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Daily Archives: April 27, 2022

Building the “Big Lie”: Inside the Creation of Trump’s Stolen Election Myth

ProPublica: Building the Big Lie: Inside the Creation of Trump’s Stolen Election Myth – Internal emails and interviews with key participants reveal for the first time the extent to which leading advocates of the rigged election theory touted evidence they knew to be disproven, disputed or dismissed as dubious. “…ProPublica has obtained a trove of internal emails and other documentation that, taken together, tell the inside story of a group of people who propagated a number of the most pervasive theories about how the election was stolen, especially that voting machines were to blame, and helped move them from the far-right fringe to the center of the Republican Party. Those records, as well as interviews with key participants, show for the first time the extent to which leading advocates of the stolen-election theory touted evidence that they knew to be disproven or that had been credibly disputed or dismissed as dubious by operatives within their own camp. Some members of the coalition presented this mix of unreliable witnesses, unconfirmed rumor and suspect analyses as fact in published reports, talking points and court documents. In several cases, their assertions became the basis for Trump’s claims that the election had been rigged. Our examination of their actions from the 2020 election to the present day reveals a pattern. Many members of the coalition would advance a theory based on evidence that was never vetted or that they’d been told was flawed; then, when the theory was debunked, they’d move on to the next alternative and then the next. The coalition includes several figures who have attracted national attention. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who served briefly as national security adviser to Trump before pleading guilty to lying to law enforcement about his contacts with Russian officials, is the most well known. Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com who left his position after his romantic relationship with the convicted Russian agent Maria Butina became public, is the coalition’s chief financier and a frequent intermediary with the press. Powell, who represented Flynn in his attempt to reverse his guilty plea, spearheaded efforts in the courts…”

Nations in Transit 2022 From Democratic Decline to Authoritarian Aggression

2022 Nations in Transit Report Essays Overview Essay: From Democratic Decline to Authoritarian Aggression Exiting the Gray Zone Civil Society’s Many Faces In Eurasia’s Overripe Dictatorships, Longevity Means Instability “From Democratic Decline to Authoritarian Aggression – On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a brutal invasion of Ukraine. This war, which has already displaced… Continue Reading

Freedom in the World: Ukraine Country Report

Ukraine is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2022, Freedom House’s annual study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide. Below are the Ukraine country reports from the past two years of Freedom in the World: 2022 Ukraine Country Report 2021 Ukraine Country Report The Eastern Donbas and Crimea regions each have their own unique Freedom in… Continue Reading

Law Firm Library Priorities for 2022 and Beyond: Enhancing Client Service Delivery and Firm Operations Support

HBR Consulting – Law Firm Library Priorities for 2022 and Beyond: Enhancing Client Service Delivery and Firm Operations Support – “The abrupt shift to a virtual environment over the past two years made law firm leaders acutely aware of the valuable role that library/information service departments play in their firms. When COVID-19 lockdowns forced us… Continue Reading

New options for removing your personally-identifiable information from Search

Google Blog: “Privacy and online safety go hand in hand. And when you’re using the internet, it’s important to have control over how your sensitive, personally identifiable information can be found. On Google Search, we already have a set of policies that allow people to request the removal of certain content from Search, with a… Continue Reading

Massive wildfires helped fuel global forest losses in 2021

Forest Loss Remained Stubbornly High in 2021 – “The tropics lost 11.1 million hectares of tree cover in 2021, according to new data from the University of Maryland and available on Global Forest Watch. Of particular concern are the 3.75 million hectares of loss that occurred within tropical primary rainforests — areas of critical importance… Continue Reading

Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources

CRS Report – Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, Updated April 26, 2022: “USAspending.gov, available at http://www.USAspending.gov, is a government source for data on federal awards by state, congressional district (CD), county, city, and zip code. The awards data in USAspending.gov are provided by federal agencies and represent contracts, grants, loans, and other… Continue Reading

The Library of Congress owns 15 million photos. 400 are on view now.

Washington Post: “There are more than 15 million photographic images in the Library of Congress’s holdings, so the chance of encountering anything familiar in an exhibition of a mere 400 of them is statistically slight. But “Not an Ostrich: And Other Images from America’s Library” begins with the reassuringly familiar.The first section, titled “Icons,” displays… Continue Reading

In the dark – Censored Planet

Seven years, 60 countries, 935 internet shutdowns: How authoritarian regimes found an off switch for dissent: “…Russia is a pioneer in the use of these tools but not an outlier. The technologies it uses are proliferating, creeping into internet infrastructure all over the world, helped by multinational companies that have turned censorship into an off-the-shelf… Continue Reading

The Dignitary Confrontation Clause

The Dignitary Confrontation Clause, March 01, 2022 | 97 Wash. L. Rev. 207. Erin Sheley Abstract: For seventeen years, the Supreme Court’s Confrontation Clause jurisprudence has been confused and confusing. In Crawford v. Washington (2004), the Court overruled prior precedent and held that “testimonial” out-of-court statements could not be admitted at trial unless the defendant had… Continue Reading