Everything I’m campaigning on is authentic to me. Former conservative pundit and current anti bike lane crusader Anthony Furey, who promised to end homelessness by increasing police patrols of public parks, came in fourth with 5% of the vote. Part of his campaign appears to have made extensive use of deepfake AI graphics to convey a conservative message. The illustration above is the most extreme example of a deepfake gone wrong. All of the AI graphics used in his campaign had unnatural inconsistencies of a similar kind. The new current mayor is former NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina Olivia Chow, who can be said to be the first mayor in Toronto history to answer the questions from one reporter in Cantonese. There was a high turnout this election, with 55% of registered voters showing up at the polls. (15 June)
On the Highway to Hel. Poland is predominantly Roman Catholic, having sent a pope to Rome, namely the late Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła, 1920-2005) of Warsaw. So, you might savour the irony that a bus from the Polish town of Władysławowo, route number 666 had, until a couple of days ago, made a stop at the town of Hel on the Baltic coast, the last stop at the end of a long, narrow penninsula jutting into the Gulf of Gdansk. Christian groups in Poland campaigned to have the number of the bus route changed citing satanic overtones, and making light of eternal damnation, even though it was popular with tourists. And by 24 June the number was changed to “669”.
Rape OK in Ohio if you are married. Current lawmakers in Ohio have no trouble making forcible, violent rape of your married partner illegal. What they have trouble with is: what if you drug your partner with roofies? Or just make them drunk? There have been many bills over the years attempting to ban spousal rape, but they either get voted down or, as is the case over the past several years, stuck in committee. Ohio is one of 12 states notable for leagalizing marital rape. (21 June)
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