Judge Denies State Superintendent’s Motion to Dismiss Defamation Lawsuit

(Trying to keep up with this guy & post that news was my 1st assignment when I started helping here. I just received this alert late last night. -A)

A Tulsa Judge denied a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters on Tuesday.

Tuesday, December 24th 2024, 11:36 am Read at: News On 6

A Tulsa Judge denied a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters on Tuesday.

Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against State Superintendent Ryan Walters after Walters called Miller a liar and a clown in July in response to Miller’s concerns over Title I funding.

Walters had asked the judge to dismiss it, saying it would set a bad precedent going forward. However, the judge ruled that because of the claims Walters was making he needed to show evidence to support them. The case could still be dismissed at a later date if proper evidence is provided.

A date for further action on the case has not been set.

(snip-MORE with background on the page linked above)

Potential Resource for Refugees in the US

Mexico tests cellphone app allowing migrants to send alert if they are about to be detained in US

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to warn relatives and local consulates if they think they are about to be detained by the U.S. immigration department, a senior official said Friday.

The move is in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass deportations after he takes office on Jan. 20.

The app has been rolled out for small-scale testing and “appears to be working very well,” said Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs.

He said the app would allow users to press a tab that would send an alert notification to previously chosen relatives and the nearest Mexican consulate. De la Fuente described it as a sort of panic button.

“In case you find yourself in a situation where detention is imminent, you push the alert button, and that sends a signal to the nearest consulate,” he said.

U.S. authorities are obliged to give notice to home-country consulates when a foreign citizen is detained. Mexico says it has beefed up consular staff and legal aid to help migrants in the legal process related to deportation.

De la Fuente expects the app to be rolled out in January. He didn’t say whether the app has a de-activation tab that would allow someone to rescind an alert if they weren’t really detained.

The government says it has also set up a call center staffed 24 hours a day to answer migrants’ questions.

The Mexican government estimates there are 11.5 million migrants with some form of legal residency in the United States, and 4.8 million without legal residency or proper documents.

More Peace & Justice History for 12/29

We Did Get Some Stuff Done

because we did the work.

It wasn’t all bad: Despite election defeat, progressives scored big wins in 2024

Organizers tell Salon how they pulled off major victories in a year marked by the rise of the far-right

By Tatyana Tandanpolie Staff Writer

Snippet:

For many on the political left, 2024 was disappointing.

Even as inflation ebbed, Americans still struggled with housing costs and necessary expenses. The U.S. role in enabling Israel’s war in Gaza sparked protests in the streets and on college campuses. The far-right continued to target marginalized groups, most notably immigrants, transgender people and women. To top it off, the mid-summer excitement at Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the presidential race following President Joe Biden’s eleventh-hour exit petered out with the election of President-elect Donald Trump — again.

But even as the political landscape appeared to grow bleaker, Americans still fended off at least some of the efforts to encroach upon their rights. At times, they even helped pass policies that not only protected core freedoms but could genuinely improve quality of life.

As they reflected on 2024 and looked ahead to 2025, when the Trump administration’s ultraconservative agenda is poised to make their work harder, advocates behind wins in LGBTQ+, labor and reproductive rights shared with Salon how they successfully organized against legislative efforts to roll their rights back and planted hope for a better future.

Abortion rights enshrined in seven states

Ballot measures seeking to establish or protect abortion rights were on 10 states’ ballots this year as organizers fought to protect access and reverse bans enacted in the wake of the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. Seven of those states — Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York — would indeed pass measures to enshrine a right to abortion access in their respective constitutions.

Proposition 139 in Arizona provided a legal means to upend the state’s 15-week abortion restriction and established state constitutional rights to abortion access until viability and afterward if a healthcare professional deems it necessary for the pregnant person’s physical or mental health. The proposition also barred the state from penalizing any individual or entity “for aiding or assisting a pregnant individual in exercising the individual’s right to abortion.”

Arizona for Abortion Access, a seven-group coalition of reproductive health, rights and justice organizations, including Reproductive Freedom for All and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, led the campaign supporting the proposed amendment, which took effect almost immediately on Nov. 25.

“The passing of Proposition 139 speaks to the broad support — across the entire state, across all political parties, and across voters of all different backgrounds — for reproductive freedom,” Erika Mach, Planned Parenthood Arizona’s chief external affairs officer, told Salon. “People want the freedom to make medical decisions with their doctor and family, without government involvement.”

To place a constitutional amendment on the state’s ballot, the coalition had to obtain signatures from 15% of registered voters in the state — just under 384,000 signatures — and file the petition by early July, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s website. (snip-MORE)

Women Doing Good Things

Nice Time: MacKenzie Scott Pissing Off Elon Musk With The Billions For The DEIs And Abortions by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Making right-wing chuds real mad is icing on the cake! Read on Substack

Billionaires are mostly despicable Montgomery-Burns type people. But then there’s MacKenzie Scott, one of the few ultra-rich who doesn’t deserve to get tarred and feathered in the coming revolution! She’s the third-wealthiest woman in the United States, 38th in the world, and has now given away $19.25 billion (with a B!) in 2,524 charitable gifts, with a focus on racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, democracy, and climate change.

She and her small team seek out nonprofits operating in communities facing high food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital. And then she gives away the money with no strings attached. Which is unusual in philanthropy! Also unusual, she’s pretty quiet about it. She has a web site that shows what she has donated to, but there’s no MacKenzie Scott ribbon cuttings, or buildings with her name on them when she drops a check. She donates, then she dips. And she plans to “keep at it until the safe is empty.”

Scott’s given to community centers, the ACLU, historically Black colleges and universities, food banks, Planned Parenthood, YMCAs, dance theaters, Native American groups, legal aid centers, to paying off medical debt, legal funds for transgender people. It is truly an inspiring list!

You may be wondering how she got there! Then-MacKenzie Tuttle went to Princeton and studied under Toni Morrison, then got a job working at the hedge fund D. E. Shaw. Where, in 1993, she met Jeff Bezos, a 30-year-old with thinning hair. But she liked his laugh, and he liked that she was resourceful. “The number-one criterion was that I wanted a woman who could get me out of a Third World prison,” he once said.

And even though she was just 23, MacKenzie was that kind of can-do woman! They married, and there would be no Amazon without her. They moved to Seattle, where she helped Jeff get the company off the ground from their garage. She wrote Amazon’s business plan, did the company’s accounting and toted its early orders to the UPS Store in their minivan, while also raising their four kids, and writing novels. She won an American Book Award for her first one, The Testing of Luther Albright, which she wrote in the bathroom for 10 years in between everything else she was doing.

All seemed happy in the Bezos marriage for 25 years, until 2019, when the National Enquirer tracked Jeff and his (also married) ladyfriend Lauren Sánchez “across five states and 40,000 miles, tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and ‘quality time’ in hidden love nests.” They even somehow got his personal texts and shirtless bathroom photos, which seems potentially not legal. And then, according to Jeff, AMI content officer Dylan Howard tried to blackmail and extort him. (You may remember that creep from the Trump trial, as the broker of catching and killing tales of Trump’s affairs, or from catch/killing stories about Harvey Weinstein.)

And Jeff refused to play ball with the Enquirer. The story came out, and MacKenzie and Jeff announced their separation, as did Sánchez and her husband, Patrick Whitesell. And MacKenzie got 400 million Amazon shares in the divorce, which she has been selling and donating to charities ever since. But don’t worry, she’s still got about $32 billion left to make do with!

Anyway, now Bezos and Sánchez are reportedly getting married this weekend in Aspen. Mazel tov! Bezos been living flashy, with a $500 million yacht, buoyant fiancee, and apparently imposing his Trump-sympathies onto his newspaper.

And MacKenzie’s been living more quietly! She changed her last name to Scott, and married one of her children’s teachers (though they have since divorced). Otherwise, she’s been laying low, though she’s been known to sometimes gal-pal around with Melinda French Gates, Bill’s ex, who has pledged $1 billion over the next two years to US nonprofits working in women’s health. I’ll bet those two have a lot of fun!

All of this lady-giving mightily pisses off Elon Musk, who has a charitable foundation with zero employees, that for three years has failed to distribute even the 5 percent minimum required to be eligible for a tax deduction, putting him potentially in hot water with the IRS, OOPS.

Musk bitched in March that “super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse” could contribute to the decline of Western civilization, and more recently Xitted that Scott’s contributions were “concerning.” Which rather just draws more attention to those ladies’ good works, in contrast to what a shit person Elon is, unable to donate a wooden nickel unless it might benefit himself, somehow, and fucking over his exes in whatever way possible.

We call this “divorced dad energy” and he is rich in it for sure.

After his snotty comment, MacKenzie Scott gave away another $600 million, the end.

[Yield Giving/ Wired/ Vogue/ Medium/ New York Times archive link]

The Pure Hypocrisy of Anti-Trans Christian Nationalists

This is an incredibly informative post on how to understand and deal with Christian apologetics anti-trans disinformation and lies. I started following this young person when he first left his church and faith doing videos on how the anti-science he was taught all his life in his church schools was incorrect and wrong. Now he exposes how Frank Turek got his breasts reduced in the Navy because it did not look male enough to him … yet he doesn’t feel that had anything to do with gender. The hypocrisy hits you hard in the face, but Frank can not see it, because he is paid not to. The video also talks about the Littman study and the Cass report in a small section. The video also talks a small amount on how the right / religious people frame their talking points to get sympathy for their views by pretending to save the innocent victims. If there is any doubt I support trans people 100% let that end. Trans rights are human rights. Trans women are simply women, trans men are men. I look forward to the day we don’t need to use the word trans, just as I do the day when we can call same sex marriage just marriage. As I think it was Spock in Star Trek who said a difference that makes no difference is no difference. Hugs

Safe Words

(Yeah, not for that. 🙊)

You Need A Safe Word, CSIRO Data Experts Say, To Avoid Scammers And Deepfakes

December 22, 2024 Cosmos

In an age where misinformation and deepfakes blur the lines between fact and fiction, identifying scams has never been more challenging. Falling for a scam can have devastating social, financial, and personal consequences. Over the past year, victims of cybercrime reported losing an average of $30,700 per incident.

As Christmas and Boxing Day approach, shoppers face heightened risks, particularly millennials and Gen Z consumers. In the U.S., one in five people have unknowingly purchased a product promoted by deepfake celebrity endorsements. This figure climbs to one in three among those aged 18-34.

Sharif Abuadbba, deepfake expert in CSIRO’s Data61 team, the data and digital specialist arm of the national science agency, highlighted how technology like AI has made deception easier than ever.

“Scammers can quickly and easily create imitations of popular social media influencers. Deepfakes can manipulate a person’s voice, gaze, mouth, expressions, pauses – basically putting words in their mouth that they’ve never said,” Abuadbba says.

“On social media, attackers rely on the viewers believing fake content and sharing it widely.”

You might think you have nothing valuable for a hacker to steal. However, cybercriminals often exploit individuals as gateways to larger targets, including family members, friends or organisations. Identity fraud can also severely damage your professional relationships and reputation with financial services.

As technology becomes more integral to our daily lives, how can we protect ourselves and those we care about from these cyber threats? Here are five expert tips:

1) Have a family safe word

Scammers are increasingly using texts, calls and even video to impersonate loved ones and request money. With AI voice cloning on the rise, these schemes are becoming more and more believable.

Jamie Rossato, CSIRO Chief Information Security Officer, advises setting up a pre-agreed safe word to verify who you’re speaking to. This word should remain private and not be easily discovered through social media or other online sources.

“Use this proactively, rather than waiting until you are suspicious,” Jamie said.

“If my children asked me for money, unless they said our special safe word, I would never transfer funds to them.”

2) Don’t be afraid to hang up

With advances in voice-spoofing technology, fraudsters can convincingly mimic organisations like banks to steal money. Lauren Ferro, Human-centric Security Research Scientist with the Data61 team, recommends verifying caller identities before sharing any information.

“If something seems a bit off, hang up and call the organisation directly using their official number, or go and visit them in person,” Ferro advised.

“They would prefer you to be cautious. It’s far easier to address concerns up front that to recover stolen money or repair reputational damage later.”

3) Enable multi-factor authentication

Identity fraud is the most common self-reported cybercrime this year, making it crucial to protect your personal data online. For example, private or sensitive information stored with Medicare and government accounts.

One effective method to protect your account is enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) to log in. MFA requires a password and a one-time verification code. Often this is sent as a text message, but Ferrato suggests using authentication apps like Microsoft Authenticator for added security.

“One of the benefits of app-based authenticators is they often use biometric controls, such as face ID or thumbprints to get into the app, before you get to the actual code itself,” Rossato says.

“This creates an extra layer of protection beyond SMS codes.”

4) Turn on banking push notifications

With most people using card and online payments, staying informed about your transactions can help you detect scams. While banks monitor suspicious activity, scammers can bypass these measures by mimicking your usual spending patterns.

Enabling real-time notifications through your banking app allows you to track transactions immediately, adding another layer of security.

5) Be aware of what you are sharing online

Most of us have an online and social media presence, but the photos, videos and information we share can be exploited. These assets can train deepfakes, which, once created and shared, are difficult to detect and remove.

Liming Zhu, Research Director in Data61 stresses the importance of being mindful of what we share online and who can access it. This is especially critical for children.

6) Education is your best form of protection

Ultimately, awareness and proactive protection are key to staying safe online. Educating yourself about cybersecurity is your first line of defence against scams.

Learn more about Australia’s cyber security research

This article was written by Kerisha Parkes and was originally published by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Read the original article.

More and more people falling victim to deepfakes

A Few Weeks Ago, We Discussed The Situation of Inequity in Education,

and there was quite a comments thread either here or on Jill Dennison’s place, (I think it was a little in both places, and the link to Jill’s is not that thread) about resistance and community teaching. Here’s an example, right there in Florida. All the links within are pertinent and worth clicking to read.

News That Will Drive You To Drink

If Congress Passes Terrific Law For Kids In The Forest, Does Anybody Hear?

by Rebecca Schoenkopf

It’s bipartisan and it’s good and nobody fought over it. So the answer is ‘no.’ Read on Substack

Here to warm your heart a little bit is a fable about a magical land called the US Congress, where in the midst of last week’s huge stupid fight about whether to actually have a government anymore, and about whether unelected weirdo billionaires should be able to destroy said government, the Senate passed a little-noticed bill that will update American child welfare laws for the first time in 15 years and help out kids in foster care.

As Gabe Fleisher at Wake Up To Politics points out, there weren’t any big culture war provisions in the bill, and somehow the flaky billionaire with an online propaganda factory didn’t catch wind of it, so the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act passed and was signed into law without getting much attention at all. In fact, when Fleischer wrote about it over the weekend, he noted that “as far as I can tell, not a single other article has been written about this legislation by any news outlet, anywhere.”

Fleischer included a google link so people could check, and I did. Even after his post, nope, nothing much, apart from several social media posts linking to Fleisher, plus the expected press releases from members of Congress who helped pass the bill. The only exception we found was a Yahoo reprint of a brief story from Native News Online, based on a press release from the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), which advocated for the law because it

increases funding for tribal child welfare programs and courts, reduces administrative burdens, closes a gap in data collection for Native children and families who are in state child welfare systems, and requires the Department of Health and Human Services with the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide needed technical assistance to states and tribal nations to improve implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

So there’s a second article, and now Yr Wonkette makes three. Maybe some bigger outlets should cover this, although that might run the risk of bringing it to the attention of some jerk who thinks kids in the system have it too easy and need to be working overnight shifts.

As Fleisher — who staunchly refuses to have a c in his name no matter how often I misspell it — points out, there are some excellent things in the bill beyond the increase of $75 million a year into the budget for “the federal program tasked with combatting child abuse/neglect and protecting children in the foster care system.”

Among other things, the bill allows states to pass on federal child welfare funds directly to families that have hit an economic rough patch, to “prevent children from being separated from parents solely on the basis of poverty-related circumstances” — instead of declaring the parents “neglectful” and taking their kids away.

Other measures in the law will

expand mental health services for children in foster care; ease the transition out of foster care by offering assistance to former foster children until they reach the age of 26; increase funding for the 2.5 million grandparents and relatives raising children who would otherwise go into foster care; create a new requirement that states consult with affected children and parents when crafting their child welfare policies; seek to improve the relationships between incarcerated parents and their children in foster care; and reduce the administrative burden of child welfare caseworkers by 15%, so they can focus more on children and less on paperwork.

That’s a hell of a lot of good that literally got zero mention in the mainstream press, mostly because the bill was written and passed without any drama or denunciations that it would promote witchcraft, turn children into communists, or force Americans to live under the tyranny of the Metric System. And that, Fleisher says, is a damn shame, because “coverage of the country’s legislative output should not be dictated by how much squabbling went into the passage of the bill.” A media focus on dysfunction might be entertaining, but leads to cynicism and to people never hearing about genuinely worthwhile, honest-to-Crom “bipartisan achievements like the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act.”

We think Fleisher is right, though we’d also add that it would sure help a hell of a lot if our politicians, especially those on one side of the aisle, would actually try to legislate instead of trying to get their scowling faces on Fox News. Oh dear, that wasn’t bipartisan of me at all.

(snip-comments on the page)