If you can't understand the language, listen to the music.
A Georgia State University terrorism expert and his collaborators have developed software that can help identify online Islamic State propaganda by analyzing the music embedded in their soundtracks.
The app’s name is Marvin.
Anthony Lemieux is director of the GSU's Global Studies Institute and a member of its Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative. He worked with a professor of music at City College of New York and a mobile design firm to develop a music recognition tool similar to Shazam, an app that identifies pop music. Lemieux, from the press release:
"Specifically, if a video has music embedded in it that is a product of the Islamic State's music production wing of their media outfit, then it would really be something that should be screened further and most likely taken offline," he said. "Our approach adds an element of identifying and flagging content that should be examined more carefully, and we've shared these ideas with entities, including Facebook and the Home Office in the U.K., where identifying and removing terrorist content has been a huge priority."
The researchers assembled a library of more than 1,200 jihadi and jihad-themed audio products and categorized Da'esh- and Al Qaeda–specific content in the library. In the interdisciplinary collaboration involving a musicologist, a software architect and a social psychologist, the team developed the Marvin application to enable searches via a Cloud service that provides audio fingerprinting by comparing new audio clips to samples in the library.
Because the database is exclusively made up of content produced by terrorist groups, the odds of mistakenly tagging legitimate Koranic recitation are small, Lemieux said.
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We've told you that, in this morning's State of the State address, Gov. Brian Kemp will announce that he'll include $1 million in his budget to develop a waiver that he said would give the state more flexibility to use federal Medicaid dollars, an idea he indicated was promoted by former health and human services secretary Tom Price.
Legislation to this effect (and more) is already bubbling. We’re hearing that state Sen. Dean Burke, a Republican who is also the chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge, has a bill in the works. There are certain to be others.
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Gov. Brian Kemp's speech is scheduled for 11 a.m. today. The Democratic response will be taped at 2 p.m. and aired at 7 p.m. on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
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An earlier post on Brian Kemp's inaugural speech looked at his status as the first governor to have come of age in a post-segregated Georgia. The column also touched on the history of desegregation in Athens – giving specific mention to a brief 1969 practice boycott by black football players at a newly integrated Clarke Central High School.
We received a text this morning from DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond. He was one of those football players.
“Coach [Weyman] Sellers told the black and white players to select one negotiator each. Black players picked me and the white players selected ‘Doc’ Eldridge,” the DeKalb CEO wrote. Eldridge would go on to become the mayor of Athens.
Thurmond was a second-string left halfback. Which helps explain why he went into politics.
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Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball, a product of the University of Virginia, takes a look at U.S. House seats its researchers consider vulnerable in 2020. Georgia's Sixth District, now in the hands of Democrat Lucy McBath, receives a "leans Democrat" label. The Gwinnett-based Seventh District, which Republican Rob Woodall barely held onto last November, is rated a toss-up.
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With a federal shutdown now in its historic 27th day, President Donald Trump has accomplished two things, according to the Gallup organization:
Americans are most likely to cite "the government/poor leadership" (29%) as the most important problem facing the country.
In fact, January saw a 10-percentage-point increase from December in views of government as the most important problem.
The second-most-frequently mentioned problem is immigration -- at 21%, a rate notably higher than December's 16%, and coinciding with the controversy over plans to extend the physical barrier on the nation's Southern border.
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We told you Wednesday that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson was losing patience with both parties in the ongoing shutdown fight.
In case you were wondering if his Georgia colleague, David Perdue, was also starting to push for an interim solution out of the border standoff, the answer is no.
When asked on CNBC if he supported Democrats’ idea of reopening government first and then negotiating on the wall, he replied, “Where’s the leverage for the president in terms of getting them to move on the issue of the day?”
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Your Insiders have called her the queenmaker of Georgia Democratic politics, but Politico.com has given Stacey Abrams a loftier title: A likely "kingmaker" for the 2020 presidential race.
The piece contends that Abrams and another gubernatorial runner-up, Andrew Gillum of Florida, are a "must-call" for any Democratic presidential candidate. From the story:
White House hopefuls don't just crave an endorsement from Abrams or Gillum. Each boasts valuable donor and volunteer lists, in the Southeast's two most populous states, which, if won next year, would almost guarantee a Democratic White House.
The attention Abrams and Gillum are receiving from presidential hopefuls is an indication of the growing pull of the party's progressive base and highlights the role each could play as gatekeepers for African-American and liberal voters. In a crowded Democratic primary, that could make them kingmakers or queenmakers for a candidate lucky enough to score an endorsement or it could at least anchor the candidates to a liberal agenda.
Just about every potential presidential candidate made the journey to Georgia to endorse Abrams and meet with activists and donors. She’s said she’s staying neutral, though her calculus could change as she decides whether to run for U.S. Senate.
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U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, took a few minutes on the House floor on Wednesday to honor the legacy of former Gov. Nathan Deal. Watch his tribute here.
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This is cool: A Georgia government agency is getting in the podcast game. The Department of Early Care and Learning has a regular podcast about its work and mission. You should check it out here.
