Google’s Search Algorithm Could Steal the Presidency

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GettyImages-555175279-582x388Imagine an election—a close one. You’re undecided. So you type the name of one of the candidates into your search engine of choice. (Actually, let’s not be coy here. In most of the world, one search engine dominates; in Europe and North America, it’s Google.) And Google coughs up, in fractions of a second, articles and facts about that candidate. Great! Now you are an informed voter, right? But a study published this week says that the order of those results, the ranking of positive or negative stories on the screen, can have an enormous influence on the way you vote. And if the election is close enough, the effect could be profound enough to change the outcome.

In other words: Google’s ranking algorithm for search results could accidentally steal the presidency. “We estimate, based on win margins in national elections around the world,” says Robert Epstein, a psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and one of the study’s authors, “that Google could determine the outcome of upwards of 25 percent of all national elections.”

Epstein’s paper combines a few years’ worth of experiments in which Epstein and his colleague Ronald Robertson gave people access to information about the race for prime minister in Australia in 2010, two years prior, and then let the mock-voters learn about the candidates via a simulated search engine that displayed real articles.

One group saw positive articles about one candidate first; the other saw positive articles about the other candidate. (A control group saw a random assortment.) The result: Whichever side people saw the positive results for, they were more likely to vote for—by more than 48 percent. The team calls that number the “vote manipulation power,” or VMP. The effect held—strengthened, even—when the researchers swapped in a single negative story into the number-four and number-three spots. Apparently it made the results seem even more neutral and therefore more trustworthy.

But of course that was all artificial—in the lab. So the researchers packed up and went to India in advance of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a national campaign with 800 million eligible voters. (Eventually 430 million people voted over the weeks of the actual election.) “I thought this time we’d be lucky if we got 2 or 3 percent, and my gut said we’re gonna get nothing,” Epstein says, “because this is an intense, intense election environment.” Voters get exposed, heavily, to lots of other information besides a mock search engine result. (Read more from “Google’s Search Algorithm Could Steal the Presidency” HERE)

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MILITARY UNDER FIRE: Obama Ignoring Judge’s Order Regarding SEAL Team 6 Chopper; Pentagon Complains of “Too Many Whites Males” in Special Forces

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downloadBy Fox News. The Obama administration was accused Thursday of ignoring a judge’s order to turn over documents in the downing of a helicopter that killed Navy SEALs from the unit that carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden.

Families of Navy SEAL Team 6 members and others killed in the attack marked the fourth anniversary of the Aug. 6, 2011, tragedy by blasting the government for stonewalling in a public records lawsuit filed by the watchdog group Freedom Watch, the Washington Times reported. All 38 people aboard the chopper, call sign Execution 17, were killed over the Wardak Province in Afghanistan, including 30 Americans.

“It has now been four years since Extortion 17 was shot down,” Doug Hamburger, whose son Patrick was killed, told the paper. “I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. I find it very irritating that we will not question the Afghans about their knowledge of what took place that night.”

The families believe SEAL TEAM 6 had been turned into a Taliban target after President Obama revealed that members of the team, though not the ones killed in the crash, were involved in the killing of bin Laden in Pakistan three months earlier.

They also believe that persons inside the Afghan National Security Forces may have tipped off the Taliban to the Chinook’s mission. (Read more from “Obama Administration Accused of Stonewalling in Suit Over Downing of SEAL Team 6 Chopper” HERE)

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Pentagon Thinks There Are Too Many White Males in Special Forces

By Jonah Bennett. Elite units in the military are by and large both white and male. Pentagon officials, however, are hoping for a major demographic shift, citing the benefits of diversity in terms of increasing operational capacity.

Data provided by each individual service to USA Today illustrates current disparities, which are most prominent in units like the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Green Berets. For instance, in the Army, blacks comprised 17 percent of the force in 2013, a figure slightly higher than their representation in the overall population. As the ranks start climbing, the numbers shift. Blacks amount to only 9.4 percent of officers in the military.

In the Navy SEALs, just 2 percent are black, while Native Americans make up about 4 percent, or 99 SEALs.

Only 5.6 percent of enlisted Green Berets are black. But in the Air Force, among para-rescuers, the number drops even further down to .6 percent.

The Pentagon considers this to be a problem. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Officials Order Cooling Tower Inspections to Battle Deadly Legionnaires’ Outbreak in NYC

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gty_legionnaires_disease_tk_120111_wmainNew York State health officials are ordering widespread inspections of cooling facilities to try to stem New York City’s worst outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which had killed 10 people and infected a reported 101 people as of Friday afternoon.

The state and the city are collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to suppress the outbreak, Commissioner of Health for New York State, Dr. Howard Zucker, said during a press conference Friday afternoon.

“While it is clearly a significant outbreak in the Bronx, this is a state-wide issue and the governor is monitoring Legionnaire’s statewide,” Zucker said . . .

“We want to be confident that every cooling tower in this city is clean,” said Dr. Mary Bassett, commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “The city will be taking a lead for the nation in making sure our cooling towers are safe.”

The respiratory disease, which causes pneumonia-like symptoms, isn’t transmitted from person to person but rather by contact with the bacterium Legionella. The bacteria can thrive in warm water and become especially dangerous when the water is turned into a mist that can be inhaled. Medical investigators have linked past outbreaks to public fountains, air conditioning systems, spas, showers and even the misters than keep fruit moist in supermarkets. (Read more from “Officials Order Cooling Tower Inspections to Battle Deadly Legionnaires’ Outbreak in NYC” HERE)

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Watch: The Heartwarming Bond Between a Beautiful Little Girl Born With Only One Arm and Her Three-Legged Puppy

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2AFB961600000578-0-image-a-27_1438397143431She will face the challenges of riding a bike to school or not being able to climb the monkey bars during playtime.

But little Ella Peggie, who was born without her left arm, will get an extraordinary opportunity to share a life-changing bond with her new beloved pet – a three-legged puppy.

When her mother, Brooke Hodgson, saw the one-year-old Staffy Boston Terrier Cross named Snowy, she knew instantly the hound pound would be the perfect companion for her one-year-old daughter.

The 21-year-old mother decided to pen a heartwarming email to the Animal Welfare League of Queensland (AWLQ) asking if they could hold the abandoned dog at the Gold Coast rehoming centre.

‘My heart skipped a beat when I saw Snowy online,’ Ms Hodgson told Daily Mail Australia from her hometown of Loganholm in Queensland. (Read more from “The Heartwarming Bond Between a Beautiful Little Girl Born With Only One Arm and Her Three-Legged Puppy” HERE)

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Stocks Are a Disaster Waiting to Happen

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downloadBy Amanda Diaz. David Stockman has long warned that the stock market is on the verge of a massive collapse, and the recent price action has him even more convinced than ever that the bottom is about to fall out.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that the top is in,” the Reagan administration’s OMB director said Thursday on CNBC’s “Futures Now.” The S&P 500 has traded in a historically narrow range for the better part of 2015, having moved just 1 percent higher year to date. “It’s just waiting for the knee-jerk bulls, robo traders and dip buyers to finally capitulate.”

Stockman, whose past claims have yet to come to fruition, still believes that the excessive monetary policy from central banks around the world has created a “debt supernova,” and all the signs point to “the end of the central bank enabled bubble,” which could cause a worldwide recession. (Read more from “Stocks Are a Disaster Waiting to Happen” HERE)


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Everybody Preparing for a ‘September Event’ That Coincides With Shemitah

By J. D. Heyes. [A]s September approaches, some are warning of a … provable threat – one rooted in the Jewish religion and in history – called the Shemitah Year, a 3,000-year-old mystery that is remains part of the Jewish faith.

What is the Shemitah? It is the “Sabbath year,” which is also known as the sabbatical or sheviit; the seventh year of a seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah, Judaism’s religious guidance, for the Land of Israel. . .

While that may not seem important to most Americans, InvestmentWatchBlog provided further evidence that the “seventh year” is again upon us:

Rabbi Johnathan Cahn noted that the Shmitah in 2001 caused the stock market collapse at the end of September, and then in 2008 the Shmitah also caused the economy trouble. The next Shmitah happens to be at the end of the 29th day of Elul this September. . .

Carl Gallups, pastor of Florida-based Hickory Hammock Baptist Church, host of a Christian radio show and author of “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” agrees that time is growing short. . .

There can be no doubt that there is an amazing convergence of end-time prophecies occurring right before our eyes,” he told the news site. “Think of where we are in history – Israel is back in its land – a 2,500-year-old prophecy fulfillment – Jerusalem is in the hands of Israel, the nations of the world are rallying against Israel, including the U.S., and Israel is now literally surrounded by Islamic enemies who are publicly calling for the complete destruction of the Jewish state.

(Read more from “Everybody Preparing for a ‘September Event’ That Coincides With Shemitah” HERE)

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Huckabee, Trump, and Rubio Take Strong Pro-Life Stance in First GOP Debate [+video]

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shutterstock_180970274_810_500_55_s_c1By Ben Johnson. At the first major Republican debate last night, Mike Huckabee promised a “bolder” stance on abortion than any other candidate, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker clarified their position on abortion exceptions, and Donald Trump said he had “evolved” to the pro-life position.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said he would apply the Constitution’s protections to the unborn at once.

“I’ve actually taken the position that’s bolder than” adopting a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, he said. “The next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother’s womb is a person at the moment of conception.”

“This notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child’s Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law,” he added.

President Barack Obama has used his own interpretation of the Constitution to decline to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act and other legislation. (Read more from “Huckabee, Trump, and Rubio Take Strong Pro-Life Stance in First GOP Debate” HERE)

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Chris Christie Asks Hillary: Do You Really Support Marketing Babies’ Bodies for Profit?

By Lisa Bourne. New Jersey Gov. and GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie is calling Democrat presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the carpet on the Planned Parenthood fetal tissue harvesting-for-profit scandal.

“Now Secretary Clinton, why don’t you answer this question?” Christie said in a campaign video released this week. “Do you support the conduct of Planned Parenthood in the killing of children in the womb in a way that maximizes their body parts for sale on the open market?”

While Planned Parenthood promotes itself as a vital healthcare provider for women, leaders from the nation’s largest abortion business have been caught on a series of upsetting undercover videos bartering for body parts of aborted babies. The videos are currently being released over the course of several weeks, each successive video’s content more alarming than the last, with numerous more to come.

Clinton has been long known as a rabid supporter of abortion.

At one point she presented herself as echoing the country’s prevailing reaction to the Planned Parenthood videos, calling them disturbing, but continued to express support for the abortion giant. (Read more from “Chris Christie Asks Hillary: Do You Really Support Marketing Babies’ Bodies for Profit?” HERE)

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Fury of the Left Falls on Schumer

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downloadBy Julian Hattem. Liberals are livid at Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) decision to oppose the White House’s nuclear deal with Iran, and have threatened to launch a full-scale war as retribution.

Activists and former top officials within the Obama administration are openly contemplating whether Schumer’s stance disqualifies him from serving as the next Senate Democratic leader — which he is primed to do — and seeking to temporarily cut off money to Democrats in the upper chamber.

It’s unclear whether Schumer’s announcement will have a devastating effect on the White House’s efforts to prevent Democrats from killing the deal when it comes up for a vote in Congress next month.

But it’s clear that he will be Public Enemy No. 1 for liberal activists throughout the August recess, as they aim to rally support from Democrats on the agreement.

“This is a real and serious backlash, one that comes from deep within the Democratic Party’s base, and I think we’re only going to see it grow,” said Becky Bond, the political director for Credo Action. (Read more from “Fury of the Left Falls on Schumer” HERE)

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White House Calls Chuck Schumer Defection ‘Disappointing’

By Chuck Ross. White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said Friday that the Obama administration is disappointed but not surprised by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s defection on the Iran nuclear deal.

“It is not new and this is a difference of opinion President Obama and Sen. Schumer have had getting all the way back to 2003,” Earnest said at a daily press briefing, referring to the two Democrats’ opposing positions on the Iraq war.

“That all said, that is why I would describe this as an amount in that was not particularly surprising here at the White House, even if it was disappointing.”

Late Thursday, Schumer announced that he will oppose the deal, in which the administration negotiated with Iran in hopes of curtailing its ability to obtain a nuclear weapon. The defection looms large given that Schumer is expected to take over as Senate majority leader when Harry Reid resigns.

“After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,” Schumer wrote in a post at the website Medium. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Judge Orders State Department Turn Over Thousands of Clinton Documents Before Democratic Primary [+video]

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Hillary Rodham ClintonBy Morgan Chalfant. A federal judge has ordered the State Department to release thousands of documents to the Associated Press related to former secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the next few months.

The AP reported that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon on Friday set the schedule for the federal agency’s release of the documents, which are related to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s employment status in addition to Hillary’s schedules, appointments, and call history while at the State Department.

In March, the Associated Press filed a lawsuit against the State Department, accusing the government agency of failing to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for thousands of documents related to Clinton, one of which was made more than five years ago.

Just last week, Judge Leon blasted the State Department during a court hearing on the case for its lack of response to the FOIA requests.

Leon balked at State’s inability to produce about 60 emails demanded in one particular FOIA request, saying, “Now, any person should be able to review that in one day–one day. Even the least ambitious bureaucrat could do this.” (Read more from “Judge Orders State Department Turn Over Thousands of Clinton Documents Before Democratic Primary” HERE)

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O’Malley Slams Dems for Limiting Debates

By Daniel Halper. Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is blasting his party for limiting the number of presidential debates. It’s been reported that the Democrats are planning to hold only six debates in the entire primary.

“I want to say right off the bat here, that to those in Washington who think they can limit the number of debates that we’re going to have before the Iowa caucuses, can circle the wagons and close off debates,” O’Malley told a group of supporters.

(Read more from “O’Malley Slams Dems for Limiting Debates” HERE)

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Watch: One Surprising Candidate Stood out in Fox News’ Focus Group in a BIG Way

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gop150418102020-gop-field-2016-candidates-exlarge-169Mike Huckabee made believers out of members of a focus group watching Thursday’s Republican presidential debate.

“Huckabee surprised me,” said one woman in the 23-member group. “He was very articulate, very relatable. He made some very good points.”

Republican pollster Frank Luntz conducted the focus group, whose comments were aired Thursday night in a live post-debate “Kelly File.” When he asked the group to name the candidate who most surprised them, Huckabee’s was the first name mentioned.

“He brought a certain level of past history with him, a certain level of standing when he said ‘Reagan said trust but verify. Obama is trust but vilify,’” said one man in the group. In response to the praise for Huckabee, Luntz asked for a show of hands in support of Huckabee’s performance. Eighteen arms shot into the air.

The focus group’s embrace of Huckabee’s performance contracted with negative assessments of Donald Trump’s debate showing. Fourteen members of the group expressed a positive pre-debate opinion of Trump. Only three held that opinion afterwards.

“He sucked the wind right out of the room,” complained one member of the group. “All he did all night was point at himself and have no solutions for anything.”

“I liked him when I came in here because he wasn’t a politician,” said one man in the group. “But right now, he skirted around questions better than a lifelong politician ever had.”

(Read more from “Watch: One Surprising Candidate Stood out in Fox News’ Focus Group in a BIG Way” HERE)

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Colorado Movie Gunman Gets Life Sentence, Jurors Not Unanimous

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downloadA Colorado jury sentenced movie rampage gunman James Holmes to life in prison on Friday, rejecting the death penalty for the 27-year-old who entered a midnight showing of a Batman movie wearing a gas mask, helmet and body armor and shot dead a dozen people.

Last month, the panel of nine women and three men found the former neuroscience graduate student guilty on all counts related to the July 2012 massacre. They were not unanimous, however, on the death penalty, which means Holmes receives an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole.

After warning members of the public in the gallery against making any emotional outbursts, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour began reading the verdict forms.

On each count, he read, the panel had been unable to agree that Holmes should be executed by lethal injection, and that they understood that as a result, the court will impose a sentence of life imprisonment . . .

The verdict brings to an end a long-delayed, lengthy, and high-profile trial just a little more than three years after Holmes’ rampage in a suburban Denver multiplex put a spotlight on gun control, mental illness and security in public spaces. (Read more from “Colorado Movie Gunman Gets Life Sentence, Jurors Not Unanimous” HERE)

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