All posts tagged: Disturbing

Donald Trump’s Disturbing Welcome for King Charles

Donald Trump’s Disturbing Welcome for King Charles

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump welcomed the British monarch King Charles III to the White House yesterday and gave a speech that, on its surface, expressed warmth between the two countries. But its true purpose was darker. Trump’s speech stamped his imprimatur on an ascendant view of American history and politics—one that is controversial even on the American right, and that walks up to the edge of white nationalism. The analysis Trump endorsed is that America is defined not by its founding values but by its Anglo-Saxon cultural and genetic heritage. This idea has radical consequences, some of which have already manifested under the administration. Trump’s sentiment was unmistakable. “Long before Americans had a nation or a constitution, we first had a culture, a character, and a creed,” he said, proceeding to depict the Founders not as rebels against the English crown but instead its loyal heirs: “Their veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage. Their hearts beat with an English faith in standing firm for what is right, good, and true.” Read: The YOLO presidency Trump proceeded to downplay …

Naga Munchetty shares ‘outrage’ as BBC star targeted in disturbing deepfake scam using fake nude images

Naga Munchetty shares ‘outrage’ as BBC star targeted in disturbing deepfake scam using fake nude images

Published by Sam Flores

Naga Munchetty has spoken out after becoming the target of a deepfake scam, revealing fraudsters manipulated images of her to lure victims into online schemes. The BBC Breakfast presenter, 51, said criminals superimposed her face onto explicit images and circulated them as advertisements designed to drive traffic to fraudulent websites. “Scammers are smart, conniving, manipulative, wicked people,” she told the Times. “My head was put on a naked body and used as clickbait to drag people into a scam site.” Munchetty said the use of her likeness in this way did not cause her personal distress, but she was angered by the intent behind it. She continued: “I wasn’t upset that my face was on a naked body, because I knew it was fake, but the fact that it was being used to lure people into being scammed made me so mad. I am outraged and furious.” Naga Munchetty has spoken out after becoming the target of a deepfake scam (BBC) The altered images were circulated as paid adverts on platforms including X and Facebook, …

‘Faces of Death’ Depicts Realistic Snuff. That’s Not the Most Disturbing Thing About It

‘Faces of Death’ Depicts Realistic Snuff. That’s Not the Most Disturbing Thing About It

Published by skeptic

“If you’re going to bring Faces of Death into the modern era,” says director Daniel Goldhaber, “on some level, you have to contend with the fact that Faces of Death is everywhere.” In 1978, John Alan Schwartz’s low-budget, exploitation horror movie Faces of Death was unleashed upon the world. Less a movie than a feature-length clip reel, the film presents itself as a documentary in which a pathologist (played by an actor) shares his collection of snuff footage (mostly fake) with the audience. Despite the fakery involved in its most gruesome scenes, the film became an underground phenomenon on VHS, attracting legions of horror buffs eager to test their mettle with what they thought was footage of the real torture, violence, and murder. Nearly 50 years on, real snuff is everywhere, and Goldhaber and co-writer Isa Mazzei—the duo share a “film by” credit—have a new angle on the scuzzy classic. Their rebooted Faces of Death is a straight-ahead horror thriller starring Barbie Ferreira as Margot, a content moderator for a TikTok-like social video app who …

A New Study Found Something Disturbing About the Way Delivery Workers Drive to Get You Your Burrito

A New Study Found Something Disturbing About the Way Delivery Workers Drive to Get You Your Burrito

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech App based delivery drivers have a tough gig. They navigate aggressive drivers, hostile restaurant workers, and impatient customers while their paycheck hangs in the balance. Manage it all perfectly, and their algorithmic overlord lets them move on to the next delivery. Let a car accident, construction detour, or act of fate throw off the timeline, and the app responds with consequences ranging from reduced ratings to outright deactivation — a digital pink slip cutting them off from, in many cases, their only source of income. As it turns out, that kind of pressure has real consequences for the decisions delivery drivers make on the road. A new study slated for publication in the journal Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives next month took a look at why delivery drivers speed — and the answer seems to have less to do with reckless habits of individual workers, and more to do with the system those workers are trapped inside. To conduct …

The Birmingham crimes so disturbing that judges described them as ‘the worst’

The Birmingham crimes so disturbing that judges described them as ‘the worst’

Published by Sam Flores

Disturbing cases are nothing new to Birmingham’s courts – attacks, sexual assault and murders are a daily occurrence. This means that when judges sat in Birmingham’s crown court, accustomed to dealing with serious and often disturbing criminal cases, describing something as ‘the worst’ is a pretty high bar. Yet even within that context, there are moments when the scale, cruelty or persistence of offending prompts the strongest possible judicial language, reserved for crimes that stand out as exceptional. Read more: The ‘absolutely certain’ murder police are still trying to crack These descriptions are not mere rhetoric – judges are identifying alarming behaviour, whether due to sustained abuse, extreme violence, or shocking neglect. Below are key examples, drawn from BirminghamLive coverage, where judges or courts described crimes as among ‘the worst’. Pastor abuse case Michael Oluronbi, a self-styled prophet and evangelical pastor who was convicted of multiple rapes of members of his congregation -Credit:WMP One of the clearest examples comes from the case of Birmingham pastor Michael Oluronbi. Sentencing him at Birmingham Crown Court, the judge …

’70s star Lindsey Buckingham ‘doused with substance’ in disturbing Santa Monica attack

’70s star Lindsey Buckingham ‘doused with substance’ in disturbing Santa Monica attack

Published by Daniella Wilson

Fleetwood Mac rocker Lindsey Buckingham was reportedly attacked by a woman known to him while attending an appointment in Santa Monica, California, on Wednesday. The 76-year-old was doused with an unknown substance when entering the building, and the woman quickly fled the scene, as per NBC4 LA. Authorities described the woman as a stalking suspect, and no arrests have been made at the time of reporting. He was reportedly not injured in the attack. The incident comes just over a year after Lindsey was granted a restraining order against an alleged stalker by the name of Michelle. It is unclear if this case is connected to the attack on Wednesday. According to court documents, Michelle had allegedly been harassing the guitarist and his family since 2021 and reportedly made threats on their lives. He shares kids Leelee, Stella and William with his estranged wife, Kristen Messner. © Getty ImagesLindsey Buckingham was reportedly attacked on Wednesday Lindsey told the court at the time that Michelle was “leaving long drawn-out messages that included the claim that she …

A Disturbing New Low in the Polymarket Era

A Disturbing New Low in the Polymarket Era

Published by José Betancourt

On March 10, the journalist Emanuel Fabian reported on a missile that had been launched from Iran. The warhead hit an open area outside Jerusalem, which Fabian confirmed by speaking with rescue services and reviewing footage of the explosion. He wrote a short post on The Times of Israel’s live blog and moved on. Meanwhile, gamblers had wagered millions on the unfolding events of the conflict. Fabian’s post became the subject of a major dispute on Polymarket, a popular prediction market where people can bet on the outcome of almost anything. The site had allowed users to guess when Iran would initiate “a drone, missile, or air strike on Israel’s soil”: More than $14 million was riding on whether such an attack had happened March 10. Read: America is slow-walking into a Polymarket disaster People started reaching out asking Fabian to change his article. Some argued that Israel Defense Forces had not officially mentioned such an attack occurring on that day, and others said that the explosion he had reported was the result of a …

Why False Accusations Are So Disturbing

Why False Accusations Are So Disturbing

Published by Jenni Sidey

There are lies we find acceptable, depending on the circumstances. We may lie to protect someone, to spare a person’s feelings, to bypass complexity in explaining a difficult incident, or to avoid inconvenience. But only one kind of lie is momentous enough to be expressly forbidden in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not bear false witness. This post focuses on professional and personal false accusations in our daily lives, revealing general psychological principles that may apply to other, more fraught and complicated circumstances—in the justice system, in divorce confrontations, and with bullying. Why are false accusations so disturbing, and what can we do if we are falsely accused? The Just-World Hypothesis Many of us hold the sustaining belief that the world is just and that people get what they deserve. Some of us accept this belief explicitly. Most accept it implicitly. When we see others experiencing misfortune, our belief in a just world reduces anxiety by providing at least a partial explanation. In doing so, it benefits our own psychological well-being. But the just-world hypothesis …

Disturbing AI Slop of Adorable Food Creatures Being Cooked in Horrible Ways Is Strangling the Internet

Disturbing AI Slop of Adorable Food Creatures Being Cooked in Horrible Ways Is Strangling the Internet

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Women crashing through glass bridges. Cat parents grinding their children into mincemeat. Poor people rioting in Walmart. Whichever way you look, the internet is clearly drowning in AI slop — and the tide just keeps coming in. The latest AI slop fad strangling the web is a series of videos with a bizarre fixation on traumatized food. In keeping with the grand tradition of AI garbage, the premise is incredibly unhinged: families of anthropomorphized food, often styled as spaghetti, are plucked, chopped, boiled, or fried, screaming in agony as they’re prepared for some heartless human’s meal. Recently uploaded vertical videos on TikTok and Instagram show dozens of variations on the theme, some with tens of thousands of views, others with millions. “My tiny little noodles, my sweet girls, don’t look down,” a momma pasta sobs in one clip on TikTok. “Mommy, the air is burning, I’m scared,” one of the baby bundles cries. “I don’t wanna fall.” The …