#Texas State Fire Marshall

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 22, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 23, 2023

“It all began so beautifully,” Lady Bird remembered. “After a drizzle in the morning, the sun came out bright and beautiful. We were going into Dallas.” 

It was November 22, 1963, and President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy were visiting Texas. They were there, in the home state of Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, to try to heal a rift in the Democratic Party. The white supremacists who made up the base of the party’s southern wing loathed the Kennedy administration’s support for Black rights.

That base had turned on Kennedy when he and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, had backed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in fall 1962 saying that army veteran James Meredith had the right to enroll at the University of Mississippi, more commonly known as Ole Miss.   

When the Department of Justice ordered officials at Ole Miss to register Meredith, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett physically barred Meredith from entering the building and vowed to defend segregation and states’ rights. 

So the Department of Justice detailed dozens of U.S. marshals to escort Meredith to the registrar and put more than 500 law enforcement officers on the campus. White supremacists rushed to meet them there and became increasingly violent. That night, Barnett told a radio audience: “We will never surrender!” The rioters destroyed property and, under cover of the darkness, fired at reporters and the federal marshals. They killed two men and wounded many others. 

The riot ended when the president sent 20,000 troops to the campus. On October 1, Meredith became the first Black American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

The Kennedys had made it clear that the federal government would stand behind civil rights, and white supremacists joined right-wing Republicans in insisting that their stance proved that the Kennedys were communists. Using a strong federal government to regulate business meant preventing a man from making all the money he could; protecting civil rights would take tax dollars from white Americans for the benefit of Black and Brown people. A bumper sticker produced during the Mississippi crisis warned that “the Castro Brothers”—equating the Kennedys with communist revolutionaries in Cuba—had gone to Ole Miss. 

That conflation of Black rights and communism stoked such anger in the southern right wing that Kennedy felt obliged to travel to Dallas to try to mend some fences in the state Democratic Party. 

On the morning of November 22, 1963, the Dallas Morning News contained a flyer saying the president was wanted for “treason” for “betraying the Constitution” and giving “support and encouragement to the Communist inspired racial riots.” Kennedy warned his wife that they were “heading into nut country today.”

But the motorcade through Dallas started out in a party atmosphere. At the head of the procession, the president and first lady waved from their car at the streets “lined with people—lots and lots of people—the children all smiling, placards, confetti, people waving from windows,” Lady Bird remembered. “There had been such a gala air,” she said, that when she heard three shots, “I thought it must be firecrackers or some sort of celebration.”

The Secret Service agents had no such moment of confusion. The cars sped forward, “terrifically fast—faster and faster,” according to Lady Bird, until they arrived at a hospital, which made Mrs. Johnson realize what had happened. “As we ground to a halt” and Secret Service agents began to pull them out of the cars, Lady Bird wrote, “I cast one last look over my shoulder and saw in the President’s car a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms, lying on the back seat…Mrs. Kennedy lying over the President’s body.” 

As they waited for news of the president, LBJ asked Lady Bird to go find Mrs. Kennedy. Lady Bird recalled that Secret Service agents “began to lead me up one corridor, back stairs, and down another. Suddenly, I found myself face to face with Jackie in a small hall…outside the operating room. You always think of her—or someone like her—as being insulated, protected; she was quite alone. I don’t think I ever saw anyone so much alone in my life.” 

After trying to comfort Mrs. Kennedy, Lady Bird went back to the room where her own husband was. It was there that Kennedy’s special assistant told them, “The President is dead,” just before journalist Malcolm Kilduff entered and addressed LBJ as “Mr. President.” 

Officials wanted LBJ out of Dallas as quickly as possible and rushed the party to the airport. Looking out the car window, Lady Bird saw a flag already at half mast and later recalled, “[T]hat is when the enormity of what had happened first struck me.” 

In the confusion—in addition to the murder of the president, no one knew how extensive the plot against the government was—the attorney general wanted LBJ sworn into office as quickly as possible. Already on the plane to return to Washington, D.C., the party waited for Judge Sarah Hughes, a Dallas federal judge. By the time Hughes arrived, so had Mrs. Kennedy and the coffin bearing her husband’s body. “[A]nd there in the very narrow confines of the plane—with Jackie on his left with her hair falling in her face, but very composed, and me on his right, Judge Hughes, with the Bible, in front of him and a cluster of Secret Service people and Congressmen we had known for a long time around him—Lyndon took the oath of office,” Lady Bird recalled. 

As the plane traveled to Washington, D.C., Lady Bird went into the private presidential cabin to see Mrs. Kennedy, passing President Kennedy’s casket in the hallway. 

Lady Bird later recalled: “I looked at her. Mrs. Kennedy’s dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost entirely covered with it and her right glove was caked…with blood—her husband’s blood. She always wore gloves like she was used to them. I never could. Somehow that was one of the most poignant sights—exquisitely dressed and caked in blood. I asked her if I couldn’t get someone in to help her change and she said, ‘Oh, no. Perhaps later…but not right now.’”

“And then,” Lady Bird remembered, “with something—if, with a person that gentle, that dignified, you can say had an element of fierceness, she said, ‘I want them to see what they have done to Jack.’”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

The Broomstick Killer

Kenneth Allen McDuff was born at 201 Linden Street in the central Texas town of Rosebud, the fifth of six children born to John Allen "JA" and Addie McDuff.  At Rosebud High School, McDuff earned the reputation of being a bully. He was careful to pick on weaker individuals after the large but not strong McDuff lost a fight he had picked with an athletic and popular boy named Tommy Sammons.  As a result, he quit school and worked for his father's business doing manual labor. McDuff would often brag in later interviews that old ladies loved the way he mowed their lawns, making others jealous. McDuff was convicted of a series of burglaries and put in prison.

On August 6, 1966, McDuff and Green, whom he had met around a month earlier through a mutual acquaintance, spent the day pouring concrete for McDuff's father. They then drove around, as McDuff said he was looking for a girl. At 10 pm, Robert Brand (aged 17), his girlfriend Edna Louise Sullivan (aged 16), and Brand's 15-year-old cousin Mark Dunman were standing beside their parked car on a baseball field in Everman, Texas. While cruising around, McDuff noticed Sullivan and parked around 150 yards away from the soon-to-be victims. He threatened the trio with his .38 Colt revolver and ordered them to get into the trunk of their car. With Green following in McDuff's car, McDuff drove the victims' Ford along a highway and then into a field, where he ordered Sullivan out of the trunk of the Ford and instructed Green to put her into the trunk of his Dodge Coronet. At this point, according to Green's statement, McDuff said he would have to "knock 'em off"; he proceeded to fire six shots into the trunk of the Ford in spite of Dunman and Brand's pleas not to. McDuff then instructed Green to wipe the fingerprints off the Ford.

After driving to another location, McDuff and Green, the latter allegedly under duress, raped Sullivan. After she was raped repeatedly, McDuff asked Green for something with which to strangle her. Green gave him his belt. However, in the end, McDuff opted to use a 3-foot-long (0.91 m) piece of broomstick from his car. He choked Sullivan, and then Green and he dumped her body in some bushes. They purchased Coca-Cola from a Hillsboro gas station before driving to Green's house to spend the night. The following day, McDuff buried his revolver beside Green's garage, and their mutual acquaintance Richard Boyd allowed McDuff to wash his car at his house. The next day, Green confessed to Boyd's parents, who told Green's mother, who convinced him to turn himself in. McDuff was arrested by Falls County Sheriff Brady Pamplin (who served with Texas Rangers before serving in World War II with United States Army Air Corps) and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Parnell “T.P.” McNamara, Sr.

McDuff received a death sentence in Texas' electric chair; Green received a 25-year sentence and was released in 1979. McDuff's death sentence was commuted to a life sentence, and he hired a lawyer, who amassed a dossier of various evidence that claimed to show that Green was the real killer. Some members of the parole board were impressed by the dossier. During a one-on-one interview with a board member, McDuff offered him a bribe to secure a favorable decision on the parole application. He was given a two-year sentence for trying to bribe the official. It proved meaningless, as board members thought McDuff could still "contribute to society" and decided to grant him a parole. He was released in 1989.

McDuff was one of 20 former death-row inmates and 127 murderers to be paroled. After being released, he got a job at a gas station making $4 an hour while taking a class at Texas State Technical College in Waco. Within three days of his release, he is widely believed to have begun killing again. The body of 29-year-old Sarafia Parker was discovered on October 14, 1989, in Temple, a town 48 miles south of Waco along the I-35 corridor. McDuff was not charged with this crime. However, he was soon returned to prison on a parole violation for making death threats to an African American youth in Rosebud.

Addie McDuff paid $1,500, plus an additional $700 for expenses, to two Huntsville attorneys in return for their "evaluating" her son's prospect of release. On December 18, 1990, McDuff was again released from prison. On the night of October 10, 1991, he picked up a prostitute named Brenda Thompson in Waco. He tied her up, but then stopped his truck about 50 ft from a police checkpoint. When a policeman walked toward McDuff's vehicle, Thompson repeatedly kicked at the windshield of McDuff's truck, cracking it several times.

McDuff accelerated very quickly and drove at the officers. According to a statement filed by the officers later, three of them had to jump to avoid being hit. The policemen gave chase, but McDuff eluded them by turning off his lights and traveling the wrong way down one-way streets. Ultimately, he parked his truck in a wooded area near U.S. Route 84 and tortured Thompson to death. Her body was not discovered until 1998.

Five days later, on October 15, 1991, McDuff and a 17-year-old prostitute named Regenia DeAnne Moore were witnessed having an argument at a Waco motel. Shortly thereafter, the pair drove in McDuff's pickup truck to a remote area beside Texas State Highway 6, near Waco. McDuff tied her arms and legs with stockings before killing her. She had been missing from home for 7 years by the time her body was discovered on September 29, 1998. McDuff is also believed to have murdered Cynthia Renee Gonzalez, 23, who was found dead in a creek bed near County Road 313 in heavily wood terrain 1 mile west of I-35 on September 21, 1991, some six days after she was reported missing in Arlington.[4]

McDuff and an accomplice, Alva Hank Worley, murdered Colleen Reed, a Louisiana native, on December 29, 1991. McDuff and Worley drove to an Austin car wash and kidnapped Reed in plain sight of eyewitnesses before driving away. Worley admitted in an April 1992 interview with the Bell County Sheriff's Department that he had raped Reed and tortured her with cigarettes, but he stated that he did not participate in her murder.

McDuff's next victim was Valencia Joshua, a prostitute who was last seen alive knocking on McDuff's door. He strangled Joshua on February 24, 1992. Her body was discovered on March 15 at a golf course near their college. Next was Melissa Northrup, a 22-year-old store clerk at a Waco Quik-Pak (the same store that McDuff had worked in at one point), who was pregnant when she went missing from the store. The kidnapper also took $250 from the cash register. McDuff was a suspect because he had been seen in the vicinity of the Quik-Pak at the time of Northrup's disappearance. During the investigation before the body was found, a college friend of McDuff's told police officers that he had attempted to enlist his help in robbing the store. Northrup died on March 1, 1992, and a fisherman found her body on April 26.

A major problem for investigators was that McDuff's post-release victims were spread out across several Texas counties. This made a single coordinated investigation difficult. However, the police learned that McDuff was peddling drugs and had an illegal firearm, both federal offenses. Consequently, on March 6, 1992, a local state attorney issued a warrant for his arrest. In April 1992, Bell County investigators had brought in Worley for questioning on the basis that he was a known acquaintance of McDuff's. Worley admitted to his involvement in the kidnapping of Reed. He was held in a Travis County jail while the police continued their search for McDuff.

McDuff had moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was working at a refuse collection company and living under the assumed name of Richard Fowler. On May 1, 1992, a coworker of his named Gary Smithee watched the Fox television program America's Most Wanted. Smithee noticed how similar McDuff, who was featured on the program, was to his new co-worker. After discussing the matter with another co-worker, Smithee telephoned the Kansas City Police Department, which searched Fowler's name and found he had been arrested and fingerprinted for soliciting prostitutes. A comparison of the fingerprints taken from Fowler to those of McDuff showed they were the same. On May 4, 1992, a surveillance team of six officers arrested McDuff as he drove to a landfill south of Kansas City. 

On February 18, 1993, the jury, in a special punishment hearing, opted to sentence him to death. Following a number of delays while appeals were heard, the Western District Court denied habeas corpus relief and rescheduled the execution date for November 17, 1998. As he was denied authorization for another, he gave up Reed's burial location a few weeks before his execution.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries-movedd]

The Broomstick Killer

Kenneth Allen McDuff was born at 201 Linden Street in the central Texas town of Rosebud, the fifth of six children born to John Allen "JA" and Addie McDuff.  At Rosebud High School, McDuff earned the reputation of being a bully. He was careful to pick on weaker individuals after the large but not strong McDuff lost a fight he had picked with an athletic and popular boy named Tommy Sammons.  As a result, he quit school and worked for his father's business doing manual labor. McDuff would often brag in later interviews that old ladies loved the way he mowed their lawns, making others jealous. McDuff was convicted of a series of burglaries and put in prison.

On August 6, 1966, McDuff and Green, whom he had met around a month earlier through a mutual acquaintance, spent the day pouring concrete for McDuff's father. They then drove around, as McDuff said he was looking for a girl. At 10 pm, Robert Brand (aged 17), his girlfriend Edna Louise Sullivan (aged 16), and Brand's 15-year-old cousin Mark Dunman were standing beside their parked car on a baseball field in Everman, Texas. While cruising around, McDuff noticed Sullivan and parked around 150 yards away from the soon-to-be victims. He threatened the trio with his .38 Colt revolver and ordered them to get into the trunk of their car. With Green following in McDuff's car, McDuff drove the victims' Ford along a highway and then into a field, where he ordered Sullivan out of the trunk of the Ford and instructed Green to put her into the trunk of his Dodge Coronet. At this point, according to Green's statement, McDuff said he would have to "knock 'em off"; he proceeded to fire six shots into the trunk of the Ford in spite of Dunman and Brand's pleas not to. McDuff then instructed Green to wipe the fingerprints off the Ford.

After driving to another location, McDuff and Green, the latter allegedly under duress, raped Sullivan. After she was raped repeatedly, McDuff asked Green for something with which to strangle her. Green gave him his belt. However, in the end, McDuff opted to use a 3-foot-long (0.91 m) piece of broomstick from his car. He choked Sullivan, and then Green and he dumped her body in some bushes. They purchased Coca-Cola from a Hillsboro gas station before driving to Green's house to spend the night. The following day, McDuff buried his revolver beside Green's garage, and their mutual acquaintance Richard Boyd allowed McDuff to wash his car at his house. The next day, Green confessed to Boyd's parents, who told Green's mother, who convinced him to turn himself in. McDuff was arrested by Falls County Sheriff Brady Pamplin (who served with Texas Rangers before serving in World War II with United States Army Air Corps) and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Parnell “T.P.” McNamara, Sr.

McDuff received a death sentence in Texas' electric chair; Green received a 25-year sentence and was released in 1979. McDuff's death sentence was commuted to a life sentence, and he hired a lawyer, who amassed a dossier of various evidence that claimed to show that Green was the real killer. Some members of the parole board were impressed by the dossier. During a one-on-one interview with a board member, McDuff offered him a bribe to secure a favorable decision on the parole application. He was given a two-year sentence for trying to bribe the official. It proved meaningless, as board members thought McDuff could still "contribute to society" and decided to grant him a parole. He was released in 1989.

McDuff was one of 20 former death-row inmates and 127 murderers to be paroled. After being released, he got a job at a gas station making $4 an hour while taking a class at Texas State Technical College in Waco. Within three days of his release, he is widely believed to have begun killing again. The body of 29-year-old Sarafia Parker was discovered on October 14, 1989, in Temple, a town 48 miles south of Waco along the I-35 corridor. McDuff was not charged with this crime. However, he was soon returned to prison on a parole violation for making death threats to an African American youth in Rosebud.

Addie McDuff paid $1,500, plus an additional $700 for expenses, to two Huntsville attorneys in return for their "evaluating" her son's prospect of release. On December 18, 1990, McDuff was again released from prison. On the night of October 10, 1991, he picked up a prostitute named Brenda Thompson in Waco. He tied her up, but then stopped his truck about 50 ft from a police checkpoint. When a policeman walked toward McDuff's vehicle, Thompson repeatedly kicked at the windshield of McDuff's truck, cracking it several times.

McDuff accelerated very quickly and drove at the officers. According to a statement filed by the officers later, three of them had to jump to avoid being hit. The policemen gave chase, but McDuff eluded them by turning off his lights and traveling the wrong way down one-way streets. Ultimately, he parked his truck in a wooded area near U.S. Route 84 and tortured Thompson to death. Her body was not discovered until 1998.

Five days later, on October 15, 1991, McDuff and a 17-year-old prostitute named Regenia DeAnne Moore were witnessed having an argument at a Waco motel. Shortly thereafter, the pair drove in McDuff's pickup truck to a remote area beside Texas State Highway 6, near Waco. McDuff tied her arms and legs with stockings before killing her. She had been missing from home for 7 years by the time her body was discovered on September 29, 1998. McDuff is also believed to have murdered Cynthia Renee Gonzalez, 23, who was found dead in a creek bed near County Road 313 in heavily wood terrain 1 mile west of I-35 on September 21, 1991, some six days after she was reported missing in Arlington.[4]

McDuff and an accomplice, Alva Hank Worley, murdered Colleen Reed, a Louisiana native, on December 29, 1991. McDuff and Worley drove to an Austin car wash and kidnapped Reed in plain sight of eyewitnesses before driving away. Worley admitted in an April 1992 interview with the Bell County Sheriff's Department that he had raped Reed and tortured her with cigarettes, but he stated that he did not participate in her murder.

McDuff's next victim was Valencia Joshua, a prostitute who was last seen alive knocking on McDuff's door. He strangled Joshua on February 24, 1992. Her body was discovered on March 15 at a golf course near their college. Next was Melissa Northrup, a 22-year-old store clerk at a Waco Quik-Pak (the same store that McDuff had worked in at one point), who was pregnant when she went missing from the store. The kidnapper also took $250 from the cash register. McDuff was a suspect because he had been seen in the vicinity of the Quik-Pak at the time of Northrup's disappearance. During the investigation before the body was found, a college friend of McDuff's told police officers that he had attempted to enlist his help in robbing the store. Northrup died on March 1, 1992, and a fisherman found her body on April 26.

A major problem for investigators was that McDuff's post-release victims were spread out across several Texas counties. This made a single coordinated investigation difficult. However, the police learned that McDuff was peddling drugs and had an illegal firearm, both federal offenses. Consequently, on March 6, 1992, a local state attorney issued a warrant for his arrest. In April 1992, Bell County investigators had brought in Worley for questioning on the basis that he was a known acquaintance of McDuff's. Worley admitted to his involvement in the kidnapping of Reed. He was held in a Travis County jail while the police continued their search for McDuff.

McDuff had moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was working at a refuse collection company and living under the assumed name of Richard Fowler. On May 1, 1992, a coworker of his named Gary Smithee watched the Fox television program America's Most Wanted. Smithee noticed how similar McDuff, who was featured on the program, was to his new co-worker. After discussing the matter with another co-worker, Smithee telephoned the Kansas City Police Department, which searched Fowler's name and found he had been arrested and fingerprinted for soliciting prostitutes. A comparison of the fingerprints taken from Fowler to those of McDuff showed they were the same. On May 4, 1992, a surveillance team of six officers arrested McDuff as he drove to a landfill south of Kansas City. 

On February 18, 1993, the jury, in a special punishment hearing, opted to sentence him to death. Following a number of delays while appeals were heard, the Western District Court denied habeas corpus relief and rescheduled the execution date for November 17, 1998. As he was denied authorization for another, he gave up Reed's burial location a few weeks before his execution.

[beardedmrbean]

A 7-year-old boy and a teenager were killed in a fire sparked by an e-bike's lithium-ion battery in New York on Monday, marking the city's fifth fatality in connection with the batteries so far this year, officials said.

Calling the incident a "terrible tragedy," New York City Fire Department Chief John Hodgens said the blaze started in the vestibule of the first floor of a residential building in Queens.

The blaze quickly traveled upstairs, where a father and his children were staying, NBC New York reported. Four people were able to jump out of windows, but two did not survive, Hodgens said in a social media post.

"The way these fires occur, it’s like an explosion of fire. The occupants have very little chance of escaping," Hodgens said.

"We have been talking about this for a couple of years and how dangerous it is to store these devices anywhere near your exit. This bike was right at the front door of the house and the occupants didn’t have a chance to get out of the building,” he said.

The incident comes amid a rise in the number of fires caused by lithium batteries across the United States.

Monday's blaze marked the city's 59th fire and fifth fatality caused by a lithium-ion battery so far this year, Dan Flynn, the department's chief fire marshal, said.

Last month, a lithium-ion battery sparked another fast-moving fire in New York City, leveling a supermarket and neighboring laundromat.

Authorities said an electric mobility device, possibly an e-bike powered by a lithium-ion battery, was to blame for the five-alarm fire.

E-bikes are widely used in high-density cities, especially in New York where the mode of transport is popular for delivery services. The lithium-ion batteries that power them have become an increasingly common feature in transportation, as well as in household products and residential solar energy systems.

When the batteries fail or overheat, however, they can release flammable, toxic gasses that can spark fast-spreading fires that are difficult to extinguish.

“The source of the gasses that are creating the flames is confined within a cell battery that will not allow water in,” Ofodike Ezekoye, a fire scientist and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, previously told NBC News. “When firefighters are responding to these types of incidents, it takes a lot longer to be able to control the fire because it requires so much more water.”

With the number of fires caused by lithium batteries rising across the country, firefighters and other experts have warned that the training needed to fight them is lagging in many places, while many users may also not be aware of the risks.

"We want people to use them, but we want people to use them safely," Flynn said following Monday's fire.

The chief fire marshal warned that e-bike riders should purchase chargers that are compatible with the devices they purchase.

"Do not buy the cheapest device. We lost two people today; we were fortunate not to lose six," he said.

[coochiequeens]

The man who didn't even bother showing up to court is angry that the judge awarded custody to the ex wife.

Judge Andrew Wilkinson was "a pillar in our community," one mourner said.Washington County Bar AssociationCNN — 

A suspect is still on the loose after he shot and killed a state judge at his home Thursday, hours after the judge ruled against him in a child custody case, a Maryland sheriff said Friday.

“This was a targeted attack against Judge (Andrew) Wilkinson,” Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert said.

The suspect, Pedro Argote, 49, “is considered armed and dangerous,” Albert said. Argote is 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, the sheriff’s office said. He may be driving a silver 2009 Mercedes GL450 with Maryland plates.

Pedro ArgoteWashington County Sheriff's Office

Argote did not attend the divorce hearing earlier Thursday at which Wilkinson granted child custody to Argote’s partner, Albert said.

Wilkinson, a county circuit court judge, was in his own driveway – with his wife and son at home – when he was shot, Albert said. The 52-year-old was found around 8 p.m. in the northern Maryland city of Hagerstown, then taken to a medical facility where he died, the sheriff’s office said.

Wilkinson’s death spurred a wave of heightened security for judges throughout the county. “Out of precautionary reasons, last night troopers were deployed to protect judges residing in Washington County,” Maryland State Police said Friday.

The court where Wilkinson worked now has a “high-level” of security, and all judges and court personnel are getting increased security, Circuit Court Administrative Judge Brett Wilson told CNN.

The US Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Argote’s arrest, the agency said Friday.

Wilkinson’s death marks the latest in a series of threats and attacks against judges or their families. More than 1,300 threats or possible threats among federal court personnel were investigated in fiscal year 2022, according to the US Marshals Service.

Last year, a Wisconsin judge was killed in a targeted attack, officials said. In August, a Texas woman was charged with threatening to kill a judge overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case.

And in 2020, an attorney who had argued a case before US District Court Judge Esther Salas went to her home and opened fire, killing the judge’s son and seriously wounding her husband. Since then, Salas has called for greater privacy protections for judges.

The ‘catastrophic’ loss of a renowned judge

Born in Agana, Guam, Wilkinson had been an associate judge for the Washington County court since January 2020, according to his court biography.

“Drew was an exceptional lawyer and a man who loved his family,” his former law partner Jason Divelbiss said in a written statement. “His wife and kids were always his highest priority and my thoughts go out to them at this horrible time.

“Drew was also very close with his brother and the office always filled with laughter when he dropped by,” Divelbiss wrote. “One of Drew’s greatest assets was his ability to bring stability to the most difficult situations which is what made him a great attorney, mediator and eventually judge.”

Wilkinson was “an excellent judge, truly committed to his community,” said Wilson, the circuit court administrative judge. Staff members at the court will have access to support services as they grapple with Wilkinson’s death, he said.

The slain judge also had “a contagious smile,” wrote Neil Parrott, a former delegate in the Maryland House of Delegates.

“Judge Wilkinson was an exceptional judge and was a pillar in our community,” Parrott said in a statement. “The events tonight are catastrophic for Washington County, for Maryland, and for our justice system. Judge Wilkinson served faithfully and will be severely missed.”

CNN’s Michelle Watson, Amanda Jackson, Lindsay Knight and Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.

[lboogie1906]

Everette Harp (August 17, 1961) is a jazz saxophonist. His album Jazz Funk Soul, a collaboration with Chuck Loeb and Jeff Lorber, received his first nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

He was born in Houston. He is the youngest of eight children. His father was a minister and his mother played the organ. He started playing jazz in middle school at Marshall Junior High. He attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston and North Texas State University as a music major. He joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. Working as an accountant for a short time, he played in local Houston bands, most notably a jazz/funk group called The Franchise which released an album locally with the first recording of Harp’s “There’s Still Hope”.

He moved to Los Angeles and toured with Teena Marie and then Anita Baker. George Duke signed him to a contract with Capitol Records to record with his group 101 North. Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records signed him to a solo contract before the group album was released. His album was produced by Duke and released by Blue Note.

He appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival as a featured guest artist presented by Duke. He appeared every week on The Arsenio Hall Show. His appearance on Sax by the Fire led to his performing on the theme song for Entertainment Tonight. He played the theme song for Soul Train and shared the stage with President Bill Clinton at the Arkansas Ball.

He worked with Stanley Clarke, Natalie Cole, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Wayne Henderson, Al Jarreau, The Jazz Crusaders, Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, Kenny Loggins, Bobby Lyle, Peter Maffay, Marcus Miller, Chante Moore, Dianne Reeves, Eros Ramazzotti, Brenda Russell, Joe Sample, and Luther Vandross.

He continued his television and studio recording obligations and his solo recording career. He became a staple in the Los Angeles TV and recording studio scene. He appeared on several television shows, including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and with Jay Leno, The Arsenio Hall Show, and The Tavis Smiley Show. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #phibetasigma

[thevitalportal]

This is an excellent compilation of articles regarding the current state of our democracy. Subscribe if you can they break down the in and outs of your political ecosystem.

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PICK OF THE NEWS

After an act of political violence in Butler, Pennsylvania. The man killed during the attack on former President Donald Trump on Saturday was a former local fire official who tried to protect his family from the gunshots. PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was a registered Republican who worked as a nursing aide at a nursing facility. THE NEW YORK TIMES Police say there is no known motive for the attack. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former classmates say Crooks was ardently conservative. Police say the AR-15 rifle used in the attack belonged to his father. PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER President Biden used a primetime television address on Sunday to urge Americans to tone down their political rhetoric. POLITICO

More on the assassination attempt. There is no denying the rise in political violence in the U.S. POLITICO Indelible photographs from the aftermath of the attack. THE NEW YORKER It’s the biggest security crisis for the U.S. Secret Service in decades. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Kimberly Cheatle has led the Secret Service since 2022. USA TODAY The feds say local police were used to help bolster security at the event. THE WASHINGTON POST More surveillance drones and other forms of heightened security are likely at political rallies between now and November. THE BOSTON GLOBE Misinformation spread quickly in the hours after the attack. THE WASHINGTON POST

A grim warning. A federal trial judge who has presided over many Capitol riot cases used a routine sentencing hearing on Friday describing the Jan. 6 insurrection in stark terms and warning of more political violence this year. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also presides over Donald Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, D.C.. POLITICO More: A Trump ally in New York is training a cadre of 75 armed “provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs” that local residents and experts say amounts to a private right-wing militia that could be used to threaten political violence during this election season. THE NEW YORK TIMES

A sexual harassment policy that protects the harassers at the expensive of the victims. The Texas Senate revised its policies in 2018 as the #MeToo movement took hold but state legislators and their staffers continue to shirk discipline under a system that still often blames young women for being harassed. Senators aren’t required to keep written records of complaints, or even investigate them, and so they don’t. Many complaints of harassment or workplace discrimination simply disappear into a bureaucratic mist. The Texas House, meanwhile, recently ousted a member accused of sexual misconduct. TEXAS MONTHLY

TMPBankrupt. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Purdue Pharma case makes it harder for third parties to be shielded by bankruptcy laws. That might be good news for victims of police sexual abuse in the “Explorers” scouting program. The Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and agreed to pay $2.5 billion to compensate more than 82,000 victims of abuse. But police agencies were shielded by the deal. They may not be any longer. TMP’s Lakeidra Chavis continues our coverage of the story in “Closing Argument,” our weekly newsletter. THE MARSHALL PROJECT TMP Context: A trail of abuse in a police youth program. THE MARSHALL PROJECT

N/S/E/W

Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case is dropped, again, this time for good. ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL A New Mexico judge dismissed charges against the actor on Friday after defense attorneys discovered that prosecutors did not turn over all the evidence they were supposed to turn over to Baldwin’s team. LOS ANGELES TIMES

Police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have recommended felony murder charges against four people implicated in the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell earlier this month. MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Mitchell died after he was violently restrained by four security guards at a local hotel. The guards have since been fired from their jobs. THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Friday that plans to execute Marcellus Williams may proceed despite a prosecutor’s effort to overturn the murder conviction on which Williams’ death sentence is based. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell says that new DNA evidence undermines Williams’ conviction. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Officials in five cities in King County, Washington, have banded together to help first responders provide better assistance to people in crisis. The reforms include de-escalation training and steering people with substance-abuse problems to get help. SEATTLE TIMES

By a single vote, commissioners in Fulton County, Georgia, have rejected a plan to build a new county jail. Instead, they approved $300 million in renovations to the facility which is now the subject of a Justice Department investigation into poor conditions of confinement. WSB

COMMENTARY

A failure of security—and democracy. “Political violence reveals deep cultural dysfunction, and that dysfunction is what our leaders must address. No security perimeter can shield our fractured democracy.” THE ATLANTIC More: Echoes of another assassination attempt, involving Theodore Roosevelt, 112 years ago. THE NATION

The end of the special counsel as we have known it. One under-appreciated part of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision granting Donald Trump sweeping immunity will place new restrictions on Justice Department probes of sitting presidents. LAWFARE More: How Trump is trying to undo his criminal conviction in New York. LAW NEWS

Unsettled people: The case against prisoner transfers. “Like solitary confinement, routine transfers are used to isolate people—to keep them separated, physically and emotionally, from family, friends, and community.” INQUEST

The U.S. Supreme Court’s dereliction of duty in its immunity decision. “[I]t is difficult to escape the conclusion that the majority did what it did not out of concern for the presidency in general, but because it didn’t approve of the charges against Trump in particular.” LAWFARE

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor bites back against junk science. She dissented last month when her colleagues refused to hear a case involving discredited “bite-mark” evidence. THE INTERCEPT

ETC.

A victory for DeRay Mckesson. A federal trial in Louisiana last week dismissed a lawsuit against Mckesson, a Black Lives Matter protest organizer, for an act of violence committed by a demonstrator at one of the protests Mckesson organized in the wake of the police shooting of Alton Sterling in 2016. REASON

The body of a victim of the 1921 Tulsa massacre is identified. CNN The World War I veteran was slaughtered along with hundreds of other Black people during a racist attack by White Tulsans over a century ago. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Police officers are migrating, too, from large cities to smaller towns, where there is less public scrutiny. Meanwhile, Bureau of Labor estimates indicate that the median annual salaries for law enforcement officers rose 14% from 2019 to 2023. STATELINE TMP Context: It’s not just a police problem. Workers are opting out of other government jobs. THE MARSHALL PROJECT

Congress moves on prison reform. The Federal Prison Oversight Act is going to give incarcerated people a better chance of forcing crucial reforms within the Bureau of Prisons. FORBES

A violent arrest, captured on camera, leads to an investigation in New York City. NYPD officers seen on video punching a man on a street earlier this month have been placed on “modified assignment” while the episode is investigated. NBC NEWS

Andrew Cohen is an editor-at-large at the Marshall Project. He covered law and criminal justice for 21 years as a legal analyst and commentator for CBS News and 60 Minutes. He also is a former fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and a former contributing editor at The Atlantic.

Opening Statement curates timely articles on criminal justice and immigration; these links are not endorsements of specific articles or points of view.

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[thedemostop]

Who Is the Fastest Rapper of All Time:  Icons of Music

Rappers that can move quickly have evolved into a whole new genre. In the early years, rapping became increasingly popular due to artists such as The Treacherous Three. Rapid-fire lyrics in songs like "The New Rap Language" make it hard for peers to understand. Since then, fast rap has come out of the underground to rule the charts.

 Rap music is currently a well-respected and ever-evolving genre. Rap today exhibits not just technical excellence but also representation, story, and pure lyrical talent.

We shall investigate who is the fastest rapper in the world this article.

List of Fastest Rapper in the World

Eminem – 10.65 syllables per second

Full name: Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Birth date and place: October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA.

The fastest rap song is 10.65 syllables (or 7.23 words) per second in “Godzilla.”

Hit songs:

“Love the Way You Lie”

“Rap God”

“Godzilla”

As a youngster, Eminem went through adversity and suffering. His breakthrough came with the release of "The Slim Shady LP," early in 1999. For the multi-platinum album, he was honored with two Grammy Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards.

With his unexpectedly successful album "Music to Be Murdered By" in the beginning of 2020, Eminem became the first musician to achieve ten consecutive number-one albums.

Because of his sincerity and ability to rhyme, Eminem is on the Who is the fastest rapper list. These qualities have had a lasting impact on the music industry.

Crucified – 28.9 syllables per second

Full name: Richard Dickie Lee Mason

Birth date and place: June 18, 1987, in New Braunfels, Texas

The fastest rap song is 28.9 syllables per second on ‘Powered Up’ from the album’ Water to Wine.’

Hit songs:

“That Music” from the album ‘Sing to the Morning Light’

“Wicked” featuring Twisted Insane from ‘The Birth of Tragedy’

“Still we breathe” featuring Bizzy Bone, also from ‘The Birth of Tragedy.’

When Crucified was just fifteen years old, he composed his first song, which launched his musical career more than twenty years ago.

His songs usually address themes like drugs, murder, and the occult, which includes aliens. Crucified, who is not a well-known rapper, has made a name for him on the list of the fastest rappers in the world.

Outsider – 24 syllables per second

Full name: Shin Ok-cheol

Birth date and place: March 21, 1983, in Seoul, South Korea

Fastest rap song: 24 syllables per second in “Loner”

Hit songs:

“Loner (외톨이)” from the album ‘Maestro’ which held the #1 spot on both the Mnet and Melon music charts for more than five weeks.

“Speed Star” from his debut EP ‘Come Outside.’

“Hero (주인공)” and “Attitude Needed When Breaking Up (이별할 때 필요한 자세)” from his third album ‘Hero’

In 2004, Outsider—a rapper from South Korea—made his underground debut with the release of his EP "Come Outside." His second album, "Maestro," was released in 2009 and was somewhat successful.

He is renowned for combining hip-hop with a classical touch and speed rapping. He is thought to be the second fastest rapper in the world.

Tech N9ne – 15.2 syllables per second

Full name: Aaron Dontez Yates

Birth date and place: November 8, 1971, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.

Fastest rap song: 15.2 syllables per second in “Takin’ Online Orders”

Hit songs:

“Caribou Lou”

“Worldwide Choppers”

“Fragile”

Tech N9ne was a part of Black Mafia in the early 1990s before he started Strange Music. The trio, who were 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains, rose to stardom with their song "Let's Get Fucked Up".

Tech N9ne's fast-rhyming, chopper-style music earned him the nickname "TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun" from rapper Black Walt. He later clarified the underlying meaning of the phrase, stating that "tech" stands for technique and "nine" for the quantity of complements, and that the name itself is a representation of the full rhyme scheme.

NoClue – 14.1 syllables per second

Full name: Ricky Raphel Brown

Birth date and place: January 28, 1985, in Seattle, Washington, USA.

Fastest rap song: 14.1 syllables per second in “New West”

Hit songs:

“Caribou Lou”

“Worldwide Choppers”

“Fragile”

No clue began rapping when he was four years old, and by the time he was nine, he was writing his own rhymes. In the early 2000s, he co-founded the independent label Strange Music, which launched his career.

In January 2005, he became well-known for breaking the Guinness World Record with his 14.1 words per second rap. NoClue, his stage moniker, implies that everyone was "aware" of the impact he was about to create.

Busta Rhymes – 12.8 syllables per second

Full name: Trevor George Smith Jr.

Birth date and place: May 20, 1972, in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Fastest rap song: 12.8 syllables per second in the song Hello.

Hit songs:

“Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check”

“It’s a Party”

“Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”

Busta Rhymes's career took off as one of the New School's founding Leaders. After the band disbanded, he had a successful solo career. His debut album, "The Coming," was released in 1996 and resulted him a Grammy nomination.

Chuck D of Public Enemy is the one who gave Busta Rhymes his stage name. George "Buster" Rhymes, a legendary wide receiver in the CFL and NFL, served as the model for his name. He was dubbed the fastest rapper of all time for his intense and exciting live performances.

Conclusion

The fastest rapper is determined by a variety of factors, including syllables per second, consistency within a verse or song, and clarity. Over the years, a number of rappers have acknowledged or been recognized for their exceptionally quick rhymes.

[weather-usa]

A ubiquitous plant is increasing the risk of wildfire disasters

A ubiquitous, resilient, and seemingly harmless plant is fueling an increase in large, fast-moving, and destructive wildfires in the United States.

Grass, as plentiful as sunshine, acts like gasoline for wildfires under the right weather conditions: a single spark can set it ablaze.

Climate change is altering temperature and precipitation patterns, leading to larger and more frequent fires. These fires, in turn, exacerbate ecological destruction, making grass even more dominant.

“Name an environment and there’s a grass that can survive there,” said Adam Mahood, a research ecologist with the US Department of Agriculture’s research service. “Any 10-foot area that’s not paved is going to have some kind of grass on it.”

Grass fires, though typically less intense and shorter-lived than forest fires, can spread exponentially faster, outpacing firefighting resources and burning into the growing number of homes being built closer to fire-prone wildlands, fire experts told CNN.

Over the last three decades, the number of US homes destroyed by wildfire has more than doubled as fires have become larger and more severe, according to a recent study. Most of these homes were burned not by forest fires but by fires racing through grass and shrubs.

Climate and Average Weather Year Round in Oregon:

The West is particularly at risk, with more than two-thirds of the homes burned over the past 30 years located in this region. Nearly 80% of these were consumed by grass and shrub fires.

One factor contributing to increased wildfire risk is the growing number of homes being built closer to fire-prone wildlands, known as the wildland-urban interface. The amount of land burning in this sensitive area has surged since the 1990s, as has the number of houses. As of 2020, around 44 million homes were located in the interface, a 46% increase over the past 30 years, according to the same study.

Building in fire-prone areas comes with obvious risks, but it also increases the likelihood of fires igniting, since humans are responsible for starting most fires.

In the sparsely populated parts of Kansas and Colorado, more than 80,000 homes are in the wildland-urban interface, managed by US Forest Service officer Bill King. He emphasizes that living on the edge of nature requires proactive measures to prevent destruction.

Property owners “need to do their part too, because these fires – they get so big and intense and sometimes wind-driven that they could spot miles ahead even if we have a huge fuel break,” King said.

‘A Perfect Storm’ for Fire

Climate change-fueled fires are attacking the western half of the US on all fronts.

“Globally, the places that burn the most are places that have intermediate precipitation,” said John Abatzoglou, a climate professor at the University of California, Merced. “It’s a little bit like Goldilocks. Not too wet, not too dry, just right, with plenty of ignition.”

In America’s grassy heartland—the typically dry and often windy Plains—a series of compounding extremes across seasons are creating ideal fire fuel conditions in perennial grasses. Grass is more abundant here than in other regions, providing continuous fuel for fires to feed on.

The region is experiencing more megafires, such as Texas’s largest, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, and more destructive fires like Colorado’s Marshall Fire, which destroyed over 1,000 homes in 2021.

Rainy springs lead to more grass growth, which then goes dormant in the winter. Warmer winters with less snow cover, especially in the Northern Plains, expose the grass to warmer, drier spells in late winter and early spring, according to Bill King and Todd Lindley, a fire weather expert with the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.

Grass is uniquely flammable due to its sensitivity to weather, Lindley explained. Unlike forests, grass can turn to tinder after short periods of warm, dry weather. Moisture can be sapped from grass in as little as an hour, even a day after rain. Add a spark, strong winds, and invasive shrubs that burn hotter and longer, and you have a recipe for grass fire disaster.

“These compound extremes, these sequences of extremes that follow one another—if you get the right sequence, it can be game on for this sort of wildfire,” Abatzoglou said. “Basically, you’re creating a perfect storm for the fire to spread there.”

See more:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/196654057/Weather-Forecast-for-North-Dakota

Grass Invasion

Extreme drought and years of forest neglect are leading to larger and more intense fires in western forests, according to King.

"When I started 30 years ago, a big fire was 30,000 acres, and now that's become normal, typical," King remarked. "Back then, I might see one of that size per year, or every couple of years, but now we hear about 1-million-acre forest fires."

Grass is present in forest ecosystems as well, acting like a fuse that connects easier-to-ignite fine fuels to larger, drought-stressed tree systems, thereby creating and spreading more intense fires.

As trees succumb to these fires, grass quickly moves in. Grass can recover from fire much faster than other plants and can ignite again, sometimes in just a matter of months—a phenomenon King has witnessed firsthand.

"You could see green grasses sprouting in a burned landscape within a day or two; that's how rapidly it rejuvenates," King observed. "Forest recovery, on the other hand, could take years or generations, or may never fully recover in our lifetime or our generation's."

As more vegetation in the West burns, it is being replaced by both native and non-native grasses.

Weather Forecast For Louisiana:

In desert areas, this trend is causing fires where they were previously rare, as noted by USDA's Mahood. Drought-fueled fires are now growing larger in deserts due to annual grasses. Unlike perennial grasses found in the Plains, these annual grasses rely on occasional bursts of rain to propagate, then die off, leaving a carpet of fire fuel on the desert floor.

Two recent fires in California’s Mojave National Preserve serve as prime examples, according to Mahood. These fires exploited invasive red brome grass and scorched hundreds of thousands of acres of Mojave Desert, including over a million iconic Joshua Trees.

The escalating hot and dry conditions also hinder the recovery of native plants, leading to an increase in grasses.

The West’s distinctive and resilient sagebrush ecosystem, the largest of its kind in the contiguous United States, has seen half of its area lost or degraded in the past two decades. A study by the US Geological Survey revealed that an area roughly the size of Delaware falls prey to grass, fire, and other stressors each year.

See more:

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-85016

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-85017

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-85018

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-85019

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-85020

With an expanding presence of grass and a complex interplay of climate stressors, the risk of wildfires is rising both now and in the foreseeable future.

"Although the current situation may seem dire, it will likely pale in comparison to what we might face in the next decade," Mahood cautioned. "Consider how relatively mild the fire seasons were just two decades ago—now, those times seem inconsequential."

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.13 (after 1950)

1952 – Catalina affair: A Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter. 1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their Fifth Amendment rights before questioning them (colloquially known as "Mirandizing"). 1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. 1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers. 1973 – In a game versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell play together as an infield for the first time, going on to set the record of staying together for 8+1⁄2 years. 1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before. 1977 – The Uphaar Cinema Fire took place at Green Park, Delhi, resulting in the deaths of 59 people and seriously injured 103 others. 1981 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. 1982 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid. 1982 – Battles of Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge, during the Falklands War. 1983 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune. 1990 – First day of the June 1990 Mineriad in Romania. At least 240 strikers and students are arrested or killed in the chaos ensuing from the first post-Ceaușescu elections. 1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages. 1996 – The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents. 1996 – Garuda Indonesia flight 865 crashes during takeoff from Fukuoka Airport, killing three people and injuring 170. 1997 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. 1999 – BMW win 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. 2000 – President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang. 2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981. 2002 – The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. 2005 – The jury acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of his charges for allegedly sexually molesting a child in 1993. 2007 – The Al Askari Mosque is bombed for a second time. 2010 – A capsule of the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa, containing particles of the asteroid 25143 Itokawa, returns to Earth by landing in the Australian Outback. 2012 – A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, kills at least 93 people and wounds over 300 others. 2015 – A man opens fire at policemen outside the police headquarters in Dallas, Texas, while a bag containing a pipe bomb is also found. He was later shot dead by police. 2018 – Volkswagen is fined one billion euros over the emissions scandal. 2021 – A gas explosion in Zhangwan district of Shiyan city, in Hubei province of China kills at least 12 people and wounds over 138 others. 2023 – At least 100 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State, Nigeria. 2023 – Three people are killed and another three injured in an early morning stabbing and van ramming attack in Nottingham, England.

[dankusner]

Judiciary in Danger

Trump trials highlight growing threats against judges, and that’s bad for both parties

Stories about judges who were threatened, ambushed and killed or whose families were harmed used to be the kind of thing you’d read about in the international section of your local newspaper.

Now those headlines are becoming our own, to the detriment of our democracy.

The menacing rhetoric and the actual threats against judges overseeing former President Donald Trump’s multiple legal cases have drawn attention to the increasing risk of presiding over a court in this hyperpartisan environment.

While Trump hasn’t called for violence, his statements and social media posts attacking the integrity of the judges are part of a dangerous pattern of declining respect in our judiciary.

That has emboldened both political extremists and disgruntled defendants seeking revenge for cases that have nothing to do with politics.

The statistics are chilling.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported that the number of federal judges who received serious threats jumped to 457 in fiscal year 2023, up from 300 in 2022 and 224 the year prior, according to CNN.

Threats against federal prosecutors that were serious enough to warrant investigation also skyrocketed.

The state judiciary, too, is under fire.

A poll by the National Judicial College found that 70% of about 400 respondents, mostly state judges, had received harassing or menacing communications, according to Reuters.

The news agency obtained the survey results in advance of publication.

Some judges have been targeted by people involved in low-profile criminal or civil cases.

But many judges point to heightened political polarization as the source of their troubles.

Though the far right has been particularly nasty, danger can come from anywhere.

Recall the armed man arrested on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s street in 2022.

He was reportedly angry about the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

And earlier this year, a Houston woman was sentenced to prison for threatening to kill a Florida judge whom she accused of “helping” Trump.

Threats against judges have escalated to such a degree that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is sponsoring a bipartisan bill that would establish an intelligence center to monitor threats against state and local judges and court personnel.

State courts typically get less protection than the federal bench.

A public servant as powerful as a judge accepts a measure of risk, but that risk is becoming untenable.

The more desensitized we become to these attacks, the more we dilute judicial independence — the ability of our judges to make rulings free from pressure.

This principle is foundational to our rule of law and the envy of other countries around the globe.

But we are making it so that the power and prestige of the bench will be overshadowed by the vitriol and the risk of harm.

This will repel decent and capable people and leave partisan hacks or unqualified lawyers in charge of our courts.

That’s bad news for all of us.

[brookston]

Holidays 4.30

Holidays

Adopt a Shelter Pet Day (Canada)

Armed Forces Day (Georgia)

Bugs Bunny Day

Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion)

Captain American Humping Day (Aenderia)

Carnival Day (Sint Maarten)

Čarodějnice (Czech Republic; Slovakia)

Casey Jones Day

Children’s Day (Mexico)

Consumer Protection Day (Thailand)

Constitution Day (Marshall Islands)

Dare to Live Day

Day of Fire Service (Russia)

Day of the Border Guard (Ukraine)

Day of the Pianist (Brazil)

El Dia del Nino (Children's Day; Mexico)

El Día de los Libros (Day of the Book)

E-Mail Debt Forgiveness Day

Feast of Valborg (Sweden)

Flag Day (Sweden)

430 Day

Goblinization Day

Hairstylist (or Hairstyle) Appreciation Day

Healthy Kids Day (YMCA)

Honesty Day

International Care Experienced Day of Remembrance (UK)

International Day of Tatreez and Palestinian Culture

International Day of the Dandelion (Netherlands)

International Day to End Corporal Punishment

International Jazz Day (UNESCO)

International Orchard Day

International Painters Appreciation Day

It’s Gonna Be May Day

Louisiana Purchase Day

Magic Friendship Rock Day

Martyr’s Day (Pakistan)

Mic Drop Day

Mr. Potato Head Day

National Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination Awareness Day

National Anal Day

National Animal Advocacy Day

National Braid Day

National Honesty Day

National Larry Day

National Information Openness Day (Indonesia)

National Mahjong Day

National Military Brats Day

National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)

National PrepareAthon Day [also 9.30]

National Private Kinase Deficiency (PKD) Awareness Day

National Sarcoidosis Day

National Save a Turtle Day

National Tabby Day

National Therapy Animal Day

National Tie-Dye Day

National Window Film Day

Persian Gulf Day (Iran)

Pico Day

Pithing Chrat Preah Neanng Krol (Royal Ploughing Ceremony; Cambodia)

Poetry and the Creative Mind Day [also 4.19]

Rabbit Rabbit Day [Last Day of Every Month]

Remembrance Day for the Deportees (France)

Rhubarb Day (French Republic)

Rincon Day (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba)

Russian State Fire Service Day (Russia)

Snail Husband Reveal Day (Middle Ages Scotland)

Spank Out Day

Supernova Day

Tax Day (Canada)

Teachers’ Day (Paraguay)

Walburg’s Eve (Austria)

Walpurgis Night (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Sweden)

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

World Land Rover Day

World Robberfly Day

World Stationary Day

World Women’s Wellness Day

Yakima Tribe Root Festival (Native American)

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Bubble Tea Day

National Oatmeal Cookie Day

National Raisin Day

National Turkey Bacon Day

World Jianbing Day

5th & Last Tuesday in April

AMKD Awareness Day [Last Tuesday]

East Texas Giving Day [Last Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Independence & Related Days

Erlande (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Hawaii (becomes US Territory; 1900)

Louisiana Statehood Day (#18; 1812)

Reunification Day (Vietnam)

Festivals Beginning April 30, 2024

Daze Between New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana) [thru 5.1]

Mayday (Dortmund, Germany)

Feast Days

Adjutor of Vernon (Christian; Saint)

Aimo (Christian; Saint)

Amator, Peter and Louis (Christian; Saint)

Catherine of Sienna (Christian; Saint)

Celebrate Hitler’s Death Day (Pastafarian)

Donatus of Evorea (Christian; Saint)

Elvis Costello Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Erkonwald, Bishop of London (Christian; Saint)

Eutropius of Saintes (Christian; Saint)

Faeriae Latinae (Feast of the Latin League, honoring Jupiter; Ancient Rome)

Fairy Queen’s Birthday (Shamanism)

Forannan (Christian; Saint)

Francesco Primaticcio (Artology)

Gualfardus (a.k.a. Wolfhard; Christian; Saint)

Hexennacht (Satanism)

James the Great (Orthodox)

James, Marian and others (Christian; Martyrs in Numidia)

Larry Niven (Writerism)

Luigi Russolo (Artology)

Marie Guyart (Anglican Church of Canada)

Marie of the Incarnation (Ursuline; Christian; Saint)

Marian and James (Christian; Martyrs)

Masturbating Yak Day (Pastafarian)

Maximus of Rome (Christian; Saint)

May Eve  [Eve of 1st Day of Summer in Many Traditions] (a.k.a. …

Beltane, Day 1 (Celtic, Pagan) [3 of 8 Festivals of the Natural Year]

Beltane Eve (Northern Hemisphere)

Carodejnice (Czech Republic, Slovakia)

Festival of Belenus (Celtic God of Fire and the Sun)

Maitag Vorabend (Switzerland)

Mange les Morts (Festival of the Dead; Haiti)

Salus (Festival of the Dead; Portugal, Spain)

Samhain Eve (Southern Hemisphere)

Valborgsmassoafton (Valborg’s Eve; Sweden)

Vappu Day (Finland)

Walpurgis Night (Germany, Ancient Celtic, Nordic)

Miles Gerard (Christian; Saint)

Pericles (Positivist; Saint)

Pomponius of Naples (Christian; Saint)

Pius V, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Quirinus of Neuss (Christian; Saint)

Roodmas (Witches Sabbath)

Sarah Josepha Hale (Episcopal Church)

Sophia (Christian; Saint)

Suitbert the Younger (Christian; Saint)

Taliesin washed into Gwyddno’s Weir (Celtic Book of Days)

Walpurgisnacht, Day VIII (Pagan)

Warding Off Witches Day (Scatter Sand or Grass on Your Doorstop, because Witches would have to stop to count them which prevented them from entering; Czechoslovakia)

The Zookeeper (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

American Gods (TV Series; 2017)

An Adventure in Art (Disney Animated TV Special; 1958)

Back to Black, by Amy Winehouse (Album; 2007)

Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell (Memoir; 1968)

Bone Bandit (Disney Cartoon; 1948)

Bosko and Bruno (WB LT Cartoon; 1932)

The Captain’s Pup (MGM Cartoon; 1938)

Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert (Novel; 1976) [#3]

Corsair, by Clive Cussler (Novel; 2009)

D.O.A. (Film; 1949)

The Doobie Brothers, by The Doobie Brothers (Album; 1971)

Flight to the Finish (Tijuana Toads Cartoon; 1972)

Gateway, by Frederik Pohl (Novel; 1977)

Harry Brown (Film; 2010)

Inside Amy Schumer (TV Series; 2013)

Jane Fonda’s Workout Book (Book; 1983)

The Keys of the Kingdom , byA.J. Cronin (Novel; 1941)

The Last Hero, by Leslie Charteris (Novel; 1930) [Saint #3]

Laughter & Lust, by Joe Jackson (Album; 1991)

The Little Orphan (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1949)

The Makioka Sisters, by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (Novel; 1948)

McVicar (Film; 1980)

Mean Girls (Film; 2004)

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Animated Film; 2021)

Mr. Potato (Toy Ad on TV; 1952) [1st TV toy ad]

Nerilka’s Story, by Anne McCaffrey (Novel; 1986)

On With the Dance (London Musical; 1925)

Ozzie of the Mounted (Disney Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1928)

Pelléas et Mélisande, by Claude Debussy (Opera; 1902)

Pink Piper (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1976)

Pirate Ship (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1933)

Plane Dippy (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Porky’s Hare Hunt (WB LT Cartoon; 1938)

Puppy Love (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1932)

Pups on a Picnic (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1955)

Queen for a Day (Radio Series; 1945)

Ready, Set, Zoom! (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

Red Rose Speedway, by Paul McCartney & Wings (Album; 1973)

Rocket Racket (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1962)

School Birds (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

State of the Union (Film; 1948)

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (Novel; 1859)

Walking to New Orleans, recorded by Fats Domino (Song; 1960)

Why Do Birds Sing?, by Violent Femmes (Album; 1991)

The Wild and Woozy West (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Willoughby’s Magic Hat (Phantasies Cartoon; 1943)

Today’s Name Days

Pauline, Pius, Silvio (Austria)

Pio, Venancije (Croatia)

Blahoslav (Czech Republic)

Serverus, Valborg (Denmark)

Miia, Mirja, Mirjam, Mirje (Estonia)

Miia, Mira, Mirella, Mirja, Mirjami, Mirka, Mirkka, Mirva (Finland)

Robert (France)

Pauline, Pius, Silvio (Germany)

Argyro, Asimakis, Asimina, Donatos, Jacob, Malamati (Greece)

Katalin, Kitti (Hungary)

Lodovico, Mariano, Pio, Rosamunda, Sofia, Sonia (Italy)

Liāna, Liliāna, Lilija, Linda (Latvia)

Marijonas, Sofija, Venta, Virbutas (Lithuania)

Gina, Gitte (Norway)

Bartłomiej, Chwalisława, Eutropiusz, Jakub, Katarzyna, Lilla, Marian (Poland)

Iacov (Romania)

Anastázia (Slovakia)

José, Pío (Spain)

Mariana (Sweden)

Jacob, Rachel (Ukraine)

Miles, Milo, Myles, Ryder (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 121 of 2024; 245 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 18 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 22 (Jia-Zi)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 22 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 21 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 1 Magenta; Oneday [1 of 30]

Julian: 16 April 2024

Moon: 59%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Caesar (5th Month) [Pericles]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 42 of 92)

Week: 4th Week of April / 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 10 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Magenta (J Calendar) [Month 5 of 12]

[best-in-college-park]

Four-Bedroom Townhomes in San Antonio

When it comes to college student housing options, getting four-bedroom townhomes in San Antonio is the best choice for some. Getting four-bedroom townhomes can be an affordable and spacious choice for those students who are willing to live with roommates. Sharing the rent between four or more students can make this option more financially feasible, especially in sought-after areas close to campus. In addition to affordability, four-bedroom townhomes offer better amenities, especially at Villas at College Park. With four bedrooms, students can have their own private space and potentially even a dedicated study area. However, living with multiple roommates may not be ideal for everyone, so it's important to weigh the pros and cons before deciding. However, if you've made up your mind, visit the Villas at College Park. 

San Antonio, TX, Thriving Arts Scene

San Antonio boasts a thriving arts scene, with museums, theaters, and art galleries offering various cultural experiences. One of the most popular sports in the area is the San Antonio River Walk, with walkways along the river and lined shops, restaurants, and public art installations. The city enjoys a warm subtropical climate with mild winters and hot summers, perfect for year-round outdoor activities such as swimming, biking, hiking, and nature exploration. San Antonio is also close to the Texas Hill Country, which offers rolling hills, wineries, and outdoor activities for easy weekend getaways. The city is also known for its friendly and welcoming atmosphere, diverse culinary scene, and family-friendly environment.

Brackenridge Park

Brackenridge Park, located in San Antonio, Texas, is a historical landmark that covers over 343 acres of land. This park is the oldest and most prominent in the area, providing visitors with various activities and attractions suitable for people of different ages and interests. A major attraction within the park is the zoo, home to over 3,500 animals that represent over 750 species from around the globe. Moreover, visitors can explore the beautiful Japanese-style gardens, koi ponds, waterfalls, and traditional pagodas at the Japanese Tea Garden, also known as Sunken Gardens. The park also offers walking, jogging, biking trails, a lake, paddleboat rentals, and a historic outdoor amphitheater. 

Operators Oppose Proposed Ban on Horse-Drawn Carriages 

Neighbors in northwest San Antonio are concerned about a partially collapsed retaining wall near Cedar Creek Golf Course. The Bexar County Fire Marshall is monitoring the area for safety. The neighbor, who lives across the canyon from the collapse, said that everyone in the area knew something was amiss and that the collapse appeared to have happened all at once. The hole in the southern wall is nothing compared to collapse damage affecting the entry ramp of the complex. The neighbor believes the hole in the ground is due to the porous limestone, which is not adequately drained. The hole in the southern wall is not the first failure in the northwest-side area, and the residents wonder what steps are being taken to address the danger before it worsens.

Link to maps

Brackenridge Park 3700 N St Mary's St, San Antonio, TX 78209, United States Get on US-281 N from Broadway and E Hildebrand Ave 5 min (1.6 mi) Continue on US-281 N. Take I-410 W and I-10 W/US-87 N to Frontage Rd. Take exit 557 from I-10 W/US-87 N 13 min (13.5 mi) Take UTSA Boulevard to Casina Run 7 min (3.4 mi) Villas at College Park 7507 Casina Run, San Antonio, TX 78249, United States

[companyknowledgenews]

Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News - Notice Important Web https://www.merchant-business.com/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trump-technology-news/?feed_id=148924&_unique_id=66a8eae2b5ea8 #GLOBAL - BLOGGER BLOGGER Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant is suppressing information about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in order to influence the presidential election.Trump, who is running for a second term in the White House on the Republican Party ticket, narrowly escaped being killed when a lone gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.The attack, which killed one rally attendee, injured two others, and bloodied the former president’s ear, has spawned a number of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories.The latest revolves around Google Search’s autocomplete feature, which is designed to help users save time by predicting their search query based on the opening letters or words that are inputted.Why is Google’s autocomplete function under fire?Over the weekend, some internet users noticed that writing about assassination attempts in the Google search bar did not automatically prompt search queries about the shooting of Trump.Users were instead prompted to search for information about attempted assassinations of other famous figures, including former US Presidents Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.Al Jazeera recreated similar results on Tuesday.The apparent anomaly with autocomplete does not affect the search results available to users seeking out information about the attack.Entering keywords related to Trump’s attempted assassination into Google still produces news articles, YouTube links, and a Wikipedia page, among other results, as would be expected.What are conservatives saying about the issue?Conservatives and Republicans have seized on autocomplete’s treatment of the attack as evidence of Google trying to suppress information that could affect the outcome of the US presidential election in November.Screenshots and videos of autocomplete’s results were shared by a number of high-profile X accounts on Sunday, including Libs of TikTok, which is known for its mocking criticism of liberals and Democrats, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.“Google needs to be hauled in front of Congress to answer for this. Orwellian,” Libs of TikTok said to its 3.3 million followers in a post accompanied by a video of the autocomplete results.“They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump,” Cruz said in a post accusing Google of engaging in “active election interference”.This…is…insane.⁦@Google⁩ is engaged in active election interference.They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump. pic.twitter.com/g2h8DzkDON— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 28, 2024Kansas Senator Roger Marshall also accused Google of suppressing information and said he would be making an “official inquiry” with the tech company.Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and Tesla, amplified the narrative with a number of posts claiming that Google was suppressing information about Trump.Libs of TikTok made similar claims about OpenAI’s ChatGPT, posting a screenshot of the chatbot saying there was “no verified information or evidence that Donald Trump was ‘almost assassinated” during his presidency or afterwards”.As pointed out by other X users in a community note, however, ChatGPT’s most recent training data only extends to October 2023.US tech companies like Google have regularly faced accusations that they discriminate against conservative and Republican viewpoints.Florida and Texas, both of which are governed by Republicans, have passed laws aiming to restrict Big Tech’s power to censor conservative views.In 2018, then-President Trump accused Google of burying content from Infowars, a fringe website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

In 2020, Cruz accused Google of trying to demonetise conservative news outlet The Federalist over its content.While Google later clarified it only issued the website a warning, the company did demonetise the smaller fringe site Zero Hedge for racist content around the same time.What is Google’s response to the controversy?Google did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told the New York Post that while “no manual action was taken on these predictions”, its autocomplete function includes protections against predictions “associated with political violence”.“Of course, Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time, and they can still search for anything they want to. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information – we connected them with helpful results and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.Some commentators have noted that autocomplete’s limitations are not confined to content about Trump.Matthew Yglesias, a liberal commentator who formerly worked for Vox, sarcastically suggested that Google had “banned” Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in an X post accompanied by a screenshot showing autocomplete’s failure to prompt queries about the de facto Democratic nominee.I feel like right-wing accounts are always doing numbers on various autocomplete conspiracy theories — how come Google has search banned Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign? pic.twitter.com/z1LNYIOrRm— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 29, 2024Google on Monday told NBC News that autocomplete was “not working as intended for some searches about the names of several past presidents and the current vice president”.“We’re looking into these anomalies and working on improvements, which we hope to roll out soon. Our autocomplete systems are dynamic, so predictions will change based on common and trending queries,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News #conservatives #claiming #Google #covering #shooting #Trump #Technology #NewsSource Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/7/30/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trumpWhy are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News:Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant i… http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Why-are-conservatives-claiming-Google-is-covering-up-the-shooting.jpg Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant is suppressing information about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in order to influence the presidential election. Trump, who is running for a second term in the White House on the Republican Party ticket, narrowly escaped being killed … Read More

[bravecompanynews]

Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News - Notice Important Web - #GLOBAL https://www.merchant-business.com/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trump-technology-news/?feed_id=148922&_unique_id=66a8eadfac277 Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant is suppressing information about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in order to influence the presidential election.Trump, who is running for a second term in the White House on the Republican Party ticket, narrowly escaped being killed when a lone gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.The attack, which killed one rally attendee, injured two others, and bloodied the former president’s ear, has spawned a number of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories.The latest revolves around Google Search’s autocomplete feature, which is designed to help users save time by predicting their search query based on the opening letters or words that are inputted.Why is Google’s autocomplete function under fire?Over the weekend, some internet users noticed that writing about assassination attempts in the Google search bar did not automatically prompt search queries about the shooting of Trump.Users were instead prompted to search for information about attempted assassinations of other famous figures, including former US Presidents Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.Al Jazeera recreated similar results on Tuesday.The apparent anomaly with autocomplete does not affect the search results available to users seeking out information about the attack.Entering keywords related to Trump’s attempted assassination into Google still produces news articles, YouTube links, and a Wikipedia page, among other results, as would be expected.What are conservatives saying about the issue?Conservatives and Republicans have seized on autocomplete’s treatment of the attack as evidence of Google trying to suppress information that could affect the outcome of the US presidential election in November.Screenshots and videos of autocomplete’s results were shared by a number of high-profile X accounts on Sunday, including Libs of TikTok, which is known for its mocking criticism of liberals and Democrats, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.“Google needs to be hauled in front of Congress to answer for this. Orwellian,” Libs of TikTok said to its 3.3 million followers in a post accompanied by a video of the autocomplete results.“They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump,” Cruz said in a post accusing Google of engaging in “active election interference”.This…is…insane.⁦@Google⁩ is engaged in active election interference.They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump. pic.twitter.com/g2h8DzkDON— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 28, 2024Kansas Senator Roger Marshall also accused Google of suppressing information and said he would be making an “official inquiry” with the tech company.Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and Tesla, amplified the narrative with a number of posts claiming that Google was suppressing information about Trump.Libs of TikTok made similar claims about OpenAI’s ChatGPT, posting a screenshot of the chatbot saying there was “no verified information or evidence that Donald Trump was ‘almost assassinated” during his presidency or afterwards”.As pointed out by other X users in a community note, however, ChatGPT’s most recent training data only extends to October 2023.US tech companies like Google have regularly faced accusations that they discriminate against conservative and Republican viewpoints.Florida and Texas, both of which are governed by Republicans, have passed laws aiming to restrict Big Tech’s power to censor conservative views.In 2018, then-President Trump accused Google of burying content from Infowars, a fringe website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

In 2020, Cruz accused Google of trying to demonetise conservative news outlet The Federalist over its content.While Google later clarified it only issued the website a warning, the company did demonetise the smaller fringe site Zero Hedge for racist content around the same time.What is Google’s response to the controversy?Google did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told the New York Post that while “no manual action was taken on these predictions”, its autocomplete function includes protections against predictions “associated with political violence”.“Of course, Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time, and they can still search for anything they want to. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information – we connected them with helpful results and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.Some commentators have noted that autocomplete’s limitations are not confined to content about Trump.Matthew Yglesias, a liberal commentator who formerly worked for Vox, sarcastically suggested that Google had “banned” Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in an X post accompanied by a screenshot showing autocomplete’s failure to prompt queries about the de facto Democratic nominee.I feel like right-wing accounts are always doing numbers on various autocomplete conspiracy theories — how come Google has search banned Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign? pic.twitter.com/z1LNYIOrRm— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 29, 2024Google on Monday told NBC News that autocomplete was “not working as intended for some searches about the names of several past presidents and the current vice president”.“We’re looking into these anomalies and working on improvements, which we hope to roll out soon. Our autocomplete systems are dynamic, so predictions will change based on common and trending queries,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News #conservatives #claiming #Google #covering #shooting #Trump #Technology #NewsSource Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/7/30/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trumpWhy are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News:Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant i… http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Why-are-conservatives-claiming-Google-is-covering-up-the-shooting.jpg BLOGGER - #GLOBAL

[boldcompanynews]

Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News - Notice Important Web - BLOGGER https://www.merchant-business.com/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trump-technology-news/?feed_id=148920&_unique_id=66a8eadda1f44 Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant is suppressing information about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in order to influence the presidential election.Trump, who is running for a second term in the White House on the Republican Party ticket, narrowly escaped being killed when a lone gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.The attack, which killed one rally attendee, injured two others, and bloodied the former president’s ear, has spawned a number of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories.The latest revolves around Google Search’s autocomplete feature, which is designed to help users save time by predicting their search query based on the opening letters or words that are inputted.Why is Google’s autocomplete function under fire?Over the weekend, some internet users noticed that writing about assassination attempts in the Google search bar did not automatically prompt search queries about the shooting of Trump.Users were instead prompted to search for information about attempted assassinations of other famous figures, including former US Presidents Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.Al Jazeera recreated similar results on Tuesday.The apparent anomaly with autocomplete does not affect the search results available to users seeking out information about the attack.Entering keywords related to Trump’s attempted assassination into Google still produces news articles, YouTube links, and a Wikipedia page, among other results, as would be expected.What are conservatives saying about the issue?Conservatives and Republicans have seized on autocomplete’s treatment of the attack as evidence of Google trying to suppress information that could affect the outcome of the US presidential election in November.Screenshots and videos of autocomplete’s results were shared by a number of high-profile X accounts on Sunday, including Libs of TikTok, which is known for its mocking criticism of liberals and Democrats, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.“Google needs to be hauled in front of Congress to answer for this. Orwellian,” Libs of TikTok said to its 3.3 million followers in a post accompanied by a video of the autocomplete results.“They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump,” Cruz said in a post accusing Google of engaging in “active election interference”.This…is…insane.⁦@Google⁩ is engaged in active election interference.They are gas-lighting the American people & trying to erase the attempted assassination of Trump. pic.twitter.com/g2h8DzkDON— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 28, 2024Kansas Senator Roger Marshall also accused Google of suppressing information and said he would be making an “official inquiry” with the tech company.Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and Tesla, amplified the narrative with a number of posts claiming that Google was suppressing information about Trump.Libs of TikTok made similar claims about OpenAI’s ChatGPT, posting a screenshot of the chatbot saying there was “no verified information or evidence that Donald Trump was ‘almost assassinated” during his presidency or afterwards”.As pointed out by other X users in a community note, however, ChatGPT’s most recent training data only extends to October 2023.US tech companies like Google have regularly faced accusations that they discriminate against conservative and Republican viewpoints.Florida and Texas, both of which are governed by Republicans, have passed laws aiming to restrict Big Tech’s power to censor conservative views.In 2018, then-President Trump accused Google of burying content from Infowars, a fringe website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

In 2020, Cruz accused Google of trying to demonetise conservative news outlet The Federalist over its content.While Google later clarified it only issued the website a warning, the company did demonetise the smaller fringe site Zero Hedge for racist content around the same time.What is Google’s response to the controversy?Google did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, but a spokesperson told the New York Post that while “no manual action was taken on these predictions”, its autocomplete function includes protections against predictions “associated with political violence”.“Of course, Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time, and they can still search for anything they want to. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information – we connected them with helpful results and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.Some commentators have noted that autocomplete’s limitations are not confined to content about Trump.Matthew Yglesias, a liberal commentator who formerly worked for Vox, sarcastically suggested that Google had “banned” Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign in an X post accompanied by a screenshot showing autocomplete’s failure to prompt queries about the de facto Democratic nominee.I feel like right-wing accounts are always doing numbers on various autocomplete conspiracy theories — how come Google has search banned Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign? pic.twitter.com/z1LNYIOrRm— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 29, 2024Google on Monday told NBC News that autocomplete was “not working as intended for some searches about the names of several past presidents and the current vice president”.“We’re looking into these anomalies and working on improvements, which we hope to roll out soon. Our autocomplete systems are dynamic, so predictions will change based on common and trending queries,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.Why are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News #conservatives #claiming #Google #covering #shooting #Trump #Technology #NewsSource Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/7/30/why-are-conservatives-claiming-google-is-covering-up-the-shooting-of-trumpWhy are conservatives claiming Google is covering up the shooting of Trump? | Technology News:Google has come under fire from conservatives in the United States amid claims that the tech giant i… http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Why-are-conservatives-claiming-Google-is-covering-up-the-shooting.jpg #GLOBAL - BLOGGER Google has come under fire from con... BLOGGER - #GLOBAL