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Daily Archives: February 8, 2018

NYT – On Tour With Notorious R.B.G., Judicial Rock Star

Her fans call her Notorious R.B.G., a nod to the rapper Notorious B.I.G., and Justice Ginsburg embraces the connection: “They say that Bob Dylan, 76, is on a never-ending tour. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is eight years older and has a day job, seems to have acquired Mr. Dylan’s taste for the road. In the space of three weeks, she is set to make at least nine public appearances. They follow a pattern: a thunderous standing ovation from an adoring crowd, followed by gentle questioning from a sympathetic interviewer. Justice Ginsburg mixes familiar stories with insights about the Supreme Court and the law. She lands a couple of jokes. She promises not to step down so long as she can “do the job full steam.” She describes her friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. The audience swoons, and the show moves on to the next venue. She seems to enjoy the attention. “I am soon to be 85,” she said on Tuesday at New York Law School, “and everyone wants to take their picture with me.”..”

CRS – Statutory Interpretation: General Principles and Recent Trends

Statutory Interpretation: General Principles and Recent Trends. March 30, 2006 – September 24, 2014. 97-589. “The exercise of the judicial power of the United States often requires that courts construe statutes to apply them in particular cases and controversies. Judicial interpretation of the meaning of a statute is authoritative in the matter before the court.… Continue Reading

United States Census Bureau Data Repository

“The United States Census Bureau Data Repository preserves and disseminates survey instruments, specifications, data dictionaries, codebooks, and other materials provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. ICPSR, the host of this data repository, has also listed additional Census-related data collections from its larger holdings. The repository helps fulfill key recommendations made by the 2017 “Report of… Continue Reading

OPM Report – Understaffing, lack of training at agencies hampering agency services to public

Washington Post – “Shortages of employees — a common feature of troubled government programs — are hampering a range of services to the public and stressing the federal workforce, the government’s central personnel agency said Wednesday. The report comes just ahead of a White House budget proposal that is expected to include plans for carrying out… Continue Reading

Paper – Deliberate Learning, Motivation and Resilience

Kass, Kim, Millennials, Deliberate Learning, Motivation and Resilience (January 30, 2018). Learning Curve, Forthcoming; Valparaiso University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 18-3. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3113603 – “Law school faculty and staff frequently engage in conversations about the challenges of teaching the millennial generation. The millennial generation will continue to fill law school seats for… Continue Reading

Paper – Of Judges and Robots

Capeta, Tamara, Of Judges and Robots (June 4, 2017). Liber amicorum Marko Ilešič – Challenges of Law in Life Reality, Univerza v Ljubljani, Pravna fakulteta, Ljubljana, 2017, 129-142 . Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3109512 – “In this contribution, I develop my thoughts on how we can use knowledge about our fears of replacing human judges by… Continue Reading

Beginning July 2018 Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure”

Google Chromium Blog: “For the past several years, we’ve moved toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that sites adopt HTTPS encryption. And within the last year, we’ve also helped users understand that HTTP sites are not secure by gradually marking a larger subset of HTTP pages as “not secure”. Beginning in July 2018… Continue Reading

Eight Essays On Sexual Discrimination And Harassment In DC Across Politics, Policy, And The Media

New Republic – Eight Essays On Sexual Discrimination And Harassment In D.C., Across Politics, Policy, And The Media, February 8, 2018. Elizabeth Drew, Ana Marie Cox, Sarah Jones, Eve Fairbanks, Heather Boushey, Ai-jen Poo, Monica Potts, Jill Abramson: “…Last year, a number of congressmen were either forced to resign or got out, taking sudden retirement… Continue Reading

‘Fiction is outperforming reality’: how YouTube’s algorithm distorts truth

theguardian – An ex-YouTube insider reveals how its recommendation algorithm promotes divisive clips and conspiracy videos: “There are 1.5 billion YouTube users in the world, which is more than the number of households that own televisions. What they watch is shaped by this algorithm, which skims and ranks billions of videos to identify 20 “up… Continue Reading