The New York Times kicked off a smear campaign earlier this month over a neighborly dispute and an American flag at Justice Samuel Alito's house. The attempted character assassination spawned several others, all ostensibly penned with the aim of undermining the credibility of the Supreme Court and shaming Alito into recusing himself from cases in which Democrats and their fellow leftists are politically and emotionally invested. Democratic lawmakers used the false flag reports to great effect, demanding that Alito not only step aside from cases related to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 protests, but that he apologize for supposedly "disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists." All their chest-beating, hyperbole, and unfounded allegations were for nought — just as their similar efforts were last year — for Justice Alito told Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin (Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) very politely in a Wednesday letter to pound sand. "A reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that this event does not meet the applicable standard for recusal," wrote Alito. Having previously referenced the disqualification provision in the court's code of conduct, the justice added, "I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request." Rep. Jamie Raskin (R-Md.), certainly motivated by political considerations and keen to affect upcoming SCOTUS decisions, returned to the liberal newspaper where the latest smear campaign against Alito began, writing an Wednesday op-ed entitled, "How to Force Justices Alito and Thomas to Recuse Themselves in the Jan. 6 Cases." Raskin suggested that the Biden Department of Justice can lean on the high court to help Democrats get their way. After recycling the Times' insinuations and characterizing his and other partisans' demands as a "groundswell of appeals," Raskin wrote, "The U.S. Department of Justice — including the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, an appointed U.S. special counsel and the solicitor general, all of whom were involved in different ways in the criminal prosecutions underlying these cases and are opposing Mr. Trump's constitutional and statutory claims — can petition the other seven justices to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves not as a matter of grace but as a matter of law." Raskin suggested that the Biden DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland can invoke the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution and the "federal statute mandating judicial disqualification for questionable impartiality, 28 U.S.C. Section 455," which requires possibly prejudiced judges to recuse themselves at the start of proceedings. According to Raskin, who was silent in April on the matter of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's partiality in the Idaho case related to gender, "When the arguments are properly before the court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Sonia Sotomayor will have both a constitutional obligation and a statutory obligation to enforce recusal standards." The Democrat further insinuated that the concerns previously manufactured in the pages of the Times amounted to reasonable doubts about Alito's impartiality, which in lesser courts might ordinarily warrant recusal. He then wrapped up his op-ed by likening Supreme Court justices to umpires, noting that an umpire would not be "allowed to call balls and strikes in a World Series game after the umpire’s wife tried to get the official score of a prior game in the series overthrown and canceled out to benefit the losing team" — ostensibly another smear against at least one justice's wife. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, can’t seem to catch a break lately. Hacking group ShinyHunters has now claimed to have hacked Ticketmaster, siphoning off personal data from more than 560 million customers. According to reports from HackRead, ShinyHunters posted on a hacking forum this week that it had breached the ticket seller and made off with more than 1.3 terabytes of stolen data in a massive Ticketmaster hack. The data stolen in this massive breach includes full names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, ticket sales data, event details, partial payment information, and other order info. The breach, if confirmed, could have major implications for the users whose data was stolen. There’s enough information here to give bad actors enough ammo for cyber attackers, financial fraud, and possibly even identity theft, depending on who gets their hands on the information. This Ticketmaster hack is obviously a huge disaster for any users who have used Ticketmaster in the past. If you currently have a Ticketmaster account and have used a credit or debit card on it, I’d recommend keeping an eye on your statements going forward or maybe even getting the card replaced so that you don’t have a card tied to that account anymore. Closeup of hacker, shown working on a computer Image source: krisanapong detraphiphat/Getty This isn’t ShinyHunters' first foray into hacking, either. The group is actually well-known for its previous high-profile breaches, including stealing data from Microsoft, AT&T, and Wishbone. While Ticketmaster hasn’t confirmed the breach just yet, it’s still a good idea to change any information you might have tied to Ticketmaster, including your password. It’s also worth changing the password for your affected email, just as an added safety measure. Of course, this isn’t Ticketmaster’s first run-in with cybersecurity issues, either. The ticket seller has previously been disrupted by bots when selling high-profile tickets, and it was even found guilty of hacking into a rival company to obtain confidential information. This Ticketmaster hack is just the latest in a growing line of bad news surrounding the seller. None of this even considers the fact that Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, were sued by the U.S. Justice Department last week for monopolizing the markets across the live concert industry. Ticketmaster has always been a bit shady. If you reap what you sow, then it seems time for the company to bring in its harvest. Unfortunately, it’s the innocent customers forced to use the system to purchase tickets who will be most affected. Don't Miss: Watch this crazy video of a monstrous X8.7 solar flare on the Sun The post Ticketmaster hit by major hack, data for 560 million users exposed appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $249 iPad, Sonos speakers from $199, $495 Apple Watch Ultra, $14 charging station, more Best Apple Watch deals for May 2024 Best Ring Video Doorbell deals in May 2024 Today’s deals: $3.25 smart plugs, $79 AirPods, $849 M2 MacBook Air, $329 Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, more