'Wife relied on Husband’s promises to pay for her surgery, and Husband has now repudiated that promise'

A post shared on social media purports Palestine has qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. ? Palestine qualifies for the FIFA World Cup for the first time pic.twitter.com/LJqA0NRiru — ?André Tha Man ☭ ? #FreeAssange (@LakeShowBoy24) June 18, 2024 Verdict: False The team was confirmed for the final round of World Cup qualifications, not the […]

the self proclaimed "most pro-union President" might have taken their support for granted

'surge of serious and violent crimes'

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. In the UK, a series of AI trials involving thousands of train passengers who were unwittingly subjected to emotion-detecting software raises profound privacy concerns. The technology, developed by Amazon and employed at various major train stations including London’s Euston and Waterloo, as well as Manchester Piccadilly, used artificial intelligence to scan faces and assess emotional states along with age and gender. Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch through a freedom of information request unveiled these practices, which might soon influence advertising strategies. Over the last two years, these trials, managed by Network Rail, implemented “smart” CCTV technology and older cameras linked to cloud-based systems to monitor a range of activities. These included detecting trespassing on train tracks, managing crowd sizes on platforms, and identifying antisocial behaviors such as shouting or smoking. The trials even monitored potential bike theft and other safety-related incidents. The data derived from these systems could be utilized to enhance advertising revenues by gauging passenger satisfaction through their emotional states, captured when individuals crossed virtual tripwires near ticket barriers. Despite the extensive use of these technologies, the efficacy and ethical implications of emotion recognition are hotly debated. Critics, including AI researchers, argue the technology is unreliable and have called for its prohibition, supported by warnings from the UK’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, about the immaturity of emotion analysis technologies. According to Wired, Gregory Butler, CEO of Purple Transform, has mentioned discontinuing the emotion detection capability during the trials and affirmed that no images were stored while the system was active. Meanwhile, Network Rail has maintained that its surveillance efforts are in line with legal standards and are crucial for maintaining safety across the rail network. Yet, documents suggest that the accuracy and application of emotion analysis in real settings remain unvalidated, as noted in several reports from the stations. Privacy advocates are particularly alarmed by the opaque nature and the potential for overreach in the use of AI in public spaces. Jake Hurfurt from Big Brother Watch has expressed significant concerns about the normalization of such invasive surveillance without adequate public discourse or oversight. Jake Hurfurt, Head of Research & Investigations at Big Brother Watch, said: “Network Rail had no right to deploy discredited emotion recognition technology against unwitting commuters at some of Britain’s biggest stations, and I have submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner about this trial. “It is alarming that as a public body it decided to roll out a large scale trial of Amazon-made AI surveillance in several stations with no public awareness, especially when Network Rail mixed safety tech in with pseudoscientific tools and suggested the data could be given to advertisers.’ “Technology can have a role to play in making the railways safer, but there needs to be a robust public debate about the necessity and proportionality of tools used. “AI-powered surveillance could put all our privacy at risk, especially if misused, and Network Rail’s disregard of those concerns shows a contempt for our rights.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Big Brother on Board: UK Train Stations Use Amazon-Powered AI to Read People’s Mood appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Chinese Coast Guard Boards Supply Boats, Injures Soldiers from the Philippines

On July 28, 1945, a tragic accident happened in New York. A B-25 Mitchell bomber accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building while flying in thick fog. The incident claimed the lives of 14 people. But it is the story of one of the survivors, Betty Lou Oliver, that continues to captivate the attention of people almost 80 years on. That day, Oliver managed to cheat death twice, the second time by surviving a falling elevator.The aircraft was supposed to land at LaGuardia Airport, but it couldn’t due to the foggy conditions. The pilot requested to land at Newark, which led the aircraft across Manhattan. It is believed that it flew very close to the Chrysler Building and after that, the pilot, maybe disoriented by the fog, veered in a trajectory that took the vehicle directly into the north-facing side of the Empire State Building.At 9:40 am, the B52 hit the building between the 78th and 80th floor. The three people on the plane and 11 people in the building died. The resulting fire spread across the building, which was extinguished in 40 minutes; it was the highest structural fire ever brought under control by firefighters. The building's structural integrity was not compromised, despite one engine going through the building and falling on an art studio one block away, and the other engine, the landing gear, and one of the plane occupants falling into one of the elevator shafts.Betty Lou Oliver was 20 at the time and she worked as an elevator operator in the building. Her car was stationary and on the 80th floor when the plane hit. The collision was so powerful that it threw her out of the elevator and as the fire spread, she received severe burns. Once she was reached by first aiders, she was placed in a different elevator and it was sent toward the ground floor. They had no idea that the cables were damaged. As it started to move, the cable snapped and the elevator fell for 75 stories.Elevators have multiple cables that can hold the weight of more than a single car, and they also have emergency brakes. The extreme circumstances of the event led to multiple failures. A perfect storm of bad luck. Oliver was fully conscious and she reported that she felt like the elevator was rushing away from her and that she had to hang onto the sides to keep from floating.Two things likely saved her life that day. First, the air pressure in the tight shaft is believed to have slowed down the cart as it rushed through the basement; the elevator also crashed against an oil buffer at the bottom of the shaft, but the buffer went right through the floor. Second, other reports cite that cables accumulating at the bottom also helped cushion the impact. And maybe she remained lying down as she grabbed the sides, spreading the forces of the impact better across her body. However, Oliver did not come out unscathed; she reported multiple fractures, in the pelvis, back, and neck.      It took several months, but she made a full recovery and lived for another 54 years. It seems like it was not her time to go.This is not the longest elevator fall that was survived by people (there was an 84-floor fall in Chicago a few years back, but emergency gear actually worked there), but it is believed to be the longest free fall of an elevator whose passenger lived to tell the tale.

A video game character artist seemed to confirm the assumed industry bias toward female beauty and femininity. Del Walker, an artist who has worked on Star Wars and Batman games, admitted that he has found it difficult to pitch beautiful women in the industry without them being finalized into less-attractive versions.Walker was responding to an image of a soccer player's girlfriend, a black woman named Tolami Benson, and remarked that many of his proposed characters have their "original beauty" removed."There's been a handful of times I've pitched black women characters that look like this, then after 10 iterations the concept or model comes back without a speck of the original beauty I pitched," he wrote on X.He then shared another picture of the woman compared to a black, female video game character. Walker revealed it wasn't only the face of the characters that have been changed, but their entire likeness, age, and attitude.'They also assume adding stereotypical ethno-features with a blunt force is some sort of hail mary.'"I'm not taking about mild changes. I'm talking about pose, aura, style, softness, age, flair. I hate giving gamergate men fuel — but it's very difficult to pitch beautiful or vain black women in games without them coming back like grocery store aunties. There is room for both."Western video game developers have been increasingly accused of making women less attractive in games, while still pushing stereotypical character models for men.Gamers have pointed out the many examples of dampening beauty, such as Star Wars Outlaws character model Humberly González.A recent remake of the classic Perfect Dark video game was also dragged for hardening the jawline of beloved character Joanna Dark.At the same time, Japanese and South Korean gaming studios have declined to go down the same route. Examples include the 2024 hit Stellar Blade (South Korea), which was accused of sexism for its lead female character, despite the developers simply staying true to the look of the model they used.Model and singer Stefanie Joosten was also nearly identical to her in-game version in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 5 (Japan).An indie developer named Richmond Lee added his own anecdote and responded to Walker that this seemed to be a problem consistent at Western development studios."Dude, a friend of mine, an Asian woman, was just telling me about how this happens to her when she designs Asian women for Western games! They always have her work redesigned by a Western artist to look more stereotypical then pat themselves on the back for good representation!""Yes. They also assume adding stereotypical ethno-features with a blunt force is some sort of hail mary, when a range of diversity exists inside diversity," Walker replied.Walker also worked on Warner Bros. video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which lost the studio a reported $200 million. The game worked with diversity consultants and was widely criticized for its storyline and hypocritical DEI-focused approach.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Larry Hogan’s (R-Md.) latest Senate campaign ad takes aim at former President Donald Trump, signals friendship with Republican liberals, brags about his COVID response as governor, and might be completely necessary to win. In the 31-second ad, the popular former governor lauds his father, the late Republican Congressman Lawrence Hogan, who went all-in on impeaching Republican President Richard Nixon. Next, he speaks highly of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for infamously tanking his party’s attempt to repeal Obamacare. Then, Hogan goes on to brag about Maryland’s COVID response (which was lackluster but not as heinous as others) and concludes with a quote from the late Democratic hero President John F. Kennedy saying that “sometimes party loyalty demands too much.” The ad is a clear shot at the top of the Republican ticket, a sign to conservatives in D.C. that he’s not going to be their pal and a signal to liberal Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) that he intends to join their ranks even as Mitt Romney (Utah) exits stage left. A reliable vote for tax cuts and foreign wars is all well and good, but what about the hard votes, like opposing bad judges? While the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Steve Daines (Mont.), has been asking to give Hogan more room to attack Republicans for months, the ad may still come as a surprise to some of his colleagues. After all, Hogan left the governor’s mansion as one of the most popular governors in the country. What good does it do to attack conservatives now? Why alienate those Eastern Shore and western Maryland Republicans you need to come out and vote for you? The reality of politics in Maryland is not so easy, however. The Maryland Republicans and conservatives Blaze News spoke with all agreed the new tact is vital for a Hogan win. The first thing is math. There are simply not enough Republicans in Maryland. Barack Obama beat McCain, for example, by more than 25 points in the Old Line State — and that was the closest a Republican’s come since. Obama beat Romney by more than 26 points; Hillary Clinton beat Trump by just slightly more; and then in 2020, Biden took the state by a staggering 33.21 points. “Only 23 percent of our state is Republican," Hogan explained in May, “so we’ve got to win nearly all of them, and nearly all of the independents, and then about 30 percent of the Democrats.” It’s a tall order, though one he's accomplished before. Early polling showed Hogan with a 20-point lead over the opposition — the kind of margin that makes slacking your party’s nominee inexcusable. Running for D.C. is different from running for Annapolis, however. With a tight margin of control in the Senate, Democrats will work hard to paint a vote for Hogan as a vote for departing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (one of the least popular men in America) and Trump’s agenda. “Maryland demographics are unique,” one Hogan alum told Blaze News. “It’s 2-1 Democrat to Republican, so even if you get 100 percent of GOP votes you get blown out of the water. And even Maryland independents aren’t standard issue — an Ohio independent is basically a Maryland Republican, politically.” So, in addition to winning Republicans and Maryland’s special breed of independents, the governor needs nearly a third of Democrats voting for Biden to break for the Republican for Senate. A hard get, by any metric. But is a Hogan win worth it for conservatives? That’s more difficult to answer. A Sen. Hogan could be counted on to vote with Republicans more than half of the time, of course, while a Democrat in the seat could be counted on to vote against Republicans virtually 100% of the time. But what will those Republican votes mean for a helpful agenda beyond bolstering a party leadership class already antagonistic toward the right? A reliable vote for tax cuts and foreign wars is all well and good, but what about the hard votes, like opposing bad judges or resisting Democrats’ culture war attacks? “The whole Hogan candidacy is ridiculous,” one longtime Senate observer told Blaze News. "He’s going to vote like a Democrat, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will waste money electing him instead of electing actually threatened Republicans, like Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas.” “Hogan keeps Republicans running in place. For status-quo zealots like McConnell, that’s enough. For the rest of us, it means we continue to lose traction on everything that actually matters.” Then, treading water is better than actively drowning. And Maryland ain’t electing anyone to Hogan’s right this decade. That’s an easy call. The tougher question is whether it’s worth the resources it takes from competitive races elsewhere. Republicans are betting yes. Conservatives are a little more wary. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletterSign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter.IN OTHER NEWS Still no winner in Freedom Caucus chairman’s primary House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) is still locked in a bitter primary battle with former Navy SEAL Bob McGuire, in a race that pit conservative activists against the combined efforts of Trump, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and Republican National Committee COO Chris LaCivita. "If he's re-elected, Bob Good will stab Virginia in the back, sort of like he did with me,” Trump said during an “online rally” for McGuire Monday night. As of the last updates, just after midnight, McGuire held the slight lead he’d maintained most of the evening, with around 95% of ballots counted. Just under 330 votes separated the two. “Remember, there are still provisional votes to count AND ballots postmarked as of June 18 that arrive between [Wednesday] and Friday will also be counted,” the Virginia Public Access Project tweeted late Tuesday night. “In other words, it’s likely we will be waiting until at least Friday for this race to be officially called.” Pundits have tried to paint the race as the former president vs. the Freedom Caucus, though much of it was personal. Relations between Good and Trump soured after Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bid for the Republican nomination. Good's relationship with McCarthy went from tense to terminal after he voted to oust the speaker; and his history with Trump adviser LaCivita goes back for years of Old Dominion political brawls and includes grudges between staff. As the head of the Freedom Caucus, however, Good has long enjoyed the strong support of the types of conservative activists who reliably turn out for contested primaries. Those conservatives are furious. Articles in the lead-up to the race have included quotes from conservative activists and Good supporters who feel Trump’s attack on Good went too far. The Republican nominee’s relationship with the conservative group of lawmakers has never been quite as cozy as the corporate media has claimed. While Freedom Caucus alumni Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) served as chiefs of staff during his first term in the White House, the Freedom Caucus opposed Trump’s spending bills and fought the administration on the details of the bitter Obamacare repeal fight. Back before his relationship with former caucus Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan took a turn for the better, Trump even called for a primary against the Ohio Republican. The fire rises This section is usually reserved for something smart about either the collapse of society or the inspired efforts to restore it. Today, I’ll simply leave you with this video of Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband welcoming “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” “expert groomer” Jonathan Van Ness for a 20th anniversary reception honoring the show. Completely absurd. Behold your leaders (and their priorities). ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images & Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for GLAAD

The American Petroleum Institute, along with a coalition of energy and trucking groups, recently filed lawsuits against the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency to block its new emission standards.The groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against the EPA's finalized emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles. On Tuesday, they filed another lawsuit in the same court against the latest emission requirements for heavy-duty vehicles. 'Devastate the reliability of America's supply chain and ultimately increase costs.'The Biden administration announced in March that it had finalized the "strongest ever greenhouse gas standards" for freight trucks and buses, Blaze News previously reported. The restrictions impact vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032. The EPA also touted its "strongest ever" emission standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and other medium-duty vehicles. According to the administration, its recently finalized standards will "avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality, and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers."The standards will require up to 56% of all new car sales to be electric or other zero-emissions alternatives between 2030 and 2032, Reuters reported.A number of other groups, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, the American Farm Bureau, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and many others, joined the legal action against the EPA.Ryan Meyers, API's senior vice president and general counsel, stated, "The EPA is forcing a switch to technology that simply does not presently exist for these kinds of vehicles — and even if it were someday possible, it will almost certainly have consequences for your average American."Meyes said API is taking the action to "protect American consumers, U.S. manufacturing workers and our nation's hard-won energy security from this intrusive government mandate."National Corn Growers Association President Harold Wolle said, "EPA has tried to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing climate change by prioritizing electric vehicles over other climate remedies like corn ethanol."Todd Spencer, president of the OOIDA, expressed concern that the strict regulations would force small-business truckers, who make up 96% of trucking, "out of existence.""This rule would devastate the reliability of America's supply chain and ultimately increase costs for consumers. Mom-and-pop trucking businesses would be suffocated by the sheer cost and operational challenges of effectively mandating zero-emission trucks, but this administration appears intent on forcing through its deluge of misguided environmental mandates," Spencer remarked.The EPA declined a request for comment from Reuters.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!