All posts tagged: empower

Muslim Americans face a tough choice, but we have to refuse to empower Trump

Muslim Americans face a tough choice, but we have to refuse to empower Trump

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — Determined after the horrors of the first Trump presidency not to see another, in 2020 I gathered a diverse team of Muslim Americans from around New Jersey to form NJ Muslims for Biden. In the 2020 election cycle, we made more than 136,000 calls in partnership with the Muslim political organizing group Emgage Action, helping to turn out more than 50,000 Muslim voters in Pennsylvania. We were part of a broad coalition that was the margin of victory in that election.  I never imagined then that four years later our Muslim American community would be confronted with such a difficult choice. Many Muslims view Harris as simply an extension of Biden, a president who has seemingly heartlessly funded a war and with American bombs enabled catastrophic harm to our Palestinian and Lebanese siblings and children.  A longtime progressive Muslim American Democrat, I understand this anti-Biden sentiment. Like my community, I feel abandoned and betrayed by a party that has stood silently by as civilian men, women and children have been targeted en masse …

The top 3 ways to use generative AI to empower knowledge workers 

The top 3 ways to use generative AI to empower knowledge workers 

Published by skeptic

Our approach When it comes to AI at Adobe, my team has taken a comprehensive approach that includes investment in foundational AI, strategic adoption, an AI ethics framework, legal considerations, security, and content authentication. ​The rollout follows a phased approach, starting with pilot groups and building communities around AI. ​ This approach includes experimenting with and documenting use cases like writing and editing, data analysis, presentations and employee onboarding, corporate training, employee portals, and improved personalization across HR channels. The rollouts are accompanied by training podcasts and other resources to educate and empower employees to use AI in ways that improve their work and keep them more engaged. ​ Unlocking productivity with documents While there are innumerable ways that CIOs can leverage generative AI to help surface value at scale for knowledge workers, I’d like to focus on digital documents—a space in which Adobe has been a leader for over 30 years. Whether they are sales associates who spend hours responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) or customizing presentations, marketers who need competitive intel for …

We must empower secular schools to assert their ethos

We must empower secular schools to assert their ethos

Published by Sam

A diverse, secular school becomes concerned about the interference of religion in school life. It therefore decides to confront that religion. The result? Protests, intimidation, and death threats. Bereft of support from the authorities, staff are left fearing for their lives and the safety of their pupils. It’s a story we’ve heard again and again over the past decade. And one of the most high-profile is Michaela Community School in Wembley. Michaela is unable to provide a room for Islamic ritual prayer, so pupils began praying in the schoolyard, which sparked concerns about division and bullying among the children. It also led to accusations of ‘disrespecting’ Islam from campaigners outside the school, which grew increasingly nasty. The school was subjected to threatening communications, horrific racial abuse, and eventually a bomb scare. But Michaela’s story has an important difference: the school refused to capitulate. Instead, it doubled down. Identifying the schoolyard prayers as the source of the problem, it decided to prohibit them. The school’s policy has been vindicated in the High Court this week. One …

How a new model of governance could empower small councils | Local government

How a new model of governance could empower small councils | Local government

Published by skeptic

Your editorial on local government (Editorial, 14 April) concludes by pointing up the tension between the economic benefits of scale claimed by proponents of large councils and the community benefits of small councils closer to those they represent and serve. After a lifetime career as an officer in local government, and having chaired two commissions overseeing council finances and electoral boundaries, I have come to wonder if the answer is to separate the council (ie those elected to represent their constituents) from the organisation that is responsible for delivering local services to people and communities (ie the council employees). The present system treats these as one and the same, but their functions are different. I believe it would be possible to create a different relationship, whereby the elected, political body effectively commissioned services from the delivery organisation, run entirely on managerial lines. This would sever the current one-to-one relationship between them and allow a number of elected councils to be served by one delivery agency, holding out the prospect of achieving the economic benefits of larger operational scale …

Empower Yourself With No More “Shoulds”

Empower Yourself With No More “Shoulds”

Published by skeptic

Source: Julia khalimova/Pexels The word “should” does a lot of unintended damage. Every time you say it to yourself, you are sending the message that you are doing something wrong (or not doing enough), and maybe even that you are the problem. But recognizing when you use this word and how it affects you can be the beginning of strengthening your self-esteem and feeling more empowered. The basic problem with “should” is that no one likes to be told that they “should” be doing something. At best, it is a benevolent urging to prompt you to take constructive action. For instance, you might advise yourself, “I really should get more exercise.” It may not feel harsh, but, alone, it is unlikely to motivate you. At the other extreme, it can feel like an attack on your very being—as in, “I should get my lazy butt off that couch and get moving!” Statements like this can undermine your self-esteem and send you on a downward spiral. This is all true whether the “should” is coming from …

8 best feminist T-shirts to empower women on International Women’s Day and beyond

8 best feminist T-shirts to empower women on International Women’s Day and beyond

Published by skeptic

From Dior’s iconic ‘’ T-shirts to Barbie-inspired ‘Smash The Patriarchy’ slogan tees, our obsession with slogan tops has gone from cheeky sayings to those with meaning, empowering T-shirts if you will, and I’m all for it. And with International Women’s Day 2024 on March 8, a feminist T-shirt is a great way to show your support for the cause.  While we definitely don’t need a reason to wear a feminist T-shirt, there’s no time like March to ramp up the girl power – as well as IWD, it’s Women’s History Month, and we’re a pretty incredible bunch worth celebrating. Rihanna shouted her feelings from her T-shirt in Dior’s cult tee Looking at the celebrities wearing feminist T-shirts is a line-up of modern-day icons; Meghan Markle, Rihanna and Oprah along with Barbie’s own America Ferrera whose rousing monologue in the movie is still being talked about. Others include Emily Ratajowski, Natalie Portman and Kerry Washington. How I chose the best empowering slogan T-shirts Slogans: They’re all centred around women’s empowerment, with meaning. Price: Most of the …

US Announces Tech, Academic Opportunities to Empower Afghan Women

US Announces Tech, Academic Opportunities to Empower Afghan Women

Published by skeptic

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced new partnership programs designed to empower Afghan women in the face of Taliban suppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan. Speaking at a meeting of the U.S.-founded group called the Afghan Women Economic Resilience Summit (AWERS), Blinken said Microsoft and LinkedIn will provide virtual training and certifications for Afghan girls worldwide, helping them gain valuable skills and connect with potential employers. Additionally, he said, U.S. academic institutions will offer scholarships to Afghan women and girls who have resettled in the U.S. over the last two years. The State Department did not give details on which schools are involved with the program. Established in 2022, AWERS aims to empower Afghan women both inside and outside their homeland. “We are investing in skills, training, jobs, and female entrepreneurs,” Blinken told the State Department gathering in Washington. “This mission is more important than ever.” Erosion of women’s rights The announcement comes as the United Nations has reported a systematic dismantling of Afghan women’s rights over the past two years. Human rights …

Exclusive | Adtech pioneers launch AI startup to empower publishers and brands at ‘crucial moment’

Exclusive | Adtech pioneers launch AI startup to empower publishers and brands at ‘crucial moment’

Published by skeptic

It’s a tough time for publishers and brands, as AI companies scrape their content to train their models, Big Tech controls search traffic, and LLMs spit out articles that are rewritten versions of the original — often without attribution. Now, adtech pioneers who helped build online advertising unicorns like DoubleClick and AppNexus want to give that power back: Today, their startup Firsthand emerged from stealth to build a platform that allows publishers and brands to easily create and distribute their own AI agents to engage directly with consumers everywhere online – while retaining full control of their data and content.  The New York City-based Firsthand, founded by Jonathan Heller, Michael Rubenstein, and Wei Wei, announced a seed round of $6.65 million today led by AI-focused Radical Ventures, which has also backed Cohere and You.com.  “They are the team to bet on,” Radical Ventures partner David Katz told VentureBeat. “It’s almost like the dawn of search again, with history repeating itself, overharvesting, squeezing publishers, and then completely losing control of their monetization and of their data, …

ICJ case against Israel could finally empower the genocide convention | Israel-Gaza war

ICJ case against Israel could finally empower the genocide convention | Israel-Gaza war

Published by skeptic

Just a month after its 75th anniversary, the genocide convention could be entering a new age of greater relevance as the international court of justice convenes in The Hague to consider the Israel-Gaza war. South Africa has brought a case to the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October Hamas attack that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. The South African case includes references to the Israeli use of blanket bombing and the cutting of food, water and medicine supplies to Gaza. “The acts are all attributable to Israel, which has failed to prevent genocide and is committing genocide in manifest violation of the genocide convention,” the case states. Israel has signalled its determination to rebuff the charges, which Tel Aviv and Washington have rejected as baseless. It could take the court years to make a ruling, but it could also issue “provisional measures” requiring actions, like a ceasefire, to mitigate the risk of genocide. The Israeli government could ignore the measures, but to do so would cause enormous …