rembrandt.ai, davinci.ai, artist.ai: The Plight of Artists in an Artificial Intelligence World

Mona Lisa, by Artificial intelligence (with my prompts, so do I own it?) (Photo/Professor Victoria Sutton)

By Professor Victoria Sutton 

 

September 22, 2024

Guest Opinion. The U.S. Constitution provides for the protection of the arts, which has been implemented through statutory and regulatory protections for authors and inventors:

“promote the [p]rogress of . . . Arts”

——U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 8.

The entire quote from the Constitution reads, “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” But it is the “promote the progress of . . . “ clause that is having difficulty with courts that do not see artificial intelligence as “progress” but that the arts are in need of protection from it.

“Artists” who are using artificial intelligence (AI) are a challenge to the copyright office. In response, the Copyright Office officially published a “statement of policy to clarify its practices for examining and registering works that contain material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology for the use of AI in copyright applications,” effective March 16, 2023.

In August 2023, in a case where the applicant was denied copyright protection for his “autonomously” created artwork, the D.C. District Court held that the artificial intelligence function was the sole creator of the art it created. But because only a person can hold a copyright, this and any AI art is ineligible for registration.

The copyright applicant in this case, Thaler, filed an application to register a creation called “Entrance to Paradise” (see below) created by artificial intelligence which he identified as his “Creativity Machine,” which he included as a claimant. Thaler admits that the art “was autonomously created by a computer algorithm running on a machine” in his claim notes. He also writes in a note to the Copyright Office that he is “seeking to register this computer-generated work as a work-for-hire to the owner of the Creativity Machine” which is Thaler.

In August 12, 2019, the Copyright Office sent Thaler a letter denying registration to Thaler finding that it “lacks the human authorship necessary to support a copyright claim.” 

After a series of administrative appeals, the Office's Review Board issued a final determination affirming that the work could not be registered because it was made “without any creative contribution from a human actor.” 

This week, on September 19, 2024, the D.C. Circuit Court heard an appeal from the D.C. District Court opinion last year, affirming the Copyright Office decision not to register the AI created work. The question before the court is whether the Copyright Office "correctly denied a registration application that claimed on its face that the work was autonomously generated by an AI [system]." But Thaler argued he had more to do with it than previously argued, confusing the judges panel about what question was before them, according to one account. It is likely that the lower court’s opinion will be affirmed, but we will see.

Art competitions

In 2022, Jason Michael Allen entered his AI created art using Midjourney in the Colorado State Fair category for digitally created art, and won the top prize, marking the first time AI had won in a competition.

The Copyright Office also rejected Allen’s application for copyright of his award-winning work, citing that there was more than a de minimis contribution from artificial intelligence (the office had asked Allen to provide which elements were his, and he declined).

Argument of Artists

Artists who create works of art argue that artificial intelligence functions are based on training they received by ingesting their works, thus using the work of others to make their own. However, it seems that is exactly what human minds do by being human and living in the world of art. They are inspired and so create based on their “training” of seeing the Masters who have painted and created great works of art, as well as those that are lesser known artists. Having a machine assist you in that process is human enhancement of a sort.

How far does the Copyright Act extend?

There is some question as to whether the Copyright Act extends to tribal lands, because the Act is silent on its application beyond the “states”. Native American scholar, Trevor Reed, argues that each Tribe should decide whether it applies within their jurisdiction. Tribes are also free to create their own copyright laws.

Further conflicts with AI in Indigenous Cultures

Where art is depicting sacred objects or ideas, the use of artificial intelligence to generate “aboriginal art” can be offensive and misappropriating indigenous culture. In this example, a law firm in Australia used this to show how indigenous art can be stolen for artificial intelligence art generation in a potentially offensive way:

The use of artificial intelligence can also be used to police copied, misappropriated or even stolen indigenous art. A Google image search can find similar images and artificial intelligence can enhance that function.

Artificial Intelligence for Artists Today

Many AI applications like two of them in the title of this article, are created for artists to use in the generation of art that can be used commercially or sold, but still not copyrighted.

Some competitions like the Colorado Fair competition where one of the first AI generated artworks won the digital division competition, have now required disclosure as to whether the artist used artificial intelligence in the creation of their entry in the competition.

Until we hear from the D.C. Circuit Court, these works will continue to be ineligible for registration at least to AI ownership because AI is not a person; and not to the human “prompt artist” because they did not create the work.

Ultimately, when the U.S. Congress catches up on the plight of artists and copyright, they may be able to fashion legislation for another category of AI generated art that has some limitations on its infringement just like human-generated art. “Prompt artists” will need to direct it not to “copy” other works, and that may be a challenge.

So do I own the Mona Lisa-like image created with artificial intelligence at the beginning of this article? Obviously it was trained on the original Mona Lisa created by Da Vinci in 1503-1506.

Yes, I own it but I am not the creator yet I can use it royalty free. It is not, however, eligible for copyright protection—yet.

To read more articles by Professor Sutton go to:  https://profvictoria.substack.com/ 

Professor Victoria Sutton (Lumbee) is a law professor on the faculty of Texas Tech University. In 2005, Sutton became a founding member of the National Congress of American Indians, Policy Advisory Board to the NCAI Policy Center, positioning the Native American community to act and lead on policy issues affecting Indigenous communities in the United States.

GREEN PARTY CEO

Jill Stein paid $100,000 to a Republican consulting firm led by a suspected January 6 rioter

Marin Scotten
Mon, September 23, 2024 a

Jill Stein Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images


Allies of former President Donald Trump and others affiliated with the GOP are supporting the Green Party's Jill Stein in the hopes that her presidential bid will divert attention and votes away from Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Stein, now in her third race for the White House, has fought to secure ballot access in multiple battleground states and has been represented by Trump-affiliated lawyers, the Journal reported. Indeed, Stein's campaign has paid six figures to a Republican-tied consulting firm led by a man accused of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol

In Nevada, the Democratic Party initiated a lawsuit to exclude the Green Party from the ballot, claiming the party used the wrong form to collect signatures from voters. The Green Party appealed the case and was represented by Jay Sekulow, an attorney who defended Trump throughout his impeachment trials (last week, the Nevada Supreme Court rejected Stein’s bid to be put back on the ballot).


In Wisconsin, Democratic National Committee employee David Strange sought to remove Stein from the ballot by arguing the Green Party can’t nominate presidential electors without legislative candidates eligible to do so. The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Stein was again legally represented by a Trump-affiliated lawyer, Michael D. Dean, who was involved in lawsuits that attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the Journal reported.

Stein's campaign also paid $100,000 to a consulting firm, Accelevate, that has worked with Republican campaigns for signature-gathering services. The head of the firm, Trent Pool, appears to have taken part in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, The Intercept reported last week. The same firm was also paid millions of dollars by the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who endorsed Trump last month.

A spokesperson for Stein said she was unaware of Pool's reported connection to Jan. 6; a lawyer for Pool insisted his client was filming a documentary, not taking part in the attack.

The boost from Trump allies is part of a larger coordinated effort by the GOP to support third-party candidates as an alternative to Harris, seeking to divert attention and ultimately votes from the vice president, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. Similar efforts have been made to include independent candidate Cornell West on the ballot in Arizona.

For her part, Stein rejects the argument that her candidacy is enabling a Trump path to victory, positioning herself as a left-wing alternative to the country's two major parties. But she has repeatedly been criticized by Democrats for taking away votes, most notably by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who called Stein’s candidacy “unserious” and “predatory.”

In a recent NBC News poll, 2% of registered voters said they would vote for Stein in November.

Lifelong Republican Liz Cheney Explains Why She's Endorsing Colin Allred Over Ted Cruz

Paige Skinner
Mon, September 23, 2024 a

Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) were in Congress together from 2019 until 2023. Getty Images

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said “You can’t trust Ted Cruz” as she explained why she’s endorsing his opponent in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, Democratic Rep. Colin Allred.

“The choice for the people of Texas is just a very clear one,” Cheney, who officially endorsed Allred earlier this month, said in an interview alongside Allred with Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA last week.

Cheney, who was in Congress from 2017 until 2023, said she hasn’t made any other endorsements for Senate this year. She worked with Allred after he joined Congress in 2019, and said she’s known Cruz for over 20 years.

She said that America needs “serious people in office.”

“I know [Cruz] will say anything if it serves his own political purpose,” Cheney told WFAA.

Cheney, who helped lead the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 coup attempt, said the more important conservative value is upholding the Constitution. She pointed out that Cruz had schemed to assist former President Donald Trump in overturning the 2020 election results.

“It’s just dangerous,” Cheney said. “These jobs really matter, and in this race, I want to do everything I can to help ensure that the people of Texas elect Colin Allred.”

Cheney said that even though she and Allred were on different sides of many issues, she knows he has the “interest of the people of Texas first and foremost.”

“He will be the kind of public servant that the people of Texas deserve and the whole country needs in the United States Senate,” she said.

Cheney also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president earlier this month.

Cruz has been a Texas senator since 2013. Other Democrats have tried to beat him, like former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who lost to Cruz in 2018 by a slim margin.
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Ted Cruz holds 3-point lead over Colin Allred, poll shows

FOX 4 Staff
Mon, September 23, 2024 

A new poll shows Republican Senator Ted Cruz with a 3-point lead over his Democratic challenger Colin Allred.

The Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation spoke to 1,200 likely Texas voters between September 13 and 18 for the poll.

48 percent of respondents said they planned to vote for Cruz, compared to 45 percent for Allred.

Five percent of the likely voters polled were undecided.

According to the poll, Allred holds an 11-point advantage over Cruz among Hispanic respondents (50-39), while Cruz has a 21-point advantage among white respondents (58-37).

Female likely voters backed Allred over Cruz 52 percent to 40 percent, while men overwhelmingly showed support for Cruz with a 57 percent to 37 percent gap.

The poll also showed former president Donald Trump with a 6-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Texas in the presidential race.

"We have continued to see Allred consistently outperform the top of the ticket in this race. The data suggests that this speaks more to Allred’s favorables than what we are seeing in the National conversation," said TxHPF CEO Jason Villalba in a statement.

Cruz and Allred will meet on the debate stage on Oct. 15.

Election Day is Nov. 5.

Opinion | Harris is finally catching up to Trump on the all-important economy question

Paul Waldman
Mon, September 23, 2024 



It’s one of the enduring mysteries of American politics: Despite the irrefutable evidence that the economy performs better under Democratic presidents by almost any measure, much of the voting public remains convinced that Republicans are better economic stewards. But if recent polling is accurate, glimmers of sense are breaking through. In several recent polls, Vice President Kamala Harris has nearly erased former President Donald Trump’s advantage on the question of which candidate would be better for the economy. If this result holds up, it could be fatal to his chances of winning back the White House. It would be nice if this change were a testament to the voters’ rationality and keen economic understanding. But it isn’t.

In the latest NBC News poll — with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points — voters give Trump a 50-41 advantage on “dealing with the economy.” That 9-point deficit may not sound like good news for Harris, until you learn that at the beginning of the year, Trump’s advantage over President Joe Biden on that question was more than 20 points.

Other polls have shown even better results for Harris. A CBS News/YouGov poll found that Trump leads by only 53-47 among those who say the economy is a major factor in their vote. A Fox News poll showed Trump ahead of Harris by 5 points on this measure. An AP-NORC poll showed Trump leading Harris by only 2 points on who voters trust on the economy. A Quinnipiac poll of swing states found a similar gap. A Morning Consult poll show the two tied on the same question. And a Financial Times/University of Michigan poll found Harris leading by 2 points. (The CBS result lies outside the margin of error, while all the other poll findings are within those surveys’ margin of error.)

While the numbers vary somewhat, the overall trend is clear: Voters are much more favorably inclined toward the Democratic nominee on the economy than they used to be — which is a huge win for Harris. Before Biden exited the race, Trump was obliterating him on these economic questions, even though Biden’s economic stewardship was worlds ahead of Trump’s.

The lead Trump enjoyed earlier in the year can be attributed to a combination of amnesia, delusion, and the widely shared sense that the 81-year-old Biden just wouldn’t be up to the job in a second term. Voters somehow forgot how Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic made the inevitable downturn deeper and more difficult to recover from.

The former president may be fond of asking, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” But the appropriate answer is, “Are you kidding?” Four years ago the economy was 10 million jobs in the hole from pre-pandemic levels. The unemployment rate was still 7.8% (today it’s 4.2%). Even before the pandemic, Trump also ballooned the deficit, which Republicans pretend to care about, with tax cuts aimed at the wealthy.

Even if you want to excuse Trump from blame for the pandemic recession (which you shouldn’t), Biden’s economic performance was almost miraculous: millions of jobs created, growth steady, a dramatic surge in manufacturing investment directly spurred by his industrial policy, and an economy that has significantly outperformed our global peers in recovering from the pandemic. That outperformance includes inflation, which spiked globally due to snarled supply chains and corporate price gouging, and which the U.S. recovered from more quickly than peer nations.

Yet millions still believe that not just prices but everything was better under Trump. NPR recently interviewed one Georgia voter who said she’s supporting Trump “because her investments were doing better when he was in office.” Unless she invested in Trump NFTs, it’s hard to imagine what she could be talking about. The day before the 2020 election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,925; last Friday it closed at 42,063, for an increase of 56%. The S&P 500 told the same story: It closed at 3,310 the day before the 2020 election, and finished at 5,702 on Friday, for an increase of 72%.

Nevertheless, for a couple of years now, many have been convinced that the economy is a disaster. One poll taken in May showed that 56% of Americans thought we were in a recession, 49% believed the stock market was down for the year, and perhaps most incredibly of all, 49% said unemployment was near a 50-year high, when in fact it’s near a 50-year low.

Millions also continue to believe that because he’s a rich businessman, Donald Trump must really understand the economy. After all, how could the man behind Trump University, Trump Steaks, and Trump Vodka not be an economic genius?

But that idea seems, finally, to be breaking down. Perhaps some voters have taken a close look at the two candidates’ proposals and are starting to conclude that Harris’ ideas have more merit. Perhaps they’ve seen that both conservative and liberal economists agree that Trump’s plan for across-the-board tariffs would be an economic disaster. Or maybe they have been impressed with Harris’ plan to reduce the price of housing.

More likely, though, is that voters’ feelings are translating into economic conclusions. Just as people felt that Biden looked old and feeble and therefore he couldn’t have been doing a good job on the economy, now many feel that Harris seems serious and competent, and therefore they can trust her to do a better job. Her ratings overall have improved since her successful convention and strong debate performance, so that halo has extended to economics. And as Trump spends every day spreading insane lies about immigrants, perhaps some voters are questioning his ability to handle a whole range of issues.

There is reason to believe things could get even better for Harris on this score. The Fed’s decision to lower interest rates will likely give people confidence that mortgage and car loans will get cheaper. She’ll also probably continue to get a boost from something no lawmaker has much control over: the retail price of gas. The national average is now $3.21 and falling, a full 66 cents lower than it was a year ago, and in many states the price is below $3.00.

By the time we get to the election, Harris may have even opened a real lead on the economy. The basis of voters’ judgment may not be much more rational than when they thought Trump was an economic wizard. But at least the conclusion won’t be so crazy.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com




Harris Prepares a New Economic Pitch to Voters
Yuval Rosenberg
Mon, September 23, 2024



With six weeks to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to make another economic pitch to voters, aiming to improve her standing on an issue where public perception still favors former President Donald Trump.

Harris told reporters yesterday that she’ll give a speech this week “to outline my vision for the economy.” Her proposals this week will “aim to help Americans build wealth and set economic incentives for businesses to aid that goal,” Reuters reports. But don’t expect a slew of specifics: “The address will be more sweeping in tone rather than focused on any proposal or set of policy items,” Bloomberg says, citing an unnamed source familiar with Harris’s plans.

Since launching her campaign in late July, she has pledged to lower costs, provide tax breaks for childcare, build more housing, raise the corporate tax rate and offer financial support to small businesses.

“I’ve named it an opportunity economy,” she told reporters yesterday, adding that her plan “is about what we can do more to invest in the aspirations, the ambitions and the dreams of the American people while addressing the challenges that they face, whether it be the high price of groceries or the difficulty in being able to acquire home ownership for a number of reasons, including we don’t have enough houses to buy.”

Harris’s focus on the economy comes as some undecided voters continue to say they want to hear more about how she would steer the economy — and as Democratic strategists debate whether she would benefit from laying out more policy details.

Harris has surged to a slight lead over former Trump in national polls. She’s up by 5 percentage points in the new NBC News poll and by 4 points in the latest from CBS News/YouGov. Harris appears to be slightly ahead in four of the seven battlegrounds, including the “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. New polls from The New York Times and Siena College show Trump has a considerable edge in Arizona and also leads in Georgia and North Carolina.

But the race remains incredibly close, and Harris continues to lag in some polls on the question of which candidate voters trust more on the economy — though she has closed the gap considerably compared to where President Joe Biden had been.

The NBC poll found that more voters say Trump would be better than Harris at handling the economy, 50% to 41%, and better at dealing with inflation and the cost of living, 48% to 40%. Those margins, while still large, are much narrower than the 22-point advantage Trump had on the same questions in NBC polls earlier this year. And the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll showed Harris leading Trump on the question of stewardship of the economy, 44% to 42%.

The CBS News/YouGov poll found that 88% of registered voters say the economy will be a major factor in their vote, and 59% called the economy fairly bad or very bad, compared with 39% who said it is fairly good or very good. Still, that was a slight improvement from August, when the split was 62-35.

Nearly 90% of likely voters who say the economy is good prefer Harris over Trump, and the vice president has closed the gap among likely voters who are emphasizing the economy. Trump led with those voters, 56% to 43%, in August, but his edge has now shrunk to six points, 53% to 47%.

Trump to talk taxes: The former president is scheduled to give a speech in Savannah, Georgia, tomorrow “outlining his plan to lower taxes for American business owners and highlight the importance of buying American made goods for our economy.”

Opinion - Trump is at 48 percent. How could this be possible but for widespread racism?

Juan Williams, Opinion Contributor
Mon, September 23, 2024 

At this point, the racism is obvious. How else does it make sense that 48 percent of registered voters in last week’s Fox News poll say they have no problem putting Donald Trump back in the White House?

Who are these people who look the other way when their candidate tells a bold lie about Black immigrants eating a mostly white Ohio town’s cats and dogs?

How can it be that not a soul among the 48 percent cares that Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, says it is okay to “create” racist lies about immigrants eating pets “so the American media actually pays attention”?

How can 48 percent of voters back a candidate who says immigrants coming from “infested” places are “poisoning the blood of our country?”

Is it just snowflakes who notice when one of Trump’s close allies says, “The White House will smell like curry” if Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of an Indian immigrant, wins the presidency?

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Ga.), no snowflake, condemned the comment as “appalling,” “racist” and “hateful.”

Do these voters also prefer to sail past Trump once calling a Black woman and former aide a “dog”? And he called Alvin Bragg, the Black Manhattan district attorney who successfully prosecuted him for business fraud, an “animal.”

Maybe Trump’s 48 percent don’t excuse his racism so much as get the message. They are inside a Republican Party that is 82 percent white. Most of those white Republicans are in small towns and rural areas.

“Beginning in the early 2010s — and accelerating during the presidency of Donald J. Trump…” The New York Times noted earlier this year, “white voters without a degree, increasingly moved toward the Republican Party. Nearly two-thirds of all white, non-college voters identify as Republicans or lean toward the Republican Party.”

This is the heart of Trump supporters who told YouGov pollsters they believe Trump is telling the truth about Haitian immigrants “abducting and eating pet dogs and cats.”

The YouGov polls also found that 80 percent of Trump supporters also buy his lie that Venezuela is “deliberately sending people from prisons and mental institutions” into the U.S. I wrote a 2018 book about Trump’s history of racism. Vice President Harris echoed the book’s research in talking last week of Trump’s racist past. She pointed back to his participation in the “birther” lie, the incendiary claim that the first Black president, President Obama, had not been born in the U.S.

Harris said Trump can’t be trusted to serve as president after “engaging in…hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country…to have people pointing fingers at each other.”

In this year’s campaign, one of Trump’s regular dog-whistles at his rallies is his false claim that big cities, full of racial minorities and immigrants, are scary places full of crime and failure. Last week he flatly lied at a rally when he said a parent who leaves a child alone on the New York subway has “about a 75 percent chance that [they’ll] never see [their] child again. What the hell has happened here?”

Trump’s use of racism to stir up his white supporters was called out by writer Fran Lebowitz back in 2018. Trump, she wrote, has “allowed people to express their racism and bigotry in a way that they haven’t been able to in quite a while and they really love him for that…It’s a shocking thing to realize people love their hatred more than they care about their own actual lives.”

There are real consequences to all these racist lies. Last week, a Trump-supporting sheriff in Ohio encouraged people to report their neighbors who displayed Harris-Walz lawn signs. This incident called to mind parallels with police in Nazi Germany.

Widening the racial and political divide leads to alarm over possible violence. USA Today recently reported that more than one-third of Republicans who have a favorable view of Trump “say political violence is acceptable.”

According to a new Deseret News-HarrisX poll, 77 percent of U.S. voters say they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about political violence before Election Day, including 80 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats.

“We are seeing an unprecedented and extremely disturbing level of threats of violence and violence against public officials,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said last week in a speech.

The 48 percent backing Trump try to move away from his racism by talking about the need for a better economy. But Trump’s main economic plan is to impose tariffs that will drive up prices. He has no plan to improve health care or provide more affordable housing.

It was less than 30 years ago when Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, stared down racism in the GOP. “If there’s anyone who has mistakenly attached themselves to our party in the belief that we are not open to citizens of every race and religion…,” Dole said at the 1996 convention, “the exits, which are clearly marked, are for you to walk out of as I stand this ground without compromise.”

Where are those Republicans now?

Juan Williams is an author and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Willie Nelson, Margo Price Tell Texas and Tennessee Fans to Vote Democrats Into Congress

Joseph Hudak

ROLLING STONE
Tue, September 24, 2024 

Willie Nelson, Margo Price. - Credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images; Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival

Willie Nelson and Margo Price encouraged their fans in Texas and Tennessee to register to vote and cast a ballot in favor of the states’ respective Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate. In Texas, Colin Allred is trying to unseat Republican Ted Cruz, while Gloria Johnson — one of the Tennessee Three — is challenging Republican Marsha Blackburn.

In a video filmed around a table on Nelson’s tour bus, the Farm Aid board members endorse Allred and Johnson in a short speech. “I know we’re all talking about the presidential race, and that’s important, but Margo and I want to talk about our Texas and Tennessee voters,” Nelson says, reading from a sheet of paper.



“Colin Allred is running against Ted Cruz in Texas and I know firsthand that Colin will represent all Texans,” Nelson says, “no matter their race, who they worship, or who they love.”

“And I know Gloria will do something about the gun problem this country faces,” Price says of Johnson, who, with Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, famously protested on the Tennessee statehouse floor the inaction by their Republican peers to pass gun reform in the wake of the 2023 Covenant school shooting in Nashville.

In all, there are 33 U.S. Senate seats in contention this November. The voter registration deadline in Texas and Tennessee is Oct. 7. Nelson says to make a voting plan and “bring three friends to the polls and vote for Colin Allred.” Price, meanwhile, uses a different tactic. Pointing out that Tennessee has the lowest voter turnout in the nation, she admonishes, “Friends don’t sleep with people that don’t vote.”

Along with being a Tennessee state representative, Johnson is a former special education teacher who has spoken out in favor of gun reform, reproductive rights, and racial equality. When asked by reporters why her Tennessee Three colleagues, Pearson and Jones, who are Black, were expelled from the House following their protest and she was not, Johnson replied, “I’ll answer your question; it might have to do with the color of our skin.”

In Texas, Allred is a college football star who played four seasons with the Tennessee Titans and left the NFL in 2011 to pursue a law career. He held positions in the White House Counsel’s office under the Obama administration, and at the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. Recent polls show Allred neck and neck with Cruz.

Democrats privately worry Trump's support among White working class could sway the election: Report

Nikolas Lanum

FOX NEWS
Mon, September 23, 2024

Democrats are privately worried about Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to shore up votes among White, working-class voters – an important demographic to securing victory in the November election.

According to a new report from Politico, while members of the Democratic Party are publicly expressing confidence, behind closed doors, officials and allies fear that former President Donald Trump could shatter the Blue Wall he broke down eight years ago.

"Candidly, Trump has a solid, solid base of working-class people that have bought into his message," Jimmy Williams, president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, told Politico.

"It’s movable and it’s been moving. But it’s not like some tide that’s turned," he said.

The fresh concern comes as the Teamsters labor union chose to withhold an endorsement from Harris last week following internal polling that showed higher favorability for Trump among respondents.

Democrats told Politico that Trump may garner unexpectedly high support among union members – especially men. They also say Harris must work harder to win over the White, working-class voting bloc which comprises a large percentage of the Rust Belt electorate.

One pro-Harris union official, who Politico granted anonymity, said the polling was a "red flag" for Democrats and was reminiscent of 2016, when Hillary Clinton underperformed among union households.

"Hard not to have HRC flashbacks right now, to be honest, that stuff might be wrong beneath the surface," the official said. "I hope it’s not."

Swing-state Democrats also claimed that Harris is not criticizing Trump enough on past comments he has made regarding issues that matter to older voters, such as Social Security and Medicare.

"I’m worried about her with [seniors]… most of all, I just think they don’t know her," one anonymous Pennsylvania Democratic elected official told Politico. "She should be coming in on Medicare and Social Security like non-f---ing stop."

Another Democratic elected official in Pennsylvania expressed similar concerns.

"How much time do you hear the top of the ticket talking about that issue? Almost nothing. They just have to talk about it more," the official said.

Trump is leading Harris in Arizona by five points in a 50%-45% spread, and he holds a similar 49%-45% lead in Georgia, according to a poll on Monday by The New York Times. Harris is closer to the former president in North Carolina, however, where the race sits at 49%-47%.

The Times survey comes days after a Fox News national poll found Harris leading Trump by two points in a 50%-48% match-up.

Florida, Georgia Teamsters break with national leadership by endorsing Harris-Walz ticket

Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Tue, September 24, 2024 



Ten Teamsters local units that represent 45,000 members in Florida, Georgia and southeastern Alabama have broken with the union's national leadership by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

Josh Zivalich, president of the Teamsters Joint Council 75, said the seven-member board felt strongly that it needed to support the ticket of Harris and running mate Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor.

"We decided we wanted to endorse the Harris-Walz campaign," Zivalich said. "We think the stakes are very high for working people, and certainly union people, and we thought it was important to make a stand."


The decision is a departure from the Sept. 18 announcement by the board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters not to endorse either Harris or former President Donald Trump. The Republican White House nominee's campaign hailed the Teamsters' non-selection calling it a "crushing blow" against Harris as "she became the first Democrat in almost three decades" not to enjoy the backing of the Teamsters.

But the decision was also a setback for Trump, who coveted the union's backing as well. Teamsters President Sean O'Brien was given a prime-time speaking slot at this July's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and Trump teased a potential endorsement during rallies this summer.

What's more, since the non-endorsement by the national governing board, the Harris-Walz ticket has steadily received endorsements from local Teamsters councils, including in important battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada.

On Tuesday, the three Teamsters local councils in Georgia joined the group, as did the six in Florida and the one in southeastern Alabama that also oversees Florida's western Panhandle. Zivalich would not say what the final seven-member vote was in support of of Harris-Walz.

"But I can tell you there wasn't anybody that voted that we should endorse Mr. Trump," he said.
Why the Florida, Georgia Teamsters say they back Harris-Walz

Zivalich said union opposition to Trump in part stems from the "outright hostile" stance the National Labor Relations Board took against organized labor during the former president's lone term in the White House.

He said organized labor also is outspoken in opposition to the Project 2025 goal of dismantling the American regulatory state, which Zivalich said would undermine protections from the right to organize to safety supervision under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency.

Trump and his campaign have disavowed Project 2025, and say they do not support what Democrats and critics call its extremist program. But Trump's campaign rhetoric, particularly his call to slash federal regulations and his supporters' wish for dismantling the "deep state," echoes Project 2025's provisions.

"We think that those laws and agencies not only need to be protected: They need to be strengthened. That's clearly not Mr. Trump's agenda," Zivalich said of federal law and the regulatory state.

Election 2024: Trump fires vitriolic post at 'Comrade Kamala' as Dems in Florida 'slam' him on Obamacare

The Teamsters, he added, have often worked with pro-labor Republicans and have endorsed them.

"But Mr. Trump is not one of them," Zivalich said.

He said the three state councils will now inform the rank-and-file via social media, text communications and numerous other outlets. Activists and union stewards in the Teamsters locals will also make the case for Harris-Walz as they visit members to make sure they are registered to vote and explain that "the Teamsters did their due diligence on the record of the candidates and offer them what our endorsements are," he said.

"Certainly our members are going to vote the way that they feel and that is deeply, deeply respected," Zivalich said. "But we felt that we needed to definitely show them that their leadership believes that the Harris-Walz ticket is the right ticket for organized labor and for them to consider that."

Teamsters members in Florida, Georgia and southeast Alabama work predominantly in package and freight delivery, as well as airlines, public sectors, the brewery industry and food-service transportation, he said.

Pa Teamsters counters national leadership, endorses Kamala Harris.

Damon C. Williams, 

Erie Times News

USA TODAY NETWORK
Mon, September 23, 2024 

Just days after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump for president, the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters bucked its national leadership and officially endorsed the Democratic nominee and current vice president.

Here's why Pennsylvania's Teamsters are backing Kamala Harris and what it could mean for Pennsylvania.
Why is the Pennsylvania Teamsters endorsing Kamala Harris?

The Leadership of the 95,000-member Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters cited Kamala Harris and vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' support for unions, fair wages and improved working conditions

.

Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for president at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's leadership conference on Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C.

"The PA Conference of Teamsters is committed to vetting candidates and choosing those that are best suited to protect our members' wages, their rights and their collective bargaining agreements," said PA Conference of Teamsters President William Hamilton in a press release announcing the endorsement. "In the 45 years the PA Conference of Teamsters has been in existence, it is extremely rare to have a pro-labor candidate for President and a pro-labor candidate for Vice President running together.

"Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are exactly that team."
Will the PA Teamsters' endorsement matter in battleground Pennsylvania?

In the announcement, PA Conference of Teamsters President William Hamilton indicated that his membership will work to tilt battleground Pennsylvania toward the Harris/Walz ticket.

"Their track record on labor speaks volumes," Hamilton said, "and that is why we are proud to not only endorse but support and work for the Harris Walz campaign in Pennsylvania.”
Why didn't the Teamsters endorse neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump?

Afters years of officially endorsing presidential candidates, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union's leadership decided to not endorse either presidential candidate Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

Teamsters union leadership said they simply couldn't reach a consensus on either presidential candidate, and noted that neither have spoken directly to the needs of union membership.

Damon C. Williams is a Philadelphia-based journalist reporting on trending topics across the Mid-Atlantic Region.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pa Teamsters endorses Kamala Harris despite national union stance

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Vice President Harris Rallies in Madison; Crowd Chants ‘We’re Not Going Back’
Levi Rickert

Mon, September 23, 2024 

Vice President Harris campaigns in Madison, Wisc. (Photo/Marlon WhiteEagle)

Native Vote 2024. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris made her fourth trip to Wisconsin, a key battleground state in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, on Friday, Sep. 20.

The Madison rally was held at the Alliant Energy Center, and according to Harris campaign officials, “with over 10,500 attendees.”

The capacity crowd heard from Wisconsin Democratic chair Ben Wikler, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Congressman Mark Pocan, Senator Tammy Baldwin, and Governor Tony Evers.

In between speakers, the DJ played music that kept the crowd excited, some danced to pass the time. Attendees were given multi-colored lighted wristbands that lit up the arena. The combination of music and lights gave the rally a party atmosphere.

Before Harris took the stage, she was endorsed by Teamsters Joint Council 39 and introduced by their president, Bill Carroll. Early in the week, the Teamsters made news electing not to endorse either candidate for U.S. president. However, local Teamster councils that collectively number over one million have endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket.

Vice President Harris thanked Madison’s mayor for taking her to visit her childhood home during a recent trip to Madison. Harris lived in Madison when she was 5 years old, and her parents worked at UW-Madison.

Harris spoke to her supporters about her debate performance against her opponent, former President Donald Trump. She said, “it was fun.”

Harris said she talked to Americans about her plan to lower the cost of groceries and drugs, supporting small businesses, and protecting reproductive freedoms, while Trump uses his “old, tired playbook.”

“He has no plan of how he would address the needs of the American people,” Harris said. “It’s time to turn the page. America is ready to chart a new way forward. We are tired of all the division and hate what they are pushing.”

Harris emphasized the support her campaign receives from Democrats, Republicans, and Independents as she makes her case to win the White House.

The vice president tours her “opportunity economy” plan that would help Americans own a home, build wealth, and start a business if she is elected to office.

Her goal is to build 3 million new homes by the end of her first term as president. She has plans to support new homebuyers with $25,000 in down payment assistance, take on corporate price gouging, and increase child tax credits.

She said Trump plans to cut Social Security, increase foreign tariffs, and end the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Trump’s tariffs would cost American families $4,000 per year,” Harris said. “He has a concept of a plan,” to replace the ACA.

Harris reminded supporters of when health insurance companies could deny healthcare coverage to Americans with preexisting conditions, which ended with the passage of the ACA.

“We are not going back,” Harris said.

With early voting starting in a handful of states last week, Harris asked her supporters to go out to “energize, organize, and mobilize” Wisconsin voters.

“The election is already here,” she said. “Remind everyone: your vote is your voice. And your voice is your power. Never let anyone take your power from you.”

Since the Madison rally, Harris has challenged Trump to a CNN debate on October 23, which would be the second presidential debate between Harris and Trump. Trump has yet to agree to participate in the debate.

About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net."

Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net

White House details plan to safeguard US auto sector, avoid second 'China shock'

David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
Updated Mon, September 23, 2024 

National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard speaks at a press briefing

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) -Top White House economic adviser Lael Brainard laid out on Monday the Biden administration's broad approach to safeguarding the U.S. auto sector from what it considers China's unfair trade actions.

"China is flooding global markets with a wave of auto exports on the back of their own overcapacity. We saw a similar playbook in the China shock of the early 2000s that harmed our manufacturing communities, and this administration is determined we will not see a second China shock," Brainard said to the Detroit Economic Club.


"That means putting safeguards in place now before a flood of unfairly, underpriced autos undercuts the ability of the U.S. auto sector to compete fairly on a global stage," she added at the Detroit event.

Relatively few Chinese-made cars and trucks are imported into the United States.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday proposed prohibiting key Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles on American roads due to national security concerns, a move that would effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars from entering the U.S. market.

"Americans should drive whatever car they choose – whether gas powered, hybrid, or electric," Brainard said. "But, if they choose to drive an EV, we want to make sure it was made in America, and not in China."

Brainard's appearance comes as the fate of the auto industry and pressure from China has become a major theme in the 2024 presidential election with the Republican nominee Donald Trump suggesting China could dominate future auto production.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration locked in steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles, to boost protections for strategic industries from China's state-driven industrial practices.

The White House aims to ensure that Chinese automakers cannot set up factories in Mexico to get around high tariffs.

"We're going to need to work our partners Canada and Mexico, to address China's overcapacity in the EVs as we look to the mid-term review of the USMCA in 2026," Brainard said of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

She said U.S. officials are already in talks with Mexico officials and they share U.S. concerns about China using Mexico as a platform to ship into the U.S. at artificially low prices, she said.

Asked about the possibility of a Chinese automaker building plants in the U.S., Brainard said it would happen "with a set of safeguards that we are putting in place now before we confront these problems."

In response to a question referring to comments about Trump saying he was against the administration's "EV mandate," Brainard called that idea "complete nonsense." She said the U.S. needs to invest in EVs or Americans will have less choice.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Marguerita Choy)

2 men plead guilty to providing fentanyl-laced heroin that killed prominent NYC transgender activist

Associated Press
Mon, September 23, 2024 

FILE - Transgender activist Cecilia Gentili poses for a photo at the offices of the Oxford University Press in New York on April 24, 2014.(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — Two men have pleaded guilty to providing the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed prominent New York City transgender activist Cecilia Gentili earlier this year, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Michael Kuilan, 44, pleaded guilty to a charge that he distributed and possessed with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl in Brooklyn federal court on Monday, according to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace's office. Antonio Venti, 52, entered a guilty plea to the same charge in July.

As part of their plea deals, prosecutors said the men admitted they caused Gentili's death. They said text messages, cell site data, and other evidence showed that Kuilan, a Brooklyn resident, had supplied Venti, a Long Island resident, with drugs that he then sold to Gentili.

Law enforcement officials searching Kuilan’s home also found hundreds of small bags of fentanyl, a handgun and ammunition.

“While these guilty pleas can’t undo the tragic loss of transgender rights activist Cecelia Gentili, it sends a message that we will do everything we can to make sure those responsible for drug related deaths face the consequences for their actions, and the families of those who lost their lives receive justice,” Frank Tarentino, special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office.

Gentili was a former sex worker who became a leading advocate for other transgender people, as well as sex workers and people with HIV. She also acted in the FX television series “Pose,” about the underground ballroom dance scene in the 1980s and 1990s.

Her well-attended funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan drew outrage from some in the Catholic community, including from the venerable church’s own pastor.

Gentili was found dead in her bedroom on Feb. 6, the day after purchasing drugs from Venti. Prosecutors say the 52-year-old Brooklyn resident’s death was due to the combined effect of fentanyl, heroin, xylazine and cocaine.

Kuilan is expected to be sentenced in January, and Venti will be sentenced next month. Lawyers for the two men didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.

___

This story has been corrected to show Kuilan will be sentenced in January, not next month.

 Researchers develop robot dog to combat highly invasive species wreaking havoc across the globe: 'A serious threat'

Tina Deines
Mon, September 23, 2024



A new robot dog developed by scientists is sniffing out invasive fire ants using artificial intelligence, according to a writeup by the Society of Chemical Industry in TechXplore.

The research team, spread across Brazil and China, trained the cyberpup to identify red imported fire ants, which are wreaking havoc in environments across the globe. The robot dogs are pretty good at their job, too. According to researchers, they identify three times more nests with greater precision compared to human inspectors.

The red imported fire ant is native to central South America, but it has established itself in the United States and Australia, and it has been reported in other parts of the world, like Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Trinidad and Tobago, per the University of Florida.

As invasive organisms, they have caused extensive environmental and economic damage, according to the Tech Xplore post. In the U.S. alone, the species is responsible for an estimated $6 billion in economic losses annually through impacts like reduced crop yields and damage to farm equipment, as reported in an article in the journal Ecosphere.

Red imported fire ants also expand their range rapidly, displacing local flora and fauna, as Eduardo Fox — one of the robot dog scientists — explained in TechXplore. For instance, in China, they have been a problem since at least 2003, decreasing the abundance of native ant species.

However, the new ant-identifying robots can help to more effectively scout for nests so that the trouble-making ants can be eradicated, thereby reducing their impacts on people and the environment.
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This is one of many attempts by scientists to control troublesome invasive species. For instance, an aggressive "stomp them" stance by state governments regarding spotted lanternflies seems to be yielding successful results in eradicating the pests, according to one study.

Animals and bugs aren't the only type of invasives, though. Plants can also outcompete native greenery for moisture, sunlight, nutrients, and space, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Park officials and volunteers in California are fighting back against an invasive succulent known as the ice plant by scouring the coast and picking it on sight.

You, too, can make a difference when it comes to invasive plants by rewilding your yard with native species. This is not just better for the environment, but it can also help save you money and time on maintenance, lowering your monthly water bills, all while creating a healthier ecosystem for pollinators, which support our food supply.

As for the robo-dogs, corresponding author Zheng Yan said in TechXplore that the new technology also has potential to help support education surrounding the issue.

"Fire ants pose a serious threat in China, yet most people remain unaware of the dangers of invasive fire ant nests in public areas," he said. "Therefore, sightings of robots tracking fire ant nests are likely to captivate the public and raise awareness about the presence of fire ants."

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

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