Tesla Analyst Tries Full Self-Driving, Has to Stop It From Crashing

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According to Truist Securities analyst William Stein, almost crashed with Tesla's Full Self-Driving tech turned on.

Certain Accident

For roughly a decade now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made so-far empty promises about "solving" autonomous driving.

The company's erroneously named "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance software in particular has repeatedly drawn flak for endangering Tesla drivers daring enough to use it on public roads.

Now, Truist Securities analyst William Stein — who has a hold rating on Tesla's stock, meaning a recommendation to neither buy nor sell the stock — says he recently took the feature for a spin, finding that the tech simply isn't ready for prime time.

As Bloomberg reports, Stein almost rear-ended another vehicle that had "only partly completed a right turn."

"My quick intervention was absolutely required to avoid an otherwise certain accident," he wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

Eyes Off the Road

Stein's experience echoes plenty of other close calls and collisions using Tesla's driver assistance software, many of which have proved fatal — prompting an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

And despite numerous over-the-air updates being issued to owners who were willing to spend up to $8,000 for the privilege of testing the system, the software is still woefully unprepared for the real world.

While driving around New York suburbs, Stein was shocked that he was able to turn his "head completely away from the road" without triggering any safety features: "The system continued for 20-40 seconds before issuing a warning," he wrote.

FSD also failed to pull over the vehicle when a police officer hand signaled for Stein to do so to allow a funeral procession to pass.

Stein did give Tesla some credit, concluding that FSD was "truly amazing, but not even close to ‘solving’ autonomy," referring to Musk's repeated promises of enabling actual self-driving.

It's a glaring report considering that Musk continues to double down on self-driving tech. The mercurial CEO recently promised to unveil a "robotaxi" that would presumably rely on FSD-like software.

But the robotaxi event has already been delayed from August to October, raising flags among Tesla bears. As far as we know, the company hasn't even applied for regulatory approval for a self-driving taxi service.

In short, despite many years of public testing — courtesy of paying customers, not trained engineers — FSD is still pretty rough around the edges, which could bode badly for Musk going all in on autonomous driving.

More on FSD: Tesla Stock Slaughtered After Its August "Robotaxi" Event Falls Apart

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Elon Musk Bashes the News Media, Then Immediately Falls for Fake News

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X owner Elon Musk fell for fake news on X-formerly-Twitter after making fun of people who

Feeling Dumb

It's no secret that multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk spends an astonishing amount of time posting dubious political material on his social media echo chamber X-formerly-Twitter.

During a late Sunday night session, Musk cosigned a meme that reads: "If you ever feel dumb, just remember there are some people who still believe everything shown in [sic] news," resharing the image with a curt "yup."

But it didn't take long for Musk to out himself as one of those same gullible dupes who will believe anything if it flatters their preconceptions.

"This is messed up," he wrote a few hours later, at 3:42 am, as he reshared a video posted by Visegrád 24, an influential independent news account that tweets about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war that's well-known for posting fake news.

Visegrád 24 claimed the video showed "armed communist Maduro gangs 'Colectivos' are now storming polling stations in Punta Cardón," Venezuela.

But as an X community note quickly pointed out, that was a complete lie.

"Those are thieves stealing air conditioners and a woman can be heard in the video saying so," the note reads. "Voting in Venezuela is done on small computers that look nothing like what appears in this video."

Believing Everything

Musk quietly deleted the post without acknowledging that he'd spread fake news himself, the exact thing he'd just blamed the media for doing.

His hilariously timed blunder is far from the first. The mercurial CEO has a long history of bringing attention to racist conspiracy theories, outright propaganda, and completely made-up news reports, allowing hate speech and fake news to flourish on the platform.

Other users were alarmed at Musk blindly "believing everything" he sees on his platform.

"These are air conditioners, Elon Musk," one user tweeted. "Visegrad regularly posts fake news."

An account representing the distributed hacking group Anonymous chimed in as well.

"In an attempt at pushing propaganda, Elon pushes a false narrative that the thieves in the video are stealing ballot boxes," Anonymous tweeted, "when it's easy to see they're stealing air conditioning units for windows."

Last week, Musk shared an AI-generated video of vice president Kamala Harris, a flagrant violation of his platform's own policies.

In short, while a healthy dose of skepticism goes a long way when reading or watching the news, X-formerly-Twitter has quickly become a cesspool of unsourced claims and propaganda, making it a far worse place to catch up.

Worse yet, Musk's already tenuous connection to reality is as shaky as ever. With his endorsement of the notorious liar Donald Trump, Musk has clearly abandoned any commitment to the truth — a troubling development given the presidential election is right around the corner.

More on Musk: Elon Musk Won't Apologize After Sharing Faked AI Video of Kamala Harris

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Lil Nas X Is Flying Commercial to Avoid the Huge Carbon Footprint of a Private Jet

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Lil Nas X got criticized by random people for flying in a commercial plane, but he said he's trying to emit less carbon emissions.

Flying Low

Montero"Lil Nas X" Hill got lambasted by random people online for flying in a commercial plane, prompting the music star to say he's doing his part for the planet by not traveling in a fuel-guzzling private jet.

"[T]o all u bitches calling me broke for flying on a regular plane i don’t wanna see not one viral carbon footprint tweet when yall see my ass on a jet," he posted on the social media platform X-formerly-Twitter.

Critics of the rap-country-pop star were responding to his tweeted video posted a day earlier where he is seen smiling and laughing silently inside a noisy airplane cabin with a caption that seems to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris over ex-President Donald Trump.

Some replies agreed with his political seal of approval, while others trolled with pro-Trump messages. But a few poked at him for flying with the rest of the hoi polloi.

"[A]ren’t you supposed to be flying private? *gasp* are you... broke?" wrote one person.

That obviously got under Lil Nas' skin, which forced him to clap back to the online crowd.

to all u bitches calling me broke for flying on a regular plane i don’t wanna see not one viral carbon footprint tweet when yall see my ass on a jet ? https://t.co/lDanSyttkt

— ? ????·?•?????·???????????l (@LilNasX) July 27, 2024

Star Struck

Setting aside his political endorsement, Lil Nas X has a point about private jets.

For example, Taylor Swift has gotten immense flack for having possibly the highest carbon footprint of any celebrity, at an estimated 8,300 tons of carbon emissions annually as of 2022 because of her extensive private jet use, dwarfing the typical American carbon footprint of around 16 tons per year.

Now imagine a lot of other Taylor Swifts, in the form of people with lesser names but just as much money, flying private and emitting untold tons of carbon during their frequent travels.

For example, it's been estimated that about one percent of people were responsible for 50 percent of airplane carbon missions in 2018.

So Lil Nas X is in the right — not just is he doing the right thing for the planet, but he'd almost certainly be criticized for flying private.

Maybe some people just need to cool their jets.

More on airplanes: Want to Save the Environment? Experts Say You Should Stop Traveling

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Scientists Suggest Sending AI to Aliens So They Can Talk to It in Real Time

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AI might be able to allow aliens to communicate in real-time with humans — or a language model representing us, at least.

Speaker of the House

Artificial intelligence is being heralded as the future here on Earth, and according to a pair of scientists invested in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), it might even allow aliens to talk to us — or a version of us, at least.

In an editorial for Scientific American, SETI Institute astronomer Franch Marchis and NASA researcher Ignacio G. Lopez-Francois have teamed up together as "alien-curious scientists" to advocate for an AI-infused version of what those in their respective fields refer to as "messaging extraterrestrial intelligence," or METI for short.

Despite its heady implications, humans have been engaged in METI for as long as we've been going to space. Since the early 1960s, we Earthlings have sent everything from music and scientific formulas to Morse Code and maps out into the great beyond in hopes of hearing back — though thus far, those attempts at communicating with ETs have been for naught.

To Marchis and Lopez-Francois, these METI efforts can only be enhanced by introducing something as interactive as an AI large language model (LLM). In particular, they're arguing that we should send one out into space so it can speak for us.

"Aliens could," the duo wrote, "learn one of our languages, ask the LLM questions about us and receive replies that are representative of humanity."

Hello Out There

With the growing body of research about the potentially hundreds of millions of habitable exoplanets in our Milky Way galaxy alone, these alien-oriented scientists believe "several of these worlds could host technological civilizations curious to meet us and learn about us."

While one might argue that our current LLMs are not even up to snuff enough for humans to get much valuable communication out of them, these SETI scientists said that some open-source models, such as those made by Meta and Mistral, could already be fine-tuned enough to act as human emissaries.

After creating a human simulacrum fit for the stars, these alien-oriented LLMs could then be compressed, the pair explained, via the process of "quantization," which maps huge sets of data onto smaller sets. They could then be sent out to space using several methods — including radio, laser, or even copper disk communiqués — that could make the transmission of any LLM as rapid as possible (though Marchis and Lopez-Francois admitted that there's some massive technological hurdles that would have to be tackled first.)

"By sending well-curated large language models into the cosmos," they concluded, "we will open the door to unprecedented exchanges with extraterrestrial intelligences, ensuring that our legacy endures, even when we might not."

More on aliens and AI: We're Detecting No Alien Civilizations Because They Were Destroyed by AI, Astrophysicist Proposes

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America’s Ramshackle Power Grid Is Straining Under the Load of Generative AI

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To keep generative AI models running requires huge amounts of electricity — and the US' aging power grid is struggling to handle the load.

McGrid

Keeping generative AI models running requires astronomical amounts of electricity — and the United States' aging power grid is struggling to handle the load.

As CNBC reports, experts are worried that the massive surge in interest in the tech could prove to be a major infrastructure problem. Transformers used to turn raw electricity into usable power are on average 38 years old and have quickly become a prime source of power outages. Building new transmission lines has also proven unpopular, since the extra costs tend to be passed onto local residents, raising their electric bills.

And it's not just power that's proving to be a bottleneck for generative AI — the data centers that power it also need copious amounts of water to keep cool.

According to recent estimates by Boston Consulting Group, demand for data centers is rising at a brisk pace in the US, and is expected to make up 16 percent of total US power consumption by the year 2030. Whether the country's aging infrastructure will be able to support such a massive load remains to be seen.

Power Play

AI companies are already feeling the crunch, with data center company Vantage executive Jeff Tench telling CNBC that there's already a "slowdown" in Northern California because of a "lack of availability of power from the utilities here in this area."

"The industry itself is looking for places where there is either proximate access to renewables, either wind or solar, and other infrastructure that can be leveraged," he added, "whether it be part of an incentive program to convert what would have been a coal-fired plant into natural gas, or increasingly looking at ways in which to offtake power from nuclear facilities."

Tech leaders have floated exotic ideas for meeting sky-high energy demands. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told audiences at this year's World Economic Forum that the AI models of tomorrow would require a "breakthrough" — spurring him to invest in fusion power himself.

But despite decades of research, fusion energy currently remains largely hypothetical.

Other companies like Microsoft are looking into developing "small modular reactors" — basically scaled-down nuclear power plants — that could give data centers an in-situ boost.

Chipmakers are also hoping to reduce power demand by increasing the efficiency of AI chips.

But whether any of those efforts will be enough to meet the seemingly insatiable power demands of AI companies is anything but certain.

Meanwhile, the carbon footprint of generative AI continues to soar, with Google admitting in its latest environmental impact report that it's woefully behind its plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.

More on generative AI: Washington Post Launches AI to Answer Climate Questions, But It Won't Say Whether AI Is Bad for the Climate

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Scientists Analyzing Deep Space "Forest" to Map Dark Matter

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Their mapping of dark matter confirms the discrepancies between observations of the universe's structures and our theoretical models of them.

Common Denominator

Dark matter, the invisible substance believed to account for over 80 percent of the universe's mass, is not an easy thing to detect. We can see its gravitational pull on visible matter, however — which makes hydrogen, as the most common element out there, a prime candidate to watch for those interactions.

Taking advantage of this, a team of researchers have analyzed how hydrogen absorbs the light from distant sources like galaxies in an effect known as the "Lyman-Alpha Forest," and have applied this in a series of simulations to map the distribution of dark matter throughout the cosmos.

Their resulting study, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astrophysics, confirms that there's a discrepancy between our observations of the universe and our predictions about its structures — and possibly points to the existence of a never-before-seen type of particle.

Ride or Dye

The universe is filled with hydrogen atoms, often in clouds of neutral hydrogen which make up most of the interstellar medium. In a spectrum of distant light sources like galaxies and quasars — whose structures are thought to be governed by dark matter's gravity — the areas where hydrogen absorbs the light along its journey to Earth show up as a staggered series of spiked lines that look like a forest.

"These are the atoms and molecules that the light has encountered along the way," said study coauthor Simon Bird, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, in a statement about the work. "Since each type of atom has a specific way of absorbing light, leaving a sort of signature in the spectrogram, it is possible to trace their presence, especially that of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe."

Bird said to think of hydrogen as a dye and dark matter as water.

"The dye will follow where the water goes," he explained. "Dark matter gravitates so it has a gravitational potential. The hydrogen gas falls into it, and you use it as a tracer of the dark matter. Where it is denser there's more dark matter."

The Genuine Particle

What the researchers found by doing this reinforced the discrepancies, or "tensions," between what we observe about the universe's structures versus what our models predict.

"One of the current tensions is the number of galaxies on small scales and at low redshifts," Bird said. "The low redshift universe is the one relatively close to us."

Bird suggests two reasons for the discrepancies. One is the existence of a never-before-seen particle, which could be something like the Weakly Interact Massive Particles, or WIMPs, that are hypothesized to be dark matter.

The other is that "something strange" is going on with the supermassive black holes that form the center of galaxies — they could somehow be "stunting the growth" of their galaxies, throwing their structures out of the shapes we'd expect them to be.

"It's not completely convincing yet," Bird said. "But if this holds up in later data sets, then it is much more likely to be a new particle or some new type of physics, rather than the black holes messing up our calculations."

More on dark matter: Massive, Mysterious Objects Detected Floating Through Deep Space

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Top US officials slam China over wrong direction helping Russia – South China Morning Post

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Sullivan did not detail specific steps but said the administration of US President Joe Biden had nearly unprecedented power financially to take on its adversaries, including measures against Chinese banks.

Writ large, the picture is not pretty. China continues to be a major supplier of dual-use items to Russias war machine, he added.

At the same event, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said separately that China was providing 70 per cent of the machine tools that Moscow imports for its defence industrial base and 90 per cent of the microelectronics.

China cant have it both ways, said Blinken. It cant all at once be saying that its for peace in Ukraine when it is helping to fuel the ongoing pursuit of the war by Russia.

I feel strongly as long as we continue to confront these [domestic political] challenges directly, openly and transparently, well get through, said Blinken.

Added Sullivan: I cant predict what happens this fall, next year.

Blinken said China was increasingly aware of the global cost of any disruptive action, including in the Taiwan Strait, in light of stronger transatlantic, transpacific and European-Asian partnerships.

Weve now seen a chorus of countries from far afield, really impressing about China, the imperative of not having a crisis, not stirring the pot, not disturbing the status quo, preserving peace and stability, Blinken said.

The more you have that collective weight on China, I think, the more theyre likely to not lead us in that direction.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.

But Washington opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed by law to supplying it with weapons for its defence.

War over Taiwan, war across the Taiwan Strait, would be absolutely calamitous for the world, for Taiwan, for China, for the United States, for everyone, said Sullivan.

I have worried about it and I believe that it has to be a fundamental objective of American policy to ensure that never happens.

He said additional meetings between senior American and Chinese officials last year leading up to the summit in California between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had paid dividends.

We have restored regular, high-level engagements between our countries, and thats vitally important because if you want to avoid any kind of unintended conflict, youve got to start by talking, Blinken said.

This relationship cannot be put on a bumper sticker. At least, if it can be, maybe a very long, long bumper sticker because its the most consequential, the most complex relationship we have, he added.

If they want to mess with the United States and our allies, theyre going to have a very rude awakening about whats in store for them, said Sullivan.

He described the US as not trying to create an Asian Nato but rather a flexible latticework of agreements to respond to aggression.

We can build strength from strength in the years ahead not to start a war but to prevent a war, Sullivan added.

While Russia has been able to retool its economy onto a war footing and work around a growing number of financial and economic sanctions, Blinken said, it was paying a price for its aggression and that was not lost on China and others.

These costs included a brain drain as skilled workers exited Russia, longer-term economic costs as critical industries were impaired, the shifting of supply chains that excluded the country and its damaged global reputation, he continued.

Global threats once viewed as regional were increasingly global, according to Harvard professor emeritus Joseph Nye, in remarks during another panel discussion at Aspen.

You cant talk about Ukraine without thinking about how it affects Taiwan, the former senior US defence official said. You cant talk about Nato without thinking about Nato not just as a European problem but also how it relates to China.

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Russia rages over US military exercise in Armenia – Eurasianet

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An ongoing joint military exercise involving a comparatively small number of American and Armenian troops at a base in the Yerevan suburbs has caused a paroxysm of rage in the Kremlin.

The 11-day joint exercise, dubbed Eagle Partner, will run through July 24 and is intended to boost the interoperability between the US and Armenia during peacekeeping and stability operations, according to areport distributed by the US European Command.

It isnt the number of troops involved that have Russian officials in a tizzy, its more about the timing and symbolism of the joint exercise. It is a tangible measure of the progress made by Armenia in itsgeopoliticalpivot away from Russia towards the West following Yerevans loss of Nagorno-Karabakh.

You [US and Armenian troops] are at the forefront of an important and growing relationship and partnership, and our nations thank you for your personal commitment toward ensuring peace, security, and prosperity, US Ambassador to ArmeniaKristinaKvien said inremarks made at Eagle Partners opening ceremony on July 15.

In parallel with the exercise, Armenian media outlet Hetqreported that a resident adviser from the Pentagon will be attached to Armenias Ministry of Defense. The advisers duties and responsibilities havent been publicly disclosed. In addition,the US and Armenia are exploring cooperation on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia. Currently, Russia has a stranglehold on atomic power generation at the Metsamor facility, which has 12 years remaining in its life cycle.

In the history of Soviet/Russian diplomacy, the level of vitriol contained in an official statement has often been in inverse proportion to Moscows ability to influence its preferred outcome. In the case of Armenias rapid embrace of the West, as embodied in Eagle Partner, the vitriol vented by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was up there. She painted the presence of American forces in the Caucasus in dire terms, saying the United States and NATO were intent on upsetting the fragile balance in the region and reigniting conflict.

The appearance of the Americans in the South Caucasus, we have already seen this repeatedly in various parts of the world, will only fuel the conflict potential persisting in the region, and create new dividing lines, not only dividing lines, but also hotbeds of conflict, the official TASS news agency quoted Zakharova as saying July 18.

Western countries are maniacally dragging Armenia into various formats of interaction in Transcaucasia, she added.

Zakharovas comments suggest that the Kremlin is alarmed by the rapid erosion of its influence in Armenia and concerned that a growing US strategic presence there could disrupt the development of theNorth-Southcorridor, a nascent trade network connecting Russia and Iran that has helped the Kremlins sanctions-busting efforts and its war effort in Ukraine. Moscow may also be concerned that the United States is seizing the initiative in fostering a durable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia has taken rapid action to strengthen security ties with the West this year, following Azerbaijans decisive victory in the Karabakh war in 2023. Concurrently, Yerevan has fallen out with its long-time security guarantor, Russia, amid accusations that the Kremlin failed to live up to obligations to assist Armenia in Karabakh. Shortly before Eagle Partner got underway, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyanannounced that Yerevan would withdraw from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.

In contrast to Zakharovas comments about the US desire to stir up trouble in the region, US diplomatstried in mid-July to breathe new life into the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process. Meanwhile, in an interview published by Hetq,US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya cast some shade on Russias peacebuilding record in the Caucasus.

Washington sees nothing to indicate that Russia's military presence contributes to a more peaceful and stable South Caucasus region, Zeya was quoted as saying.

Russia still has apparent levers of influence in Armenia. Yerevan, for example, is economicallydependent on Russian trade and natural gas supplies. The Kremlin also maintains a military base in Gyumri that hosts a Russian brigade. But for whatever reason so far in 2024, the Kremlin has mostly barked, not bitten in response to Armenias embrace of the West. It may well be that the burdens of the Ukraine war are limiting Russias ability to act in the Caucasus.

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Russia Boasts That Sanctions Helped It Avoid Global Microsoft Outage – The Moscow Times

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Russias Digital Communications Ministry said Friday that airlines and banks in the country did not appear to have been impacted by a widespread Microsoft outage that has disrupted flights and business across the globe, touting Moscows measures against Western sanctions as a shield from the digital disarray.

The international travel industry, as well as some television broadcasters, banks and healthcare systems were knocked offline in the United States, Australia, Europe and Asia on Friday morning. The Australian government linked the outages to the global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which Reuters reported had alerted its clients that its software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash.

Microsoft said it was taking mitigation actions in response to service issues, though it was not immediately clear if those were linked to the global outages.

At the moment, the ministry has not received reports of system failures at Russian airports, Russias Digital Communications Ministry said in a statement circulated by the state-run news agency TASS.

Russias federal aviation authority Rosaviatsia confirmed that no domestic airline has been impacted by the global outage.

The situation with Microsoft once again shows the importance of import substitution of foreign software, primarily at critical information infrastructure facilities, the Digital Communications Ministry said.

Russia has worked to substitute imports of foreign goods in key sectors of the economy since 2014, when its relations with the West began deteriorating over the annexation of Crimea and support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlinsaidon Friday that its systems were working as normal and had not been impacted by the Microsoft outage.

Microsoft announced it would suspend new sales and scale down operations in Russia soon after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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Trump and Vances America first: hawkish on China, more flexible on Russia – South China Morning Post

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But the pairs stance concerning Russias war on Ukraine underscores the growing rift with others in the party who still push for a more active stance to counter Moscows aggression.

Trump referred to the war a handful of times in his roughly 90-minute acceptance speech Thursday night, but said little beyond claiming that, had he been president in 2022 when Russia first invaded, it would not have occurred.

No fan of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Trump has argued that European members of the alliance must take their defence more into their own hands. And while not coming out in full opposition to Ukraine, he has been a consistent sceptic on increased aid to Kyiv.

In his address, Trump repeatedly referred to the Republican Party platform, which contains a commitment to strengthen alliances without mentioning either Russia or Ukraine.

But in keeping with his long-standing opposition to Ukraine aid, he questioned its effectiveness in an interview with Fox News on Monday. What are we trying to accomplish? Is there a risk of escalation to nuclear war?

But according to analysts, Trumps pick of Vance on the first day of the convention reasserted his rejection of the neoconservative position that the US should engage militarily worldwide, especially in defence of democracies.

In appointing Vance, Trump is looking to make changes to US foreign policy and to bolster the part of the party that has rejected neoconservatism and takes the America first, Asia first approach, said Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Wertheim said that it was likely Trump would be influenced by the partys Asia First contingent, which includes Elbridge Colby, his former deputy assistant secretary of defence for strategy and force development.

The Trump administration, which ran from 2017 to 2021, was widely credited for defining China as a strategic competitor a posture adopted by the succeeding administration of US President Joe Biden and Wertheim said that thrust would continue.

On Europe, Wertheim sees more room to change the current trajectory.

02:11

Trump vows high tariffs on China-made cars in his first speech after assassination attempt

Trump vows high tariffs on China-made cars in his first speech after assassination attempt

Unlike in 2016, there is now a set of policy experts who have formulated various ways to reduce the US military commitment to Europe, and Trump is clearly interested in those possibilities, he said.

The conversation has shifted from burden-sharing to burden-shifting, he continued, adding that directing resources to deal with China was part of that move.

Though Trump and Vance said relatively little about foreign policy in their addresses, some observers said that the conventions speaker list was telling.

Many invitees which included Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, economist Peter Navarro and tech chief executive David Sacks either opposed increased aid to Ukraine or favoured greater oversight of that aid.

Trump and Vances scepticism about the need to support Ukraines efforts also runs counter to other Republicans like Matthew Pottinger, Trumps top White House adviser on Asia during his administration, who has lately been sounding alarms about Chinas closer integration with Russia.

Washington, he argued, does not have the option to adopt strong measures against one and not the other.

Its going to be a lot cheaper for us to deter in multiple theatres simultaneously, than to deter really well in one theatre but accept major military defeats in other areas because its the same enemy, Pottinger said in a discussion this month at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

During the event, Pottinger cited the assessment by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Beijing is overwhelmingly the No 1 supporter of Russias war in Europe.

He then noted the US$60 trillion democratic alliance that includes Nato, Japan, South Korea and Australia, which he said should be capable of subduing the combined economic output of the axis of chaos countries led by China and Russia.

Despite his inclination to be soft on Russia, analysts say that Trump might still take action against China for its links to Russias industrial base.

But if so, Trump may only keep it up until Beijing is brought to the negotiating table, said James Mann, a senior fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

This was true in his first term too. You could see him taking actions that are tough and bragging that he was taking strong action, and then, much more quietly, looking for deals, Mann said.

Trump hinted at his willingness to use trade as a weapon on Thursday night, when he cited his phase one trade deal with Beijing in 2020.

He has always seen himself as a negotiator and a deal maker, Mann said.

Additional reporting by Robert Delaney

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Sony apparently cant stop leaking Helldivers 2 updates: new Warbond Freedom’s Flame with "fiery weapons" and "cool capes" spotted…

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After leaking some aspects of Destiny 2: The Final Shape back in May and then leaking a new Helldivers 2 Stratagem in June, Sony is keeping the streak going with another apparent Helldivers 2 update leak. Oops!

The spoiler took multiple PS5 players by surprise: a PlayStation notification nominally about the Helldivers 2 Viper Commandos Warbond inadvertently informed them that an unreleased premium Warbond called Freedom's Flame will include "fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns."The cape detail seems especially relevant given the last update on Helldivers 2's 'review bomb' cape, which is very real and waiting in the wings.

"Dial up the temperature to cremate our enemies of justice, Helldivers!" says the notification. "The Freedom's Flame Premium Warbond is deploying to your Destroyer's Acquisitions panel." Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has neither announced the Freedom's Flame Warbond nor publicly acknowledged the leak.

This leak seems to be older than Sony's blunder, anyway. In June, a data miner shared the contents of what appears to be the same Freedom's Flame Warbond, full of distinctively "fiery" file names like "Torcher," "Crisper," and "FLAM-66."Players seem eager to get their tan on, with many hoping for truly fire-resistant armor as well as more weapons weapons to sit alongside the flamethrower.

As recently as July 4, Arrowhead said there was "no new Warbond yet," reaffirming its commitment to slow the rewards down and focus on update quality over quantity. But if this leak is accurate, we may see this fiery Warbond relatively soon.

Sony, Helldivers 2's publisher and IP holder, has already made this summer difficult for Arrowhead. It went through a confusing mandate that forced players to link their PlayStation Network Accounts to PC before this was later reversed, which resulted in vicious review bombing on Steam.

There's more to come either way the Helldivers 2 CEO promises "our intent is to add more stuff for long term progression," and he's turning to the community for ideas.

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

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Sony apparently cant stop leaking Helldivers 2 updates: new Warbond Freedom's Flame with "fiery weapons" and "cool capes" spotted...

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Trump Choosing Sen. J. D. Vance as Pick for Vice President – Reproductive Freedom for All

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For Immediate Release: Monday, July 15, 2024

Contact: [emailprotected]

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Trump Choosing Sen. J. D. Vance as Pick for Vice President

Washington, DC Today, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, officially announced Republican Ohio Senator, J. D. Vance, as his running mate for his 2024 presidential run.

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:

Donald Trump selecting J. D. Vance as his pick for vice president provides even more evidence that a Trump administration will stop at nothing to ban all abortion. Make no mistake, Trump picked him because of not in spite of his anti-abortion bonafides. A Trump-Vance administration will be the most dangerous administration for abortion and reproductive freedom in this countrys history. We must re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris to not only restore our rights but to safeguard our democracy.

Vance has worked in lockstep with extremist Republicans in the Senate to undermine reproductive freedomrefusing to back down from the dangerous abortion bans and restrictions his party has engineered.

A second Trump presidency would give Donald Trump another opportunity to do untold damage to our fundamental rights. Anti-abortion groupswho teamed up with Trump during his last administration to lay the groundwork to overturn Roe and decimate reproductive freedomhave partnered with at least 140 former Trump administration officials to create a lengthy agenda that he could begin launching on Day One of his administration. Those plans offer Trump a laundry list of options to attack abortion rights and access, including reviving the domestic gag rule, deploying the Federal Trade Commission to penalize and prosecute virtual clinics that prescribe abortion pills to people in states with bans, attempting to wilfully misinterpret and misuse the antiquated Comstock Act to block access to both abortion pills and medical equipment used for abortion services, and rescinding all of the policies the Biden-Harris administration enacted that expanded abortion access.

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For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levelsincluding access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leavefor everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.

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Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Trump Choosing Sen. J. D. Vance as Pick for Vice President - Reproductive Freedom for All

At the RNC Prayer Breakfast, Speakers Said the Quiet Part Out Loud – Mother Jones

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Jentezen Franklin (right) at the 2024 Republican National ConventionMother Jones illustration; Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty; Kiera Butler/Mother Jones

On the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, I arrived at the Pfister Hotel ballroom 10 minutes before the God and Country Prayer Breakfast was supposed to start. I arrived a bit early just in case I encountered any trouble, since a few hours before the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the influential Christian political group that was hosting the breakfast, had denied my request for a press credential. While I didnt have any trouble walking into the event, once I arrived, an organizer informed me that the hundreds of seats in the cavernous main breakfast room were already taken. She ushered me and a handful of others into an extremely air-conditioned overflow room, where, over chilly bacon and scrambled eggs, we watched a live stream of the proceedings on a big screen. My tablemate was an older gentleman who boasted that he had once hosted a Trump fundraiser at his car club and raised $2 million. We commiserated about being relegated to this outpost.

In the end, the surroundings hardly mattered as everyone could listen to stories of personal miracles that God had performed in the lives of one speaker after another. Trumps vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, had asked Jesus to help him with a bout of insomnia the night before his prime-time RNC speechand it worked! House Speaker Mike Johnsons sons had been saved from a near-drowning experience by a passing paraglider who had been sent by God. Trumps former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson once performed a complex and risky surgery and was sure he had lost the patientbut the next morning, that patient was sitting up in bed and telling jokes.

But the speeches werent all personal testimony. Many were peppered with the language of Christian nationalism and the shadowy charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. In personal testimonies chock full of miracles and Bible verses, speakers assured the crowd that God was guiding their presidential candidate, and would help them accomplish their political goalsespecially a complete end to abortion.

The first speaker of the morning was Paula White, who served as a spiritual adviser during Trumps first term. White, who warned followers in 2020 that Christians that dont support President Trump will have to answer to God, is closely associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic evangelical Christian movement led by a loose network of self-appointed prophets and apostles. Many claim that God speaks directly to them, often in dreams, and believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the United States. Though their beliefs in the more mystical and supernatural realms of Christianity are unconventional, adherents have made recent inroads into conservative politics, including, as I reported recently, the Supreme Court. In Saturdays assassination attempt, White said, We witnessed a miracle. Her speech included a prayer that Gods supernatural power would protect Trump in the months and years to come.

White wasnt the only speaker at the breakfast associated with the New Apostolic Reformation. There was also another former Trump spiritual adviser Jentezen Franklin, head pastor of the Free Church in Gainesville, Georgia, who has written a popular book about diet and spirituality, Fasting: Opening the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God. At the breakfast, Franklin told a story from the Old Testament, in which Moses took blood from a ram and put some on Aarons right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. In doing so, Aaron would be able to listen, act, and walk in faith.

God had done exactly the same thing with Trump, Franklin said, at the assassination attempt last Saturday. After taking a bullet in the ear, Trump reached up with his hand and got blood on his thumb. Then, before he was ushered to safety, he asked for his shoesan echo, in Franklins mind, of the bloody toe in the Bible. God, Franklin said, had told Trump, Im going to step into your shoes. Im going to get in and work with your hands.' He added, I really believe that God has given Trump new ears. He led the audience in a prayer asking. Can we pray for the president to have new ears? I want him to have spiritual Mickey Mouse ears. Then he could hear if God would move him in the right direction to defend this nation.

What exactly was that right direction? Some of the speakers hinted that it might have to do with a particularly important goal for many conservative Christians: ending abortion. As my colleague Abby Vesoulis wrote, the topic of reproductive rights has been a third rail so far at the Republican National Conventionand thats because the cause of ending abortion, while its important to many of the partys Christian conservatives, is also deeply unpopular among voters and with Trump himself. Which is the likely reason abortion language isnt part of the official party platform. Abortion is also an issue on which former President Trump and his running mate disagree: While Trump has said that he supports a womans right to choose, Vance doesnt believe abortion should be performed under any circumstances.

Unsurprisingly, Vance didnt mention any disagreement with Trump on this subject during his convention speech on Wednesday evening, nor did he say the word abortion at the prayer breakfast. But after telling the story of how he rejected the arrogance of atheism and returned to Christianity in 2019, he pivoted to subtly assuring the crowd that he was working on abortion. There have been a lot of rumblings in the past few weeks that the Republican Party is not going to be open to social conservatives, he said. And really from the bottom of my heart, I will say that social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will. He added, We have to advance the ball one yard before we advance the ball 10 yards before we advance the ball 50 yards.

From the bottom of my heart, I will say that social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will.

Michael Whatley, the cochair of the Republican National Committee, was not so subtle. I am proud to be the most pro-life chair in the history of the Republican party, he said. I am here to tell you today that as long as I am the chair of the Republican National Committee, this party is going to be a pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith party.

Toward the end of the program, Kari Lake, the frontrunner in Arizonas Republican primary for the US Senate, described a moment during the pandemic that changed her life. She was reading the Bible and realized that the news I was reading was a lie. Lake, who had been working as a TV news anchor, began to question her whole career. Seeking guidance on whether to quit her job, she opened her Bible and without looking, put her finger down on a passage that read, If you bring nothing into this world, it is for certain that you take nothing out. For Lake, God was speaking directly to her, saying, Dont worry about that big paycheck, Ive got you covered. Ive got a bigger plan for you.

Just because culture pushed him out, hes not a smaller God, hes still the Almighty God that saved the president, she continued. Im looking forward to being Christian soldiers with you as we go into this next four years.

After breakfast, outside the hotel, some of those Christian soldiers used words like wonderful and humbling to describe the mornings program. Christina, an attendee who traveled from Dallas to the convention after having been invited by one of her states delegates, said she found Vances speech at the breakfast especially meaningful. It brings me back to my own life, she said. Its a comforting feeling. I asked her what role she thought faith should play in government. I think it should come back, she said.

The speakers at the convention appeared to be committed to doing just thateven if they werent talking about it during the main convention program. Whatley, the Republican National Committee co-chair, said that during a meeting about the official platform that took place the previous week, We put together a very strong pro-life platform that we moved on to the convention. Then, he said, I kicked all the staff out, and I kicked all the guests out, and I closed the doors. And I told everybody we are going to have an absolutely amazing convention.

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At the RNC Prayer Breakfast, Speakers Said the Quiet Part Out Loud - Mother Jones

BREAKING: FFRF settles Satanic Temple discrimination lawsuit with Memphis-area school – Freedom From Religion Foundation

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The Freedom From Religion Foundation has reached a settlement on behalf of The Satanic Temple, in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year against the Shelby County Board of Education in Memphis, Tenn., over serious First Amendment violations. FFRF represented the Temple in the suit and successfully ended the school systems constitutional violations.

The school district attempted to thwart at every turn The Satanic Temples efforts to begin an afterschool club at Chimneyrock Elementary School. Rather than allowing it to rent school facilities on the same terms as other nonprofit organizations, including the Good News Club, the Shelby County Board of Education, which operates the district, chose to defy the First Amendment. The district charged The Satanic Temple discriminatory rental and security fees, refused to adequately communicate, canceled the Temples club reservations, and generally treated members of the club as second-class citizens.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools cannot pick and choose how much it charges an organization renting its facilities based on how much it does or does not favor the organizations viewpoint, the content of its speech, or its religious beliefs, asserted FFRFs lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in March of this year.

Now, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed to make amends in a number of ways.

The board will pay over $15,000 to resolve the suit. That includes $14,845 in attorneys fees and costs to FFRF and cooperating counsel. The board will also pay one dollar for nominal damages to The Satanic Temple and $196.71 for various fees previously paid by the Temple in connection with rental reservations that had not yet been refunded.

Further, the Shelby County Board of Education has agreed not to discriminate against the organization with regard to its requests to rent and use school board property at Chimneyrock Elementary School; the Temple will be subject to the same rules and requirements as other nonprofit organizations seeking to rent or use the schools facilities. In addition, the school boards administration has promised not to hold any press conference with regard to the Temples lawful rental or use of school property.

With the case settled, FFRF filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on July 16.

The districts discriminatory behavior gained a national spotlight last December when the district held a press conference in which school board members, administrators, and other officials, surrounded by clergy members, expressed hostility toward The Satanic Temple and validated community members hostility toward the After School Satan Clubs then upcoming first meeting at Chimneyrock Elementary.

Shortly after the press conference, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog with 40,000 members, sent the first of three complaint letters to the district in response to the deeply concerning and discriminatory remarks. FFRFs first letter urged the district to continue to abide by the First Amendment and allow The Satanic Temple to rent facilities in accordance with the districts own written policies.

Instead, the district notified the Temple in early January via a phone call that it had assessed a special security fee of over $2,000 against the group for additional security. The district also charged the Temple another fee of $250 for field lights, both fees that other organizations meeting regularly at the school (such as the Christian Good News Club) have never been charged. FFRF and The Satanic Temples requests to the district for a fee waiver were ignored, and so the Temple reluctantly paid the fees.

On Jan. 10, Memphis-Shelby County Schools finally allowed the Temple to hold the first meeting after-school at Chimneyrock Elementary. When club leaders arrived at the school, they discovered that various district administrators, school board members and members of the clergy were already at the entrance of the building. The district continued attempts to thwart The Satanic Temple and deter its club for students from meeting at Chimneyrock. It abruptly changed the meeting time, unceremoniously canceled rental applications, refused to communicate with the Temple regarding rental rates, and continued to treat the Temple unfavorably.

The districts discriminatory and illegal behavior left The Satanic Temple and FFRF with no choice but to sue.The lawsuit sought fair treatment. The Temple didnt want special privileges, just to be treated the same as all other organizations renting from the district. The lawsuit asked the court to order the district to approve The Satanic Temples reservation requests, treat the Temple fairly, and refund it the discriminatory fees the district forced it to pay.

The settlement, hopefully, resolves these issues, though this lawsuit could have been avoided entirely if the district had simply followed the law.

Were glad the district has mutually resolved this case and agreed to treat The Satanic Temples club fairly going forward, says Patrick Elliott, FFRFs legal director. This settlement should send a message to public schools that the First Amendment applies to all organizations, including minority groups.

A long and tedious battle for our First Amendment Right to equal access has finally come to an end with the Memphis-Shelby County School District, says June Everrett, campaign director for The Satanic Temples After School Satan Clubs. We are extremely grateful for the team at the Freedom From Religion Foundation for their work ensuring that public school districts cannot use viewpoint discrimination against minority religious groups. It is clear that the First Amendment is necessary to prevent the government from picking and choosing who has access to their facilities based on viewpoint. Our volunteers and families look forward to returning next school year with fair and equal treatment.

FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott and FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence prepared the complaint. This case was handled in conjunction with FFRFs local counsel, Attorney Scott Kramer and Attorney Matthew Kezhaya.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation serves as the nations largest association of freethinkers, with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including almost 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee, and works as a state/church watchdog to safeguard the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.

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BREAKING: FFRF settles Satanic Temple discrimination lawsuit with Memphis-area school - Freedom From Religion Foundation

The future of Helldivers 2 rests on the Freedoms Flame Warbond – Video Gamer

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Sony accidentally revealed the upcoming Helldivers 2 Warbond in a notification to players that was supposed to contain information on the current Viper Commandos Warbond. Instead, the notification revealed that the next Warbond will be titled The Freedoms Flame and looks to be focused on fire.

Some players spotted the notification on their PS5 consoles which read,

Dial up the temperature to cremate our enemies of justice, Helldivers! The Freedoms Flame Premium Warbond is deploying to your Destroyers Acquisitions panel. Includes fiery weapons, life-saving armor, cool capes, fresh emotes, player cards, and patterns.

With Arrowhead Game Studios currently being on vacation and new content being scarce, coupled with the dwindling interest and player count, it feels like Freedoms Flame is a do-or-die moment for Helldivers 2 and its included items will determine whether the developers are listening to the community and are looking to bring the best game possible for the community or just aiming to satisfy Sonys unrealistic monetization expectations.

Some of the previous Warbonds, such as the Democratic Detonation and Polar Patriots Warbonds were seemingly themed, but the names had very little to do with the content. Despite the Polar Patriots naming, apart from some armor being white, there was very little to do with ice, snow, or cold temperatures. This was incredibly disappointing to many players, especially as it followed on from the Democratic Detonation Warbond, which seemed to be fire-themed. Still, again none of the content had anything to do with it.

This appears to have changed with the most recent Viper Commandos Warbond, a jungle-themed Battle Pass inspired by the 1985 movie Commando starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Warbond features camo armor and skins among other items typically seen in a Warbond. Arrowhead then released a jungle-themed biome for both the Automatons and Terminids, as well as the Commando Rocket Launcher. This is a step in the right direction, but can the developers stay on the same path for Freedoms Flame?

For many months, players have been wanting to see fire-resistant armor brought to Helldivers 2, especially due to planets such as Hellmire being home to fire tornados which can hinder the mission. So far, these requests have gone unanswered by the developer, and players are losing hope. But, with the new Warbond specifically using words such as fiery, hope has been renewed that the developers are listening to the community.

It will be interesting to see whether this Warbond finally brings fire-resistant armor to the game, but if does then expect to be liberating Hellmire in a future Major Order. While you process the thought of dealing with more fire tornados, the current Major Order calls for players to continue to liberate the Andromeda Sector and surrounding supply lines after successfully splitting the Automaton forces in two in the previous event. With the robot army decimated, this is perhaps the most progress weve seen in the Galactic War for some time. To ensure the Automatons dont regain a stronghold in the galaxy, we highly recommend checking out our Helldivers 2 best weapons guide and best armor guide so you can be suitably equipped to serve Liber-tea to the bots.

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The future of Helldivers 2 rests on the Freedoms Flame Warbond - Video Gamer

‘I Felt the Love of Jesus’: Refugees Flee War in Myanmar, Find Peace and Freedom at Refugee Camp – CBN.com

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MAE SOT, Thailand Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, pro-democracy militias and armed ethnic groups have been rebelling, taking control of different parts of the country. As fierce fighting between these groups and the Myanmar junta continues, thousands flee to surrounding borders including the border town of Mae Sot in Thailand.

A young wife and mother, Kyu Kyu Thin, shares how jet fighters firing at their village wounded her husband and forced the family to run for their lives. Fortunately, they escaped together to a civil defense camp in the jungle. She told CBN News their horrifying experience. "It was very scary especially for our little boy. Our village was being bombed every day, our houses burned and our neighbors were getting killed. We rode a bus and traveled 12 hours. Then we crossed to Mae Sot town, in Thailand to live in a refugee camp." Four months since their escape, Kyu Kyu, her husband, and their 2-year-old son remain at the Thai refugee camp.According to Pastor Moses Kyaw Htay, head of the Church of Christ, these refugees have now become church members.

In 2008, Pastor Moses, a Burmese native, married a Thai woman and moved to Mae Sot. Filled with compassion towards his own people, he started the Burmese church with the help of American missionaries.

"In Burma, they are homeless, hopeless. No education. No good for survival. We saw their problem. Somebody have no food. What we have in our house, we share. We show God's love. Then later, we share the gospel. They accept the Word of God. They believe Jesus as their Lord and Savior," Pastor Moses Kyaw Htay said.

Kyu Kyu shared how the church not only cared for them but also introduced them to Jesus. "It was the first time I heard about Jesus, in the refugee village. I believed right away because I felt the love of Jesus through the people from the church. I am six months pregnant and they bring me to the hospital for my free check-up." Raised as Buddhists, Kyu Kyu and her husband testified how they learned the difference between praying to Jesus rather than Buddha.

Soe Thu Aung, Kyu Kyu's husband, said, "The god of the Buddhist is only an idol. But God here, Jesus, died and rose again to save the people, to save me. He is alive because he can hear my prayer. I prayed for work and after a few days, I got a job."

Kyu Kyu also said, "I am a refugee but God saved me. I am thankful to God because now I know that our family has a good future."

While no one knows the future of Myanmar, one positive result from the war is how a growing number of refugees now know Jesus Christ and can enjoy true peace and freedom.

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'I Felt the Love of Jesus': Refugees Flee War in Myanmar, Find Peace and Freedom at Refugee Camp - CBN.com

Bernice Johnson Reagon, a Musical Voice for Civil Rights, Is Dead at 81 – The New York Times

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Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose stirring gospel voice helped provide the soundtrack of the civil rights movement, then went on to become a cultural historian, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and the founder of the womens a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, died on Tuesday in Washington. She was 81.

Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by her daughter, Toshi Reagon, who did not give a cause.

Bernice Reagon, the daughter of a Baptist preacher in Albany, Ga., grew up in a church without a piano, and the first music she absorbed, rooted in spirituals and hymns, was performed by human voices to the accompaniment of clapping and foot stomping.

She was an original member in 1962 of the Freedom Singers, a vocal quartet that provided anthems of defiance for civil rights protesters preparing to confront the police or as they were hauled away to jail. The Freedom Singers were associated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which sent them across the South as well as to the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1963.

Ms. Reagon once wrote, I sang and heard the freedom songs and saw them pull together sections of the Black community at times when other means of communication were ineffective.

She went on to earn a doctorate in American history from Howard University in 1975 and to direct the Black American Culture Program at the Smithsonian. There, she amassed a collection of blues, gospel and spiritual music and presented that heritage to the public.

During one gospel music presentation, in the 1980s, Ms. Reagon encouraged the audience to hum and sing along with the performers. And if you cant do that, grunt or sigh a little, she instructed.

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Bernice Johnson Reagon, a Musical Voice for Civil Rights, Is Dead at 81 - The New York Times

WHATS HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND – Freedom 92.9

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(OLNEY) The Olney VFW will have its next Queen of Hearts drawing, all open to the public, at 4:00 this Sunday afternoon. The jackpot is now up to $6,451 if the winner is present and remember, the drawing is live-streamed on the VFW Post page on Facebook. Tickets are on sale right up until draw time at 4:00 Sunday, with the VFW Post doors opening at 1:00.

(OLNEY) The Calvary Baptist Church in Olney has a fundraising cookout tomorrow at the Rural King Store in Olney with serving from 10:00 to 2:00. Includes pork burgers and brats. The money raised with assist two young men attend Bible College this fall.

(OLNEY) If it runs, bring it out to tomorrow mornings Cruise In running from 7:00 to 12:00 noon at Eaglesons Automotive Center along South Whittle Avenue in Olney. The Olney Tiger Cheerleaders will have a bake sale. All are invited this Saturday morning.

(NEWTON) Its another Queen of Hearts drawing this Friday night at 6:30 at the American Legion Post 20 in Newton, with tickets on sale up until draw time, and a jackpot at $12,005. The Queens Menu includes all-you-can-eat hard and soft shell, beef or chicken tacos, for $10.00 per person, dine in only with serving at 5:00. All at 108 East Jourdan Street in Newton.

(OLNEY) A reminder that the Richland County Farmers Market will be set up today at the pavilion on the north side of the Olney City Park, due to the start of the Richland County Fair today, plus the Farmers Market will be on the north side of the City Park next week on Tuesday & Friday as well. Thats from 10:00 to 2:00 today with produce and more for sale.

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WHATS HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND - Freedom 92.9

United Freedom Collective Share New Uhuru EP – Clash Magazine

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Margate production team United Freedom Collective have shared their new Uhuru EP.

The studio triptych continually seek out new voices, with the core trio RobbieRedway,MathieuSeynaeveandWaiFungTsang inviting a plethora of talents into their Margate studio.

Out now, Uhuru the Swahili word for Freedom emphasises both their curatorial instincts, and their ability to shape-shift. The title song owes a debt to a session at SanturiStudiosin Nairobi with local rap artistClinchyRoyal; other guests include soulful singer Billy Blond, Manta, and the Institute Collective.

As a whole, the EP thrives on eclecticism, the dizzying array of ideas serving to reinforce United Freedom Collectives central ethos.

They all come from extremely different backgrounds, which makes for an eclectic and hopefully pleasing soup of sounds,declares Robbie.From a production angle, we were listening to a lot of Arthur Russell, Woo, Blake Mills, El Michels Affair and Young Fathers amongst others.

Tune in now.

Photo Credit:Samuel Glazebrook

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United Freedom Collective Share New Uhuru EP - Clash Magazine

RICHLAND COUNTY FAIR KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND – Freedom 92.9

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(OLNEY) The 167th annual Richland County Fair will start today in the Olney City Park and run through all of next week. The fairs junior & 4-H general projects will be submitted today and the Farm Bureau Young Leaders having their Pedal Tractor Pull this afternoon with registration at 2:00 and pedaling at 3:00. The first of eight grandstand events will be tonight with the Truck Pulls at 7:00. Then tomorrow morning its the Youth Tractor Driving Contest at 9:00 and the popular Tractor Pulls Saturday night at 7:00. The 4-H Horse Show is at 8:00 Sunday morning, the Family Fun Day with blowups and more is Sunday afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00, and Gospel Music at the Park Bandshell Sunday night at 7:00. The Ag Experience is next Monday from 4:00 to 7:00 and the Queen Pageant Monday night at 7:00 with reserved seating and all the other remaining grandstand event each night through next Saturday. All tickets for grandstand events at $15 for adults and $5 for children age 12 and under. The livestock & 4-H shows all next week with the 4-H Master Showmanship next Thursday morning at 8:00 and the 4-H Livestock Auction Thursday afternoon at 3:00, plus carnival rides next Tuesday through Friday and all the great fair concessions every day and night. Learn more on the richlandcountyfair.org website or check the page on Facebook.

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RICHLAND COUNTY FAIR KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND - Freedom 92.9