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Global power rental company Aggreko has agreed to buy energy storage firm Younicos for approximately $52 million in cash. Aggreko, headquartered in Scotland, is a provider of leased mobile power, as well as heating and cooling equipment. The firm had revenues of approximately $2.6 billion last year, with more than 7,300 employees.

Founded in 2005, the Berlin-based Younicos builds software to help design and control grid battery systems. The startup doesnt make its own batteries but it does make the software to control them.

Younicos raised more than $75 million from investors including Korean lithium-ion battery maker Samsung, Calibrium AG (formerly Aeris Capital), Mithril GmbH, German-Japanese flow battery maker Gildemeister/DMG Mori Seiki, America's First Solar, Grupo Ecosand battery manufacturer Panasonic. Despite the positive spin from officers of the acquirer and acquiree, it's difficult to paint this as anything but a disappointing exit.

In 2014, Younicos bought the portfolio of bankrupt U.S. storage startup Xtreme Power, giving it 60 megawatts' worth of projects in North America. Xtreme Power itself had raised $89 million before Younicos acquired its projects.

Younicos now has a total portfolio of more than 200 megawatts of installed storage systems. According to a release, the firm had revenues of $9 million, while losing $19 million in 2016.

In a characterization that seems like a big stretch, Aggreko CEO Chris Weston said he "expected the business to break even in its own right by the middle of next year."

Aggreko claims that Younicos systems can be used "across its business to lower the cost of energy for its customers, as well as increasing its green credentials."

This acquisition follows a recent trend of large firms acquiring small, growing energy storage firms.

Greensmith's CEO John Jung told GTM that the difference between solar or wind and energy storage is that "you can't unleash its potential unless you have the software right."

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Younicos Acquired for $52 Million by Generator Rental Firm Aggreko - Greentech Media

Rising investments by mainland Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong media outlets is a cause for concern, a journalists group said, warning that the red money could worsen the problem of self-censorship among the citys newspapers and TV stations.

In its latest annual report, the Hong Kong Journalists Association(HKJA) noted that eight of the 26 mainstream media outlets in Hong Kong are effectively controlled by Chinese money as of now.

In the reporttitled Two systems under siege: Beijing turns the screws on Hong Kong media, the association pointed out that by the end of theyear, i-Cable will join the list of entities relying on Chinese capital.

That will take the number of Hong Kong media entities that are under mainland control or have significant Chinese ownership stakes to nine, raising the proportion to about 35 percent, the HKJA said.

Beijing used to take a back-seat role earlier, but the approach seems to have changed since 2003 after Hong Kong witnessed mass protests against proposed national security laws.

With authorities realizing the need for a docile press, mainland businessmen and enterprises were encouraged to invest in Hong Kong media entities and try to ensure favorable coverage for Beijing.

The efforts to gain control over Hong Kong media gained further momentum after Xi Jinpings ascent to power and the Occupy pro-democracy protests during this decade, the HKJA noted in its 2017 report.

After President Xi Jinping came to power and the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy movement in Hong Kong, Beijing moved into the drivers seat, it said, according to the Hong Kong Economic Journal.

Mak Yin-ting, a former HKJA chairwoman, said there has been enough evidence to suggest that media self-censorship is getting more and more serious in Hong Kong.

The situation makes one wonder whether the problems are due to the infiltration of Chinese capital in local media, Mak said.

HKJA chairman Chris Yeung pointed out that the media has the responsibility to play a watchdog role on the government.

Propagandizing or speaking for those in power can only harm the cause of free press, Apple Daily quoted him as saying.

The HKJA urged Hong Kongs new administration to take immediate action to defend the citys high degree of autonomy and refrain from enacting national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law until society reaches a consensus on the issue.

Noting that Carrie Lam, who was sworn as the chief executive on July 1, had signed a press freedom charter during her election campaign, the HKJA asked the new leader to fulfill her promises, including enacting of freedom of information and archives laws.

Among other things, the journalists association called on the government to stop the practice of using blog posts to announce major policies, something that was often seen during the previous Leung Chun-ying administration.

Replacing press conferences with online announcements will deprive the media of opportunities to question the government, the HKJA said.

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'Red money' poses a threat to HK media independence: HKJA - EJ Insight

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Data shows Florida's Stand Your Ground law is awful. The rule lets you kill anyone you want in self-defense, even if you're the person who started a fight. In the years since the law went into effect, the state's murder rate has shot up dramatically. The law has been used to exonerate multiple cops who have shot unarmed people and, most notably, to let George Zimmerman walk free after following, harassing, and then fatally shooting unarmed Miami teen Trayvon Martin a killing that later helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement.

Weeks ago, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill that actually makes it easierfor people who've killed others to claim they were standing their ground.

But today, a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge ruled that new law unconstitutional and dropped a reference to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixin the ruling while he was at it. Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch linked to a legal paper arguing that the Ministry of Magic, the governing body in J.K. Rowling's wizarding universe, suffers from some severe cases of judicial and executive overreach and perhaps did not give Harry Potter a fair trial in the series' fifth book.

The ruling in and of itself is narrow, does not apply to the rest of the state, and will likely be overturned in the Third District Court of Appeal, which tends to be more favorable to the state in cases like this one. But it's still an important decision for justice advocates, who opposed the bill when state Sen. Rob Bradley proposed it last December.

The new rule shifts the "burden of proof" for prosecutors. Previously, if someone tried to claim a stand-your-ground defense, they would have to prove their case to a jury. Now the opposite is true. Once you claim "stand your ground," it's presumed to be true unless a prosecutor can prove otherwise. Local attorneys warned this would make it extremely difficult to prosecute many murder cases, but the bill passed through the NRA-fueled Florida Legislature anyway.

Today Judge Hirsch ruled the law unconstitutional, writing in an order that under state law, only the Florida Supreme Court, not the Legislature, can make a change of that nature.

"As a matter of constitutional separation of powers, that procedure cannot be legislatively modified," Hirsch wrote.

But Hirsch has long been known for dropping scores of literary references in his orders. Miami Heraldcourt reporter David Ovalle has long chronicled Hirsch's love for all things Shakespeare, especially Hamlet.

Hirsch wasn't able to find a way to name-drop the Bard this time around. But instead, he took a slightly more modern route, by linking to a legal paper on the separation of powers in J.K. Rowling's wizarding universe.

Late into the 14-page ruling, Hirsch offered a short lesson on the Founding Fathers' constitutional intentions when setting up the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government. He quotes Federalist Paper number 48, in which James Madison warned that the legislative branch is "everywhere extending the sphere of its activity" and eroding the nation's systems of checks and balances.

Then, in a footnote, Hirsch gave readers a more contemporary (and more than slightly frivolous) reference: a paper published in the Hertfordshire Law Journal titled "Harry Potter and the Separation of Powers: A Law and Literature Review of J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." The paper's opening summary argues that the main governing body in the Potteruniverse, the Ministry of Magic, is constitutionally flawed and suffers from some serious cases of judicial and executive overreach:

A nearly just society is influenced, if not governed, by the principle of the separation of powers. In J.K. Rowlings series of books on Harry Potter the Ministry of Magic, the wizards governing body, is ignorant to the principle and because of this natural justice and the rule of law are threatened, however Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, repeatedly ensures that the outcome of the judicial process is just, albeit it through encouraging kidnap and escape, and illustrates that natural justice can only survive when the judicial function is subject to the separation doctrine. How J.K. Rowling deals with these issues is explored in this paper.

The bulk of the paper argues that Rowling's fictional wizard universe doesn't have a particularly fair or just court system. Through much of the Order of the Phoenix, Potter sits on trial at the Ministry of Magic in London. The paper's author argues thatCornelius Fudge, chair of the Wizengamot, the highest wizarding court in Britain, is "biased against Harry Potter:"

"The trial of Harry Potter shows that through the lack of a separation of powers in the wizards constitutional system, there is a distinct disregard for the rules of natural justice, traditionally applied to judicial decisions," the paper reads. "These rules are inherent to satisfy the well-known principle that justice should not only be done but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done."

Throughout the paper, the author reminds readers that Fudge, the judge, spends his time discrediting witnesses, slandering Potter in the local wizarding newspaper, messing with Potter's hearing dates to ensure his witnesses cannot be called to testify, and even threatening to change the laws to ensure that Potter gets put in Azkaban, the wizarding jail guarded by hooded Dementors, whose mouths suck the souls out of victims.

"All of these issues show complete ignorance to the doctrine of the separation of powers," the paper's author argues. "Fudge is involved in the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive of the Ministry of Magic."

Sure, that's technically true. And the paper does a good job of explaining the basic concept of checks and balances to the sort of people who've never heard of such a thing before, like schoolchildren.

But the reference also comes across as a bit flippant, given the severity of the subject matter: Florida's Stand Your Ground law let Zimmerman murder a black child in 2012. It might be best for judges to focus on actual Florida law before we get too wrapped up in wizarding politics.

More here:
Miami Judge References Harry Potter to Strike Down New "Stand Your Ground" Law - Miami New Times

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to supporters through a bullhorn during a campaign stop at the Canfield County Fair in Canfield, Ohio, U.S., September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

President Donald Trump shared an animated meme created by an apparent neo-Nazi depicting him body-slamming CNN and thats not even the first time hes circulated white nationalist themes.

The animation, which was taken from Trumps appearance at a WWE professional wrestling event, was apparently created by an obviously racist Reddit user called HanAssholeSolo.

The reporter who revealed the memes creator said he has been deluged with anti-Semitic death threats from Nazi sympathizers who support Trump.

As a presidential candidate, in February 2016, Trump retweeted and then deleted a message from the Twitter user WhiteGenocideTM complimenting the size of his rally crowds.

That users profile shows an image of George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, and links to anti-Semitic, Holocaust denial and racist content.

Trump actually retweeted another post by WhiteGenocideTM a few weeks earlier, when he shared an image showing Jeb Bushs head superimposed on a panhandlers body, holding a sign that reads, Vote Trump.

He tweeted an image in July 2016 calling Hillary Clinton crooked, next to a six-pointed star that closely resembled the Star of David which emerged from a neo-Nazi forum on the 8chan website.

House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced the tweet as anti-Semitic, but Trumps social media director Dan Scavino claimed he randomly chose the star from a stock art collection on Microsoft Word, while Trump insisted the graphic was a sheriffs badge.

Fortune used social media analytics software developed by Little Bird and found that prominent members of the Trump campaign, including former campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, followed the most influential members of the white nationalist #WhiteGenocide network.

Trump himself doesnt follow any of those Twitter accounts, but nearly 68 percent of the top #WhiteGenocide influencers follow him, while 24 percent follow Scavino.

He retweeted the user @NeilTurner_ whose Twitter bio claims white genocide is real five times during the campaign, despite following only 42 accounts at the time.

Fortunes analysis found Trump and his campaign have used social media to court support within the white supremacist community, whether intentionally or unintentionally. And it appears to have worked.

Kellyanne Conway, who served as Trumps campaign manager during the final stretch before the election and now serves as a senior White House adviser, tweeted love you back in February to an account called Lib Hypocrisy whose bio includes the hashtags #WhiteIdentity, #Nationalist, and #SteveBannon.

The presidents son, Donald Trump Jr., has also shared white nationalist themes and ideas on his Twitter account.

Trump Jr. retweeted a post in August 2016 by Kevin MacDonald, a retired psychology professor that the Southern Poverty Law Center has called the neo-Nazi movements favorite academic.

Hes also shared posts using the Pepe the Frog character identified with the neo-Nazi alt-right movement, and he cracked a gas chamber joke in September 2016.

Later that month, Trump Jr. drew widespread condemnation for comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned candy an analogy based on two separate white supremacist memes with roots in Nazi propaganda.

The analogy, which has been used on message boards and shared as social media memes, originally used M&Ms as the candy in question but that changed after George Zimmerman gunned down Trayvon Martin while the unarmed black teen was walking home from buying a drink and some Skittles.

But the poisoned candy analogy goes back even further, to an anti-Semitic childrens book published by Julius Streicher, the publisher of the Nazi newspaper Der Strmer who was executed in 1946 as a war criminal.

The book tells the tale of the poisonous mushroom, and was used to indoctrinate children in hate.

More here:
Trump shared Twitter content created by neo-Nazis long before his CNN tweet - Raw Story

Jacksonville Daily Record

Judicial Spotlight: Get to know five 4th Judicial Circuit Court judges Jacksonville Daily Record He is often asked to discuss his work on the Michael Dunn and George Zimmerman trials two recent homicide cases that garnered national attention. Other service activities include judging mock trial competitions and speaking to Boy Scouts about the ...

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Judicial Spotlight: Get to know five 4th Judicial Circuit Court judges - Jacksonville Daily Record