Is Law & Order the greatest TV show of all time? With the recent release of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, Kate Davis and Sean Cullen are taking this series to court. Then, Hunter Collins and Marito Lopez are sharp-tongued when they debate the current ease of learning a new language.

Elvira Kurt and Graham Chittenden have no time to waist when they discuss if belts are superior to suspenders. Then, should everyone move to Hamilton? Gavin Stephens and Ron Sparks bring the Hammer down on each other in their debate for this Ontario city.

A senior Conservative MP is comparing a government proposal for online voting in the House of Commons to the dating app Tinder.

How Baraye became the unofficial anthem of the protests in Iran; former Trump administration staffers have created a dating site for conservatives; Talking Derry Girls podcast hosts get us ready for season three; a new documentary celebrates the founder of California's famed French Laundry restaurant; Cree writer Kenneth T. Williams spins a tale of prophecy, purity and identity in his new play, The Herd; and more.

A group of women in St. John's, Newfoundland gather on a cold, autumn night for their regular book club. Over snacks, wine and tea, they discuss Alice Munro's work, and how her stories illuminate some of the deepest issues in their own lives. Munro's uncanny ability to shine light on darkened recesses of our inner lives earned her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

De tarieven voor internet en tv zijn in vijf jaar tijd met bijna 24 procent gestegen. Jaar op jaar voeren providers forse prijsverhogingen door per 1 juli. Daarentegen krijgt de consument wel meer waar voor zijn geld; de prijs per megabit is gemiddeld met 64% gedaald. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek van onafhankelijke internetvergelijker Breedbandwinkel.nl onder 80.000 Nederlandse huishoudens.

Met een nieuwe positionering en een productaanbod dat helemaal aansluit op de klantwensen gaat T-Mobile Nederland vanaf vandaag verder onder de naam Odido. Het bedrijf werd twee jaar geleden overgenomen door investeerders, maar mocht de T-Mobile-naam nog beperkte tijd gebruiken.

Op zondagavond is in Nederland een recordhoeveelheid aan internetgebruik gemeten. De Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) geeft aan een ongekende 12 terabit aan data per seconde verwerkt te hebben om 19:30 uur.

Odido steekt boven alle Nederlandse providers uit in de recente benchmarktest van vaste internetdiensten, uitgevoerd door Umlaut. Hoewel KPN het beste scoort op het gebied van mobiele netwerken, is het Odido dat de kroon spant op het vlak van vast internet.

Impressive fifth album from producer Simon Green, building on previous triumphs.

Breaking out of the new New York, a young rap pair of palpable promise.

Modernisation of a warehouse can increase performance and service life. Edward Hutchison, Managing Director of BITO Storage Systems asks: have you considered retrofitting existing pallet racking?

Numerous new developments in CONTACT’s Elements platform and innovative digitalisation strategies will take centre stage at this year’s Open World.

New thinking in online fulfilment order picking that combines long established warehouse ‘wave’ picking techniques with state-of-the-art sorting robots is delivering eye-catching improvements in picking rates, says Frazer Watson, Global Vice President of Rainbow Dynamics.

The Green Party of the United States rebuffed efforts by Ralph Nader to win its endorsement for president by voting Saturday to make David Cobb its 2004 presidential candidate.

Wikimedia Commons Philadelphia County Prison

In an important move that returns federal government policy to the Obama era, today President Biden signed an executive order calling on the Department of Justice to ends its use of private prisons.  While this executive order does not end federal government reliance on for-profit immigration detention centers, it does require that no future contracts with private prison operators be entered into between the federal government and private prison corporations CoreCivic, GEO Group and others.  Use of the executive order to end private for-profit prison reliance has proven difficult politically as Obama ended their use before the 2016 election, but once Trump entered the White House, he rescinded the policy and made robust use of private prisons for federal prisoners as well as immigration detention.

The debate rages between the Fraunhofer encoder and the LAME encoder for encoding podcasts. Listen for yourself and see if you can tell the difference.

The post Which is the Best MP3 Encoder for Podcasts? appeared first on Richard Farrar.

Cricket stars from Sydney Thunder thrilled their fans in Kellyville on Sunday morning.

TRISTAN Potts gave up two other sports after he gave hockey a go and loved it. He started just a few years ago and has already represented NSW in Japan.

WITH just days to go until election day, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visited Banks and Barton to drum up support.

Robert Xie Lianbin, 51, returned to the NSW Supreme Court for the start of his fourth trial in the killing of five members of the Lin family almost seven years ago.

We posed some big questions to the Liberal and Labor contenders for Bennelong, John Alexander and Lyndal Howison, ahead of the Federal Election.

At just 16, Thomas has made cricketing history.

I’ve had a lot of conversations since Tuesday revolving around the question of why Donald Trump won. The economy and inflation. Kamala Harris didn’t do this or that. Sexism and racism. The border. That trans-inmate ad that ran a jillion times. And so on. via Pocket

OpenCoder is an open and reproducible code LLM family which matches the performance of Top-Tier Code LLM. We provide not just the final models, but also the reproducible training data, the complete data processing pipeline, rigorous experimental ablation results, and detailed training protocols for open scientific research.

El centro invita a “desaprender” los tópicos sobre la región en una sorprendente exposición en la que participan pensadores, activistas y artistas indígenas Ni el Aguirre de Klaus Kinski, ni el coronel Fawcett, ni el explorador Ridgewell de La oreja rota de Tintín, ni el Indiana Jones del via Pocket

But in this process, we must remember something important: life is not meant to be rushed through. It is not a race, nor is it a problem to be solved. It is an experience to be lived, and living well requires presence. To focus on one thing deeply, to give it your full attention, is to experience it fully. And when we do this, something remarkable happens. Time, which so often feels like it is slipping through our fingers, begins to slow. Moments become rich, textured. Even the simplest of tasks takes on a new significance when approached with care, with attention.

granny shots - grny

President-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as secretary of state, according to the New York Times.

The post Report: President-Elect Donald Trump Considering Marco Rubio as Secretary of State appeared first on Breitbart.

Senate Republicans are set to gather behind closed doors on Wednesday to select a new party leader after securing the majority—and as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) serves his final days as Senate minority leader.

The post Exclusive — Sen. Ron Johnson Hopes for Delay of Senate Leadership Vote, Calls McConnell Push ‘Grotesque’ appeared first on Breitbart.

We need a Majority Leader who understands the needs of the American people and has a proven track record of fighting for them.

The post Exclusive—Rep. Scott Perry: Senator Rick Scott Is a Majority Leader for the American People appeared first on Breitbart.

Americans gave Republicans a mandate to "enact President Trump's agenda," Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said on Tuesday as he vies for the Senate leadership position.

The post Senate Majority Leader Contender Rick Scott: America Gave Us a Mandate to ‘Enact President Trump’s Agenda’ appeared first on Breitbart.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ordered the entire administration of President Joe Biden to preserve all records and communications in the waning days of the outgoing Democrat administration as former President Donald Trump’s team prepares to take over.

The post Exclusive — Speaker Johnson Orders Entire Biden Administration to Preserve and Retain All Records and Documents appeared first on Breitbart.

An unknown purchase order inquiry from Captain Fabri. You can smell the virus a mile away.

A Liberty Life Debit Order Authorization from Microsoft, via Standard Bank. This is enough to make anyone confused. Clearly these phishing scammers did not think this one through.

A fake Amazon order report, with a touch of false anti-virus peace of mind...

Ben jij altijd op zoek naar sterke content-ideeën waarmee je jouw socialmedia-kanalen kunt vullen? Dan komt een contentplanning goed van pas. Daarmee kun je vast vooruitkijken en belangrijke themadagen en inhaakmomenten noteren: een fijne leidraad. Of je nu (Belgische of Nederlandse) nationale feestdagen wil uitlichten of minder bekende dagen die goed aansluiten bij jouw product […]

Hoe betrouwbaar is het gebruik van AI in neuromarketing? Met onderzoek hebben we geprobeerd deze vraag te beantwoorden. We hebben de resultaten van AI-modellen voor eye tracking vergeleken met de resultaten van echte deelnemers. In februari en maart 2023 interviewden onderzoekers van Thomas More in het kader van het TETRA-onderzoeksproject ‘Neuromarketing’ medewerkers van 13 verschillende […]

Vergeet de nieuwe videofeed. Bespaar je de tijd om alle minimale aanpassingen in het (organische) algoritme toe te passen in de hoop een paar extra impressies te behalen. De grootste verandering vindt al enige tijd plaats en dat is dat LinkedIn steeds meer inzet op betalende klanten. Het wordt, en is misschien al, een platform […]

Defense for Children International – Palestine v. Biden

There are defendants in a lawsuit brought in the northern district of California called Defense for Children International– Palestine v. Biden. The plaintiffs are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights and attorney Marc Vander Hout. We’re going to talk about this lawsuit against President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin. This lawsuit follows a January 2024 historic hearing that included testimony from some Palestinian plaintiffs and witnesses to the scale of destruction in Gaza and its impact on their families and communities.

Last week, a federal trial court in northern California found that Israel’s assault and siege of the Palestinian people in Gaza, possibly constituted genocide and implored the Biden administration to explain its “unflagging support“ for Israel. Notwithstanding these findings, the court denied the Center for Constitutional Rights‘ preliminary injunction motion and granted the government’s motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction over the administration of foreign relations.
The CCR appealed the decision. The appeal was argued on June 10, 2024.

Guest – Attorney Katherine Gallagher is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights . Her areas of legal expertise include matters of torture, war crimes and militarism. Among her many major cases is the case titled, Situation of Afghanistan at the International Criminal Court; and the case titled, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests-v-Vatican. Prior to her work at the CCR, she worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

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A Century Of Repression: The Espionage Act And Freedom Of The Press

These are dire times for freedom of speech around the world. According to a recently-released report, more than half of the world’s population now lives in countries that are in a state of “crisis” regarding freedom of speech. This is occurring during a year that has been marred by attacks on investigative journalism all over the world, which we have especially seen in elections in Mexico and India, as well as in the United States.

Against this backdrop, the United States is only adding gasoline to a media-freedom fire by pursuing an ongoing prosecution and attempting to extradite WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange under a 100-year-old US law called the Espionage Act of 1917. This prosecution threatens to set a dangerous precedent for journalists everywhere during these perilous times.

Guest – Carey Shenkman, is a constitutional lawyer and serves on a panel of experts at Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression Program. He is co-author, along with Ralph Engelman, of A Century Of Repression: The Espionage Act And Freedom Of The Press. Carey has recently been appointed Legal and Policy Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. [Source for 50% figure – Global Expression Report, published by the London-based free speech organization ARTICLE 19] https://www.globalexpressionreport.org/

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A Brief History of Kill Lists, From Langley to Lavender

Two artificial intelligence systems are being used by Israel and the United States to compile kill lists of Palestinians in Gaza. They are called Lavender and Where’s Daddy. This has led to the indiscriminate slaughter of whole families and has killed mostly women and children. The CIA and the US military have always tried to use the latest data processing technology to identify and kill their enemies. The history of American government assassinations goes back to collaborating with ex-Nazi intelligent officers after World War II.

Guest – Medea Benjamin, is co-founder of the international antiwar organization CODEPINK. She is the author of several books, including, with Nicholas J.S. Davies, War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years. Described as “one of America’s most committed — and most effective — fighters for human rights” by New York Newsday, and “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide.

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A Trend In Abolishing Capital Punishment

A growing number of states have abolished capital punishment in recent years. However, the death penalty remains on the books in 27 states, although the number of executions in American is at an all-time low. It is well documented that the death penalty is riddled with fatal flaws. Literally, the flaws are denying defendants a fair trial and are killing innocent people. An average of 4 wrongly convicted death-row prisoners have been exonerated each year since 1973.

According to recent research, jurors are three times more likely to recommend a death sentence for a black defendant than for a white defendant in a similar case. The death penalty does not serve as a deterrent. A study by the Death Penalty Information Center found that the South has consistently had by far the highest murder rate, yet the South accounts for more than 80% of all executions. The Northeast, which has fewer than 0.5% of all executions, has consistently had the lowest murder rate.

Guest – Mike Farrell is the President of Death Penalty Focus, an organization on whose Board I’ve served for many years. Known to millions as “B.J. Hunnicutt” on television’s historic show “M*A*S*H,” he is also a writer, director and producer. A human rights activist for over 35 years, Mike has taken part in scores of aid missions and human rights delegations to countries all over the world. Mike has visited prisons and been personally involved in numerous death penalty cases across the U.S. for over three decades.

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Freedom For Julian Assange!

After serving 1901 days in solitary confinement in a tiny cell in the infamous Belmarsh prison in London, journalist and publisher Julian Assange is free at last.

Julian gained his freedom pursuit to a plea bargain with the government of the United States which had sought to extradite him and try him under the 1917 Espionage Act He faced a certain conviction in a hostile Virginia court and 175 years in prison on 17 count of conspiracy to commit espionage for receiving and publishing information damaging to the United States government.

Julian Assange was forced to plead guilty to one count of espionage in return for the time he has served in prison. Prior to that he was confined for seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought and received political asylum.

The alleged crime he was accused of committing was the receipt and publication in 2010 of the so-called Iraq and Afghanistan war logs which document American government guilt in torture and murder including the 11 civilians and two Reuters journalists.

Julian Assange was sentenced to time served by an American federal court judge on an island in the Pacific Ocean 2000 miles from Australia. Julian Assange will now be living as a free man in Australia with his wife and two children.

Guest – Randy Credico, a steadfast supporter of Julian Assange. Mr. Credico. hosted the program “ Countdown to Freedom” in support of Julian for many years. He had visited him in Belmarsh prison.

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War Crimes, Dictators and the ICC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) along with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) were set up in 1998 in order to help prevent wars and crimes against humanity with the profound understanding that without a system of international law a future World War III might eliminate humanity.

The United States of America, under Bill Clinton, was one of seven countries that voted against the Rome statute which set up the International Criminal Court. Clinton did eventually sign the statute but George Bush “unsigned“ it and the United States has had a testy relationship with the court. Indeed under Trump, the US imposed sanctions on the court and its prosecutor.

Last month Imran Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, issued arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant, the Israeli Minister of Defense for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC also issued arrest warrants for three top leaders of Hamas.

Guest – Attorney Reed Brody, was a friend, colleague, and mentee of our late cohost Michael Ratner. Reed Brody is the author of the recently published book To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissene Habre. He has worked for many years with Human Rights Watch. Reed Brody has helped pursue the dictators Augusto Pinochet of Chile and Jean-Claude “ Baby Doc” Duvalier of Haiti. He has uncovered atrocities by US backed Contras in Nicaragua, led United Nations missions in El Salvador and the Congo, and exposed Bush administration torture.

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Two Very Important Supreme Court Decisions

When does the government cross the line from using its highly visible bully pulpit to advocate for policies and principles it has every right to promote into the prohibited zone of threatening to use its awesome powers to punish viewpoints it opposes by coercing others to refrain from doing business with the speaker.

In two very important recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide whether it is still the law of the land that a government entity’s “threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion” against a third party “to achieve the suppression” of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment.

In National Rifle Association v. Vullo, in a rare unanimous opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Court held that “Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.”

But the decision in the related case of Murthy v. Missouri, was not unanimous. In that case a federal district judge had ruled that the U.S. Surgeon General (Vivek Murthy) and other government officials violated the First Amendment by seeking to convince social media platforms to remove content the government deemed disinformation about COVID, the 2020 election and other subjects.

But on June 26, the Court punted. A 6 member majority – made up of both conservatives and liberals – held that the plaintiffs did not have standing. In dissent, three conservative justices said they would have found standing and on the merits they would have found a First Amendment violation.

Guest – Attorney David Cole argued the NRA case in the Supreme Court. He’s been the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 2016. He previously served as a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights. He has litigated a wide array of major civil liberties controversies and has personally argued 8 cases before the US Supreme Court and served as counsel in more than 30.

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Abolition Labor: The Fight To End Prison Slavery

Operating in the secrecy of the nation’s more than 1,800 prisons, a kind of shadow slave culture is being fostered. Few Americans are aware of the exploitative and pervasive practice of forced prison labor. The 13th amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery, but it made one exception: prison labor.

Prisoners are forced to work with minimal or non-existent wages, and often with no labor protections. Understanding the scope and implications of forced prison labor is crucial for anyone concerned with social justice and equity. It calls for a re-examination of our treatment of incarcerated persons and for alternatives that promote fairness for everyone, regardless of their legal status. By shining a light on this issue, we can advocate for reforms that prioritize rehabilitation over punishment and strive towards a more just and humane criminal justice system. A new book, Abolition Labor: The Fight To End Prison Slavery, provides an eye-opening overview of the extent of this problem.

Guest – Andrew Ross is a renowned social activist, author, and Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, where he also directs the Prison Research Lab. Andrew has contributed to prominent publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Nation. He has authored or edited over twenty-five books, with the recent work, Abolition Labor,  co-authored with Aiyuba Thomas and Tommaso Bardelli.

Guest – Aiyuba Thomas recently earned his M.A. from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and is an affiliate of the NYU Prison Research Lab. He currently serves as project manager for the Movements Against Mass Incarceration’s archival oral history project at Columbia University. There, he documents the experiences and challenges faced by those affected by the criminal justice system. His firsthand perspective and his extensive knowledge on the subject makes him a powerful voice in the conversation of abolishing forced prison labor.

Trump v United States

On July 1, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of the most important decisions in the history of our democracy. In the aptly named case of Trump verses United States, the six arch conservative justices awarded the ex-president – who appointed three of them – a vast and complex criminal immunity scheme.

In three ways the majority delivered Trump a tailor made “Stay-Out-of-Jail” trifecta of expanded constitutional protections for Presidents: First, absolute immunity for crimes committed when a President engages in “core” official acts and a near-conclusive presumption of immunity for other official acts; Second, a brand new rule of criminal procedure making a President’s motives irrelevant; and Third, another new rule excluding evidence of a President’s official acts from a criminal trial for his unofficial acts, which prosecutors offer to prove the ex-president’s prior knowledge and intent.

To help us understand exactly what the Court did and its impact not only on the 91 felony charges currently pending against Trump, but the future of the American presidency and our very democracy, we’ve ask one of our very own co-hosts.

Guest – Stephen Rohde practiced constitutional law for almost 50 years. He’s the author of American Words of Freedom, which examines the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. On issues of civil rights, civil liberties and the Americal political system, he is a regular contributor to Truthdig, LA Progressive, Los Angeles Review of Books, and LA Lawyer magazine. This Fall on Ms. Media, he is launching Speaking Freely: A First Amendment Podcast with Stephen Rohde.

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The Palestinian Exception To The First Amendment

The resistance organization Palestine Legal, headquartered in Chicago, was created by our own Michael Ratner and others to resist our governments’ practice of what Michael called “the Palestinian exception to the first amendment.“

This exception to the supposedly protected First Amendment activity of speaking out and organizing by Palestinian solidarity activists is carried out by the repression of the US government nationally and locally. It has never been more ferocious than it is now.

However, the mobilization against the Israeli genocide – carried out with total US support – has not been undeterred by peak anti-Palestinian repression. Palestine Legal has been in the vanguard in defending and promoting the rights of people expressing solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Guest – Dima Khalidi, founder and Director of Palestine Legal. Her work includes providing legal advice to activists, engaging in advocacy to protect their rights to speak out for Palestinian rights, and educating activists and the public about the repression of Palestine advocates. Prior to founding Palestine Legal in 2012, Dima worked with the Center for Constitutional Rights as a cooperating attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, submitting a Petition to United Nations officials to stop the desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, and advocating on behalf of Palestinian descendants of individuals interred in the cemetery.

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