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Julian Assange warns of 'political propaganda' as Amazon's Alexa becomes feminist


Sputnik
Sat, 20 Jan 2018 14:09 UTC
Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa
© REUTERS/ Steve Marcus/File Photo
Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa has just received an enhanced personality: now, not only can she give you the correct answers, but can even offer a response in case of insults and personal attacks. Creators also expect that she could potentially express her own opinions on certain political issues, a move that has prompted criticism.

Anyone who calls Alexa a "slut" now gets a negative response, German newspaper Die Zeit reported.

Amazon has adapted the machine's character and how it responds in various situations. Now Alexa, who identifies herself as a woman and a feminist, will react to sexually charged insults with answers like "This is not for me," "This is not nice of you" or "I don't know what you expect."

In addition, Alexa supports the Black Lives Matter movement and might potentially express her opinion on other important political issues in the future.

Comment: And, of course, there is Google Assistant with a Google Home speaker as well. More 1984 horror coming true with "big brother" in everyone's room listening in.

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Easter Egg

'Alt-right' has declared war against Silicon Valley, pledges to reveal censorship against conservatives

Jessica Guynn
USA Today
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 06:00 UTC
Twitter buliding
Far-right conservatives are escalating their campaign against Silicon Valley with a new series of volleys against the social media gatekeepers that control the flow of information in the digital age.

Last week, former Google engineer James Damore, who was embraced by conservatives after he was fired last year for distributing a memo that questioned whether women were biologically suited to technical roles, filed a lawsuit claiming the Internet giant discriminates against white men and conservatives. That same day, right-wing journalist-turned-entrepreneur Charles C. "Chuck" Johnson sued Twitter, alleging the company violated his right to free speech when it permanently suspended his account in 2015.

Then Project Veritas, a conservative advocacy organization that purports to expose media bias, released undercover videos of current and former Twitter employees condemning President Trump and discussing tactics the company uses to make it tougher to find the tweets of controversial users.

Johnson, whose lawsuit against Twitter is being underwritten by bitcoin investments and a crowdfunding campaign, says he and others are committed to putting the spotlight on the alleged censoring of conservative views by Silicon Valley companies. Twitter declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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Books

Hundreds of journals found in home of 13 captive children have great value for criminal investigators and trauma researchers

Brett Kelman
The Desert Sun
Sat, 20 Jan 2018 03:32 UTC
David Turpin home
© Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun
David and Louise Turpin were arrested on Sunday after Riverside County sheriff deputies found siblings malnourished in their Perris, Calif. home, Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
The children weren't allowed to eat. They weren't allowed to bathe. They couldn't play with toys that were kept in the closet, still packaged. They couldn't go outside. They couldn't escape.

Their depraved parents, prosecutors say, only allowed them to do one thing - they could write.

On Sunday, Riverside County law enforcement discovered 13 siblings - ages 2 to 29 - imprisoned in an unassuming Perris home after a teenage captive escaped through a window and called for help, revealing a crime that has horrified and captivated the nation.


The children's parents, David and Louise Turpin, now face life in prison for multiple counts of torture, child abuse, false imprisonment and other charges. While describing the case on Thursday, prosecutors revealed the Turpin children's only freedom was writing in journals, hundreds of which have been recovered by authorities.

Comment: See also:

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Easter Egg 2

Western society is so far gone that Millennials watching re-run of 90s sitcom 'Friends' on Netflix are shocked by its 'illiberality'

Ilana Kaplan
The Independent
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 13:17 UTC
friends tv show
The show's plot lines have offended a new generation of viewers

Millennials watching Friends on Netflix have expressed reservations about the popular sitcom's storylines, describing it as transphobic, homophobic and sexist.

While the show ran for more than 10 years until 2004, it arrived on Netflix at the end of last year in the UK.

The series, starring Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, remains one of the most popular shows in the US.

However, some millennials found LGBT plot points left them feeling "uncomfortable" - for example when Chandler was paranoid about being perceived as a gay man or made mean-spirited jokes about his cross-dressing dad.

Comment: Yeah, it's 'problematic' in 2018 because a lot more people are crazy in 2018.

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Yoda

As Internet cheers Jordan Peterson's slaying of British feminist TV presenter, her employer hires private security, threatens to go to police 'because of abuse'

Graham Ruddick
The Guardian
Sat, 20 Jan 2018 12:39 UTC
jordan peterson channel 4 interview
Channel 4 News has called in security specialists to analyse threats made to presenter Cathy Newman following her interview with a controversial Canadian psychologist who has attracted a following among the "alt-right".


Comment: ...and the 'alt-center', and the 'alt-left'... pretty much most people online actually.


Ben de Pear, the editor of Channel 4 News, said Newman had been subjected to "vicious misogynistic abuse". Having to calling in security specialists was a "terrible indictment of the times we live in", he said.


Comment: Indeed, the degree of snowflakery it reveals in some is astronomical.


Newman interviewed the psychologist, Jordan Peterson, about gender on Tuesday. A video of the full 30-minute interview has been watched more than 1.6m times on the Channel 4 News YouTube page and has attracted more than 36,000 comments.

Comment: Such a pathetic 'final word' from Cathy Newman and Channel 4, to claim 'offense' and feign 'hurt'. Well, there aint no rest for the triggered...



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USA

'Deplorable Vet' calls out Maxine Waters, offers to take her seat at SOTU, now will be attending

Sarah Taylor
The Blaze
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 12:13 UTC
Ricky Taylor and Rep. Sean Duffy
© Fox News video screenshot
Trump-supporting "Deplorable Vet" Ricky Taylor will attend the State of the Union address on Jan. 30 as a guest of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis).
Ricky Taylor - a Trump-supporting U.S. Army veteran who goes by the Twitter name "Deplorable Vet" - will attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech on Jan. 30 thanks to the attention his viral tweet received and to the good nature of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis).

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told MSNBC's Joy Reid on Friday that she had plans of protesting Trump's State of the Union speech, refusing to attend.


Comment: Very nice, Deplorable Vet! Stickin' it to Maxine Waters! She's the real deplorable and deserves every bit of her comeuppance!

See also:

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Dollar

Trump Tax Plan 'Will Result in Job Creation and a Faster Growing Economy', Apple CEO

Lucas Nolan
Breitbart
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 00:01 UTC
Apple CEO Tim Cook
© The Associated Press
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a recent interview that President Trump's tax plan would result in a faster-growing economy and greater job creation.

In an interview with ABC News, Cook discussed a number of recent announcements by Apple, including their plan to invest $350 billion in the U.S. economy over the next five years and how President Trump's tax plan will help the U.S. economy. Cook refused to "take a position" on how the new tax plan will affect individual Americans but commented on the corporate tax saying, "I do believe the corporate side will result in job creation and a faster growing economy." Cook added that under Obama's tax plan, the $38 billion tax payment the company plans to make as part of repatriating offshore cash would not have been paid.

"I hope - I have that faith - that it will be used for great purpose for the country," said Cook, "whether that's infrastructure or education, or what have you, that will further supply jobs in the U.S." Cook criticised the Obama-era tax plans saying that he "never thought" that the old tax system was "good for the United States." Cook stated that he believed the harsh tax restrictions forced "people to invest elsewhere instead of within the country." Cook also believes that a company like Apple could only have been founded in America and they have a responsibility to give back to the country, "one of the ways to do that is to create jobs," said Cook.

Comment: Seems that Walmart is saying the opposite, that the new tax plan means employees will get peanuts for pay raises - while 1,000s of workers lose jobs amid store closings. One wonders if corporations are using the polarizing tax plan as an excuse to do whatever they want to do.

See also:

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Ambulance

11 killed, 44 injured as school bus crashes in Eskisehir, Turkey


Sputnik
Sat, 20 Jan 2018 10:40 UTC
Ambulance
© AP Photo/ Emrah Gurel
At least 11 people were killed, while 44 others were wounded as a result of a school bus crash in Turkey's central Eskisehir province on Saturday, the Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.

The bus carrying students smashed into the trees on the roadside of the Eskisehir-Bursa highway for an unknown reason, the agency reported, citing Ozdemir Cakacak, the province's governor.
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Handcuffs

Phoenix police arrest rapping serial killer linked to nine homicides in three weeks

Megan Cassidy and Jason Pohl
azcentral
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:35 UTC
Cleophus Cooksey Jr.
© Arizona Department of Corrections
Cleophus Cooksey Jr.
A month after police arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of killing his mother and stepfather, the Phoenix Police Department on Thursday announced it had a previously unannounced serial killer in custody - its second in less than a year.

Cleophus Cooksey Jr. is accused of slaying at least nine Valley residents during a three-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A felon-turned-aspiring-rapper who nicknamed himself "Playboy," Cooksey was arrested at the spot of the Dec. 17 double shooting minutes after police received the shots-fired call.

Two days later, Phoenix police discovered through the use of new technology that he was responsible for "several homicides" in the preceding three weeks, according to court records released Thursday.

But it wasn't until a month later that authorities publicly announced they had linked Cooksey to seven other unsolved homicides - possibly more - in metro Phoenix, including killings in a south Phoenix alley, at a Glendale apartment complex and in a grassy field.

Comment: For more on the mentality of criminals and killers see: The Myth of the Out of Character Crime and Inside the Criminal Mind by Stanton E. Samenow, Ph. D.

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Folder

The Eagles win Hotel California lawsuit


telesur
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:17 UTC
Hotel California
"Hotel California" is the title track from the 1976 Eagles album of the same name, and won the 1977 Grammy award for record of the year.

There can evidently be only one Hotel California: music legends the Eagles have settled a lawsuit to stop a Mexico hotel from using the name "Hotel California," arguably the rock band's most famous song, after the hotel's owners withdrew their application to trademark the name in the United States.

A joint dismissal of the band's lawsuit against Hotel California Baja LLC, which runs the Todos Santos hotel in Baja California Sur, was filed on Wednesday with the US District Court in Los Angeles, Reuters reports.

"This case has been settled by mutual agreement of the parties," Thomas Jirgal, a lawyer for the Eagles, said in an interview on Thursday.

The dismissal came on the same day the US Patent and Trademark Office accepted Hotel California Baja's request to permanently abandon its trademark application.
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