooQI77ZS— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2024 Musk has a long and storied history with the SEC, which he has said he does not respect. In 2018, Musk briefly pretended he’d take Tesla private before admitting two weeks later Tesla would stay public. The SEC then sued him over a tweet saying he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. Musk reached a settlement with the agency, paying $20 million, stepping down as chair of Tesla’s board and agreeing to a “Twitter sitter,” or a lawyer who’d supervise his tweets. Musk then reneged on the Twitter sitter thing. That particular kerfuffle went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case; Musk was stuck with his Twitter sitter. The letter characterizes this history as “more than six years of harassment.” More recently, the SEC sought to sanction Musk for no-showing on them in a separate investigation over his Twitter takeover. A judge declined to sanction him because he reimbursed the SEC for the airfare of the lawyers he stood up. It is unclear from Spiro’s letter whether the charges the SEC is pursuing have to do with the Twitter matter or something else. Reuters previously reported that the Department of Justice was probing whether Tesla’s self-driving claims were actually securities fraud. In 2023, Reuters reported that lawmakers had asked the SEC to probe Neuralink over Musk’s comments about the safety of the company’s brain device. Musk also asked his AI, Grok, to draw a picture of Gensler. The image depicted a snail in a business suit, seemingly a reference to Gary the Snail from Spongebob Squarepants, a television show for children.