00x Final Filter

Character.AI files for bankruptcy, will sell some assets to Disney for $20M – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Character.AI files for bankruptcy, will sell some assets to Disney for $20M – National– globalnews.ca
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EXCERPT:

Chatbot platform Character.AI said on Monday it has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and has agreed to sell some assets for US$20 million to Walt Disney.The generative AI platform has faced mounting legal challenges over its chatbots. Earlier this year, Character.AI and Alphabet’s Google settled a lawsuit by the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy who killed himself after the startup’s chatbot allegedly encouraged him to do so.

Kentucky has sued the company, saying its chatbots encouraged users to cut, starve or kill themselves, while Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit alleging its chatbots posed as doctors.

According to Character.AI’s proposal, Disney will be a “stalking-horse” bidder — an initial prospective buyer — for a non-exclusive perpetual license to some intellectual property. Other bidders can top Disney’s offer.

DNC Chair Ken Martin Keeps Pushing ‘Big Tent’ Talking Point About DSA Radicals– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

DNC Chair Ken Martin Keeps Pushing ‘Big Tent’ Talking Point About DSA Radicals– legalinsurrection.com
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EXCERPT:

For months now, almost every time a Democrat has been asked by someone in the media about the far-out views of a candidate who is part of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), we have heard about how their party is a ‘big tent.’

This simply doesn’t cut it because what they are saying is that their tent is big enough for someone who wants to defund the police or promote the gender transition of minors, but not big enough for anyone who wants to enforce our immigration laws or protect the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin is still using this talking point, less than a month before the midterms.

FOX News reports:

DNC Chair Ken Martin defends ‘Big Tent’ strategy when pressed on democratic socialists

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin defended his party’s big-tent approach Monday, arguing Democrats must continue expanding their coalition even as Republicans target the party over its ties to democratic socialists.

Martin was pressed during an interview on MSNOW about whether the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a liability for the party ahead of the midterm elections.

“So let me just say, I’ve always taken a big-tent approach to how you build a party,” Martin said. “That’s why I was successful for all these years in Minnesota. I believe you win through addition, not subtraction. You win by growing your coalition, not shrinking it.”

“And sometimes, is there a middle ground, though, when Americans see that…” interjected MSNOW anchor Peter Alexander.

“No, not at all, because that’s where the vast majority of Americans are at,” Martin replied. “Maybe right in the middle, or a little center-left, or a little center-right. But it doesn’t mean we can’t bring new voices into the party, right? Of course, we have to keep growing and we have to keep expanding this tent,” Martin reiterated.

The Politics of Global AI Governance — Global Security Review

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

The Politics of Global AI Governance — Global Security Review– globalsecurityreview.com
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EXCERPT:

 The growing gap between rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and inadequate verification mechanisms has created several challenges for the technology. In this context, global AI governance has become a central topic of discussion in the tech world. However, the discourse around AI focuses primarily on how the technology will be regulated. The central problem of global AI governance is no longer whether AI should be regulated, but whether states possess the power to regulate the actors and infrastructures on which they increasingly depend.  

The international system has begun responding swiftly to evolving AI dynamics. Notably, the UN Global Digital Compact has established a framework for digital cooperation. The General Assembly has created the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, along with a Dialogue on AI Governance. In parallel, the European Union (EU) has moved towards an enforceable risk-based regulation through the AI Act. Likewise, the Council of Europe has also launched the first internationally binding treaty on AI. These initiatives are a step in the right direction. However, they lack a coherent global regime or direction, which impacts their effectiveness.  

As the latest initiatives show, the U.S. relies on targeted export controls on advanced chips, voluntary frameworks, and a pro-innovation approach that preserves U.S. dominance. China, on the other hand, favors a state-driven approach, built around controls on generative AI. The EU, by contrast, prioritizes enforceable rules for high-risk and general-purpose AI, along with strong fundamental rights protection. The emerging AI order is therefore not one model, but several operating simultaneously. This fragmentation is not accidental. It reflects competing power struggles among national interests. In such an environment, the search for a global AI governance appears misguided.  

Future AI governance is likely to mirror a hybrid model of international finance or trade regimes. Against this backdrop, private companies remain incredibly powerful, given their monopoly over data, models, computing power, and expertise, which are concentrated in a handful of private companies. This trend creates a governance paradox. Governments aim to regulate the private sector while remaining excessively dependent on it, creating a capacity challenge.  

Democratic Party Is Undergoing Socialist Rebranding, RSC Members Say– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Democratic Party Is Undergoing Socialist Rebranding, RSC Members Say– www.dailysignal.com
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EXCERPT:

Outspoken members of the congressional Republican Study Committee called out the Democratic Party for nominating self-proclaimed capitalist candidates in key districts while allegedly undergoing a socialist rebranding.

The members’ comments come after nearly the entire House Democratic caucus voted against a resolution condemning socialism this fall. Additionally, the Democratic Socialists of America organization has reached a record-high membership, and longtime Democratic House members earlier this spring said the party’s congressional leadership has been hijacked by progressives.

A new poll first reported by the Daily Signal also found that 84% of American Democrats under 29 have a favorable view of socialism.

“When Democrats claim they’re fighting for affordability, they’re lying,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told the Daily Signal. “Their socialist policies will increase inflation up to 160%, cut paychecks by almost 30%, eliminate millions of jobs, and cost American families more than $350,000 over the next decade.”

“The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Republicans are lowering costs and putting more money into the pockets of hardworking families while socialists call a financial crisis their agenda,” Scalise continued.

Chairwoman of the RSC’s Article One Task Force, Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., added that the “calls to expand socialism in America have ignited a debate between commonsense versus crazy,” and that America “must never” elect the “false promise of ‘Democratic Socialism.’”

The Democratic Party did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Ilhan’s Own Words Come Back To Haunt After Raid On Her DC Home– trendingpoliticsnews.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Ilhan’s Own Words Come Back To Haunt After Raid On Her DC Home– trendingpoliticsnews.com
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EXCERPT:

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s past remarks about the rule of law are coming back to haunt her after federal agents raided her Washington, D.C., home Monday morning, triggering a wave of backlash from Republicans who were quick to remind the congresswoman of her own words.

The Minnesota Democrat previously declared that “no one is above the law” following President Donald Trump’s indictment in 2023. Now, with Omar herself facing federal scrutiny, conservatives are throwing that statement right back at her.

Agents with Homeland Security Investigations executed a court-authorized search warrant at Omar’s residence early Monday as part of an ongoing criminal investigation reportedly involving immigration paperwork completed by her late father.

The Justice Department confirmed the operation, although officials have not publicly disclosed the specific allegations being investigated.

“Today in the Washington, D.C., area, Homeland Security Investgations executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Is The Army’s New Rifle A Lemon?– dailycaller.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Is The Army’s New Rifle A Lemon?– dailycaller.com
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EXCERPT:

The United States Army is facing criticism over the fielding of the M7 rifle, which the M8 carbine is replacing starting in December.

SIG won a ten-year contract in 2022 to produce the Army’s Next-Generation Squad Weapons—a rifle and light machine gun designed to fire a new 6.8x51mm round, Guns.com reported. The M7 has drawn fire on social media for being too heavy for troops. (RELATED: Inside The ‘Top Secret’ Plan That Led To Biggest Pro-Second Amendment Ruling In 90 Years)

“Besides weighing 50% more than an M4, this POS is heavily overloaded with janky tacticool features, takes special ammo produced by one monopoly supplier, and falls to pieces under stress,” one post says. “All it lacks to be a true exemplar of American tech is a QR code and frozen touch screen.”

The Army launched the NGSW program after the 2017 Small Arms Ammunition Configuration (SAAC) study, which validated a need for greater energy on target and reduced shooter error through advanced fire control. It addressed limitations of existing 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm systems against protected and unprotected threats at extended ranges and is the first major rifle and automatic rifle fielding of this nature in roughly 65 years.

The M7 weighed 9.8 pounds equipped with a suppressor, had a 20-round magazine, a 13.5-inch barrel and could be equipped with an optical sight, according to ArmyRecognition.com. The XM8 weighs 8.8 pounds with the suppressor, has a 25-round clip and an 11-inch barrel, according to the United States Army.

Scientists recreate a bizarre quantum effect that stops a particle cold– www.sciencedaily.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Scientists recreate a bizarre quantum effect that stops a particle cold– www.sciencedaily.com
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EXCERPT:

A particle does not have to pass through a magnetic field to be influenced by it. That surprising feature of quantum physics has now been recreated by researchers at the University of Oxford, who used a hybrid quantum computer to demonstrate how an invisible magnetic influence can bring a simulated particle’s movement to a complete stop.

The experiment reproduced a phenomenon known as the Aharonov-Bohm effect, in which a charged particle traveling around a region containing magnetic flux experiences a measurable change in its quantum state, even though its path never takes it through the magnetic field itself.

The Oxford team achieved this using a quantum system that combines qubits, the basic units of quantum information, with quantum oscillators, which represent vibrating motion. Their findings, published in Nature Physics, demonstrate how this combination could help scientists investigate fundamental interactions between matter and fields that are increasingly difficult to simulate using conventional computers.

A Strange Quantum Effect Predicted in 1959

In everyday physics, a charged particle responds to the electric and magnetic fields it encounters. Quantum mechanics, however, reveals that particles can behave in ways that have no straightforward counterpart in our ordinary experience.

A Complete Guide to Trump’s Multi-Snared Election Trap– www.truthdig.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

A Complete Guide to Trump’s Multi-Snared Election Trap– www.truthdig.com
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EXCERPT:

Astoria is one of my favorites on the Oregon coast, a small town of around 9,000 people with great restaurants and craft shops. Two of them, a coffee shop and ceramics studio, are owned by a small businessperson, Audrey Long, who’s mailed herself five postcards since August to test the mail. The results have been grim, particularly since Oregon is a 100% vote-by-mail state.

So far, only two of the postcards have arrived, and the first one took more than a month (and Oregon doesn’t even send out ballots until next Wednesday). Across the street from one of her shops, the town’s city hall isn’t getting its mail reliably, either, and the same is true for the tenants of a 40-unit apartment building next door, according to reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is looking into it, his office telling OPB’s reporter, “The timing of these issues is especially concerning.”

At first, I figured this was a one-off, something weird or broken in the Astoria post office. But when I mentioned this on the air Monday of this week, my lines were flooded with calls from states across the nation saying that they’re having similar problems with the mail. The calls have continued every day since.

Yesterday, an American listener who follows us on YouTube from Germany called in to say that his ballot was mailed out on Sept. 19 (the law requires all foreign-resident ballots to go out by then) and he’s tracking it online but it still hasn’t arrived at his home in Mannheim.

Live Updates: Houthis threaten U.S. with “swift and painful” response if it joins Saudi Arabia’s strikes on Iran-backed group– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Live Updates: Houthis threaten U.S. with “swift and painful” response if it joins Saudi Arabia’s strikes on Iran-backed group– www.cbsnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

The foreign ministers of the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and 23 other countries, many in Europe, have released a joint statement condemning hostile activities by Iran on foreign soil.

The statement came on the heels of British Prime Minister Andy Burnham saying a recent security incident at England’s RAF Fairford air base, which was until recently home to U.S. long-range bombers, was “almost certainly directed” by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The countries said Monday that they “condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities against us and our partners.”

Linking the RAF Fairford incident to other recent attacks in Europe “targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists, and U.S. interests,” the countries said: “Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable.”

“Anyone who conducts hostile activities on behalf of Iran, or any other state, should know that we will take action to identify, investigate, disrupt, and prosecute these acts.”

UK Gov’t Funnelled Taxpayer Money to Activists Seeking to Block Farage– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

UK Gov’t Funnelled Taxpayer Money to Activists Seeking to Block Farage– www.breitbart.com
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EXCERPT:

The Labour Party-run British government reportedly provided funding used to train leftist activists to prevent Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party or the Conservatives from coming to power and to stifle the public’s concerns over mass migration.

In the wake of the 2024 Southport Riots, which broke out after a second-generation Rwandan teen went on a mass stabbing at a children’s dance party, leaving three dead and ten others injured, then-Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced a £15 million ($20m) “community cohesion” fund supposedly intended to prevent more disorder.

“In the immediate aftermath of the unrest, I was heartened to see the extent to which communities so quickly came together to support one another and their local areas, she said at the time. “This new Community Recovery Fund will support the work that is already under way and ensure that communities have the resources they need to rebuild.”

However, according to a report from London’s Daily Telegraph, some of the money from the fund was channeled through Labour-run city councils into left-wing political projects, including the training of activists by groups such as the School of Organising, which was reportedly founded by former members of the far-left cancel culture Hope Not Hate group.

The broadsheet reported that materials produced for the training sessions included instructions on how to convince voters to reject Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the “Tory-Right”, while coaching activists up on strategies to shift working-class communities away from voting for right-wing parties.

A data center backlash is upending Ohio’s Senate race

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

A data center backlash is upending Ohio’s Senate race– www.ms.now
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EXCERPT:

WILLIAMSBURG, Ohio — Jessica Baker sifted through an overflowing pile of political mailers she has received over the past month.

Lowering costs? “That’s common sense,” she said. Reducing gas prices and utility bills? “We need that.” Party division, culture wars — it’s all there. But none of it touched the issue she wants to hear about before she votes: data centers.

“My home’s under attack,” Baker, a lead organizer for the grassroots advocacy group Conserve Ohio, told MS NOW in her living room. Just a few steps away were piles of petitions and homemade maps marking where data centers are being built across Ohio. In just a few months, she said, the issue turned her from someone who was mostly apolitical into someone who ferries petitions to and from the statehouse. There isn’t a data center in her town, but there are plans to build one just a few minutes’ drive away.

Jessica Baker in her living room in Ohio.MS NOW

“Everything doesn’t stop at that property line. So, once we started realizing that they were coming everywhere, and nobody would listen, we had —” she stops herself. “There was no choice. There’s just no choice.”

She pointed back at the mailers. “That’s what’s not on here: The people are not on here.”

But the people will vote in November.

AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models– www.technologyreview.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models– www.technologyreview.com
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EXCERPT:

SimpleClosure added data sales to its services in April. Its Asset Hub platform helps founders sell their code and workspace data—emails, chats, documents. Buyers include foundation AI labs, vendors that construct simulated workspaces for AI training, and mature tech companies building their own models. Asset Hub has handled over 150 deals and expects to return over $10 million to startups by the end of 2026. CEO Dori Yona has seen these transactions, once rare and “somewhat taboo,” become increasingly routine, with 47% of SimpleClosure deals now including code or data sales.

And it’s got company. Industry rival Sunset also has a rapidly growing data resale business. Founder and CEO Brendan Mahony says Sunset values a dying client’s assets by head count, years in operation, volume of data, and how the team used its tools. Particle board, he says, is a good analogy: “This operational exhaust data is like the wood shavings that everyone thought had no value, but it actually has a ton.”

Demand for defunct companies’ data emerged suddenly last year, as AI training labs hit the limits of public and synthetic datasets. Surge AI, for example, buys data to build “reinforcement-learning gyms” where clients’ AI agents practice tasks—think debugging a complex IT architecture or drafting appellate briefs. Nick Heiner, who leads the company’s work on these environments, says he seeks data archives reflecting a range of situations, from disagreements to tricky judgment calls. Heiner explains that one company’s Slack history, if it captures conversations with variety and depth, can be worth more than another’s Slack, email, and calendars combined.

Real archives avoid common errors in synthetic worlds, such as references to dates that don’t exist, but the extent of performance gains remains unclear. No company has yet released tests comparing results of real-world data training with the alternatives. Pricing reflects this uncertainty: Buyers quote wildly different numbers, Heiner says, because valuations are based on “research theses” estimating how many useful tasks come from, say, 100,000 lines of code.

New AI Tool Helps Readers Detect Media Bias and Strengthen Civic Literacy

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

New AI Tool Helps Readers Detect Media Bias and Strengthen Civic Literacy– thefulcrum.us
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EXCERPT:

Before a recruiter reads a résumé, software may sort applications, identify keywords, rank candidates, answer screening questions or determine which applicants advance. Some systems are relatively simple filtering tools. Others use machine learning or artificial intelligence to evaluate applicants across multiple data points.

There is nothing inherently wrong with using technology to manage a hiring process. Employers have legitimate reasons to use it. A company receiving hundreds or thousands of applications cannot expect recruiters to manually examine every document with unlimited time and resources.

The harder question is what happens when efficiency becomes a substitute for judgment.

When an automated system influences who receives a chance to compete for a job, it is no longer merely an administrative convenience. It becomes part of the infrastructure through which people gain access to economic opportunity.

That deserves more scrutiny.

Zohran Mamdani carries Hamas’s water– www.americanthinker.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Zohran Mamdani carries Hamas’s water– www.americanthinker.com
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EXCERPT:

On October 7, 2026, New York mayor and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made a statement that began with lip-service condemnation of Hamas.  “This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers.  It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7.  On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others.  We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”

There is, however, an adage that says that the word “but,” or its equivalent, negates everything that comes before it.  As George W. Bush put it after Sep. 11, 2001, you are either with us or with the terrorists.  After Dec. 7, 1941, you were either with the civilized world or you were with the Nazis and Imperial Japanese.  You didn’t get to say, “I condemn Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, but…” and then make implied excuses for Japan’s conduct.  It is similarly clear to me where somebody who says, “I condemn Hamas’s actions, but Israel commits genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing” really stands.  Mamdani went on to justify Hamas’s actions by falsely accusing Israel of apartheid and saying the suffering did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023 (an implication that Israel had it coming).

 

The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.

Federal Judge Refuses to Block Maryland’s Glock Ban, Ruling the State Can Regulate ‘Excessively Dangerous Weapons’ – USA Carry

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

Federal Judge Refuses to Block Maryland’s Glock Ban, Ruling the State Can Regulate ‘Excessively Dangerous Weapons’ – USA Carry
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EXCERPT:

  • A federal judge upheld Maryland’s ban on Glocks and striker-fired handguns, allowing it to take effect on January 1, 2027.
  • Judge Richard D. Bennett denied the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, stating that the law aligns with Second Amendment regulations.
  • Senate Bill 334 prohibits the sale and transfer of machine gun convertible pistols, including Glocks, due to potential modifications into fully automatic weapons.
  • The ruling underscores that the state justifies this ban as a necessary response to advances in weapon technology and rising gun violence.
  • The case is ongoing, and the judge suggested that the challengers were unlikely to win, which led to the denial of the emergency order.

Burnham Blames Russia for Brexit

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has telegraphed his next major move, setting up an election with Brexit on the chopping block. He is leading an international effort to paint Britain’s choice to leave the EU as a Russian-manipulated outcome, justifying a revisiting of the question. He accused Russia of meddling not only with the 2026 vote, but with other European elections as well.

UK and EU confirm date of summit after Burnham says Russian meddling shows the need for closer ties– abcnews.com
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EXCERPT:

LONDON — Russia’s attempts to meddle in European politics show why Britain must forge a closer relationship with the European Union, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday, arguing that “the status quo is not good enough.”

Burnham said that attempts by Russia to interfere in democratic votes across Europe, including Britain’s 2016 EU membership referendum, highlight the importance of strengthening the U.K.’s links with its neighbors, years after they were weakened by Brexit.

He told lawmakers in the House of Commons that it would be “a dereliction of duty” not to seek stronger ties with the 27-nation bloc that the U.K. left in 2020.

The statement comes after Burnham told the Labour Party’s annual conference last month that “Brexit has done more harm than good” and that the bare-bones trade deal Britain has with the EU is holding the country back. He said he will seek political consensus on a new relationship, with future options including rejoining the bloc.

The Unknown Donor Axis Behind the Radical Left’s Rise to Power– gellerreport.com

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

The Unknown Donor Axis Behind the Radical Left’s Rise to Power– gellerreport.com
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EXCERPT:

In past elections, big donors to progressives were generally older, wealthy hippies or successful Hollywood players. Now, our analysis of campaign filings shows a crew of virtually unknown donors stepping in to fund the far left. The emerging group skews younger, is often South Asian or Middle Eastern, and works in fields such as technology and medicine. Many had never given to politics before last year, but they are now donating as much as $1 million each to fund progressive candidates and a new “anti-Aipac” super PAC, reports the Wall Street Journal. One of the major financial players in this election jihad is the contemptuously named American Priorities – more accurate would be “American Subversion.”

Key points (based on The Wall Street Journal investigation, October 10, 2026):

– A new class of wealthy political donors is financing progressive candidates. Some had little or no recorded political giving before 2025 but are now contributing hundreds of thousands — even millions — of dollars.

– An anti-AIPAC super PAC is emerging as a major financial force. American Priorities is directing substantial funding toward progressive candidates critical of Israel and seeking to counter the influence of pro-Israel political spending.

– Abdul El-Sayed is a major beneficiary. American Priorities spent more than $500,000 supporting his Michigan Senate campaign.

China using AI to Define “Online Hate”

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

The People’s Security University of China have developed an AI agent they claim can both identify hate speech (including dog whistling and coding) and the source for the hate. If “successful,” the model is sure to “inspire” similar efforts with like-minded ideologues (mainly progressives).

From bioengineer.og, “Few-shot detection of coded hate speech sits at the intersection of machine learning, computational linguistics, and social science, and this study offers a concrete template for how modern agentic AI techniques can be marshaled against one of its hardest instances.”

AI Agents Learn to Decode the Hidden Language of Online Hate– bioengineer.org
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EXCERPT:

Dog whistles are among the most slippery weapons in the online hate arsenal. A coded phrase that sounds innocuous to the average reader can carry a hostile, exclusionary, or extremist meaning for a specific in-group, giving the speaker plausible deniability while slipping past automated moderation systems. Because these expressions are implicit, tied to particular communities, and constantly evolving, they have long frustrated content moderation researchers. Now a team at the People’s Public Security University of China has unveiled a machine learning framework designed to catch them, combining agentic retrieval-augmented generation with a multi-agent data augmentation strategy in a few-shot learning setting. The work, published in the International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics, reports consistent gains over widely used detectors such as BERTweet and RoBERTa as well as over augmentation-based baselines.

The challenge the researchers set out to address is fundamentally one of knowledge and context. Unlike overt slurs, dog whistles derive their meaning from historical and sociocultural cues that are rarely spelled out in the text itself. A model trained on standard hate speech corpora sees a benign-looking sentence and classifies it as harmless, while a human reader embedded in the relevant community immediately recognizes the coded hostility. Prior studies have made progress in discovering and understanding dog whistles, but downstream detection of dog-whistle hate speech has remained underexplored. Compounding the problem, large-scale human annotation is expensive and becomes obsolete quickly as new coded expressions emerge, which makes few-shot learning, where models must learn from only a handful of labeled examples, the realistic operational setting.

China Adds Air Base to “Training” in Laos

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

China has extended its presence in Laos following reports it had set up a training camp inside the country. Now, China appears to have built an air base within Laos as well. Satellite imagery showed Chinese military aircraft leaving from and landing in the region identified as the new air base. Beijing has now claimed the base is to train Laotian pilots to fly Chinese fighters.

Are Chinese military aircraft already using a new joint air facility in Laos? – South China Morning Post
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EXCERPT:

Chinese military aircraft may already be using a new joint aviation facility in Laos, with satellite imagery showing twice as many K-8/JL-8-family trainer aircraft there as the Laotian air force is assessed to possess.

Eight of the two-seat trainer and light-attack aircraft were visible at Ban Keun Airport in commercial satellite imagery taken on September 30, according to Reuters, which first reported the images. More than two dozen military and support vehicles were also visible.

The image was taken a day after the China-Laos Joint Support and Training Centre and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy formally began operations at the airport, with a People’s Liberation Army delegation attending the inauguration.

Beijing says the jointly maintained and operated centre is intended to strengthen training for Laotian air force pilots.

Son of Bolsonaro Wins Brazil’s Presidential First Round

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

While his father sits in prison, Flavio Bolsonaro is beating the man who imprisoned him, Lula da Silver, in the first round of Brazil’s Presidential elections. He will face Lula in the final round. Bolsonaro was not the only member of his family to win that night, as four more family members won public office. Two of Flavio’s sons won seats in Brazil’s lower house.

Bolsonaro clan sweeps Brazil elections as son Flavio heads into presidential runoff – DD News
News Source

EXCERPT:

Banned from public office and under house arrest, former President Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for a coup plot following his 2022 election defeat. Yet, from confinement, the 71-year-old watched a stunning political resurrection unfold.

His eldest son, 45-year-old lawmaker Flavio Bolsonaro, has scored a massive, upset victory over leftist President Lula da Silva in the first round of the presidential race.

International reactions were immediate. In the U.S., President Donald Trump hailed the result as an “amazing, very, very big victory.” In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted his congratulations on X, saying that he looks forward to “restoring the extraordinary friendship between Israel and Brazil.”

The result instantly makes Flavio Bolsonaro the favourite heading into the decisive runoff on 25th October. For Bolsonaro Senior though, who is currently serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for a coup plot, the celebrations are just beginning. Four more members of the Bolsonaro family swept into public office. The former President’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, and his second son, Carlos, secured seats in the upper House of Brazil’s parliament. His youngest son, Jair Renan, and his brother, Renato, took seats in the lower House. Analysts say that in Brazilian history, no political clan has ever managed to elect so many members all at once.

That’s not all. Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party completely redrew the map of Brazil’s parliament, emerging as the largest single-party representation in both Houses. In the 81-seat Senate, the party nearly doubled its footprint — surging from 15 to 28 seats. This marks the strongest performance by any single party since Brazil returned to democracy and enacted its Constitution in the late 1980s. In the lower House, they climbed to 121 seats. Combined with allied centre-to-right blocs, Conservatives now hold a crushing working majority of nearly 250 seats in the lower House and over 30 in the upper House.

Most importantly for Bolsonaro Senior, this legislative fortress could secure him much-needed amnesty. An allied Parliament gives Flavio Bolsonaro the power to erase his father’s legal woes. Flavio’s ultimate campaign promise has been to walk up the ramp of the Presidential compound next year shoulder-to-shoulder with his father. And an amnesty for Bolsonaro Senior could become a reality even sooner if the current Parliament decides to curry favour with the incoming Government. The Senate’s pro-Bolsonaro bloc is even creeping close to the 54-vote threshold required to impeach the very Supreme Court justices who convicted the far-right patriarch.

Christian-Only Franchise Constitutional, Court Rules

pgnewser October 13, 2026 0

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a Christian-only auto repair franchise is not a constitutional violation. The company, Christian Brothers Automotive, only allows self-professing Christians to be franchise owners. There are 300 franchises nationwide.

Appeals court rules Christian auto repair chain can limit franchises to Christians 
News Source

EXCERPT:

A federal appeals court ruled that Christian Brothers Automotive can make Christianity a requirement for its franchise owners, rejecting a Jewish man’s racial discrimination lawsuit.

Three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Houston-based company in a Sept. 30 ruling. They found no evidence that the chain rejected the applicant based on race.

Mark Carr and a partner opened the first auto repair shop in Mission Bend, Texas, in 1982. Christian Brothers started selling franchises in 1996 and now has more than 310 locations nationwide.

The company says it follows the biblical command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Its shops close on weekends, giving owners and employees time with their families.

Christian Brothers requires franchise owners to share its faith and give a personal Christian testimony. The company has followed the rule for decades.

Its franchise owners come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and at least two are Christians who are ethnic Jews.

🇪🇸 Spain’s National Day TURNED TENSE in Madrid as flag-waving demonstrators CONFRONTED housing protesters camped at Puerta del Sol. The encampment is protesting soaring housing costs and evictions. Video shows teenage girls taunting campers – X

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🇪🇸 Spain’s National Day TURNED TENSE in Madrid as flag-waving demonstrators CONFRONTED housing protesters camped at Puerta del Sol. The encampment is protesting soaring housing costs and evictions. Video shows teenage girls taunting campers – X
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NEW: Abdul El-Sayed’s Sister Claimed Affiliation With Muslim Brotherhood In Unearthed Tweets– trendingpoliticsnews.com

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NEW: Abdul El-Sayed’s Sister Claimed Affiliation With Muslim Brotherhood In Unearthed Tweets– trendingpoliticsnews.com
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EXCERPT:

Democratic Party U.S. Senate nominee for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed’s sister, Eman Abdelhadi, claimed that the family had long been affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in a series of unearthed social media posts. The revelation comes just a day after El-Sayed denied having any family affiliation with the extremist group while appearing on NBC’s Meet The Press.

During the Meet The Press interview, host Kristen Welker asked him to clarify whether he or his family had any connections to the group. El-Sayed replied “No,” and repeated the denial when pressed further.

A report from the Washington Free Beacon, however, examined social media posts from 2012 and 2013 from Abdelhadi, who works as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. El-Sayed and Abdelhadi share the same mother, Fatten Elkomy, who emigrated from Egypt in the late 1970s.

According to the Free Beacon, Elkomy previously worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, which the U.S. Treasury Department designated in 2004 for providing financial and logistical support to al-Qaeda and Hamas.

In one post from June 24, 2012 — days after Egypt elected Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as president — Abdelhadi wrote, “My family has long been MB, but I’ve always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.”

“Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect,” she also wrote on the same day.

In a July 2013 post, Abdelhadi said she was praying for “for all my family that supports the #MB in Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.” Other posts from the period referred to conversations with “#MB family in Egypt” and an aunt’s comments on the group during a visit to the United States.

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Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin contacted the El-Sayed campaign for comment on the posts in light of the Meet the Press denial. Campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner responded by completely side-stepping the question, writing, “Abdul is a dad and a doctor. He has spent his entire career working to keep Michiganders healthy and safe. Independent fact checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family. Mike wants to distract from Trump’s agenda that is terrorizing Michigan families at the pump and at the grocery store.”

On background, the campaign described claims that El-Sayed and his family are part of the Muslim Brotherhood as “racist” and “untrue.”

The Muslim Brotherhood, which boasts millions of members worldwide, advocates for the implementation of Sharia Law in society. It is designated as a terrorist group in countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates due to its historical involvement in violence and opposition to secular governance. Several chapters of the organization — including the Egyptian chapter — are designated as terrorist in the United States.

Writings by Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb have long been cited as a primary influence by figures associated with al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

RELATED: Abdul El-Sayed’s Sister Confirms The Worst In New Undercover Clip

Drones hit ships in Black Sea, sinking 1, prompting rescue operations, Bulgaria says– abcnews.com

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Drones hit ships in Black Sea, sinking 1, prompting rescue operations, Bulgaria says– abcnews.com
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EXCERPT:

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Drones struck two ships in the Black Sea off Bulgaria on Tuesday, sinking one and prompting emergency rescue operations, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

Rescuers evacuated all 15 crew members from one ship, the Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, with five receiving treatment for minor injuries, Radev said in a video posted to social media.

The crew, which included seven Ukrainian citizens and eight Azerbaijan citizens, reported the ship’s deck and hull were hit by three aerial drones.

One crew member from the sunken vessel was rescued, Radev added, without providing details about the others aboard. The strikes on the two ships occurred 18 and 17 miles (29 and 27.5 kilometers) from the Bulgarian coast.

During an emergency meeting of Bulgaria’s Security Council on Tuesday, Radev called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and said Bulgaria was seeking NATO and European Union assistance.

While authorities do not possess clear evidence on who was responsible for the drone attacks, “logic, as I have already stated, indicates that the result is in favor of the Russian Federation,” Radev said.

The attacks come exactly a week after sea and aerial drones attacked two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. A Togo-flagged ship sank, while a Bulgarian ferry evacuated the 18-member crew from a Pulau-flagged vessel.

Ukraine’s military did not conduct any operations near the locations of last week’s drone strikes, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who pointed the finger at Russia.

A day earlier, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught fire following a drone attack and later sank in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania. Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued, Romanian authorities said.

Russia did not immediately comment on Tuesday’s incident.

Radev said he would summon the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova, for a conversation Tuesday.

 

Mass stabbing at South Korean supermarket as cops swarm and multiple shoppers injured– www.mirror.co.uk

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Mass stabbing at South Korean supermarket as cops swarm and multiple shoppers injured– www.mirror.co.uk
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EXCERPT:

A mass stabbing at a discount supermarket in South Korea has prompted a huge emergency services response with police arresting the suspected attacker.

At approximately 1:49pm today (5.49am BST), an emergency report was filed stating that a stabbing had taken place at the Homeplus Guwol branch in Namdong-gu, Incheon.

Police rushed to the scene and arrested a man, they are referring to as A, who allegedly carried out the stabbing.

Police estimate that 6 to 8 Homeplus customers were injured in the attack. However, the exact number of casualties has not yet been confirmed.

This is a Breaking News story. You’ll be more likely to see our stories when any big news breaks in future by simply by clicking this link. You can also join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News, Flipboard, Apple News, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage.

Second wave of early prison releases under way in England and Wales | Prisons and probation– www.theguardian.com

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Second wave of early prison releases under way in England and Wales | Prisons and probation– www.theguardian.com
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EXCERPT:

The second wave of early prison releases takes place throughout Tuesday, with hundreds of offenders walking out across England and Wales under the government’s controversial plan to ease overcrowding.

About 2,000 criminals, including domestic abusers and violent offenders, are being freed this month, with another 3,000 to follow in stages over the next year. The total was reduced from 6,000 after an intervention by Andy Burnham.

Prisoners who were convicted of manslaughter are excluded, meaning the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who died in the line of duty in 2019, will not be eligible.

The second tranche of early releases comes as members of the probation union, Napo, hold a pre-ballot meeting on taking strike action over pay and workloads.

Pay negotiations with probation officers ended with a “best and final” conditional pay offer worth 5%, which the union’s negotiating committee rejected. Members will be asked to vote for industrial action on pay, along with a question on workloads, in a formal ballot on industrial action to launch on 19 October.

The union says probation has been asked to take on huge amounts of additional work due to tens of thousands of prisoners released early from prisons since 2022.

The number of people behind bars has jumped by more than 1,700 in the past three months. The prison population in England and Wales was at 87,499 on Monday, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data, up from 85,761 on 29 June, a rise of 2%.

The MoJ said released offenders would be monitored under the “toughest supervision in British history”. New restriction zones designed to control the movements of the highest-risk sexual and violent offenders should confine released prisoners to areas a few miles wide, in an effort to reassure victims of their crimes.

The MoJ also announced an expansion of electronic monitoring, with a new presumption that offenders will be electronically tagged and monitored when they leave prison. Technology rolling out this year is said to give probation near-live access to tagging data, helping staff spot breaches when offenders step out of line.

However, this month the victims’ commissioner, Claire Waxman, said the government’s confidence in the plan “is not yet matched by the reality on the ground”.

 

France braces for fresh nationwide student demonstrations– www.channelnewsasia.com

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France braces for fresh nationwide student demonstrations– www.channelnewsasia.com
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EXCERPT:

“AREN’T BEING HEARD”

While most of the protests have been peaceful, students say they are determined to press the government to address the problems of too many absent teachers, dilapidated buildings, overcrowded class schedules and other grievances.

“Students aren’t being heard enough… not their proposals to authorities and elected officials,” a 19-year-old graphic design student in Paris, Leo, said.

He added that the protesters – many of whom were minors – were “disturbed by the level of repression never before seen for a student movement”.

One young protester lost a hand from a police stun grenade earlier in the protests, another lost many of his teeth from a tear-gas canister fired in his face at close range, and another lost an eye.

Rights groups and students have accused the police of a disproportionate use of force.

Several police officers and teachers have also been hurt, and on Monday authorities said fireworks fired through a tube injured two school workers in Reims, one school worker in a Paris suburb and a police officer outside a school in Marseille.

Tuesday’s demonstrations supporting the students were to be followed on Saturday by wider public rallies against the rising cost of living.

Naila, a 17-year-old student in the city of Rennes who said she would participate in Tuesday’s demonstration, hoped it would “converge” with the wider one on Saturday.

President Emmanuel Macron, speaking to reporters on Monday, said the pupils’ grievances would take time to address and urged restraint from protesters.

“These are issues that deserve time, consultations, discussion and respect,” Macron said.

 

German police ‘arrest’ child-groping robot (VIDEOS) — RT World News– rt-english.com

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German police ‘arrest’ child-groping robot (VIDEOS) — RT World News– rt-english.com
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EXCERPT:

German police have seized a humanoid robot that allegedly groped a 16-year-old girl on the streets of Cologne, and are investigating its owner for sexual harassment.

Officers seized the robot in the early hours of Sunday morning after it “allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl’s buttocks and made thrusting motions against her,” according to a statement from Cologne Police.

The teenage girl was standing outside a fast food restaurant with her friends when the robot approached her from behind and made obscene motions, the statement continued. Shortly afterwards, officers found the robot in the trunk of a nearby car and confiscated it, along with the mobile phones of its 16-year-old owner and his 19-year-old accomplice.

The red and gold robot, modeled on Marvel’s ‘Iron Man’, was seen in an evidence photo clad in a white vest, a gold chain, and a stick-on mustache.

Police are now “examining how the robot was functioning at the time of the incident and whether someone was deliberately controlling its movements.” The two teenagers operating the droid – who live-streamed the incident online – are being investigated on suspicion of sexual harassment.

Video footage shared on TikTok showed the sex-pest robot, named ‘Ahmed’ by his owner and accomplice, harassing multiple women. The droid made masturbatory hand gestures and thrusting motions at several women as his alleged operators laughed, and approached one woman from behind, causing her to scream. It is unclear if this is the incident that triggered the investigation.

According to Germany’s criminal code, sexual assault requires contact between perpetrator and victim. Acts “carried out by machines or by third parties” do not rise to the level of assault, The German Federal Court of Justice ruled in 2021. If found guilty of sexual harassment, however, the suspects could face a fine or up to two years in prison.

 

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