“The Federal Communications Commission has advanced a proposal that would require political advertisers to disclose their use of artificial intelligence in broadcast television and radio ads, though it is unclear whether new regulations may be in place before the November presidential election. The proposed rules announced Thursday could add a layer of transparency in political campaigning that some tech watchdogs have called for to help inform voters about lifelike and misleading AI-generated media in ads. ‘There’s too much potential for AI to manipulate voices and images in political advertising to do nothing,’ the agency’s chairwoman, Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, said Thursday in a news release. ‘If a candidate or issue campaign used AI to create an ad, the public has a right to know.’ But the FCC’s action is part of a federal turf war over the regulation of AI in politics.” (07/25/24)
“An Indian labourer’s fortunes have changed overnight after he found a massive diamond in a mine in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. The 19.22-carat diamond is expected to fetch about 8m rupees ($95,570; £74,000) in a government auction. Raju Gound said he had been leasing mines in Panna city for more than 10 years in the hope of finding a diamond. Panna is famed for its diamond reserves and people often lease cheap, shallow mines from the government to hunt for the precious stone. … ‘These mines can be leased for about 200-250 rupees [for a specific period],’ Anupam Singh, an official at the state government’s diamond office, told the BBC. In 2018, a labourer from Bundelkhand found a diamond worth 15m rupees in a mine in Panna. However, such discoveries are rare. Mr Singh said that while many people have found smaller stones, Mr Gound’s find was notable because of its size.” (07/25/24)
“The International Court of Justice overwhelmingly decided last week that Israel is no longer legally entitled to act as the occupying power in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, noting that its further presence in these territories is unlawful. The decision took the form of an ‘advisory opinion’ in response to two ‘legal questions’ put to the ICJ by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022. Israel declined to take part in the court proceedings except by way of a written statement objecting to the whole process as improper, arguing that Israel’s consent was needed before its governmental conduct could be legally evaluated by the ICJ, even in a process labelled as ‘advisory.'” (07/25/24)
“Cold-eyed political types looking for a Democratic victory in November argue that Kamala Harris has to deal with the stereotypical first impression from voters, coded largely by race and gender, that she’s too liberal. Because Harris hasn’t given people much to go on about her own beliefs, she has an opportunity to define herself through popular stances that would contrast with that automatic, if not completely correct, opinion of her as a far-left liberal. One place where Harris does have an advantage over Donald Trump is on the traditionally strong Democratic topic of health care. She also could advance proposals to get out from under some of the inflation perceptions that stuck to Joe Biden. Lurking at the intersection of reducing costs and health care is a thoroughly bipartisan policy that could be championed and even passed right now.” (07/25/24)
“House Republicans are moving quickly to emphasize Vice President Kamala Harris’s role in the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, passing a resolution Thursday that condemns her performance in the job. The resolution, which is purely symbolic, echoes an attack line that Republican Donald Trump has taken against Harris since she rose to become the likely Democratic presidential nominee. All House Republicans and six Democrats in tough reelection races voted for the resolution. President Joe Biden tasked Harris early in his administration with addressing the root causes of migration. Border crossings eventually became a major political liability for Biden when they reached historic levels. Since June, when Biden announced significant restrictions on asylum applications at the border, arrests for illegal crossings have fallen. It remains to be seen whether the border will become a political liability for Harris as it was for Biden.” (07/25/24)
“As FBI Director Chris Wray performed his usual smarmy stonewalling in Congress Wednesday, a damning report on his $10 billion agency’s ‘cult of narcissism’ was delivered to the House Judiciary Committee by an alliance of retired and active-duty agents and analysts. The same group gave us the scathing DEI report last year about the FBI’s degraded recruitment standards and coddling of physically unfit, mentally ill, drug-taking or generally useless agents to satisfy diversity requirements at the expense of merit and experience. This time they have assessed the entire bureau and drawn several worrying conclusions, including that local law enforcement partners have developed a ‘disturbing loss of trust in the FBI’ and are therefore reluctant to share information, with alarming consequences for national security and public safety.” (07/24/24)
“Southwest Airlines is to allow customers to reserve seats, scrapping the free-for-all of unassigned seating it has operated for 50 years. The company said it also planned to charge for ‘premium’ seats with more leg room, add red-eye flights, and redesign its boarding system. The announcements came as the firm reported that profits plunged in the April-June period to $367m, down 46% compared with last year. Chief executive Bob Jordan said the seating changes would ‘unlock new sources of revenue’. The company currently assigns passengers to boarding groups based on when they check in, a system intended to help planes turn around quickly. Travellers can also pay extra to board earlier. But it said its research had found that 80% of customers preferred assigned seats.” (07/25/24)
“President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday a bill strengthening oversight of the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons after reporting by The Associated Press exposed systemic corruption, failures and abuse in the federal prison system. The Federal Prison Oversight Act, which passed the Senate on July 10 and the House in May, establishes an independent ombudsman to field and investigate complaints in the wake of sexual assaults and other criminal misconduct by staff, chronic understaffing, escapes and high-profile deaths. It also requires that the Justice Department’s inspector general conduct risk-based inspections of all 122 federal prison facilities, provide recommendations to address deficiencies and assign each facility a risk score. Higher-risk facilities would then receive more frequent inspections. Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters lauded the bill as she testifying before Congress this week.” (07/25/24)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial speech to Congress Wednesday came just days after President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection and as the death toll — now reaching more than 40,000 — of Palestinians in Gaza continues to climb. Shortly after the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israelis on October 7, Biden traveled to Israel to literally embrace Netanyahu and offer his full support for his administration’s massive assault on Gaza. While occasionally offering stiff rhetoric to Netanyahu’s government, Biden has continued to regularly provide it with the diplomatic cover and military aid. All the while, a question has remained: what explains Biden’s persistent, near-unconditional support for Netanyahu and the Israeli war machine? There appears to be some consensus that Biden is driven by a belief in Zionism and a deep emotional attachment to Israel.” (07/24/24)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“‘I’m not a big fan of that presidential candidate’s pro-genocide policies, but I like her positions on women’s reproductive healthcare’ is not the sort of thing that would be said in a sane and normal country. … The single defining feature of this political moment in the United States is that all major presidential candidates favor continuing the perpetration of an active genocide — and that everyone’s trying to tap dance around this issue. That’s it. That’s the main story here. It’s not ‘American democracy is on the line in this election.’ It’s not ‘Making America great again’ or ‘Taking back our country’ or ‘Fighting the woke agenda’ or any of that braindead nonsense.” (07/24/24)
