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Daily Archives: November 13, 2018

A Great Economy Will Not Guarantee Reelection

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Axios – What the 2018 Midterms Mean for Succeeding in Washington: “Last week’s election participation by eligible voters was 49.2%, according to the latest available figures — the highest for a midterm election in 104 years (since 50.4% in 1914), according to figures analyzed by lobbyist Bruce Mehlman.

  • Mehlman says the last time turnout approached this level was 1966 (48.7%) — another time when “rising income inequality, insufficient economic competition, accelerating new technologies, rapid demographic changes, and new geopolitics left voters hunger for change.”
  • See Bruce’s full deck.

Google, Facebook, and Amazon benefit from an outdated definition of “monopoly”

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Quartz: “…big tech companies have amassed so much power that even Apple CEO Tim Cook has called for stricter regulations to be placed on them. Google owns 92% market share of internet searches, Facebook an almost 70% share of social networks. Both have a duopoly in advertising with no credible competition or regulation. Amazon, meanwhile,… Continue Reading

Will Blockchain Revolutionize Scholarly Journal Publishing?

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The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Since the 1990s, some academic netizens have predicted that open access will upend scholarly journal publishing, yet an oligopoly still dominates the $25-billion industry. Orvium, a European start-up, recently joined those taking on the giant players. It offers a publishing and business plan based on blockchain — a coding structure… Continue Reading

Google outage pushed traffic through Russia, China and Nigeria

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CNet – Traffic got rerouted Monday through ISPs in countries known for internet surveillance. “Google suffered a brief outage and slowdown on Monday, with some of its traffic being rerouted through networks in Russia, China and Nigeria. Incorrect routing instructions sent some of the search giant’s traffic to Russian network operator TransTelekom, China Telecom and… Continue Reading

The British Army is carrying out a massive test of military robots and drones

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The Future is Now…Technology Review – “The British Army is testing out over 70 new technologies, including unmanned vehicles and surveillance drones, in a four-week experiment on one of its biggest training grounds. What sort of stuff? The department isn’t giving out specifics but said the focus will be on “surveillance, long-range, and precision targeting,… Continue Reading

Under pressure, Pa. prisons repeal restrictive book policy

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The Inquirer/Philly.com: “The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections — which in September announced it would put a halt to book donation programs and mail-order books and publications — has revised its policy, allowing book orders to resume through a new centralized processing center. “Everyone who got involved called Gov. Wolf, wrote letters, shared the story on… Continue Reading

Where ICE Secure Communities Removals Now Occur

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“Nine out of ten counties in the United States with the most Secure Communities removals are in Texas and California. Fingerprints submitted to the FBI by law enforcement agencies from just these two states also gave rise to almost half (47%) of all recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removals under its Secure Communities program… Continue Reading

Biologists around the world track tremendous increase in wildlife death on highways

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The New York Times – In Brazil, Animals Cross a Road of No Return – “Highway BR-262 is among the deadliest in the world for wildlife. Biologist Wagner Fischer has been monitoring its grim toll for more than two decades…In 2014, a team led by Julio Cesar de Souza, of the Federal University of Mato… Continue Reading

A mission for journalism in a time of crisis

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In a turbulent era, the media must define its values and principles, writes Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner “Now we are living through another extraordinary period in history: one defined by dazzling political shocks and the disruptive impact of new technologies in every part of our lives. The public sphere has changed more radically in the… Continue Reading

2017 Hate Crime Statistics Released by FBI

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“The number of hate crime incidents reported to the FBI increased about 17 percent in 2017 compared with the previous year, according to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s annual Hate Crime Statistics report, released today. Law enforcement reported 7,175 hate crimes to UCR in 2017, up from 6,121 in 2016. Although the numbers increased… Continue Reading