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mostlysignssomeportents · 10 months ago

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The REAL AI automation threat to workers

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Long before the current wave of AI hype, we were being groomed for automation panics with misleading stories. Remember this one? "'Truck driver' is the most common job in America. Self-driving trucks are just around the corner. How can we prevent America's army of truckers from turning into a howling mob when the robots steal their jobs?"

https://futurism.com/millions-of-jobs-are-at-risk-but-their-loss-could-be-for-the-greater-good

It was absolute nonsense. First of all, "truck driver" isn't a particularly common job in America! The BLS lumps together all cargo vehicle drivers under a single classification. The category error here was thinking that every delivery van driver, furniture mover, and courier is behind the wheel of a big rig, cracking wise on a CB radio as they tear up the interstate.

But what about automation threats? It's possible that if we redesigned the interstates to give 16 wheelers their own separated lanes, and then set them to following one another, that they could traverse long distances in that way. Congratulations, you've just invented a shitty, failure-prone train.

"Shitty train AI" does not threaten the job of the vast number of people the BLS classifies as "truck drivers." For one thing, "shitty train AI" isn't going to pilot a UPS van around the streets of a busy city with other road users. Sure, a few robotaxi companies have bamboozled city governments into conscripting the city's residents into an uncontrolled murderbot experiment. These are not going well:

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/9-key-leaders-depart-gms-cruise-amid-ongoing-investigation-into-san-francisco-incident/

More than $100b has been set on fire chasing the robotaxi dream, and the result is most charitably described as a technological curiosity, requiring 1.5 high-waged remote technicians to replace each low-waged driver:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

But even if we could perfect this technology, robots still wouldn't replace all those "truckers" who drive delivery vans (to say nothing of moving vans!). The hard part of driving a UPS van isn't just getting it from place to place – it's getting the parcel into the place. The robo-van would still need at least one person to get the parcel from the back of the van and into the reception desk, porch, or other delivery zone. It's not going to fire those parcels at your door with a catapult. It's also not going to deliver them by drones. Drone delivery is another one of those historical curiosities, capable of delivering a very narrow range of parcels, under even narrower circumstances:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#droned

If all UPS delivered was lightweight, non-fragile rectangular parcels ordered by people with large, unobstructed back yards, then sure. Congrats, you've just created the world's least-useful parcel delivery service!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/06/amazon-drone-delivery-service-seeks-faa-approval-to-launch-in-2022/

All that said, the big rig drivers probably don't need to worry about robots stealing their jobs. It's not even clear that "shitty train" is within our technological grasp, but even if it is, there's yet another problem with the AI automation trucker jobpocalypse: "trucker" is already one of the worst jobs in America:

https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/

It's hard to overstate just how fucking terrible it is to be a trucker. Truckers are trapped in abusive debt holes by their employers – who misclassify their workforce as "contractors" in a bid to sidestep labor law. Shriven of any labor rights, truckers are forced into the most ghastly, body-destroying, family-wrcking, financially precarious existence imaginable.

You can drive a truck for years, give almost all of the money you earn back to your employer (who denies that you're their employee) to pay back the usurious loan for your truck. Then, your employer can underschedule for shifts so that you miss a loan payment, and they can repo your truck and keep the six-figure repayment you've already made to them, leaving you destitute.

They can force you to work for hours – days! – without pay while you wait for loading and dispatch. They can make you drive long past the point of safety, then, if (when) you get into a wreck, they can fine you for not taking the mandated rest breaks.

Now, these drivers aren't about to be replaced by AI – but that doesn't mean that AI won't affect their jobs. Commercial drivers are among the most heavily surveilled workers in the country. Amazon's drivers (whom Amazon misclassifies as subcontractors) have their eyeballs monitored by AI;

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

AIs monitor the voices of the (primarily Black, primarily female) workforce at Arise – homeworkers who field customer service calls for blue-chip companies like Carnival Cruises and Disney. They're listening for unruly children or pets in the background, and workers who fail to muffle these dependents lose the contracts they have to pay to train for:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless

And AI monitors the conduct of workers on temp-work apps. If a worker is dispatched to a struck workplace and refuses to cross the picket-line, the AI boss fires you and blacklists you from future jobs for refusing to robo-scab:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

Writing in The Guardian, Steven Greenhouse describes the AI-enabled workplace, where precarious, often misclassified workers are monitored, judged, and fined by algorithms:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/07/artificial-intelligence-surveillance-workers

Whether it's the robot that gets you disciplined for sending an email with the word "union" in it or the robot that takes money out of your paycheck if you take a bathroom break, AI has come for the workplace with a vengeance.

Here's a supreme irony: nearly all of the beneficial applications for AI require that AI be used to help workers, not replace them, which is absolutely not how AI is used in the workplace. An AI that helps radiologists by giving them a second opinion might help them find tumors on x-rays, but that's a tool that reduces the number of scans a radiologist processes in a shift, by making them go back and reconsider the scans they've already processed:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

But AI's sales pitch is not "Buy an AI tool and increase your costs while increasing your accuracy." The pitch for AI is "buy and AI and save money by firing workers." Given how bad AIs are at replacing humans, this is a bad deal all around, both for the worker who loses their job and the customer who gets the substandard product the AI makes.

There is a very limited slice of applications where an AI could make a lot of money for a company that deploys it, without costing that company anything when the AI screws up. For example, AI is a really good tool for fraud! Rather than paying people to churn out millions of variations on a phishing email, you can get an AI to do it. If the AI writes a bad phishing email, it's OK, since nearly all recipients of even good phishing emails delete them. What's more, no one will fine you or publish an op-ed demanding that your board of directors fire you if you buy an incompetent AI to commit fraud. Fraud is a high-value, low-consequence environment for using AI.

Another one of those applications is managing precarious workers who don't have labor rights. If the AI unfairly docks your worker's wages, or forces them to work until they injure themselves or others, or decides that their eyeball movements justify firing them, those workers have no recourse. That's the whole point of pretending that your employees are contractors: so you can violate labor law with impunity!

But that's not the ironic part. The ironic part is that "being a shitty boss" is the one AI application that companies are willing to increase their net spending on. No one buys an eyeball-monitoring AI so they can fire a manager. This is the one place where AI is there to augment, rather than replace, an employee.

This makes AI-based bossware subtly different from other forms of Taylorism, the "scientific management" fad of the early 20th century that saw management consultants choreographing the postures and movements of workers to satisfy the aesthetic fetishes of their employers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

The pseudoscientific cod-ergonomics of the 1900s was demeaning and even dangerous, but it wasn't automated, and if it increased worker output, this was incidental to the real purpose of making workers move like the machine-cogs their bosses reassured themselves they were:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

Every AI panic is a way of deflecting attention from the real, grimy, here-and-now ways that AI is destroying our lives by demanding that we entertain nonsensical science fiction claims about large, shiny existential risks that AI might present in the future.

The "X-risk" of the spicy autocomplete chatbot waking up and using its newfound sentience to turn us all into paperclips is nonsense. Adding words to the plausible sentence generator doesn't turn it into a superintelligence for the same reason that selectively breeding faster horses doesn't lead to locomotives:

https://locusmag.com/2020/07/cory-doctorow-full-employment/

But there is a way that AI could destroy the human race! The carbon footprint and water consumption associated with training and operating large-scale models are significant contributors to the climate emergency, which threatens the habitability of the only planet in the known universe capable of sustaining human life:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2023/04/14/ais-unsustainable-water-use-how-tech-giants-contribute-to-global-water-shortages/

Likewise, AI isn't going to replace you at work. But it's already augmenting your shitty boss's ability to rip you off, torment you, maim you and even kill you in order to eke out a few more basis points for the next shareholder report.

Science fiction is a fun and useful way to tell parables about our current technologies. But it's not a roadmap for the future. The fact that sf writers like me found AIs as useful measures to describe Earth's dominant artificial life form – the limited liability corporation – doesn't mean that superhuman AIs should – or can – be created.

Back the Kickstarter for the DRM-free audiobook of The Bezzle, read by Tumblr's own @wilwheaton!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #labor #ai #disciplinary technology #bossware #automation #robots stole my jerb #surveillance #privacy first

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rideboomindia · 3 months ago

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RideBoom Revolutionizes Transportation with Innovative Solutions and Unmatched Convenience

RideBoom India is expanding its innovative ridesharing services to 20 more cities across India. Providing affordable, eco-friendly transportation options to the masses.

RideBoom, the leading transportation service provider, is proud to announce its commitment to revolutionizing the transportation industry with innovative solutions and unmatched convenience for riders and drivers alike.

Unmatched Convenience

RideBoom is dedicated to providing unmatched convenience compared to other transportation services. With the RideBoom app, users can easily book a car, taxi, or delivery service right from their mobile devices. The app connects users with nearby drivers or couriers, allowing them to get to their destination or receive their deliveries quickly and efficiently.

Innovative Solutions

RideBoom is constantly innovating to provide the best possible experience for its users. The company has recently expanded its Bike Taxi Service to additional cities, offering an eco-friendly and efficient mode of transportation for short-distance travel. RideBoom is also exploring the integration of electric vehicles into its fleet, demonstrating its commitment to sustainability and the EV revolution.

Commitment to Safety and Reliability

At the core of RideBoom's mission is a dedication to providing safe and reliable transportation services. The company has implemented stringent safety measures and training protocols to ensure that its drivers and couriers deliver a secure and comfortable experience for all users.

Transforming the Ride-Hailing Industry

RideBoom's innovative approach and unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction have positioned the company as a leader in the transportation industry. By continuously introducing new features and adapting to changing market conditions, RideBoom is redefining the way people and goods move, ultimately transforming the ride-hailing landscape.

"RideBoom is committed to revolutionizing the transportation industry and providing our users with the best possible experience," said the RideBoom founder. "We are excited to continue innovating and expanding our services to meet the evolving needs of our customers."

For more information about RideBoom India and its services, please visit https://rideboom.com/india/

About RideBoom India

RideBoom India is the leading ridesharing platform in the country, providing affordable, convenient, and eco-friendly transportation solutions to commuters across India. Founded in 2020, the company has experienced rapid growth and now operates in many cities, connecting passengers with a network of verified drivers. RideBoom India is committed to revolutionizing the way people commute and contributing to a more sustainable future.

#rideboom #delhi rideboom #biketaxi #ola cabs #uber driver #rideboom taxi app #rideboom app #uber taxi #uber #ola

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blueiscoool · 10 months ago

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Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane?

A new sonar image shows an airplane-shaped object resting on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not far from where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing in 1937.

On July 2, 1937, pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near the end of her historic around-the-world flight. For decades, her mysterious disappearance has perplexed explorers, who have spent millions of dollars trying to find her missing Lockheed 10-E Electra plane.

Now, a possible new clue has emerged in the case: A sonar image captured during an expedition last fall shows an airplane-shaped object sitting on the ocean floor, not far from where experts believe Earhart likely crashed, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Nidhi Subbaraman.

The blurred object is far from definitive proof, but Dorothy Cochrane, an aeronautics curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, tells Smithsonian magazine it’s “an intriguing image” that warrants a second look.

The expedition was led by Tony Romeo, who is a former intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force, a pilot and a commercial real estate investor from South Carolina. In 2021, he sold his real estate properties and spent $11 million to fund the trip, including buying high-tech equipment to aid in the search.

“This has been a story that’s always intrigued me, and all the things in my life kind of collided at the right moment,” Romeo tells Business Insider’s Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert and Rebecca Rommen. “I was getting out of real estate and looking for a new project, so even though I really started about 18 months ago, this was something I’ve been thinking and researching for a long time.”

Last September, a team from the exploration company Deep Sea Vision, which Romeo founded, departed from Tarawa, Kiribati, in the South Pacific aboard a research vessel. Working in 36-hour shifts, the 16-person crew used an underwater autonomous vehicle equipped with sonar to scour the sea floor, scanning roughly 5,200 total square miles.

About 90 days into the trip, the team was reviewing sonar images and noticed something unusual in the data from some 60 days prior. The mysterious object looked to be about the same shape and size as an aircraft, and it was identified roughly 100 miles from Howland Island, which is within the region where experts think Earhart’s plane went down. The object is around 16,400 feet below the water’s surface.

By then, however, the crew had determined it was too late to return to the site for a closer look. The camera on the underwater vehicle was also broken, which meant they wouldn’t be able to see anything if they did circle back, reports the Post and Courier’s Tony Bartelme.

But Romeo is undeterred and hopes to revisit the area in the future.

“This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life,” he tells the Wall Street Journal. “I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt.”

In the meantime, the sonar image is not detailed enough for experts to draw any definitive conclusions.

“It definitely appears to be an aircraft of some sort,” David Jourdan, who has searched three times for Earhart’s missing plane and is the co-founder and president of the ocean exploration company Nauticos, tells the Post and Courier. “It has aircraft-like features. But sound is funny. It can mislead you. We can’t say it’s her plane until you put a camera on it.”

To truly identify the object, future missions would ideally capture detailed images that contain the registration number of the plane, says Cochrane. Or, at the very least, they might more clearly show the submerged object’s dimensions and shape to see if it matches the model of Earhart’s vehicle.

“It really requires further research,” says Cochrane. “Finding something that’s really worth investigating further is step one. Verifying it’s the actual craft is step two. And step three becomes: Is it possible to recover this or not, or should it just be left where it is?”

At the time of her disappearance, Earhart was a global celebrity—speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Romeo likens her to Taylor Swift today. In June 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (as a passenger of pilots Wilmer Stultz and Lou Gordon), a feat that propelled her to international stardom.

Nearly four years later, in May 1932, she made history again by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Later that year, she became the first woman to fly solo across North America and back. And in 1935, she became the first person, regardless of gender, to fly solo from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California.

In the summer of 1936, the renowned pilot began to plan her most ambitious trip yet: a circumnavigation of the globe. On May 20, 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed from Oakland for the first leg of the trip. They flew nearly 22,000 miles, making stops in Miami, South America, Africa and India along their eastward route.

By late June, they had made it to Lae, Papua New Guinea. After a few days’ rest, they departed for Howland Island, a small, uninhabited outcrop in the Pacific where a refueling station had been built for their journey. The U.S. Coast Guard had a vessel, the Itasca, stationed nearby to help with the landing.

Operators aboard the Itasca heard Earhart’s radio messages as she got closer and closer to the island. But eventually, they lost contact. Earhart and Noonan were never seen or heard from again.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard spent 16 days searching for the missing duo without success. About one and a half years later, on January 5, 1939, Earhart was declared dead.

Theories abound about her mysterious disappearance—some onlookers have speculated that she was a spy or that she was captured by a foreign military. But Cochrane believes the simplest explanation is the most plausible: that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel near Howland Island.

“She’s got to be around there somewhere,” she adds.

By Sarah Kuta.

#Amelia Earhart #Have Researchers Found Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane?#Fred Noonan #Howland Island #Lockheed 10-E Electra plane #mystery #history #history news #long post #long reads

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zombiecakes · 2 months ago

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Ssssecond round!

2, 3, 6, 10, 16, 18, 30, 47, 54!!!!!!

for Zirky <3

Round 2, fight!!

❤️❤️❤️❤️😘

2. Are they a canon main character? (Lone Wander, Courier Six, etc.)

I call him “sole survivor” in tags, but no. He grew up in the Commonwealth streets scrounging for food (and eventually chems as he got older) and bouncing from shitty group to shitty group.

3. What is their SPECIAL?

Strength - 1

Perception - 10 (after finding his glasses)

Endurance - 1

Charisma - 1

Intelligence- 2

Agility - 8

Luck - 8

Strengths: sneaky, can hit fukkers thru walls, and the people who manage to get a shot off in his direction usually end up killing themselves (ricochet). Lady luck adores him 😘

Weaknesses: Dumb, ugly, and can't carry shit (like he just finished putting lead lining on his armor and he has to carry a backpack or he's already encumbered before even picking anything up 😭)

Note from me: I play FO4 in a moving vehicle, so VATS is kinda my only option. It's been really interesting making an oc who just kinda sucks at everything and relies so heavily on technology LOL

6. Were they born pre-war or post-war?

Post-war

10. What language(s) do they speak?

He only knows two languages: English and Bad English

16. What is their biggest regret

He carries a lot of anger, but not a lot of regret. Regret requires that you take responsibility for the world around you, and he doesn't do that. In his opinion, he's always reacting, never in control. He has things he wishes he had the power to change, but no regrets. Well, maybe that's a regret? Not having more power? Fixing that is certainly his life's goal.

18. Do they have any disabilities, mutations, or implants / enhancements? Do they have any chronic illnesses?

Just him glasses and its VATS connection that he continues to seek upgrades for. Zirk isn't actually very good at anything on his own, so he's always looking for outside improvements, like VATS holotapes, to gain an edge.

30. What decisions have they made or actions have they done that affect their canon wasteland? (Did they blow up Megaton, have they killed/spared any major characters, etc.)

Besides being Raider boss? Let's seee….

Encouraged Covenant to keep doing its thing (he's VERY paranoid about synths and totally drank the lemonaid)

Parties with Mama Murphy

Realized he was losing raider loyalty to hunger and joined forces with Jake (sim settlements… Poor jake tho guys… 😔 Zirk is so mean to him…)

Gunner war (also sim settlements)!! 😤

I can't think of anything else rn LOL. I wish there were more ways to pursue the main plotline with just raiders but whatevs

47. Do they enjoy reading?

Not really. It's something he had to learn after he found the Pip Boy a few years ago, and it's still really difficult for him.

54. Do they prefer showers or baths?

Neither. Not unless they involve a vault-heated shower head and the company of a certain scrumptious mohawked raider 😊

#oc: zirk #fo4 #fallout 4 #fallout4 #crawl out through the fallout #sole survivor #fallout #q&a #question and answer #questionnaire

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prvtocol · 1 year ago

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@badtrigger : 030, an empty stretch of road beside a broken down car. // either of mine (santiago!), any verse (fc3!) | set the scene ✿

Futile it may be, but an attempt is made to turn the old jeep’s engine over. The hood is even popped to inspect the rusted innards after it puttered to a sad halt on the side of a desolate dirt road in the middle of the island jungle. The two did not get far on their path back to Mister Montenegro’s compound and it remains too far away to safely walk there in the dark of the night. Against her anxious nature, Brianne remains unworried, all thanks to the trust she places in her protective company.

The look she casts Santiago after he shares the knowledge that they need to walk to find shelter for the evening is weighted in understanding and all too sympathetic. Surely, when the considerate pirate planned to bring her to his secret hot spring, he intended it to go without a hitch. First, it was in neglecting to remind her to bring her swimwear, requiring her to skim down with an apology. It needed none, of course. The surprise of being brought upon that hidden oasis was worth any brief embarrassment on her part. Thinking back on it now, there was no need to be awkward by showing a little skin along with her uninspiring beige camisole and knickers set. And maybe in their time unrobed together, a hurdle was overcome in this new relationship they are both fumbling through. Their inner garments remain damp, but the jungle stays warm at night and she’s not uncomfortable.

And then this, their vehicle giving out to ensure a good night's rest will be hard to come by (despite a very relaxing soak in mineral-rich hot waters). None of that matters in her point of view. Being here, sharing time alone with him, learning more about him, and still feeling safe in his company despite the dangers of the jungle and its volatile inhabitants, is worth any inconvenience.

Admittedly, this is becoming even more of an adventure, and the courier could easily tease him for that, thinking of how it’s akin to when he took her to explore temple ruins a while back when they were just becoming friends. Intentional or not, he keeps pushing her out of her comfort zone. But somehow being sly is not the way she desires to act around him — nor does any form of sarcasm, light as it may be, translate well between languages. For him, she only wants to be open and honest. Rucksack is grabbed from her seat and swung over her shoulder and the oil lantern finds her hand again. A soft smile graces her lips as she steps towards him, matching the large man's quiet stare with her own; calm, content, its growing fondness undeniable. “All ready. I trust my partner.”

#badtrigger #( answers ) .#v ( far cry 3 ) .#dyn ( brianne & santiago ) .#(( we never continued this thread so this can stand as a one shot of this part just bc :') ))

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year ago

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Vivek Ramaswamy has described himself as an “outsider”, accusing rivals for the Republican presidential nomination of being “bought and paid for” by donors and special interests.

But the 38-year-old Ohio-based venture capitalist, whose sharp-elbowed and angry display stood out in the first Republican debate this week, has his own close ties to influential figures from both sides of the political aisle.

Prominent among such connections are Peter Thiel, the co-founder of tech giants PayPal and Palantir and a rightwing mega-donor, and Leonard Leo, the activist who has marshaled unprecedented sums in his push to stock federal courts with conservative judges.

Ramaswamy is a Yale Law School friend of JD Vance, the author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy who enjoyed success in finance before entering politics. At Yale, Vance and Ramaswamy attended what the New Yorker called an “intimate lunch seminar for select students” that was hosted by Thiel. Last year, backed by Thiel and espousing hard-right Trumpist views, Vance won a US Senate seat in Ohio.

Thiel has since said he has stepped back from political donations. But he has backed Ramaswamy’s business career, supporting what the New Yorker called “a venture helping senior citizens access Medicare” and, last year, backing Strive Asset Management, a fund launched by Ramaswamy to attack environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies among corporate investors. Vance was also a backer.

Ramaswamy’s primary vehicle to success has been Roivant, an investment company focused on the pharmaceuticals industry founded in 2014.

The Roivant advisory board includes figures from both the Republican and Democratic establishments: Kathleen Sebelius, US health secretary under Barack Obama; Tom Daschle of South Dakota, formerly Democratic leader in the US Senate; and Olympia Snowe, formerly a Republican senator from Maine.

Ramaswamy’s links to Leo – recently the recipient of a $1.6BN donation from the industrialist Barre Seid, believed to be the biggest ever such gift, but now reportedly the subject an investigation by the attorney general of Washington DC – are many.

As reported by ProPublica and Documented, Ramaswamy has spoken at retreats staged by Teneo, a group Leo chairs and which aims to connect high-powered conservatives, to “crush liberal dominance” in American life.

Other Teneo speakers have reportedly included Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor polling ahead of Ramaswamy in the Republican primary, and the former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who trails Ramaswamy and clashed with him on stage in Milwaukee.

ProPublica also linked Thiel to the genesis of the Teneo group. According to a document seen by The Guardian, Ramaswamy became a Teneo member in 2021.

Elsewhere, Ramaswamy is a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a group with ties to Leo, and a member of the Federalist Society, the Leo-driven group which works to stock the courts with conservatives.

Ramaswamy has also spoken to and received an award from the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a group of Republican state treasurers.

In June, in South Carolina, the Post and Courier newspaper reported that last year, before launching his presidential bid, Ramaswamy attempted “to leverage his [Republican] connections to gain access [for Strive] to lucrative contracts to manage pension funds … [with] total assets of $39.6BN”.

Similar pushes were mounted in Missouri and Indiana, the paper said. Curtis Loftis, the South Carolina state treasurer, told the Post and Courier there was “nothing improper” about such approaches.

Asked about Ramaswamy’s claims to be an outsider in light of his links to rightwing donors, activists and establishment figures, a campaign spokesperson told The Guardian: “Vivek has lived the American dream and has had tremendous success in business.”

“There’s a colossal difference between someone who has friendships and business relationships with wealthy individuals and politicians who change their policies and positions to please their Super Pac donors,” they added.

In the Wisconsin debate, Ramaswamy flourished in the absence of Donald Trump, the former US president who faces 91 criminal charges but nonetheless leads Republican polling by huge margins.

Amid speculation that Ramaswamy might end up Trump’s running mate, Reed Galen, a Republican operative turned co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, called Ramaswamy “a classic 2020s America tech bro bullshit artist … Trump for the 21st century”.

Ramaswamy’s claim to be an outsider, Galen said, was part of his “fundamental understanding … that MAGA [the pro-Trump Republican base] wants him to show that the rest of these people [in the primary] are politicians. He’s willing to be the showman … the outsider. Anti-establishment. ‘If anything is there, I dislike it because it’s there.’ You know, ‘I’m going to have fun with this. I’m not going to take it seriously because you’re a bunch of hacks and goons.’”

But in another sense, regarding Ramaswamy’s ties to the likes of Leo and Thiel, Galen said: “I think that he’s an insider.”

“He walks into a room with Leonard Leo and says, ‘What do you need me to do?’ … And they’re like, ‘Here’s what we want you to do. Here’s what we need you to do.’ Right?”

“Do I think [Ramaswamy] cares about [issues like restricting] abortion? No, not particularly. I don’t think he has a firmly held belief on it. But if he thinks that it will help him, and in exchange for that Leonard Leo will throw a little chicken feed of the $1.6BN that old man gave him, to help him? Sure, what the hell?”

“He didn’t ever think he’d get this far. So now he’s just gonna push it as far as he can.”

Ramaswamy, Galen said, was closely tied to a world of donors and non-profits in which Leo is “certainly at the center. And this movement only moves in one direction, and it’s toward the darkness. It’s towards authoritarianism. And it’s because it finds people like Ramaswamy. And the more that all these other candidates will now attack him, they will drive him further and further into the arms of those people.”

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dumb-hat · 2 years ago

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LFRP - Evander Winsome

Perpetually trapped between a sense of idleness and reckless, impulsive abandon, Evander never met a bad idea he didn’t want to take out to dinner. He’s done his level best to leave a dark past behind, but he can’t help it if the air feels cooler and the light a little brighter when you’re standing in the shade. It used to be that every day broke with him begging the question “Just how bored do I wanna be?” Now, he can’t seem to catch a godsdamn break. That’s okay though, theft adventure keeps the ennui at bay.

THE BASICS –––

Name: Evander Winsome

Age: 27

Nameday: 12th Sun of the 5th Umbral Moon

Race: Midlander Hyur

Gender: Male

Alignment: Chaotic Good, though he’s not always convinced on the “Good” part.

Marital Status: “It’s complicated. I mean, it’s not complicated to me, but everyone else seems to think it is."

Server: Balmung

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE –––

Hair: Chestnut Brown; looks to be in perpetual need of a trim

Eyes: Amber

Height: 5′9

Build: Evander has a swimmer’s physique: Long, lean, broad-shouldered and tapering to a narrow waist. Given his lifestyle, he might have trouble maintaining that as he gets older, but for now he’s gifted with a metabolism that lets him get away with precious little intentional maintenance.

Common Accessories: Far too many flasks; ignition keys and controls for various vehicles and small automata; his drone, Valencia; his dumb hat; a gold pendant in the shape of a swan, its neck crooked long; lockpicks; a multitool or three.

PERSONAL –––

Profession: Evander will admit to being a courier, a searcher, a seeker, a finder or something along those lines. If you need something, he can track it down and get it from one place to another. He doesn’t think of himself as much of a fighter, but he’s growing more comfortable with bodyguard work. He’s also a picklock, a safecracker and a burglar, though he’s not as quick to advertise all that.

Hobbies: He loves being around people, and he loves indulging. As far as he’s concerned, drinking and eating count as hobbies. Left to his own devices, he’s a tinker, an avid reader (particularly of romance novels, particularly the works of Quill Quivers [@worldofquillquivers] and Summer Bellmayne [@thefreelanceangel]), and often fond of especially stupid wagers, though straightforward gambling doesn't interest him as much.

Languages: He’s only fluent in Eorzean Common but he knows a smattering of Old Elezen and loves picking up bits and pieces of whatever he can along the way.

Residence: His Goblet apartment is under near-constant renovation. He’s got a room he rents from his Free Company, but it’s barely furnished aside from an astonishing array of liquor bottles, shipping crates and a huge canopy bed.

Birthplace: Limsa Lominsa

Patron Deity: He’s always personally felt a call toward Nymeia and Byregot, but feels its his duty to venerate Oschon, for some reason. He doesn’t much like to talk about it.

RELATIONSHIPS –––

Spouse: “I thought we went over this?”

Children: “Gods, I hope not.”

Parents: “Never knew ‘em.”

Siblings: “My brother raised me. I wish he was still here. You’d have liked him.”

Other Relatives: “Nope. None that I know of. That whole ‘orphan’ thing, y’know?”

Pets: “I take care of a monstrous, wonderful little sheep named Doctor One and a surprisingly intelligent smallshell named Saint Barnabus, who seems to have recently taken on another crab named Klaus as a tenant. There’s also my little drone, Valencia. A lot of people might not count her, but I do.”

TRAITS –––

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION –––

Smoking Habit: Definitely not a habit. He might take something if offered, but he won’t seek it out on his own and he’s more likely to politely decline.

Drugs: Yes. Not anything and everything, and not all the time, but yes. Doors were made to be open, and that includes the doors of perception.

Alcohol: Evander doesn’t have a drinking problem except for when he can’t get a drink.

RP HOOKS –––

Contemptible Youth: Evander grew up amongst a gang of orphans in Limsa Lominsa. Were you a fellow Limsan wharf rat? Were you a criminal? Did you just spend a lot of time in the wrong parts of town? It’s been a while, but you might recognize him.

Easy Mark: Evander often finds it easier to fly under the radar and avoid notice. To this end, he often tries to exude an air of hapless gullibility. Feel free to try and rope him into some con or scheme!

Yeah, Okay: These are Evander’s words to live by. It’s not that he can’t say no, so much as he’s learned that “yes” is usually the more interesting answer. Catch him in the right mood, and he’s likely to go along with almost any hare-brained plan.

Old Habits Die Hard: A part of him yearns to live a good, decent, upright life. The problem is that part of him gets bored very quickly. Lately, he’s found himself increasingly likely to drawn to less-than-legal endeavors to keep himself occupied.

People Person: Whether it’s meeting someone new, getting to know an old friend better, or even making a new rival, frenemy or worse, he just loves people at the end of the day. Don’t be shy. You don’t need an excuse. Just come say hi!

CONTACT INFORMATION –––

It’s not too hard to get a hold of me through tumblr. I mean, you’re already here, aren’t you? Just shoot me a message!

If you see me in game, I love walk ups, drive-bys, tells, whatever! Please, by all means feel free to say something, whether you want to interact in character or just say hi! It almost always makes my day.

I have Discord and I usually really like RPing there, though I kind of like to get to chat a little through another venue first. I sometimes, very rarely, wander through one of the big Discord servers out there, and if you find me out in the wild you can feel free to say hi there, too.

Finally, I’m based in the US (CST, GMT-6) but work most weeknight evenings and spend much of my weekends doing TTRPG stuff. My work is often flexible that I can chat or RP, or even get in game from time to time, but it's not always a given. It might sound like I'm hard to get a hold of, but I'm almost always happy to have a chat. If you catch me in game, you should definitely come say hello!

Notes –––

You can find Evander’s carrd here.

If you want to read some of the stuff I’ve written, you can check my spotty participation in the FFXIVWrite 2020 challenge right here. my even spottier 2021 here, and my surprisingly decent 2022 over here. I might have some alts here soon. You never know!

If you want to be bothered by my OOC blog, you'll find that over at @justlikethefish.

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #balmung #crystal dc #ffxiv roleplay #ffxiv lfrp #lfrp balmung #dumb hat #I'm bad at tags #i hate tagging stuff #see this is why I usually don't do it

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beardedmrbean · 1 year ago

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Black former delivery driver in Mississippi who says two white men shot into his work van and then pursued him in a high-speed chase last year has filed a new lawsuit against the men and his former employer, FedEx.

This is the second civil suit on behalf of D'Monterrio Gibson, and it seeks at least $5 million. The two men were tried for attempted murder and other charges but a judge declared a mistrial this summer.

Gibson was not wounded during the encounter on Jan. 24, 2022, in Brookhaven, about an hour’s drive south of Jackson. FedEx made him return to work on the same route, and that caused him to have “depression, stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, and emotional pain and suffering,” according to the lawsuit. It was filed by attorney Carlos Moore on Nov. 20 in state court.

FedEx spokesperson Austin Kemker said in a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press: “Our top priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees. FedEx denies the allegations and will vigorously defend the lawsuit.”

In August, a federal judge dismissed a separate $5 million lawsuit Moore filed on behalf of Gibson against FedEx, the city of Brookhaven, the police chief and the two men: Brandon Case and his father Gregory Case.

“The Cases’ alleged conduct is deplorable," U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan wrote. "But Gibson fails to state a viable claim against FedEx for which the Court would have original jurisdiction.”

Brandon Case and Gregory Case are charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by Gibson, which did not have a FedEx logo.

In August, state Circuit Judge David Strong cited police errors as he declared a mistrial in the criminal case of the father and son after days of jury selection and testimony. A detective testified about failing to give prosecutors and defense attorneys a copy of a videotaped police interview with Gibson.

Prosecutors said they intend to set a new date for the criminal trial, but court records show that has not been done. The two men remain out on bond.

Days after the mistrial, FedEx fired Gibson because he did not accept a part-time, non-courier job that the company offered him, Moore said. Gibson said he had been in therapy and on worker’s compensation leave, at about one-third of his pay, since shortly after the attack.

Gibson was making FedEx deliveries in a van with the Hertz rental car company logo on three sides. After Gibson left a package at a home on a dead-end public road, Gregory Case used a pickup truck to try to block the van and Brandon Case came outside with a gun, District Attorney Dee Bates said.

As Gibson drove the van around the pickup truck, shots were fired, with three rounds hitting the van and some of the packages inside, Bates said.

A lawyer for Gregory Case, the father, told jurors that his client saw a van outside his mother-in-law’s unoccupied home and went to check what was happening. Gregory Case wanted to ask the van driver what was going on, but the driver did not stop, attorney Terrell Stubbs said.

The sun had already gone down. “It was completely dark, completely dark, and somebody was in the wrong place,” Stubbs said. “It wasn’t my client.”

#nunyas news

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bnbc · 2 years ago

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Gush about your OC

Ohoho look who made a full circle and came back to momma xD tysm for tagging me @dreamskug

since I'm talking anyway I wanna say thank you to all of you who participated and share bits of their OCs stories, it was really cool to know them better!!! (If I missed your post don't hesistate to ping me under it)

Okay, RULES:

🛵 Post 5 Facts about your OC.

🛵 Open the latest section of #cyberpunk 2077 tag and reblog 5 posts of people you don’t follow, giving them nice tags.

🛵 Tag 5 People to spread the game.

You can guess by scooters it'll be Fae's turn :3 so let's hear something about a humble courier she is uwu

🦜 Fae is a former doll, she was forced to do this work and hated every aspect of it. This made her to get a portable deck and learn netrunning to mess with the dollhouse algorithm so as to be matched with clients less often. She's really bright brains-wise and maybe in a better life she'd become some netrunner legend, but well, that's another story

🦜 "Doe" isn't Fae's real surname, she doesn't remember either it or her clan's name (yeah, she's of nomad origin). During her years spent in the dollhouse she was addressed by first name only, but after she was bought out from there her new 'owner' made her an ID, so she had to pick a surname and didn't come up with anything better than this.

🦜 She's a really really REALLY good courier. Knows the city like the palm of her hand and can get everywhere with her little scooter. She hacked the company's tracking device put on her vehicle so she can fake being on the track while doing some extra not-very-legal deliveries, yet, even with this second shift she is always on time and the cargo is always good.

🦜 She loves coffee! Even though she's usually short on the money she always spends some to get a cup of good coffee for herself and her always-grumpy-never-sleeping ripper friend

🦜 Ah, yeah, 'the Bridge thing' and 'the Chimera situation'. It's quite a long story, I promise to publish Fae's bio this week, but for now, I say she is possessed by a rogue AI nested in her unremovable doll chip. It's just a normal thing for a common Night City courier, isn't it? xD

Tagging time! Once again, I'm gonna tag people I don't follow yet and one extra person whom I'm really happy to see back to fandom space (@shynrel-vp it's you :3) xD so, tags! and rember: no obligation, just fun! @vvystic @dustymagpie (wait why I'm not following you?? time to fix it) @eridiumallergy @wastedyouth-wasteddreams and @hitsugibune

#cyberpunk 2077 #tag game #oc: fa'a the courier #oc: fae doe

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nickgerlich · 1 year ago

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Up In The Air

A decade has passed since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rocked the universe with yet another disruption to the way we do things. He announced that Amazon Prime Air would one day deliver packages to shoppers. It was a jaw-dropping moment that evening for those watching CBS’ 60 Minutes, and quickly spread across all media.

For fans of The Jetsons, it was confirmation that all those hours spent watching a futuristic cartoon were worth it, because one more thing was coming true.

Unfortunately for Bezos, there would be many hurdles, not the least of which was the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Even with Bezos’ promise that his drones would only fly at altitudes less than 400 feet, there was still the possibility that mishaps with airlines could occur, not to mention flying into very tall buildings, power lines, wind turbines, and anything else jutting out of the earth.

Amazon completed its first drone delivery in December 2016, although that is not to say that his unmanned aerial vehicles have taken to the skies in large numbers. There are still a lot of things to work out, as well as limitations on the size and weight of parcels. Oh, and never mind rednecks who took it upon themselves to declare open season on an entirely new species of bird.

But that has not stopped Amazon as well as Walmart and courier companies like UPS and FedEx from working toward solving those matters. In fact, Walmart, in partnership with Alphabet’s Wing division, just announced it would start a new drone delivery program in north Dallas suburbs by the end of the year. Residences within a six-mile radius of two stores—60,000 of them—will be able to receive drone delivery within 30 minutes.

In fact, Walmart has been quietly amassing a solid history of drone delivery, with more than 10,000 deliveries from 36 stores in seven states. In contrast, CNBC reported last May that Amazon had only made 100 drone deliveries thus far, in spite of having forecast 10,000 for this year.

If it is beginning to look like Bezos was merely in the inspiration business, you might just be right. His wild dream has failed to take off, while his biggest competitor in the retail space is doing amazingly well with it.

Yes, there are still many concerns, such as whether the recipient needs to be present to take delivery. Porch pirates could steal anything dropped from the sky. Pets might have a little too much fun opening the box. And, of course, you would not do your weekly shopping online and hope to have it all delivered by a drone. The limit is 10 pounds.

I rather like this idea, though. I can imagine a day when residences will have a small helipad in their front yard, a target for the drone to hit. With precise GPS coordinates, hitting the target would be straightforward. Better yet, beyond all the convenience of receiving purchases about as fast as one could possibly imagine while never leaving home, drones fall into the “One Less Car” category. Your car. Their delivery truck. Whatever. These could help alleviate traffic snarls, and since drones fly on a straight line path not bound by where the roads are, this is about as good as it gets.

Well, as long as operators at home base can keep them from flying into one another. And I do have to wonder how Walmart will be able to track UPS or Amazon drones in the sky. Details, details.

Now think of the new jobs that will arise from a nationwide deployment of drones. Highly-trained operators will be needed to program and oversee deliveries. This is far more sophisticated than flying radio-control toys or using a drone to photograph for fun or to help sell real estate. This is one more net benefit.

If I could just get the local Thai place to use these. I dream of the day when I could exit the Classroom Center at the designated moment, and my lunch slowly drops from the sky into my ever-loving hands. DoorDash, you better take note. How about that? A disrupter being disrupted by more technology.

It’s just too bad the guy who envisioned it all hasn’t yet been able to actually do it.

Dr “I’ll Be Out Front” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #drones #Walmart #retail

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carbikemovers-com · 6 months ago

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Bike Transport Safety Standards: Ensuring Peace of Mind

When it comes to transporting bikes, ensuring safety standards is paramount to providing peace of mind for both the sender and the recipient. Individuals need bike transport services for practical reasons, such as relocating to a new residence or going on vacation. Bikes are popular modes of transportation for many people, offering an eco-friendly and cost-effective way to navigate urban environments or explore tourist destinations.

Visit - https://www.carbikemovers.com/blog/bike-transport-safety-standards-ensuring-peace-of-mind/122

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reasoningdaily · 1 year ago

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Mistrial declared in FedEx driver shooting Mistrial declared in case of 2 White men charged with attempted shooting of Black FedEx driver 00:21

A FedEx delivery driver who said two White men shot at and chased him in Mississippi in 2022 has now been fired from his job, he and his attorney said Monday.

"I honestly feel disrespected," the former driver, D'Monterrio Gibson, 25, told The Associated Press shortly after he received an email from FedEx about his termination.

Meredith Miller, manager of global network communications for FedEx, confirmed Monday that "Mr. Gibson is no longer employed at FedEx," but did not respond to other questions from AP.

Carlos Moore, an attorney who has represented Gibson in a civil lawsuit, provided AP with a copy of an email Gibson received from FedEx on Monday. It said Gibson's employment was terminated July 26, and the company attempted to deliver a letter and documents to him about the termination July 31.

FedEx fired Gibson because he did not accept a part-time, non-courier job that the company offered in mid-July, Moore said, adding that he did not know whether the company gave Gibson a deadline to accept.

"They can't tell me when I should be ready to come back," Gibson said.

Worker's comp, therapy, trouble sleeping

Gibson said he has been on worker's compensation leave, at about one-third of his pay, since shortly after he reported the attack to police in Brookhaven, Mississippi, on the night it allegedly happened, Jan. 24, 2022.

Gibson was not injured in the shooting or chase, but said Monday that he has been in therapy to deal with anxiety because of it. He said he still has trouble sleeping.

Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, are charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by Gibson. Prosecutors said they intend to schedule a new trial for the two men, who remain out on bond. A court official said the judge's docket is full through December.

Moore said Gibson had done nothing wrong before two White men tried to stop him, with one of the men holding a gun.

White father and son charged for allegedly chasing and shooting at Black FedEx driver

"He was simply Black while working," Moore said during a news conference in 2022. Gibson had said he was told by his superiors to run the same route the day after the chase, CBS affiliate WJTV reported.

"The following day, we had to go file a police report, and as soon as I was done filing a police report, they put me back on the same route. I did that for like a day or two until I started having real bad anxiety attacks, and I just couldn't do it anymore. I asked them for some time off, which I do have, but it's unpaid," said Gibson at the time.

In a statement earlier this year, FedEx said: "FedEx takes situations of this nature very seriously, and we are shocked by this criminal act against our team member. ... The safety of our team members is our top priority, and we remain focused on his wellbeing. We will continue to support Mr. Gibson as we cooperate with investigating authorities."

Gibson reported that the encounter happened as he was making FedEx deliveries in a van with the Hertz logo on three sides. After he dropped off a package at a home on a dead-end public road, Gregory Case, then 58, used a pickup truck to try to block the van from leaving, and his son Brandon Case, 35 at the time, came outside with a gun, District Attorney Dee Bates told jurors last week.

As Gibson drove the van around the pickup truck, shots were fired, with three rounds hitting the delivery van and some of the packages inside, Bates said.

Gregory Case saw a rental van with a Florida license plate outside his mother-in-law's unoccupied home after dark, defense attorney Terrell Stubbs told jurors. The elder Case was just going to ask the van driver what was going on, but the driver did not stop, Stubbs said.

Grand Jury: Brookhaven Police "complacent"

On August 10, a federal judge dismissed Gibson's federal lawsuit seeking $5 million from FedEx, writing that the lawsuit failed to prove the company discriminated against him because of his race. That litigation also named the city of Brookhaven, the police chief and the Cases. Moore said he plans to file a new civil suit in state court, seeking $10 million.

A grand jury issued a report last month saying that Brookhaven Police Department officers "poorly investigate their cases." The grand jury, made up of local residents, considered more than 60 criminal cases, and wrote that the department is "complacent," "does not complete investigations in a timely manner," shows a "lack of professionalism" and "has a habit of witness blaming."

#FedEx fires Black delivery driver who said he was attacked by White father and son #fed ex #white supremacy #white hate #fuck fedex #systemic fuckery #D'Monterrio Gibson #mississippi #brookhaven #white supremacists havens #mistrial #Hate Crimes #working while Black

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