Daily Archives: February 15, 2022

Amir Locke and the Second Amendment – MSNBC

Posted: February 15, 2022 at 5:59 am

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DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison: "As my grandma said, 'I ain't going nowhere'"10:32

Parents organize to fight back against GOP's classroom culture war09:52

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Amir Locke and the Second Amendment07:25

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U.S. threatens 'crippling' sanctions for Russia amid fears of pending Ukraine invasion07:41

Rep. Neguse: "Public hearings are set to commence this Spring"08:46

Trumps grip on the GOP07:31

Chasten Buttigieg: Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill puts kids in danger07:39

Big-city mayors struggle to curb violent crime and illegal firearms as activists warn of return to problematic police tactics10:10

Aunt Gloria: It's wonderful to have a Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court04:12

Nina Turner announces her candidacy for Congress06:40

Female, Gifted and Black: Biden mulls a Black woman for Supreme Court Nominee09:47

Dr. MLK Jr's former speechwriter and lawyer reflects on his legacy08:39

Voting rights activists see hope in fight for access to the ballot10:13

South Dakota Gov. Noem launches ad targeting trans youth sports03:14

One-on-one with outgoing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, and lessons learned from "the yearbook incident."07:53

Jonathan Capehart explains why he's worried about democracy03:21

"Make them vote .. and forever state what side they're on," says Rev. Sharpton.05:56

Rep. Sewell: "A high sign of hypocrisy" that lawmakers who approved Voting Rights Act in 2006 won't act now04:10

Rep. Raskin: Trump allies are trying to sandbag and stonewall Jan. 6 committee as the walls close in06:03

Martin Luther King III: When people engage, progress can become reality07:32

This week, the no-knock search warrant applications that led to Amir Locke's death earlier this month were unsealed. They show that the officers asked for the use of a no-knock warrant at night for their own safety. Locke- a legal gun owner - was shot when police roused him from slumber with a gun in his hand - a point that police are using to justify his death. But it's another clear example that the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms just doesn't seem to apply to Black Americans.Feb. 13, 2022

DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison: "As my grandma said, 'I ain't going nowhere'"10:32

Parents organize to fight back against GOP's classroom culture war09:52

Now Playing

Amir Locke and the Second Amendment07:25

UP NEXT

U.S. threatens 'crippling' sanctions for Russia amid fears of pending Ukraine invasion07:41

Rep. Neguse: "Public hearings are set to commence this Spring"08:46

Trumps grip on the GOP07:31

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Amir Locke and the Second Amendment - MSNBC

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11 Examples of Defensive Gun Use Highlight Importance of Second Amendment in New Year – Heritage.org

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Just one month into 2022, it became clear that the new year hasnt brought relief from the unprecedented spikes in violent crime in many cities since the summer of 2020.

TakePhiladelphia, for example. With140 carjackings reportedthrough the first five weeks of 2022, the city is well on pace to surpasslast years total of 757carjackings.

Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, experienced morehomicides and shootings in January 2022than in January 2021doubly concerning, since 2021 was by far the most violent year in Portlands history.

These cities are far from alone.

Yet, progressive prosecutorsin many of themseem to be doingtheir best to ensurethateven the most violent criminalsreceive minimal punishment. Worse, cities such as San Jose, California, choose to lay the blame for criminal gun violenceat the feet of lawful gun owners, imposing useless insurance mandates and unconstitutional taxes.

Now more than ever, its necessary to highlight the importanceand prevalenceof armed citizens who rely on their Second Amendment rights when the government cant or wont be there to protect life, liberty, or property from violent criminals.

For this reason, The Daily Signal each month publishes an article highlighting some of the previous months many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missedor that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read other accountsherefrom 2019, 2020, and 2021.)

The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in January. You may explore more by using The Heritage Foundations interactiveDefensive Gun Use Database. (The Daily Signal is the multimedia news organization of The Heritage Foundation.)

These cases and the many others we found last month underscore the importance of the right to keep and bear arms for ordinary Americans.

The ability to defend ones life, liberty, and property from criminals is particularly important during times like these, when many law enforcement agencies are struggling to keep up with rising crime rates and many public officials refuse to meaningfully enforce the law.

As the year progresses, policymakers should strive to acknowledge and support this fundamental right, rather than undermining it with more unnecessary restrictions on lawful gun ownership.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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Technology is Revolutionizing how Intelligence is Gathered and Analyzed And Opening a Window onto Russian Military Activity Around Ukraine – Nextgov

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The U.S. has been warning for weeks about the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine, and threatening retaliation if it does. Just eight years after Russias incursion into eastern Ukraine and invasion of Crimea, Russian forces are once again mobilizing along Ukraines borders.

As the U.S. and other NATO member governments monitor Russias activities and determine appropriate policy responses, the timely intelligence they rely on no longer comes solely from multimillion-dollar spy satellites and spies on the ground.

Social media, big data, smartphones and low-cost satellites have taken center stage, and scraping Twitter has become as important as anything else in the intelligence analyst toolkit. These technologies have also allowed news organizations and armchair sleuths to follow the action and contribute analysis.

Governments still carry out sensitive intelligence-gathering operations with the help of extensive resources like the U.S. intelligence budget. But massive amounts of valuable information are publicly available, and not all of it is collected by governments. Satellites and drones are much cheaper than they were even a decade ago, allowing private companies to operate them, and nearly everyone has a smartphone with advanced photo and video capabilities.

As an intelligence and information operations scholar, I study how technology is producing massive amounts of intelligence data and helping sift out the valuable information.

Through information captured by commercial companies and individuals, the realities of Russias military posturing are accessible to anyone via internet search or news feed. Commercial imaging companies are posting up-to-the-minute, geographically precise images of Russias military forces. Several news agencies are regularly monitoring and reporting on the situation. TikTok users are posting video of Russian military equipment on rail cars allegedly on their way to augment forces already in position around Ukraine. And internet sleuths are tracking this flow of information.

This democratization of intelligence collection in most cases is a boon for intelligence professionals. Government analysts are filling the need for intelligence assessments using information sourced from across the internet instead of primarily relying on classified systems or expensive sensors high in the sky or arrayed on the planet.

However, sifting through terabytes of publicly available data for relevant information is difficult. Knowing that much of the data could be intentionally manipulated to deceive complicates the task.

Enter the practice of open-source intelligence. The U.S. director of national intelligence defines Open-Source Intelligence, or OSINT, as the collection, evaluation and analysis of publicly available information. The information sources include news reports, social media posts, YouTube videos and satellite imagery from commercial satellite operators.

OSINT communities and government agencies have developed best practices for OSINT, and there are numerous free tools. Analysts can use the tools to develop network charts of, for example, criminal organizations by scouring publicly available financial records for criminal activity.

Private investigators are using OSINT methods to support law enforcement, corporate and government needs. Armchair sleuths have used OSINT to expose corruption and criminal activity to authorities. In short, the majority of intelligence needs can be met through OSINT.

Even with OSINT best practices and tools, OSINT contributes to the information overload intelligence analysts have to contend with. The intelligence analyst is typically in a reactive mode trying to make sense of a constant stream of ambiguous raw data and information.

Machine learning, a set of techniques that allows computers to identify patterns in large amounts of data, is proving invaluable for processing OSINT information, particularly photos and videos. Computers are much faster at sifting through large datasets, so adopting machine learning tools and techniques to optimize the OSINT process is a necessity.

Identifying patterns makes it possible for computers to evaluate information for deception and credibility and predict future trends. For example, machine learning can be used to help determine whether information was produced by a human or by a bot or other computer program and whether a piece of data is authentic or fraudulent.

And while machine learning is by no means a crystal ball, it can be used if its trained with the right data and has enough current information to assess the probabilities of certain outcomes. No one is going to be able to use the combination of OSINT and machine learning to read Russian President Vladimir Putins mind, but the tools could help analysts assess how, for example, a Russian invasion of Ukraine might play out.

Technology has produced a flood of intelligence data, but technology is also making it easier to extract meaningful information from the data to help human intelligence analysts put together the big picture.

[The Conversations science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories. Weekly on Wednesdays.]

Craig Nazareth, Assistant Professor of Practice of Intelligence & Information Operations, University of Arizona

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Technology is Revolutionizing how Intelligence is Gathered and Analyzed And Opening a Window onto Russian Military Activity Around Ukraine - Nextgov

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Beto says he isn’t ‘interested’ in ‘taking’ guns ‘from anyone,’ wants to defend Second Amendment – Fox News

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Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke appeared to back off his 2019 statement that "hell yes" he intends to take guns away from citizens if elected to office.

"Im not interested in taking anything from anyone," ORourke told reporters in Tyler, Texas on Tuesday, according to KLTV. "What I want to make sure that we do is defend the Second Amendment."

FILE - Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks during a campaign event (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) (AP)

AUSTIN POLICE TURN TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO HELP WITH 311 CALL BACKLOG AFTER DEFUNDING

While running for president in 2020, ORourke famously pledged to take guns away from American citizens if elected president.

AUSTIN, TX - JUNE 08: Texas Governor Greg Abbott attends a press conference where he signed Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the Capitol on June 8, 2021. (Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

"Hell yes, were going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," the El Paso, Texas native said. "Were not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore."

TEXAS GOVERNOR RACE: ABBOTT, O'ROURKE HAUL IN BIG BUCKS

Last November, ORourke stood by that remark shortly after announcing his bid for governor telling CNNs Jake Tapper, "I still hold that view."

ORourke explained to reporters on Tuesday that his position on guns is based on his desire to "listen to law enforcement."

In this Sept. 7, 2019 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, (Associated Press)

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"I want to make sure that we protect our fellow Texans far better than were doing right now," ORourke said. "And that we listen to law enforcement, which Greg Abbott refused to do. He turned his back on them when he signed that permitless carry bill that endangers the lives of law enforcement in a state thats seen more cops and sheriffs deputies gunned down than in any other."

The Texas gubernatorial primary is scheduled to take place on March 1 where ORourke is expected to move on to the general election to face the states current Republican Gov. Greg Abbott provided he survives a primary opposition from more than half a dozen contenders, including former Texas GOP chair Allen West, a former congressman from Florida, and former state Sen. Don Huffines.

According to the US Concealed Carry Association, 21 states including Maine currently have permitless carry.

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Beto says he isn't 'interested' in 'taking' guns 'from anyone,' wants to defend Second Amendment - Fox News

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More facial recognition technology reported in non-white areas of NYC: Amnesty International – ABC News

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More CCTV cameras with face recognition capabilities were observed in New York City boroughs and neighborhoods with higher concentrations of non-white residents, according to new research by human rights group Amnesty International.

"Our analysis shows that the NYPD's use of facial recognition technology helps to reinforce discriminatory policing against minority communities in New York City," Matt Mahmoudi, an artificial intelligence and human rights researcher at Amnesty International, said in a statement to ABC News.

"The shocking reach of facial recognition technology in the city leaves entire neighborhoods exposed to mass surveillance," he added. "The NYPD must now disclose exactly how this invasive technology is used."

In a conversation about face recognition technology, New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner John Miller told ABC News that the victims of violent crime in the city are "overwhelmingly" people of color.

"They not only deserve but demand that police respond to reports of crime and apprehend those responsible," Miller said.

Amnesty International's findings are based on crowdsourced data obtained as part of the Decode Surveillance NYC project, which mapped more than 25,500 CCTV cameras across New York City. The data was gathered between April 14, 2021, and June 25, 2021.

The logo of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is placed on a surveillance camera in New York, Sept. 12, 2019.

The project's goal was to find surveillance cameras in New York City and reveal where people are most likely to be tracked by face recognition technology (FRT). Amnesty International then worked with data scientists to compare this data with statistics on stop, question and frisk policies and demographic data.

Stop-and-frisk policies allow officers to stop, question and pat down anyone believed to be suspicious.

The research found that the areas heavily populated with CCTV cameras proved to be at greater risk of stop-and-frisk practices by police. Some people have criticized this policing tactic as discriminatory. In 2019, 59% of those stopped by police as part of stop and frisk were Black and 29% were Latino, according to the New York ACLU, which cited NYPD data.

According to data gathered by the United States Census Bureau in July 2021, of those living in New York City, 24.3% were Black and 29.1% were Latino.

In a statement to ABC News, Miller said that stop and frisks "have been down over 90% for over eight years."

"Numerically, the much fewer stops that are still made are based on descriptions of people given by crime victims who are most often members of the community where the stop is made," he said.

Miller added that these kinds of stops contribute to the NYPD's current level of gun arrests -- "the highest levels in 25 years," he said -- which is critical because "homicides are up by half, and shootings have doubled."

However, activists worry that invasive surveillance and face recognition technology threaten individual privacy and disproportionately target and harm Black and brown communities. Mahmoudi called the prevalence of CCTV "a digital stop and frisk."

The NYPD used FRT in at least 22,000 cases between 2016 and 2019, Amnesty International said, according to data S.T.O.P, an anti-surveillance non-profit, was able to obtain from the NYPD through the city's Freedom of Information Law.

"I'm not surprised that the surveillance technology hits, again, the same communities that have already been the primary targets of police enforcement, or specifically NYPD enforcement," Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the ACLU, told ABC News.

"It's a highly invasive harmful technology. It presents an unprecedented threat to everyone's privacy and civil liberties," Schwarz said. "We've been calling for a ban on this technology, because we can't see how it can be safely used, given its great impact on civil rights and civil liberties."

The criticism comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he'd expand the NYPD's use of technology, including FRT.

"We will also move forward on using the latest in technology to identify problems, follow up on leads and collect evidence from facial recognition technology to new tools that can spot those carrying weapons, we will use every available method to keep our people safe," Adams said at a press briefing in January.

Adams' office did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.

A sign stands outside the Lambert Houses, a Phipps Houses Development low-income housing complex, in the Bronx borough of New York, Sept. 1, 2017.

The NYPD has been using FRT since 2011 to identify suspects whose images "have been captured by cameras at robberies, burglaries, assaults, shootings, and other crimes," according to the NYPD's website. However, the department says that "a facial recognition match does not establish probable cause to arrest or obtain a search warrant, but serves as a lead for additional investigative steps."

Robert Boyce, retired chief of detectives at the NYPD, said the department has stringent guidelines for using face recognition technology. No one is allowed to use the technology without a case number and approval from a supervisor, he said.

"It's a high bar to be able to use it and that's the way it should be," Boyce, who retired in 2018, told ABC News. "We don't use it for anything other than a criminal investigation, and we wrote a very strict policy on this, because it was under scrutiny by a lot of people."

The quality of CCTV footage is often not good enough for police to use it for face recognition, Boyce said, based on his time with the department. More often, he said, police use social media accounts to find images of individuals they are looking into rather than conduct FRT searches.

Images from social media accounts are often of better quality and are therefore more useful in getting accurate results when using face recognition software, according to Boyce. Police use FRT as a pathway to help them find someone, but they still need a photo array or lineup to identify a subject for it to be admissible in court, he said.

"I can't tell you how important it is. Our closing rates have gone up significantly because we do this now," Boyce said of FRT. "I think it's a tremendous aid to us. But like anything else, it can be abused, and you have to stay on top of that.

"If I had to give it a number, I would say they went up something like 10%," Boyce said of the department's closing rates. Closing rates refer to the number of cases the department is able to solve.

Boyce argued that FRT should be adopted by more states and used more widely around the country with federal guidance on its usage.

A closed circuit security camera (CCTV) mounted on a street light in Times Square in New York.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 18 out of 24 federal agencies surveyed reported using an FRT system in the fiscal year 2020 for reasons including cyber security, domestic law enforcement and surveillance.

Along with the research, Amnesty International also created a new interactive website that details potential FRT exposure. Users can see how much of any walking route between two locations in New York City might involve face recognition surveillance.

Amnesty International claimed that there were higher levels of exposure to FRT during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

"When we looked at routes that people would have walked to get to and from protests from nearby subway stations, we found nearly total surveillance coverage by publicly-owned CCTV cameras, mostly NYPD Argus cameras," Mahmoudi said.

"The use of mass surveillance technology at protest sites is being used to identify, track and harass people who are simply exercising their human rights," Mahmoudi said, calling it a "deliberate scare tactic."

He added, "Banning facial recognition for mass surveillance is a much-needed first step towards dismantling racist policing."

The NYPD responded, saying it had no control over where protestors walked.

"We did not choose the route that the demonstrators took. Nor could we control the route that the demonstrators took," Miller said in response to Amnesty International's claims.

"There was no scanning of demonstrations for facial recognition," Miller said.

"The facial recognition tools are not attached to those cameras," Miller said. "In the cases where facial recognition tools were used, it would be where there was an assault on a police officer or serious property damage, whether it was a viable image to run against mug shots."

The ACLU has also called for a ban on face recognition or biometric surveillance by the government toward the public, Schwarz said.

"Any surveillance technology can have a chilling effect on how people engage and how they make use of their free speech rights. It's extremely frightening thinking about how protests can be surveilled," Schwarz said. "I think there should be a clear guardrails on its use."

Miller, the NYPD deputy commissioner, said Amnesty International's research does not tell the full story of how FRT is used.

"Amnesty International has carefully cherry-picked selected data points and made claims that are at best out of context and at worst deliberately misleading. In the characterization of how the NYPD uses 'artificial intelligence,' the report has supplied only artificial information," Miller said to ABC News.

Last year, Amnesty International sued the NYPD after it refused to disclose public records regarding its acquisition of face recognition technology and other surveillance tools. The case is ongoing.

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Tennessee’s historic reading of the right to keep and bear arms | Opinion – Commercial Appeal

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Edward J. Curtis, Jr.| Guest Columnist

Politicians and constituents react to Gov. Bill Lee's recent permitless carry legislation

Politicians and constituents give their take about Gov. Lee's support for permitless gun carry legislation

Mike Fant, The Tennessean

On Christmas morning, 12-year-old Artemis Rayford was killed in his Memphis home by a stray bullet. The boy had recently written Governor Bill Lee about Tennessee's Permitless Carry Law to tell him that, in his opinion, "the new law will be bad, and people will be murdered."

When Gov. BillLee signed the Permitless Carry Law, he tweeted "I signed constitutional carry today because it shouldnt be hard for law-abiding Tennesseans to exercise their #2A rights."

Neither the Second Amendment nor Tennessee's constitution requires that Tennesseans, or any American citizen, be allowed to carry weapons at any time for any purpose.

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The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in 1840 that the right in the Tennessee Constitution to keep and bear arms protected only "usually employed military equipment." In 1939 the United States Supreme Court adopted the Tennessee Supreme Court's interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms, when it upheld the 1935 Firearms Act by finding that a short-barreled shotgun was not "ordinary military equipment."

The Tennessee Supreme Court's 1840 decision upheld the conviction of a man who was carrying a bowie-knife under his clothes. The Court explained that the arms protected by its Constitution were military equipment, not concealed weapons, which it described as "useless in war" and "efficient only in the hands of the robber and the assassin."

Not only did the Tennessee Supreme Court uphold a concealed weapons ban, it refused to follow a Kentucky court decision that found that Kentuckians had a right to carry concealed weapons.

In 1822, the Kentucky Supreme Court had vacated the conviction of a man who was found to carry a sword concealed in a cane. The Tennessee Supreme Court pointed out that Kentucky's version of its citizens' right to keep and bear arms extended to personal defense, unlike Tennessee's version, and unlike the Second Amendment.

Kentucky later amended its version of the right to keep and bear arms to overrule its Supreme Court and permit the State to ban concealed weapons.

The United States Supreme Court is still relying on the reasoning of the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 2008 Justice Antonin Scalia explained that ordinary military equipment did not include weapons such as machineguns, which, though useful in war, were "not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes."

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The reason the Tennessee Supreme Court focused on military equipment was that, in the nineteenth century, the militia was a crucial part of the United States' defense. The army was small and the country was large.

The militia was a great deal larger than the army. It included all persons in each state "physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense." The states mustered their militias for training and, when needed, defense.

The Second Amendment protected the right of citizens to keep and bear arms needed to defend the state. The arms the citizens produced needed to, at least, show the state's enemies that its citizens wanted to defend the state. A citizen who conceals his weapon shows no desire to defend anything.

There is no "constitutional carry" that is required either by the Second Amendment or the Tennessee Constitution. A law that allows anyone to carry a weapon anytime for any purpose is just a bad law, as Artemis Rayford wrote in his letter to Governor Lee.

Edward J. Curtis, Jr., is an attorney and the author of "Of Arms and the Militia: Gun Regulation by Defining 'Ordinary Military Equipment'" in the Touro Law Review.

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Second amendment bill receives Governor veto | National | themountaineer.com – The Mountaineer

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South Dakota: Two Pro-Gun Measures on the Move in the Senate – NRA ILA

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Tomorrow, at 3:00pm, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 195, legislation to clarify the burden of proof in Stand Your Ground cases. On Wednesday, the Senate State Affairs Committee will consider Senate Bill 212, legislation reducing the cost of concealed carry permits. Please contact your state Senator and ask them to SUPPORT Senate Bill 195 and Senate Bill 212.

Senate Bill 195 clarifies South Dakotas current Stand your Ground law by establishing that the burden of proof, by clear and convincing evidence, lies on the party seeking to overcome the immunity provided under this law. This measure clarifies the burden of proof and who bears the burden of proof in Stand your Ground self-defense cases.

Senate Bill 212 reduces the cost of South Dakota carry permits to $0. SB 212 allows those who wish to use SDs reciprocity agreements with other states do so without having to essentially pay a tax on their right to self-defense.

Again, please contact your State Senator and ask them to SUPPORT Senate Bill 195 and Senate Bill 212. Also, please join NRA-ILA for a Second Amendment day in the Capitol rotunda tomorrow starting at 10:00am. Encourage your friends, family and fellow gun owners to do the same!

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PopReach Announces Second Amendment to Credit Facility – Investing News Network

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" The Office: Somehow We Manage offers players the chance to immerse themselves in iconic moments from the series and connect with their favorite characters like never before," said Darcy Taylor , Chief Executive Officer of ESGG. "Fans of The Office will absolutely feel the nostalgia through this new game."

" The Office: Somehow We Manage reimagines the cast as vibrant, animated characters for the first time, bringing a fresh new experience to The Office fans everywhere," said Jim Molinets , SVP of Production, Universal Games and Digital Platforms. "The game will transport players into well-known and hilarious episodes that have resonated with so many over the years and let them 'clock in' even more time with their favorite Dundler Mifflin employees."

The Office: Somehow We Manage will allow fans to relive memorable moments from the show like they've never seen them before - animated, all while tapping their way to record profits to save the Scranton Branch from downsizing. Featuring accessible gameplay for all types of players, this narrative idle tapper will give players the chance to unlock and upgrade iconic characters and their desks all the while participating in monthly special events for additional in-game rewards.

GAME FEATURES

COLLECT ICONIC CHARACTERS IN GAME Tap, upgrade, and build desks for favorite characters from the hit NBC comedy The Office , including Prison Mike, Farmer Dwight, Pretzel Day Stanley, and of course, Three Hole Punch Jim, all appearing in animated form for the first time.

RELIVE MEMORABLE EPISODES FROM THE OFFICE [U.S.] Click through memorable episodes in this free-to-play game, like "The Dundies" and "Dinner Party." Take a seat in Michael's office, get in line for Pretzel Day, or spend the weekend at Schrute Farms. Oh, and watch out for Kevin's famous chili! Additional episodes from all nine seasons of the show will be added to the game on a regular basis.

SPECIAL EVENTS In-game events will introduce new versions of characters and more memorable moments, along with weekly and monthly special events inspired by elements from the show.

EARN IN-GAME REWARDS TO KEEP THE BRANCH AFLOAT Manage Dunder Mifflin Scranton with the help of the whole branch! Get new leads and tap away as the in-game rewards start rolling in. Just make sure Michael doesn't spend the surplus on a new plasma TV!

Players can now run the world's best mid-size regional paper company branch in The Office: Somehow We Manage , available now on iOS and Android.

Visual assets for the game, including key art and logos, can be found in the online press kit .

ABOUT EAST SIDE GAMES GROUP

East Side Games Group (formerly operating under the name "LEAF Mobile Inc.") is a leading free-to-play mobile game group, creating engaging games that produce enduring player loyalty. Our studio groups entrepreneurial culture is anchored in creativity, execution, and growth through licensing of our proprietary Game Kit software platform that enables professional game developers to greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of game creation in addition to organic growth through a diverse portfolio of original and licensed IP mobile games that include: Archer: Danger Phone, Bud Farm Idle Tycoon, Cheech & Chong Bud Farm , The Goldbergs: Back to the 80s, It's Always Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile and Trailer Park Boys Grea$y Money , RuPaul's Drag Race Superstar and T he Office: Somehow We Manage .

We are headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and our games are available worldwide on the App Store and Google Play. For further information, please visit: http://www.eastsidegamesgroup.com and join our online communities at LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

Additional information about the Company continues to be available under its legal name, LEAF Mobile Inc., at http://www.sedar.com .

ABOUT NBC'S THE OFFICE

Produced by Universal Television in association with Deedle-Dee Productions and Reveille Productions, The Office is a groundbreaking mockumentary television series that follows the daily lives of the employees of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a fictional paper company. All nine seasons of the Emmy Award-winning series are available exclusively on Peacock.

ABOUT PEACOCK

Peacock is NBCUniversal's streaming service. Peacock delivers a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, plus critically acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood's biggest studios. In addition, Peacock taps into NBCUniversal's unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night, Spanish-language and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL GAMES AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Universal's Games and Digital Platforms group leverages the vast portfolio of IP and characters from NBCUniversal. The Games and Digital Platforms group is a business unit of Universal Brand Development, which is chartered with globally expanding the company's intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories through innovative physical and digital products, content, and consumer experiences. The company's extensive portfolio includes properties created by Universal Pictures, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation and NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. Universal Brand Development is part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. http://www.universalbranddevelopment.com .

Forward-looking Information

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management regarding the proposed transactions described herein. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including factors beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release.

SOURCE East Side Games Group

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Letter to the editor, Feb. 13 – The Star Press

Posted: at 5:59 am

HB1107 would endanger Hoosiers

Republican House Bill 1077 would remove the requirement of a license to carry a handgun. The sponsors say that permits impede on Second Amendment Rights. Indiana already has some of the most liberal laws concerning the Second Amendment. Anyone can go to an Indiana gun show or on the internet and buy all the guns and ammo they want without a background check.

If you have been around guns, you know guns are not toys and bullets will hit something. You also know not everyone should be carrying a gun in public, gun safety 101. Do you want to go into Walmart and have everyone inside packing a gun? The Fraternal Order of Police is against HB 1077 because they understand it greatly increases the danger to the public and their members.

If this law passes, Hoosiers will die or be harmed unnecessarily. It may be intentionally or by a drop of a gun accidentally. The sponsors of this bill will be paid handsomely by the NRA leadership and gun manufacturers, but average Hoosiers will pay with their lives.

Republicans talk a big show about having the backs of police officers and average Americans but their record doesnt show it. They have chosen to put money in the pockets of their millionaire supporters and themselves over everything. I hope the victims of this law and their families remember it was the GOP that unnecessarily caused their pain and loss and they profited from it.

Tim Mahaffey

Middletown

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Letter to the editor, Feb. 13 - The Star Press

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