News gathered 2024-06-16
(date: 2024-06-16 12:56:55)
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
More than 171,000 people traveled out-of-state for abortions last year.
https://www.axios.com/2024/06/14/out-of-state-abortions-bans-travel
Emotional win for Hollywood: ‘Inside Out 2’ scores $155M opening
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/emotional-win-for-hollywood-inside-out-2-scores-155m-opening/7658169.html
Peter Easthope opened issue #141: SystemTools module. at Felix Oliver Friedrich / Oberon A2
date: 2024-06-16, updated: 2024-06-16, from: Oberon A2 at CAS
Hi,
The Oberon subsystem opens in revision.10272 but the
<delete> key doesn't delete, <F1> doesn't set the star and
<F2> doesn't clear marks. HotKeys has preempted the familiar
Oberon key functionalities?
I found a note that <F12> should disable or toggle HotKeys. In 10272 <F12> gives a report in the log that a SystemTools command doesn't exist.
SystemTools was omitted inadvertently?
Thanks, … Peter E.
https://gitlab.inf.ethz.ch/felixf/oberon/-/issues/141
Michigan splash pad shooting: No word on motive in attack that wounded 9
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Investigators used the abandoned weapon’s registration information to track the man to the home he shared with his mother.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/shooter-identity-in-michigan-splash-pad-attack/
Massive weekend for ‘Inside Out 2,’ second-biggest opening ever for an animated movie
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
It’s also the biggest opening since “Barbie” last year.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/inside-out-2-massive-opening/
Blocking bots
date: 2024-06-16, from: Manu - I write blog
<p>The other day I was emailing with <a href="https://starbreaker.org/">Matthew “Starbreaker” Graybosch</a> about his recent post titled <a href="https://starbreaker.org/blog/tech/robots-txt-nuclear-option/index.html">“robots.txt: the Nuclear Option”</a>. If you’re a regular reader of this site you know I love this kind of stuff and I especially love nuclear options when it comes to fighting silly tech.</p>I experimented with blocking everything in the past but this recent exchange made me want to revisit this idea. With perfect timing, Robb Knight posted “Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent” and that was all the extra motivation I needed to join the fun.
I already had a 403 in place for Mastodon because I don’t want to get a shit ton of traffic coming my way every time someone posts a link of mine but I loved Matthew’s idea of returning a 402.
So I grabbed 180 or so entries from the Dark Visitors’s agents list and set up an NGINX redirect based on those UA. Gonna be interesting to see if this has any effect on the server so I’ll write a follow-up.
I tried to leave out all the RSS fetchers because I love RSS, RSS is great and if you’re using RSS in 2024 you’re an awesome person BUT I might have inadvertently broken some RSS feed out there with this move. If you notice something not working properly let me know and I’ll fix it.
<hr>
<p>Thank you for keeping RSS alive. You're awesome.</p>
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https://manuelmoreale.com/@/page/SbwbzY2DjzG3EQfJ
January 6 Capitol riot takes center stage in 2024 US presidential election
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
On January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol building was attacked by supporters of then-President Donald Trump challenging his loss of the 2020 election. In their rematch this year, Trump and President Joe Biden are both campaigning on the issue of the January 6 violence, but each in his own way. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports.
Progress on the book
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
A sound shook Frances fully awake. Her dreams faded quickly into the cold air, her sleeping memories of San Francisco collapsing into the smell of stone and moss and rot.
There was someone in the house.
And so begins The Source, at least as the draft stands today.
What follows is an adventure that touches on accelerationism, climate change, capital, and the guilt of culpability.
I’m getting there.
https://werd.io/2024/progress-on-the-book
Post Fire map: Evacuation near I-5’s Grapevine section
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Post Fire, which was reported Saturday afternoon, is already California’s second-biggest wildfire of the season.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/post-fire-map-evacuation-near-i-5s-grapevine-section/
Post Fire grows to 10,504 acres; Castaic on evacuation warning
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
The Post Fire, which originated in Gorman on Saturday afternoon, has grown to 10,504 acres and is 2% contained as of Sunday morning as Castaic residents have been urged to […]
The post Post Fire grows to 10,504 acres; Castaic on evacuation warning appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/post-fire-grows-to-10504-acres-castaic-on-evacuation-warning/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
I watched The Matrix, The Devil’s advocate and Fight Club and loved all three. So I asked ChatGPT for five suggestions of movies I might watch next and it came up with some interesting ideas.
https://chatgpt.com/share/b349c1ac-7d75-488d-b43f-098825dec117
Book Bites
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
Wolf’s Head Bay Book II: The Race for Home by Jeffery Allen Boyd “Auction?” Richard repeated incredulously. “You mean a—an actual modern-day slave auction—in this country?” The frightened yet determined […]
The post Book Bites appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/book-bites/
SF Giants place another starting pitcher on injured list
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Kyle Harrison, scheduled to start Sunday’s game at Oracle Park against the Los Angeles Angels, was placed on the 15-day IL with a right ankle sprain.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/sf-giants-place-another-starting-pitcher-on-injured-list/
One dead, four injured in collision on southbound Highway 14
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
A person was pronounced dead on arrival and four others were transported to the hospital following a vehicle collision on the southbound Highway 14 transition to the southbound Interstate 5 […]
The post One dead, four injured in collision on southbound Highway 14 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/one-dead-four-injured-in-collision-on-southbound-highway-14/
The 2024 Land Rover Defender 130 Outbound Edition SUV
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
What is a Defender? A Defender is an SUV built in the Nitra, Slovakia assembly plant and sold worldwide by Land Rover. The Defender 130 Outbound Edition looks like an off road panel van with big 20” knobby all terrain tires, blocked out rearmost windows and the 130 drops the third row seats for maximum cargo room and storage.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/the-2024-land-rover-defender-130-outbound-edition-suv/
Climate Crusader from Santa Barbara Goes to Washington
date: 2024-06-16, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Students with the Citizen’s Climate Lobby advocated for clean energy and emissions bills in Congress.
The post Climate Crusader from Santa Barbara Goes to Washington appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/climate-crusader-from-santa-barbara-goes-to-washington/
Olympic legend Tommie Smith in Paris: Civil rights ‘a perpetual stand’ 56 years after raised fist
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
After two ovations from the crowd last week, Smith lowered his head, clasped it in his hands and wept for several moments.
2024 Ford Ranger: one year older, better
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
The Ford Ranger debuted in 1983 as the carmaker’s small, tough Mazda-built Ford Courier. It was discontinued after 28 years but returned five years ago as Ford’s trucks continued their boom.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/16/2024-ford-ranger-one-year-older-better/
Artifacting
date: 2024-06-16, from: Tedium feed
How the JPEG file—and the lossy compression it allowed and encouraged—became the dominant way we shared digital photos on the internet.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16716120/jpeg-image-format-history
Anything For a Celebration
date: 2024-06-16, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Lompoc’s very first Flower Festival Queen — Readon (Donnie) Marilyn Grossi Silva — shares some memories.
The post Anything For a Celebration appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/16/anything-for-a-celebration/
Breaking News: Post Fire Now 12,264 Acres, 2 Percent Contained
date: 2024-06-16, from: SCV New (TV Station)
CALFIRE reports that the Post Fire that broke out in Gorman on Saturday, June 15 around 1:47 p.m. has now reached 11,000 acres.
https://scvnews.com/breaking-news-post-fire-now-at-11000-acres/
MINISFORUM MS-A1 is a small desktop PC with up to AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, OCuLink and 2.5 GbE LAN
date: 2024-06-16, from: Liliputing
Late last year MINISFORUM introduced a small workstation-class computer called the MINISFORUM MS-01 featuring support for up to an Intel Core i9-13900H processor, a PCIe x16 slot for a half-height graphics card, and support for 10 GbE and 2.5GbE wired network connections. It’s currently available for $399 and up. Now it looks like MINISFORUM has a […]
The post MINISFORUM MS-A1 is a small desktop PC with up to AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, OCuLink and 2.5 GbE LAN appeared first on Liliputing.
Katie Ledecky is heading to her fourth Olympics after winning 400 freestyle at US trials
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Ledecky became just the ninth U.S. swimmer to qualify at least four times for the sport’s grandest stage.
Wish You Were Here: In search of Washington, D.C. cherry blossoms and more
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
An Oakland couple reports back from Washington, D.C. where museums, memorials and cherry blossoms are a springtime draw.
Meta accused of trying to discredit ad researchers
date: 2024-06-16, updated: 2024-06-16, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
As more than 70 civil society groups sign open letter slamming ‘intimidation’
Meta allegedly tried to discredit university researchers in Brazil who had flagged fraudulent adverts on the social network’s ad platform.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/16/meta_ads_brazil/
Summer learning off to a fast start at San Jose public libraries
date: 2024-06-16, from: San Jose Mercury News
Goal to surpass last year’s 10,000 sign-ups, 4 million minutes read.
StreamOS source code republished 15 years later
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
Way, way, way back in 2009, we reported on a small hobby operating system called StreamOS – version 0.21-RC1 had just been released that day. StreamOS was a 32-bit operating system written in Object Pascal using the Free Pascal Compiler, running on top of FreeDOS. It turns out that its creator, Oleksandr Natalenko (yes, the same person), recovered the old code, and republished it on Codeberg for posterity. It’s not a complete history, rather a couple of larger breadcrumbs stuck together with git. I didn’t do source code management much back in the days, and there are still some intermediate dev bits scattered across my backup drive that I cannot even date properly, but three branches I pushed (along with binaries, btw; feel free to fire up that qemu of yours and see how it crashes!) should contain major parts of what was done. ↫ Oleksandr Natalenko It may not carry the same import as Doom for the SNES, but it’s still great to see such continuity 15 years apart. I hope Natalenko manages to recover the remaining bits and bobs too, because you may never know – someone might be interested in picking up this 15 year old baton.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139970/streamos-source-code-republished-15-years-later/
Succor borne every minute
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">[Michael Atleson at the FTC Division of Advertising Practices]
“Don’t misrepresent what these services are or can do. Your therapy bots aren’t licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods.”
The FTC gets involved in the obviously rife practice of overselling the capabilities of AI services. These are solid guidelines, and hopefully the precursor to more meaningful action when vendors inevitably cross the line.
While these points are all important, for me the most pertinent is the last:
“Don’t violate consumer privacy rights. These avatars and bots can collect or infer a lot of intensely personal information. Indeed, some companies are marketing as a feature the ability of such AI services to know everything about us. It’s imperative that companies are honest and transparent about the collection and use of this information and that they don’t surreptitiously change privacy policies or relevant terms of service.”
It’s often unclear how much extra data is being gathered behind the scenes when AI features are added. This is where battles will be fought and lines will be drawn, particularly in enterprises and well-regulated industries.
<p>[<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/06/succor-borne-every-minute">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/succor-borne-every-minute
Doom for SNES full source code released by former Sculptured Software employees
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
The complete source code for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version of Doom has been released on archive.org. Although some of the code was partially released a few years ago, this is the first time the full source code has been made publicly available. ↫ Shaun James at GBAtemp The code was very close to being lost forever, down to a corrupted disk that had to be fixed. It’s crazy how much valuable, historically relevant code we’re just letting rot away for no reason.
A brief history of Mac enclaves and exclaves
date: 2024-06-16, from: OS News
Howard Oakley has written an interesting history of secure enclaves on the Mac, and when he touches upon “exclaves”, a new concept that doesn’t have a proper term yet, he mentions something interesting. While an enclave is a territory entirely surrounded by the territory of another state, an exclave is an isolated fragment of a state that exists separately from the main part of that state. Although exclave isn’t a term normally used in computing, macOS 14.4 introduced three kernel extensions concerned with exclaves. They seem to have appeared first in iOS 17, where they’re thought to code domains isolated from the kernel that protect key functions in macOS even when the kernel becomes compromised. This in turn suggests that Apple is in the process of refactoring the kernel into a central micro-kernel with protected exclaves. This has yet to be examined in Sequoia. ↫ Howard Oakley I’m not going to add too much here since I’m not well-versed enough in the world of macOS to add anything meaningful, but I do think it’s an interesting theory worth looking into by people who posses far more knowledge about this topic than I do.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139966/a-brief-history-of-mac-enclaves-and-exclaves/
United Airlines seat ads: How to opt out of targeted advertising
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">[Michael Grothaus at FastCompany]
“United Airlines announced that it is bringing personalized advertising to the seatback entertainment screens on its flights. The move is aimed at increasing the airline’s revenue by leveraging the data that it has on its passengers.”
Just another reason why friends don’t let friends fly United. We should all be reducing our air travel overall anyway, given the climate crisis, and in a world where we all fly less, shouldn’t we choose a better experience?
This sounds like the absolute worst:
“United believes its advertising network will be appealing to brands because “there is the potential for 3.5 hours of attention per traveler, based on average flight time.”“
Passengers from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah can opt out of having their private information used to show targeted ads to them for the duration of what sounds like an agonizing flight. Passengers from other US States are out of luck - at least until their legislatures also pass reasonable privacy legislation.
Other airlines are removing seat-back entertainment to reduce fuel, so on top of the baseline climate impact of the air travel industry, there’s a real additional climate implication here. Planes with seat-back entertainment, in general, use more fuel; United is making a revenue decision with all kinds of negative impacts that they should not be rewarded for.
<p>[<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91138450/united-airlines-targeted-ads-seatback-screens-opt-out">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/united-airlines-seat-ads-how-to-opt-out-of-targeted
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
How Apple’s podcast transcriptions came to be.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/15/apple-podcast-transcription-feature
Back to the Study Guide?
date: 2024-06-16, from: Logic Matters blog
I’m almost done with the category theory book — at least as far as the draft content is concerned. There will be tinkering to be done (in particular with respect to having a consistent line on issues of “size”), and then there will be the joys of proof-reading and indexing. But I’m beginning to think […]
The post Back to the Study Guide? appeared first on Logic Matters.
https://www.logicmatters.net/2024/06/16/back-to-the-study-guide-3/
Wi-Fi wanderings with ROUGOL – 17th June
date: 2024-06-16, from: RiscOS Story
The next RISC OS User Group of London (ROUGOL) meeting will take place tomorrow evening – Monday, 17th June – where the group will be taking a general look at wireless networking. There will be no guest speaker for this subject, and the format will be a more general chat about the subject, while experimenting with the two network stacks and Wi-Fi offerings that are available – one from RISC OS Open Ltd (ROOL) and the other from RISC OS Developments Ltd (ROD). How well does each perform against the…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/wi-fi-wanderings-with-rougol-17th-june/
Perplexity AI Is Lying about Their User Agent
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ben Werdmuller’s blog
<div class="known-bookmark">
<div class="e-content">Perplexity AI doesn’t use its advertised browser string or IP range to load content from third-party websites:
“So they’re using headless browsers to scrape content, ignoring robots.txt, and not sending their user agent string. I can’t even block their IP ranges because it appears these headless browsers are not on their IP ranges.”
On one level, I understand why this is happening, as everyone who’s ever written a scraper (or scraper mitigations) might: the crawler for training the model likely does use the correct browser string, but on-demand calls likely don’t to prevent them from being blocked. That’s not a good excuse at all, but I bet that’s what’s going on.
This is another example of the core issue with robots.txt: it’s a handshake agreement at best. There are no legal or technical restrictions imposed by it; we all just hope that bots do the right thing. Some of them do, but a lot of them don’t.
The only real way to restrict these services is through legal rules that create meaningful consequences for these companies. Until then, there will be no sure-fire way to prevent your content from being accessed by an AI agent.
<p>[<a href="https://rknight.me/blog/perplexity-ai-is-lying-about-its-user-agent/">Link</a>]</p>
</div>
</div>https://werd.io/2024/perplexity-ai-is-lying-about-their-user-agent
LEVER WEEKLY: Want To Lose Your Life Savings? There’s An App For That
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Lever News
Startups are losing track of your money and more from The Lever this week.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-want-to-lose-your-life-savings-theres-an-app-for-that/
Clooney, Roberts help Biden raise $28 million at fundraiser featuring dire warnings about Trump
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Saturday night, helping raise what his reelection campaign said was $28 million and hoping to energize would-be supporters for a November election that they argued was among the most important in the nation’s history.
George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former President Barack Obama, who both stressed the need to defeat former President Donald Trump in a race that’s expected to be exceedingly close.
During more than half an hour of discussion, Kimmel asked if the country was suffering from amnesia about the presumptive Republican nominee, to which Biden responded, “all we gotta do is remember what it was like” when Trump was in the White House.
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden’s campaign, and just how important the event was to his reelection bid could be seen in the Democratic president’s decision to fly through the night across nine time zones, from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California, to attend.
He also missed a summit in Switzerland about ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, instead dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris who made a whirlwind trip of her own to represent the United States there, a stark reminder of the delicate balance between geopolitics and Biden’s bid to win a second term.
Further laying bare the political implications were police in riot gear outside the theater, ready for protests from pro-Palestinian activists angry about his administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The event featured singing by Jack Black and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and actors Kathryn Hahn and Jason Bateman introduced Kimmel, who introduced Biden and Obama. The comedian deadpanned, “I was told I was getting introduced by Batman, not Bateman.”
But he quickly pivoted to far more serious topics, saying that “so much is at stake in this election” and listing women’s rights, health care and noting that “even the ballot is on the ballot” in a reference to the Biden administration’s calls to expand voting rights.
Kimmel asked the president what he was most proud of accomplishing, and Biden said he thought the administration’s approach to the economy “is working.”
“We have the strongest economy in the world today,” Biden said, adding “we try to give ordinary people an even chance.”
Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit and criticized Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation. The president was fundraising “with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
But Biden told the crowd in California that “we passed every major piece of legislation we attempted to get done.” And Obama expressed admiration for sweeping legislation on health care, public works, the environment, technology manufacturing, gun safety and other major initiatives that the administration of his former vice president has overseen.
“What we’re seeing now is a byproduct of in 2016. There were a whole bunch of folks who, for whatever reason, sat out,” said Obama, who, like Biden wore a dark suit and a white shirt open at the collar.
Obama, speaking about the Supreme Court, added that “hopefully we have learned our lesson, because these elections matter in very concrete ways.”
Trump nominated three justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. The audience expressed its displeasure at the mention of Roe, to which Obama responded, “don’t hiss, vote.” That was a play on his common refrain prioritizing voting over booing.
Biden said the person elected president in November could get the chance to nominate two new justices, though a second Biden term probably wouldn’t drastically overhaul a court that currently features a 6-3 conservative majority.
He also suggested if Trump wins back the White House, “one of the scariest parts” was the Supreme Court and how the high court has “never been this far out of step.”
Biden also referenced reports that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. He worried Saturday that, if Trump is reelected, “He’s going to appoint two more who fly their flags upside down.”
Kimmel brought his special brand of humor to the event. At one point he asked how can a president get back at a talk-show host who makes fun of him on TV every night.
“Ever hear of Delta Force?” Biden responded, referring to the Army special operations unit.
Earlier in the program, Kimmel noted Biden’s campaign promise to restore the soul of America and said “lately it seems we might need an exorcism.” Then he asked Biden, “Is that why you visited the pope?” Biden and Pope Francis met in Italy on Friday.
Biden’s campaign said it was still counting, but Saturday night’s gathering had taken in at least $28 million, more money than any event for a Democratic candidate in history.
That meant outpacing the president’s fundraiser in March at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which raised $26 million and featured late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewing Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
Biden held an early lead in the campaign money race against Trump, but the former president has gained ground since he formally locked up the Republican nomination.
Trump outpaced Biden’s New York event by raking in $50.5 million at an April gathering of major donors at the Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson. The former president’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced they raised a whopping $141 million in May, padded by tens of millions of dollars in contributions that flowed in after Trump’s guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial.
That post-conviction bump came after Trump and the Republican Party announced collecting $76 million in April, far exceeding Biden and the Democrats’ $51 million for the month.
https://www.voanews.com/a/7657893.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
What is 'communal living' and is it right for me?
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1196979041
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Dems Need to Get in the Ring With MAGA. Take It From Voters.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
“If abortion was the best choice for your girlfriend, why try to deny that choice to other women?”
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Biden says the next president may get to name two Supreme Court justices.
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/15/nx-s1-5007404/biden-supreme-court-vacancies-trump
David Hegg | The Ethics of Fatherhood
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
By David Hegg Over my years as an adult male, I have worked at many different jobs, especially during college, grad school and our first years of marriage. I worked […]
The post David Hegg | The Ethics of Fatherhood appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/david-hegg-the-ethics-of-fatherhood/
Rob Kerchner | Pandemic Pondering
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
Remember when they said, “If it can save one life, then it’s worth it?” Well, if it takes just as many lives, then it definitely wasn’t worth it. In case […]
The post Rob Kerchner | Pandemic Pondering appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/rob-kerchner-pandemic-pondering/
Arthur Saginian | A Simple Process?
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
There are many who believe that since the vast majority of near-death experiences are experienced in the same way — floating over your body, feelings of infinite love and joy, […]
The post Arthur Saginian | A Simple Process? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/arthur-saginian-a-simple-process/
Today in SCV History (June 16)
date: 2024-06-16, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1876 – D.G. Scofield forms California Star Oil Works, hires Alex Mentry to drill in Pico Canyon [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-16/
Report: Differences between gay and straight spouses disappear after legalization of gay marriage
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
Poultry industry could serve as example as dairy farmers confront bird flu
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
des moines, iowa — As the U.S. dairy industry confronts a bird flu outbreak, with cases reported at dozens of farms and the disease spreading to people, the egg industry could serve as an example of how to slow the disease but also shows how difficult it can be to eradicate the virus.
There have been earlier bird flu outbreaks in the U.S., but the current one started in February 2022 and has forced the slaughter of nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys. Hot spots still occur, but their frequency has dropped in part because of biosecurity efforts at farms and a coordinated approach between companies and agricultural officials, experts say.
Dairy farmers could try to implement similar safeguards, but the vast differences between the animals and the industries limit what lessons can be learned and applied.
How can a 1,500-pound cow and a 5-pound chicken have the same illness?It’s commonly called bird flu because the disease is largely spread by wild birds that can survive infections. Many mammals have caught the illness, too, including sea lions and skunks.
Effects differ greatly
Animals can be infected by eating an infected bird or by being exposed to environments where the virus is present. That said, there are big differences in how cows and chickens have fared after getting infected.
Bird flu is typically fatal to chickens and turkeys within days of an infection, leading to immediate mass killings of birds. That’s not true for cows.
Dairies in several states have reported having to kill infected animals because symptoms continued to linger and their milk production didn’t recover, but that’s not the norm, said Russ Daly, an extension veterinarian at South Dakota State University.
He said it appears that bird flu isn’t usually fatal to cows but that an infected animal can be more vulnerable to other ailments typically founds in dairies, such as bacterial pneumonia and udder infections.
What has the egg industry done to protect chickens? Egg operators have become clean freaks.
To prevent disease from spreading, egg producers require workers to shower and change into clean clothes before they enter a barn and shower again when they leave. They also frequently wash trucks and spray tires with solutions to kill off virus remnants.
Many egg operations even use lasers and install special fencing to discourage wild birds from stopping by for a visit.
“Gone is the day of the scarecrow,” said Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board.
Without these efforts, the current outbreak would be much worse, said Jada Thompson, a University of Arkansas agriculture business professor. Still, maintaining such vigilance is difficult, even if the cost of allowing disease into an operation is so high, she said.
Chickens raised for meat, known as broilers, also have been infected with bird flu but such cases are less common. In part, that’s because broiler chickens are killed when they’re only 6 to 8 weeks old, so they have less time to get infected.
Some safeguards apply
Can the same be done to protect cows and dairy workers? Yes and no.
Dairies can certainly reduce the spread of disease by limiting access to barns, so people and equipment don’t bring in the virus from elsewhere. Workers could also wear eye protection, aprons and gloves to try to protect themselves, but there’s no way around it: Big animals are messy.
“The parlor is a warm, humid place with lots of liquid flying around, whether it’s urine, feces, water, because they’re spraying off areas. Cows might kick off a milk machine, so you get milk splatter,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Laboratory.
Dairies also don’t have time or staff to disinfect milking equipment between animals, so equipment could become contaminated. Pasteurization kills bacteria and viruses in milk, making it safe for people to drink.
Poulsen said the dairy industry could follow a path laid by the poultry and pork industries and establish more formal, better funded research organizations so it could respond more quickly to problems like bird flu — or avoid them altogether.
The dairy industry also could tamp down disease spread by limiting the movement of lactating cows between states, Poulsen said.
Are there new efforts to fight the virus? The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin testing a vaccine that could be given to calves, offering the animals protection and also reducing the chance of worker illnesses.
The egg industry also is hopeful researchers can develop vaccines for poultry that could be quick, inexpensive and effective. Workers can’t give shots to the millions of hens that might need a vaccine, but industry officials hope a vaccine could be distributed in the water the birds drink, in the pellets they eat or even before birds hatch from their eggs.
Efforts to develop vaccines have become even more important now that the disease has spread to dairy cows and even a few people, Thompson said.
“Part of what is being developed right now is: What way can we vaccinate them that is cost-effective and disease-resistant?” Thompson said.
On Father’s Day, LGBTQ+ couple celebrates their sperm donor
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kansas — David Titterington had a sense of what his childhood friend would ask him when she led him into a photo booth at a mutual friend’s wedding roughly a decade ago. As the countdown for the second photo ticked, Jen Wilson popped the question: Will you be my sperm donor?
“Of course I said yes,” Titterington said. “I mean, who would have guessed that, being a gay man, I would have this opportunity to have biological children and also be part of their lives?”
On Father’s Day, which is Sunday, Kansas residents Jen and Whitney Wilson will pack up their three children — ages 9, 7 and 3 — and head to picnic at Titterington’s Missouri house to celebrate the man who helped make their family possible. Like other LGBTQ+ couples, they and their sperm donor have created their own traditions around Father’s Day.
“We just have decided to celebrate him,” said Jen Wilson, who works as the executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Modern Family Alliance.
For LGBTQ+ people, single-parent households, other nontraditional families or those with strained family relationships, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day can be painful and confusing. Events featuring those holidays at school can make some children feel isolated. Jen Wilson said many schools are working toward being more inclusive, such as turning events like “Donuts with Dads” to “Donuts with Grown-Ups.”
“There are families who don’t have a David, who can’t really point to, like, this is what it means to be a dad or have a father figure. So I consider us really lucky,” Whitney Wilson said. She later added: “I think we’re really lucky in that we have lots of people in our life to point to. Not just David … grandpas and uncles and all kinds of people who are also fathers.”
Between 2 million and 3.3 million children under age 18 have an LGBTQ+ parent, according to the group Family Equality.
Such families are growing more visible in recent years, said Cathy Renna, the communications director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. Most Pride events now include family-friendly activities, like climbing walls, she said.
“Now we see families of all kinds and shapes and sizes, and that’s really important. It’s important not just for us,” Renna said. “It’s also important for kids to understand, you know, that families do come in many different, configurations and that families are about love.”
When it comes to Father’s Day, Jen Wilson said: “People focus so much on just their own father instead of highlighting the fact that there are a lot of really great fathers in the world in lots of different communities and just celebrating them for stepping up and … being the great dads that they are.”
Jen Wilson and Titterington have been friends since childhood. When Jen Wilson and her wife began planning for a family, Titterington tossed out the idea of being a sperm donor, and he was overjoyed when the couple later made the ask official.
Titterington sees his role in the kids’ lives as more akin to a godfather than a father. He and his husband go to school events and birthday parties, and Titterington said they see themselves as “coaching them from the sidelines.” He said he is partial to the title “blood father,” but the Wilsons said the children more often refer to him as their “bio dad” or “donor dad.”
“I am their father, but I’m not really their parent,” Titterington said. “Because Jennifer and Whitney are the two parents, and they’re doing an amazing job.”
Even with David, the idea that the children don’t have a dad can be hard for them, Whitney Wilson said, but it isn’t “something that keeps anybody in our house up at night.”
“There are a lot of people that would love the opportunity to tell our children how terrible it is that they don’t have a father figure in their life,” Jen Wilson said. “We know that’s not true.”
For Titterington, fatherhood is the weight of the Wilsons’ firstborn falling asleep on his chest, gifts of scribbled artwork that can never be thrown away, and cleaning up after a toddler in potty training. But after a tiring weekend slumber party, he can send the children home to their mothers.
“There’s so many ways to be a father,” Titterington said. “We get to celebrate all kinds of fathers on Father’s Day.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/on-father-s-day-lgbtq-couple-celebrates-their-sperm-donor-/7657815.html
Midwives: State law could jeopardize Native Hawaiian birth traditions
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
HONOLULU — Ki’inaniokalani Kahoʻohanohano longed for a deeper connection to her Native Hawaiian ancestors and culture as she prepared to give birth to her first child at home on the north shore of Maui in 2003.
But generations of colonialist suppression had eroded many Hawaiian traditions, and it was hard to find information on how the islands’ Indigenous people honored pregnancy or childbirth. Nor could she find a Native Hawaiian midwife.
That experience led Kahoʻohanohano — now a mother of five — to become a Native Hawaiian midwife herself, a role in which she spent years helping to deliver as many as three babies a month, receiving them in a traditional cloth made of woven bark and uttering sacred, tremorous chants as she welcomed them into the world.
Her quest to preserve tradition also led her into a downtown Honolulu courtroom this week, where she and others are seeking to block a state law that they say endangers their ability to continue serving pregnant women who hope for such customary Native Hawaiian births.
“To be able to have our babies in the places and in the ways of our kupuna, our ancestors, is very vital,” she testified. “To me, the point of what we do is to be able to return birth home to these places.”
Lawmakers enacted a midwife licensure law in 2019, finding that the “improper practice of midwifery poses a significant risk of harm to the mother or newborn, and may result in death.” Violations are punishable by up to a year in jail, plus thousands of dollars in criminal and civil fines.
The measure requires anyone who provides “assessment, monitoring, and care” during pregnancy, labor, childbirth and during the postpartum period to be licensed. The women’s lawsuit says that would include a wide range of people, including midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and even family and friends of the new mother.
Until last summer, the law provided an exception for “birth attendants,” which allowed Kahoʻohanohano to continue practicing Native Hawaiian birth customs. With that exception now expired, however, she and others face the licensing requirements — which, they say, include costly programs only available out of state or online that don’t align with Hawaiian culture and beliefs.
In 2022, the average cost of an accredited midwifery program was $6,200 to $6,900 a year, according to court documents filed by the state.
Attorneys for the state argued in a court filing that the law “undoubtedly serves a compelling interest in protecting pregnant persons from receiving ill-advice from untrained individuals.”
State Deputy Attorney General Isaac Ickes told Judge Shirley Kawamura that the law doesn’t outlaw Native Hawaiian midwifery or homebirths, but that requiring a license reduces the risks of harm or death.
The dispute is the latest in a long history of debate about how and whether Hawaii should regulate the practice of traditional healing arts that dates to well before the islands became the 50th state in 1959. Those arts were banished or severely restricted for much of the 20th century, but the Hawaiian Indigenous rights movement of the 1970s renewed interest in the customary ways.
Hawaii eventually adopted a system where councils versed in Native Hawaiian healing certify traditional practitioners, though those suing say their efforts to form such a council for midwifery have failed.
Practicing midwifery without a license, meanwhile, was banned until 1998 — when, lawmakers say, they inadvertently decriminalized it when they altered the regulation of nurse-midwives, something the 2019 law sought to remedy.
Among the nine plaintiffs are women who seek traditional births and argue that the new licensing requirement violates their right of privacy and reproductive autonomy under Hawaii’s Constitution. They are represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation.
“For pregnant people whose own family may no longer hold the knowledge of the ceremonial and sacred aspects of birth, a midwife trained in Native Hawaiian traditional and customary birthing practices can be an invaluable, culturally informed health care provider,” the lawsuit states.
When Kahoʻohanohano was unable to find a Native Hawaiian midwife to attend the birth of her first child, she turned instead to a Native American one, who was open to incorporating traditional Hawaiian aspects that Kahoʻohanohano gleaned from her elders.
She surrounded herself with Hawaiian cultural practitioners focusing on pule, or prayer, and lomilomi, a traditional massage with physical and spiritual elements. It all helped ease her three days of labor, she said. And then, “two pushes and pau” — done — the boy was born.
The births of her five children in various Maui communities, Kahoʻohanohano said, were her “greatest teachers” in herself becoming one of the very few midwives who know about Native Hawaiian birthing practices.
She is believed to be the first person in a century to give birth on her husband’s ancestral lands in Kahakuloa, a remote west Maui valley of mostly Native Hawaiians, where her daughter was born in 2015. The community is at least 40 minutes along winding roads to the island’s only hospital.
Kahoʻohanohano testified about helping low-risk pregnant women and identifying instances where she transferred someone to receive care at the hospital but said she’s never experienced any emergency situations.
Among the other plaintiffs are midwives she has helped train and women she has aided through birth. Makalani Franco-Francis testified that she learned about customary birth practices from Kahoʻohanohano, including how to receive a newborn in kapa, or traditional cloth, and cultural protocols for a placenta, including taking it to the ocean or burying it to connect a newborn to its ancestral lands.
The law has halted her education, Franco-Francis said. She testified that she’s not interested in resuming her midwifery education through out-of-state or online programs.
“It’s not in alignment with our cultural practices, and it’s also a financial obligation,” she said.
The judge heard testimony through the week. It’s not clear how soon a ruling might come.
Much of US braces for extreme weather
date: 2024-06-16, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/much-of-us-braces-for-extreme-weather/7657800.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Devil’s Advocate is a fine movie.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This function is included in every bit of software I write. Never know when you might need a random snarky slogan.
https://gist.github.com/scripting/aa1a8beacf79d90bc26105ba46c32072
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-16, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: The sports god and politics.
http://scripting.com/2019/06/15/164205.html
No arrests in reports of man with weapon in Valencia
date: 2024-06-16, from: The Signal
A man was reportedly seen with what looked like a gun at the Vallarta Supermarket in Valencia on Saturday evening, according to officials. Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s […]
The post No arrests in reports of man with weapon in Valencia appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/no-arrests-in-reports-of-man-with-weapon-in-valencia/
Full Circle Weekly News 370
date: 2024-06-16, from: Full Circle Magazine
Credits
- Host: @bardictriad, @zaivala
- Bumper: Canonical
- Theme Music: From The Dust - Stardust
- https://soundcloud.com/ftdmusic
- CC BY 4.0
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/podcasts/podcast-370/
Load Data from PostgreSQL to Snowflake Using Estuary Flow
date: 2024-06-16, from: PostgreSQL News
We are happy to share that you can easily load data from Postgres to Snowflake using Estuary.
Estuary Flow is a game-changer, offering real-time, reliable change data capture (CDC) and seamless batch data movement in a single pipeline. Whether you’re powering analytics, operations, or AI, Estuary Flow’s speed, reliability, and flexibility are unmatched.
Load Your Data from Postgres to Snowflake in 8 Simple Steps:
- Create an Estuary Flow Account: Get started with a free trial.
- Configure AWS RDS (Postgres): Set up your PostgreSQL database on AWS.
- Local Postgres Setup: Complete the database configuration locally.
- Create and Load a Table: Populate your PostgreSQL table with data.
- Set up Snowflake: Prepare your Snowflake data warehouse.
- Create a Capture: Tell Estuary Flow which data to capture.
- Create a Snowflake Materialization: Define where the data should land in Snowflake.
- Verify Data Accuracy: Ensure everything is in sync and accurate.
For detailed instructions and screenshots at each step, refer to Estuary’s official guide: Postgres to Snowflake
Function calling in large language models
date: 2024-06-16, from: Ze Iaso’s blog
It’s hard to pay attention when your context goes out the window.
https://xeiaso.net/talks/2024/llm-function-calling/
Ramos shines for SF Giants, but ‘terrible’ situational hitting leads to latest loss
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
Heliot Ramos accounted all of the San Francisco Giants’ runs in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/15/heliot-ramos-shines-but-missed-opportunities-haunt-sf-giants/
European vacation too expensive? Try a virtual vacation with these video games
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
“Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth” takes you on a trip to Hawaii while “Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora” lets you leave inside the movie world
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-06-15, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
I am late to this, but alcohol free beer is pretty good.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/112623035002171484
Mountain lion spotted in Millbrae Saturday afternoon
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
San Mateo County Sheriff’s officers urge public to call 911 if they spot the animal
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/15/mountain-lion-spotted-in-millbrae-saturday-afternoon/
Gorman fire reaches over 3,610 acres, evacuations taking place
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel were battling a large fire in Gorman that has now reached over 3,000 acres on Saturday afternoon, according to fire officials. The fire was […]
The post Gorman fire reaches over 3,610 acres, evacuations taking place appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/gorman-fire-reaches-500-acres-evacuations-taking-place/
Brush fire reaches 120 acres
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
Personnel with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a vegetation fire on Sierra Highway in Agua Dulce that grew to 120 acres on Saturday afternoon, according to fire […]
The post Brush fire reaches 120 acres appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/brush-fire-reaches-120-acres/
From RAGs to riches: A practical guide to making your local AI chatbot smarter
date: 2024-06-15, updated: 2024-06-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Nine out of 10 execs recommend adding Retrieval Augmented Generation to your daily regimen
Hands on If you’ve been following enterprise adoption of AI, you’ve no doubt heard the term “RAG” tossed around.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/15/ai_rag_guide/
libeatmydata - disable fsync and SAVE
date: 2024-06-15, from: Tilde.news
https://www.flamingspork.com/projects/libeatmydata/
SF Giants update: Next step for Snell still TBD after bullpen session
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
San Francisco Giants left-hander Blake Snell “seems to be progressing” from a left groin strain, manager Bob Melvin said
Complaints about non-citizen voting center on voter ID laws
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, says people are voting illegally in U.S. elections, including immigrants. One California city is moving to impose voter identification rules that violate state voting laws. Genia Dulot reports.
Athletics-Twins rained out, will play two on Sunday
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
The A’s are 9-29 since reaching .500 on May 4 at 17-17.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/15/athletics-twins-rained-out-will-play-two-on-sunday/
Meghan Markle called out for debuting new jam hours before Kate Middleton’s royal return
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
Meghan Markle and her new raspberry jam have annoyed royal fans who believe all the attention Saturday should have been on Kate’s appearance at Trooping the Color.
On Father’s Day, this LGBTQ+ couple celebrates the friend who helped make their family dream reality
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
David Titterington had a sense of what his childhood friend would ask him when she led him into a photo booth at a mutual friend’s wedding roughly a decade ago. As the countdown for the second photo ticked, Jen Wilson popped the question: Will you be my sperm donor?
Italian Premier Meloni describes Putin’s cease-fire offer for Ukraine as ‘propaganda’
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Saturday dismissed a cease-fire offer for Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “propaganda,” as she wrapped up a Group of Seven summit that saw a deal reached for a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
Missouri woman’s murder conviction tossed after 43 years. Her lawyers say a police officer did it
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
A judge has overturned the conviction of a Missouri woman who was a psychiatric patient when she incriminated herself in a 1980 killing. Sandra Hemme has spent 43 years behind bars. Her attorneys argue the killing actually was committed by a now-discredited police officer. Judge Ryan Horsman ruled late Friday that Hemme had established evidence of actual innocence. Her attorneys says this is the longest time a women has been been incarcerated for a wrongful conviction. The judge said Hemme must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors retry her. Prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
A Japanese climber dies while trying to scale a mountain in northern Pakistan and another is missing
date: 2024-06-15, from: San Jose Mercury News
A Japanese climber has died while trying to scale one of the highest mountains in northern Pakistan and a search is still underway to find his missing colleague, officials said Saturday.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
An A.I.-Powered App Helps Readers Make Sense of Classic Texts.
First responders pay their respects to fallen Palmdale firefighter
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
Local first responders paid their respects, following the line-of-duty death of Los Angeles County Firefighter Andrew Pontious, as a procession transported the fallen firefighter through the Santa Clarita Valley past […]
The post First responders pay their respects to fallen Palmdale firefighter appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/first-responders-pay-their-respects-to-fallen-palmdale-firefighter/
Trump Michigan trip includes Black church, far-right activists’ meeting
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Donald Trump will use back-to-back stops Saturday to court Black voters and a conservative group that has been accused of attracting white supremacists as the Republican presidential candidate works to stitch together a coalition of historically divergent interests in the battleground state of Michigan.
Trump is scheduled to host an afternoon roundtable at an African American church in downtown Detroit. Later he will appear at the “People’s Convention” of Turning Point Action, a group that the Anti-Defamation League says has been linked to a variety of extremists.
Roughly 24 hours before Trump planned to address the conference, well-known white supremacist Nick Fuentes entered Turning Point’s convention hall surrounded by a group of cheering supporters. He was quickly escorted out by security.
Fuentes created political problems for Trump after Fuentes attended a private lunch with the former president and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West at Trump’s Florida estate in 2022.
Trump’s weekend plans underscore the evolving political forces shaping the presidential election this fall as he tries to deny Democratic President Joe Biden a second term.
Few states are expected to matter more in November than Michigan, which Biden carried by less than 3 percentage points four years ago. And few voting groups matter more to Democrats than African Americans, who made up the backbone of Biden’s political base in 2020. But now, less than five months before Election Day, Black voters are expressing modest signs of disappointment with the Democrat.
Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Michigan Republicans at a dinner Friday that the state could not be more important.
“Everybody knows if we don’t win Michigan, we’re not going to have a Republican in the White House,” Whatley said. “Let me be more blunt: If we don’t win Michigan, we’re not going to have Donald Trump in the White House.
“We are going to determine the fate of the world in this election in November,” he said.
Trump argues that he can pull in more Black voters due to his economic and border security message, and that his felony indictments make him more relatable.
Democrats are offering a competing perspective.
“Donald Trump is so dangerous for Michigan and dangerous for America and dangerous for Black people,” Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, who is African American, said Friday.
He said it was “offensive” for Trump to address the Turning Point conference, which was taking place at the same convention center that was “the epicenter of their steal the election effort.”
Indeed, dozens of angry Trump loyalists chanting “Stop the count!” descended on the TCF Center, now named Huntington Place, the day after the 2020 presidential election as absentee ballots were being counted. Local media captured scenes of protesters outside and in the lobby. Police prevented them from entering the counting area.
The protests took place after Trump had tweeted that “they are finding Biden votes all over” in several states, including Michigan.
The false notion that Biden benefited from widespread voter fraud has been widely debunked by voting officials in both parties, the court system and members of Trump’s former administration. Still, Trump continues to promote such misinformation, which echoed throughout the conservative convention over the weekend.
Speaking from the main stage, Turning Point founder and CEO Charlie Kirk falsely described the conference location as “the scene of a crime.”
Such extreme rhetoric does not appear to have hurt Trump’s standing with Black voters, however.
Among Black adults, Biden’s approval has dropped from 94% when he started his term in January 2021 to just 55%, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published in March.
About 8 in 10 Black voters have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, with roughly two-thirds saying they have a “very unfavorable” view of him, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in June. About 2 in 10 Black voters have a very or somewhat favorable view of Trump.
Trump won 8% of the Black vote in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. And in what is expected to be a close election, even a modest shift could be consequential.
Maurice Morrison, a 67-year-old lifelong Detroit resident, plans to attend Trump’s church appearance. Morrison acknowledged that Trump, for whom he voted twice before and plans to again, is deeply unpopular in his community and even inside his home.
“Once he decided to run for president as a Republican, that automatically made him racist. That’s his middle name now — ‘Trump is racist’ — everybody I talk to, all the people I know, my family,” said Morrison, who is Black.
Meanwhile, thousands of conservative activists, most of them young and white, were eagerly awaiting Trump’s keynote address Saturday night.
Enhancing Accessibility and Recreation Through Our Trail System
date: 2024-06-15, from: City of Santa Clarita
By City Manager Ken Striplin One of my favorite parts about our community is the ability to walk, bike or ride along our trails and paseos. With over 100 miles of trails keeping us connected throughout neighborhoods and along our streets, pedestrian safety and accessibility is always a top priority when designing new roads, parks […]
The post Enhancing Accessibility and Recreation Through Our Trail System appeared first on City of Santa Clarita.
US diplomat warns China’s provoking of Taiwan risks conflict
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
Taipei, Taiwan — Outgoing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk, has warned China against aggressive moves in the region that could spark a larger conflict.
Oudkirk made the comment in response to a question at a June 14 farewell news conference.
“The United States is profoundly devoted to a status quo in the straits and in the region … that is one of peace and stability. And that is why we have consistently urged the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to avoid coercive or provocative actions both in the Taiwan Straits and in other areas like the South China Sea and off Japan, because provocative actions are almost by definition dangerous,” she said. “They run the risk of a miscalculation or an accident that could spark a broader conflict.”
During Oudkirk’s three-year term, China conducted three island-circling military exercises against Taiwan, causing an unprecedented level of tension in the history of the American Institute in Taiwan, or AIT, which serves as Washington’s de facto embassy.
China considers self-governing Taiwan a breakaway province that must one day be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
The U.S., like many countries, does not recognize Taiwan as a country in order to have relations with China. But Washington maintains informal diplomatic relations with Taipei through the AIT, along with direct trade and defense ties, and supports Taiwan as a self-governing democracy.
Oudkirk reiterated U.S. support for Taiwan’s defense capabilities against Chinese aggression, saying that bolstering Taiwan’s ability to defend itself was AIT’s “top priority.”
“We look forward to the delivery of the military capabilities” from the long-awaited U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, she said. Worth nearly $20 billion, they were purchased over the past several years but have seen delays in delivery.
Oudkirk blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for affecting supply chains but said the delays were gradually unwinding and to “watch this space.”
The U.S. in early June approved an $80 million sale of F-16 fighter jet spare and repair parts to Taiwan.
China’s defense ministry declared Beijing’s strong opposition to the arms sales on June 7 and urged Washington to withdraw them immediately.
Amid concerns about a potential defense vacuum in Taiwan, some analysts have suggested the U.S. move some arms and ammunition production to Taiwan.
In response, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on June 11 that the two countries are moving toward “possible joint production,” reported Taiwanese media.
Meanwhile, Oudkirk noted that Taiwan is looking at becoming a component supplier for the U.S. defense industry.
“We have had a variety of delegations come through Taiwan looking at cybersecurity, looking at unmanned systems, drones. I can tell there is a lot of interest there but there are still some steps in terms of meeting the standards that the U.S. puts down for its defense industrial base that Taiwan’s private companies would have to meet.”
Tzu-yun Su, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, told VOA the technical issues for Taiwan and U.S. defense companies to expand cooperation are not big, but a major hurdle is corporate governance.
“The confidentiality of the companies, personnel safety control and information network security will be the three major factors,” said Su. “At the same time, the government laws must be connected. If Taiwanese companies can keep up with these regulations and management aspects, they will have a relatively good chance of entering the U.S. defense supply chain.”
Asked about concerns that U.S. policy to Taiwan could change if President Joe Biden is not reelected in November, Oudkirk said, “In the United States, unlike on almost any other issue of foreign policy or domestic policy, there is a broad-based, bipartisan consensus on policy towards Taiwan. So, I do not think an election would necessarily change that.”
The American Institute in Taiwan announced in late May that Raymond Greene will succeed Oudkirk as head of the office in Taipei sometime this summer.
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-diplomat-warns-china-s-provoking-of-taiwan-risks-conflict/7657426.html
From G7 to fundraiser: Biden balances geopolitics with campaign
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
LOS ANGELES — After flying through the night across nine time zones, from southern Italy to Southern California, U.S. President Joe Biden is shifting his focus from Russia’s challenge of Western unity to raking in big money for his reelection campaign at a Hollywood fundraiser featuring George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Biden went straight from the Group of Seven summit of wealthy democracies, where Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine took center stage, to Los Angeles and the glitzy gathering unfolding Saturday night at the Peacock Theater. The journey was only broken up by a layover to refuel outside Washington.
Former President Barack Obama is joining headliners Clooney and Roberts, and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will interview all of them onstage. In a text message to donors beforehand, Roberts called it “a crucial time in the election.” Kimmel wrote in his own text that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump “will hate this, so let’s do it.”
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden’s campaign, hoping to provide a fundraising jolt and to energize would-be supporters to turn out ahead of Election Day against Trump.
But appearing with stars this time means Biden is skipping a summit in Switzerland about ways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris is representing the United States.
It’s a stark reminder that his responsibilities as president and his reelection effort can sometimes conflict.
“We are going to see an unprecedented and record-setting turnout from the media and entertainment world,” Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul, major Democratic donor and co-chair of Biden’s campaign, said in a statement.
A Biden fundraiser in March at Radio City Music Hall in New York featured late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewing the president, Obama and former President Bill Clinton. It raised a then-record $26 million, but the California event will bring in at least $28 million, according to the Biden campaign.
Still, Trump has hauled in even bigger numbers.
He outpaced Biden’s New York event in April, raking in $50.5 million at a gathering of major donors at the Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson. The former president’s campaign and the Republican National Committee announced they had raised a whopping $141 million in May, padded by tens of millions of dollars in contributions that flowed in after Trump’s guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial.
That post-conviction bump came after Trump and the Republican Party announced collecting $76 million in April, far exceeding Biden and the Democrats’ $51 million for the month and narrowing a fundraising advantage Biden built earlier in the race.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Clean Up on Aisle Trump.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/06/15/clean-up-on-aisle-trump/
Despite gains, Native Americans still face voting barriers
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Native Americans today say they still face barriers to casting their votes, six decades after U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
Many live miles away from voter registration and polling sites and lack access to reliable transportation.
Others may not have traditional mailing addresses and cannot satisfy voter registration requirements. Voting by mail can be “iffy,” according to O.J. Semans, a Sicangu Lakota citizen living on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and co-executive director of Four Directions, a voting rights advocacy group that has worked on behalf of tribes in several states.
“You must remember, the old Pony Express [mail delivery on horseback] wasn’t meant for reservations. It was for outposts and settler towns,” Semans said. “The U.S. Postal Service has neglected every Indian reservation in the United States when it comes to ensuring we have equality.”
A 2023 study of mail service on the Navajo Nation — the largest reservation in the U.S. — notes that when deciding where to open post offices during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. Postal Service picked locations that would “advance military objectives and serve the interests of Anglo-American settlers.”
“Post Offices are fewer and farther from each other on reservation communities; there are fewer service hours; and we show in a mail experiment that letters posted on reservations are slower and less likely to arrive,” the study said.
Post offices exist on Seman’s Rosebud Reservation, but they no longer accept general delivery.
“So, if you want to vote by mail, you can request an absentee ballot and fill it out. But you’d never get the ballot back,” he said.
States pass restrictive laws
The 1965 Voting Rights Act banned traditional forms of voter discrimination such as literacy tests, character assessments and other practices widely used to disenfranchise minority voters.
It authorized the federal government to oversee voter registration and election procedures in certain states and localities with histories of discriminatory practices, and it also required those jurisdictions to obtain “preclearance” from the Justice Department or a federal court before changing voting laws or procedures.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the formula for deciding which localities needed preclearance as unconstitutional, opening the way for states to pass new voting laws.
During a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing in 2021, Jacqueline De Leon, an enrolled member of the Isleta Pueblo and a staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, or NARF, described some conditions for Indigenous voters.
“In South Dakota, Native American voters were forced to vote in a repurposed chicken coop with no bathroom facilities and feathers on the floor,” she testified.
In Wisconsin, Native Americans were required to cast their ballots inside a sheriff’s office.
NARF, tribes fight back
In 2021, President Joe Biden created the Interagency Steering Group on Native American Voting Rights to report on barriers facing Native voters.
“Native American communities have not been immune, but indeed have been packed or divided by district lines that dilute their vote or otherwise discriminate,” the group reported.
In November 2021, North Dakota’s Republican-led legislature approved a new legislative map that separated state House districts on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and the Fort Berthold reservation, home to the Three Affiliated Tribes.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake tribes filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the new map violated the Voting Rights Act by packing the Turtle Mountain band — that is, concentrating them into a single electoral district to reduce their influence in other districts, and cracking — or dividing — the Spirit Lake tribe across districts to dilute their voting power.
“A conservative judge found this was a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act,” De Leon told VOA. “And rather than protect its Native constituents where there was a violation, the state has appealed, trying to just block the cost of action as opposed to remediating the discrimination.”
Arizona passed a law in 2022 requiring voters to provide proof of their physical address.
“And that was really an attack on the Native vote because about 40,000 homes in Indian Country in Arizona don’t have traditional addresses on them or any way to prove residential location,” De Leon said.
With NARF’s support, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Gila River Indian Community in 2022 filed suit in U.S. District Court for Arizona. In 2023, the court ruled in their favor, finding that the address requirements violated tribe members’ constitutional right to vote.
With five months to go before November’s general election, Semans said, Indigenous voting rights activists must stay vigilant.
“With this new Supreme Court, even rulings that we got years ago that were positive for Indian country could change before then,” he said. “Things can change on a dime.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/despite-gains-native-americans-still-face-voting-barriers/7657323.html
Coderspeak
date: 2024-06-15, from: Tilde.news
https://uclpress.co.uk/products/230881
Worst of rainfall that triggered Florida floods is over
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Although more rain could trigger additional isolated Florida flooding, forecasters say the strong, persistent storms that dumped up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) in southern parts of the state appear to have passed.
Some neighborhood streets in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas still have standing water, although it is rapidly receding, officials said.
“The worst flooding risk was the last three days,” said Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “The heaviest rainfall has concluded.”
The no-name storm system pushed across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a media briefing in Hollywood, south of Fort Lauderdale, and said while more rain was coming, it’s likely to be more typical of South Florida afternoon showers this time of year.
“We are going to get some more rain today, maybe throughout the balance of the weekend. Hopefully it’s not approaching the levels that it was, but we have a lot of resources staged here, and we’ll be able to offer the state’s assistance,” he said.
DeSantis said the state has deployed about 100 pumps in addition to what cities and counties are using to try to clear water from streets.
Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said while flooding was extensive, there were no reports of destroyed homes and very few of severely damaged homes. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
“We don’t think there’s going to be enough damage to necessarily qualify for a federal disaster declaration,” DeSantis said. But he added the storms may have affected enough business to qualify for Small Business Administration assistance.
The downpours hit Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, delaying flights at two of the state’s largest airports and leaving vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. The main problem was hundreds of vehicles that were stranded on streets as people were unable to navigate the flood waters.
“Looked like the beginning of a zombie movie,” said Ted Rico, a tow truck driver who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning helping to clear the streets of stalled vehicles. “There’s cars littered everywhere, on top of sidewalks, in the median, in the middle of the street, no lights on. Just craziness, you know. Abandoned cars everywhere.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/worst-of-rainfall-that-triggered-florida-floods-is-over/7657374.html
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: No More Restroom Roulette
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Lever News
Plus, the money tap opens for a major river, good news about crime rates, ride-share drivers catch a break, and your medical debt gets a clean bill of health.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-no-more-restroom-roulette/
A New, Dirty Vision for Higher Education
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Markup blog
An interview with Julia Schleck, who argues that rather than serving the public good, universities should be a forum to define and debate the public good
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/06/15/a-new-dirty-vision-for-higher-education
The Great AI Retrenchment has begun
date: 2024-06-15, from: Gary Marcus blog
Further evidence that AGI is not imminent
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/the-great-ai-retrenchment-has-begun
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Why You May Never See the New Trump Movie. (BTW, midtown Manhattan was not a wasteland in the 70s, esp not the area around Grand Central.)
Tim Whyte | On Ol’ Blue & Being Ready
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
I wasn’t ready for another dog. I’d been pretty attached to Lacey, a 40-pound terrier we had adopted after her career in the entertainment industry came to an abusive halt. Her […]
The post Tim Whyte | On Ol’ Blue & Being Ready appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/tim-whyte-on-ol-blue-being-ready/
Ask the Motor Cop | Can you circle back to the U-turn question?
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
Question: Hi Jerry, I enjoy reading your columns and I find them educational. The topics are a reminder of what I might have known in the past but have forgotten. […]
The post Ask the Motor Cop | Can you circle back to the U-turn question? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/ask-the-motor-cop-can-you-circle-back-to-the-u-turn-question/
Stephen Maseda | Unsupported Assertions on Court
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
I usually ignore Ms. Lois Eisenberg’s letters, but this latest (June 6) is just too good to pass up. As usual, it is filled with unsupported assertions that amount to […]
The post Stephen Maseda | Unsupported Assertions on Court appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/stephen-maseda-unsupported-assertions-on-court/
European Commission may be about to put the squeeze on Apple for its App Store rules
date: 2024-06-15, updated: 2024-06-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
iBiz potentially facing hefty penalties under the Digital Markets Act
The European Commission is said to be preparing to file charges against Apple alleging that its “steering” rules, imposed on third-party developers distributing software through the App Store, violate Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/15/apple_european_commission/
The Time Ranger | SCV Sasquatch Offered a Job Hauling Trash?
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
That orange orb menacingly rising in the east? That’s what we old-timers call, “the sun.” Some of you saddlepals might be hiding under blanket or pillow. Some of you may […]
The post The Time Ranger | SCV Sasquatch Offered a Job Hauling Trash? appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/the-time-ranger-scv-sasquatch-offered-a-job-hauling-trash/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Better than Google.
https://seths.blog/2024/06/better-than-google/
Michael Reagan | Joe Biden Is the Better Dictator
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
So I turn on the news …. We’ve got wars raging in Ukraine and Israel. We’ve got nuke-carrying Russian warships visiting Cuba. We’ve got 4,000 illegal immigrants a day crossing […]
The post Michael Reagan | Joe Biden Is the Better Dictator appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/michael-reagan-joe-biden-is-the-better-dictator/
Robert Lamoureux | What to do when a car is stuck in your toilet
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Signal
Question: Hi Robert. I’m not sure if this is a new one or not, but I need an answer pretty quickly, please. We have a 2-year-old son, who just flushed […]
The post Robert Lamoureux | What to do when a car is stuck in your toilet appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
https://signalscv.com/2024/06/robert-lamoureux-what-to-do-when-a-car-is-stuck-in-your-toilet/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Trump’s habitual incoherence caught top CEOs by surprise
https://www.editorialboard.com/trumps-habitual-incoherence-caught-top-ceos-by-surprise/
About Those Short-Term Rentals
date: 2024-06-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Sharing my home has helped me pay my mortgage and property taxes for the last decade, an economic lifeline that gave me the flexibility to care for my aging parents while still supplementing my income.
The post About Those Short-Term Rentals appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/15/about-those-short-term-rentals/
Jewish or Journalist?
date: 2024-06-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
As I witnessed a stunning series of events unfold on my UC Santa Barbara campus, two equally strong parts of me struggled for ascendancy — journalist and Jewish student.
The post Jewish or Journalist? appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/15/jewish-or-journalist/
Today in SCV History (June 15)
date: 2024-06-15, from: SCV New (TV Station)
1957 – Lang Station dedicated as State Historic Landmark No. 590 [story
https://scvnews.com/today-in-scv-history-june-15/
US city repeals ban on psychic readings as industry gains more acceptance
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
NORFOLK, Virginia — Ashley Branton has earned a living as a psychic medium for seven years, helping a growing number of people with heavy choices about toxic relationships, home purchases and cross-country moves.
And while the tarot cards are never wrong, she said, they didn’t see this one coming.
The City Council in Norfolk, Virginia, repealed a 45-year-old ban this week on “the practice of palmistry, palm reading, phrenology or clairvoyance, for monetary or other compensation.”
Soothsaying, it turned out, had been a first-degree misdemeanor and carried up to a year in jail.
“I had no idea that was even a thing,” Branton said with a laugh Thursday among the crystals in her Norfolk shop, Velvet Witch, where she also performs tarot readings and psychic healings. “I’m glad it’s never come down on me.”
It’s unclear exactly why this city of 230,000 people on the Chesapeake Bay, home to the nation’s largest Navy base, nullified the 1979 ordinance. Versions of the ban had existed for decades before.
Norfolk spokesperson Kelly Straub said in an email that it was repealed “because it is no longer used.” City Council members said little during their vote Tuesday, although one joked that “somebody out there predicted that this was going to pass.”
Jokes aside, the city’s repeal comes as the psychic services industry is growing in the U.S., generating an estimated $2.3 billion in revenue last year and employing 97,000 people, according to a 2023 report from market research firm IBIS World.
In late 2017, a Pew Research Center survey found that most American adults identify as Christians. But many also hold New Age beliefs, with 4 in 10 believing in the power of psychics. A 2009 survey for the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project found about 1 in 7 Americans had consulted a psychic.
Branton, 42, who previously worked as a makeup artist, said the market is expanding for psychic mediums because social media has fueled awareness. An aversion to organized religion also plays a role, along with the nation’s divisive politics and a growing sense of uncertainty, particularly among millennials and younger generations.
“Ever since COVID, people have been carrying this weight. They’re just carrying so much,” Branton said.
“And people are starting to do inner work,” she continued. “They’re starting to take care of their mental health. And they’re starting to take care of the spiritual aspect.”
Branton said she considers her work a calling. Psychic gifts run in her family, and she’s had them her whole life.
“I always had interactions with spirits,” she said. “I’ve always been an empath. I can feel people’s energies.”
Branton said she’s built up her clientele through word of mouth, without any advertising.
“I’m very proud of that,” she said. “There’s going to be scammers and people out here doing this for just the money. Obviously, this is my way of living now. But it was never about money for me.”
In 2022, AARP warned of scam psychics who prey on “people who are grieving, lonely or struggling emotionally, physically or financially.”
And some bans remain in place. In October, the police chief in Hanover, Pennsylvania, told a witchcraft-themed store that any complaints about tarot card readings would prompt an investigation, The New York Times reported.
The police chief cited an old state law that makes it illegal to predict the future for money. In 2007, the city of Philadelphia cited the same law when it shut down more than a dozen psychics, astrologers and tarot-card readers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Fortune telling bans stemmed from anti-witchcraft and anti-vagrancy laws in 18th century England, said Charles McCrary, a professor of religious studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The American laws took hold in the mid-19th century, an era of growing concern about fraudulent business practices, McCrary said. But the Spiritualism movement, which often involved channeling the dead, was also growing in popularity, particularly among the middle and upper classes.
“There was something about these white, Spiritualist women that I think troubled a lot of people,” McCrary said.
“Part of what made it threatening was it couldn’t be written off as something that poor people do or something for the marginal,” he added. “It was very popular. And so more mainstream Christians found it especially threatening. And a lot of people were Christians who also did seances.”
Such laws faced little scrutiny from the courts at first, said David L. Hudson, a law professor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a fellow with the Freedom Forum think tank in Washington.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a state law in 1928 that regulated fortune telling, writing that “liberty of speech is not license to speak anything that one pleases freed from all criminal or civil responsibility.” Other courts reasoned that fortune telling was commercial speech, which received no First Amendment protection until the mid-1970s.
More recently, courts have increasingly viewed bans on fortune tellers with skepticism on First Amendment grounds. Maryland’s Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that fortune telling for a fee is protected free speech.
“We’ve come a long way, both in terms of social norms and social acceptance,” Hudson told The Associated Press, likening psychic readings to tattoos. “But also there’s been a massive development of First Amendment law … It’s very disfavored to entirely ban a medium of expression.”
Even though Norfolk’s ban was practically forgotten and no longer enforced, Carol Peterson is relieved about the repeal. She owns the Crystal Sunflower, a store in Norfolk that offers tarot card readings and vibrational sound therapy. She is also a civilian geologist for the military.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I could get a class one misdemeanor,’” Peterson said.
“People have this misconceived notion that tarot is evil or demonic,” Peterson added. “But you’re helping people tap into their highest self for their journey. And if people would be more curious instead of judgmental, I think that they would be pleasantly surprised.”
What is Juneteenth and how are people marking the day?
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/what-is-juneteenth-and-how-are-people-marking-the-day-/7655211.html
Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf fulfills Lakota prophecy
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
HELENA, Montana — The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.
“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.
The birth of the sacred calf comes as after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.
Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born on June 4 in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park.
Her family was visiting the park when she spotted “something really white” among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.
Traffic ended up stopping while bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck her camera out the window to take a closer look with her telephoto lens.
“I look and it’s this white bison calf. And I was just totally, totally floored,” she said.
After the bison cleared the roadway, the Braatens turned their vehicle around and found a spot to park. They watched the calf and its mother for 30-45 minutes.
“And then she kind of led it through the willows there,” Braaten said. Although Braaten came back each of the next two days, she didn’t see the white calf again.
For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo calf with a black nose, eyes and hooves is akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.
Lakota legend says about 2,000 years ago — when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing — White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member, taught them how to pray and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf.
“And some day when the times are hard again,” Looking Horse said in relating the legend, “I shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.”
A similar white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin in 1994 and was named Miracle, he said.
Troy Heinert, the executive director of the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council, said the calf in Braaten’s photos looks like a true white buffalo because it has a black nose, black hooves and dark eyes.
“From the pictures I’ve seen, that calf seems to have those traits,” said Heinert, who is Lakota. An albino buffalo would have pink eyes.
A naming ceremony has been held for the Yellowstone calf, Looking Horse said, though he declined to reveal the name. A ceremony celebrating the calf’s birth is set for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters in West Yellowstone.
Other tribes also revere white buffalo.
“Many tribes have their own story of why the white buffalo is so important,” Heinert said. “All stories go back to them being very sacred.”
Heinert and several members of the Buffalo Field Campaign say they’ve never heard of a white buffalo being born in Yellowstone, which has wild herds. Park officials had not seen the buffalo yet and could not confirm its birth in the park, and they have no record of a white buffalo being born in the park previously.
Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, could not quantify how rare the calf is.
“To my knowledge, no one’s ever tracked the occurrence of white buffalo being born throughout history. So I’m not sure how we can make a determination how often it occurs.”
Besides herds of the animals on public lands or overseen by conservation groups, about 80 tribes across the U.S. have more than 20,000 bison, a figure that’s been growing in recent years.
In Yellowstone and the surrounding area, the killing or removal of large numbers of bison happens almost every winter, under an agreement between federal and Montana agencies that has limited the size of the park’s herds to about 5,000 animals. Yellowstone officials last week proposed a slightly larger population of up to 6,000 bison, with a final decision expected next month.
But ranchers in Montana have long opposed increasing the Yellowstone herds or transferring the animals to tribes. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has said he would not support any management plan with a population target greater than 3,000 Yellowstone bison.
Heinert sees the calf’s birth as a reminder “that we need to live in a good way and treat others with respect.”
“I hope that calf is safe and going to live its best life in Yellowstone National Park, exactly where it was designed to be,” Heinert said.
Foresters Find Offense in 9-2 Win Over San Luis Obispo Blues
date: 2024-06-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
The Foresters will host the Arroyo Seco Saints on Saturday beginning at 4:30.
The post Foresters Find Offense in 9-2 Win Over San Luis Obispo Blues appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/14/foresters-find-offense-in-9-2-win-over-san-luis-obispo-blues/
Westmont Baseball Head Coach Tyler LaTorre Resigns, Accepts Head Coach Position at Pepperdine
date: 2024-06-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
Westmont baseball begins search for next head coach.
The post Westmont Baseball Head Coach Tyler LaTorre Resigns, Accepts Head Coach Position at Pepperdine appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
Some Mexican shelters see crowding as Biden’s asylum ban takes hold
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Some shelters south of the U.S. border are caring for many more migrants now that the Biden administration stopped considering most asylum requests, while others have yet to see much of a change.
The impact appears uneven more than a week after the temporary suspension took effect. Shelters south of Texas and California have plenty of space, while as many as 500 deportations from Arizona each day are straining shelters in Mexico’s Sonora state, their directors say.
“We’re having to turn people away because we can’t, we don’t have the room for all the people who need shelter,” said Joanna Williams, executive director of Kino Border Initiative, which can take in 100 people at a time.
About 120 are in San Juan Bosco shelter in Nogales, across the border from the Arizona city with the same name, up from about 40 before the policy change, according to its director, Juan Francisco Loureiro.
“We have had a quite remarkable increase,” Loureiro said Thursday. Most are Mexican, including families as well as adults. Mexico also agreed to accept deportees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
A shelter in Agua Prieta, a remote town bordering Douglas, Arizona, also began receiving more Mexican men, women and children last weekend — 40 on Sunday, more than 50 on Monday and then about 30 a day. Like those sent to Nogales, most had entered the U.S. farther west, along the Arizona-California state line, according to Perla del Angel, a worker at the Exodus Migrant Attention Center.
Mexicans make up a relatively large percentage of border arrests in much of Arizona compared to other regions, which may help explain why Nogales is affected. Mexicans are generally the easiest nationality to deport because officials only have to drive them to a border crossing instead of arranging a flight.
In Tijuana, directors of four large shelters said this week that they haven’t received a single migrant deported since the asylum ban took effect. Al Otro Lado, a migrant advocacy group, consulted only seven migrants on the first full day operating an information booth at the main crossing where migrants are deported from San Diego.
“What there is right now is a lot of uncertainty,” said Paulina Olvera, president of Espacio Migrante, who houses up to 40 people traveling in families, predominantly from Mexico, and has others sleeping on the sidewalk outside. “So far what we’ve seen is the rumors and the mental health impact on people. We haven’t seen returns yet.”
Biden administration officials said last week that thousands have been deported since the new rule took effect on July 5, suspending asylum whenever arrests for illegal crossings hit a trigger of 2,500 in a single day. The officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, were not more specific. The halt will remain in effect until arrests fall below a seven-day daily average of 1,500.
“We are ready to repatriate a record number of people in the coming days,” Blas Nuñez-Neto, assistant homeland security secretary for border and immigration policy, told Spanish-language reporters after the policy was announced.
The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for figures on Friday and neither did the National Immigration Institute in Mexico.
Microsoft answered Congress’ questions on security. Now the White House needs to act
date: 2024-06-15, updated: 2024-06-15, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Business as usual needs a real change
Feature Microsoft president Brad Smith struck a conciliatory tone regarding his IT giant’s repeated computer security failings during a congressional hearing on Thursday – while also claiming the Windows maker is above the rule of law, at least in China.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/06/15/microsoft_brad_smith_congress/
Reading to Change the World
date: 2024-06-15, from: Santa Barbara Indenpent News
In the Black radical tradition, reading is a way to intervene in the world in order to change it.
The post Reading to Change the World appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.
https://www.independent.com/2024/06/14/reading-and-revolution/
USC to open access point at Exposition Boulevard and Pardee Way
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
The University will open the entrance on Monday to all those coming into campus.
The post USC to open access point at Exposition Boulevard and Pardee Way appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/06/14/211577/
G7 leaders discuss economic threats from China, AI ethics
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up meetings in Italy with leaders of the Group of Seven democracies. The leaders focused on threats they say China poses to the global economy and artificial intelligence ethics championed by Pope Francis. Patsy Widakuswara reports from Brindisi, Italy.
https://www.voanews.com/a/g7-leaders-discuss-economic-threats-from-chinese-ai-ethics/7657029.html
Mohamed ‘Moh’ El-Naggar to serve as Dornsife interim dean
date: 2024-06-15, from: The Daily Trojan (USC Student Paper)
Provost Andrew Guzman announced in an email Friday Afternoon.
The post Mohamed ‘Moh’ El-Naggar to serve as Dornsife interim dean appeared first on Daily Trojan.
https://dailytrojan.com/2024/06/14/mohamed-moh-el-naggar-to-serve-as-dornsife-interim-dean/
Speaker: House will sue for Biden’s Justice Department interview audio
date: 2024-06-15, from: VOA News USA
washington — Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that the House of Representatives would go to court to enforce the subpoena against Attorney General Merrick Garland for access to President Joe Biden’s special counsel audio interview, hours after the Justice Department refused to prosecute Republicans’ contempt-of-Congress charge.
“It is sadly predictable that the Biden administration’s Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas even though the department aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing,” Johnson said in a statement.
In a letter to Johnson earlier Friday, a Justice Department official cited the agency’s “long-standing position and uniform practice” to not prosecute officials who don’t comply with subpoenas because of a president’s claim of executive privilege.
The Democratic president last month asserted executive privilege to block the release of the audio, which the White House says Republicans want only for political purposes. Republicans moved forward with the contempt effort anyway, voting Wednesday to punish Garland for refusing to provide the recording.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte noted that the Justice Department under presidents of both political parties has declined to prosecute in similar circumstances when there has been a claim of executive privilege.
Accordingly, the department “will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the attorney general,” Uriarte said in the letter to Johnson. The letter did not specify who in the Justice Department made the decision.
Republicans were incensed when special counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute Biden over his handling of classified documents and quickly opened an investigation. GOP lawmakers — led by Representatives Jim Jordan and James Comer — sent a subpoena for audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden, but the Justice Department turned over only some of the records, leaving out audio of the interview with the president.
Republicans have accused the White House of suppressing the tape because they say the president is afraid to have voters hear it during an election year.
A transcript of the Hur interview showed Biden struggling to recall some dates and occasionally confusing some details — something longtime aides say he’s done for years in both public and private — but otherwise showing deep recall in other areas. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he’s the oldest-ever president, and he is currently seeking another four-year term.
The attorney general has said the Justice Department has gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the lawmakers about Hur’s investigation. However, Garland has said releasing the audio could jeopardize future sensitive investigations because witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews might become public.
In a letter last month detailing Biden’s decision to assert executive privilege, White House counsel Ed Siskel accused Republicans of seeking the recordings so they can “chop them up” and distort them to attack the president. Executive privilege gives presidents the right to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of decision-making, though it can be challenged in court.
The Justice Department noted that it also declined to prosecute Attorney General Bill Barr, who was held in contempt in 2019. The Democratically controlled House voted to issue a referral against Barr after he refused to turn over documents related to a special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department similarly declined to prosecute former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after he was held in contempt of Congress for ceasing to cooperate with the January 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Years before that, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt related to the gun-running operation known as Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department also took no action against Holder.
Navarro and Bannon, two former Trump White House officials, were prosecuted for contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas from the January 6 committee. They were both found guilty at trial and sentenced to four months in prison.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-06-15, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scenius: why creatives are stronger together.