The Group of Seven Nations agreed Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil from its stockpiles—following a desperate plea from the White House.

The G7 held an emergency meeting Friday morning to discuss global energy costs. The discussion came in the wake of a pressing call between Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, during which the U.S. leader asked for assistance amid the current oil crisis and floated the idea of banning U.S. diesel exports, according to CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan.

Donald Trump announced after the meeting that “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.”

The European barrels are expected to hit the market over the next four months.

Twonks | Bluesky

at least its some elon chump and not... oh godd...

no... please... not... backwards x-axis gang...

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation on Friday that would crack down on artificial intelligence-powered Flock cameras increasingly used—and abused—by law enforcement agencies across the United States to track and log vehicle data.

Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview with The Washington Post, which was first to report on the new legislation, that the US is "moving toward a surveillance state where a handful of giant companies make huge profits by giving the government, by selling to the government, the power to track our every move."

According to a summary released by Sanders' office the Ban Flock Act would bar the federal government from using automatic license plate readers (ALPR) or accessing the information that they gather. The legislation would also halt federal grant funding to state and local governments that use ALPRs and allow Americans to "sue the federal government for violation of their rights through the use of automatic license plate readers."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who joined Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in sponsoring the legislation, said in a statement that the maker of Flock cameras, Flock Safety, is "selling its cameras nationwide, laying the groundwork for a surveillance state while enriching corporate executives."

"Your right to privacy includes the freedom to move around your community without every move being monitored,” said Merkley. "No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips, which is why I’m teaming up with Sen. Sanders to rein in this dangerous technology."

Ocasio-Cortez warned that "across the country, Big Tech companies like Flock Safety have built a mass surveillance system to harvest Americans’ private and personal data without their consent."

"AI-powered cameras are keeping track of our every move and weaponizing this data against working people to make record profits. The widespread integration of this technology into American society is unconscionable," she added. "I am proud to introduce the Ban Flock Act with Sen. Sanders to enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance."

The new bill comes after President Donald Trump and his FBI director, Kash Patel, defended Flock cameras as useful tools for law enforcement, even as investigations showed significant abuses. One such investigation, published by the libertarian Institute for Justice in August, "identified well over 100 incidents of ALPR abuse, including romantic stalking, wrongful stops and detentions, non-law enforcement use, and other types of misconduct."

Trump nevertheless told reporters in September that "I sort of like them... because of law enforcement, but some people don’t."

"They think it’s an infringement," said of the cameras' critics. "I like them."

According to the ACLU, Flock operates more than 120,000 ALPRs nationwide.

"Flock's ALPR cameras aren't like your normal traffic cameras," the group noted. "This surveillance technology records and tracks every car that comes into view, and then an AI algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and even scratches. This personal information is then uploaded into a nationwide database that any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can search—with few regulations or oversight on how they use what they find."

Sanders said in a statement Friday that "at a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent."

"Going to the doctor? Flock knows. Dropping your kid off at school? Flock is tracking you. Flock is always watching," the senator said. "We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

I hope you're happy, Burntwits and everyone else who demanded it.

Anyways that cup was made following Burntwits French press guide; measured 33 g of ground, about 528 g of water. Though, I did make a slight modification to the original instructions, which was to boil the water first. The guide didn't say to do that, just add the water in, figured it might be better boiled though.

Then I added hella milk and sugar. Oh, yeah, switched to milk and sugar instead of creamer, mostly because the good creamer with ingredient list size like 5 are hells expensive. It... came out really good actually. I feel like better than my evil machine, though I don't know if that's because of the ratios of sugar and milk or not. I feel like I poured about the same amount of milk and sugar though. Hm.

Either way this saves way more counter space in exchange for slightly longer and more care needed, but if the coffee is consistently better, and less space needed... hm. I think yall might've been on to something. Also I can't tell if the press machine is made of glass or a really clear really thick plastic.

I really miss it

What began with a search for evidence inside a Puerto Rico voting machine grew into a vast quest involving intelligence agencies, election deniers and White House officials for proof that the 2020 vote was stolen. It failed — but Trump diehards remain undeterred.

A couple of other offenders:

Saw a Merc today with a similar treatment. I do not enjoy them. But the VW ones are the worst.

This one spins the lead as you write so it stays sharp!

Might order the fancier metal one is this one proves to be good. But this one was available locally.