Monthly Archives: August 2023

‘Just a First Step’: FEC Advances Petition Calling for Ban on Deepfakes in Political Campaigns

“The need to regulate deepfakes and other deceptive uses of AI in election ads becomes more urgent with each passing day,” said Lisa Gilbert of -Public Citizen.-

By Julia Conley Published 8-10-2023 by Common Dreams

Deepfake of Barack Obama Screenshot: CBS News

Government watchdog Public Citizen on Thursday urged U.S. voters to help “ramp up pressure” on the Federal Elections Commission and pressure the panel to open an official rulemaking process regarding the use of deepfakes—false video content generated by artificial intelligence—in 2023 election campaign ads, after the FEC announced it would advance the group’s related petition.

After two separate requests by Public Citizen in recent months, the FEC unanimously voted to open a 60-day public comment period on the petition, which calls for rulemaking to clarify the meaning of “fraudulent representation” in federal law, making clear that campaigns that use “deliberately deceptive AI-produced content” will be penalized.

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On Nagasaki Anniversary, UN Chief Warns ‘Humanity Now Confronts a New Arms Race’

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“We will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons,” he said, calling for abolishing such arms.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-9-2023 by Common Dreams

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Photo: UNclimatechange/flickr/CC

Nearly eight decades after the United States dropped an atomic bomb codenamed “Fat Man” on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday was among the voices around the world renewing calls for eliminating nuclear weapons.

In a message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the 78th anniversary of the 1945 bombing, Guterres said that “this ceremony is an opportunity to remember a moment of unmatched horror for humanity.”

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‘Openly Murderous’: DeSantis Outlines Border Proposal Modeled on War Zones

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By admitting border agents would have to make their own “judgements” to determine whether to shoot a migrant, said one critic, the Florida governor signaled he would embrace “the large-scale murder of innocent people.”

By Julia Conley. Published 8=8-2023 by Common Dreams

Florida governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference near the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas on June 26, 2023.. Photo; Ron DeSantis/Twitter

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday night expanded on his proposed border policy, which he has said would include the use of “deadly force” against anyone suspected of drug trafficking—explaining to NBC News that border agents would use the same “rules of engagement” as U.S. forces in Iraq or police officers to determine when they should fire a weapon at someone.

DeSantis first proposed his border policy in June, saying he would “stop the invasion” by deputizing state and local police officers to arrest and deport migrants and detain unaccompanied children who cross the border, ending birthright citizenship, and empowering agents to use deadly force against people suspected of carrying drugs across the border—despite the fact that the vast majority of drug trafficking is carried out with commercial vehicles that travel through official ports of entry rather than people traveling on foot.

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To Protect Abortion Rights, Organizers Urge Ohioans to ‘Vote No on Issue 1’ in Tuesday Election

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“Preserve your voice and protect our democracy,” said one Democratic lawmaker. “Vote NO on August 8th to ensure fairness and equity in the democratic process.”

By Julia Conley. Published 8-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Organizers pose for a photo as they rally in opposition to Issue 1, a measure on ballots in Tuesday’s special election in Ohio which would raise the threshold needed to amend the state constitution.
(Photo: @shammasmalik/Twitter)

Recent polling in Ohio has shown that a majority of residents disapprove of a proposed measure that will be on ballots across the state in a special election on Tuesday, but abortion rights advocates have spent recent days warning voters that failing to block the proposal could have major repercussions for reproductive freedom in the state.

In the special election, Ohioans will be asked their position on Issue 1, which if approved would raise the threshold for passing new constitutional amendments to 60% rather than a simple majority.

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On 78th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, Mayor Decries ‘Folly’ of Deterrence Theory

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“Believers of proactive nuclear deterrence, who say nuclear weapons are indispensable to maintain peace, are only delaying the progress toward nuclear disarmament,” Hiroshima’s governor added.

By Olivia Rosane. Published 8-6-2023 by Common Dreams

The Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Photo: UNESCO

Local, national, and global leaders warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons as they commemorated the 78th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima Sunday.

This year’s anniversary comes as the release of the film Oppenheimer has offered a high-profile reminder of the history of the atomic bomb and as nuclear tensions in the current day have heightened, in part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the start of the year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved their doomsday clock to 90 seconds to midnight.

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Cardiovascular ER Visits Plunged After Pittsburgh Coal Plant Shut, Study Finds

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“Our analysis adds to the growing body of scientific evidence that policies implemented to regulate and reduce fossil fuel-related air pollution have real public health benefit,” said a study co-author.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-4-2023 by Common Dreams

Smoke belches from the Shenango Coke Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. on February 15, 2015.
(Photo: Jon Dawson/flickr/cc)

Emergency room visits by people suffering heart attacks and strokes significantly decreased almost immediately after one of the largest coal-processing plants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shut down in 2016, a study published this week revealed.

The study—published in the journal Environmental Research: Health—found “immediate and/or longer-term cumulative local cardiovascular health benefits” after the January 2016 closure of the Shenango Coke Works on Pittsburgh’s Neville Island following millions of dollars in government fines for polluting the air and water over its 54 years of operation.

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Federal Court Strikes Down Mississippi’s ‘Jim Crow’ Felon Disenfranchisement Law

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“Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear national trend in our nation against permanent disenfranchisement.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-4-2023 by Common Dreams

A U.S. federal appellate court on Friday ruled that a Jim Crow-era Mississippi law permanently disenfranchising people with certain felony convictions is unconstitutional.

In a decision that can be appealed to the full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel of the tribunal ruled 2-1 that Section 241 of Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution “violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.”

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AP Psychology Effectively Banned in Florida Over Lesson on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity

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“Sadly, it’s all part of the DeSantis playbook of eroding rights, censoring those he disagrees with, and undermining access to knowledge,” said one critic.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-3-2023 by Common Dreams

Students and their supporters rallied at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee on March 7, 2022 as the state Senate began debating a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. (Photo: MoveOn/Twitter)

The Republican-controlled Florida Board of Education on Thursday effectively banned Advanced Placement Psychology by notifying school district superintendents that teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity—key subjects in college-level psychology curricula—is prohibited under the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law.

That means class schedules for the fall semester—which begins next week in most Florida school districts—are in limbo for thousands of students. Last year, around 28,000 pupils in more than 500 Florida high schools took AP Psychology.

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Report Details ‘Shocking Pattern’ of Abuse by US Agents at Mexico Border

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“The lack of accountability is so widespread that it helps cement in place a culture that enables human rights violations. The abuses keep coming because impunity is so likely.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-2-2023 by Common Dreams

A report published Wednesday by a pair of advocacy groups details rampant human rights abuses against migrants and some American citizens allegedly perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security personnel at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years under both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The report—entitled Abuses at the U.S.- Mexico Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights—was published by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) and reveals “frequent and severe alleged abuses” of migrants by members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including Border Patrol agents.

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Tribes to EPA: Ban Fish-Killing Tire Chemical 6PPD

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“If EPA truly cares about protecting the environment and the tribe’s treaty rights, not just industry’s pocketbooks, it will act now,” said one tribe’s environmental scientist.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-1-2023 by Common Dreams

Coho spawning on the Salmon River. Photo: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington/flickr/CC

Three Western Indigenous tribes on Tuesday petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking a ban on a toxic chemical used in the manufacture of tires that poses a deadly risk to fish—including species listed as endangered or threatened—when it breaks down.

Acting on behalf of the Yurok Tribe of northern California and the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Puyallup tribes from the Puget Sound region of Washington state, the legal advocacy group Earthjustice filed a petition asking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan to invoke Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) “to establish regulations prohibiting the manufacturing, processing, use, and distribution of N-(1,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) for and in tires.”

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Monthly Archives: August 2023

On 78th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, Mayor Decries ‘Folly’ of Deterrence Theory

“Believers of proactive nuclear deterrence, who say nuclear weapons are indispensable to maintain peace, are only delaying the progress toward nuclear disarmament,” Hiroshima’s governor added.

Cardiovascular ER Visits Plunged After Pittsburgh Coal Plant Shut, Study Finds

“Our analysis adds to the growing body of scientific evidence that policies implemented to regulate and reduce fossil fuel-related air pollution have real public health benefit,” said a study co-author.