Dear Commons Community,

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the horror of 9/11, and the attacks at the New York World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.   There will be memorials across the country at firehouses, city halls and elsewhere to observe the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil. The impact of 9/11 was felt in every corner of the nation, however remote. The hijacked plane attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives and reshaped American foreign policy and domestic fears.

On that day, “we were one country, one nation, one people, just like it should be. That was the feeling — that everyone came together and did what we could, where we were at, to try to help,” said Eddie Ferguson, the fire-rescue chief in Virginia’s Goochland County.

It’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the Pentagon and more than three times as far from New York. But a sense of connection is enshrined in a local memorial incorporating steel from the World Trade Center’s destroyed twin towers.

The predominantly rural county of 25,000 people holds not just one but two anniversary commemorations: a morning service focused on first responders and an evening ceremony honoring all the victims.

Other communities across the country pay tribute with moments of silence, tolling bells, candlelight vigils and other activities. In Columbus, Indiana, 911 dispatchers broadcast a remembrance message to police, fire and EMS radios throughout the 50,000-person city, which also holds a public memorial ceremony.

Here in New York City, Vice President Kamala Harris will join a  ceremony on the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum plaza. The event will not feature remarks from political figures, instead giving the podium to victims’ relatives for an hours long reading of the names of the dead.

James Giaccone signed up to read again this year in memory of his brother, Joseph Giaccone, 43. The family attends the ceremony every year to hear Joseph’s name.

“If their name is spoken out loud, they don’t disappear,” James Giaccone said in a recent interview.

The commemoration is crucial to him.

“I hope I never see the day when they minimize this,” he said. “It’s a day that changed history.”

We can never forget!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In a time when AI is being used in everything from sneakers to music and movies, it’s sort of interesting, perhaps even surprising, to see it tackle some of the less-glamorous tasks, such as cleaning toilets.

From New York’s backstreets comes Somatic’s autonomous toilet-cleaning robot, revealing that, yes, robots, too, can roll up their metaphorical sleeves for the less-coveted gigs.

Cleaning bathrooms is a tough job, but who doesn’t appreciate a sparkling restroom? As reported  by Fox News.

For $1,000 a month, the Somatic robot will be your loyal janitor. This little bot works a full 40 hours a week, and after doing its thing, it chills in a closet until it’s time to clean again.

With agility, it navigates between floors, manages doors and meticulously cleans with high-powered disinfectants, ensuring that every corner shines. It’s like an evolved Roomba for your bathroom.

The intriguing part isn’t just the fact that it tirelessly cleans bathrooms, but also its initial setup. The robot is equipped with sensors that pave the way to maneuver spaces, mapping the building’s intricacies through video and 3D depth data.

At the company’s headquarters, operators don the role of a virtual janitor in what’s dubbed “the world’s most uninspiring video game,” detailing the robot’s cleaning trajectory.

Think of setting your “space” when wearing VR goggles. Since most restrooms generally have a similar layout, the set-up is a one-time intensive process where the bot is essentially trained to do its job. Then it retreats to recharge or refill its cleaning arsenal.

Somatic’s brainchild isn’t out to replace the janitorial workforce. Instead, it focuses on regular sanitation tasks. What happens when the robot encounters a mess so big that it’s beyond its skillset? The robot smartly sends photographic evidence to the human janitors and continues its cleaning journey elsewhere.

The company sees this as a great option for airports, casinos, office spaces and more. This robotic janitor is already in action with the hope that, one day, a mini version will be available to consumers.

The AI janitor robot focuses on regular sanitation tasks.

While Somatic’s autonomous toilet-cleaning robot may seem like a convenient and cost-effective solution, it also raises ethical and social concerns and the impact of AI on human labor and dignity.

How will human janitors feel about working alongside machines that can perform their tasks more quickly and cheaply? Will they be able to retain their sense of pride and purpose in their work?

This janitorial robot may be unable to handle all the complexities and nuances of restroom maintenance. For instance, how will it deal with vandalism, graffiti or broken fixtures? How will it communicate with the people using the restroom and respect their privacy and comfort?

The janitor robot raises ethical and social concerns about the impact of AI on human labor and dignity.

AI has had a diverse journey, to say the least, from passing the bar exam to impacting various creative roles in Hollywood. This trajectory demonstrates the multifaceted capabilities of AI, from the complex to the seemingly mundane, like our dedicated toilet bot. What stands out is AI’s untapped ability to serve diverse needs across different areas of life.

AI will be every place!

Tony

Gavin Newsom and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Dear Commons Community,

This is the Kumamoto school robot prototype.

Dear Commons Community,

Kumamoto, a city in Southwest Japan, plans to install robots in its classrooms to help home-based and absent pupils feel more included and less anxious.

The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported that the initiative was due to involve two meter-high robots, which would be fitted with microphones and a camera to allow for two-way communication. This would allow students to learn from home while still contributing to class discussions.

The robots are self-propelling, meaning they can move freely around the schools and even participate in school events, per the report.

Japan has been experiencing a rise in the number of truant schoolchildren, a trend potentially accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the country’s truancy rates soared to record levels, The Asahi Shimbun outlet reported, citing an education ministry survey.

“Aside from letting them view the classes, the robots allow students to move freely in space and communicate with others at their own will,” an education board official told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. “Hopefully, this can help lower the mental hurdles for truant students.”

This is an idea that is worth a try

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times columnist, Charles, Blow, had a piece yesterday entitled, “Dignified Silence Doesn’t Work Against Trump” that focuses on Trump’s Republican rivals and Joe Biden for not calling out the disgraceful behavior of the former president. Here is an excerpt.

“Trump is increasing his already overwhelming lead for the Republican nomination, and is tied with President Biden in a hypothetical general election face-off, according to recent polling.

This is astonishing given Trump’s quagmire of legal trouble, but it is the logical result of a candidate running without forceful, widespread opposition and condemnation. His opponents, for varying reasons, have taken the strategic position of ignoring his predicament, fingers and toes crossed that he will succumb to self-injury.

They’re wishing on an avalanche of “ifs.” But there’s no wishing in this kind of battle, no victory without confrontation.

This reluctance to take on Trump has allowed him and his surrogates to develop a narrative of victimhood and justified vengeance while allowing the image of timidity and weakness to harden around his opponents like plaster.

And with this failure to engage, this campaign of cowardice, Republican voters, already primed by Trump to disbelieve facts and believe conspiracy theories, are robbed of any debate that could help modulate their views.

Those voters exist in a void of veracity, and Trump fills it with his version of truth: anti-truth.

But not only are most of Trump’s Republican rivals avoiding attacking him over his various indictments, so is his Democratic one.

Joe Biden refuses to comment on them. He and his campaign have chosen to keep their distance from the chaos and not feed into Trump’s false assertion that his legal woes originate from political animus.

This idea of a dignified silence has a long political history, but its utility and efficacy is unclear in a modern context. It feels a bit like a “Happy Days” nostalgia in a “Walking Dead” reality.

And yet the Biden campaign plows ahead with it. Just last week, the Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond reiterated the strategy: “We’re not going to focus on Donald Trump’s legal problems.”

But Trump’s legal problems aren’t about parking tickets or child support payments; they’re about an ongoing assault on our democracy, and it is hard to square having the candidate who is campaigning on protecting our democracy not address the great threat to that democracy.

And that threat isn’t simply about what has happened, but what could yet happen.”

Blow’s conclusion:

Most of Trump’s opponents, both Republican and Democratic, are placing a risky bet, one that completely depends on the discernment of the American voter. That may, in the end, prove to be a brilliant tactical assessment, but I worry that it’s just as likely to be a tragic miscalculation.”

Blow is so right!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington(CREW) yesterday filed a lawsuit to bar former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.”

The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. The complaint was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by CREW.

It will jolt an already unsettled 2024 primary campaign that features the leading Republican candidate facing four separate criminal cases. As reported b y the Associate Press.

Progressive groups have demanded that states’ top election officials bar Trump under the clause that prohibits those who “engaged in an insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding higher office. None has taken that step, looking for guidance from the courts on how to interpret a clause that has only been used a handful of times since the 1860s.

While a few fringe figures have filed thinly written lawsuits in a few states citing the clause, the litigation yesterday was the first by an organization with significant legal resources. It may lead to similar challenges in other states, holding out the potential for conflicting rulings that would require the Supreme Court to settle.

Colorado’s secretary of state, Democrat Jena Griswold, said in a statement that she hoped “this case will provide guidance to election officials on Trump’s eligibility as a candidate for office.”

The lawsuit contends the case is clear, given the attempt by then-President Trump to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his support for the assault of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Republican has said he did nothing wrong in his actions.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, helped ensure civil rights for freed slaves — and eventually for all people in the United States. But it also was used to prevent former Confederate officials from becoming members of Congress after the Civil War and taking over the government against which they had just rebelled.

The clause cited in the lawsuit allows Congress to lift the ban, which it did in 1872 as the political will to continue to bar former Confederates dwindled. The provision was almost never used after that.

CREW and law professors of both parties contend the amendment is clear and is a qualification for president, just as the Constitution’s mandate that a candidate for the White House must be at least 35 years old and a natural born citizen.

But others note there is much unsettled about the provision and that a case involving this issue has not reached the justices in Washington.

The clause cites a wide range of offices “under the United States” and states that the provision applies to, including “presidential electors” — but not the presidency itself. There is a debate among some experts about whether Trump’s acts constitute an “insurrection” under the language of the amendment.

In its complaint, CREW asked the court to expedite the matter so it can be resolved before the state’s primary ballot is set on Jan. 5, 2024. “We understand that there’s great interest in states across this country about this question, and it needs to be resolved expeditiously so there’s clarity,” said Donald Sherman, CREW’s chief counsel, told reporters in a teleconference.

A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.

Georgia’s secretary of state, writing in The Wall Street Journal, warned that using the 14th Amendment in this way could take the country down a dark path.

“For a secretary of state to remove a candidate would only reinforce the grievances of those who see the system as rigged and corrupt,” said Republican Brad Raffensperger, who drew Trump’s ire when he refused to declare Trump as the winner of Georgia in 2020. “Denying voters the opportunity to choose is fundamentally un-American.”

The 14th Amendment was used last year to bar from office a New Mexico county commissioner who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. That was the first time it was used in 100 years. In 1919, Congress refused to seat a socialist, contending he gave aid and comfort to the country’s enemies during World War I.

Another liberal group, Free Speech For People, unsuccessfully tried to use the provision to prevent Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina from running for reelection last year.

The judge overseeing Greene’s case ruled in her favor. Cawthorn’s case became moot after he was defeated in his primary.

CREW said it expects to file more cases in other states and anticipates that different groups may do so as well. It picked Colorado, its leaders said, because the state allows ballot challenges to go directly to court and it assembled a prominent roster of plaintiffs, including a former Republican leader of both houses of the legislature and a conservative columnist for the Denver Post.

This case is on thin ice and likely will fail somewhere in the judicial system unless Trump is actually convicted of inciting an insurrection.

Tony

Trump Loses Again!

Dear Commons Community,

Four months after a civil trial jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge ruled yesterday that still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means that an upcoming second trial will concern only how much more he has to pay her.

The ruling stands to streamline significantly the second trial, set for January. It concerns remarks that Trump made in 2019, after Carroll first publicly claimed that he sexually attacked her in a dressing room after a chance meeting at a luxury department store in 1996. He denies that anything happened between them.

The first trial, this spring, concerned the sexual assault allegation and whether some 2022 Trump comments were defamatory. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million, finding that she was sexually abused but rejecting her allegation that she was raped.

“The jury considered and decided issues that are common to both cases — including whether Mr. Trump falsely accused Ms. Carroll of fabricating her sexual assault charge and, if that were so, that he did it with knowledge that this accusation was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in yesterday’s decision.

And when the jury found that Trump indeed sexually abused Carroll, it effectively established that his 2019 statements also were false and defamatory, the judge said.

Carroll and her attorneys “look forward to trial limited to damages for the original defamatory statements Donald Trump made,” said her lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who’s not related to the judge.

E. Jean Carroll walks out of Manhattan federal court where a judge ruled that still more of the Trump’s comments about her were libelous. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Trump lawyer Alina Habba said yesterday that his legal team is confident that the jury verdict will be overturned, mooting the judge’s new decision. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also is seeking to put the second trial on hold while waiting for an appeals court to rule on whether he’s legally shielded from the yet-to-be-tried case. He claims immunity because he was president when he made the 2019 comments.

At least for now, the trial is set to start Jan. 15, the day of the Iowa Republican caucuses.

The Carroll case is part of a lineup of legal woes that Trump is facing as he campaigns to return to the White House.

Four criminal indictments accuse Trump, variously, of trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden; mishandling top secret documents and trying to conceal what he’d done; and falsifying records in his business to cover up a hush money payment made during his 2016 campaign to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She asserts that they had a sexual encounter, which he denies.

Some of Trump’s criminal trials are scheduled to overlap with the presidential primary season. So is a civil trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing Trump and his company of defrauding banks, insurers and others by inflating asset values and his net worth. Trump has denied the allegations, boasted that he has “the hottest brand in the world,” and accused the Democratic attorney general of conducting a political vendetta.

Carroll initially sued Trump in 2019, saying he smeared her by saying she’d made a false allegation while “trying to sell a new book” and suggesting she might be a Democratic operative.

“The world should know what’s really going on. It is a disgrace, and people should pay dearly for such false accusations,” Trump said. He maintained that he’d never met Carroll, brushing off a 1987 photo of the two and their then-spouses at a social event.

While that case was playing out, Carroll sued again last year under a New York state law that waived a legal time limit for filing sexual assault allegations. That lawsuit — the one that went to trial last year — came to include claims that Trump defamed Carroll in 2022 by calling the case “a complete con job” and a “scam.” The suit over the 2019 statements remained separate.

Trump, meanwhile, countered with a defamation suit against Carroll for saying, after the verdict, that she was not only sexually abused but raped. The judge dismissed Trump’s suit last month.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

As reported by NBC News and other media.

A part of the Great Wall in northern China has been severely damaged (see video above) by a pair of construction workers using an excavator, local authorities said.

The two suspects, a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, were detained, according to the police department at Youyu County in the northern province of Shanxi. They had widened an existing cavity in the wall, digging a “large gap” to allow their excavator through as a shortcut for work nearby, police said in a statement Thursday.

The police said that they had caused “irreversible damage” to the integrity and safety of the cultural relic.  As reported b y NBC News.

Authorities received a report about the alleged damage on Aug. 24 and the case was still under investigation, police said.

The damaged section of the Great Wall, a provincial cultural relic site, belongs to the 32nd Great Wall established in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

It had been one of the existing complete border walls and beacon towers with important protection and research value, according to the county police department.

Officers detained a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman. (Youyu County Police

The Great Wall has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987. It was built starting in 220 BC when China had its first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, and rebuilt at various periods, according to UNESCO.

The wall seen by most tourists was built in the Ming Dynasty, also known as the Ming Great Wall.

But in recent years, some parts of the wall have been demolished. About 30% of the Ming Great Wall has disappeared, according to the state-run Beijing Times in 2016.

This has led to the Chinese government stepping up efforts to preserve and protect the ancient structure.

In April 2020, the Badaling Great Wall tourism site near the capital city, Beijing, introduced new regulations that would allow the site to blacklist tourists without “disciplinary behaviors” and give them administrative penalties.

In May 2021, two foreign tourists were banned from the Great Wall after ignoring the “no crossing sign” and climbing onto an undeveloped section.

In August, a tourist was detained and fined for carving on the wall with a hairpin.

I had the pleasure of climbing the Badaling Great Wall in 2001.  It is a wonder to behold and to experience. 

Tony