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 

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The announcement came just hours after Giuliani had a brush with death in Manchester, New Hampshire.

According to New Hampshire State Police, Giuliani and his driver, Theodore Goodman, were traveling southbound Saturday evening on the Interstate 93 when they were flagged down by a woman on the roadside who indicated that she had been involved in a domestic violence incident.

‘This was not a targeted attack.’

The 81-year-old former mayor and his driver stopped to provide assistance, called police, then waited with the woman until troopers arrived to investigate.

After speaking with the troopers and disclosing what they witnessed, the mayor and Goodman got back into their rental Ford Bronco and pulled onto the interstate. Police indicated, however, that just moments later, a woman driving a Honda HR-V rammed into the rear of the vehicle “almost directly across from the scene of the reported domestic violence incident on the southbound side.”

The driver of the Honda, identified as 19-year-old Lauren Kemp of Concord, is not believed to have any connection to the domestic violence incident. As of Sunday evening, no charges had been filed.

RELATED: Trump to DC: Crime is a choice

Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images

Fortunately, the troopers who were still at the scene were able to provide immediate first aid.

Goodman and Kemp both sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security, indicated in a statement that Giuliani was transported to a nearby trauma center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured spine, multiple lacerations and contusions, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg.

Ragusa noted further that “this was not a targeted attack” and asked “everyone to respect Mayor Giuliani’s privacy and recovery, and refrain from spreading unfounded conspiracy theories.”

Arthur Aidala, a friend of Giuliani, told the New York Times that the former mayor’s spirits were high after leaving the hospital on Monday afternoon.

“I have some healing to do, but I’m otherwise in great shape,” said Giuliani, according to Aidala.

“As President of the United States of America, I am pleased to announced that Rudy Giuliani, the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot, will receive THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, our Country’s highest civilian honor,” Trump noted in a Monday afternoon post on Truth Social.

Giuliani served as New York City mayor from 1994 through 2001. In addition to overseeing a radical drop in crime and implementing policies that helped transform the city for the better, Giuliani stalwartly led his city through the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Trump added, “Details as to time and place to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

The Medal of Freedom was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

While it is supposed to be awarded to individuals like Giuliani — those “who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors” — former President Joe Biden awarded it in his final months in office to a woman who made millions of dollars helping snuff out millions of American lives; to accused sex creep and former Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd; Democrat megadonor George Soros; failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; and former members of the Jan. 6 committee.

Giuliani has in years past been recognized for his leadership with various honors, including a knighthood from the late Queen Elizabeth II and with Person of the Year for 2001 from Time magazine.

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​Crash, Rudolph giuliani, Giuliani, New york city, Mayor, Donald trump, Medal of freedom, Nyc, Trump, Politics 

Tennis player Jelena Ostapenko was labeled “racist” by fans after she insulted opponent Taylor Townsend following a match at the 2025 U.S. Open.

Townsend hammered Ostapenko, winning in straight sets — 7-5, 6-1 — before the two shook hands at the end of play. Immediately after, and with Townsend saying “good match,” the opponents got into an argument about tennis etiquette.

Etiquette, however, was not the actual problem. Rather, it was Ostapenko’s alleged insults toward Townsend that some viewers believed were “racist.”

‘People get upset when they lose, and some people say bad things.’

“You have to say sorry,” No. 26-ranked Ostapenko is heard saying on video. The rest of her rant toward 139-ranked Townsend remained a mystery until a subsequent on-court interview.

“Can you fill us in on the conversation you were having with Jelena,” an ESPN reporter asked Townsend.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s competition. People get upset when they lose, and some people say bad things,” the American began. “She told me I have no class. I have no education and to see what happens when we get outside the U.S.”

Ostapenko is Latvian.

Townsend continued, strangely stating, “I’m looking forward to it. I mean, I beat her in Canada, outside the U.S. I beat her in New York, outside the U.S. So let’s see what else she has to say.”

Later at a press conference, Townsend was asked directly if she felt the Latvian’s remarks had racial undertones.

RELATED: Tennis star stops match to make absurd demand about a baby in the crowd

“That’s something that you’re going to have to ask her,” Townsend replied.

The 29-year-old then admitted that she did not feel the remarks were actually racist.

“I didn’t take it in that way. But also, you know, that has been a stigma in our community of, you know, being non-educated and all the things when it’s the furthest thing from the truth. And the thing that I’m the most proud of is that I let my racket talk,” she said.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Ostapenko said on her social media account that she felt it was “very disrespectful” of Townsend when she “had a net ball in a very deciding momen[t] and didn’t say sorry, but her answer was that she doesn’t have to say sorry at all.”

“It was first time ever that this happened to me on tour … if she plays in her homeland it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants,” the 28-year-old Latvian stated.

Ostapenko’s social media has been flooded with claims that her on-court remarks were racist, with comments appearing on her Instagram page, such as: “Not only is your racism showing but so was your lack of class. You don’t like the calls take it up with the ref.”

Another user wrote, “I pray you learn how to take your losses and get rid of your racist thoughts and behavior. It’s not a good look.”

The athlete later responded to the claims on her page.

RELATED: Coco Gauff: ‘I’m proud to represent the Americans that LOOK like me’

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (L) argues with Taylor Townsend of the United States (R) following their Women’s Singles Second Round match on Day Four of the 2025 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2025, in New York City. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“Wow how many messages I received that I am a racist,” Ostapenko wrote on Instagram. “I was NEVER racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn’t matter where you come from.”

“There are some rules in tennis and unfortunately when the crowd is with you you can’t use it in disrespectful way to your opponent,” she continued.

“Unfortunately for me coming from such a small country I don’t have that huge support and a chance to play in homeland,” she added. “I always loved to play in the US and US OPEN, but this is the first time someone is approaching the match this disrespectful way.”

Despite Townsend remarking that Ostapenko was not being racist at the time, she felt it necessary to declare she is representing black people when competing.

“Whether it had racial undertones or not, that’s something she can speak on,” the Illinois native stated.

“[I’m] very proud as a black woman being out here representing myself and representing us and our culture,” she said. “I make sure that I do everything that I can to be the best representation possible every time that I step on the court and even off the court.”

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​Fearless, Tennis, Racism, Racist, Woke, Latvia, Us open, Women’s sports, Sports 

A grim pattern plays out every time a mass shooting happens in America. Before the victims are buried, before the facts are in, Democrats rush to the microphones to cast blame.

The pattern always goes one of two ways. If the killer can be tied to any semblance of a right-wing ideology, it’s a Republican problem. If the ideology runs the other way — or worse — touches one of the left’s sacred identity groups, then it’s a gun problem. Never their own movement. Never their own rhetoric. Never their own political tribe.

When the killer looks like someone Democrats already despise, it’s open season. When the killer looks like one of their own, the ideology vanishes, and the weapon is to blame.

The Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis last week makes this pattern undeniable. The killer — a former student, a biological male identifying as a trans woman — wrote “Kill Trump” and “6 million wasn’t enough” (a nod to the Holocaust) on his rifle before the attack.

This wasn’t a generic outburst of violence; it was laced with the same extremist left-wing, anti-Christian, anti-conservative hatred that Democrats wink at every single day. Yet no Democratic leader stood up and said, “This is what our rhetoric creates.” Instead, they changed the subject — to guns.

Democrats’ hypocrisy

The hypocrisy is as predictable as it is insulting. When a white extremist commits murder, the left shouts that Republicans have “blood on their hands.” They blame Trump rallies, Fox News, Christian nationalism, you name it. But when a mass murderer hates Christians, embraces the transgender ideology, and openly calls for President Donald Trump’s death … crickets.

Cue the same refrain: gun bans, universal background checks, confiscation. They exploit tragedy to seize power.

Let’s not forget the attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump. Thomas Crooks, who shot at Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, wasn’t a right-winger. He was a registered Democrat who donated to a progressive group.

Ryan Routh, who was arrested outside Trump’s Florida golf course with an AK-style rifle, described himself as a Biden voter who celebrated January 6 prosecutions online.

Where were the breathless op-eds blaming Joe Biden’s rhetoric? Where were the lectures about “dangerous political climates”? The media memory-holed their affiliations as soon as they didn’t fit the narrative.

An evil pattern

This isn’t new. In 2017, James Hodgkinson opened fire on a congressional baseball practice, nearly killing Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was a Bernie Sanders volunteer, a man who posted constantly about his hatred of Republicans. Did Democrats take ownership? Did they tone down their language about “Republicans killing people” over health care? Not at all. They shrugged, called him a lone wolf, and moved on.

In 2019, Connor Betts murdered nine people in Dayton, Ohio. He described himself as a pro-Satan leftist, a gun-control supporter, and a backer of Elizabeth Warren. Did Democrats connect his politics to his crime? No. They blamed Trump for fostering a “culture of hate.”

Then came the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooting. A transgender shooter targeted a Christian school. Rather than mourn the victims, the Biden White House declared a “Trans Day of Visibility.” They stonewalled the shooter’s manifesto for months — because it revealed too much about motive and ideology.

This pattern is too obvious to ignore. When the killer looks like someone Democrats already despise, it’s open season. When the killer looks like one of their own, the ideology vanishes, and the weapon is to blame.

Guns don’t vote Democrat or Republican — but shooters do. And the record shows plenty of killers in recent years have aligned with the Democratic left.

The ugly truth

The ugly truth is that Democrats care more about using mass shootings for their political advantage than stopping them. They use them to smear Republicans as extremists and push gun control. It’s why Biden could call half the country “semi-fascists” in one breath and then act shocked when his supporters try to take Trump’s life in the next. It’s why the same party that insists words are violence refuses to acknowledge that their own words — calling Trump a dictator, Christians bigots, Republicans Nazis — might radicalize someone to pick up a gun.

And their rhetoric has been shameless. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) once told a crowd, “If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gas station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wasn’t far behind, declaring, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.”

These aren’t just slips of the tongue. This is licensed hostility — leaders telling their base that Republicans are illegitimate, dangerous, even deserving of harassment. And then Democrats act surprised when that rhetoric finds its way onto the barrel of a gun.

Meanwhile, conservatives say the obvious: Murderers are responsible for their murders. But we can also recognize that culture, rhetoric, and ideology matter. We should confront the roots of violence wherever they grow — whether in white supremacy or in radical gender ideology, whether on the right or the left. Democrats refuse to do this because it would mean admitting that their own movement produces violence too.

Instead, they hide behind platitudes. “Thoughts and prayers don’t work,” they sneer, mocking faith communities while proposing policies that wouldn’t have stopped the crime in the first place. They will never admit that the shooter who targets Republicans, who targets Christians, who scrawls “Kill Trump” on his weapons, is soaked in the very rhetoric their side promotes daily.

RELATED: Tone-deaf Democrats lash out over prayers for Christians murdered in devastating Minnesota shooting

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Democrats had 12 years at the highest levels of power to do something meaningful about this. Eight years of President Barack Obama, four years of President Joe Biden. They promised “commonsense gun reform.” They promised unity. They promised safety.

Yet what did we get? Nothing but more division, more pandering to activist groups, and more empty speeches. No progress, because their goal has never been real solutions. Their goal has always been to weaponize tragedy to advance their ideology.

Enough is enough

As a father, I can’t sit quietly anymore. All of my kids attend Catholic school. They go to weekly Mass. When I read about a shooter storming into a Catholic parish school with “Kill Trump” written on his gun, I don’t just see headlines. I see my children. I see my wife. I see my parish family.

I want real solutions. I’m tired of the empty suits across the Republican aisle and the cynical blame-shifting of Democrats. Enough is enough. If they won’t protect us, if they won’t be honest about the problem, then we, the people, need to take matters into our own hands.

We need bold leadership at the local level — parents, parishes, and communities willing to protect our children, defend our faith, and confront the truth. Because the politicians won’t do it. And our families can’t wait any longer.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Annunciation, Annunciation catholic school, Annunciation church and catholic school, Annunciation shooting, School shooting, Transgender, Thoughts and prayers, Violence, Rhetoric, Democrats, Media bias