Coca-Cola Receives Backlash over AI-Generated Holiday Ad

Maire Clayton
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Coca-Cola Receives Backlash over AI-Generated Holiday Ad

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Coca-Cola was hit with backlash after releasing a series of AI-generated holiday ads, sparking critics on social media to call the company “soulless.”

The Atlanta-based conglomerate enlisted the help of three different AI companies to create the ads, according to Forbes.

The ads attempted to pay homage to a 1995 series of ads titled “Holidays Are Coming.”

The original ad featured a convoy of Coca-Cola trucks decorated with lights as it made its way through a town, causing the town to light up with Christmas spirit.

Two AI companies, Silverside AI and Wild Card, took a somewhat different approach to the almost 30 year-old ad.

One focused on a series of quick cuts, which featured AI shots of nature, animals and, like the original, a convoy of trucks.

Secret Level went in a different direction, deciding to include AI-generated people as well.

The founder, Jason Zada, told AdAge the ad was meant to “[borrow] from the original, in terms of tonality and musically, but able to re-imagine it for a whole new generation.”

Social media users were quick to slam the use of AI.

“This is the most soulless Christmas ad i have ever seen,” one user wrote. “My God, this was possibly the closest thing to the opposite of what the old ads felt like.”

Others blasted the choppiness of the ad.

“[Ten] cuts in 15 seconds, never showing the same thing twice, still looks wrong,” one user wrote. “Truly a powerful technology.”

Some called for a boycott because of the insincerity of the new AI ads.

“We normally have gallons of the stuff at Christmas, but this year we’ll take a leaf out of Coca-Cola’s book and buy the knockoff,” one user wrote.

Coca-Cola previously established the “Create Real Magic” site in 2023 which wanted artists to combine real art with AI technology to create a hybrid image.

It isn’t the first time its seasonal ads have faced backlash. Left-wing activists have pressured the company over the use of its iconic polar bears to weigh in on social issues including climate change and white privilege.

The Coca-Cola marketing department’s influence over the Christmas season has been undeniable. A 1931 advertising campaign was reportedly among the first to depict Santa Claus as a jolly bearded figure in red, fur-trimmed robes.

Microsoft Developing AI ‘Agents’ That Can Perform Tasks on Their Own

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Microsoft Developing AI ‘Agents’ That Can Perform Tasks on Their Own

(Headline USA) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told customers at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday that the company is teaching a new set of artificial intelligence tools how to “act on our behalf across our work and life.”

AI developers are increasingly pitching the next wave of generative AI chatbots as AI “agents” that can do more useful things on people’s behalf.

But the cost of building and running AI tools is so high that more investors are questioning whether the technology’s promise is overblown.

Microsoft said last month that it’s preparing for a world where “every organization will have a constellation of agents—ranging from simple prompt-and-response to fully autonomous.”

Microsoft elaborated in a blog post Tuesday that such autonomous agents “can operate around the clock to review and approve customer returns or go over shipping invoices to help businesses avoid costly supply-chain errors.”

Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference caters to its big business customers.

The pivot toward so-called “agentic AI” comes as some users are seeing limits to the large language models behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s own Copilot.

Those systems work by predicting the most plausible next word in a sentence and are good at certain writing-based work tasks.

But tech companies have been working to build AI tools that are better at longer-range planning and reasoning so they can access the web or control computers and perform tasks on their own on a user’s behalf.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has criticized Microsoft’s pivot.

Salesforce also has its “Agentforce” service that uses AI in sales, marketing and other tasks.

“Microsoft rebranding Copilot as ‘agents’? That’s panic mode,” Benioff said in a social media post last month.

He went on to claim that Microsoft’s flagship AI assistant, called Copilot, is “a flop” that is inaccurate and spills corporate data.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

N.C. Leftists Use Shady Post-Election Tricks to Undo 10K Lead, Block GOP Supermajority

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N.C. Leftists Use Shady Post-Election Tricks to Undo 10K Lead, Block GOP Supermajority

(, The Center Square) Results in an election for the North Carolina Supreme Court that has swung by more than 10,000 votes since all precincts were in on Election Night is the lone statewide recount requested by deadline on Tuesday.

And it comes with two of the state’s 100 counties four days late with results unofficial. Canvassing, by state general statute, is to be completed 10 days after Election Day, and Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline came and went with multiple counties scheduling Monday meetings.

Duplin and Northampton counties, on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., remained unofficial and were not among the six that scheduled and conducted meetings. Those were Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Forsyth, Randolph and Yancey, and each was official by Tuesday.

Republican Jefferson Griffin led by 9,851 votes when 2,658 precincts were all in on Election Night. Tuesday afternoon he trailed Democrat Allison Riggs by 625—a 10,476 vote reversal on the strength of curing provisional and absentee ballots.

Griffin’s request in the Stunner on Salisbury Street was in by the noon deadline.

Recounts for statewide races are allowed if the difference between the candidates is either less than 10,000 votes or 0.5% of votes cast, whichever is less.

In the Senate, Republican Stacie McGinn requested a recount in the District 42 race, and Republican Ashlee Bryan Adams did likewise for District 18.

McGinn was defeated by Democrat Woodson Bradley by 204 votes of more than 124,000 cast; Adams was 134 votes behind Democrat Terence Everitt of more than 123,000 cast.

Adams, on Election Night with all precincts in, had a lead of 38 votes. At the time, it appeared to give Republicans 31 of the 50 seats in the chamber.

Three races in the House of Representatives will get a recount.

In the spotlight is District 105, where Democrat Nichole Sidman made the request after losing to incumbent Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham by 216 votes of more than 54,000 cast. Cotham was a Democrat when she won two years ago and said the party left her when she changed registrations in April 2023.

In District 32, Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon made the request after falling to Democrat Bryan Cohn by 233 votes of more than 43,000 cast. In District 25, Democrat Lorenza Wilkins seeks a recount after losing to Republican Rep. Allen Chesser by 461 votes of more than 48,000 cast.

State certification of all results by the State Board of Elections is scheduled for Tuesday of next week.

At stake in the General Assembly is the all-important checks on power. Gubernatorial vetoes are subject to an override by the Legislature. To do so, each chamber must have three-fifths majority voting for the override. That puts the magic numbers at 30 in the 50-member Senate and 72 in the 120-member House of Representatives.

If there are no changes, the Senate has 30 Republicans, and the House will have 71 Republicans when lawmakers take their oaths in January for the next two-year session.

Fox News Co-Host Giddy for ‘Army of Lawyers’ to Squash Attacks on Pete Hegseth’s Tattoos

Julianna Frieman
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Fox News Co-Host Giddy for ‘Army of Lawyers’ to Squash Attacks on Pete Hegseth’s Tattoos

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Fox News co-host Will Cain said in an interview with the PBD Podcast released Tuesday that he looks forward to an “army of lawyers” squashing the “defamatory” attacks on defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

Left-leaning cable news channels like MSNBC and ABC News have propagated false claims that Hegseth’s Christian tattoos are “white supremacist” symbols.

Cain came in hot when asked about the smear campaign, telling hosts Patrick Bet-David, Tom Ellsworth and Vincent Oshana that Hegseth, who was tapped by Trump on Nov. 13, is a good man qualified to do the job.

“Let me say this first of all, okay,” Cain began. “People in TV often say, ‘This is my friend. This is my friend.’”

Cain made clear that Hegseth is his “real friend” who he would like to “carry my casket”—but said he would try to respond to attacks on his buddy without bias.

The Fox and Friends Weekend co-host said Hegseth is a “flawed man who’s made mistakes in his life” but overall, a principled and good person.

Cain blasted the mainstream media for its “defamatory” interpretation of Hegseth’s tattoos.

“This tattoo issue is nothing short of defamatory, and I’m waiting for the army of lawyers to start attacking the mainstream media,” Cain said.

He referred to his personal experience of being an attorney and called the attack “reckless disregard for the truth.”

“For a public figure, the standard is malice,” he added.

As a photo of a shirtless Hegseth with tattoos on display appeared on the screen, Cain made clear that the defense secretary nominee had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on his chest.

“That picture is when Pete is swimming across the Hudson River, three miles, with 100 Navy Seals—I’ve done it twice with him—on national television,” Cain added. “On Fox and Friends, we air this swim.”

He added it would not have been shown on Fox News if it were a symbol of hate.

“If that is some sort of white nationalist symbol, why would he be blaring it across the news channel to a national audience, millions of people watching?” Cain asked.

Hegseth hit back at attacks on his Christian tattoos in a social media post Saturday.

“Amen @JDVance. Anti-Christian bigotry in the media is on full display,” Hegseth wrote, responding to Vice President-elect JD Vance’s takedown of the Associated Press.

He said under the Trump administration, the targeting of individuals will stop.

“They can target me—I don’t give a damn—but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD,” Hegseth wrote.

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

Soros D.A. Begs Judge to Pause Trump’s Conviction Until after Presidency

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Soros D.A. Begs Judge to Pause Trump’s Conviction Until after Presidency

(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday that his office would oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss his felony conviction in New York.

Bragg said that despite plans to oppose Trump’s motion, his office would agree to hit pause on the proceedings pending the judge’s decision on Trump’s motion to dismiss.

Yet he insisted Tuesday that the case could remain on pause through the end of Trump’s second term.

“Given the need to balance competing constitutional interests, consideration must be given to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns raised by the pendency of a post-trial criminal proceeding during the presidency, such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term,” Bragg wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan.

The George Soros-backed district attorney, who used a novel solution when filing his charges to circumvent the statute of limitations on the 8-year-old case, suggested the absence of case law for such unprecedented circumstances played to the benefit of the leftist prosecutor, who campaigned on a “Get Trump” platform.

“No current law establishes that a president’s temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on unofficial conduct for which the defendant is also not immune,” Bragg wrote.

“Rather, existing law suggests that the Court must balance competing constitutional interests and proceed ‘in a manner that preserves both the independence of the Executive and the integrity of the criminal justice system.’ ”

Contrary to Bragg’s claim, the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees defendants the right to a speedy trial.

Despite Bragg’s attempt to drag out the conviction process—leaving Trump in legal limbo should he decide, for example, to investigate Bragg and Merchan or to exert any form of political pressure on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (who has the power to pardon him)—Trump communications director Steven Cheung declared it a triumph for the defense and an admission of defeat from the D.A.

“This is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide,” Cheung said in a statement.

“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue,” he continued. “The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all.”

In late May, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump on all counts in the case alleging he directed his attorney, Michael Cohen, to falsify business records by designating payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy bunny Karen McDougal as “legal expenses.”

Both women claimed they had romantic affairs with the then-GOP candidate roughly 10 years prior, when he was early in his marriage to future First Lady Melania Trump.

Donald Trump has adamantly denied that the relationships were sexual and maintains his innocence. If, as prosecutors claim, the payoffs constituted campaign expenditures, they would parallel similar offenses by Barack Obama, former Sen. John Edwards, and both Bill and Hillary Clinton, for which the candidates all received slaps on the wrist and small fines.

Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree—a Class E felony with a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Trump and his attorneys already sought dismissal of the case based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, noting that the prosecution built much of its case on actions Trump took while already in the White House that were considered inadmissible.

In July, the court ruled that presidents and former presidents have absolute immunity for actions related to core constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for official actions. The ruling said the president has no immunity for unofficial conduct.

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

Trump Picks Billionaire Howard Lutnick for Commerce Secretary

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Trump Picks Billionaire Howard Lutnick for Commerce Secretary

(Headline USA) President-elect Donald Trump chose Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for Commerce secretary.

If confirmed, Lutnick would have a key role in carrying out Trump’s plans to raise and enforce tariffs as part of his America First economic agenda.

“He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a statement.

Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration.

McMahon has recently been floated as Trump’s favored pick for Education secretary, although he has indicated that he eventually would like to dissolve the department altogether.

Both are tasked with putting forward candidates for key roles in the next administration.

“In his role as Co-Chair of the Trump-Vance Transition Team, Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen,” said the statement.

Lutnick’s confirmation would put him in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather.

It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial.

An advocate for imposing wide-ranging tariffs, Lutnick told CNBC in September that “tariffs are an amazing tool for the president to use—we need to protect the American worker.”

Trump on the campaign trail proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China—and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports. Meanwhile, he would incentivize the production of American goods with tax breaks.

Lutnick had been considered for Treasury secretary, a role that has been at the center of high-profile jockeying within the Trump world. At the same time, the Treasury position is closely watched in financial circles, where a disruptive nominee could have immediate negative consequences on the stock market, which Trump watches closely.

The news also comes after billionaire Elon Musk and others in Trump’s orbit called on Trump to dump previous front-runner for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in favor of Lutnick.

Musk said in his post that “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Ex-Trump Cabinet Official Gives Tucker Carlson Sneak Peak Into ‘Exhilarating’ Confirmation Hearings

Julianna Frieman
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Ex-Trump Cabinet Official Gives Tucker Carlson Sneak Peak Into ‘Exhilarating’ Confirmation Hearings

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Russ Vought, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under the first Trump administration, told Tucker Carlson in an interview released Monday that the upcoming Trump cabinet confirmation hearings will be “exhilarating.”

As President-elect Donald Trump announced key nominations at rapid speed, Carlson asked Vought to draw from his prior experience and provide insight into what should be expected as the Senate is poised to vote on a series of second term Trump appointments.

“They’re gonna be… they’re gonna be exhilarating if you have the right approach to them,” Vought said, causing Carlson to laugh.

Vought warned that senators who oppose Trump’s nominees will hold nothing back during the confirmation hearings.

As of Tuesday, the most critically discussed Trump nominees include former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general and former Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.

“The thing that’s a little hard about it is that you’re no longer yourself,” Vought said of being the scrutinized nominee before the Senate.

Vought said it can be difficult because one has to realize their personal opinions sometimes have to be put aside for the job.

“You are yourself, but you are also going to be doing a job for a person,” Vought said. “So, what I think about a particular issue doesn’t mean as much as what the president thinks about something like that.”

Carlson agreed with Vought’s perspective on the process, saying it must be treated differently than a cable news hit.

“Bernie Sanders went after me very, very hard in my first confirmation hearing as deputy OMB for essentially believing in John 3:16,” Vought recalled, stunning Carlson that he was attacked on the basis of religion.

John 3:16 reads as follows: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Vought said Sanders called him a “bigot” who should “not serve in the federal government” due to his Christian faith.

“Most nominees will not go through what I went through,” Vought told Carlson.

He added the process might be difficult, but the nominees will get through the hearings.

“But I will tell them, you will get through it. You will get to the other side,” he said. “And it will be the most freeing thing in the world.”

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

REPORT: Laken Riley’s Alleged Killer Flown Down to Georgia by Biden Admin

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REPORT: Laken Riley’s Alleged Killer Flown Down to Georgia by Biden Admin

(Headline USA) The illegal immigrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was flown down to Georgia by the Biden administration, according to a witness who testified in the court case this week.

The witness claimed Jose Ibarra was flown from Queens, New York to Atlanta in September 2023, less than six months before he allegedly killed Riley while she was jogging, according to The New York Times.

Ibarra was able to secure the flight after he and several other illegal immigrants, including the witness, Rosbeli Flores-Bello, requested transportation out of New York City.

They had been living in the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, which was converted into a migrant shelter by city officials.

This request was granted thanks to a New York City program set up in 2023, with funding from the Biden administration, to transfer migrants out of the city.

“In Manhattan, we requested for a humanitarian flight to come here to Atlanta,” Flores-Bello testified, according to the New York Post.

Flores-Bello said she and Ibarra decided to move to Georgia because Ibarra’s brother, Diego, had told them there were more job opportunities down south.

When asked to confirm whether Ibarra benefited from the federally-funded flight program, a representative for New York City Mayor Eric Adams called Riley’s death a “gut-wrenching tragedy.”

“Our reticketing system is one tool in our very limited toolbox as a city that helps migrants take the next step out of our shelter system,” the spokesperson said. “Mayor Adams has been abundantly clear that we need to fix our broken immigration system.”

Ibarra is accused of smashing Riley’s head against a rock and strangling her after she resisted his sexual attack.

According to law enforcement officials, Riley fought for her life for nearly 18 minutes.

Ibarra’s trial is expected to end this week.

Human Traffickers are Harvesting the Organs of Migrant Children, Witness Tells Congress

Ken Silva
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Human Traffickers are Harvesting the Organs of Migrant Children, Witness Tells Congress

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Alicia Hopper, a researcher on human trafficking, provided stunning testimony to Congress on Tuesday about the alleged organ-harvesting of child migrants.

Hopper’s testimony came at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on child migrant trafficking. She told lawmakers that she recently interviewed a convicted sex trafficker in a Central American prison, who told her that organ-harvesting is common in Mexico.

“In my conversation with the former sex trafficker and ex-Sinaloa cartel member, he revealed the lengths family members will go to for a dying relative, illustrating how organ traffickers exploit this vulnerability,” Hopper’s written testimony stated.

“These traffickers often take what he described as a ‘custom order’ for specific organs and then target areas where migrants congregate on their way to the U.S. border. Migrant camps, in particular, serve as hotspots for exploitation, leaving individuals especially susceptible to these heinous acts.”

Hopper further recounted about how a 12-year-old boy’s eye was allegedly harvest in Mexico—an allegation made public last year.

Democratic lawmakers expressed skepticism about Hopper’s testimony. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., asked Hopper whether there are any court cases in Mexico about human trafficking. Hopper responded that her information came from her jailhouse interview, and she’s keeping her source confidential to protect him from his fellow cartel members.

Ivey also asked about the matter to J.J. Carrell a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent. Carrell said he’s interviewed people who say organ harvesting is happening inside U.S. borders.

“Yes, it’s happening in America,” he said in response to Ivey’s question. Carrell said he doesn’t know if anyone has been charged for organ harvesting.

Hopper and Carrell’s testimony follows a July hearing about the same issue. At that hearing, whistleblower Deborah White, who worked in Health and Human Services’ Unaccompanied Child Program, told lawmakers that  the Biden administration is sanctioning “taxpayer-funded child slavery.”

“Make no mistake: Children were not going to their parents. They were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely—with government officials complicit in it,” White said, referring to government contractor Cherokee Federal.

“Cherokee Federal staffed the site with several unqualified unvetted and quite frankly dangerous contractors with access to vulnerable children that did not get the appropriate support, services, or humanity they deserved after a most treacherous journey,” White added.

“I have seen these children, I have interviewed these children and I have stories that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The HHS ORR program is the biggest failure in government history that I have ever witnessed.”

All the witnesses have called for a drastic increase in border security, which is expected to happen under President Donald Trump.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

AOC Claims She Removed Pronouns from Bio Because of Character Limit

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AOC Claims She Removed Pronouns from Bio Because of Character Limit

(Headline USA) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., denied that she scrubbed her preferred pronouns from her X profile after this month’s election results, claiming she did so because she ran out of characters to use.

Conservative commentators noticed the change in Ocasio-Cortez’s bio last week, pointing out that whereas it once included a “she/her” designation, now it no longer does.

This weekend, Ocasio-Cortez denied that she was pulling back from the radical LGBT cause.

“The whole ‘story’ of removing pronouns after the election is fake,” she wrote on X. “It happened a long time ago after the SCOTUS Twitter ruling meant I had to add the ‘personal acct’ disclosure.”

Ocasio-Cortez claimed there was not enough room for her pronouns.

“There weren’t enough [characters] so I had to swap the end,” she said. “You can run the timeline to see for yourself.”

But as one commenter pointed out, Ocasio-Cortez could have made room in her bio for her pronouns by deleting something else. Instead, she chose to axe the pronouns.

“You made a choice to take out the pronouns and leave other stuff in. We get it—and that is fine,” Townhall columnist Phil Holloway wrote. “It’s your profile so you do you.”

Conservative commentator Tim Pool used an archival site and found Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t had her pronouns in her bio since July.

Other Democrats have been publicly pulling away from the progressive agenda in the wake of this month’s losses.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., called on his party to rethink its position on transgender issues, arguing he wouldn’t want his daughters to have to play against a male athlete.

“We’ve got to be able to have these debates,” he added. “But, instead, we have a wing of our party that shames us, that tries to cancel people who try to even bring up these difficult topics, and, frankly, shames voters.”

Moulton is facing heavy backlash from leftist activist groups over his comments.

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