Gizmodo: “If Facebook had moved sooner to restrict hoax, toxic, misleading, or other content attempting to interfere with the 2020 elections, it could have limited its reach by around 10 billion views, according to a report by the advocacy group Avaaz. Researchers for Avaaz identified the 100 highest-performing pages on Facebook that had shared content… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Large Majorities of Newsmax and OAN News Consumers Also Go to Fox News
“While Fox’s audience spans ideologies on the right, its new challengers attract mainly conservatives. Last year witnessed the rise of Newsmax and One America News (OAN), two alternative media outlets seen as potential competitors to Fox News. But a new Pew Research Center survey finds that the long-standing cable superpower still has a much wider… Continue Reading
What’s new in Congress.gov? Spring 2021 Edition
In Custodia Legis by Andrew Weber: “Most of our Congress.gov posts focus on the enhancements which are part of our three week sprint cycles by which we release new material and upgrades to Congress.gov. However, sometimes I like to take a longer look back at the work we have done and provide a bigger snapshot… Continue Reading
An Overview of Federal Regulations and the Rulemaking Process
CRS In Focus – An Overview of Federal Regulations and the Rulemaking Process, Updated March 19, 2021. “What Is Federal Rulemaking?Congress often grants rulemaking authority to federal agencies to implement statutory programs. The regulations issued pursuant to this authority carry the force and effect of law and can have substantial implications for policy implementation.When issuing… Continue Reading
COVID-19 in Congress
GovTrack – “We’re tracking the impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, on the operations of Congress. In all, 126 representatives and senators have either isolated because of having COVID-19, self-quarantined after exposure, or took other action or no action after exposure — some multiple times. Of those, 71 representatives and senators… Continue Reading
Large Majority of the Public Views Prosecution of Capitol Rioters as ‘Very Important’
“As the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies continue to pursue charges against participants in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the American public generally expresses strong support for continuing these efforts. Yet there are sizable partisan differences in attitudes about the riot at the Capitol, with Democrats far more likely than… Continue Reading
Millionaires and Corporate Giants Escape IRS Audits Again in FY 2020
These findings are based on internal agency documents obtained under court order by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University: “At a time when Americans face growing economic inequality and financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is letting billions of dollars in tax revenue slip through its… Continue Reading
Appointment and Confirmation of Executive Branch Leadership: An Overview
CRS – Appointment and Confirmation of Executive Branch Leadership: An Overview – Updated March 17, 2021: “The Constitution divides the responsibility for populating the top positions in the executive branch of the federal government between the President and the Senate. Article II, Section 2empowers the President to nominate and, by and with the advice and… Continue Reading
The government’s lawyers saw a Google monopoly coming
Politico – “Their bosses refused to sue. FTC memos suggest Obama-era regulators passed on an opportunity to rein in Google when the company still had viable competitors. Federal investigators were convinced: Google’s push to take over mobile internet searches was illegal. They had the evidence and urged their bosses to sue. But those politically appointed… Continue Reading
New Bill Would Increase Transparency of Presidential Records
Government Executive – Legislation was introduced to kick off National Sunshine Week. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, will introduce the ‘‘Presidential Records Preservation Act,” which would update the “1978 Presidential Records Act” by requiring the president, vice president, and other senior White House officials to “make and preserve… Continue Reading
Capitol Breach Cases
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia – “Below is a list of defendants charged in federal court in the District of Columbia related to crimes committed at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Every case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Following arrests,… Continue Reading
Small group plays big role in pushing vaccine skepticism, Facebook study finds
Washington Post: “Facebook is conducting a vast behind-the-scenes study of doubts expressed by U.S. users about vaccines, a major project that attempts to probe and teach software to identify the medical attitudes of millions of Americans, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The research is a large-scale attempt to understand the spread of… Continue Reading
