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Californians overwhelmingly pass anti-crime Proposition 36 measure that Dem Gov. Gavin Newsom strongly opposed

Steven Nelson
NY Post
Wed, 06 Nov 2024 20:40 UTC
prop 36
© AP
California voters approved by a massive margin a ballot measure to more harshly punish certain crimes — with the initiative garnering a whopping 70.6% support with nearly 7.6 million ballots counted.

The outcome of the state's Proposition 36 reflected a backlash to light penalties for shoplifting and drug-related crimes — and it passed despite opposition from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Prop 36 authorizes felony charges for possession of drugs including fentanyl and for thefts under $950 if the offender has two prior drug or theft convictions, according to the official summary of its provisions.

The nascent law creates a new category of crime called "treatment-mandated felony" that allows a person to have their drug conviction set aside if they complete rehab.
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Sheriff

Arizona backs local law enforcement arrests of suspected illegal immigrants

Stephen Sorace
Fox News
Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:33 UTC
borer wall arizona illegal migrants immigrants
© AP Photo/Matt York, FileProposition 314 makes it a state crime for people to illegally enter Arizona from Mexico outside official ports of entry.
GOP lawmakers say Proposition 314 is needed to secure border after failings of Biden administration

Voters in border state Arizona have approved Proposition 314, a measure that would allow local police to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state amid concerns over border security.

Proposition 314 makes it a state crime for people to illegally enter Arizona from Mexico outside official ports of entry, permitting local and state law enforcement officers to arrest them and state judges to order their deportations. Those who enforce the law would be shielded from civil lawsuits.

Comment:

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USA

How America became unburdened by what has been

Andrew Korybko
The Automatic Earth
Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:56 UTC
Emil Nolde Zwei Schwimmer1914 painting
© CopyrightEmil Nolde Zwei Schwimmer ("Two swimmers")1914
We'll see many articles on Trump's clean sweep win in the days to come. Here's Andrew Korybko's interpretation of events:

Trump just beat Kamala despite the formidable odds that were against him. He survived two assassination attempts, withstood the government's lawfare, and is on track to secure the popular vote even though the legacy media was fully in support of his opponent. Speaking of her, she's infamous for repeating her phrase about America becoming "unburdened by what has been", which means moving past the Trump era. Ironically, the country just moved past her, and here's how it happened:

1. "It's The Economy, Stupid!"

Democrat consultant James Carville famously coined the abovementioned phrase in reference to the most important electoral issue for most Americans. It still rings true to this day since the majority of the country is worse off after four years of the Biden-Harris Administration than it was after Trump's first term. It doesn't matter what the reasons for that are since such developments strongly work against incumbents. Americans accordingly voted to bring back the golden economy that Trump ushered in.
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Bell

Why I changed my mind on Trump

Jeffrey A. Tucker
Daily Sceptic
Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:00 UTC
trump
Like many others, including J.D. Vance, I'm very much on record in warning about Donald Trump from 2015 onward, including articles and an entire book (which is still valuable) on the Rightist version of collectivism.

As we approach election day, my opinions have undergone a shift, particularly in the last three years watching as Biden/Harris marshalled a massive ruling class propaganda and compulsion machine to push everything I oppose the most: state consolidation, corporatism, censorship, inflationism, central planning and compulsory injections of experimental medical products.

It all seems surreal to me. I think back to what worried me the most about Trump: demagogic nationalism, nativistic protectionism, executive centralisation and the leadership cult. Features of his last term confirmed my worst fears, particularly his green lighting of lockdowns for Covid and disregard for religious and personal freedom in the period. He also has a terrible record on spending, mitigated in part by solid efforts toward deregulation and higher quality picks on the bench.
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USA

Meta allows US military to use its AI


RT
Tue, 05 Nov 2024 11:44 UTC
meta
© Jonathan Raa/Getty Images
Meta will permit US government agencies and contractors working for the needs of national security to use its AI models for military purposes, the tech giant announced on Monday. The move should help American open-source models to excel over those from China and elsewhere, the tech giant has said.

The move is a departure from the company's "acceptable use policy," which states that its artificial intelligence models are forbidden from being employed in "military, warfare, nuclear industries."

Meta is "pleased to confirm" that it will share its AI models, named Llama, with federal agencies and defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen, as well as defense-oriented tech firms such as Palantir and Anduril.

A Meta spokesman confirmed to the New York Times on Monday that the firm will also provide access to its AI models to the members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which besides the US includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Comment: Is this news or a nod to what is already standard practice?

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Cross

American who worked for Russia in Donbass speaks exclusively to RT


RT
Sun, 03 Nov 2024 15:12 UTC
Martindale
© RTMissionary Daniel Martindale
RT has spoken exclusively with a US citizen who spent months secretly collecting intelligence on the Ukrainian military in Donbass and handing it over to Russia.

Daniel Martindale, who was there as a missionary, revealed that before moving to Ukraine in February 2022, he had resided in a "small Polish village where there's a Protestant church, and I was working with children in summer camps, teaching them English, but of course with the whole Christian theme."

When asked what prompted him to move to the neighboring country, he said: "Probably the biggest motivation was my desire to be in Russia if and when World War III starts."

Martindale stayed in Ukraine for two years, spending most of his time in a village located not far from the front line in Donbass which has since been liberated by the Russian military.

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No Entry

'Murderers!': Spanish royals leave flood-hit town after heckling by angry crowd

Antonia Kerrigan
France 24
Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:35 UTC
King Felipe VI of Spain n the region of Valencia, eastern Spain, November 3, 2024, in the aftermath of deadly floods.
© Manaure Quintero, AFPKing Felipe VI of Spain is heckled by angry residents throwing mud and objects during his visit to Paiporta, in the region of Valencia, eastern Spain, November 3, 2024, in the aftermath of deadly floods.
During a visit to flood-ravaged Paiporta near Valencia on Sunday, King Felipe VI and government officials faced angry survivors who hurled mud and shouted insults. Police intervened to control the crowd, which expressed outrage following the deaths of more than 200 people.


Furious locals pelted Spain's royals and premier on Sunday with mud and cries of "murderers!", forcing officials to cut short their visit to the town worst hit by the floods which have killed more than 200.

The angry crowd in the town of Paiporta focused most of its wrath on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the head of the Valencia region, both of whom were whisked away by security.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were hit in the face and clothes with mud as they tried to calm the angry crowd, AFP journalists saw.

Comment: See also:

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Cult

Creepy gov't-funded 'anti-hate' group run by a weird Egyptian man is now Germany's first official internet censor under the Digital Services Act

eugyppius
eugyppius: a plague chronicle
Wed, 09 Oct 2024 22:14 UTC
internet censorship
These Trusted Flaggers are charged with eradicating "hate speech" and "fake news" from social media; platforms that ignore their Trusted Flagging can be fined or face other serious sanctions.

Are you one of those schoolmarm hall-monitor types?

Do you have a screechy voice and do you enjoy looking down your nose at other people?

Do your favourite pastimes include complaining to the manager, telling teenagers not to say bad words and levelling self-superior moral disapproval at everything you don't like?

Well, then the European Union is just the place for you! Under our fantastic new Digital Services Act (DSA), you can engage in all these recreations, and what is more, you can do so in an official capacity, as a Trusted Flagger!

In places like the United States, censorship is a thing that the three-letter agencies and the major social media platforms have to hash out among themselves behind closed doors. Things are different here in Europe, where the DSA has imposed upon all of us a totally legal censorship regime for the purposes of cracking down on notionally "illegal" internet content. Any censorship regime of course requires censors, and that's where you, the aspiring Trusted Flagger, come in. This is your golden opportunity.
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Whistle

SOTT Focus: Underwater: Many North Carolinians Don't Trust Official Death Toll From Hurricane Helene

Niko Kyriakou
docs.google.com
Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:59 UTC
helene hurricane north carolina
Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina before dawn on Friday, September 27. A month later disagreements about the true loss of life and number of missing persons are widespread, especially at the epicenter of the devastation.

The 4-day deluge first filled creeks and saturated the soil with 10 to 30 inches of rain, increasing in power before the worst part of the hurricane reached the region at Category 4 strength, culminating in an atmospheric river, forty to a hundred mile per hour winds, and tornadoes that residents say passed over the mountains making a "snap, snap, snap" sound as they broke trees like matchsticks.

The worst part of the storm hit between 4am and 7am, when people were fast asleep.

The Cane, Toe, French Broad, Swannanoa and Green Rivers inhaled communities, and by the time they reached inhabited areas, the rivers were cresting as much as 25 to 35 feet above ordinary levels. Floodwaters literally submerged towns Marshall, gutted Biltmore Village, and totally destroyed the River Arts District in Asheville. Elsewhere, thousands of mudslides took out homes and communities.

Comment: Incompetence and negligence, or criminal conspiracy and cover-up? Probably a mix of both. Authoritarians aren't wrong to place their trust in an orderly, methodical process of search-and-rescue and clearing/clean-up, but we all know by now that there are unscrupulous actors in all levels of government, and that they're not beyond lying about the death toll in a natural disaster for a whole host of motivations - political, ideological and/or personal.

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Quenelle

Best of the Web: Squirrel!

John Carter
Postcards from Barsoom
Sun, 03 Nov 2024 15:56 UTC
peanut squirrel
© Mark Longo/TikTokPeanut the squirrel
Safety first means nothing is safe

It's just days to the election, and by the way Americans did you vote yet? and I have decided to talk to you about a dead rodent.

Seven years ago Mark Longo found a baby squirrel orphaned when someone ran a car over its mother. Longo brought him into his home and named him Peanut. Peanut imprinted on Longo as his new mother; when Longo tried to release him back into the wild, the little guy had no idea how to survive in the wild, returned frightened and injured to the only home he knew, and thus their relationship became permanent.

Here, watch this, it will melt your heart.
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