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AI deepfakes blur reality in 2026 US midterm campaigns

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - As the video opens, Democratic Texas State Representative James Talarico appears to stand in front of a Texas flag, beaming.

"Radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country," the U.S. Senate candidate seems to say into the camera. As a voice whispers "white men," Talarico continues: "So true. So true."

But Talarico never filmed ​that video. Instead, the clip is an AI-generated ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the party's Senate campaign arm, featuring a computer-altered Talarico reciting social media posts he wrote years ago. The words "AI generated" show up in ‌easy-to-miss font in the lower righthand corner.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/ai-deepfakes-blur-reality-2026-us-midterm-campaigns-2026-03-28/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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Trump suggests Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego if it develops nuclear weapons

Title skips the part that says “Let them take out (the cities)”

Fucking idiot.

“President Donald Trump suggested that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego if it were allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, drawing condemnation from California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the remarks "deranged and dangerous."

Trump suggests Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego if it develops nuclear weaponshttps://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-suggests-iran-los-angeles-san-diego/story?id=137024894Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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Trump DOJ launches bizarre investigation into Nixon Watergate scandal

Department of Justice officials are thinking about reopening the files pertaining to the Watergate scandal to review whether or not the special prosecutors committed misconduct. Officials within the Department of Justice are thinking of reopening the files pertaining to the Watergate scandal to review whether or not former President Richard Nixon might have gotten a raw deal.

Trump DOJ launches bizarre investigation into Nixon Watergate scandalhttps://www.irishstar.com/news/politics/trump-doj-launches-bizarre-investigation-37729665Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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Most Americans blame Trump for high prices as his economic approval hits new low, AP-NORC poll shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are deeply frustrated with President Donald Trump’shandling of the economy and rising prices, with most panning his performance and blaming his policies as higher costs threaten his party’s chances in November.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.

…

Despite their frustration, most Republicans, 67%, say factors outside of Trump’s control are more to blame for high prices.

“I think inflation is a very difficult thing to tackle,” said Fred Naumann, 51, a Republican and longtime Trump supporter who lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Though he would like to see interest rates come down, Naumann, who works in the automotive industry, supports tariffs and the war with Iran, believing it was necessary. 

Overall, however, most Americans, 69%, continue to say the war has not been worth fighting, up slightly from 64% in July. Only 28% approve of how Trump is handling Iran. 

Americans are also unhappy with Trump’s trade wars. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of how he is handling trade negotiations with other countries, down from about 4 in 10 in March. And 64% say he has “gone too far” on imposing new tariffs on other countries, up from 58% in January.

Most Americans blame Trump for high prices as his economic approval hits new low, AP-NORC poll showshttps://apnews.com/article/trump-economy-approval-trump-midterms-8d5809758a31b29c73f4351a8008147cOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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What happened to old info on the web and the ability to search it?

Tried four separate search engines. Was looking for news articles or any other statements regarding trump’s activity and statemnts after 9/11. I distinctly remember him commenting about how he now had the “tallest building in Manhattan” or some such arrogant and callous lies rather quickly following the event.

But it seems pretty difficult to find ways to bracket dates on search engines, and even the ones that I could do so, the search results were partially “poisoned” by sites deliberately returning current information post-dated to the date range I was looking for. But all the results that would have been readily returned say a decade or more ago are gone. They don’t even show up.

Where did it all go?

All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place. - Orwell: 1984

Edit: not trying to be unthankful for the help, I know there are plenty of current articles referencing what he said 25 years ago, but I was looking for the actual article from a first-hand source in 2001-2 when he actually said it.

View original on lemmy.world
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Pentagon refuses payout for soldiers who died in Iran conflict ‘because it isn’t a war’

The families of US soldiers who have died in the US-Israeli war against Iran are battling to ensure they receive appropriate pay and benefits for their loved ones.

Libby Klinner, a widow, wrote on social media that the US air force had deemed her ineligible for additional benefits following the death of Major Alex Klinner, her 33-year-old husband, because Congress had not officially declared war.

He was one of six crew members of a KC-135 refuelling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq in March while supporting US strikes against Iran.

Pentagon refuses payout for soldiers who died in Iran conflict ‘because it isn’t a war’https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/pentagon-refuses-payout-soldiers-died-135214171.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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Disgusting’: Donald Trump faces backlash for posting AI image of him and Dolly Parton

….it didn't take long for certain fans to point out that Dolly Parton's Imagination Library – a literacy initiative which has gifted more than 330 million books to children since 1995, and one of Parton's many philanthropic causes - has been defunded by the Trump administration. … …Now, in one of his latest AI slop posts, Trump took to Truth Social to share an illustration of him arm in arm with Parton walking around the White House.

Disgusting’: Donald Trump faces backlash for posting AI image of him and Dolly Partonhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/disgusting-donald-trump-faces-backlash-134459273.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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GOP lawmakers quietly slash funds for Dolly Parton children's book charity

Republicans this year quietly cut millions of dollars of funding for the late and beloved Dolly Parton's children's book charity, according to multiple reports. Imagination Library, the nonprofit founded by Parton that sends free books to children across the world, faces an uncertain future in Indiana and Missouri as Republican lawmakers limit public funding, Newsweekreported Wednesday.

GOP lawmakers quietly slash funds for Dolly Parton children's book charityhttps://www.rawstory.com/dolly-parton-and-republicans/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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Puerto Rico faces water crisis as residents go months without reliable service

[I couldn’t find a mainstream source for this. The press seem far more concerned with the discovery of the old Pan Am wreckage than the people of PR.]

Puerto Rico residents have endured more than two months without reliable running water, a crisis triggered by three major ruptures detected in the island’s 72-inch Superaqueduct pipeline on June 10, 2026, and compounded by decades of aging infrastructure and worsening drought conditions.

Puerto Rico faces water crisis as residents go months without reliable servicehttps://eciks.org/15540-puerto-rico-water-crisis-pipelineOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
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