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cbabe
cbabe's Journal
cbabe's Journal
June 23, 2026
California drivers sue gas stations for allegedly using AI to inflate prices
Firms including BP and 7-Eleven accused of coordinating prices to ‘wring more money from pockets of consumers’
Reuters
Mon 22 Jun 2026 17.39 EDT
Gas station operators including BP, Circle K, Marathon, 7-Eleven, Walmart and Albertsons were sued on Monday by California drivers who accused them of using artificial intelligence to boost prices at the pump.
According to a proposed class action, the defendants violated California’s main antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, by using an AI-based tool that uses data from competing gas stations to “coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers”.
The lawsuit in the Sacramento federal court said the scheme violated assembly bill 325, a California law that took effect on 1 January and was intended to crack down on algorithmic price fixing.
Drivers said gas prices have risen as much as 30 cents a gallon in areas where high percentages of stations use the AI tool, which comes from a company called Kalibrate. Each penny costs California drivers an extra $134m per year, boosting gasoline prices to “astronomical” levels sometimes reaching $7 a gallon, the complaint said.
… more …
California drivers sue gas stations for allegedly using AI to inflate prices
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/22/california-gas-stations-ai-prices-lawsuitCalifornia drivers sue gas stations for allegedly using AI to inflate prices
Firms including BP and 7-Eleven accused of coordinating prices to ‘wring more money from pockets of consumers’
Reuters
Mon 22 Jun 2026 17.39 EDT
Gas station operators including BP, Circle K, Marathon, 7-Eleven, Walmart and Albertsons were sued on Monday by California drivers who accused them of using artificial intelligence to boost prices at the pump.
According to a proposed class action, the defendants violated California’s main antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, by using an AI-based tool that uses data from competing gas stations to “coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers”.
The lawsuit in the Sacramento federal court said the scheme violated assembly bill 325, a California law that took effect on 1 January and was intended to crack down on algorithmic price fixing.
Drivers said gas prices have risen as much as 30 cents a gallon in areas where high percentages of stations use the AI tool, which comes from a company called Kalibrate. Each penny costs California drivers an extra $134m per year, boosting gasoline prices to “astronomical” levels sometimes reaching $7 a gallon, the complaint said.
… more …
June 23, 2026
United Auto Workers Vote to Divest From Israel in Historic Victory
The divestment vote makes the UAW the first major national union to vote to divest from Israel.
By Shireen Akram-Boshar , TRUTHOUT
Published June 22, 2026
The United Auto Workers (UAW), a union with some 400,000 active members across the U.S., has voted to divest its estimated $400,000 from Israel bonds. The divestment vote makes the UAW the first major national union to vote to divest from Israel.
On Thursday, UAW members voted at the union’s 39th Constitutional Convention in Detroit, where some 1,000 delegates from UAW locals around the country had gathered to discuss the union’s strategy for the next four years.
UAW represents some 400,000 active members, largely in the U.S. but also in Canada and Puerto Rico. Members include workers in the auto industry and in higher education, as well as a significant number of health care workers and state and government workers.
The resolution states that the “billionaire class” that “profits from war” funnels public money into militarism instead of “healthcare, housing and education working people need.” It cites the nearly three-year-long genocide in Gaza and the call by the Palestinian trade union movement for workers internationally to act in solidarity as among the reasons for its resolution to divest from Israel Bonds – which are bonds issued directly by Israel and function as loans to the Israeli government.
… More …
United Auto Workers Vote to Divest From Israel in Historic Victory
https://truthout.org/articles/united-auto-workers-vote-to-divest-from-israel-in-historic-victory/United Auto Workers Vote to Divest From Israel in Historic Victory
The divestment vote makes the UAW the first major national union to vote to divest from Israel.
By Shireen Akram-Boshar , TRUTHOUT
Published June 22, 2026
The United Auto Workers (UAW), a union with some 400,000 active members across the U.S., has voted to divest its estimated $400,000 from Israel bonds. The divestment vote makes the UAW the first major national union to vote to divest from Israel.
On Thursday, UAW members voted at the union’s 39th Constitutional Convention in Detroit, where some 1,000 delegates from UAW locals around the country had gathered to discuss the union’s strategy for the next four years.
UAW represents some 400,000 active members, largely in the U.S. but also in Canada and Puerto Rico. Members include workers in the auto industry and in higher education, as well as a significant number of health care workers and state and government workers.
The resolution states that the “billionaire class” that “profits from war” funnels public money into militarism instead of “healthcare, housing and education working people need.” It cites the nearly three-year-long genocide in Gaza and the call by the Palestinian trade union movement for workers internationally to act in solidarity as among the reasons for its resolution to divest from Israel Bonds – which are bonds issued directly by Israel and function as loans to the Israeli government.
… More …
June 23, 2026
Chilean Judge Convicts US-Trained Pinochet Agents for 1976 Murder of Ronni Moffitt
The 25-year-old American, her newlywed husband, and former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier were driving to work at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC when their car was bombed.
BRETT WILKINS
Jun 23, 2026
Institute for Policy Studies on Monday welcomed a judge’s homicide convictions and prison sentences for three agents of former US-backed Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet who murdered Ronni Karpen Moffitt, one of the progressive think tank’s employees, during a 1976 car bombing targeting her colleague, the exiled leftist diplomat Orlando Letelier.
…
The secret, US-backed effort, which ran from 1975-83, saw right-wing military dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador collaborate on an international campaign of terror in which an estimated 60,000 leftists were killed, while tens of thousands of others were arrested and tortured.
Letelier was targeted because he was once a Chilean foreign minister under former socialist President Salvador Allende, who had become a prominent critic of the Pinochet dictatorship while living in exile after the US-backed 1973 coup that overthrew his democratically elected reformist government and brought Pinochet to power.
… more …
(The arc of justice …)
Chilean Judge Convicts US-Trained Pinochet Agents for 1976 Murder of Ronni Moffitt
https://www.commondreams.org/news/chilean-judge-convicts-us-trained-pinochet-agents-for-1976-murder-of-ronni-moffittChilean Judge Convicts US-Trained Pinochet Agents for 1976 Murder of Ronni Moffitt
The 25-year-old American, her newlywed husband, and former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier were driving to work at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC when their car was bombed.
BRETT WILKINS
Jun 23, 2026
Institute for Policy Studies on Monday welcomed a judge’s homicide convictions and prison sentences for three agents of former US-backed Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet who murdered Ronni Karpen Moffitt, one of the progressive think tank’s employees, during a 1976 car bombing targeting her colleague, the exiled leftist diplomat Orlando Letelier.
…
The secret, US-backed effort, which ran from 1975-83, saw right-wing military dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador collaborate on an international campaign of terror in which an estimated 60,000 leftists were killed, while tens of thousands of others were arrested and tortured.
Letelier was targeted because he was once a Chilean foreign minister under former socialist President Salvador Allende, who had become a prominent critic of the Pinochet dictatorship while living in exile after the US-backed 1973 coup that overthrew his democratically elected reformist government and brought Pinochet to power.
… more …
(The arc of justice …)
June 22, 2026
Frogs coordinate 'Dance of Solidarity' at Portland ICE facility
Speaking of green pool amphifa swamping. Send in the frogs.
https://m.&ra=mFrogs coordinate 'Dance of Solidarity' at Portland ICE facility
June 22, 2026
An inside look at President Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland
NPR | By Dave Davies
Published June 17, 2026 at 11:50 AM CDT
Audio at link
…
So they arrived in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and were greeted by a solitary Trump supporter, a Greenlander named Jorgen Boassen, who led them down to the harbor and over to Nuuk's most expensive hotel, where they hosted a number of locals for a very expensive lunch. And it was only after they left that local journalists in Nuuk working for the Greenlandic publications found that, in fact, among those supporters were a number of homeless people who had been recruited with the promise of a free meal. And the portrayal in sort of both Charlie Kirk's words and those of Don Jr. was that actually, this was evidence of a profound support building for an America takeover, effectively - framed as these people would like to join the United States.
… more .. Weird juicy details …
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/22/inside-the-ludicrous-deadly-serious-plan-to-take-over-greenland
Inside the Ludicrous, Deadly Serious Plan to Take Over Greenland
“We want Greenland,” Trump said. Four men sprang into action to make fantasy a reality.
By Ben Taub
June 15, 2026
Subscription only
An inside look at President Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland
https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/npr-news/2026-06-17/an-inside-look-at-president-trumps-campaign-to-acquire-greenlandAn inside look at President Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland
NPR | By Dave Davies
Published June 17, 2026 at 11:50 AM CDT
Audio at link
…
So they arrived in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and were greeted by a solitary Trump supporter, a Greenlander named Jorgen Boassen, who led them down to the harbor and over to Nuuk's most expensive hotel, where they hosted a number of locals for a very expensive lunch. And it was only after they left that local journalists in Nuuk working for the Greenlandic publications found that, in fact, among those supporters were a number of homeless people who had been recruited with the promise of a free meal. And the portrayal in sort of both Charlie Kirk's words and those of Don Jr. was that actually, this was evidence of a profound support building for an America takeover, effectively - framed as these people would like to join the United States.
… more .. Weird juicy details …
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/22/inside-the-ludicrous-deadly-serious-plan-to-take-over-greenland
Inside the Ludicrous, Deadly Serious Plan to Take Over Greenland
“We want Greenland,” Trump said. Four men sprang into action to make fantasy a reality.
By Ben Taub
June 15, 2026
Subscription only
June 21, 2026
Report: Seattle using AI to route certain 911 calls — without caller knowledge or public review
Story by Kurt Schlosser
Full story at Seattle Times
June 21, 2026
The Seattle Fire Department has been quietly using artificial intelligence to help triage and divert 911 medical calls for more than two years — without telling the public — The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
Denmark-based Corti‘s AI has been listening to all Seattle 911 medical calls and prompting dispatchers to route certain patients to a nurse-staffed Texas call center rather than send an ambulance, the Times found. The system has operated without public disclosure or formal review.
SFD started using the live AI prompts in December 2023, and the department’s medical director credited the technology with driving an increase in calls routed to the nurse line — though the exact figure was disputed. The system was never assessed under Seattle’s surveillance ordinance, which requires review of technologies that observe individuals in ways likely to raise social justice concerns.
The nurse line has drawn scrutiny after a 2022 case in which a retiree waited more than 10 hours for an ambulance and was later found dead in her apartment; her estate is now suing.
… more … The practice is spreading across Washington state, with Snohomish and Kitsap counties recently deploying AI agents on non-emergency lines and the Tri-Cities area …
(So does the nurse in Texas follow Texas law or Washington law? In regards to women’s health, trans rights, etc.?)
(Not to mention privacy concerns, data mining, hippa, etc.)
(Someone sold this to the city. Who and for how much? Follow the money as always.)
(Calling Du lawyers and techies on this. Thanks.)
Report: Seattle using AI to route certain 911 calls -- without caller knowledge or public review
https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/artificial-intelligence/report-seattle-using-ai-to-route-certain-911-calls-without-caller-knowledge-or-public-review/ar-AA25HfJ6Report: Seattle using AI to route certain 911 calls — without caller knowledge or public review
Story by Kurt Schlosser
Full story at Seattle Times
June 21, 2026
The Seattle Fire Department has been quietly using artificial intelligence to help triage and divert 911 medical calls for more than two years — without telling the public — The Seattle Times reported Sunday.
Denmark-based Corti‘s AI has been listening to all Seattle 911 medical calls and prompting dispatchers to route certain patients to a nurse-staffed Texas call center rather than send an ambulance, the Times found. The system has operated without public disclosure or formal review.
SFD started using the live AI prompts in December 2023, and the department’s medical director credited the technology with driving an increase in calls routed to the nurse line — though the exact figure was disputed. The system was never assessed under Seattle’s surveillance ordinance, which requires review of technologies that observe individuals in ways likely to raise social justice concerns.
The nurse line has drawn scrutiny after a 2022 case in which a retiree waited more than 10 hours for an ambulance and was later found dead in her apartment; her estate is now suing.
… more … The practice is spreading across Washington state, with Snohomish and Kitsap counties recently deploying AI agents on non-emergency lines and the Tri-Cities area …
(So does the nurse in Texas follow Texas law or Washington law? In regards to women’s health, trans rights, etc.?)
(Not to mention privacy concerns, data mining, hippa, etc.)
(Someone sold this to the city. Who and for how much? Follow the money as always.)
(Calling Du lawyers and techies on this. Thanks.)
June 21, 2026
Journalist reports on harm to ducks from reflecting pool
Story by David McAfee
Raw story
A journalist went down to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see Donald Trump's renovation up close, and the most damning review came from the wildlife. The reflecting pool is "worse than you think" it is, ex-lawyer Aaron Parnas says in a video posted this weekend that drew nearly 40,000 views. "The ducks won't swim in it at all."
….
The footage also shows what taxpayers are now funding to undo the damage. National Park Service crews in protective gear work the edges with aeration pumps and vacuums, scooping algae out of a basin that turned within days of being refilled. Parnas notes that ducklings perched on the side of the pool won't even get in the water.
… more …
Journalist reports on harm to ducks from reflecting pool
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/journalist-reports-on-harm-to-ducks-from-reflecting-pool/ar-AA269AJsJournalist reports on harm to ducks from reflecting pool
Story by David McAfee
Raw story
A journalist went down to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see Donald Trump's renovation up close, and the most damning review came from the wildlife. The reflecting pool is "worse than you think" it is, ex-lawyer Aaron Parnas says in a video posted this weekend that drew nearly 40,000 views. "The ducks won't swim in it at all."
….
The footage also shows what taxpayers are now funding to undo the damage. National Park Service crews in protective gear work the edges with aeration pumps and vacuums, scooping algae out of a basin that turned within days of being refilled. Parnas notes that ducklings perched on the side of the pool won't even get in the water.
… more …
June 20, 2026
Trump loyalist Jim Jordan linked to group that received ‘dark money’ from ICE detention contractor
Report finds close ties between the Trump administration and Geo Group, which profits from anti-immigration crackdown
Stephen Starr in Dayton, Ohio
Sat 20 Jun 2026 11.00 EDT
…
The report found that the American Liberty Foundation, a political action committee (Pac) tied to Jordan, last year received $250,000 in “dark money” payments from Geo Group, the Florida-headquartered company that runs dozens of detention centers on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country.
The money transfer came 11 days after the passing of the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last July, which saw the federal government’s budget for ICE and other immigration enforcement efforts trebled to $170bn – an amount greater than the GDP of Morocco.
“A company and or a company’s political action committee is permitted to contribute funds to a Super Pac, but a federal contractor [such as Geo Group] is not,” says Nick Schwellenbach, the author of the Pogo Investigates report.
“Geo Group’s Pachad not disclosed this. Only American Liberty Foundation had. Both have legal obligations to disclose. This raises a lot of questions about the broader universe of dark money contributions from Geo Group or other private prison companies.”
… more …
Trump loyalist Jim Jordan linked to group that received 'dark money' from ICE detention contractor
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/20/jim-jordan-super-pac-ice-donationTrump loyalist Jim Jordan linked to group that received ‘dark money’ from ICE detention contractor
Report finds close ties between the Trump administration and Geo Group, which profits from anti-immigration crackdown
Stephen Starr in Dayton, Ohio
Sat 20 Jun 2026 11.00 EDT
…
The report found that the American Liberty Foundation, a political action committee (Pac) tied to Jordan, last year received $250,000 in “dark money” payments from Geo Group, the Florida-headquartered company that runs dozens of detention centers on behalf of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country.
The money transfer came 11 days after the passing of the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last July, which saw the federal government’s budget for ICE and other immigration enforcement efforts trebled to $170bn – an amount greater than the GDP of Morocco.
“A company and or a company’s political action committee is permitted to contribute funds to a Super Pac, but a federal contractor [such as Geo Group] is not,” says Nick Schwellenbach, the author of the Pogo Investigates report.
“Geo Group’s Pachad not disclosed this. Only American Liberty Foundation had. Both have legal obligations to disclose. This raises a lot of questions about the broader universe of dark money contributions from Geo Group or other private prison companies.”
… more …
June 20, 2026
Video: Meet Osito, the rescue dog that has been stealing hearts at World Cup
Meet Osito, the rescue dog that has been stealing hearts at World Cup
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/meet-osito-the-rescue-dog-that-has-been-stealing-hearts-at-world-cup/vi-AA265AgI
June 20, 2026
Trump critic says FBI visited him over critical comments – on Reflecting Pool restoration
Alexander Willis
June 20, 2026 9:49AM ET
Political strategist and commentator Keith Edwards claimed Friday that he was paid a visit by the FBI over comments he made online – more specifically, comments about President Donald Trump’s botched $14 million restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued with algae and peeling paint just days after completion.
…
“The FBI just showed up at my door because I tweeted about people picking up paint debris and sending it to me,” Edwards wrote Friday evening. “I asked them where's Savannah Guthrie's mom.”
… more …
(It’s later than you think.)
Trump critic says FBI visited him over critical comments - on Reflecting Pool restoration
https://www.rawstory.com/reflecting-pool-2677068612/Trump critic says FBI visited him over critical comments – on Reflecting Pool restoration
Alexander Willis
June 20, 2026 9:49AM ET
Political strategist and commentator Keith Edwards claimed Friday that he was paid a visit by the FBI over comments he made online – more specifically, comments about President Donald Trump’s botched $14 million restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued with algae and peeling paint just days after completion.
…
“The FBI just showed up at my door because I tweeted about people picking up paint debris and sending it to me,” Edwards wrote Friday evening. “I asked them where's Savannah Guthrie's mom.”
… more …
(It’s later than you think.)
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Member since: Wed Jun 2, 2021, 01:24 PMNumber of posts: 6,986