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Monday, October 5, 2020

White House claims ‘appropriate precautions’ taken for Trump’s motorcade ride

Critics contend the trip showed how willing Trump is to endanger his staff. ‘The irresponsibility,’ one doctor says, ‘is astounding.’

President Donald Trump left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center late Sunday afternoon to ride in an SUV to surprise his supporters outside of the hospital. During the short trip, Trump waved through a closed window, donning a face mask while the pair of Secret Service officers inside the vehicle wore N-95 masks, medical gowns and eye coverings. 

White House officials said that “appropriate precautions were taken in the execution of this movement to protect the president and all those supporting it, including PPE. The movement was cleared by the medical team as safe to do.”

Critics have said the trip showed a willingness to endanger his staff by traveling while battling COVID-19.

“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity,” Dr. James Phillips tweeted.

Read More: Republican senator shown without mask on Delta Airlines flight

Dr. Phillips is an attending physician at the hospital, but it is not known if he is treating the president. 

“That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof but hermetically sealed against chemical attack,” he continued. “The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.”

Read More: Joe Biden enlists the help of Black celebrities for ad campaign

Since Trump’s admission to Walter Reed on Friday, Trump supporters had been lining the streets outside of the hospital, holding signs and waving flags. They cheered as the motorcade went by. 

CNN is reporting that a Secret Service agent who works on the president’s detail condemned the ride. “That should never have happened,” the agent said under anonymity. 

He noted that all of the agents who participated in the ride would be required quarantine. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be around them,” he said. “The frustration with how we’re treated when it comes to decisions on this illness goes back before this, though. We’re not disposable.”

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Hulu's 'Monsterland' Is America

The show, with each episode set in a different American city, is about decay—moral, physical, civilizational.

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How Cities (and Citizens) Create Hostile Environments

From uncomfortable benches to sidewalk boulders, objects that say "go away" can be hard to detect—until you start noticing them.

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Ad Tech Could Be the Next Internet Bubble

The scariest thing about microtargeted ads is that they just don’t work.

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Netflix on YouTube

The Boys in the Band | A Conversation with Charlie Carver and Playwright Mart Crowley | Netflix
Charlie Carver and the late playwright, Mart Crowley, discuss the history of gay Hollywood, the significance of The Boys in the Band, how far we've come as a community, and how far we still have to go. Starring Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin De Jesús, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Tuc Watkins. Directed by Joe Mantello. Produced by Ryan Murphy. Watch Now The Boys In The Band, Only on Netflix : https://ift.tt/3lI9kYA SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. The Boys in the Band | A Conversation with Charlie Carver and Playwright Mart Crowley | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix The Boys in the Band is about a group of gay men who gather for a birthday party in 1968 New York City, only to find the drinks and laughs interrupted when a visitor from the host’s past turns the evening upside down.


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Uncle Sam Is Looking for Recruits—Over Twitch

The US military needs tech-savvy youth. It's hoping its streaming channels will help fill out its roster.

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Xbox Has Always Chased Power. That's Not Enough Anymore

Specs go a long way. But in exclusive interviews with WIRED, the Xbox team explains why they're thinking outside the teraflops.

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Welcome to WIRED Games

Hey you, you're finally awake.

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A Common Plant Virus Is an Unlikely Ally in the War on Cancer

Researchers have seen promising results by injecting dog and mouse tumors with the cowpea mosaic virus. Now they’re aiming for a human trial.

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The Secret History of Video Game Music's Female Pioneers

On this week's Get WIRED podcast, a look at the under-appreciated women who scored many of your favorite games.

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The Turmoil Over ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Political Speech at Coinbase

The CEO of the cryptocurrency pioneer declared political discussions out of bounds—then gave employees a week to agree or leave.

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The Women Who Invented Video Game Music

Composers like Eímear Noone and Manami Matsumae created some of the most iconic songs in games that have defined the industry.

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Twitch Support Groups Are an Unlikely Source of Solace

Some folks are using the platform to build deep, meaningful communities—and not all of them are around games.

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7 Best Desktop PCs for Gaming (2020): Compact, Custom, Cheap

These PCs are fully armed and operational. They're also WIRED Recommended.

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Coronavirus: 'Stuck in London due to Mauritius quarantine fee'

One holidaymaker stuck in London says her government's fees to return home are too high.

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A China-Linked Group Repurposed Hacking Team’s Stealthy Spyware

The tool attacks a device’s UEFI firmware—which makes it especially hard to detect and destroy.

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Netflix on YouTube

Paranormal | Official Teaser | Netflix
Refaat Ismail, a cynical hematology professor with a dark sense of humor, has his world turned upside down and his lifelong scientific convictions questioned after he begins to experience paranormal activities. Along with his university colleague Maggie, they enter the paranormal world and try to save their loved ones from the immense danger that surrounds them. The story is based on the best selling thriller novel series with the same name by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/29qBUt7 About Netflix: Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Paranormal | Official Teaser | Netflix https://youtube.com/Netflix


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Sunday, October 4, 2020

How to Switch (su) to Another User Account without Password

In this guide, we will show how to switch to another or a specific user account without requiring a password. For example, we have a user account called postgres (the default PostgreSQL superuser system

The post How to Switch (su) to Another User Account without Password first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.



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Barack Obama to U.S. voters: 'Our elections matter to everyone'

With the U.S. presidential election just over a month away, former president Barack Obama has urged citizens to cast their votes in a race that matters not only nationally but globally.

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Republican senator shown without mask on Delta Airlines flight

A witness says Senator Roger Wicker did not wear his mask 90% of the flight

A passenger on a Delta Airlines flight posted a photo to Twitter of U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) with his mask tucked under his chin.

Wicker, an ally of President Donald Trump, was criticized on the social media platform after putting fellow passengers at risk.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), pays respects as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose under the Portico at the top of the front steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building on September 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)

An advertising and media specialist for Democrat Mike Espy’s campaign, Matt Harringer, spotted the senator on the flight from Washington, D.C. to Jackson, Mississippi, Sun Herald reported.

Read More: Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has COVID-19

He decided to post the unmasked politician on Twitter.

“Senator Wicker lowered his face mask to eat a snack and forgot to put it back up. When he was reminded by a flight attendant, he put the mask back up,” said Rick Vanmeter, Sen. Wicker’s communications director.

“He did not attend any recent events at the White House and has not been in contact with any of the individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days,” he said.

However, Harringer told the Sun Herald that Wicker had his mask down on his chin for 90% of the entire flight, and he time stamped the images of his unmasked face.

Wicker’s mask was under his chin at 8:37 p.m., 9:27 p.m. and 9:46 p.m. on Thursday, which, according to Harringer, were times before takeoff, during the flight, and just before landing, the Sun Herald reported.

Read More: Rite Aid manager fired after defending herself against violent customer over mask

“I think the people on the plane, the woman in front of him, me, who was sitting 5 feet away from him, deserve to know his status,” Harringer said.

“It’s incredibly upsetting to see people like the senator act like this is no big deal,” Harringer said. “I don’t know if he’s lost anybody he loved, but when you lose somebody you love, you get upset about people not wearing masks.”

In response to his tweet, Delta Airlines stated that the company is launching an investigation.

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On the Nature of Data, Flights of Birds, and New Beginnings

My name is Kurt Cagle. I am the new Community Editor for Data Science Central, or DSC as it is known by its fans.

I'm one of those fans. Twelve years ago, Vincent Granville and Tim Matteson created a new site devoted to a passion they had: Data Science. In 2012, the term data science, and the practitioners, data scientists, were just beginning to come into vogue, specifically referring to the growing importance of a role that had been around for some time, the erstwhile data analyst, with the idea being that this particular role was different from a traditional programmer's role, though it borrowed many of the same tools.

Traditionally, an analyst, any analyst, has been someone who looks at information within a specific subject domain and, from their analysis, can both identify why things are the way they are and to a certain extent predict where those same things will be in the future.

Analysts have been around for a long time, and have always had something of a mystical air to them. As an example, in early Imperial Rome, there were a number of celebrated priests called Augurs who were said to be able to predict the future from the flight of birds. They had a surprisingly high success rate, and were usually in great demand by both military leaders needing strategic advice and merchants looking to better deploy their fleets and land agents. 

At first, the correlation between bird flight patterns and sound trade policy advice would seem low at best, but as with any good magical trick, it was worth understanding what was going on in the background. Why does one watch the sky for bird flight? Easy. Certain types of birds, such as homing pigeons, can carry messages from ships or caravans to various outposts, and from there such information can be relayed via both birds and other humans to central gathering points.  In other words, the Augurs had managed to build a very sophisticated, reasonably fast intelligence network tracking ships, troop movements, plague spots, and so forth, all under the cover of watching the skies for birds. Even today, the verb to augur means to predict, as a consequence.

In the eight years since Data Science Central published its first post, the field has grown up. Statistical and stochastic functions have become considerably more sophisticated. The battle royale between R and Python has largely been resolved as "it doesn't matter", as statistical toolsets make their way to environments as diverse as Scala, Javascript ,and C#. The lone data scientist has become a team, with fields as diverse as data visualization to neural network training to data storytellers staking their claims to the verdant soil of data analysis.

What is even more exciting is that this reinvention is moving beyond the "quants" into all realms of business, research, and manufacturing organizations. Marketing, long considered to be the least "mathematical" of disciplines within business, now requires at least a good grounding in statistics and probability, and increasingly consumes the lion's share of a company's analytics budget. Neural nets and reinforcement learning are now topics of discussion in the board room, representing a situation where heuristic or algorithmic tools are being supplemented or even replaced with models with millions or even billions of dimensions. The data scientist is at the heart of organizational digital transformations.

Let me bring this back to DSC, and give to you, gentle reader, a brief bio of me, and what I hope to be able to bring to Data Science Central. I have been a consulting programmer, information architect, and technological evangelist for more than thirty years. In that time I have written twenty-some-odd books, mainly those big technical door stoppers that look really good on bookshelves. I've also been blogging since 2003 in one forum or another, including O'Reilly Media, Jupiter Publishing, and Forbes. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to push a number of information standards  working with the W3C, and have, since the mid-2000s, focused a lot of time and energy on data representation, metadata, semantics, data modeling, and graph technology.

I'm not a data scientist. I do have a bachelor's degree in astrophysics, and much of a master's degree in systems theory. What that means is that I was playing with almost all of the foundational blocks of modern data science back about the time when the cutting edge processors were the Zylog-80 (known as the Z80) and 6502 chips within Apple II+ systems. I am, to put it bluntly, an old fart.

Yet when the opportunity to take over DSC came up, I jumped at it, for a very simple reason: context. You see, it's been my contention for a while that we are entering the era of Contextual Computing, eventually to be followed by Metaphorical Computing (in about twelve years, give or take a few). Chances are, you haven't heard the term Contextual Computing bandied about very much. It's not on Gartner's hype cycle, because it's really not a "technology" per se. Instead, you can think of contextual computing as the processing of, and acting on, information that takes place when systems have a contextual understanding of the world around them.

There are several pieces to contextual computing. Data Science is a big one. So is Graph Computing. Machine Learning, AI, the Internet of Things, the Digital Workplace, Data Fabric, Autonomous Drones, the list is long and getting longer all the time. These are all contextual - who are you, where are you, why are you here, what are you doing, why does it matter?

Data Science Central has become an authority in the world. My hope, my plan at this point, is to expand its focus moving into the third decade of this century. I'm asking you as readers, as writers, as community members, to join me on this journey, to help shape the nature of contextual computing. DSC is a forum to share technology but also to share asking deep questions about ethics and purpose, the greater good and with an eye towards opportunities. I hope to take Vincent and Tim's great community and build it out, with your help, observations, and occasional challenges.



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Walter Mosley to receive National Book Foundation lifetime achievement award

Mosley is the first Black person to ever receive the award

The National Book Foundation has announced renowned author Walter Mosley will be the recipient of its 2020 lifetime achievement award.

The famed 68-year-old bestselling author will be first Black man to receive the award.

Walter Mosley moderates a discussion at the “Spotlight On Screenwriting: Boyz n the Hood 25th Anniversary Screening With John Singleton And Walter Mosley” presented by The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences at SVA on June 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Mosley has a reputation of writing short stories that do well in book clubs. He was also President Bill Clinton’s favorite authors back in 1992, The Washington Post reported.

Read More: ‘Punching the Air’ novel inspired by Dr. Yusef Salaam of The Exonerated Five

This is not first time Mosley got an award for his writing. He received the Edgar Award for best mystery novel and the O. Henry Prize for his short stories.

Mosley also won a Grammy for his liner notes to the Richard Pryor album “…And It’s Deep Too!”, ABC News reported.

His first novel, a mystery book titled Devil in a Blue Dress, was released in 1990. It was later adapted into the1995 film starring Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle.

Mosley also wrote a 1997 crime novel called Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, which was turned into an HBO special starring Laurence Fishburne.

Mosley is responsible for many plays and penned essays and op-eds that were featured in newspapers such as The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

According to NewsOne, he is an advocate for diversity in the publishing industry, and he founded a publishing certificate program at the City University of New York (CUNY) to empower disadvantaged students through workshops and career development opportunities.

Read More: Finding Black joy in romance novels

“Mosley is undeniably prolific, but what sets his work apart is his examination of both complex issues and intimate realities through the lens of characters in his fiction, as well as his accomplished historical narrative works and essays,” executive director of the National Book Foundation Lisa Lucas said in a statement.

“His oeuvre and his lived experience are distinctly part of the American experience. And as such, his contributions to our culture make him more than worthy of the Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.”

Mosley is expected to receive his award on November 18.

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Parents: Online learning program has racist, sexist content

As parents help their children navigate remote classes, they’re more aware of what’s being taught, and it’s often not simply coming from an educator on Zoom

HONOLULU (AP) — Zan Timtim doesn’t think it’s safe for her eighth-grade daughter to return to school in person during the coronavirus pandemic but also doesn’t want her exposed to a remote learning program that misspelled and mispronounced the name of Queen LiliÊ»uokalani, the last monarch to rule the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Timtim’s daughter is Native Hawaiian and speaks Hawaiian fluently, “so to see that inaccuracy with the Hawaiian history side was really upsetting,” she said.

Even before the school year started, Timtim said she heard from other parents about racist, sexist and other concerning content on Acellus, an online program some students use to learn from home.

This photo provided by Charles Timtim shows his daughter, name withheld by parents, doing schoolwork from home in Waipahu, Hawaii, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. (Charles Timtim via AP)

Parents have called out “towelban” as a multiple-choice answer for a question about a terrorist group and Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs described as a “woman hater.” Some also say the program isn’t as rigorous as it should be.

As parents help their children navigate remote classes, they’re more aware of what’s being taught, and it’s often not simply coming from an educator on Zoom. Some schools have turned to programs like Acellus to supplement online classes by teachers, while others use it for students who choose to learn from home as campuses reopen. And because of the scramble to keep classes running during a health crisis, vetting the curriculum may not have been as thorough as it should have been, experts say.

Thousands of schools nationwide use Acellus, according to the company, and parents’ complaints are leading some districts to reconsider or stop using the program.

“We wouldn’t have had this visibility if it weren’t for all of us at home, often sitting side by side and making sure: ‘Is this working for you?’” said Adrienne Robillard, who withdrew her seventh-grade daughter from Kailua Intermediate School after concluding Acellus lacked substance and featured racist content.

READ MORE: What we have to lose with Trump from a high school student’s perspective

When school officials said her daughter could do distance learning without Acellus, Robillard reenrolled her.

Acellus officials didn’t respond to multiple calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. In an online message to parents, founder Roger Billings called the controversy “an organized attack” and said “they have not found anything in our content that is really racist or sexist.” An automated closed-captioning system misinterpreted some words, he said.

Kansas City, Missouri-based Acellus was created in 2001, according to its website, which says it “delivers online instruction, compliant with the latest standards, through high-definition video lessons made more engaging with multimedia and animation.”

In a video on his website, Billings responds to criticism about his credentials by saying he earned a bachelor’s degree in “composite fields” of chemistry, physics, engineering and other subjects from a university he doesn’t name. He says he started a company focused on hydrogen energy technology and that he later earned a “doctor of research and innovation” degree at the International Academy of Science, the nonprofit that develops Acellus courses.

This photo provided by Adrienne Robillard shows her son, name withheld by parent, doing school work at a computer at home in Kailua, Hawaii, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. Parents spotting questionable content on a program called Acellus is forcing some school districts across the country to reconsider the program or stop using it. (Adrienne Robillard via AP)

Hawaii selected Acellus based on an “implementation timeline” as well as “cost effectiveness” and other factors, Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said in a memo.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that price was the main factor,” said Charles Lang, visiting assistant professor of learning analytics at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City. “And to some extent, you do get what you pay for in terms of content.”

Vetting educational programs takes time, but with the pandemic, districts needed to quickly to find remote learning platforms, said Eric Hirsch, executive director of EdReports, which helps schools review instructional materials.

“So this spring, we saw a scramble, a dash,” he said.

And evaluating curriculum is like the “Wild West” — it varies across school systems, Lang said.

READ MORE: Parents knowingly send child to school after he tests positive for COVID-19

“We were in some serious situations with the pandemic, and we had to figure something out,” Hawaii school board member Kili NamauÊ»u said at a recent meeting. “And I think schools made some pretty quick decisions. Maybe they weren’t the most accurate decisions.”

She later said in an interview that it would be more problematic to pull Acellus in the middle of the quarter.

But as a Native Hawaiian, she wants to ensure Acellus has corrected “appalling” and inaccurate information about Hawaiian history: “I’m particularly dismayed with that particular module.”

Seeing the queen’s name misspelled and information that the Hawaiian islands were “discovered” by Europeans were enough for Timtim and her husband to decide their daughter should join Waipahu Intermediate School’s hybrid remote and in-person program despite their concerns about COVID-19.

Then most of Hawaii’s public schools, which began virtually on Aug. 17, extended remote learning until mid-October.

This photo provided by Adrienne Robillard shows her daughter, name withheld by parent, doing school work at a computer at home in Kailua, Hawaii, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (Adrienne Robillard via AP)

“I just pray we figure out what to do if she does have to go to school once or twice a week,” Timtim said.

The Hawaii Department of Education, the nation’s only statewide school district, is considering what to do about Acellus, but some schools decided on their own to stop using it. Other U.S. districts, like Alameda Unified in California, quickly dropped the program after complaints surfaced.

In a recent memo, the California Department of Education said it “has learned through examples shared that Acellus lessons may contain highly inappropriate content and may not meet state legal requirements surrounding instructional materials.” The memo to superintendents and school administrators cited “racist depictions of Black Americans” and “at least one question that perpetuates Islamophobic stereotypes.”

A Sept. 17 memo Hawaii’s superintendent sent to the school board said education officials were working with Acellus to address inappropriate content.

Mariko Honda-Oliver heard concerning things from other parents but didn’t find anything she considered racist. She was troubled, however, that her son, a second-grader at Makalapa Elementary, blew through more than a week of material on his first day.

Similarly, Cassie Favreau-Chung said her son, a freshman at Mililani High School, was looking forward to the independence of remote learning but found he wasn’t getting a quality education because the program had no writing assignments.

“He hasn’t found anything on his own that he thought was racist or sexist,” she said. “However, I will also say that a lot of kids, it’ll go over their heads.”

For example, “towelban,” Favreau-Chung said.

She switched her son to the hybrid program next quarter to avoid Acellus, hoping the school will let him keep learning from home.

The experience has made Favreau-Chung lose faith: “It’s the first time that I have not been proud to have my kid in public school.”

Honda-Oliver, whose military family has experienced schools worldwide, also is disappointed.

“This experience of having to see how other districts and other states are doing distance learning compared to Hawaii has kind of reinforced that Hawaii really is not the place to come if you want to give your children a good education,” she said.

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Trump resisted being hospitalized for COVID as Election Day nears: report

After Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus, sitting in a hospital was the last thing that the president wanted

Sunday marks President Donald Trump‘s third-consecutive night spent at Walter Reed Medical Center and, with just 30 days until the election, the White House continues to scramble to contain the biggest crisis of Trump’s presidency.

On Saturday, Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, told reporters that Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday — a day earlier than Trump previously disclosed — instantly plummeting the West Wing into damage-control mode. The new timeline revealed that Trump was contagious when he debated Joe Biden on Tuesday and also when he attended a fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club on Thursday.

In follow-up statements, the White House claimed Dr. Conley misspoke, but the statement did not stop the ensuing chaos that is being driven by Trump’s desire to conceal the seriousness of his illness from the public.

President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, on Marine One helicopter after he tested positive for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

According to Variety, three sources said Trump argued with his doctors on Friday after being told him he needed to be moved to Walter Reed Medical Center.

Read More: Trump going to military hospital after COVID-19 diagnosis

“He didn’t want to go to the hospital a month before the election,” an unnamed Republican close to Trump said.

Two other sources told the outlet that doctors gave Trump a nonnegotiable ultimatum: he could go to the hospital while he was still able to walk or he’d be rolled out in a wheelchair or while lying on a stretcher after his health further deteriorated. Eventually, Trump agreed to go to Walter Reed just outside of the nation’s capital in Maryland, but waited until after the stock market closed, a source said.

Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, briefs reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. Trump was admitted to the hospital after contracting the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

For Trump insiders, the grim reality of the president’s hospitalization has created a grim outlook of his prospects in the upcoming election. “They all know it’s over,” a Republican close to the campaign said.

Read More: Making political sense of Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis

“This is spiraling out of control,” former West Wing official said.

Marine One lifts off from the White House to carry President Donald Trump to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 2, 2020 in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Some Republican officials are entertaining wild conspiracy theories that the White House outbreak was politically motivated.

“It’s weird that all these Republicans are getting it,” a prominent Republican said.

Meanwhile, America’s closest allies are also entertaining wild scenarios, and according to a Republican source, a high-level government official from a G-7 country asked if Trump would attempt to appoint his daughter, Ivanka Trump, the president instead of Mike Pence.

“He’s broken every norm so far, so they think anything is possible,” the source said.

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LL Cool J chides Kanye for passing water on Grammy Award: ‘piss in a Yeezy’

‘I don’t understand this constant disrespect,’ the hip-hop icon says

LL Cool J admits he was left feeling some way after watching the viral video of Kanye West urinating on a Grammy Award. 

West posted the disturbing footage to his Twitter feed last month, amid his rant about the music business being “modern day slavery.”

At the time, Ye shared copies of his abysmal record contract and capped off his grievance by showing one of his 21 Grammy awards inside a toilet bowl and receiving a golden shower.

LL Cool J speaks onstage at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce 2019 State of The Entertainment Industry Conference held at Lowes Hollywood Hotel on November 21, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images)

The video stunt was not a good look, according to LL Cool J, the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. As a two-time Grammy winner and five-time host of the ceremony, the hip-hop icon reacted to the footage during an appearance on Showtime’s “Desus & Mero.”

He also made time to shade Ye’s sneaker brand, Complex reports.

Read More: Charlamagne claims Kanye West owes Big Sean $3M from ‘terrible contract’

“With all due respect, I think Kanye should just — maybe he should just piss in a Yeezy or something instead of pissing on a Grammy,” LL said. “Piss in a pair of one them Yeezys, B. I felt some kind of way about that sh*t. I didn’t love that sh*t, because I’ve been with the Grammys for five years.”

LL went on to acknowledge that the Recording Academy is not without flaws, but noted that the “constant disrespect” is not warranted. 

“I don’t understand this constant disrespect,” he continued. “Look, now don’t get me wrong, there have been some foul things that have happened to some artists around the Grammys; they (the Recording Academy) are not without flaw … but piss on one those f*cking space shoes or something … C’mon, man. What the f*ck is he doing?”

Watch LL’s full interview above, or skip to his comments about West via the Twitter embed below. 

Kanye West theGrio.com
Kanye West (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

Read More: Judge: Kanye West stays off ballot in battleground Wisconsin

While West has been a vocal critic of record labels and the oppressive legal agreements artists are often forced to sign, radio host Charlamagne tha God has called out the hip-hop star for being guilty of the very same unethical tactics he speaks out against, theGRIO previously reported.

“When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights,” Kanye tweeted last month, at one point implying he would return the 50% share of masters he has of artists signed to his label G.O.O.D. Music. In response, his protege Big Sean thanked Kanye in a tweet, acknowledging that the move would “help so much.”

On “The Breakfast Club” Wednesday, radio host Charlamagne tha God said Ye owes Big Sean $3 million after he allegedly trapped the Detroit rapper into signing a “terrible contract.”

“The restraint that Big Sean shows to Kanye West is remarkable,” the host said. “It lets me know that he really is a healed individual because Kanye West — I hope one day Big Sean tells his story. Just know, Kanye West owes Big Sean a whole lotta money, and he’s got Big Sean in a very terrible contract to be out here screaming about giving folks their masters back and all types of other things.”

The media personality went on to explain that “Kanye West owes Big Sean $3 million,” and called out Ye for taking “half of Sean’s profits and half of Sean’s royalties.”

“Kanye wouldn’t agree to Big Sean getting his masters back from Def Jam. Kanye needs to do right by Big Sean. … Brothers, we have to stop doing that to each other ’cause we run around out here misleading other people and really being false prophets, but you’re not even doing right by your own people. Do right by your own people, ‘Ye.”

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Free book - Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents

Free book - Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents

There are many excellent free books on Python – but Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents is about  a subject not commonly covered

I found the book useful as a introduction to Reinforcement Learning

As the title suggests, the book is about computational agents

An agent observes the world and carries out actions in the environment. The agent maintains an internal state that it updates. Also, the environment takes in actions of the agents, and in turn updates it internal state and returns the percepts. In this implementation, the state of the agent and the state of the environment are represented using standard Python variables, which are updated as the state changes.

This structure can be used to model many interesting problems and is the focus of the book. Ultimately, it leads to Reinforcement Learning.

The book structure is

Chapter 3: Searching for Solutions

Chapter 4: Reasoning with Constraints

Chapter 5: Propositions and Inference

Chapter 6: Planning with Certainty

Chapter 7: Supervised Machine Learning

Chapter 8: Reasoning Under Uncertainty

Chapter 9: Planning with Uncertainty

Chapter 10: Learning with Uncertainty

Chapter 11: Multiagent Systems

Chapter 12: Reinforcement Learning

Chapter 13: Relational Learning

The authors website also has detailed slides

I found the work exceptional so I bought the book Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents

But there is a free version

You can download the book – code and other resources at Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents



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Data Detectives

It has become evident that developments in analytics are creating new occupations. There has been much discussion about where new jobs will come from with many existing ones being made redundant because of the 4th Industrial Revolution – i.e. the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics. Analytics is bucking this trend.

 

Some of new occupations in analytics include data prospectors and data harvesters. Data prospectors, like gold prospectors, are responsible for searching and locating data on the internet and other large data repositories. Data harvesters are responsible for extracting data and information from these sources. Data harvesters do this, for example, by web scraping. Staff who are highly skilled and knowledgeable in doing these functions are required - especially exploring something as vast and intricate as the internet.

 

Another new occupation is that of a data detective. They are analysts who find knowledge and insights in data. This may sound a simple and straight forward job to do.

 

It is suggested that there are plenty of analysts who can do extraction and cleaning tasks but have little or no aptitude for exploring data to find answers to difficult problems and issues and struggle to recognise important and informative discoveries. That is, they can perform the technical tasks of providing data but are not able to use it to find ‘nuggets of gold’ in this resource.

 

What is required are highly skilled professionals who, like police detectives, excel at analysis and problem solving. They need to be proficient in marshalling facts, following leads in data, testing hypotheses and hunches, joining the ‘dots’ and drawing conclusions from what is known. In short, they require the knowledge and skills of a Sherlock Holmes.

 

The primary skills required by data detectives are the ability to explore data and the ability to identify items of interest. They can do this by using the functionality of desktop packages such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access and data visualization packages such as Tableau, QlikView and Power BI. They can also interrogate data using SQL with structured data and SPARQL with semantic data.

 

Where data detectives add value is that they ask informed questions to help to understand challenging and difficult problems and issues. They find workarounds when they hit difficulties and obstacles in obtaining the answers they require. They possess the nous, have the patience, and have the persistence to go the extra kilometre to find interesting patterns and trends in data.  

 

Three examples of where data detectives can add value include using risk-analysis tools to gain insights into threats and opportunities. They can take different data views of subjects and issues and where interesting patterns are found, they can make further inquiries to find more about what is going on and what their implications are when it comes to developments that can either harm or benefit individuals, organizations and the community.

 

The second example is stratifying a population to find interesting strata such as those with high incidence of a disease such as COVID-19. They can analyse cases in different strata to see why they have high infection rates and compare these with strata with low infection rates. These analyses can reveal what measures can be taken to lower the incidence of the disease.

 

The third example is analysing cases that have anomalies with insurance claims. Business rules can be written for those who show unusual patterns and the rules can be cascaded to find other people in the population who closely match them as they too may have issues with their claims.

 

It is suggested that data detective work needs to be recognized as a specialist skill where those with requisite attributes are selected, trained, and employed to do this work. Organizations need to take steps to identify those who are gifted in doing detective tasks and use their talents.

 

They complement data scientists who use mining and modelling techniques to extract knowledge from data. Data detectives are more qualitative in their approach while data scientists are more quantitative in their orientation. However, data detectives use the tools and procedures developed by data scientists to explore data such as using population partitioning techniques.

 

Data detectives can go the extra step of interpreting what data scientists find in data and can give context to what is discovered or detected.  For example, data scientists can produce a list of high-risk cases detected using a machine-learning model but often they cannot explain why they are classified in this manner. Data detectives can explore data to give context to the cases and explain why they were identified by the model. They can also spot false positives or cases that appear to be of concern but are false alarms and therefore do not warrant attention. This saves time, money and effort in that resources are not wasted pursuing them.   

 

Data detectives are part of the broader and growing family of occupations that deal with data. This family includes as examples data prospectors, data harvesters, data scientists, data analysts, data engineers, data architects, data brokers, data lawyers, data journalists, data artists, data quality officers and database managers. They each have a discrete and important role to perform and they all complement each other in making use of what is now referred as the new oil. Data is now the fuel that enables organizations to function and to deliver business outcomes.  

 

When it comes to formal education, there are now many masters programs in analytics in universities across the globe. These programs could be expanded to include different specialization streams to cater for these different data occupations cited above. That is, they become omnibus programs where students can select relevant subjects that enable them to specialize in data science or data engineering or data brokering or data detective work to use examples. These specializations are required to provide practicing analytics professionals to meet the diverse needs of government, industry, and commerce in the 21st Century.

 

 

Bio

Warwick Graco is a practicing data scientist and can be contacted at Warwick.graco@analayticsshed.com



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Introducing Analytics To A Product

With more and more people getting conversant in analytics, its demand in every field becoming more pronounced. Product is no different. It is almost inevitable to introduce analytics in some format or other in the products you own. However, before you open the gates to this world of magic, there are three questions you should try answering.

These three basic questions shall help in better planning for your analytics strategy and would act as a compass in times of uncertainty.

 

Why analytics:

Great that you have decided to embark on the journey - could be because of fear of missing the bandwagon. Nevertheless, without answering this question, your team would always be involved in directionless busy work. It relates to a simple finding of why you want to introduce analytics to product. As Mckinsey puts it, without the right question, the outcome would be marginally interesting but monetarily insignificant.

  1. Is it to enable end users of your product?
  2. Will it serve for your internal product intelligence?
  3. Is it because every other product has some flavor of analytics?
  4. Investors asking for it?
  5. Is it the next big strategy for the product roadmap?
  6. You have hired a data science team; you do not know what to do with?
  7. Would it provide a better selling proposition for the sales team?
  8. If your clients are asking for their usage statistics?

What in analytics:

Isn’t it obvious to ask yourself what you want to build, before you actually start building. Similar is true for analytics.

  1. Do you want to enable reporting of various metrics for admins of your B2B platform?
  2. Would you leverage AI/ML for a product feature for end users?
  3. Are you looking for more in-depth product intelligence?
  4. Is it a good to have feature, without much usability? OR it is going to be the prime feature offering?

 

Answer to the above questions, is a function of the product type, its intended use and the users.

How to analytics:

After addressing Why & What to offer in analytics, the logical next step is to plan how to deliver it. Moreover, when we are talking about analytics, data is the centerpiece. Data enforces the need of a completely new ecosystem of processes and practices to meet the regulatory, trust and demand obligations.

Although, every constituent of data management calls for a dedicated article, I shall touch briefly on each and try to illustrate how each influences the analytics strategy of the product.

Database systems: The primary infrastructure that would act as the cornerstone of the analytics strategy: database to store the data. RDBMS, NoSQL, or a Hybrid solution, followed by dozens of companies to choose from.

Master data and metadata management: This is the definition, the identity, the identifier, the reference via which every data call will be directed. It is essential to know and govern extensive data assets.

Quality control: You must have heard of the saying ‘garbage in, garbage out’. Bad data will severely hamper the trust and actionable knowledge in business operations. Data has to be unique, complete and consistent.

Integration definition: For analytics to be practical and actionable, data has to flow in from varied sources. This can be a transfer between different products or join between multiple modules within the platform. A schema is a map or viaduct that enable this unification.

Warehouse: The transactional data or raw data stored from platform might not be ideally designed for analytics. Joining a dozen of tables on the fly would impact not just the throughput but also the very feasibility of insight generation. A purpose built data warehouse is an efficient step towards integrating data from multiple heterogeneous sources. However, this may lead to a near-real-time system with some delay in data availability.  

Transformation: Data transformation is an integral part of data integration or data warehousing, where the data is converted from one format/structure to other. It involves numeric/date calculation, string manipulation or rule based sequential data wrangling processes. As a step in ETL (extraction-transformation-load) data transformation cuts down the processing time for end user, thus enabling swift reporting and insight generation.

Governance: Sets the guiding principles, benchmarks, practices and rules for 1) Data policies 2) Data quality 3) Business policies 4) Risk management 5) Regulatory compliances 6) Business process management. Being an essential part of RFPs and government regulations, lack of data governance can expose company to lawsuits, higher data/process costs and complete business failure.

Architecture: According to the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK), Data Architecture “includes specifications used to describe existing state, define data requirements, guide data integration, and control data assets as put forth in a data strategy.” Simply said data architecture describes how data is collected, stored, transformed, distributed and consumed. Data architecture bridges business strategy and technical execution.

 

Without the power to derive of information and insights, storing data is of no use. Once the data management is in place, planning is required for processing and representing the data.

Collaboration vs in-house development: There are tons and tons of tools available in market that help making sense out of your data. These can be traditional BI tools like Power BI/ Tableau/ Qlik/ Microstrategy that help make dashboards. Or, there are modern BI tools like Looker/ Periscope/ Chartio which go beyond just dashboarding. Then there are tools like Amplitude/ Firebase/ Google Analytics/ Mixpanel/ Moengage which help with product analytics and understanding user behavior. These tools easily integrate with your product and provide faster go-to-market for your analytics offering. However there is cost associated with this – 1) steep recurring subscription cost 2) lesser control on features. An alternative could be developing the reporting and dashbaording tool in-house. It does come with a very long gestation/development period and operational issues of larger teams to manage. However, these can be off-set by the cost savings and superior control.

Real time or delayed: With business needs driving this decision, comparison could be made between consuming transactional data (real time analytics) or warehouse data (near real time) for analytical purposes. A warehouse definitely has an edge, providing more flexibility and scope but real time reporting has its own charm.

AI/ML: Artificial intelligence and Machine learning are the latest buzzwords, with something as humble as macro automation being classified as AI/ML. However, the sincere AI/ML solutions enable the product a proposition of differentiated offering along with the essential value add for the end users. The only concern with AI/ML implementation is that of cost. Whether human talent or infrastructure, it does not come cheap. Not to forget, the much-needed patience and trust that needs to be invested by the leaders. Hence, the agreement has to be a well thought though business decision, rather than a hasty push from IT department.

 

Essentially,  rather than a knee-jerk reaction, a well thought out plan – considering demand, capabilities, resources, company’s management, business, legal and regulations – ensures the analytics implementation a definite success.



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Doctor says he downplayed the severity of Trump’s condition

Dr. Sean Conley said Sunday that the president’s blood oxygen level have improved after it dropped twice recently

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days, but he “has continued to improve” since then, the White House physician said Sunday, adding a new layer of confusion to the president’s fight with COVID-19 even while suggesting he could be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday.

Trump’s doctors, speaking on the steps of the military hospital where he was being treated for a third consecutive day, refused to disclose the specific timing of the president’s dip in oxygen or whether lung scans showed any damage.

Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged he was trying to downplay the severity of the president’s condition the day before.

Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, briefs reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020. Trump was admitted to the hospital after contracting the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude of the team, that the president, that his course of illness has had. Didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction,” Conley said. “And in doing so, came off like we’re trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true. The fact of the matter is that he’s doing really well.”

Conley said the president had a “high fever” and a blood oxygen level below 94% on Friday and during “another episode” on Saturday. He was evasive when asked whether Trump’s level had dropped below 90%: “We don’t have any recordings here on that.”

The level currently stands at 98%, Trump’s medical team said.

Trump offered his own assessment of his status the night before in a video from his hospital suite, saying he was beginning to feel better and hoped to “be back soon.” And he was back on social media early Sunday morning, sharing a video of flag-waving supporters, most not wearing masks, gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

READ MORE: Concerning signs in Trump’s care despite word he’s doing OK

The changing, and at times contradictory, accounts created a credibility crisis for the White House at a crucial moment, with the president’s health and the nation’s leadership on the line. Moreover, the president’s health represents a national security issue of paramount importance not only to the functions of the U.S. government but also to countries around the world, friendly and otherwise.

Doctors say US President Donald Trump is doing “very well” as he spends the weekend at a military hospital for treatment of COVID-19. (Oct. 3)

Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, pulled his attack ads off the air during Trump’s hospitalization, and on Sunday, he dispatched senior aides to deliver a largely friendly message.

“We are sincerely hoping that the president makes a very quick recovery, and we can see him back out on the campaign trail very soon,” Biden adviser Symone Sanders said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

She added: “This is a glaring reminder that the virus is real.”

Biden was at home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sunday with no plans for in-person campaigning or other public appearances. Having already tested negative, he is expected to release the results of a new coronavirus test later in the day, and the campaign has pledged to disclose those results and all other future test results for the 77-year-old candidate.

On Saturday, chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters outside the hospital, “We’re still not on a clear path yet to a full recovery.” In an update Saturday night, Trump’s chief doctor expressed cautious optimism but added that the president was “not yet out of the woods.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s handling of the pandemic and his own health faced new scrutiny.

Trump’s medical care is far superior to the average American’s, with around-the-clock attention and experimental treatments. In the hospital video, he defended his decision to continue campaigning and holding large events during a pandemic.

“I had no choice,” said Trump, who refused to abide by basic public health recommendations, including mask-wearing. “I had to be out front. … I can’t be locked up in a room upstairs and totally safe. … As a leader, you have to confront problems.”

Trump is 74 years old and clinically obese, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has infected more than 7 million people nationwide and killed more than 209,000 people in the U.S.

In this image released by the White House, President Donald Trump works in the Presidential Suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, after testing positive for COVID-19. (Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House via AP)

First Lady Melania Trump remained at the White House to recover from her own bout with the virus.

Trump’s administration has been less than transparent with the public throughout the pandemic, both about the president’s health and the virus’s spread inside the White House. The first word that a close aide to Trump had been infected came from the media, not the White House. And aides have repeatedly declined to share basic health information, including a full accounting of the president’s symptoms, what tests he’s undertaken and the results.

READ MORE: Chris Rock on Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis: ‘My heart goes out to COVID’

Conley declined to say when Trump had last been tested before he was confirmed to have COVID-19 late Thursday. He initially suggested that Trump was 72 hours into the diagnosis — which would mean that he was confirmed infected Wednesday. Conley later clarified that Trump was administered an accurate test for the virus on Thursday afternoon.

The White House has said Trump was expected to stay at the hospital for “a few days” and would continue to work from its presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to keep up his official duties.

On Saturday, Conley said Trump’s blood oxygen level was 96%, which is in the normal range. The two experimental drugs he has received, given through an IV, have shown some promise against COVID-19.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, left, greets Dr. Sean Conley, physician to President Donald Trump, after Conley briefed reporters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Trump was admitted to the hospital after contracting the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

He noted that in many cases, COVID-19 can become more dangerous as the body responds. “The first week of COVID, and in particular day seven to 10, are the most critical in determining the likely course of this illness,” he said.

At the same time, the White House has been working to trace a flurry of new infections of close Trump aides and allies. Attention is focused in particular on the Sept. 26 White House event introducing Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

That day, Trump gathered more than 150 people in the Rose Garden, where they mingled, hugged and shook hands — overwhelmingly without masks. There were also several indoor receptions, where Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, her family, senators and others spent time in the close quarters of the White House, photographs show.

Among those who attended and have now tested positive: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, the president of the University of Notre Dame and at least two Republican lawmakers — Utah Sen. Mike Lee and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. The president’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and the head of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, have also tested positive, though they were not at the event. Another prominent Republican who has tested positive: Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

___

Colvin reported from Washington. Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press chief medical writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee and Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Wilmington, Del., and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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Father-son duo charged for chasing, shooting at Black teens riding ATVs in Mississippi

The white men could face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted on aggravated assault charges

Two white males in rural Mississippi have been arrested and charged with assault after chasing and shooting at two Black teenagers who were riding ATVs on their property, according to local news reports. 

Forty-eight-year-old Wade Oscar Twiner and his 22-year-old son Lane Twiner were arrested in late September and each charged with three counts of aggravated assault. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison, KOKI-TV reports. 

Deputies from the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Office responded to calls of the father and son chasing the teens in a white Chevrolet pickup truck and shooting at them as they were riding ATVs near their home. Once deputies found the truck and teenagers, the Twiners claimed the teens were driving erratically and speeding.

This image provided by the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility in Yazoo City, Miss. shows Wade Twiner, 48, left, and his son, Lane Twiner, 22. (Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility via AP)

According to the victims, the Twiners fired shots at them and continued to chase them when they fled. At one point, they also bumped into one of the ATVs with the pickup. No one was hurt in the incident. 

Read More: Mississippi Senate candidate Mike Espy sees record donations after Ginsburg’s death

The Twiners told deputies that they were trying to apprehend the teeangers, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Twiners reportedly told law enforcement that they own the land that the teens were riding on. A 9mm handgun was recovered by authorities during their arrest on a Sunday night. Both Twiners have reportedly been released on bail. 

According to Mississippi state law, off-road vehicles including ATVs are prohibited on public roads or highways. However, there is no penalty for those who violate the statute, The Clarion-Ledger reports. 

The sheriff said there were other people riding ATVs near the Twiners’ home on the day of the incident with the teens, but they were not confronted or assaulted by the violent father and son duo.

Read More: Three Mississippi moms face over 20 years in prison for allegedly committing insurance fraud

The sheriff is now looking at their social media posts to determine if the crime was racially motivated. 

One now-deleted Facebook post from July reportedly displayed the words “Redneck Neighborhood Watch,” along with a photo of a Confederate flag, according to the sheriff, per US News and World Report. The post captioned “You Loot We Shoot.” 

“Wade Oscar Twiner and his son, Lane Twiner, pursued them and tried to stop them and to shoot them and bump them with the four-wheeler, so they were charged with aggravated assault,” Sheriff Jacob Sheriff told WLOX. “We’re still looking at some things on that to see if we can establish a hate crime or not. We’ve got to get with the DA and look at the statutes to say whether that would be a hate crime or not.”

The Sheriff compared the incident to the case of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man who was fatally shot in Georgia by a white father and son who chased him down in their pick-up truck.

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Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who enforced the MLB color line, name removed from MVP plaques

The former baseball commissioner refused to let Black baseball players join the majors during his reign

NEW YORK (AP) — The name of the former baseball commissioner who never had a Black player in the majors during his long reign is being pulled off all future MVP plaques after more than 75 years.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis won’t be depicted on the annual awards presented by the Baseball Writers’ Association of the America, the group said Friday. The decision came after 89% of its membership voted this week for removal.

“We will no longer will be associated with the Landis name, and the MVP plaques will be nameless in 2020,” BBWAA president Paul Sullivan wrote.

In this April 11, 2019, file photo, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, left, presents right fielder Mookie Betts with the 2018 AL MVP Award before a baseball game between the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park in Boston. The award includes the name and image of Kenesaw Mountain Landis. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)

“Hopefully when some sense of normalcy returns in 2021 we can have a healthy debate over whether to add a new name or just leave it as the BBWAA MVP award,” he said.

In a story by The Associated Press in late June, former MVP winners Barry Larkin, Mike Schmidt and Terry Pendleton said they favored pulling Landis’ name because of concerns over his handling of Black players.

READ MORE: Bob Gibson, legendary Cardinal and second Black player to win Cy Young, dies at 84

Larkin, the Black shortstop voted NL MVP in 1995 with Cincinnati, applauded the decision.

“To me, the MVP award should be something that’s all positive,” Larkin told the AP on Friday. “There shouldn’t be a cloud over it.”

Barry Larkin #11 of the Cincinnati Reds stands on the field against the Oakland Athletics during the 1990 World Series at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in October 1990 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

“I was always aware of the Landis name and what it meant to slow down the color line in Major League Baseball,” he said, adding, “I think the MVP honor stands on its own. It doesn’t need a name.”

Told of the BBWAA’s ruling, Pendleton, the Black third baseman who won the 1991 NL honor with Atlanta, texted: “It’s the right thing to do!!!”

MLB will redesign the trophies, said Jack O’Connell, BBWAA secretary-treasurer. The AL and NL winners awards in this virus-shortened season will be announced on Nov. 12.

Landis became MLB’s first commissioner in 1920 and no Blacks played in the majors during his control that ended with his death in 1944. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 and Larry Doby followed later that year.

Landis’ legacy is “always a complicated story” that includes “documented racism,” official MLB historian John Thorn has said.

A federal judge in Chicago when he was hired, Landis banned Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox for throwing the 1919 World Series and helped rid baseball of gambling problems that were plaguing the game.

But Landis “notably failed to integrate the game during his tenure,” Sullivan said in a statement.

In this Jan. 22, 2006, file photo, a Joe DiMaggio 1947 MVP Award plaque is displayed at a news conference in New York. The plaque features the name and image of Kenesaw Mountain Landis. (AP Photo/Jennifer Szymaszek, File)

The only living relative of Landis who personally knew him is nephew Lincoln Landis.

“Now at the age of 98, I am duly puzzled to learn that the baseball writers would have agreed to eliminate my uncle’s name and picture from the Most Valuable Player award,” he said Saturday. “I must say that if today’s MVP winners truly understood the role Judge Landis played in preserving the game of baseball, they would support putting his image back on their award plaques.”

In 1931, Landis had given the BBWAA control of picking and presenting the MVPs. During the 1944 World Series, the BBWAA voted to add Landis’ name to the plaque as “an acknowledgement of his relationship with the writers,” O’Connell said.

READ MORE: Giannis Antetokounmpo wins 2nd straight NBA MVP award: source

Landis died a month later at 78 and soon was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Every AL and NL MVP plaque since then has carried his name — emblazoned with shiny, gold letters twice as big as the actual winner — as the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award, plus a sizable imprint of his face.

“This is 2020 now and things have changed all around the world. It can change for the better,” Pendleton said earlier. “Statues are coming down, people are looking at monuments and memorials.”

Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves follows through on a swing against the San Diego Padres on opening day at Jack Murphy Stadium. (Credit: Stephen Dunn/ALLSPORT)

Schmidt, the three-time NL MVP with Philadelphia, previously said: “If you’re looking to expose individuals in baseball’s history who promoted racism by continuing to close baseball’s doors to men of color, Kenesaw Landis would be a candidate.”

“Looking back to baseball in the early 1900s, this was the norm. It doesn’t make it right, though,” said the Hall of Famer, who is white. “Removing his name from the MVP trophy would expose the injustice of that era. I’d gladly replace the engraving on my trophies.”

After the BBWAA decision, he wrote in an email: “Should stand alone … NLMVP 2021”

In August, U.S. Reps. Gil Cisneros of California and Cedric Richmond of Louisiana sent a letter signed by 28 House Democrats to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Sullivan calling for Landis’ name to be pulled. All of the members had played in the Congressional Baseball Game, an annual charity matchup at Nationals Park.

“The BBWAA made the right decision, and it better reflects the sport we all know and love,” Cisneros tweeted.

There has been a lot of debate on social media in recent months over whose name should be on MVP plaques, if anybody at all. Among those getting support were Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, Negro Leagues great Josh Gibson and Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson.

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