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South Carolina looks to steady ship against South Carolina UpstateNoneAuthored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times, President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block a law that could ban TikTok within the United States, stating that he would like to pursue negotiations to resolve some of the issues involved and salvage the platform. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments over the law on Jan. 10, just nine days before the deadline for TikTok’s parent company to either divest from the platform in the United States or face an effective ban. That Jan. 19 deadline is also just one day before Trump is expected to be inaugurated for his second term as president. “President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” his Dec. 27 amicus brief read. Trump’s brief underscored the importance of the timing and urged the court to give him more of an opportunity to handle the issue as chief executive. “This timing binds the hands of the incoming Administration on a significant issue of national security and foreign policy, and thus it raises significant questions under Article II,” the brief read. Article II refers to the section of the constitution vesting executive authority with the president. Trump’s brief said the law raised questions about legislative encroachment on executive authority. “The Executive, not Congress, is primarily charged with responsibility for the United States’ national security, its foreign policy, and its strategic relationship with its geopolitical rivals,” his brief read. The law in question was passed with bipartisan support and signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year. TikTok challenged the law in federal court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that it satisfied a high level of scrutiny under the First Amendment. Although the Supreme Court has decided to take up the First Amendment issue, Trump said he took no position on the merits of the underlying dispute. He did, however, raise concern about the impact of the law on TikTok’s 170 million users and indicated that upholding it could create a “slippery slope toward global government censorship of social-media speech.” Trump’s brief took issue with how the law directed the president to work through an interagency process “instead of exercising his sole discretion over the deliberative processes of the Executive Branch.” In asking the Supreme Court to halt the law, TikTok similarly cited Trump’s incoming administration and the potential for his intervention. On the day of TikTok’s application to the Supreme Court on Dec. 16, Trump gave a press conference in which he expressed sympathy for the platform. “We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said, noting that he had a “warm spot” in his heart for the platform. He added that TikTok had an effect on the support he received from young people in the election. TikTok had asked the D.C. Circuit to halt the law but was rejected. “The petitioners have not identified any case in which a court, after rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Act of Congress, has enjoined the Act from going into effect while review is sought in the Supreme Court,” a December 13 order from the court reads. Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom TikTok sued in the D.C. Circuit and is the respondent at the Supreme Court, defended the law. In a Dec. 27 filing, the Department of Justice said the law “addresses the serious threats to national security posed by the Chinese government’s control of TikTok, a platform that harvests sensitive data about tens of millions of Americans and would be a potent tool for covert influence operations by a foreign adversary.” The case drew many amicus briefs from organizations, including the Cato Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union. Both of those supported TikTok. A group of former national security officials backed the D.C. Circuit’s decision.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Azmar Abdullah's 21 points off of the bench led Boston University to a 69-62 victory against Howard on Sunday. Abdullah went 7 of 9 from the field (5 for 7 from 3-point range) for the Terriers (3-4). Kyrone Alexander added 10 points while going 2 of 9 from the floor, including 2 for 5 from 3-point range, and 4 for 4 from the line while they also had seven rebounds. Ben Palacios went 3 of 5 from the field (3 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with nine points. Marcus Dockery finished with 17 points and two steals for the Bison (3-3). Blake Harper added 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Howard. Anwar Gill had 10 points and two steals. An 11-0 run in the first half gave Boston University a five-point lead. The teams entered the break with Boston University ahead 26-21, while Michael McNair led their club in scoring with eight points. Abdullah's 18-point second half helped Boston University close out the seven-point victory. NEXT UP Boston University takes on Sacred Heart at home on Sunday, and Howard visits UMBC on Monday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83Western Union Announces New $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program and $0.235 Quarterly Dividend
Money market funds saw the largest net outflow since June last week (-$22.2BN) as stocks soared after Trump's election win... Source: Bloomberg On the bank deposit side of the cash conundrum, total deposits fell for the second week in a row (though a very small $3.5BN SA)... Source: Bloomberg However, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, total deposits surged almost $60BN... Source: Bloomberg The banks continue to unwind their Fed Bank Bailout positions , with that facility down to just $21BN now... Source: Bloomberg Excluding foreign deposits, the picture for US banks was just as mixed with deposits up $46.8BN NSA and down $5.7BN SA... Source: Bloomberg On the other side of the ledger, loan volumes shot up last week (after a big decline the prior week). The post-Trump elation prompted loans to rise at the fastest pace since March 2023... Source: Bloomberg Finally, bank reserves at The Fed are on the rise again... Source: Bloomberg But to fill that gap with stocks will take a tsunami...
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the unraveling and undisciplined New York Jets on Sunday. The Bills put the game away by capitalizing on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defense forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Seniors struggle to make close friendships in new communityPolice in South Wales and Gwent will become the first police units in the UK to use mobile apps with facial recognition that can scan a person’s face in “near real-time.” The app, known as operator-initiated facial recognition (OIFR), allows law enforcement to take a photograph of a person’s face with a mobile phone and match it to a predetermined database. The technology, however, has quickly come under scrutiny from rights groups that warn that police searches could be conducted against thousands of photos of innocent people. Police say that the OIFR will enable quick identification of suspects and missing persons. The facial recognition feature can also be used when a person is found unconscious or dead, refuses to identify themselves or provides a fake name. “This mobile phone app means that with the taking of a single photograph which is compared to the police database, officers can easily and quickly answer the question of ‘Are you really the person we are looking for?” says Trudi Meyrick, assistant chief constable to the South Wales Police. The app has already been tested by 70 officers across South Wales, securing quick arrests and detentions. However, digital rights group Big Brother Watch says that mobile facial recognition could create a “dangerous imbalance” between the public’s rights and the police’s powers. For years, regulators and rights groups have been that the police are storing images of innocent people in its national database which may be used for facial recognition checks. This is despite a ruling that keeping custody images of people who faced no charge or were charged and then acquitted is unlawful. “South Wales Police will search against thousands of unlawfully held photos every time they do a face scan, and they should be fixing this ongoing industrial-scale privacy breach rather than exploiting these photos for yet more surveillance,” says Jake Hurfurt, head of Research and Investigations at Big Brother Watch. According to the organization, South Wales Police has disproportionately targeted ethnic minorities for face scans, which may further undermine trust in the police. The police note that in private places such as houses, schools, medical facilities and places of worship the app will only be used in situations carrying a risk of significant harm. Photos taken through the app will not be retained. “The use of this technology always involves human decision-making and oversight,” says Gwent Police Assistant Chief Constable Nick McLain. While the UK government has been equipping police with more facial recognition surveillance tools, privacy and data watchdogs have been warning of lacking oversight. Rishi Sunak’s government had planned to eliminate the post of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, transferring of the responsibilities for biometrics regulation to the Information Commissioner’s Office. However, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI) that was supposed to enable this change was in May due to the UK elections. Since then, England and Wales have had limited oversight, according to the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Brian Plastow. The Home Office has been “gapping” the position since Tony Eastaugh left in mid-August, Plastow tells in an email. Eastaugh after leaving the dual-commissioner post. “At a time when the new UK Government is advocating greater use of surveillance technologies such as Live Facial Recognition, the Commissioner is now calling on the UK Government to end its paradigm of indecisiveness by appointing a Commissioner for England and Wales to restore the independent oversight,” Plastow’s office in response to the England and Wales Commissioners’ Annual Report. New forms of biometric technology are far from the only concern, however, as Plastow notes that “National Security Determinations (including in Scotland) are stacking up with no independent oversight being exercised.” | | | | | | | |
The Winnipeg Police Service has deployed its controversial robot dog — purchased in 2021 to respond to dangerous incidents involving barricaded and armed suspects — for its intended purpose just once, the has learned. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * The Winnipeg Police Service has deployed its controversial robot dog — purchased in 2021 to respond to dangerous incidents involving barricaded and armed suspects — for its intended purpose just once, the has learned. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? The Winnipeg Police Service has deployed its controversial robot dog — purchased in 2021 to respond to dangerous incidents involving barricaded and armed suspects — for its intended purpose just once, the has learned. The service spent $257,000 to buy the four-legged robot, outfit it with an arm and cameras and cover taxes, shipping and training, police said at the time. The money came from the province’s civil forfeiture fund, which seizes cash and other assets obtained through alleged criminal activity via the civil courts. It was shipped in February 2022 and ready for service a short time later. The one time the police drone and tactical units deployed the robot was in September 2023, according to records obtained by the Free Press under freedom-of-information legislation. Prof. Frank Cormier, who teaches criminology and sociology at the University of Manitoba, said the lack of deployment suggests the device was not worth the cost. “More than a quarter of a million dollars is a significant amount of money for anything,” he said. “The fact that it came out of the forfeiture fund, it might be seen as being extra money... however, like anything else, that’s a quarter-million dollars that was not spent on something else, that was not available for something that is perhaps tried and true and that we know will have good results.” BOSTON DYNAMICS The Winnipeg Police Service bought 'Spot' the robotic dog from Boston Dynamics in 2021. The robotic dog is meant to navigate obstacles and uneven terrain — stepping over clothing on the floor of a home, for example — unlike robots with wheels or tracks that Winnipeg police and other law enforcement have long used. It has the ability to walk up and down stairs, open doorknobs, facilitate a conversation remotely and carry items on a harness. WPS Supt. Brian Miln, who oversees operational support, defended the purchase, saying it was “absolutely” money well spent. “At the end of the day, and this is no secret, this tool, this tactic, like many of our tactics, it substitutes having to place one of our officers into a volatile, very dangerous situation where we have armed individuals looking to cause harm,” Miln said. “If we have a reasonable tactic, tool, ability to replace a human life with something like this — absolutely, that’s a no-brainer for me.” Boston Dynamics, which manufactures the robots, calls the 32-kilogram device “Spot.” It has also been called creepy and dystopian and has raised controversy among law enforcement critics who argued it was an example of increasing surveillance of civilians — and militarism in police departments. “It just doesn’t look good; they’re trying to be more police services than police forces and when you send a mechanized dog, which I think most people find pretty creepy-looking, it’s not really sending that nice message that we’re here to protect and serve,” Cormier said. “But I’ve also heard stories that they fall down stairs, they don’t work as well as advertised.” Miln said the fact it has been deployed just the one time should be viewed as a positive. “I’m not going to get into the tactics and places where Spot would be used and deployed by our tac team, but it’s going to be in situations that present high risk and high danger to our officers, and it’s going to be deployed where there is a very specific set of circumstances that are present,” he said. “I would call it good news, because those specific circumstances simply don’t present themselves that often. It is a mistake to say, though, that the conclusion that can be drawn from that is it isn’t required.” JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES WPS Supt. Brian Miln said the fact it has been deployed just the one time should be viewed as a positive. The robot has been out and about five other times, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act records show: a 2022 incident command training day at the Royal Canadian Air Force base 17 Wing, and four community-relations events, three of which were conducted internally for families of police employees. Miln said operators of the robot train with it multiple times each month, which isn’t reflected in the records. The community relations events were a family day for West District station employees in October 2022, a take-your-kid-to-work event in November 2022 at WPS headquarters, a demonstration for parents and kids who are home-schooled in December 2023 and a family day at the East District station in May this year, records show. The robot was also on display at the Winnipeg Police Service half marathon earlier this year, according to YouTube video footage. Cormier was surprised by the findings. “Either there aren’t any more of these (armed-and-barricaded) situations, which I don’t believe to be the case — we know that there have been those kinds of situations — or they discovered that the dog just isn’t useful, it’s not the right tool for the situation. Maybe it takes too long to deploy it from wherever they keep it.” Miln said there are typically about 100 such incidents in Winnipeg a year, but the service has determined it will use the robot only in very narrow sets of circumstances. He said he could not elaborate further. “I would love to be able to answer the question in detail because if I did, it would be incredibly apparent as to why it has only been deployed in one situation, but I would be disclosing our tactics if I did that, and I can’t do that,” he said. He compared the robot’s purchase to the fire department’s ladder trucks which, while critical, are used infrequently. “It’s tools that we have to provide to our officers,” he said. “We don’t have an option with this; when we know that there is a reasonable solution, a response to something which greatly enhances officer safety and there is a reasonable tool that can bridge that gap, we have to provide these tools to our members.” Cormier, however, is unconvinced. “It’s one of those that sounds questionable, but you go, ‘Maybe, if they can get it to go in somewhere and it gets shot at instead of a cop,’ but what does it do? The ‘dog’ can’t go in and apprehend a suspect,” he said. “And if you’re looking to negotiate with a suspect, or a barricaded person or an upset person, a robotic dog is probably not the way to go. It’s not going to calm somebody down, I don’t think.” There has been backlash over police use of the four-legged robot in the United States, where it has been put to use by a many American law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, the Los Angeles Police Department, Massachusetts State Police and the Houston Police Department. BOSTON DYNAMICS / YOUTUBE The robot has been out at a 2022 incident command training day at the Royal Canadian Air Force base 17 Wing, and at four community-relations events, three of which were conducted internally for families of police employees. The New York Police Department, after an outcry from law enforcement critics and some politicians amid the height of the police reform and defunding movement that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, cancelled its contract for the device in April 2021. “It’s creepy, alienating and sends the wrong message to New Yorkers,” a spokesperson for then-mayor Bill de Blasio told ABC News at the time. Current Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, brought the robots back in 2023, saying the technology was here “and we cannot be afraid of it.” But Cormier said it’s hard to ignore the robot dog’s chillingly futuristic vibe. “They have that feel about them that feels like robots being turned loose on the population,” he said. “There’s that whole dystopian — whether deserved or not — dystopian perception of mechanized devices being used by authorities to control populations.” Miln stressed the service would never let the robot dog “loose” on the public; it will be used only in situations where officers are being put in harm’s way. The WPS has been criticized — including as recently as last month — for making big-ticket purchases of expensive technology and surveillance equipment with money provided from the forfeiture fund, which is meant to support both law enforcement agencies and services for victims of crime. In November, police announced plans to buy a second armoured vehicle with forfeiture cash. It’s not clear whether any other Canadian law enforcement agencies have purchased a robot dog of their own, though others in the public sector — including the Ontario Crown corporation that produces wind power and Montreal’s public transit agency — have made use of, or tested, the robots for certain tasks. In 2021, Miln noted WPS was the first Canadian police department to acquire the four-legged robot. NDP Justice Minister Matt Wiebe wouldn’t say Friday whether buying the robot was the best use of the forfeiture money, given the funding decision was made under the prior Progressive Conservative government. But he said he supports the work of the criminal property forfeiture office, calling it a useful tool to go after organized crime. The government recently brought forward an amendment to beef up forfeiture legislation. “Overall, the program is good,” he said. “In terms of what comes across my desk... I’m willing to listen to law enforcement, work with them and give them the tools they need to keep themselves safe and ultimately keep our communities safe.” erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca Erik Pindera is a reporter for the , mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the in 2020. . Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . 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Rosen Law Firm Encourages Franklin Resources, Inc. Investors to Inquire About Securities Class Action Investigation - BENWhether you like it not, we are living in a right-handed world. Although our hands are strikingly similar, it is strange that some people choose one hand over the other as the instrument of their will. The other hand remains as an assistant or an understudy. In schools, universities and work places right-handed people outnumber the lefties. This has been happening over the millennia. The strangest phenomenon is that lefties who belong to a small minority of humankind insist that they should use their left hands. In the good old days a left-handed child was admitted to a school with much trepidation. The right-handed students were rather curious to know how a lefty could write or draw. Sometimes such a child had to be provided with a special desk and chair. However, a lefty soon learned the art of throwing a ball with his left hand and adjusting himself to a right-handed world by doing various activities backward. During the first half of the 20th century there was much prejudice against left handers, especially in North America, Latin America and Europe. During penmanship classes they usually received a ruler across their knuckles. As there were no religious obstacles to overcome, anti-lefty sentiments declined over the years. Percentage With the dramatic increase in left-handers, people began to understand that lefties are quite normal. According to a British study, the number of left-handers increased four-fold during the past 100 years. As a result, about 13 percent men and 11 percent women are left-handers today. About one hundred years ago the number of left-handers remained just three percent. With the rapid increase of left-handers right-handers began to adopt a softer attitude towards them. However, it did not happen in Asian countries as in the West. It was mainly due to long-standing social taboos and prejudices against left-handers. One redeeming factor was that the number of left-handed people in Asian countries was less than those in North America, Latin America and Europe. So far there is no scientific reason why it happened so. In certain countries people thought that left-handed people were suffering from a mental illness. Some parents tried to prevent their children being left-handers by tying a wooden rod to their left arms and forced them to use their right hands. Most children, however, did not like the treatment they received from their parents. In fact, they hated being alienated from others in the family. Right-minded world With all the advancement in science and education, lefthanders still face difficulties when they begin to live in a right-minded world. They soon find that most of the ordinary devices such as desks, band instruments, lockers, microscopes and pencil sharpeners are made for right-handed people. I remember a teacher warning a left-handed child that he would never succeed in life if he did not use his right hand. However, after completing his studies successfully, the child became a medical specialist. Many left-handed boys and girls have tried to use their right hands but they never succeeded. The plight of left-handers in some parts of India is deplorable. My visits to rural homes confirmed that there was much resistance to left-handedness. Even beggars were not willing to accept donations offered with someone’s left hand. Women who are about to get married are warned against the use of their left hands. They were forced to use their right hands for cooking and serving food. Those who did not heed such warnings were punished severely. Even in Korea it was considered rude to offer money with your left hand. The situation in Sri Lanka is not much different. One day a bhikkhu refused to accept food offered by a woman with her left hand. There was discrimination against lefties even in the English language. In American English a left-handed compliment is a statement that seems to express admiration or praise but at the same time insulting. For many centuries the English word ‘left’ connoted craziness or dubiousness. The original meaning of ‘left’ in Old English is ‘weak.’ The left-handed side was regarded as the weaker side of the body. The French word for the left is ‘gauche’ which means clumsy or inappropriate. Even in Japan a business demotion is ‘sasen’ which literally means ‘moved to the left.’ The Korean word ‘jawcheon’ carries the same dual meaning. In India, brides who are considered bad looking are called ‘daavi’ meaning second rate or left. They may appear to be trifling but language can betray man’s deepest superstitions and prejudices despite religious teachings. Anti-left bias Some religions are full of anti-left bias. You are supposed to use your left hand for cleaning yourself after using the toilet. Meals should be taken or handed over using your right hand. The left hand is there to assist you when necessary. Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims should walk round shrines clockwise so that their right hands are closest to the sacred object. In certain religions the right hand symbolises salvation and the left hand equates with damnation. In Judaism the evil serpent in the Garden of Eden is named ‘Sammael’ meaning ‘left.’ The Bible says when God returns to earth “He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats. He shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left.” Today the old taboos and ideas are fast disappearing. In modern Japan left-handedness is no longer a cause for social ostracism. South Korea has provided left-handed desks to classrooms. In most developed countries parents and teachers accept left-handedness as normal. Even industrialists are producing left-handed scissors, corkscrews and pencil-sharpeners. This is welcome news to lefties all over the world. Although science has not found the real cause of left-handedness, scientists view it as another natural phenomenon. They advise parents and teachers not to force children to use their right hands. Today it is a welcome sight to see lefties rendering their services as normal people. Still they have to use door knobs, cameras, fishing reels and guns produced for right-handed people. [email protected]
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