Harmony Evans's Blog, page 580
January 4, 2024
Italy approves sweeping reforms of online gambling
Italy is to see sweeping reform brought to its online gambling sector, in the first reorganization of igaming since 2011.
Known as the Reorganisation Decree, the legislation was proposed by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF) of the Italian Government.
The now-approved decree hopes to protect those vulnerable to gambling such as minors and promote cautionary messaging awhile introducing self-limitation on gambling platforms.
License reformItaly will now enact a new licensing reform framework with the hope of generating funds to promote responsible gambling campaigns, as reports SBC News.
Operators in Italy known as ‘concessionaires’ will be taxed 3% tax for operating gambling services. Applications for online gambling licenses will now come with a €7m authorization fee.
This is a healthy jump from the current fee of €200,000 and has been criticized by gambling unions in Italy.
Alphabet Inc’s YouTube and popular streaming platform Twitch were fined by Italian lawmakers last month for breaching the terms of the 2019 Dignity Decree which bans gambling advertising.
YouTube was fined €2.25m and Twitch a fee of €900,000, showing Italy is serious about its decision to tighten gambling reform. Italy is not the only country to turn to stricter laws to combat the trials and tribulations of gambling.
The Australian Media and Communications Agency (AMCA) found that some of the top betting sites in Australia have breached in-play betting rules.
This has prompted the parties responsible for the breach to revise their in-play trading rules to avoid a heavy penalty.
Earlier in December 2023 the Australian Federal Parliament also passed legislation banning the use of credit cards to fund online betting accounts.
The New South Wales Government was forced to act as locals in the area had lost a reported $4.3bn to poker machines. A report will be generated by a panel of 16 industry experts to the Australian government that covers 4500 poker machines across 24 local government areas.
Photo Credit: JÉSHOOTS, Pexels.
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New Book Claims Members of Joe Biden’s Team See Vice President Kamala Harris as a ‘Joke’ and Shut Her Out of Meetings | The Gateway Pundit
Some members of the Biden administration view Kamala Harris as a joke, according to a new book by Washington, DC journalist Charlie Spiering.
The book suggests that Kamala Harris is left out of meetings and is not included on key decisions, which directly conflicts with what the public is told. According to the Biden White House, Harris is supposedly in charge of the border and other major issues.
It doesn’t sound like she commands much respect from people in the know.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Team Biden shuts Kamala Harris out, considers her ‘a joke’
Vice President Kamala Harris, once seen as the obvious choice to succeed President Joe Biden, is so bad at her job that the first family and key aides are freezing her out of major decisions and consider her ability to help the president’s agenda “a joke.”
According to a new biography, Amateur Hour, the president and first lady have been so standoffish that they have yet to host a family dinner for Harris and second husband Doug Emhoff, and the president has reneged on his promise to have weekly lunches with his No. 2.
Just as telling, according to author and political journalist Charlie Spiering, top White House aides including press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre felt Harris’s office management style so abrasive that they initially took less important jobs inside the administration…
“Washington, D.C., is cruel. Once you are found unworthy, there is little you can do to change people’s minds. In my time spent reporting for this book, I was surprised to learn how few Democrats even like Harris, let alone respect her — unless they are personally invested in her success. Mistakes compounded on mistakes only cemented her reputation and there is little room for sympathy when you reach that level of power.
How embarrassing for the VP.
Team Biden shut Kamala Harris out, consider her ‘a joke’ @charliespiering new book, AMATEUR HOUR, says, Jill didn’t want Harris on ticket, Team Biden froze her out and shoved her in background, aides took lower level jobs instead of working for a brutehttps://t.co/UYHm3dNyps pic.twitter.com/Eo13DTlCgB
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) January 4, 2024
This is the predicament Democrats find themselves in if Biden doesn’t make it to 2024 for any reason. What do they do with Harris?
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US chip stocks tumble after strongest year since 2009
US chip stocks experienced further losses on Wednesday, following on from the strongest year on the markets since 2009.
The tumble of over 2% across the stocks of Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, and Broadcom were the feature hits on the PHLX index, Wall Street’s main semiconductor benchmark, with its losses coming in at 2.1%.
As reported by Reuters — this means that the chip index has fallen from a record-high close on 27 December 2023 with a loss of almost 7% since then.
Republic World touched on a boom year for chip stocks, reflected in a surge of 65% over 2023. Still, the recent decline indicates a broader market awaiting the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes for a steer on the path of its interest rates.
The strong performance of PHLX last year was primarily galvanized by the optimism and strength of the AI boom, which saw its greatest returns in 15 years. The 65% increase for PHLX compared favorably to Nasdaq and the S&P 500 with their respective annual gains of 43% and 24%.
Bank of America analysis on stocksHowever, the recent decline of almost 7% shows the volatility of the market due to factors such as premium valuations, market rotation, and associated trade tensions between the US and China.
Reuters noted Vivek Arya, a global research analyst at Bank of America who has highlighted exposure to cloud computing and automotive through stocks including Nvidia, Marvell Technology, NXP Semiconductors, and ON Semiconductor.
Arya also recommended stocks featuring KLA Corp and Arm Holdings, pointing to the evolution and complexity of chip design.
Nvidia, a global behemoth in chip making, surpassed the $1 trillion valuation mark last year. Still, even it has been impacted by the recent downturn, with a decline of almost 1% this week.
Chip stocks previously benefited from predictions that the downturn in global demand across 2023, which resulted in memory chip makers cutting production, had bottomed out.
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REVEALED: Epstein Documents CONFIRM Donald Trump NEVER Went to Epstein Homes or Pedo Island – Never Had Contact with Witness | The Gateway Pundit
Donald Trump was completely cleared by a victim during her witness testimony.
Here is the full document page.
The victim also said she never massaged Donald Trump.
This comes from page 113 of document 1320-12.
The Gateway Pundit first reported on this revelation in August 2019.
Over two thousand court previously sealed court documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein child sex abuse case were released at the time.
Cernovich.com reported on the highlights earlier today.
According to one document Bill Clinton held a private party on Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile island.
According to Mike Cernovich:
Democrat Senator George Mitchell and Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (Democrat) were also named in the documents.
And despite the constant fake news by the liberal media that Trump was a top client of the convicted pedophile — the 2019 court documents completely clear Donald Trump.Zero Hedge reported:
Following a 2011 article by journalist Sharon Churcher claiming that Donald Trump was a “good friend of Jeffrey’s,” Guiffre was asked to clarify Churcher’s possible misquote that “Donald Trump was also a good friend of Jeffrey’s,” and that Trump “Didn’t partake in any” of — “any sex with any of us but he flirted with me.”
“It’s true that he didn’t partake in any sex with us, and but it’s not true that he flirted with me. Donald Trump never flirted with me,” said Guiffre.
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Indonesia continues crackdown on online gambling content
Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) has blocked access to over 800,000 forms of gambling-related online content, reports Gambling Insider.
Gambling – casinos, poker rooms, sports betting and bingo – has been banned in the country since 1974, but it continues to see gambling-related sites accepting Indonesian registrations globally.
Kominfo is led by Budi Arie Setiadi, who was appointed in May 2023 and is responsible for internet censorship, information affairs and communications across Indonesia. In less than 12 months since Setiadi’s appointment, he has overseen the prevention and removal of 805,923 forms of gambling content previously accessible in the country.
Such a feat has been achieved by working closely with the Financial Services Authority, telecommunications companies and internet service providers, with IP addresses, websites and payment methods all being blocked.
“This achievement is equivalent to the accumulation of online gambling content blocking that has been carried out over the previous five years,” Setiadi said.
The length at which the Indonesian authorities have gone in an attempt to rid online gambling from the country is evident in the breakdown of where restrictions have taken place. Almost 600,000 websites and IPs, over 170,000 Meta platforms, close to 30,000 file-sharing platforms and 15 TikTok accounts are among those who have been blocked from the Indonesian market as a result of this latest crackdown.
Indonesia’s Gambling BanWhile there is ongoing growth in online gambling throughout Asia, Indonesia remains steadfast in its approach to ensuring gambling of any kind remains strictly prohibited throughout its 34 different provinces.
Gambling in Indonesia has been illegal since 1974, but it was announced in 2012 that plans were in place to make all types of online gambling illegal, which was in reaction to large volumes of Rupiah – Indonesia’s national currency – were being gambled online during the European Football Championships in 2012. Those plans are beginning to come to fruition.
Indonesia’s strict Islamic Law is a key reason behind the country’s decision not to capitalize on Asia’s growing gambling industry, which is believed to be worth nearly $80 billion, according to Gambling.com.
Featured Image: Photo by Bisma Mahendra on Unsplash
James JonesJames Jones is an experienced journalist, editor and content creator, with over a decade of experience writing news and features for a variety of online publications.
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How to watch Samsung CES 2024 press conference
Samsung will hold its customary press conference immediately preceding the start of CES 2024. Here’s the lowdown on when it’s happening, how you can watch it, and what you should expect to see.
This year’s Consumer Electronics Show, or CES 2024, will take place in Las Vegas from January 9 to January 12. However, you can expect the major announcements to be made in advance of the show, if they haven’t already.
Here’s everything you need to know about Samsung’s keynote address.
How to watch Samsung’s CES press conferenceOnce again, Samsung will hold its press conference on the eve of CES, and this year that means on January 8 at 5pm EST. That’s 10pm GMT.
The event will take place from the South Pacific Ballroom, North Convention Center, Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
Samsung already has a YouTube video up and running, ready to go live for the event. Alternatively, you can follow along on the Samsung Newsroom page.
What to expect from Samsung’s CES press conferenceSamsung Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of DX (Device eXperience) Division Jong-Hee Han will present the press conference, which this year has the theme ‘AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI’.
Expect the themes of the event to include LG’s shift in focus to becoming a ‘Smart Life Solution Company’, as announced at Future Vision 2030 in July. To that end, you can expect a big focus on AI, and how the company will be leveraging it for its 2024 products and beyond.
So what can we expect to see? The first thing to note is what we won’t be seeing. With a dedicated Unpacked event scheduled for a week or so later on January 17, don’t expect to Samsung’s CES 2024 press conference to do anything but reference the AI potential of the Galaxy S24 range.
Samsung has confirmed that it will be introducing its newest kitchen products, applications and features, with a particular focus on AI and its SmartThings smart home platform. This will include the 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub, the Anyplace Induction Cooktop, and an enhanced Samsung Food service.
We also know that Samsung will showcase a new AI-driven vacuum cleaner lineup at CES 2024, led by the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo robot cleaner.
Otherwise, Samsung has already pre-announced some of the products that will be on show at CES 2024. These include the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 and G6 gaming monitors, which have mostly dropped the signature curve.
Stay tuned for more on Samsung’s CES 2024 offering over the coming days.
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Cache of Unsealed Docs Detail How Ghislaine Maxwell Used “Kissing Game” to Coax “Very Girlish” Minor Teens to Pleasure Jeffrey Epstein | The Gateway Pundit
Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested on charges that she helped Jeffrey Epstein recruit underage girls for sexual abuse. The two are seen here in 2005. (Photo: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Judge Loretta Preska on Wednesday confirmed the first cache of documents from lawsuits related to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse which potentially included names of over 150 people would be released on Wednesday.
The Gateway Pundit obtained the cache of documents that was unsealed Wednesday evening.
Read it here.
One of the unsealed documents detailed how Epstein’s pimp Ghislaine Maxwell used a ‘kissing game’ to coax minor teens to ‘pleasure’ Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, a convicted sex offender is currently serving a prison sentence for her role in helping traffic Jeffrey Epstein’s sex slaves which included minor teen girls.
A document by Epstein victim and plaintiff Virginia Giuffre, details Ghislaine Maxwell’s role in coaxing minor teens to pleasure Epstein.
Rinaldo Rizzo, an estate manager for a friend of Maxwell and Epstein described how a group of 11 or 12 girls, including “very girlish” minor teens, would “grind on each other” and play the “kissing game.”
“The girls were grinding on each other, lifting up their tops, it was very inappropriate,” Rizzo said under oath in a deposition.
Partial transcription from Rinaldo Rizzo’s deposition:
Q. Can you describe the 11 to 12 girls to your memory?
A. In my recollection, various of ages. They could have been from as young as 14, 15 to 18 maybe, 19 . . .very girlish.”
Q. Once inside the house, what happens next?
A. I showed Ghislaine and Jeffrey into the living room, and Ghislaine was the one that instructed the girls, pointing that they needed to come to the living room.”
Q. What happens next?
A. . . . it was getting very perogative [sic], nothing I would want my children to see. The girls were grinding on each other, lifting up their tops, it was very inappropriate.”
Q. What did you see next?
A.. . . From what I knew, Jeffrey was with Ghislaine and now I have all these girls acting very inappropriate….”
Q. When the girls are kissing either Jeff or other girls where was Ghislaine Maxwell?
A. Sitting right next to Jeffrey.”
Q. Is there something you remember vividly?
A. . . . I did pull the nanny aside and I was really, my wife and I were dumbfounded, profound of the situation, and she mentioned this was an occurrence that had happened before, and they called it the kissing game.”
Also according to Rinaldo Rizzo, Ghislaine Maxwell threatened a minor teen and confiscated her passport so she wouldn’t be able to leave Epstein’s pedophile island in the Caribbean.
Q. How old was this girl?
A. 15 years old.”
Q. What did she say?
A. She proceeds to tell my wife and I that, and this is not – this is blurting out, not a conversation like I’m having a casual conversation, that quickly I was on an island, I was on the island and there was Ghislaine, there was Sarah, she said they asked me for sex, I said no. . . . And she says no, and she says Ghislaine took my passport. And I said what, and she says Sarah took her passport and phone and gave it to Ghislaine Maxwell, and at that point she said that she was threatened. And I said threatened? She says yes, I was threatened by Ghislaine not to discuss this. . . And she said that before she got there, she was threatened again by Jeffrey and Ghislaine not to talk about what I had mentioned earlier, about – again, the word she used was sex.
Q. And during this time that you’re saying she is rambling, is her demeanor continues to be what you described it?
A. Yes.
Q. Was she in fear?
A. Yes
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PornHub now blocked in North Carolina and Montana
PornHub and other Aylo sites are now blocked in North Carolina and Montana as the state’s age verification laws have come into effect, reports Engadget. As well as PornHub, Aylo also owns pornographic websites Brazzers, Redtube, and YouPorn.
Louisiana introduced laws requiring adult platforms and websites to verify users’ age in 2023, and multiple other states have followed suit, including Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas. Many of the laws are very similar to Louisiana’s law, which includes claims about pornography addiction and the risk of harm to viewers.
Instead of making users in these states jump through hoops to verify their age, Aylo has decided to simply block their sites in those states. Users in those states attempting to access the site will find a message from the site, delivered by Cherie DeVille, a performer. In the message, DeVille explains why the sites are no longer accessible.
Why has PornHub been blocked in North Carolina and Montana?Many other websites have chosen to implement third-party age verification to allow users in these states to continue to access their websites, but Aylo-owned sites are not taking this path.
In Louisiana, there is a state ID driving license app which PornHub is using to verify local users’ ages. However, many states do not have such an app, and the sites have concerns about privacy and safety.
“As you may know, your elected officials in your state are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website. While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.” States the message on Aylo’s sites.
It continues: “The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns. We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their devices and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in your state.”
The EU is also making moves to regulate PornHub under new rules governing very large online platforms, with over 45 million users per month.
Featured image: Unsplash and Pexels
Ali ReesAli Rees is a freelance journalist and mature student based in Scotland.
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January 3, 2024
“Clinton Likes Them Young” – Wild Bill (DOE 36) Named Numerous Times in Epstein Documents Which Reveal His Alleged Sick Appetite for Girls | The Gateway Pundit
As the Gateway Pundit’s Cristina Laila reported, Judge Loretta Preska confirmed the release of the initial names from Jeffrey Epstein’s extensive client list, comprising over 150 individuals.
Concurrently, a cache of sealed documents was made public Wednesday evening.
READ: Court Listener
Bill Clinton, aka Doe 36, was one of the names made public today. Laila previously the news the former president would be exposed for the world to see.
He was mentioned numerous times throughout, with some unconfirmed reports putting the total at 98.
LOOK:
Epstein documentsClinton’s deposition was quite essential to providing information regarding his relationship with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein documentsCredit: @Techno_Fog
But the news regarding Clinton gets far more sordid. Under questioning by Sigrid McCawley, the lawyer for Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was asked if she knew Clinton was a friend of Epstein.
Here was her response:
I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton. He did not know they were friend until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.
McCawley then asked Sjoberg if Epstein had ever spoken to her about the former president. That is when the accuser dropped this bombshell:
He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.
Epstein court documents/ credit: @Techno_FogDid Wild Bill have a predilection for underage females, just like Epstein? If Epstein was telling the truth, then the evidence appears clear.
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Tekken 8’s colorblind mode is causing vertigo and migraines for some, despite best intentions
As accessibility in games gets ever better, genres such as fighting games have proved to be a more difficult nut to crack for the programmers looking to widen their audiences to include everybody possible.
Superfast gameplay and blurs of colors and effects do not lend themselves well to being modified to make them more accessible to those with visual impairments. Some previous games within the genre have been modded to help and we have recently seen Street Fighter 6 introduce audio information for blind players, highlighting stats such as remaining health, distance from the opponent, and so on.
Tekken 8, when it arrives, will have fully baked-in modes and options for those with visual impairments such as colorblindness, with one mode removing color completely and applying a black-and-white striped filter across the fighters to easily separate them from the background.
So far, so noble. Until multiple players of the demo, or even those watching game footage started to complain that the mode was inducing migraines.
Ars Technica reports that game-accessibility lead at EA, Morgan Baker posted on X, “Please stop tagging me in the Tekken 8 “colorblind” stripe filters. It’s already induced an aura migraine for me and I can’t afford to get another one right now, or worse. Appreciate y’all.”
The issue seems to be focused on the striped filter mainly, and Tekken 8 does offer further colorblind options that seem to work more as intended.
Why is Tekken 8 causing migraines for some people?Aura migraines are also known as ‘classic migraines’ and include symptoms such as vision changes and flashes of light.
Xbox Accessibility Project Manager James Berg urged people on X to stop sharing the tweet showing the effect, saying, “Accessibility folks, please stop directly sharing the tweet showing Tekken characters as striped lines.
Accessibility folks, please stop directly sharing the tweet showing Tekken characters as striped lines.
The video autoplaying is giving folks migraines. Due to it having parallel lines moving unpredictably, covering much of the screen, I’d expect it’s doing worse as well.
— James Berg
(@JamesBergCanada) December 27, 2023
The video auto-playing is giving folks migraines. Due to it having parallel lines moving unpredictably, covering much of the screen, I’d expect it’s doing worse as well.”
He continued in a further post, “For folks unaware of why – patterns of lines moving on a screen creates a contiguous area of high-frequency flashing, like an invisible strobe. Human meat-motors aren’t big fans of that. Everyone has some tolerance for it, but go too far & bad things ensue.”
Tekken 8 Director Katsuhiro Harada responded, also on X, “We have “multiple types of color vision options” for players with different color vision, not just one pattern. In addition to that, there is also a brightness adjustment for effects and an overall brightness adjustment, and with those, there is quite a range of adjustments. On top of that, we have never claimed or publicized that these options cover all players’ color vision (although it has been talked about by a favorable community as a result).
These color vision options are a rare part of the fighting game genre, but they are still being researched and we intend to expand on them in the future. Currently, we have received positive feedback from many demo play participants, but we understand that this option does NOT address the color vision of ALL players in the world.”
Perhaps not exactly the most understanding of responses. We are not going to link to the video for obvious reasons, but if you suffer from visual impairments, migraines, and other similar symptoms, care should be taken if you intend to play Tekken 8 with this mode activated.
Paul McNallyPaul has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision. He spent over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Has written gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the Daily Mirror. Former champion shoot ’em-up legend.
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