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Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily

Panel : Secret Service needs “fundamental reform”

Source: SFGate

“An independent panel investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally says the Secret Service needs ‘fundamental reform’ and new leadership, and that ‘another Butler can and will happen again’ without major changes in how candidates are protected. The review faulted the Secret Service for poor communications that day and failing to secure the building where the gunman took his shots. It also found more systemic issues at the agency such as a failure to understand the unique risks facing Trump and a culture of doing ‘more with less’. The 52-page report issued Thursday recommended bringing in new, outside leadership and refocusing on the Secret Service’s protective mission. ‘The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission,’ the authors wrote Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Homeland Security Department, the Secret Service’s parent agency, in a letter accompanying their report.” (10/17/24)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/panel-looking-into-trump-assassination-attempt-19843746.php

FL: Frivolous lawsuit filed in attempt to take abortion amendment decision away from voters

Source: Tampa Bay Times

“A group of anti-abortion advocates are trying to force Florida’s abortion amendment off the ballot this November or void any votes cast for it, citing a report from the DeSantis administration that said there was ‘widespread’ fraud in the petition gathering for the effort. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the 9th Judicial Circuit argues that the sponsors behind Amendment 4 failed to meet the required signature threshold to get on the ballot when that alleged fraud is considered. The anti-abortion plaintiffs are being represented by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson. … A deadline in state law to challenge the validity of amendment signatures has long since passed, and the state did not make any challenge during that period. Hundreds of thousands of voters across the state have already voted using mail ballots, which have been printed to include the Amendment 4 question.” (10/16/24)

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2024/10/16/florida-abortion-amendment-4-desantis-fraud-2024-election/

Free Talk Live, 10/16/24

Source: Free Talk Live

“Bad Economic Promises by Trump and Kamala :: Second Hand Smoking turns out not to get deadly, just smelly :: Geoengineering Project started in SF, tells public after they start :: Towns and Cities begin stopping fluoridation of public water supplies :: 2024-10-16 :: Hosts: Chris R., Stu.” (10/16/24)

https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-10-16

The AI Boom Has an Expiration Date

Source: The Atlantic
by Matteo Wong

“Over the past few months, some of the most prominent people in AI have fashioned themselves as modern messiahs and their products as deities. Top executives and respected researchers at the world’s biggest tech companies, including a recent Nobel laureate, are all at once insisting that superintelligent software is just around the corner, going so far as to provide timelines: They will build it within six years, or four years, or maybe just two. … Perhaps this new and newly bullish wave of forecasts doesn’t actually imply a surge of confidence but just the opposite. These grand pronouncements are being made at the same time that a flurry of industry news has been clarifying AI’s historically immense energy and capital requirements.” (10/17/24)

https://archive.is/xvq05

Is China’s Xi era marked by primacy or something else?

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Andrew Latham

“In recent years, discussions about China’s grand strategy have dominated international security journals, think tanks, and policy discussions across the globe. As China continues its meteoric rise, scholars and policymakers have been asking: Is China pursuing a strategy of global primacy, or is it more focused on balancing the international system? These questions reflect not only concerns about China’s growing power but also its future trajectory. Will China remain an ambitious yet cautious player in world affairs, or will it pursue outright dominance, fundamentally reshaping global governance?” (10/18/24)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-military-strategy/

Nondiscrimination as Discriminatory

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“Two parts gall, three parts random irrationality; eye of newt, toe of frog. That’s how you cook up the latest leftist madness. According to the wizards running Columbia University, deliberately race-neutral policies are discriminatory if they have a ‘disproportionate impact.’ Columbia has updated its antidiscrimination policy about bad things you can do on campus that might get you investigated and sanctioned. The revised policy declares that one bad thing is ‘having a neutral policy or practice that has a disproportionate and unjustified adverse impact on actual and/or perceived members or associates of one Protected Class more than others.'” (10/17/24)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/10/17/nondiscrimination-as-discriminatory/

Australia: Northern Territory resumes jailing 10-year-olds

Source: BBC News [UK State Media]

“Children as young as 10 will soon be able to be jailed once again in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT), after the government there lowered the age of criminal responsibility. Australian states and territories have been under pressure to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, in line with other developed countries and UN advice. Last year the NT became the first jurisdiction to lift it to 12, but the new Country Liberal Party government elected in August has said a reversal is necessary to reduce youth crime rates. It has argued that returning the age to 10 will ultimately protect children – despite doctors, human rights organisations and Indigenous groups disputing that logic. They say the research indicates the laws will not reduce crime and will disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. ” (10/17/24)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqz8gyp500o