Railroad Commission approves oilfield waste ponds next to Baptist camp in Permian Basin
Martin Water is building an oil and gas waste recycling facility next to the Circle 6 Baptist Camp in the Permian Basin despite concerns about water and air pollution.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to resign after Super Tuesday: reports
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel will formally resign her position after the March 5 Super Tuesday primaries, weeks after former President Trump asked her to step down. The move, reported by the New York Times and ABC News, comes weeks after Trump announced his recommendations for changes within the RNC earlier this month. He proposed that North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley take over as chairman, while his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita also receive leadership positions. This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
Who is ‘Dirty Harry’, Indian-origin man arrested for Gujarati family’s death in US?
The Indian-origin man has been identified as Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel.
NBCC explores options in NCR, Mumbai after completion of 16000 Amrapali flats in Greater Noida
The government’s construction arm, NBCC, has completed up to 16,000 Amrapali flats that had been stuck for years and given them to homebuyers. Now, it is looking into a few options in Mumbai and the NCR to help thousands of distressed buyers.
Civil rights activist unloads on Biden for taking Black vote ‘for granted’: ‘He’s losing support’
FIRST ON FOX: Dr. John Boyd Jr., a fourth-generation farmer and civil rights activist, told Fox News Digital that Democrats have taken the Black vote “for granted” and that voters are concerned about President Biden’s age and fed up with the unraveling situation at the southern border. “From a Black standpoint, many Blacks, including my son, have voted Democrat for a very long time, and it looks like, when we raise issues like this, our votes are being taken for granted,” Boyd told Fox News Digital while discussing his unsuccessful efforts to meet directly with President Biden in the White House to talk about farming issues and debt relief for Black Farmers. Recent polls have showed that Biden is losing support from Black voters and the Democrat advantage with that voting group in a recent Gallup poll is the “smallest Gallup has recorded in its polling dating back to 1999.” “He’s losing support in the Black community because he’s not communicating with the Black community and high turnover and senior level staffers that should be communicating with the Black community. I haven’t had one meeting in the White House, not one meeting in the White House since he’s been president.” 4TH GEN FARMER BLASTS BIDEN ADMIN FOR SENDING BILLIONS TO UKRAINE AS US FARMERS SUFFER: ‘FACING EXTINCTION’ “Totally unheard of, and I’ve been around – and I’ve been meeting with presidents, Republican and Democrat, every president since Jimmy Carter, visited with to talk about issues that are relevant to our national body – and this president has not invited us to the White House as I speak and talk to you today. I haven’t received one, and it’s Black History Month.” Boyd told Fox News Digital that Black voters, consistent with several national polls, are concerned about the president’s age heading into November. “President Biden’s age is an issue for many Americans, and not just for Black folks, but a lot of people are looking and wondering, can he really govern the country over the next four years if he’s reelected, in the condition that he’s in,” Boyd said. BIDEN SUPPORT FROM BLACK VOTERS PLUMMETING AS DEMOCRATS BLAME ‘DISINFORMATION’ Boyd explained that voters of all backgrounds are looking for the Biden administration to do more to secure the southern border. “The border remains wide open,” Boyd said. “It’s in complete chaos at the border. Here we are letting people who are not U.S. citizens coming into this country, and we’re giving them debit cards and money and putting them up into hotels.” “And you know, I just described my rich history, both good and bad, my forefathers being slaves here on American soil, brought to the country by force, and here are these people coming into the U.S. who aren’t citizens, and we’re treating them better than U.S. citizens.” “What does that say to the nation’s hardest occupation in history, which is farming?” Boyd asked. Boyd told Fox News Digital that “if it was up to me” the “border would be closed.” “We wouldn’t open the borders until after we see what we can do about the chaos that we have on the border,” Boyd said. “If I was president, I would close the border, simple as that, I don’t need an act of Congress to do it.” The White House previously told Fox News Digital that Boyd was invited to meet with top agricultural officials, including USDA head Tom Vilsack, at a recent event but was not able to attend. “The president committed to the meeting while we were at the WH for the Fourth of July event 3 yrs ago,” Boyd told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The meeting was Biden’s suggestion. And so far there has NOT been one.” “I am not interested in meeting with Vilsack. The issues I raised are relevant for a response from Biden. Any lesser political appointee will not suffice,” he continued. The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Republicans propose blocking SOTU speech if president doesn’t submit budget on time
President Biden is preparing to deliver a State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress after again missing his deadline to present spending and national security plans to Congress. Some Republicans in Congress want to hold Biden and future presidents accountable to the deadline with a simple penalty. No plans on time, no grand speech under a proposal titled the SUBMIT IT Act, short for Send Us Budget Materials & International Tactics In Time. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 – updated several times – requires a president to submit his budget request to Congress no later than the first Monday in February. The National Security Act of 1947 requires the president to submit a national security proposal for the same day. But there is no enforcement mechanism for either, which is where the SUBMIT IT Act could come in. “President Biden’s budget was due on Feb. 5, yet Congress has seen nothing,” Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., who sponsored the bill, told Fox News Digital. 3 WAYS TO TREAT AMERICA’S DEBT PANDEMICS “This is irresponsible. Until Congress receives the president’s national security strategy and budget, he has no business delivering a State of the Union address,” Carter added. The SUBMIT IT Act would prohibit House or Senate leadership from inviting the president to address a joint session of Congress until Congress gets both plans. If passed, the bill would affect the State of the Union going into 2025 and onward. This won’t have any impact on Biden’s State of the Union address this year, scheduled for March 7. Biden’s tardiness is not unique, as his four immediate predecessors from both parties were also late in getting their plans to Congress – including his likely 2024 Republican opponent, Donald Trump. So, rather than a partisan problem, it’s largely a long-running issue between two branches of government. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced a Senate version. “If the president is going to be allowed the opportunity to address Congress and the entire nation, he should actually have a plan in place,” Ernst said in a public statement when announcing the Senate version. “At a time when Americans are facing skyrocketing inflation and the world is on fire, we deserve more than just empty rhetoric.” BIDEN BLASTS HOUSE FOR TWO-WEEK ‘VACATION’ DESPITE FACING CRITICISM FOR HIS FREQUENT BEACH TRIPS Biden’s budget proposals in the past three years missed the deadline by 115, 49, and 31 days, respectively, noted Kurt Couchman, a senior fellow in fiscal policy at Americans for Prosperity. “Over the past several decades, presidents’ budget and defense proposals have been delayed more and more as missed deadlines have become an ever-more common symptom of the breakdown of the budget process,” Couchman said in a public statement supporting the legislation. “Congress and the American people deserve the opportunity to see and evaluate the president’s requests in a timely manner.” Trump, who was 38 days late in his first year, and his three immediate predecessors missed the budget deadline as well, according to Roll Call. President Barack Obama was late by 98 days in submitting his first budget proposal in 2009, according to a Congressional Research Service report. President George W. Bush was 63 days in his fiscal 2003 plan. In 1993, President Bill Clinton was 66 days late. The Congressional Research Service report noted the deadline was changed several times. Previously required in January, the most recent adjustment was in 1990, when the deadline was changed to say, “on or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year.” The Constitution requires the president to submit a State of the Union update to Congress, but nothing requires that message to be a speech to a joint session. Every president from Thomas Jefferson through William Howard Taft submitted a written annual message to Congress. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson broke that tradition with a speech to a joint session of Congress. The speech to a joint session requires an invitation from congressional leadership, which has typically been a formality. But in 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., threatened to withhold an invitation Trump to speak until the partial government shutdown ended. Trump suggested he would deliver the address at an alternative location. The shutdown ended, and Pelosi invited him to speak.
Maratha quota agitation: Internet services suspended in 3 districts of Maharashtra
The internet services in the three districts have been suspended with effect from 6 am to 4 pm to avoid any untoward incident due to rumours on social media platforms, an official said quoting an order of the state home department.
Sandeshkhali case: Calcutta HC says no stay on arrest of TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh
TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh is accused of atrocities in Sandeshkhali.
Hamas to halal: How anti-Muslim hate speech is spreading in India
New Delhi, India – India averaged nearly two anti-Muslim hate speech events per day in 2023 and three in every four of those events – or 75 percent – took place in states ruled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, revealed a report released Monday. In 2023, the hate speech events peaked between August and November, the period of political campaigning and polling in four major states, according to a report released by India Hate Lab (IHL), a Washington, DC-based research group. As India heads for a national vote in the upcoming months, a first-of-its-kind report by the IHL maps the spread of anti-Muslim hate speech across the country. The group documented a total of 668 hate speech events. Last month, the website of India Hate Lab was rendered inaccessible in India after the government blocked it under the controversial Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. The government also blocked the website of Hindutva Watch, an independent hate-crime tracker also run by the IHL’s founder. The new report – the first time a research group has tracked hate speech events in India over a year – tracks how these events spread geographically across India, the triggers behind these events, and when they occur. Which are India’s hate speech hotbeds? The group documented a total of 668 hate speech events across 18 states and three federally governed territories. The top-ranking Indian states for these events were: Maharashtra in the west with 118 incidents, Uttar Pradesh in the north with 104 incidents, and Madhya Pradesh in central India with 65 incidents. These three states are among the biggest voter bases, are currently ruled by the BJP, and collectively account for 43 percent of the total hate speech events recorded in 2023. But relatively smaller states, like Haryana and Uttarakhand in northern India, weren’t immune either. While Haryana witnessed 48 hate speech events, or about 7.2 percent, events in Uttarakhand made up 6 percent – both states are among the emerging hotbeds for anti-Muslim violence as well. Seven people died and over 70 were injured in violence in the Nuh region of Haryana in August 2023; earlier this month, five Muslims were killed in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, while protesting against the demolition of a mosque and a religious school in the town. Prem Shukla, a national spokesperson of the BJP, told Al Jazeera that the party has been opposing the “Islamic fundamentalist forces” and alleged that the IHL data represented a “biased picture of the situation”. “The other so-called secular states are targeting the Hindu majority community by hate speeches, but no one will talk about it,” Shukla said in a phone interview. He also dismissed the IHL report, alleging that those behind it “have sworn to destroy the BJP”. Who rules states with the most hate speech? As per the report, 498 hate speech events, which make up 75 percent, took place in the states ruled by the BJP or in territories that it effectively governs through the central government. Among the 10 states with the most hate speech events, six were ruled by the BJP throughout the year. The other three states, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh had legislative elections in 2023, in which power changed hands: Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh moved from the opposition Congress party to the BJP, and Karnataka from the BJP to the Congress. Bihar, the last of the 10 states with the most hate-speech events, was ruled by an opposition coalition until last month, when its chief minister switched sides to join a BJP-led alliance. More than 77 percent of speeches that included a direct call of violence against Muslims were also delivered in states and territories governed by the BJP. A third of all hate speech events documented by the IHL were organised by two far-right organisations, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, which are associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP. In 2018, the United States Central Intelligence Agency tagged the VHP and Bajrang Dal as “religious militant organisations”. “Our analysis shows that anti-Muslim hate speech has been normalised and become part of India’s socio-political sphere,” said Raqib Hameed Naik, founder of the IHL. “We foresee rampant use of anti-Muslim hate during the upcoming general elections to polarise voters.” What are the provocations used for hate speech events? The report documented that 63 percent of the total 668 hate speech events referenced Islamophobic conspiracy theories. The theories included “love jihad”, an alleged phenomenon where Muslim men lure Hindu women into marrying them and converting to Islam; “land jihad”, which alleges Muslims are occupying public lands by building religious structures or holding prayers; “halal jihad”, which views Islamic practices as the economic exclusion of non-Muslim traders; and “population jihad”, which alleges that Muslims reproduce with the intention of eventually outnumbering and dominating other populations. All of these conspiracy theories have been debunked: The government’s own data, for instance, shows that Muslim fertility rates are dropping faster than those of any other major community in India. Over 48 percent of the events occurred between August and November, a period that saw state elections in four major states. Reacting to the IHL report, Amnesty International called on Indian authorities to put an end to the rise in speeches calling for violence and hatred against religious minorities. “[The authorities] must take concrete measures to counter stereotypes, eradicate discrimination, and foster greater equality,” Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India, told Al Jazeera. Activists from various leftist organisations shout slogans during a protest against hate speech in New Delhi on December 27, 2021. [Manish Swarup/AP Photo] What’s the latest hate weapon being used against Indian Muslims? Since October 7, Indian far-right groups have been weaponising the Hamas attack on southern Israel, and Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza to stoke anti-Indian Muslim fears and hate. From October 7 to December 31, 2023, one in every five hate-speech events invoked Israel’s war, a phenomenon that peaked in November, according
Meta unveils team to combat disinformation and AI harms in EU elections
Tech giant’s head of EU affairs says team will bring together experts from across the company. Facebook owner Meta has unveiled plans to launch a dedicated team to combat disinformation and harms generated by artificial intelligence (AI) ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections. Marco Pancini, Meta’s head of EU affairs, said the “EU-specific Elections Operations Center” would bring together experts from across the company to focus on tackling misinformation, influence operations and risks related to the abuse of AI. “Ahead of the elections period, we will make it easier for all our fact-checking partners across the EU to find and rate content related to the elections because we recognize that speed is especially important during breaking news events,” Pancini said in a blog post on Sunday. “We’ll use keyword detection to group related content in one place, making it easy for fact-checkers to find.” Pancini said Meta’s efforts to address the risks posed by AI would include the addition of a feature for people to disclose when they share AI-generated video or audio and possible penalties for noncompliance. “We already label photorealistic images created using Meta AI, and we are building tools to label AI generated images from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock that users post to Facebook, Instagram and Threads,” he said. The launch of AI platforms such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Gemini has raised concerns about the possibility of false information, images and videos influencing voters in elections. The EU parliament elections, which take place between June 6 and 9, are among a raft of major polls taking place in 2024, which has been dubbed the biggest election year in history. Voters in more than 80 countries, including the United States, India, Mexico and South Africa, are set to go to the polls in elections representing about half the world’s population. Meta earlier this month joined 19 other tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, X, Amazon and TikTok, in signing a pledge to clamp down on AI content designed to mislead voters. Under the “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections”, the companies agreed to take eight steps to address election risks, including developing tools to identify AI-generated content and enhancing transparency about efforts to address potentially harmful material. The influence of AI on voters has already come under scrutiny in a number of elections. Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan used AI-generated speeches to rally supporters in the run-up to the country’s parliamentary elections earlier this month. In January, a fake robocall claiming to be from United States President Joe Biden urged voters not to cast their ballots in the New Hampshire primary. Adblock test (Why?)