Major League Baseball Begins Biometric Facial Recognition Scans
Technology developed by a company called NEC has been utilized to introduce biometric ticketing on the opening day of the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. This pilot was undertaken at four designated baseball parks, including Minute Maid Park in Houston, where it was revealed that around 6,000 eager baseball fans favored convenience and used the touchless technology for entry to the stadium.
Nationals Park in Washington incorporated the biometric tech through MLB’s Go-Ahead Entry system into their opening day proceedings. Using the MLB Ballpark app for touchless access, ballpark attendees could breeze through dedicated entrances using face biometrics enrolled via a selfie. Notably, Nationals Park has four such specialized lanes providing quick and easy access to fans who use the new system.
The Phillies are also implementing the system across the entire stadium following a trial run at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia. The year prior saw the introduction of facial recognition technology for game admission in New York for the Mets games and in Cleveland for Guardians games.
The ongoing deployment of the biometric ticketing program is managed by the league, rather than individual teams.
The introduction of biometric ticketing in MLB stadiums raises significant privacy concerns. Firstly, the use of biometrics, particularly facial recognition, for accessing events like baseball games is a step towards normalizing invasive surveillance techniques in everyday life. Unlike traditional ticketing methods, biometric data is inherently personal and sensitive. Facial recognition technology works by collecting and analyzing unique facial features to create a digital signature. This process involves the collection and storage of highly personal data, which could be vulnerable to breaches or misuse. If such data falls into the wrong hands, it could lead to identity theft, unauthorized tracking, or other forms of exploitation.
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The Increasing Prevalence of Autism
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of autism among U.S. children has risen significantly in recent years.
As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, while 6.7 in 1,000 children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 2000, that number had risen to 27.6 in 1,000 children by 2020.
This means that currently 1 in 36 children in the U.S. get diagnosed with ASD, up from 1 in 150 children 20 years ago.
The reasons for this increase in prevalence are not fully understood and likely complex.
Some possible factors that have been proposed include better awareness and screening for autism, changes in diagnostic criteria and environmental or genetic factors.
…ask RFK Jr what he thinks!
RFK Jr. on Joe Rogan’s podcast discussing aluminum in vaccines, other toxins, etc. and the link to autism.#Kennedy, #JRE, #1999 pic.twitter.com/L0XJzR5UYl
— OK To Question (@OkToQuestion) June 19, 2023
Regardless of the reasons, this rise in the number of children with autism highlights the importance of early identification and intervention to help children with ASD reach their full potential.
In recent years, major progress has been made in increasing awareness and acceptance of autism. Thanks to that progress, many people are now aware that autism spectrum disorders are a very diverse group of conditions, that go far beyond the often-stereotypical depictions of autism in film and television. According to the World Health Organization, autism spectrum disorders are “characterized by some degree of difficulty with social interaction and communication. Other characteristics are atypical patterns of activities and behaviours, such as difficulty with transition from one activity to another, a focus on details and unusual reactions to sensations.”
This year’s World Autism Awareness Day, celebrated today, April 2, gives autistic people from all around the world the chance to share their perspective on how different societies are dealing with autism spectrum disorder. “Moving from Surviving to Thriving: Autistic individuals share regional perspectives” is the motto of this year’s observance, organized by the United Nations Department of Global Communications in collaboration with the Institute of Neurodiversity (ION), an organization established and run by neurodivergent people for neurodivergent people and allies.
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Ireland’s Justice Minister Helen McEntee Says ‘The Time For Facial Recognition Technology Has Come’
Ireland’s government is using every opportunity to charge ahead with promoting facial recognition tech, despite civil liberties groups expressing serious concerns and asking some hard questions about the policy.
But the current Irish authorities don’t seem to be missing a beat making, however tenuous or even distasteful, links to push that policy.
Thanks to those in power there, Ireland’s long-lasting troubles keep casting ever longer shadows, some with brand-new, current overtones.
Namely, there is now controversy in the country, or at least among its most prominent media and politicians, over Irish Republican Army (IRA) member Pearse McAuley being laid to rest with his coffin draped in the nation’s flag, despite the fact he was found guilty of killing a police officer.
Ireland’s Justice Minister Helen McEntee saw this situation as a good opportunity to try to promote the agenda of using even more facial recognition. What better time to say this is needed to “investigate attacks against gardai” – McEntee no doubt thought.
The McAuley funeral “controversy” sort of spiraled out of control, at least as far as the “political panic” and messaging is concerned, reaching, figuratively and literally, some far-off places.
It went everywhere from Mcentee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris attending an event and making comments ranging from condemning the funeral arrangements for the former IRA to advocating for the police force to grow beyond what has been envisaged so far, to citing an extradition cooperation with the United Arab Emirates – to, more facial recognition.
The “tie” that binds together all these policy talking points heaped into one place seems to be – this is as good a chance as any to promote something otherwise very controversial.
“McEntee announced that the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in investigating crimes was being expanded to include attacks against Garda members,” the Irish press said.
This, even though the Irish police clearly had no problem identifying McAuley as killing an officer – even though there was no mention that facial recognition played any role in this process back 20+ years ago.
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Heart Scarring Detected More Than a Year After Covid-19 Vaccination in Some Patients
When some people started experiencing myocarditis, or heart inflammation, after receiving COVID-19 vaccines, public health authorities and the media downplayed the severity of the problem and insisted that the protection offered by the vaccines was worth the risk. However, it is now emerging than the problem is more serious than vaccine supporters initially claimed.
A new study by Australian researchers revealed that one third of patients who suffered from myocarditis after getting a COVID-19 vaccine still had heart scarring more than a year later. This is according to cardiac imaging that showed persistent late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), which is typically an indicator of heart scarring.
In the study, the median time between the day the person received the vaccine and when they underwent follow-up imaging was 548 days; the longest interval among those studied was 603 days.
The researchers wrote: “We found that the incidence of persistent myocardial fibrosis is high, seen in almost a third of patients at >12 months post diagnosis, which could have implications for the management and prognosis of this predominantly young cohort.”
They cautioned that we do not yet know what the long-term clinical implications of this are. However, given the fact that LGE tends to indicate a worse prognosis in myocarditis that is not connected to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly when it persists longer than six months, there is plenty of reason to be concerned.
Most of the patients in the study had received the Pfizer vaccine, while some received jabs from Moderna or AstraZeneca.
According to the British Heart Foundation, heart scarring caused by myocarditis means the heart needs to work harder to pump blood and oxygen throughout the body, which can cause the heart muscle to grow bigger and weaker over time. If enough scar tissue forms there, it can cause congestive heart failure or dilated cardiomyopathy, the Texas Heart Institute notes.
Another recent study, this one out of Canada, found that half of the patients with post-vaccination myocarditis still had persistent LGE during follow up imaging. They noted that this “likely reflects replacement fibrosis”, or heart scarring. They also cited papers showing that patients who have persistent LGE tend to have a greater risk of negative outcomes.
Even mild myocarditis can cause fatal arrythmias
Myocarditis emerged soon after vaccine rollouts as one of the more immediately visible side effects of the jab, largely affecting teens and young adult males within the first week after getting an mRNA vaccine. Interestingly, most of the cases occurred in young men following their second dose of the vaccine. Doctors aren’t sure why it mostly affects men, but they believe that testosterone may play a role in vaccine-induced myocarditis. It is treatable in some cases, but there are multiple forms of myocarditis, and each has its own prognosis. Some people may have to limit their activities and take medication for the rest of their lives.
Research from Japan shows that even mild cases of myocarditis can lead to fatal arrythmias. A group of doctors, scientists and academic experts known as the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) published an advisory about the study, noting: “The possibility that inflammation affecting just the conductive system might result in fatal arrhythmia is a concern we have previously raised in relation to the mRNA products.”
The group added that this type of vaccine damage cannot be detected in a standard autopsy and may have been missed in the post-mortems of some people who died suddenly following vaccination.
Last year, a 28-year-old Dominican basketball player whose career was damaged by vaccine-induced myocarditis died of a heart attack while undergoing a stress test at a health center.
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Somali Migrant Accused of Strangling Pregnant Girlfriend Because His Mother Wouldn’t Accept White, Non-Muslim Partner
A Somali migrant is due to stand trial in Sweden next week for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend he is suspected of strangling to death to hide from his family the fact he was in a relationship with a non-Muslim, non-Somali woman.
Mohamedamin Abdirisek Ibrahim, 21, was arrested in Örebro on May 2 last year after his girlfriend, 20-year-old Saga, was found dead in her apartment. She had died from asphyxiation and had been seven months pregnant with Ibrahim’s child.
“I believe the murder took place in the context of an honor killing because the man wanted to preserve or restore his honor and that of his family by killing the woman who was carrying his child,” said public prosecutor Elisabeth Anderson in a statement to journalists shortly after the arrest.
The suspect has been in pre-trial detention for 11 months while police officers conducted their investigations into the murder.
An examination of text messages on Ibrahim’s phone revealed the disgust his Somali mother, also living in Sweden, had toward the notion her son was in a relationship with a White woman.
“Take the bus or stay with your loved one. Don’t come home. I am no longer your mother. I am Muslim and Somali,” one message from his mother read after her car often used by Ibrahim was spotted outside Saga’s address.
“I am also Muslim and Somali, and I do not go home to a white person,” Ibrahim replied, denying the relationship with Saga, a Swedish woman of Thai origin.
In another row over the relationship, the suspect vowed to return to Somalia with his mother to make amends for upsetting her. “Whatever you decide, I follow, mom,” he wrote.
Following the indictment, Anderson said it was the prosecution’s case that the murder was an honor killing to save Ibrahim the ignominy of revealing the truth about Saga’s pregnancy to his family.
“He has tried to keep the relationship a secret. The suspect’s family did not accept that he was with a White girl and believed he had been exposed to strong emotional influence,” the prosecutor told Swedish media.
Further communications found between the suspect and his victim on the night before the murder revealed how Ibrahim had agreed to tell his family about the relationship.
“Feels like I can almost feel my heartbeat all the way down to my stomach walla,” he sent to Saga.
“Just take it easy, they’ll be fine babe,” she replied.
However, over the course of the evening, it is the prosecution’s case that the suspect changed his mind and visited his girlfriend’s apartment before strangling her to death.
In a composed message that was never sent, Ibrahim wrote, “Forgive me, I really feel sick from all this, sorry, but I can’t handle this, I can be there and help if something is needed, but I can’t tell my family.”
The suspect has denied the murder, and his mother told police officers she would have no issue with the ethnicity of her son’s girlfriend or future child.
Elisabeth Fritz, a lawyer for the relatives of the deceased, vowed to “work hard for a conviction, a life sentence, and compensation” for the “cruel murder.”
The trial begins on April 10.
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Cyprus Grapples With Record Number of Migrants
The government of Cyprus convened a special emergency meeting—involving the ministers of the interior, foreign affairs, justice and public order, defense, and other high-ranking officials—at the presidential palace on Tuesday to discuss migration. Speaking to reporters, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis described the meeting’s “exclusive topic” as “the discussion of the immigration flows of the last days.”
Like many other Mediterranean islands, Cyprus is hard hit by wave after wave of migrants. Since Sunday afternoon, 476 have arrived on Cypriot shores in ten boats, setting a new record.
Following a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Tuesday, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides called the higher influx of migrants of recent weeks “deeply concerning,” adding that while he fully understands the challenges Lebanon—where most of the migrant boats originate—is facing, “exporting migrants to Cyprus should not be the answer and cannot be accepted. To that end, the EU should also stand by Cyprus in tangible ways.”
Metsola sought to assure Christodoulides, saying that the EU had prepared a “big unprecedented legislative package that will hopefully go through the European Parliament.” With it, she added, they would “be able to answer both in the short and medium term, but also hopefully in the longer term, the individual national challenges that countries such as yours are facing with regards to migration.”
On March 22nd, EU commissioner Margaritis Schinas suggested that the EU could strike a deal with Lebanon to bring a halt to the flow of migrants, but added that this would require considerable preparation. A similar deal with Egypt has yet to prove its worth.
Nicosia is not waiting for Brussels to step up its efforts, however, as it is “already in contact with Lebanon,” according to Letymbiotis.
“New contacts will be made with the authorities of the country so that they can also stop these high migration flows that have been observed in the last few days,” he added.
With a population of just over one million, Cyprus is one of the smallest EU member states, with the current highest migrants-to-indigenous-population ratio.
According to Eurostat, within the EU, the island also has the highest proportion of asylum applications relative to its population.
The government representative told the Cyprus Times that, in recent months, Cyprus had “succeeded in reversing the migration data with deportations for the first time outnumbering arrivals” and that they wanted “to maintain this.”
However, he said, the situation in Lebanon “is difficult” and something the Cypriot government should be prepared for.
Lebanon, which is in a deep economic crisis, hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, which has been mired in a civil war since 2011. Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th has pushed the entire region into even greater instability.
While vague on specifics, the spokesman added that “various measures” had been discussed, hinting at “various actions that the Republic of Cyprus can take, but also in cooperation with the EU and European partners.”
When asked whether Cyprus’ infrastructure is adequate for receiving such migrant flows, the spokesman admitted: “at the rate at which the flows are increasing in recent days we are at the limit and this is something we have communicated repeatedly.”
“A country like the Republic of Cyprus,” he continued, “cannot continue at this rate and it is for this reason that it was considered crucial to convene [the security meeting] … and, if necessary, to reconvene.”
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