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Daily Archives: March 21, 2019

CRS – Special Counsel Investigations: History, Authority, Appointment and Removal

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Via FAS: Special Counsel Investigations: History, Authority, Appointment and Removal, Updated March 13, 2019

“The Constitution vests Congress with the legislative power, which includes authority to establish federal agencies and conduct oversight of those entities. Criminal investigations and prosecutions, however, are generally regarded as core executive functions assigned to the executive branch. Because of the potential conflicts of interest that may arise when the executive branch investigates itself, there have often been calls for criminal investigations by prosecutors with independence from the executive branch. In response, Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have used both statutory and regulatory mechanisms to establish a process for such inquiries. These frameworks have aimed to balance the competing goals of independence and accountability with respect to inquiries of executive branch officials…”

CRS – Congressional Access to the President’s Federal Tax Returns

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Secrecy News: “By refusing to disclose his tax returns, President Trump has breached — and may have demolished — the longstanding norm under which sitting presidents and presidential candidates are expected to voluntarily disclose their federal tax returns. At the same time, there is reason to think that new norms of disclosure can be created.… Continue Reading

NOAA – Historic, widespread flooding to continue through May

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“Nearly two-thirds of the Lower 48 states face an elevated risk for flooding through May, with the potential for major or moderate flooding in 25 states, according to NOAA’s U.S. Spring Outlook issued today. The majority of the country is favored to experience above-average precipitation this spring, increasing the flood risk. Portions of the United… Continue Reading

Harvard and MIT Fund Deepfake Detection, Government Transparency AI Tools

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“Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology joined forces to award $750,000 to seven organizations, including ones that help detect deepfakes and promote open access of government data. Last week, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and the MIT Media Lab announced seven winners of their first “AI and the News: An Open… Continue Reading

Google training journalists to identify fake news

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Google blog: “In the last year our News Lab has trained nearly 300,000 journalists in person and online around the world on digital tools for journalism, with a goal to reach 500,000 journalists by 2020. We’ve partnered with the International Fact Check Network and dozens of newsrooms worldwide to quell the spread of misinformation, especially… Continue Reading

The Sad State of Happiness in the United States and the Role of Digital Media

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“This is the 7th World Happiness Report. The first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High level meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”. That report presented the available global data on national happiness and reviewed related evidence from the emerging science of happiness, showing that the quality… Continue Reading

Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts

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Looking to the Future, Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts – Majorities predict a weaker economy, a growing income divide, a degraded environment and a broken political system “When Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country in decline economically, politically and on the world stage. While a narrow… Continue Reading

Facebook Stored Hundreds of Millions of User Passwords in Plain Text for Years

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Krebs on Security – “Hundreds of millions of Facebook users had their account passwords stored in plain text and searchable by thousands of Facebook employees — in some cases going back to 2012, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Facebook says an ongoing investigation has so far found no indication that employees have abused access to this data.… Continue Reading

Seeing Justice Done: The Impact of the Judge on Sentencing

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“The recent sentencing of Paul Manafort by federal judges in two different district courts has renewed interest in the sentencing practices of individual judges. Countless studies over the years have documented a basic fact: while decisions should be determined by the law and the facts, in reality there is a third very important force at… Continue Reading