Alarm as German climate activists charged with ‘forming a criminal organisation’
“This is the first time in German history that a climate protest group that uses measures of peaceful civil disobedience is charged as a criminal organisation."
“Paragraph 129 of the German criminal code is to combat organised crime. Its application to non-violent protest criminalises civic engagement and thus restricts democratic freedoms."
It's the typical case of using power to exploit the poor and bribing them to get away with anything.
In Pune porsche crash case, the accused's grandfather told the family driver to take the blame for the accident and threatened him against speaking about the matter to anyone and now has been arrested.
Sometimes people take politics too personally, eventually resorting to violence but the question is whether violence is justified during the time of elections?
Nearly half of voters across a group of swing-states said they expect violence around the upcoming presidential election, according to a new poll.
#ScarlettJohansson is threatening #legal action against #OpenAI for copying her #voice for its latest #AI model, GPT-4o, which will be accessible through #ChatGPT.
In a statement provided to The Washington Post by Johansson’s publicist, she claimed that she received an offer from OpenAI CEO #SamAltman in Sept to be the voice of its AI system. Johansson… declined….
“Mr. #Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word ‘#her’ - a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system…” #ScarlettJohansson’s statement continued.
The “Sky” voice was one of 5 voices #OpenAI unveiled in September when it added an audio conversation mode. WaPo noted at the time that “#Sky” sounded similar to Johansson.
A helicopter carrying President #EbrahimRaisi of #Iran & his foreign minister crashed on Sunday in the country’s mountainous northwest, acc/to state media, deepening the turmoil that has gripped the nation on both the international & domestic fronts in recent months.
#Raisi, 63, was traveling from Iran’s border w/ Azerbaijan to inaugurate a joint dam project.
…#Raisi oversaw a sweeping & deadly crackdown on domestic #protesters, many of them #women & young people, who took to the streets against the country’s ruling clerics. #Rights groups said hundreds of protesters were killed by Iran’s security forces.
Raisi has been viewed as one of the front-runners to succeed #Khamenei as supreme leader. One of his main rivals for that role is #Khamene’s son.
Despite the crash, some analysts said they did not expect a major change in #Iran’s agenda abroad.
Public Participation
The Aarhus Convention and its Protocol on PRTRs empower people with the rights to access information, participate in decision-making in environmental matters and to seek justice. They are the only legally binding global instruments on environmental democracy.
>> https://unece.org/environmental-policy-1/public-participation
"Top NYT Editor Offers Stunning Defense of Coverage of Trump."
"The failure to clearly describe Trump's plan to cancel prosecutions of himself & other elements of his legal strategy as threats to the system itself, that is, as efforts to put himself above the law."
"Dems have no problem pointing out #TFG's responsible for RvW bc he stacked the ct. But it’s the same unpopular ct. that’s helping him run out the clock on accountability for #J6. Run against the whole corrupt unit."
-B Beutler
"We must spend these next months shouting from the rooftops: Pres Trump & his MAGA allies created & empowered this broken & corrupt SC- you've the power to change it."
‘ The assessment systems that are used to determine people’s ages are unreliable, poorly implemented, & often violate the legal rights of children’, leading to decisions that have life-changing implications for vulnerable young people in Europe #RefugeesWelcome#Rights#minors#Children#refugees https://buff.ly/3vQDEKi
Your mind is your fundamental tool for survival as a human. Your individual right to life includes the right to use your mind for productive work and enjoy its results. That is the foundation of your #PropertyRights and of #capitalism.
Live-in couples in small town India have it rough – Varanasi to Vadodara, Aligarh to Alwar
Live-in relationships are on the rise. So are the social pressures. The Supreme Court has widened the rights, but pushback has come from high courts, statutory bodies, politicians.
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, close allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of #Civil#Rights-era laws to💥 focus on "anti-white racism" 💥rather than discrimination against people of color.
Trump's Justice Department would push to #eliminate or #upend programs in government and corporate America that are designed to counter racism that has favored whites.
Targets would range from decades-old policies aimed at giving minorities economic opportunities, to more recent programs that began in response to the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd.
Trump campaign spokesperson #Steven#Cheung told Axios: "As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden's un-American policy will be immediately #terminated."
Longtime aides and allies preparing for a potential second Trump administration have been laying legal groundwork with a flurry of lawsuits and legal complaints — some of which have been successful.
A central vehicle for the effort has been #America#First#Legal, founded by former Trump aide #Stephen#Miller, who has called the group conservatives' "long-awaited answer to the ACLU."
America First cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in February in a lawsuit against CBS and Paramount Global for what the group argued was discrimination against a white, straight man who was a writer for the show "Seal Team" in 2017.
In February, the group filed a civil rights complaint against the NFL over its "Rooney Rule."
The rule — named for Dan #Rooney, late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers — was instituted in 2003 and expanded in 2022.
It requires NFL teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant general manager, head coach and coordinator positions.
American First argued that "given the limited time frame to hire executives and coaches after the season, this results in fewer opportunities for similarly situated, well-qualified candidates who are not minorities."
In 2021, Miller's group successfully sued to block the implementation of a $29 billion pandemic-era program for women- and minority-owned restaurants, saying it discriminated against white-owned businesses.
"This ruling is the first, but crucial, step towards ending government-sponsored racial discrimination," Miller said then.
Other Trump-aligned groups are preparing for a future Trump Justice Department to implement — or challenge — policies on a broader scale.
The #Heritage#Foundation's well-funded "#Project2025" envisions a second Trump administration ending what it calls "affirmative discrimination."
Part of the plan, written by former Trump Justice Department official #Gene#Hamilton, argues that "advancing the interests of certain segments of American society ... comes at the expense of other Americans — and in nearly all cases violates longstanding federal law."
Hamilton is America First Legal's general counsel.
Such groups have gained momentum with the #Supreme#Court's turn to the right
— most notably its recent rejection of affirmative action in college admissions.
The court ruled that programs designed to benefit people of color and address past injustices discriminate against white and Asian Americans.
In 2021, a federal judge blocked a $4 billion program to help Black farmers
The Taliban’s announcement that it is 🔥resuming publicly stoning women to death🔥 has been enabled by the international community’s silence, human rights groups have said.
Safia Arefi, a lawyer and head of the #Afghan#human#rights organisation 🔸Women’s Window of Hope🔸, said the announcement had condemned Afghan women to return to the darkest days of Taliban rule in the 1990s.
“With this announcement by the Taliban leader, a new chapter of private punishments has begun and Afghan women are experiencing the depths of loneliness,” Arefi said.
“Now, no one is standing beside them to save them from Taliban punishments. The international community has chosen to remain silent in the face of these violations of women’s rights.”
Why Tech Companies Are Not Your Friends: Lessons From #Roku
Roku recently changed its policy to make it even harder for customers to take legal action. It’s a reminder of how we need to protect ourselves. #privacy#rights
As lawmakers around the U.S. ban books, states enact legislation limiting how sexual orientation and gender identity are taught in schools, and companies reduce their DEI efforts, some are going the other way. Washington state's Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, has recently signed a law including a mandate for public schools to teach LGBTQ+ history, joining California, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada and Illinois, which have similar legislation. Here's more from NBC.