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Drones equipped with facial recognition are coming, whether the world is ready for them or not. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Some of the first drones with advanced facial recognition capabilities are being developed by Israeli surveillance companies, as American police consider whether they will soon be adding the controversial technology to their unmanned flying machines.

As a sign of the imminent arrival of biometric identification from the air, an Israeli startup, one previously-funded by Microsoft, has patented technologies for drone-based facial recognition. A patent application, published earlier this month, was filed by Tel Aviv-based AnyVision back in August 2019 in the U.S., detailing tech to help a drone find the best angles for a facial recognition shot, before trying to find a match for the target by referring to faces stored in a database. It was titled, Adaptive positioning of drones for enhanced facial recognition, and filed by current and former AnyVision employees, including three from Belfast, U.K.

The patent aims to iron out some of the complexities of identifying faces from a flying machine. Various obvious issues arise when trying to recognize someone from a drone: acquiring an angle at which a face can be properly captured and being able to get good-quality visuals whilst moving or hovering. Both are considerably harder than getting a match from static footage.

The AnyVision patent details how facial recognition from a drone would work.

U.S. military agencies have been trying to come up with solutions, including the Advanced Tactical Facial Recognition at a Distance Technology project at U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) Biometric Recognition and Identification at Altitude and Range initiative.

But private industry may get there first. This December, it was revealed AnyVision executives had partnered with Israeli defense supplier Rafael for a new joint venture called SightX. In demos provided to Israeli media in late 2020, SightXs small drones didnt have any facial recognition capabilities, though executives said that feature was coming soon. Its unclear if the tech is for the military only or if it will be sold to police agencies. Neither SightX nor Rafael responded to requests for comment.

What is clear is that the technology is ready for launch. AnyVision CEO Avi Golan told Forbes that whilst AnyVision didnt have any in-production drones with facial recognition, they would be a reality soon. I'm actually very glad to have a patent on that, he said, suggesting it would work well in smart cities, where drones could provide functions beyond surveillance. He pointed to delivery drones as potentially requiring facial recognition to determine whether theyve reached the correct buyer. Amazon has already patented similar tech, pointing to its potential plans for its experimental drone delivery fleet.

But, Golan added, though the tech exists, AnyVision is waiting on wider acceptance of both drones and facial recognition before any product is released. I think it's more futuristic technology, but I want to have it in the back of my pocket once its more accepted by humanity. He noted that the company doesnt currently work with U.S. law enforcement, instead choosing to work with private companies like casinos and retailers.

AnyVision has already had to fend off questions over the use of its technology. Microsoft bought a stake in the startup during a $74 million round in 2019, but last year pulled out after reports that AnyVisions tool had been used at Israel-West Bank border crossings. Golan said Microsofts main reason for exiting was its inability to exert control over AnyVision. Microsoft said much the same after an audit led by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder found it was used at the border, but discounted claims that AnyVision software had been used to surveil Palestinians across the West Bank.

As for when Americans can expect police drones with facial recognition, even if police agencies arent immediately planning to send them to the skies, theres an expectation they will arrive in one form or another. I think at some point in the future, we will likely see that, said Mike Hutchins, lieutenant and drones lead at Sacramento Police Department. We're trying to balance technology with people's right to privacy. And obviously, if you walk into a grocery store, into a retail store, into a bank, they're capturing your face as you walk in. Pretty much anywhere you go in public now your face is being captured by cameras that are clearly capable of running facial recognition software. But we don't have any plans at all to merge those two anytime in the future. Not to say that at some point, it may not happen.

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Drones With Facial Recognition Are Primed To FlyBut The World Isnt Ready Yet - Forbes

Donald Trumps second impeachment trial was an artifact of his Presidency. It was a battle of meaning against noise, against nothing-means-anything-and-everything-is-the-same nihilismand nihilism won.

Over the course of three days, the House impeachment managers meticulously lined up facts, images, and arguments. What had been a fragmented understanding of the events of January 6th became an ordered narrative. President Trump had incited a violent insurrection. For months, he had acted consistently on his belief that he deserved to be reinstalled as the President. His actions on January 6th mirrored his earlier statements, such as his praise of a militia plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, of Michigan, and his method of communicating with his supporters through sequences of provocations, promises, and praise. In his opening statement, the House impeachment manager, Jamie Raskin, promised to be brief and specific, offering a case based on cold, hard facts. Its all about the facts. Among the facts was a graphic video of the insurrection, beginning with a fragment of the Trump speech that sent the mob on its way. Later in the day, Raskin described the facts of his own familys harrowing experience inside the besieged Capitol, and then more facts. People died that day, he said. Officers ended up with head damage and brain damage. Peoples eyes were gouged. An officer had a heart attack. An officer lost three fingers that day. Two officers have taken their own lives. Senators, this cannot be our future.

Then Bruce Castor, the co-leader of Trumps defense team, opened for his side. He spoke for more than half an hour, mentioning the Federalist Papers; three of the Founding Fathers; the Bill of Rights; having worked in the Capitol building forty years ago; having visited the Capitol earlier in the week; the importance of the Senate; the fall of Rome; the inherent fragility of democracy; Benjamin Franklin; Philadelphia; independence from Great Britain; an unnamed member of Congress; the First Amendment; the absence of criminal conspiracy charges against Trump; the exceptional nature of impeachments; Bill Clinton; former Attorney General Eric Holder; Operation Fast and Furious; the late senator Everett Dirksen, of Illinois, Dirksens speeches, and the old technology of record players; the state of Nebraska, its judicial thought, and its senator Ben Sasse; all the other senators and how great they are; floodgates, whirlwinds, and the Bible; the Fourteenth Amendment; the concept of hearsay as illustrated by an apparently clairvoyant driver speaking to his wife in a hypothetical car; a supposed Senate rule that says, Hey, you cant do that (not at all clear what); the ostensible real reason for the impeachment, that is, Trumps political rivals fear of facing him in an election; some examples of one-term Presidents; the wisdom of voters; the fear that voters inspire in members of Congress; and the filibuster; then finally concluded, President Trump no longer is in office. The object of the Constitution has been achieved. He was removed by the voters. Journalists described the speech as meandering, rambling, and incoherent, and it was all that. It was also an insult to the proceedings and an assault on reason.

The defense also had their own videos, including an eleven-minute montage of Democratic politicians and othersmany of them Black womenspeaking out against Trump. The video began with a clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying, I just dont know even why there arent uprisings all over the country, and maybe there will be; transitioned to a series of fighting-words clips from a range of people, including the singer Madonna; and ended with a mashup of Democratic politicians using the word fight. One of the videos used a clip of Vice-President Kamala Harris, then a senator, speaking on Ellen DeGeneress television show, in 2018. Another juxtaposed Trumps pronouncements about law and order with footage of Black Lives Matter protests. To call these examples false equivalences would be to elevate them. A false equivalence is the act of erroneously equating two things by using flawed reasoning or incorrect information. Equating incitement to insurrection by a sitting President with passionate political rhetoric, talk-show quips, and just about everything elsewithout acknowledging an actual insurrectionis an attack on the very concept of reason and the very idea of information. These videos, like Castors bizarre opening speech, countered the clear, factual case presented by the House managers with noise. They flooded the zone.

In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt identifies a paradoxical pair of qualities that characterize the audiences of totalitarian leaders: gullibility and cynicism.

Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.

Another quality of totalitarian leaders and their followers alike is the belief that the end justifies the means; this makes it easier to accept the lie as a tactical move, even to support itand to accept the next lie, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Trumps defense team assumed that its audience was both gullible and cynical. That their audience was willing to believe, contrary to prevalent legal opinion, that Trump, as a former President, shouldnt be subject to impeachment proceedings; that he hadnt intended to incite violence; that he didnt realize that his supporters had invaded the Capitol; or simply that none of this meant anythingthat he didnt incite and yet he did, that he lost the election but won it, that Antifa members were in the building, as Trump apparently told the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, over the phone. That Trumps words were as devoid of meaning as those of his lawyers, and that impeaching the former President for just words was the beginning of a slippery slope to gratuitous impeachments and the repression of free speech. Arendt wrote that the qualities of gullibility and cynicism were present in different proportions depending on a persons place in the totalitarian movements hierarchy. A senator may be more cynical, for example, and a rank-and-file conspiracy theorist more gullible. I suspect that the proportion of gullibility to cynicism can fluctuate over time, depending on ones mood or circumstancesbecause everything is possible and nothing has meaning.

Link:
Trumps Defense Was an Insult to the Impeachment Proceedings and an Assault on Reason - The New Yorker

Am I alone or did it strike you as ironic that our State Board of Education met during Black History Month to determine how to characterize slavery and racism in social studies classes? Some charged the board was trying to rewrite history, but the truth is weve been rewriting history almost since the first settlers arrived on our Outer Banks in 1584.

History is written by the victors, Winston Churchill said. Its true. Think how the early settlings of this nation were portrayed in your history classes. I can still picture the image of pilgrims, wearing largely black costumes and funny looking hats as they mingled amongst the friendly natives, who taught them how to exist in this new land. Cant you remember the tale of how colonists sat together at table with the Indians, as they were mis-correctly called, for the first Thanksgiving feast following the fall harvest?

What we werent told was that those settlers brought with them smallpox, measles and influenza viruses that infected those indigenous people and wiped-out large percentages of them. And while we learned about warfare between the colonists and natives it wasnt explained that much of the fighting resulted from white newcomers claiming ever larger amounts of lands, building permanent settlements and villages a concept foreign to those First Peoples of America. If there was any discussion about ultimately driving them off their lands into reservations or The Trail of Tears, it didnt stick in my memory.

It shouldnt surprise us that our history with slavery and racism also wasnt accurately portrayed. My history classes back in the late fifties and early sixties talked about how North Carolina was largely settled by yeomen freemen, granted small amounts of land to eke out a better life than the one left in England. Yes, there were plantations, but not as many as in Virginia and South Carolina. We understood those large estates required labor from slaves but, in the segregated schools I attended, we didnt hear a lot about the horrid conditions, mistreatment or backbreaking work. And you can call it by any name you want but there was then, and is now, systemic racism. Look up the definition of systemic. Just as oxygen is part of the pulmonary system, racism is part of the class system in this state and nation.

It is past time we had a reckoning with history. We understand some dont want to know and some are fearful of what it says, because it might change their own story. But it is time we accurately and fairly report it, warts and all.

Our state, as well as our country, has a deep schism of racial unrest, distrust and prejudice. We cannot and will not ever heal these problems until we start by telling truth. Hopefully, reconciliation and healing can come as a result.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. said. Former Attorney General Eric Holder added, it only bends toward justice because people pull it towards justice. It doesnt happen on its own.

It is past time we pulled harder in that direction.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina Broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965. He recently retired from writing, producing and moderating the statewide half-hour TV program NC SPIN that aired 22 years. Contact him at [emailprotected]

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Tom Campbell | Re-rewriting the history of slavery - Richmond County Daily Journal

Vice President Mike Pence (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

President Trump made a bold declaration in his State of the Union address Tuesday calling on Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America.

The House chamber erupted in an ovation and among the first to stand applauding was Vice President Mike Pence.

If that doesnt seem like the response one would expect from an anti-gay bigot who supports so-called gay conversion therapy, thats because it isnt.

Despite false accusations made against him, Mike Pence is not anti-gay.

As a gay man myself and someone who not only cares deeply about these issues but advocated on behalf of the LGBT community myself for years this is not an assertion I make lightly.

INSIDE TRUMP'S PLAN TO END THE HIV EPIDEMIC AND WHAT SPARKED IT

There is absolutely nothing nothing at all in Mike Pences record to indicate he sees himself as a culture warrior who believes LGBT Americans are the enemy.

Yet false accusations that the evangelical stalwart is a virulent homophobe who went out of his way to target gay people for harassment, oppression, and even physical torture have dogged Pence for years.

The claim resurfaced last week, when lesbian actress Ellen Page appeared as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Page used a discussion of the recent alleged racist and homophobic hate crime against Empire television star Jussie Smollet to criticize the vice president.

There is absolutely nothing nothing at all in Mike Pences record to indicate he sees himself as a culture warrior who believes LGBT Americans are the enemy.

Vice President Mike Pence who, like, wishes I couldnt be married. Lets just be clear, the Gaycation star said. The vice president of America wishes I didnt have the love I have with my wife. He wanted to ban that in Indiana. He believes in conversion therapy. He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the governor of Indiana.

Page continued: If you are in a position of power and you hate people, and you want to cause suffering to them you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering.

Pages words represent a distillation of every anti-gay charge that has ever been hurled at Mike Pence and theyre all false.

At the root of the vice presidents erroneous mislabeling as an anti-gay extremist is Pences admittedly poor handling of the passage of Indianas version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015 during his term as governor of the state.

The legislation asserted that government may not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion a rather specific law with narrow applications.

Although similar legislation was passed at the federal level in 1993 after it was approved 97-3 in the U.S. Senate and signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, liberals pounced with declarations that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act would open a door to rampant discrimination.

Opponents of the law claimed it would allow any business in Indiana to refuse service to members of the LGBT community simply by citing deeply held beliefs. Of course, that wasnt the case, but the false narrative spread across the nation, sparking outrage.

Pence went on the offensive, declaring: If I saw a restaurant owner refuse to serve a gay couple, I wouldn't eat there anymore, while calling for a dtente between advocates of religious liberty and those working toward LGBT equality.

The kerfuffle concluded with just such a rapprochement. The Republican-controlled Indiana state Legislature passed and Pence signed an amended version of Religious Freedom Restoration Act that stated it could not be used to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Pence then became the first governor in Indiana history to sign protections into law based on sexual orientation and gender identity hardly the actions of an anti-LGBT crusader.

After ascending to become then-candidate Donald Trumps vice presidential pick, false accusations of homophobia against Pence arose again.

Soon slanderous memes started appearing online falsely stating that Pence wanted to use electric shock treatments to shock the gay out of people.

Speaking on MSNBC last year, liberal activist Brandon Wolf said Pence wanted to round up gay people and put them in concentration camps a ludicrous assertion that was not questioned by host Joy Reid.

The accusation is totally false with no basis in fact, Pences press secretary, Alyssa Farah, responded when questioned about the conversion therapy smear.

When asked for proof of Pences penchant for converting people from gay to straight, the best indeed the only example people provide is a 19-year-old entry in a campaign website in which Pence stated he supported reauthorizing HIV/AIDS funding only if resources were directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.

Changing ones sexual behavior is far different than changing ones sexual orientation. In fact, at the time of Pences proclamation, LGBT advocates were working to promote safer sexual behaviors themselves with condom distribution programs and public education campaigns about HIV transmission.

Pence proudly and personally conducted the swearing-in of United States Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell with a Bible held by Grenells longtime partner Matt Lashey.

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I know (Mike Pence), Grenell tweeted in response to Ellen Pages Late Show attack. Hes kind, personable, smart and a man of great faith.

Despite the continued wails of liberals intent on keeping the lie alive about his supposed homophobia, Mike Pence has acted with grace, a spirit of inclusion, and a commitment to be a vice president for all Americans.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM GREGORY T. ANGELO

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Mike Pence is NOT anti-gay Im a gay man who knows hes ...

Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceOvernight Health Care: Biden administration ups vaccine distribution to states | HHS pick to get Senate hearing next week | Average daily new coronavirus cases dip below 90K Fauci says he was nervous about catching COVID-19 in Trump White House Republican support for Trump to play role in party up 18 points from early January MORE has emerged as a key figure in former President TrumpDonald TrumpBiden: 'I'm tired of talking about Trump' Hacker claims to have stolen files from law firm tied to Trump: WSJ Texas governor faces criticism over handling of winter storm fallout MORE's Senate impeachment trial, but those close to the former vice president say he has no intention of getting involved.

Pence's name has been invoked repeatedly during the proceedings this week. The then-vice president was escorted out of the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 as pro-Trump rioters stormed the complex, andthe timeline of events has left unanswered questions about when the former president knew Pence was in danger and what, if anything, he did to intervene.

As the Senate mulls how to proceed, Pence has become something akin to what former national security adviser John BoltonJohn BoltonKey impeachment figure Pence sticks to sidelines Bolton lawyer: Trump impeachment trial is constitutional Former Rep. Will Hurd announces book deal MORE was in Trump's first impeachment trial a potentially valuable witness who would fill in gaps but one who has remained on the sidelines.

"I can't imagine him getting anywhere near this trial," one source close to the former vice president said.

The source also suggested it was unlikely Pence would incriminate Trump if he did come forward. The relationship between the two men soured in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, but Pence was unflinchingly loyal for four years before that and still has aspirations of running for president in 2024.

A spokesperson for Pence did not respond to requests for comment about whether the former vice president or members of his team would be willing to testify if called.

The vice president has been featured in Democrats' case against Trump. House managerspresented footage that showed how close Pence came to encountering rioters when he was first taken out of the Senate.

Rioters were heard chanting both "Traitor Pence" and "Hang Mike Pence" as the mayhem unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to news reports and video footage played during the House managers' presentation.

It does not appear Trump's defense team or House impeachment managers are looking to call Pence into the chamber to testify, as both sides appearready to conclude the trial as early as Saturday.

But pressure for Pence to share his accounting of the events on Jan. 6 has only grown in recent days.

"To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time," Rep.Jaime Herrera BeutlerJaime Lynn Herrera BeutlerCongressional Democrats say Trump acquittal was foregone conclusion Sunday shows - Trump acquittal in second impeachment trial reverberates Democratic senator defends decision not to call witnesses: 'They weren't going to get more Republican votes' MORE (R-Wash.), one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, said in a statement late Friday.

Some Republican senators who appear open to voting to convict Trump for inciting violence have expressed particular interest in whether Trump knew Pence was in danger when he tweeted that Pence "didn'thave the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution" by refusing to reject electors forPresident BidenJoe BidenBiden balks at K student loan forgiveness plan Biden offers to help woman in obtaining vaccine for son with preexisting condition Biden optimistic US will be in 'very different circumstance' with pandemic by Christmas MORE.

The tweet was the first Trump sent after protesters forced their way into the complex, and former government officials have voiced skepticism that Trump would not have been notified that Pence was being movedby the Secret Service.

Sen. Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyState parties seek to punish anti-Trump Republicans Philly GOP commissioner on censures: 'I would suggest they censure Republican elected officials who are lying' Cotton, Romney introduce bill pairing minimum wage increase with tighter citizenship verification MORE (R-Utah), the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump during his first impeachment trial, askedduring proceedings on Fridaywhether Trumpknew Pence was in danger when he criticized his vice president via a tweet.

"The answer is no," Trump attorneyMichaelvan der Veen said.

But that argument has been undercut bySen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a staunch Trump supporter, who has been adamant thatTrump called him as Pence was being taken out of the chamber and that he told the then-president what was happening before hanging up.

Sen. Bill CassidyBill CassidyTrump unloads on McConnell, promises MAGA primary challengers State parties seek to punish anti-Trump Republicans GOP official on Toomey: Wasn't sent to 'do the right thing or whatever he said' MORE (R-La.), who voted that the trial was constitutional and should proceed, pointed to Tuberville's statement in a question of his own Friday.

The tweet and lack of response suggests President Trump did not care that Vice President Pence was endangered or that law enforcement was overwhelmed, Cassidywrote in his question.

Pence has remained out of the spotlight since the mayhem of Jan. 6. He did not speak to Trump for days after the insurrection, but he rejected calls to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the then-president from office.

The former vice president hasnot given an interview since Jan. 6 or addressed his experience during the riots at length. He has announced he will join the Heritage Foundation and Young America's Foundation, two conservative groups where he will keep a foothold in Washington, D.C., as he mulls his political future.

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Key impeachment figure Pence sticks to sidelines | TheHill - The Hill