Latest news with #Odin
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- General
- Boston Globe
On the Vineyard, a federal immigration sting, a tattoo, and questions about white supremacy
'Some white supremacists, particularly racist Odinists, have appropriated the Valknot to use as a racist symbol,' the Advertisement Odinism is 'a term frequently given to a racist variant of the Norse pagan religion known as Asatru,' the ADL wrote. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. News of the officer's tattoo was The symbol, which also has an the alternative spelling Valknut, was tattooed on the face of a self-described 'white-power skinhead,' who killed a Utah corrections officer, according to an article cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The center said among racist pagans the Valknot signifies Advertisement Experts said the Valknot is not as easily recognized as other better known hate symbols. 'It is often associated with Odin and the willingness to die a violent death for a cause, usually Nazism/white supremacy,' Thomas Birkett, a professor at University College Cork, Ireland, who studies Norse mythology and runes. 'It's on the same continuum of swastika, black sun, othala rune, etc.' The symbol, he said, is also used by neo-pagans, often without racist connotations, so it is 'very hard to prove that it means what it probably does mean, unless accompanied by other more overtly racist symbols.' 'The problem is that neo-Nazi groups are very good at occupying this grey area which allows them deniability if challenged by an employer etc.,' he said. 'The federal agent concerned could easily claim that it is just a cool symbol, or worn because they have Scandinavian heritage, etc.' Sophie Bjork-James, a Vanderbilt University professor, agreed the symbol's meaning can be manipulated. 'Such symbols are often chosen over more recognizable racist images such as the swastika as the individual can both signal their identity to others while also denying a link to a white supremacist movement when convenient,' she said. 'This means that unlike a swastika, one needs more evidence to understand if someone with a valknut tattoo is indeed a white nationalist.' Many far-right groups have embraced Norse symbols and mythology 'because they critique Christianity as a religion influenced by Judaism,' according to Bjork-James Advertisement 'Anti-Jewish prejudice is central to white nationalism so Norse symbols can also be used as a symbol of their prejudice against Jews,' she said. Immigration raids last week on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket saw about 40 people taken into custody on the resort islands that rely on immigrant labor. Photos of the unidentified federal agent with the tattoo have circulated on the island. Photos and videos taken by a resident near the Menemsha Coast Guard Station show a man wearing a tactical vest identifying him as a 'police federal agent.' The man appears to wear a neck gaiter, which obscures the lower parts of his face, as well as sunglasses and a cap. Both of his arms appear to be heavily tattooed. Near the Valknot is a tattoo of the coiled snake of Charlie Giordona, a 58-year-old Vineyard resident, was among those to confront and film the agents during the ICE sting. 'It's all about context, man,' said Giordona over the phone on Monday. 'I would ridicule ICE for profiling brown people in their roundups. By the same token, I shouldn't profile someone for their tattoos. But again, it's all about context.' He continued, 'I don't think those guys are fans of Odin and Norse mythology. I think those guys are white supremacists.' Massachusetts has a lengthy history of white supremacy and far-right politics. At least 530 state residents signed up for the Oath Keepers, Advertisement In 2022, two days before the Fourth of July, about 100 white supremacists, Danny McDonald can be reached at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
When Odin the police dog sniffed drugs, cops could search parked car, court rules
By a bare 4-3 majority Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court expanded police power to perform drug searches on vehicles during traffic stops. I can see the majority's point, but I'm tending to lean toward the dissenting justices' position, due to the potential for abuse of privacy rights. The case involves a woman named Gina L. Wilson, convicted of possessing 30 oxycodone pills and driving on a suspended license. According to the majority opinion, 'Two Wichita police officers performed a traffic stop of Gina Wilson after they twice observed her fail to properly signal after leaving the location of a known drug house.' As it turned out, Wilson's driver's license was suspended, which she admitted. She was told to step out of the car while police brought a drug-sniffing dog to the scene to check her vehicle. Here's where it gets complicated: The legality of the traffic stop was not in question, but police aren't allowed to extend a stop beyond the time it takes to write a citation to give them time to bring a drug dog to the scene. In this case, police dog Odin (who died of cancer last year) and his human partner arrived at the scene about 40 seconds before the officer finished writing up the failure-to-signal citation. The trial judge, Sedgwick District Judge Kevin Mark Smith, ruled that the officers had not impermissibly extended the traffic stop. The Court of Appeals upheld Smith's ruling. The Supreme Court also ruled the search legal, but came up with a different, and potentially disturbing, rationale for why. The drug sniff was legal because Wilson's driver's license was suspended, said the majority opinion, authored by the court's most conservative justice, Caleb Stegall. 'Though Wichita police officers have the authority to arrest someone for driving on a suspended license, they also have the discretion not to,' Stegall wrote. 'The officers here admitted that although they intended to arrest Wilson from the moment they asked her to exit the vehicle, they did not actually arrest her until after they searched the car and found the pills. 'But regardless of whether Wilson was under arrest at the time of Oden's sniff, there are absolutely no circumstances in which the officers would have allowed Wilson to drive away in the vehicle. Put another way, regardless of what happened to Wilson, the car wasn't going anywhere. It simply became a lawfully, publicly parked vehicle in Wichita, Kansas . . . Because the car was legally parked and no one was attempting to or prevented from lawfully moving it, the sniff was legally performed regardless of whether Wilson was seized.' You may be saying, my license is fine, so I don't have to worry about this. Not necessarily. I got pulled over once out in California and was shocked to learn from the officer that my license had been suspended without my knowledge. It turned out it was the result of a very minor accident where another driver and I had tapped bumpers a year of so previously. I didn't think enough damage was done to trigger the requirement to file an accident report, but the other driver did file one. So I'd been suspended for failing to file, though I'd never heard a peep about it from the DMV. Fortunately, the cop was understanding, and let me off with a warning and an admonition to go straight to the DMV and take care of it — which I did. In Kansas, the DMV is generally required to send notice and allow drivers time to appeal before suspending their license. But people don't always get the word. A lot of folks forget to update their license when they move, and the DMV sends suspension notices to the last address they have on file. 'People get caught in that all the time,' said lawyer and state legislator John Carmichael. Carmichael said Kansas police and courts tend to be less forgiving than my laid-back California cop was. If you don't update your license when you're supposed to, they consider that your problem. In the dissenting opinion in Wilson's case, Justice Eric Rosen called it a fantasy to believe that the officers had seized the driver, but not her car. ''It would have been clear to anyone not residing in a fantasy-world parallel universe' that the officers here were not going to let Wilson or her vehicle leave the scene until the dog sniff was complete,' he wrote. 'The majority ignores this reality, insisting that Wilson's car was not seized because she did not have a license to drive it.' 'It would seem that, in the majority's new world, if an officer pulls over a driver who does not have legal authority to operate a vehicle, the officer may seize that driver and prevent anyone from moving the vehicle for as long as necessary to await a dog sniff. I cannot fathom this is what the majority had in mind, but it seems it is the result they have created.' I think Rosen's onto something. So did Chief Justice Marla Luckert and Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge, who joined the dissent. Rosen continued that even if the car was not technically legally seized at the time, 'I could not join the majority in its brazen announcement that officers can perform a dog sniff on any car that is legally parked in public.' I'm not enough of a legal scholar to say if that's the message the court's trying to send. But I'm pretty sure it's the message police will hear. And all our privacy could suffer as a result.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Today's ‘Wordle' #1433 Hints, Clues And Answer For Thursday, May 22nd
How to solve today's Wordle. Looking for Wednesday's Wordle hints, clues and answer? You can find them here: Yesterday was Odin's Day, which meant we had a Wordle Wednesday riddle to solve prior to tackling our Wordle. Today is Thor's Day, so we get the answer. Here was the riddle, which was Scotland-themed due to my travels abroad: FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder What am I? The answer: A cherry! A little man in a red coat with a stave (the stem) and a 'bane in his throat' (the pit). A bonnie wee riddle! Now it's Wordle time. The Hint: Turn the page. The Clue: This Wordle has a double letter. Okay, spoilers below! . . . Today's Wordle Every day I check Wordle Bot to help analyze my guessing game. You can check your Wordles with Wordle Bot right here. I started off strong with HOTEL and then made a pretty egregious error with CHAIN, since I'd already ruled out the letter 'H'. Still, with only four words left and three colorful boxes, I was on the right track. SOLID, however, did not do the trick, but I only thought of FOLIO after this (if I'd considered it, I would have gone with POLIO) and that was the Wordle. Huzzah! Today's Wordle Bot I get 0 points for guessing in four and 1 point for beating the Bot. The Bot loses 1 point for guessing in five and another for losing to me. This brings us to a narrow May tally of: Erik: 14 points Wordle Bot: 15 points The word "folio" comes from the Latin folium, meaning "leaf" or "sheet". In Medieval Latin, folio (ablative of folium) was used to refer to a leaf of paper. It entered English in the 15th century, originally referring to a book format in which each sheet of paper was folded once, creating two leaves (or four pages). Later, it came to mean a page number or the page itself. Let me know how you fared with your Wordle today on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog where I write about games, TV shows and movies when I'm not writing puzzle guides. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE) on Substack by Charly AI. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on NNE. NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE)'s share was trading at $26.07 as of May 15th. An aerial view of a nuclear plant, its domes casting a unique shadow. NNE is an ambitious vertically integrated developer in the advanced nuclear sector, aiming to become a full-stack provider of micronuclear solutions. The company is building a differentiated platform by combining microreactor design and manufacturing with in-house nuclear fuel processing, logistics, and regulatory consulting. Its four proprietary microreactor models—Zeus, Odin, Kronos mmr, and Loki mmr—target specialized applications, from mobile military use to stationary industrial power and even extraterrestrial deployment. This vertical integration across the nuclear value chain establishes a significant competitive moat and positions NNE as a category leader in the emerging microreactor space. The company is led by CEO James Walker, formerly of Rolls Royce's nuclear division, and supported by a top-tier team of physicists and executives from leading academic and government institutions, including Oak Ridge and the NRC. NNE operates at the intersection of key secular trends: rising AI-driven power consumption, increasing emphasis on U.S. energy independence, and global decarbonization efforts. With tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon investing in small modular reactors for datacenter use, and U.S. government support through programs like the DOE's $3.4 billion LEU Acquisition initiative, the market tailwinds are substantial. NNE also holds a strategic advantage through its partnership with LIS Technologies, the only U.S.-based laser uranium enrichment firm. Despite these advantages, the company remains pre-revenue, reporting a $3.1 million loss last quarter and undergoing nearly 20% share dilution to support ongoing development. While the company has $123 million in cash and minimal debt, execution risk remains high. For investors with a long-term horizon and appetite for risk, NNE offers upside in a potentially transformational market. NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 10 hedge fund portfolios held NNE at the end of the fourth quarter which was 0 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of NNE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NNE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
IOL News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Don't overlook the 'inconvenient truths', Mr letterwriter
Let's not skip the inconvenient truths L Oosthuizen's letter (May 16) reads like a thriller – unburdened by fact, but rich in imagination. He claims that 'most of us' reject the International Court of Justice (ICJ)case against Israel. Yet no supporting evidence or polling data is striking, though, is his call for South African Christians to denounce the ICJ process. On what grounds, one wonders? Arab Christians in Gaza have seen their churches reduced to rubble. Is solidarity now a matter of geography?Critique political parties, by all means, but let's not mistake spectacle for substance. This isn't about 'left-leaning elites.' Supporting the ICJ case is about justice – and the inconvenient truths too often ignored. | O Parak Pietermaritzburg Beware Trump's evil machinations I think everyone nationwide should be alerted as to what Trump is planning! He is planning a global blackout for 10 days during which there will be no communication except from Trump himself! How will he orchestrate this? The satellite Odin has already been tested to interfere and cancel with all radio waves so that Trump can override global communication to broadcast 'his truth'. During this 10 day blackout the US military will be making massive arrests on all major criminals worldwide. What will this do to South Africa? There will be mass looting, theft and carnage as those in the dark retaliate! Trump does not understand the nature of the black beast! This act of sabotage of Trump's can be acquainted to global terrorism. He does not understand the chaos and turmoil it will steep South Africa in. This is a stupid, selfish and uneducated move on Trump's behalf. We do not know the time, day or month. It is 'a surprise'. But we cannot allow this! | Vivienne Viljoen Sheffield, Ballito A voice for Palestine I am writing to express my full support for Palestine and to speak about the Nakba. Nakba is an Arabic word meaning 'catastrophe.' This word refers to what happened to the Palestinian people in 1948, when over 700 000 men, women, and children were forced to leave their homes. Villages were destroyed, families were broken apart, and many people became refugees overnight. This was not just a tragedy of the past, it marked the beginning of decades of occupation, violence, and injustice that continue to this day. In Gaza, more than 2 million people live under blockade that controls their food, medicine, and freedom. What makes worse is the silence. Governments all over the world say that they care about human rights, but ignore Palestine. The world rushes to defend the powerful countries, but turn away when Palestinian children are killed or when homes are being destroyed by airstrikes. Even speaking about Palestine is being seen as controversial, when it should be seen as urgent. Despite everything the Palestinians have faced the people have never given have lost their homes, land, and lives, but they have not their strength and hope. They keep going and they keep fighting no matter what happens. That kind of strength is powerful. They are showing the world that no matter how hard people are trying to silence them, they will never be silenced and they will never give up. | Aisha Port Shepstone Islamic School – Grade 9 The Nakba – a wound that shaped a nation I have long admired your voice and your sensitivity to history's complex edges. I wanted to share a reflection of mine on the Nakba – not just as an event, but as a living echo that still pulses through generations. The Nakba was not merely a moment of displacement in 1948; it was the birth of a collective memory stitched with exile, longing, and an unyielding pursuit of dignity. For Palestinians, it is not just history – it is inheritance. A grandmother's silence at dinner, a father's defiant pride in a homeland he's never seen, a child learning to pronounce 'Haifa' before 'hope.' The world often demands Palestinians forget for the sake of peace, but memory is not the enemy of peace – erasure is. True reconciliation is not built on silence, but on the courage to confront painful truths and to honor the humanity of every life touched by them. Palestine is not a metaphor. It is people. It is poetry smuggled under occupation. It is olive trees older than borders. It is a map folded too many times, yet never torn. The Nakba is not over – because justice delayed is not history past. It lives in refugee camps, in the stateless passport, in the empty chair at a family table. And yet, remarkably, so does resilience. So does art. So does life. I believe editors hold a rare power – to not only tell stories, but to awaken truths. Thank you for giving space to those truths. I hope this perspective finds a home in your thoughts, for Nakba did not commence on October 7 2023. | Zahra Dhooma Port Shepstone Islamic School US Middle East trip only about business American President Donald Trump and his entourage's pompous visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE is most certainly not about finding solutions to the illegal settler colonial occupation of Palestine, stopping the genocide in Gaza or about healing a conflict-ridden world. It was a pretentious display of opulent fanfare and vacuous ceremony, reasserting Trumps personal persona and business interests. The agenda was informed by selling arms, and propping autocrats who fear their own people due to their illegitimate rule and mismanagement of oil resources. Flush with abundant reserves from the sale of petroleum and revenues earned from the pilgrimage to Makkah, the house of Saud and the other Middle Eastern treacherous regimes have enormous wealth to squander. Instead of demanding an end to apartheid Israel's relentless destruction of life in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, these tyrants, who can have influence over Western imperialists, have shamelessly sold their souls to Trump by rewarding him with extraordinary honour, gifts and investments. Besides Trump returning with trillion-dollar deals, his ally Elon Musk, who once referred to Arabic as 'the language of the enemy', also returned as a substantially wealthier man after securing billion-dollar deals from these immoral regimes. This miserable cabal of dictators remind me of Korah, and Pharaoh, despots mentioned in the Qu'ran who are depicted as exemplification of arrogance, rebellion and evil. | MOHAMED SAEED Pietermaritzburg The ANC cannot self-correct, it must die Some believe the ANC can self-correct itself after the 2024 elections and some still consider the ANC a brand, but I'm reluctant to believe that. The ANC used to be not just a brand, but a brand among brands. But now? The brand ANC that was carried on the shoulders of Oliver Tambo for almost 25 years has been collapsed by greedy leaders who dragged the ancestors name through the mud. They do not care about the sacrifice made by Tambo, or those before and after him. They do not even care about people who died fighting for the liberation of this country. What about the poor majority of Eastern Cape, Limpopo voters they see in front of their own eyes? The addressing of the social ills is of paramount importance because the ANC is the leader in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and in the country. One undeniable fact is that the previous ANC had two important features the current one does not have. Real and genuine comrades. First, those were people with integrity. Second, the ANC used to have intelligent people. Now instead of advancing intelligence to defend itself and the country against the enemies of the people (unemployment, poverty, diseases, corruption etc), the corrupt agents of destruction and retrogression, they are part of that. They use poor people plight to corruptly enrich themselves. They master corruption such that they blindfold the poor voters to benefit from their corruption. That is what gangsters do; to appear as saviours in the eyes of the poor. ANC leaders are like chameleons; they sleep saying this, and wake up saying something different. Now it's time for change that will make South Africa work for all it's people. A change that will create jobs; keep the government accountable; put an end to loadshedding; ensure all those who steal taxpayers money will be kept behind bars; and bring hope to South Africans. | Thulani Dasa Khayelitsha DAILY NEWS
