From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Independent – by Aatif Sulleyman
Amazon has argued that the voice of Alexa, the artificial intelligence assistant used in its range of Echo speakers, has First Amendment rights.
The company is fighting an order to hand over recordings from an Amazon Echo used by James Andrew Bates, who is on trial for allegedly murdering his friend Victor Collins in Arkansas in November 2015. Continue reading “Amazon argues AI assistant Alexa has free speech rights in murder trial”
The recent changes in Washington do not seem to bode well for fact-driven, scientific points of view on many issues. But there are already a number of sensitive areas of science where important research is stalling due to outside pressures or serious questions asked by the scientists themselves.
A yearly conference organized by the MIT Media Lab tackles “forbidden research”, the science that is constrained by ethical, cultural and institutional restrictions. The purpose of the conference is to give scientists a forum to consider these ideas and questions and to discuss the viability and necessity of studying topics like the rights of AI and machines, genetic engineering, climate change and others. Continue reading “5 Topics That Are “Forbidden” to Science”
Inside President Trump’s otherwise “standard Trump stump speech” at CPAC was nestled what might be a most intriguing observation:
Global cooperation, dealing with other countries, getting along with other countries is good, it’s very important. But there is no such thing as a global anthem, a global currency or a global flag. This is the United States of America that I’m representing.
Miami Herald – by Julie K Brown
When they brought William “Ryan” Owens home, the Navy SEAL was carried from a C-17 military plane in a flag-draped casket, onto the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base, as President Donald Trump, his daughter, Ivanka, and Owens’ family paid their respects.
It was a private transfer, as the family had requested. No media and no bystanders, except for some military dignitaries. Continue reading “Slain SEAL’s dad wants answers: ‘Don’t hide behind my son’s death’”
Marc Faber, known as ‘Dr. Doom’ for his pessimistic views of equity markets, has warned investors that US stocks are vulnerable to a seismic selloff, which could start any moment.
The Swiss investor doesn’t expect the rally’s disruption to be evoked by any catalyst, as the markets are overbought and sentiment is way too bullish for the so-called Trump rally to continue. Continue reading “Dr. Doom warns of stock market selloff ‘avalanche’”
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The driver accused of plowing into a crowd enjoying a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, police said. The New Orleans Police Department issued a statement identifying the man as 25-year-old Neilson Rizzuto. He’s being held at the city’s jail on charges of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and reckless operation of a vehicle. Continue reading “Mardi Gras crash suspect’s alcohol level nearly triple limit”
CHICAGO (AP) — An influential doctors group is beefing up warnings about marijuana’s potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use. Many parents use the drug and think it’s OK for their kids, but “we would rather not mess around with the developing brain,” said Dr. Seth Ammerman.
The advice comes in a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, published Monday in Pediatrics. The group opposes medical and recreational marijuana use for kids. It says emphasizing that message is important because most states have legalized medical use for adults, and many have decriminalized or legalized adults’ recreational use. Continue reading “Pediatricians warn against pot use: Not your dad’s marijuana”
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Money is being raised to repair and restore more than 100 headstones that were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia while police hunt for the person who toppled them. A man visiting Mount Carmel Cemetery on Sunday called police to report that three of his relatives’ headstones had been knocked over and damaged. The discovery came less than a week after similar vandalism in Missouri. Continue reading “Money being raised to restore vandalized Jewish cemetery”
Over the last three years, pharmaceutical companies have mounted a public relations blitz to tout new cures for the hepatitis C virus and persuade insurers, including government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, to cover the costs. That isn’t an easy sell, because the price of the treatments ranges from $40,000 to $94,000 — or, because the treatments take three months, as much as $1,000 per day. Continue reading “Big Pharma Quietly Enlists Leading Professors to Justify $1,000-Per-Day Drugs”
Activist Post – by Nicolas West
Nikola Tesla is finally beginning to attract real attention and encourage serious debate more than 70 years after his death.
Continue reading “The 10 Inventions Of Nikola Tesla That Changed The World”
Until the 1990’s, civilian run volunteer militias weren’t all that common in the United States. They were the fringe of the fringe in our culture. But after Waco and Ruby Ridge, their ranks swelled and they became a common subject in the news and in pop culture. Their numbers fell again under President Bush, and then grew to new heights under President Obama.
It’s an obvious pattern. Conservative militias multiply like crazy under Democratic presidents, and for good reason. When Democrats take the reigns of government, they always threaten to restrict gun ownership. They then decline under Republican administrations, when conservatives don’t feel as threatened. Continue reading “Citizen Militia Experiences Explosive Growth Following the Last Election”
As the Trump administration hunts for the source of a series of politically embarrassing leaks that have plagued the young administration, dozens of White House staffers have had their phones searched in what is being termed “recess” compared to what may be planned, two top administration officials told Fox News.
One official told Fox that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called nearly two dozen staffers into his office and demanded the staffers’ cell phones in order to check for evidence of leaks. Spicer warned that the initial search would be “recess” compared to what awaits staffers in round two of the investigation, if the leaker – or leakers – aren’t discovered. Continue reading “Sean Spicer Checks White House Staffers’ Phones for Leaks, Vows More Searches Coming”
Catherine Austin Fitts told Greg Hunter that Wall Street stole $50 trillion from us. So what do you think will happen when the Dollar Dies and tens of millions of people come demanding their pensions and savings?
When I was still in high school, I predicted the rise of the National Security State. I based my analysis on the fact that Wall Street was robbing us blind. The Bankers needed an all powerful central government in Washington to make us sit down and shut up. In the second phase of this operation the people who owned the government in Washington intensified things by blowing up buildings with Americans inside. Continue reading “So What Is A Limited Hang Out Civil War?”
Bearing Arms – by Beth Baumann
Concealed carriers in Contra Costa County (CA) received an unexpected letter in the mail recently. Earlier this month, the county’s sheriff department sent a letter telling CCW permit holders that their personal information had been released to ABC7 as part of a public records request.
Although the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department complied with the public records request, they did reject part of the request which called for permit holders’ addresses. Continue reading “Local Sheriff Releases Names of CCW Permit Holders to Media”