The Atlantic: “…Presidents have been the authors of many informal amendments. George Washington set enduring precedents such as the two-term limit on presidential service (a norm so embedded that after Franklin D. Roosevelt broke it, it was written into the formal Constitution). Andrew Jackson reimagined the president as the direct representative of the people. Abraham Lincoln ruled out secession. But Trump has been broadly reckoned to be a more ephemeral figure. His bark, many said, was worse than his bite. Sure, he broke a lot of norms and probably also some laws; but his oafishness and short attention span made his constitutional incursions easy to repel. Although his political footprint was deep, his constitutional footprint was faint. Such, at least, has been the conventional wisdom. I don’t think that’s true at all. Though he was no Washington or Lincoln, Trump amended the informal Constitution in at least five significant ways. No one of them is epochal or entirely unprecedented, but together they add up to something new, large, and dangerous…”
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Daily Archives: February 22, 2021
The Claim Review Project
“ClaimReview is a tagging system that fact-checkers can use to identify their articles for search engines and social media platforms such as Google Search, Google News, Bing, Facebook and YouTube. The platforms then use the tags to promote and highlight fact-check articles. Creating ClaimReview usually takes less than 30 seconds. Fact-checkers enter a few basic… Continue Reading
How to stop your emails from being tracked
The Verge: “All of those obnoxious marketing emails that crowd your inbox aren’t just pushing a product. They’re also tracking whether you’ve opened the email, when you opened it, and where you were at the time by using software like MailChimp to embed tracking software into the message. How does it work? A single tracking… Continue Reading
The Three Permissions: Presidential Removal and the Statutory Limits of Agency Independence
The Three Permissions: Presidential Removal and the Statutory Limits of Agency Independence, 121 Columbia Law Review No.1, January 2021. “Seven words stand between the President and the heads of over a dozen “independent agencies”: inefficiency, neglect of duty, and malfeasance in office (INM). The President can remove the heads of these agencies for INM and… Continue Reading
How to Design and Format an Ebook Using Google Docs
MakeUseOf – “You don’t need expensive software to create an ebook. Google Docs will do the job just fine once you know how. The process of writing an ebook can be daunting. Many people don’t know the first thing about formatting, designing a book cover, or publishing. Hiring professionals for every step of the process… Continue Reading
A Complete Guide for Lawyers Texting Clients
Sharon Miki – “Undoubtedly, communicating via text is part of daily life. So if you’re a lawyer who isn’t texting your clients yet, you could be missing out on a powerful way to reach clients and streamline your client communication process. Lawyer texting could make all the difference in a client-lawyer relationship, as it helps… Continue Reading
How to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine: a State-by-State Guide
WSJ – “The U.S. rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, managed individually by states instead of by the federal government, has been largely uneven and confusing to many seeking the vaccines. [Select your state to find information about getting vaccinated.] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued recommendations for who should get the vaccines… Continue Reading
Nasa has released stunning videos of its Perseverance rover landing on Mars
BBC – “The movies cover the final minutes of last week’s hair-raising descent, up to the point where the robot’s wheels make contact with the ground. The sequences show a whirl of dust and grit being kicked up as the vehicle is lowered by its rocket backpack to the floor of Jezero Crater. Perseverance was… Continue Reading
AI Can Stop Mass Shootings, and More
Cornell University – arXivLabs – AI Can Stop Mass Shootings, and More, Selmer Bringsjord, Naveen Sundar Govindarajulu, Michael Giancola, [v1] Fri, 5 Feb 2021 06:55:59 UTC (513 KB). “We propose to build directly upon our longstanding, prior r&d in AI/machine ethics in order to attempt to make real the blue-sky idea of AI that can… Continue Reading
A.I. Here, There, Everywhere
The New York Times – “Many of us already live with artificial intelligence now, but researchers say interactions with the technology will become increasingly personalized…Many of us already live with A.I., an array of unseen algorithms that control our Internet-connected devices, from smartphones to security cameras and cars that heat the seats before you’ve even… Continue Reading
How Americans Navigated the News in 2020: A Tumultuous Year in Review
Pew Report – Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19, February 22, 2021. “Americans are divided – that much is obvious after a contentious presidential election and transition, and in the midst of a politicized pandemic that has prompted a wide range of reactions. But in… Continue Reading
NARA – About the Papers of George Washington
“The Papers of George Washington, launched at the University of Virginia in 1968, is a scholarly documentary editing project that edits, publishes, and publicizes a comprehensive edition of George Washington’s public and private papers. Today there are copies of over 135,000 documents in the project’s document room—one of the richest collections of American historical manuscripts extant. There… Continue Reading
