Latest news with #Harjani
Malaysian Reserve
19-05-2025
- General
- Malaysian Reserve
Gatlinburg, Tenn., Student Wins American Legion Oratoricals
Earns $25K Scholarship, National Championship HILLSDALE, Mich., May 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A high school senior from Gatlinburg, Tenn., capped a busy weekend of competition by earning a $25,000 college scholarship and first place in The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program – 'A Constitutional Speech Contest.' Gina Raj Harjani's winning prepared oration was titled 'The Constitution in the Digital Age.' Harjani started the weekend as one of 50 state or department champions in the 86th annual contest. She advanced to the championship through three rounds of intense competition. She was sponsored by American Legion Post 202 in Gatlinburg. Mary Payton Crosby, a home-schooled junior from Burlington, Wash., earned a $22,500 college scholarship with a second-place finish, while Elena May Andrews, a 12th grader from Beresford, S.D., earned $20,000 and third place in the competition. The scholarships account for a small portion of post-secondary scholarships that The American Legion, the nation's largest veterans organization, awards annually. In her prepared oration, Harjani said that while social media postings are protected by the Constitution, 'opaque algorithms' decide which voices get heard. 'The founders may not have foreseen the Internet, but they understood a universal truth: threats to liberty remain constant, even as their forms evolve,' she said. 'Our U.S. Constitution is not an artifact of history. It is a living, breathing document that guides us through current challenges.' In each round of the weekend competition, orators delivered a rehearsed 8- to 10-minute address and a randomly assigned 3- to 5-minute oration on a constitutional topic, each without the benefit of notes and in front of a live audience, including the judges. The 1.5-million-member American Legion developed the contest to encourage young people to improve their communications skills and to study the U.S. Constitution. The American Legion awarded more than $8 million in youth scholarships at the post, state and national levels in 2024. Media Contact: John Raughter (317) 630-1350, jraughter@
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Facebook group lawsuit dismissed
An Illinois federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the "Are We Dating the Same Guy?" Chicago Facebook group and dozens of people. Private Facebook groups like "Are We Dating the Same Guy?" aim to help (typically heterosexual) women avoid men who exhibit bad behavior like lying or ghosting. In some cases, multiple women in the group are dating the same man they met on dating apps — hence the group name. In one story Mashable reported on in 2023, a woman discovered her husband seeing other women across the U.S. SEE ALSO: 2025's political climate is wreaking havoc on online dating Last year, Chicago man Nikko D'Ambrosio sued Meta as well as women who dated him and their parents, women who commented on posts about him in the Facebook group, and moderators for the group, for defamation, invasion of privacy, doxxing, and more. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sunil R. Harjani tossed the complaint. Harjani wrote that D'Ambrosio failed to allege any false statements, and none of the statements included would fit the per se defamation category (that the women's words were inherently damaging). Additionally, he also failed to allege that his photo was used for commercial purposes, which was required under his claim that the group violated the Illinois Right of Publicity Act. Defendants Spill The Tea, Inc. (the owner and operator of the Facebook group) also explained that even if the women's statements were defamatory, they weren't actionable as opinions. D'Ambrosio had a couple of opportunities to address these issues, but Harjani wrote that he didn't. The Court also reviewed the statements D'Ambrosio provided about his actions while dating in Chicago, and found they weren't defamatory. "While evident from his complaint that D'Ambrosio objects to the idea that women in Chicago, and nationally, have a private invite-only forum in which they are able to discuss and potentially warn other women against men's dating habits and that he personally detested being discussed in that group, the statements made about him do not amount to defamation, false light invasion of privacy, or [doxxing]," Harjani wrote. "The comments about D'Ambrosio in 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' were subjective opinions, which even if D'Ambrosio dislikes, cannot amount to defamation."
