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Western Michigan sparks controversy with Arabic jersey during NCAA college football kickoff

A Western Michigan player’s jersey is grabbing the attention of fans instead of his play after the college football kickoff last weekend.

A rivalry game between Michigan State University and Western Michigan University saw the Spartans win 23-6 at home, but one Broncos player stood out among the crowd in the losing effort.

‘This is still America right.’

Along with wearing the somewhat unique No. 0, it was not Mustafi Al-Garawi‘s two tackles that viewers took note of, but rather that the nameplate on his jersey was written in Arabic.

An East Tennessee State transfer, the senior defensive tackle submitted a request to Western Michigan in the summer asking if he could play his final season with Arabic writing on the back of his jersey.

According to Detroit News, Al-Garawi was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after his father was granted U.S. citizenship for rebelling against his own country (Iraq) during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Rashid Al-Garawi allegedly assisted U.S. forces in the Second Gulf War.

RELATED: Are MLB umpires getting worse? Fans say yes, but the stats might disagree

Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor and school officials approved the Arabic writing, seemingly following an NCAA rule that allows players to “celebrate or memorialize people, events or other causes, subject to school and/or conference approval,” according to CBS Sports in 2020.

The messages can vary from player to player.

After a college football fan page with 150,000 followers posted an image of Al-Garawi’s jersey, it was met with mostly negative reactions from fans.

“That’s awful,” one Texan wrote on X.

“Why is that cool. This is America. Nobody can read it,” another user said.

“This is still America right,” another fan replied.

At least a half-dozen X users called for Al-Garawi’s deportation, while some other fans even called the writing “gay.”

REALTED: English alone won’t cut it in a global economy

Charles Du’s #49 jersey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Photo by CFP/Getty Images

While this may be the first time a player name has been written in Arabic in an NCAA football game, there have already been two players who have had their names written in Chinese.

First, Arizona State University’s He Peizhang, aka Jackson He, had his name written in Chinese in 2020. He came to the U.S. from Guangdong, China, at 17 years old, according to South China Morning Post.

In 2025, Charles Du of Notre Dame grabbed headlines and social media attention when he had his name written in Chinese during the Sugar Bowl on January 2.

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​Football, Fearless, Ncaa, Michigan, Western michigan, Iraq, Saddam hussein, Michigan state, Sports 

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Thomas Massie leads pressure campaign, forcing Congress to address Epstein

As lawmakers return from their five-week recess, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is wasting no time to address the Epstein files.

Just as Republicans managed to drown out much of the Epstein drama, Massie is reigniting the fight for transparency surrounding the files.

‘Massie promptly pushed back on the move, calling it a “meaningless vote.”‘

Massie announced he will file a discharge petition as soon as the House is back in session on Monday, which would force a vote in the House to release the Epstein files, so long as he collects at least 218 signatures from his colleagues. If all 212 Democrats sign on, he will need signatures from at least six more Republican lawmakers.

“I pray Speaker Johnson will listen to the pleas of these victims for justice and quit trying to block a vote on our legislation to release the Epstein files,” Massie said in a post on X.

RELATED: Democrat lawmaker pounces on Epstein drama, calls for congressional vote

Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Massie’s bill, which is being co-led by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, requires all Epstein-related materials in the DOJ, FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices to be made publicly available within 30 days of the bill’s passage.

The legislation would also require Attorney General Pam Bondi to submit a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees listing all the categories of the records that were released and withheld, a summary and legal justification of all the redactions made, and a list of government officials and “politically exposed persons” named in the materials “with no redactions permitted.”

With respect to redactions, the bill clarifies no information may be withheld for purposes of “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”

The bill does allow for redactions for any content that violates the privacy of any victims involved; for child sexual abuse materials; if it jeopardizes an ongoing federal investigation or depicts death, abuse, or injury of a person; or if it is in the interest of national defense.

RELATED: FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: ‘Nobody is believing this’

Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Court Accountability

While Massie and Khanna continue their push for transparency, the House leadership also scheduled their own vote on a bill that would direct the House Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation” into the government’s “possible mismanagement” of the Epstein case.

Massie promptly pushed back on the move, calling it a “meaningless vote” that simply provides “political cover” for members who don’t support his bipartisan legislation. Massie and Khanna are also set to hold a joint press conference on Wednesday with 10 of Epstein’s victims to raise awareness and bring attention to their bill.

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​Ro khanna, Thomas massie, Epstein, Epstein files, House republicans, House democrats, Congress, August recess, Ghislaine maxwell, House oversight committee, Mike johnson, Pam bondi, Doj, Fbi, Us attorney, Epstein victims, Donald trump, Trump administration, Politics 

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Mayor Johnson remains defiant on Trump’s pending National Guard deployment amid violent weekend

CHICAGO, Ill. — The crowd of protesters were packed tightly around the Haymarket Memorial to participate in a Labor Day march that shifted focus on the potential deployment of National Guardsmen to the city. President Donald Trump has said repeatedly he would like to have the same crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., to be done in the Windy City.

Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) joined the protesters to continue expressing his disapproval of the Trump administration’s public safety plans for Chicago, which also include surging federal law enforcement agents.

“Are you prepared to defend this land? This land that [was] built by slaves. The land that was built by indigenous people. The land that was built by workers. Are you prepared to defend this land?” Johnson asked the cheering crowd. “I need you all to stand firm, to stand strong, if this president decides to continue to break this Constitution.”

Johnson then led a “No troops in Chicago!” chant.

— (@)

The protesting crowd featured many Mexican flags and flags from other Latin American countries as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed on Sunday extra immigration agents will be sent to the sanctuary city. While the crowd marched in neighborhoods close to the Loop, they did not march in the high-crime areas such as Humboldt Park or Englewood.

— (@)

RELATED: Watch how Mayor Brandon Johnson reacts when asked if he will accept more police funding in Chicago

Brandon Johnson KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Johnson and other state Democrats’ ongoing resistance to a federal crackdown on the city’s crime could not have come at a worse time as over 50 people were shot during the Labor Day weekend. From Friday to Monday, at least 54 people shot, seven fatally, according to ABC 7 Chicago. Some of the incidents were mass shootings, which took place within 48 hours of each other. One of the mass shootings took place close to the headquarters for the Chicago Police Department.

Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (D), a staunch Johnson critic, asked those who would say “hell no” to extra federal personnel in the city: “How much crime do you find acceptable, how many people are you willing to make victims for your politics? In my opinion, any tool that prevents one more Chicagoan from being shot, robbed, carjacked, forced into human trafficking, or killed by cartel-delivered drugs is absolutely worth it!”

Lopez further suggested the National Guard protect the tourist areas of the city so Chicago police “don’t have to babysit the Bean or Buckingham Fountain for eight hours a day. Our officers can return to their districts [and] answer the thousands of 911 calls logged but never answered.”

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​Politics, Chicago, Brandon johnson 

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Establishment Democrat’s congressional career takes a turn: ‘This decision has not been easy’

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York has long been a pillar of the Democrat establishment in Washington, D.C. After 50 years in public office, the 78-year-old made a consequential announcement with respect to his congressional career.

As of Monday night, Nadler will no longer be seeking re-election in 2026, leaving a vacant seat in the heart of Manhattan. Nadler said that although his decision to retire was difficult, the longtime lawmaker wants “to pass the torch to a new generation” of Democrat leadership.

‘I don’t know what the future beyond 2026 holds.’

“This decision has not been easy,” Nadler said in a statement. “But I know in my heart it is the right one and that it is the right time to pass the torch to a new generation.”

Nadler was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 after serving in the New York State Assembly for 15 years. During his congressional tenure, he also served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2023.

RELATED: 3 Senate races that could flip the balance of power: ‘This is a wake-up call’

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Notably, Nadler has not made clear what his next professional endeavor will be following his retirement.

“I don’t know what the future beyond 2026 holds, but I plan to stay fully engaged in the community that is my home and in the causes that I’ve championed throughout my life,” Nadler said.

“My plans for the next 16 months, however, are clear. I will continue to give everything I have to defend our democracy, protect our institutions, and fight for the values that as Americans and New Yorkers we share.”

RELATED: Exclusive: GOP lawmaker introduces bill barring illegal aliens from ‘sabotaged’ census

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

In a recent interview, Nadler said the aftermath of former President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race was formative for the Democratic Party, noting that it “really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party.”

“I think I want to respect that,” Nadler said.

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​Jerry nadler, New york, Establishment democrats, Democratic party, House democrats, Joe biden, Old guard, Congress, House judiciary committee, The swamp, Manhattan, Politics 

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The promised return has come, dazzling as ever, right on schedule

What a lovely Labor Day weekend that was. As a new week begins, I find myself reflecting over all that happened these past three days. I must say what’s on my heart.

When you left last January, you assured me you would come back. I remember that moment like it was yesterday — your abrupt departure in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning.

Some of you for a time is better than none of you at all. I’ve come to accept this.

Seven months will go by “just like that,” you coyly suggested. That’s how I remember it, as the room went dark immediately upon your absence. Why must you do this to me?

I tried to wait for you, and by and large, I was successful. The truth is that but for a brief fling of madness in March, there’s been an unmistakable “you-shaped” hole in my life.

I never want to feel this emptiness again, yet something tells me that before long, it will happen again. Looking back, it’s the Saturdays without you that were the hardest.

I needn’t remind you that we spent that entire day together, you and I, from early morning to well past midnight. Other friends came and went, but I never took my eyes off you.

Those were happy times, with homemade soup on the stove, a fire on the hearth, and you, even more radiant than the turning colors outside, the center of my undivided attention.

I realize a bird of your beguiling plumage is meant to be free, and I’ve no right to keep you all to myself. But keep you I shall for the blissful time we’ve been given to spend together. When I’m not gazing lovingly at you, know this: I will be thinking of you.

Oh, the places we’ll go now that you’re back! Athens will be special this fall, rich in history and tradition as it is; Oxford, too. I suspect we’ll make memories together in many other places as well. Come January, you’re sure to bowl me over with some surprises of your own.

Speaking of that cruelest of months when, as if on a predetermined schedule, you flee, I shall try not to grow sullen. I’ll pursue other interests to take my lovesick mind off you. But it won’t be the same, for there is only one you. Nothing even comes close.

RELATED: A father-son movie bucket list

Alfieri via iStock/Getty Images

I know I’m not the only man who longs for you. I’m not even the only man on my cul-de-sac who longs for you. But you were crystal clear about this arrangement from the very beginning. I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last. Some of you for a time is better than none of you at all. I’ve come to accept this.

You know something? That’s enough pining by me. It’s all water under the bridge now. What matters most is that you have once again returned, as promised.

Absence has made the heart grow fonder. We are together again, my beloved, and for the next five months I’ll have eyes for nobody — and I mean nobody — except you.

Oh, how I have missed you, college football.

​Opinion & analysis, Funny conservative, Football, Love, Sports, Humor, College football 

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Cops make arrest after grandmother is groped on her front porch in broad daylight. Suspect is a young teen.

Blaze News last week reported on a disturbing incident in Louisville, Kentucky, involving a grandmother who was alone on her porch in the middle of the day when her home surveillance camera captured a young male getting off his bike, walking up her driveway, and approaching her on the porch of her home.

As WLKY-TV reported, the male asks 78-year-old Jan Fletcher, “Is somebody in there? I don’t want to wake them. Is somebody in there?”

‘I want an apology for him doing it.’

Fletcher responds, “Yeah. Why?”

The station said the male was asking for directions to a well-known neighborhood park. But then the male got all the way onto the porch, walked behind Fletcher, and acted as though he was dusting something off her rear end.

But WLKY said the male soon repeatedly and violently groped Fletcher until she was able to stop him.

“I was so mad that it happened,” Fletcher recalled to the station during an on-camera interview. “I was thinking, ‘What could I have done different?’ But I don’t know what I could have done differently.”

Her granddaughter Jessica Powell-Page was understandably horrified and told WLKY that “she didn’t deserve that” and that the incident was “unacceptable.”

Well, Louisville Metro Police Department said police arrested a 13-year-old male Friday in connection with the incident and charged him with third-degree sexual abuse, WLKY said in a follow-up story.

Police said the male doesn’t live in the neighborhood where the incident occurred, the station added.

Despite the disturbing encounter, Fletcher noted to WLKY in its initial report that she’s lived in her neighborhood for 55 years and has felt safe — and that she’s not going anywhere.

“I’ve been asked if I’m afraid to sit here on my porch, and I’m not,” she noted to the station defiantly. “I want him to know you’re not scaring me. Absolutely not. So every day that it’s nice weather, I will be on my porch.”

Following the arrest, Fletcher told WLKY, “I want an apology for him doing it.”

“I really hate that these young people are out here doing stuff. I hate it; it’s sad. … What enjoyment do they get out of doing stuff? I don’t understand it,” Fletcher added to the station.

Louisville police told WLKY that “the elderly are often the victims of scams, harassment, and home invasion, which often start with suspicious questions at the door.” Police also offered the following tips, the station said.

Trust your instincts. If a person or situation makes you feel uneasy, trust your gut feeling. Acknowledge the potential threat and take action to stay safe.
Take note of your surroundings. Pay attention to potential hiding spots for an attacker, such as alleys, doorways, large bushes, or between parked vans. When walking past these areas, give them a wide berth.
Look for warning signs. Stay alert for suspicious behaviors, like someone following you on foot or in a vehicle. If you notice this, change directions, cross the street, or enter a business to signal that you have noticed them.

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​Arrest, 13-year-old male, Louisville, Groping, Grandmother, 78-year-old woman, Front porch, Home surveillance video, Sexual abuse charge, Crime 

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Comedy writer arrested at London airport for criticizing ‘psychotic crossdressers’

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom appears to have difficulty clamping down on imported rape gangs but is quick to make arrests for thought-crimes such as expressing a love for bacon within earshot of a future mosque, unfurling the British flag, singing gospel music in public, praying silently for aborted babies, and, in the case of Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan, criticizing trans activists.

Following his trip to the United States, Linehan, the co-creator of the television program “Father Ted” and creator of “The IT Crowd,” was greeted at London’s Heathrow Airport by five armed police officers.

‘I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist.’

The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed to Blaze News that Linehan was arrested by the MPS Aviation Unit on suspicion of inciting violence.

The comedy writer noted on his Substack that police escorted him to a private area and told him he was “under arrest for three tweets.”

Linehan indicated that “in a country where pedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer” for the following tweets:

an April 19 tweet where he captioned a photograph of a trans-activist protest, “A photo you can smell.”a follow-up to the smelly protest tweet where he clarified for the benefit of a critic, “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F**k them.”an April 20 tweet where he wrote, “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”

“When I first saw the cops, I actually laughed. I couldn’t help myself. ‘Don’t tell me! You’ve been sent by trans activists,'” wrote Linehan. “The officers gave no reaction and this was the theme throughout most of the day. Among the rank-and-file, there was a sort of polite bafflement. Entirely professional and even kind, but most had absolutely no idea what any of this was about.”

The comedy writer noted that after taking a nap in a locked cell, he was hauled before an officer, who grilled him about his tweets.

RELATED: Why the English flag now terrifies the regime

Photo by Krisztian Elek/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“Eventually, a nurse came to check on me and found my blood pressure was over 200 — stroke territory,” wrote Linehan. “The stress of being arrested for jokes was literally threatening my life! So I was escorted to [accident and emergency], where I write this now after spending about eight hours under observation.”

Linehan indicated he was ultimately freed on bail on the conditions that he does not go on X and will show up to another police interview in October.

The writer concluded:

I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online — all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers. To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.

“On Monday, 1 September at 13:00hrs officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight,” a police spokeswoman told Blaze News. “The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.”

“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing,” continued the spokeswoman. “He has now been bailed pending further investigation.”

The spokeswoman indicated the officers were armed but did not draw their weapons at any point during the arrest.

This is hardly Linehan’s first run-in with Britain’s thought police.

The BAFTA-winning comedy writer was charged with harassment and with allegedly breaking a trans-identifying man’s phone in April. His trial in that case is reportedly set to begin this month.

Vice President JD Vance noted earlier this year that free speech in the United Kingdom “is in retreat.”

“The entire collective West — our transatlantic relationship, our NATO allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration — got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse range of opinions,” Vance said during his visit to the U.K. last month. “I just don’t want other countries to follow us on what I think was a very dark path under the Biden administration.”

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​England, United kingdom, Uk, Britain, Thoughtcrime, Police, Censorship, Trans, Transgender, Lgbt, Transvestite, Graham linehan, Politics 

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Tim Kaine trying to weasel a ban on Hegseth changing base names into the military budget

Democrat Senator Tim Kaine (Va.) has weaseled an amendment into the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026 that would handcuff Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when it comes to the naming of certain military bases and other Pentagon assets.

Erasure

The Department of Defense took part in the iconoclastic Biden-era sweep of American history that saw graves dug up, statues toppled, animals renamed, busts melted down, and church windows removed.

Pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 — which survived a Dec. 23, 2020, veto by President Donald Trump — former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin established a commission to identify, for the purpose of removal, “names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia to assets of the Department of Defense that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.”

Austin ultimately embraced all of the commission’s recommendations.

As a result, nine Army installations took on new names: Fort Bragg in North Carolina became Fort Liberty; Fort Benning in Georgia became Fort Moore; Fort Gordon in Georgia became Fort Eisenhower; Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia became Fort Walker; Fort Hood in Texas became Fort Cavazos; Fort Lee in Virginia became Fort Gregg-Adams; Fort Pickett in Virginia became Fort Barfoot; Fort Polk in Louisiana became Fort Johnson; and Fort Rucker in Alabama became Fort Novosel.

Restoration

These changes delighted Democrats and other leftists.

Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner (Va.), both on the Senate Armed Services Committee, were among those who celebrated the condemnation of memory, claiming in a joint statement that the name changes were “proof that progress is possible.”

RELATED: Exclusive: Moses Ezekiel’s historic sculpture finally set for installation in Arlington Cemetery, by the Southern graves it once marked

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Trump signaled a desire to reverse the changes.

Months after Hegseth restored the names of Forts Bragg and Benning, the commander in chief told a North Carolina crowd that the other seven Army installations were similarly getting their proper names back.

Among the Democrats prickled by this twist of fate was Kaine, who told reporters in June that Trump lacked the authority to make the name changes, stating, “The president can’t change the law on a whim, and his court jester Pete Hegseth can’t do it either.”

Prohibition

The U.S. Senate plans to vote this month on its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

‘We learn from our triumphs and our pains, which makes our country stronger.’

The bill currently contains an amendment, section 349, which would require Hegseth to use the names of Pentagon assets in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including military bases, that were adopted by the Biden-era naming commission.

This amendment, which Kaine’s office confirmed to Blaze News was the Virginia Democrat’s handiwork, bars Hegseth from overriding the Virginia-specific naming recommendations of the commission.

If the NDAA 2026 is passed as is, Forts A.P. Hill, Lee, and Pickett will become Forts Walker, Gregg-Adams, and Barfoot, just as the Biden-era revisionists intended.

When pressed on whether there was a conversation about limiting this prohibition to Virginia, the office of one Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee told Blaze News, “NDAA deliberations are held at a classified level, so we cannot comment on the process involved in the inclusion of this provision.”

Blaze News reached out to several Republicans on the committee to ask whether they would fight the amendment but has so far received no confirmations.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement to Blaze News, “Past administrations have tried to rename bases that should [never have] been changed in the first place. Here at the Pentagon, we honor our American history and traditions; we don’t erase it.”

“We learn from our triumphs and our pains, which makes our country stronger,” added Wilson.

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​Tim kaine, Pete hegseth, Fort bragg, Fort lee, Fort hood, Fort a.p. hill, Fort pickett, Fort rucker, Pentagon, Military, Defense, Department of defense, Donald trump, Kaine, Democrats, Renaming, Base, Army, Army base, Politics 

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UK police face wave of backlash over live facial recognition tech at carnival

The Metropolitan Police have been experimenting with and refining their live facial recognition technology for nearly a decade. Large events, such as the recent Notting Hill Festival in West London, have been used as special targets for the police force’s technology.

Not everyone is on board with this surveillance technology, however. Several groups have come forward to call for the reconsideration of the use of this technology on several grounds, including the fact that the legitimacy of the technology is relatively unproven both in practice and in law.

‘We all want criminals off the streets, but turning [the] carnival into a mass police lineup is not the way to do it.’

According to the BBC, 11 organizations urged Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley in a letter to abandon the technology, warning that it is a “mass surveillance tool that treats all carnival-goers as potential suspects” and has “no place at one of London’s biggest cultural celebrations.”

RELATED: YouTube admits to secretly manipulating videos with AI

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

The recent letter, signed by Big Brother Watch, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, the Runnymede Trust, Race on the Agenda, Privacy International, Statewatch, Open Rights Group, Stop Watch, Race Equality First, and Access Now, highlights the invasiveness, past errors, and the potential lack of legality of the use of this technology.

LFR has been used at the Notting Hill Carnival dating back to 2016 and 2017, according to a Sky News report. Using cameras mounted on police vans, LFR matches live people’s faces against police records. This purportedly gives police the ability to know exactly who to pull aside for “questioning,” especially in crowded areas or large events.

Rowley admitted that “at that time, the technology was in its early stages and the algorithm’s performance was limited.” However, the tech has since made “considerable progress,” at least according to the commissioner.

The letter points out that the “Notting Hill Carnival is an event that specifically celebrates the British African Caribbean community, yet the MPS is choosing to use a technology with a well-documented history of inaccurate outcomes and racial bias.”

Rebecca Vincent, the interim director of Big Brother Watch, told Sky News, “We all want criminals off the streets, but turning [the] carnival into a mass police lineup is not the way to do it.”

The Met has reportedly announced that the technology has led to 457 arrests and seven false alerts since January 2025.

While the Met claims that the technology has improved substantially, the concerned groups have demonstrated the adverse effects of LFR on law-abiding citizens. In February 2024 or 2025, Shaun Thompson, a black Londoner coming home from his work at a community outreach program called Street Fathers, was stopped by police outside the London Bridge Station. According to his telling of events, he was told that he was “wanted” and was held for roughly 30 minutes because the software had mistakenly identified him as a suspect. He described this incident with the police as a “stop and search on steroids.”

Commissioner Rowley defended the “doubling” of the tech by saying it can be used to “disrupt and deter” the minority of festival attendees who might cause problems, according to the BBC.

“Where we know that LFR can help locate individuals the police need to speak to, and those people pose a public safety risk to the many seeking to enjoy Carnival, it is entirely reasonable to ask — why wouldn’t you use it in this context?” he said.

More LFR vans are expected to be rolled out soon in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, and Hampshire, according to Metro. They are already in use by South Wales Police, Essex, and Met Police areas.

Return contacted Big Brother Watch for comment and was referred to its press release page for additional information.

​Tech, Lfr, Live facial recognition, Metropolitan police department, London, Big brother watch, Notting hill carnival, Shaun thompson, Rebecca vincent, Mark rowley