Author: Reporter

Policy Violence: Civil Rights leaders decry DeSantis’ defense of whitewashed slavery curriculum

Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first actions as Florida’s governor. But four years later, as DeSantis eyes the presidency, their hope that the Republican would be an ally on racial justice has long faded. Instead, African American leaders decry what they call a pattern of “policy violence” against people of color imposed by the DeSantis administration that reached a low point after the recent release of an “anti-woke” public school curriculum on Black history. Specifically, Florida’s teachers are now required to instruct middle-school students that...

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FEC considers regulations to ban AI deepfakes from political campaign ads ahead of 2024 election

The Federal Election Commission has begun a process to potentially regulate AI-generated deepfakes in political ads ahead of the 2024 election, a move advocates say would safeguard voters against a particularly insidious form of election disinformation. The FEC’s unanimous procedural vote in August advances a petition asking it to regulate ads that use artificial intelligence to misrepresent political opponents as saying or doing something they didn’t — a stark issue that is already being highlighted in the current 2024 GOP presidential primary. Though the circulation of convincing fake images, videos or audio clips is not new, innovative generative AI...

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Why the national monument for Emmett Till finally cements his inclusion in the American story

When President Joe Biden signed a proclamation on July 25 establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, it marked the fulfillment of a promise Till’s relatives made after his death 68 years ago. The Black teenager from Chicago, whose abduction, torture and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the Civil Rights Movement, is now an American story, not just a civil rights story, said Till’s cousin the Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. “It has been quite a journey for me from the darkness to the light,” Parker said during a proclamation signing ceremony at...

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Try That In A Small Town: Jason Aldean’s music video stirs outcry over lynching glorification

Country music star Jason Aldean ‘s latest music video for “Try That In A Small Town,” lasted just one weekend on Country Music Television before the network pulled it in response to an outcry over its setting and lyrics. In the video, Aldean — who has been awarded country music artist of the decade by the Academy of Country Music — performs in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. This is the site of the 1946 Columbia race riot and the 1927 mob lynching of an 18-year-old Black teenager named Henry Choate. Aldean’s video, which was...

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Wisconsin lawsuit seeks to strike down legislative districts gerrymandered like Swiss cheese

If Wisconsin state Representative Jimmy Anderson wants to visit residents in some of the northern neighborhoods he represents, he first must leave his own district … twice. From his Fitchburg home in suburban Madison, Anderson must exit his 47th Assembly District, pass through the 77th District, reenter the 47th District, then head north through the 48th District to finally reach a cluster of homes assigned like a remote outpost to his district. Unusual? Yes. Inconvenient? Yes. Unconstitutional? Perhaps. Though the Wisconsin Constitution requires legislative districts “to consist of contiguous territory,” many nonetheless contain sections of land that are not...

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Crimes of an ex-President: Breakdown of the sprawling election-meddling indictments against Trump

Donald Trump for years has promoted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In truth, Trump was the one who tried to steal the election, federal prosecutors said on August 1 in a sprawling indictment that paints the former president as desperate to cling to power he knew had been stripped away by voters. The Justice Department indictment accuses Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden as his legal challenges floundered in court. The felony charges brought by special counsel Jack...

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