Flock has 120,000 cameras in 49 states that capture 20 billion license plates a month—along with dents, bumper stickers and other identifying features. The company says it is giving police a powerful tool to catch criminals. But the same bipartisan public anger that has risen up from towns and cities to stall data centers is now aimed at Flock’s spreading camera network.

Republican members of Congress have introduced bills to restrict the technology. Jordan appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast last month where the host compared Flock to the ever-present surveillance of George Orwell’s dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” President Trump has weighed in too, saying last week that Flock’s cameras were “under review.” Flock opponents held rallies in 44 states, while a number of towns—including two in Massachusetts in the past few days alone—said they would stop using the cameras.

Story: After getting called out by customers for selling what many saw as an offensive children’s Halloween costume, Target apologized and took the product down.

Listed as a “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume,” the $25 outfit included a small top hat with a flower, a striped black-and-orange outfit, black gloves, and a wide, toothy smile mask. Many social media users compared the costume to those worn during racist 19th-century minstrel shows, in which predominantly white performers wore blackface and mocked Black people.

“Target appears to have overlooked these historical implications by choosing to market a costume worn by a Black child in a manner that can be interpreted as reinforcing a longstanding racial stereotype,” Shomane Touré, the founder of Afrocentric Films Collaborative, an Oakland, California-based company focused on promoting positive stories about Black culture, told the New York Times in an emailed statement.

The retailer released a written apology yesterday through its website and social media pages. “As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry,” Target said. “The costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer available for sale.”

“We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners,” the company continued. “Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again.”

In 2025, Target rolled back several diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts including one program with a goal to increase its number of Black employees by 20 percent within three years, Reuters reported. A spokesperson told the publication at the time that Target’s new approach was “all about driving business results by increasing relevance with U.S. consumers and making Target a destination for talent.”

Customers cited Target distancing itself from DEI as the reason this Halloween costume missed the mark. “It’s almost like having more [people of color] in decision-making roles could have helped y’all see how problematic that was,” one person wrote on Instagram.

Brett Husslein, an analyst at investment research company Morningstar, recently told Reuters that controversies like this one could impede Target’s turnaround progress. “As Target begins to gain traction in repairing its brand reputation, this is ⁠exactly the kind of stuff they want to avoid,” he reportedly said, continuing that any such issue “could lead to further market share losses.” (Disclosure: Inc.’s parent company, Mansueto Ventures, is owned by Joe Mansueto, the founder of Morningstar.)

excerpt from Annabel Burba's article

Full Article here:

https://www.inc.com/annabel-burba/target-apologizes-for-offensive-and-hurtful-childrens-halloween-costume/91395820

Target apology here:

https://corporate.target.com/press/statement/2026/08/target-statement-on-offensive-halloween-costume

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackPeopleofReddit/comments/1vy779c/target_apologizes_for_offensive_and_hurtful/

The attacks on buildings and surveillance equipment in the Middle East caused unprecedented damage for the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies.

Ranchers and Republicans alike have pushed back on the beef plan