Joe Biden Try To Have A Conversation With A Pre-Recorded Video

Former Vice President Joe Biden tried to have a conversation with a pre-recorded video during a Thursday night appearance on MSNBC.

Appearing for the entire hour of “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell,” Biden was given a pre-recorded question from a “voter in California” after MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell switched to the “townhall component” of the interview.

“Let’s listen to this,” said O’Donnell.

“Hi Vice President Biden. My name is Navid,” said the questioner, introducing himself in the video.

“Hi,” Biden responded, apparently confusing the recording for a live interaction.

“Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this town hall with you,” the questioner said, to which Biden replied, “Thank you for participating.”

The interview included a question from O’Donnell about Biden’s “involvement in the investigation of Michael Flynn and the FBI investigation of Michael Flynn.”

“I was never a part or had any knowledge of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office, period. Not one single time,” Biden told the MSNBC host.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/14/joe-biden-tries-talk-pre-recorded-video/

New Facial Recognition Software Predicts You’re a Criminal Based on your Face

The latest technological development appears to be an updated, “algorithmic phrenology,” repackaging a dangerous idea for the 21st century, all the more noteworthy because they are trying to sell it to law enforcement as an unbiased tool helping society.

A team from the University of Harrisburg, PA, has developed automated computer facial recognition software that they claim can predict with 80 percent accuracy and “no racial bias” whether a person is likely going to be a criminal, purely by looking at a picture of them. “By automating the identification of potential threats without bias, our aim is to produce tools for crime prevention, law enforcement, and military applications,” they said, declaring that they were looking for “strategic partners” to work with to implement their product.

In a worrying use of words, the team in their own press release, move from referring to those the software recognizes as being “likely criminals” to “criminals” in the space of just one sentence, suggesting they are confident in the discredited racist pseudoscience of phrenology they appear to have updated for the 21st century.

Public reaction to the project was less than enthusiastic, judging by comments left on Facebook, which included “Societies have been trying to push the idea of ‘born criminals’ for centuries,” “and this isn’t profiling because……?” and “20 percent getting tailed by police constantly because they have the ‘crime face.’” Indeed, the response was so negative that the university pulled the press release from the internet. However, it is still visible using the Internet Wayback Machine.

While the research team claims to be removing bias and racism from decision making, leaving it up to a faceless algorithm, those who write the code, and those who get to decide who constitutes a criminal in the first place, certainly do have their own biases. Why are the homeless or people of color who “loiter” on sidewalks criminalized, but senators and congresspersons who vote for wars and regime change operations not? And who is more likely to be arrested? Wall Street executives doing cocaine in their offices or working-class people smoking marijuana or crack? The higher the level of a person in society, the more serious and harmful their crimes become, but the likelihood of an arrest and a custodial sentence decreases. Black people are more likely to be arrested for the same crime as white people and are sentenced to longer stays in prison, too. Furthermore, facial recognition software is notorious for being unable to tell people of color apart, raising further concerns.

Crime figures are greatly swayed by whom the police choose to follow and what they decide to prioritize. For example, a recent study found 97.5 percent of Brooklyn residents arrested for breaking social distancing laws were people of color. Meanwhile, an analysis of 95 million traffic stops found that police officers were far more likely to stop black people during the daytime when their race could be determined from afar. As soon as dusk hit, the disparity greatly diminished, as a “veil of darkness” saved them from undue harassment, according to researchers. Thus, the population of people convicted of crimes does not necessarily correspond to the population that commits them.

The 2002 hit movie Minority Report is set in a future world where the government’s pre-crime division stops all murders well before they happen, with future criminals locked up preemptively. Even if accurate, is an 80 percent accuracy rate worth risking the creation of a dystopian Minority Report-style society where people are monitored and arrested for pre-crimes?

https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-facial-recognition-software-predicts-youre-a-criminal-based-on-your-face/267436/

Calif. VA Hospital Chief Charged With Sex Abuse of Colleague

SAN JOSE – A federal grand jury in San Jose indicted Dr. John Giacomini for Abusive Sexual Contact. Giacomini denies the allegations and says the relationship was consensual.

According to the indictment, Giacomini, 71, of Atherton, is alleged to have subjected the victim, a subordinate doctor under Giacomini’s supervision, to unwanted and nonconsensual sexual contact in December of 2017 while both were on duty at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. At the time, Giacomini was the Chief of the Palo Alto VA’s Cardiology Department. He had served in this position for over 30 years and also served on the medical faculty at Stanford University.

Since the alleged sexual battery happened on federal property, the VA OIG referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for federal prosecution.

The Daily Post reported: The employee reported that over the next few months Giacomini grew more aggressive in his pursuit of a sexual relationship, according to the memo. He began touching her breasts and buttocks and holding her jaw when kissing her, the memo says. He also hugged her on various occasions in a position such that her hands would be held against genitals, according to the memo.

On one occasion Giacomini undid the drawstrings of the employee’s scrubs and put his hands under her underwear, according to the memo. A VA housekeeper witnessed that encounter when the housekeeper opened the door to the office that Giacomini and the employee were inside, according to the memo.

Giacomini no longer works at the Palo Alto VA Hospital or Stanford University.

Giacomini made his initial appearance by telephone on May 14, 2020. Giacomini is currently released on a $200,000 bond

https://breaking911.com/breaking-calif-va-hospital-chief-charged-with-sex-abuse-of-colleague/

‘Interests of elites vs human rights’? UN warns against hasty lockdown lifting as global death toll tops 300,000

The global death toll in the Covid-19 pandemic has crossed 300,000, hitting another dark milestone as the United Nations voiced concerns that lockdown measures are being lifted too quickly, warning of a “second wave” of the virus.

Surpassing a total of 300,000 fatalities and nearing 4.5 million cases globally on Thursday, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University, the worldwide viral outbreak continues to expand across some 188 nations, infecting tens of thousands every day. The latest figures came on the heels of a new warning from the UN’s Human Rights High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, who said countries that repeal containment policies too fast risk a resurgence of the virus.

“If an affected country comes out of lock-down too hastily, there is a danger that a second wave, costing many more lives, will be triggered sooner and more destructively than would otherwise be the case,” Bachelet said.

If the re-opening of societies is mishandled, all the huge sacrifices made during the initial lock-down will have been for nothing.

Calling for the protection of “less privileged or marginalized communities,” the commissioner also said the virus will “rebound on everyone” if national responses are driven by “the interests of a particular elite,” adding that “politics or economics” should not be put ahead of human rights.

Leading the world in both deaths and infections, the US offers an emblematic case of the tension Bachelet described, as lockdown measures imposed across dozens of states exact a major economic toll, prompting thousands of angry residents and business owners to take to the streets in protest.

The lockdowns have put over 36 million Americans out of work – compared to 15 million during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The stock market, too, has suffered amid the pandemic, seeing a precipitous fall from which it might take years to recover. But even as dozens of states move ahead with plans to reopen, some health experts have warned they are doing so prematurely, while politicians capitalize on blaming President Donald Trump for pushing states too hard.

A number of other major Covid-19 hotspots are also cautiously lifting their own quarantine measures – including France, Italy and Spain, some of Europe’s hardest-hit countries. India’s lockdown, covering the majority of its population of 1.3 billion, is also set to expire on May 17, barring another extension. While each nation faces the same virus, conditions vary dramatically from country to country, suggesting there is no one-size-fits-all answer to reopening.

https://www.rt.com/news/488693-un-coronavirus-lockdown-elites-interests/

Russian Education Ministry Starting Alternative to Zoom, Skype for 'Security' Reasons

Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov said Russian developers are going to create a more secure domestic analogue of Zoom and Skype for schools before the next school year. He noted that the domestic software solution will be more secure than many foreign systems.

https://russia-insider.com/en/russian-education-ministry-starting-alternative-zoom-skype-security-reasons/ri30121