“CNN has obtained 2,319 text messages that former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and President Joe Biden’s January 20, 2021 inauguration. The vast trove of texts, which Meadows selectively provided to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, offers the most revealing… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements
CRS Report – Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of Treaties and Agreements, August 25, 2022: “Arms control and nonproliferation efforts are two of the tools that the United States has occasionally used to implement its national security strategy. Although some believe these tools do little to restrain the behavior of U.S. adversaries, while doing… Continue Reading
Digital Wallets and Selected Policy Issues
CRS In Focus – Digital Wallets and Selected Policy Issues, April 18, 2022: “Digital Wallet Landscape – A digital wallet is a software application that stores payment or account details to facilitate traditional payments that use bank and credit card details and/or cryptocurrency transactions. In addition, wallets facilitate peer-to-peer transfers, which have grown rapidly in… Continue Reading
Propaganda, Mis- and Disinformation, and Censorship: The War for Hearts and Minds
how to save the world – Dave Pollard: “…But perhaps equally-important in this century are the non-military wars battling for the “hearts and minds” of citizens — fights over votes, seats, laws, ideologies and tax dollars rather than land. It is hard to deny, for example, that the US is engaged in a so-far-non-military civil… Continue Reading
Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations
ProPublica, The Texas Tribune & The Marshall Project – “…Over the next 17 years, Perry and his successor, Gov. Greg Abbott, persuaded the Texas Legislature to spend billions of dollars on border security measures that included at least nine operations and several smaller initiatives. Each time, the governors promised that the state would do what… Continue Reading
The U.S. Power Sector and Climate Policy
An InfluenceMap Report April 2022: “This report analyzes the climate policy engagement of the 25 largest investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S., covering over 80% of the total market cap of publicly listed utilities. The results show a wide spectrum of engagement with climate policy, indicating a highly fractured sector in terms of climate policy… Continue Reading
Blockchain: Novel Provenance Applications
CRS Report – Blockchain: Novel Provenance Applications, April 8, 2022: “Blockchain, generally, is a database technology that records and stores information in blocks of data that are linked, or “chained,” together. Data stored on a blockchain are continually shared, replicated, and synchronized across the nodes in a network—individual computer systems or specialized hardware that communicate… Continue Reading
Urban League’s dire democracy warning
Axios: “The National Urban League’s 2022 “State of Black America” report warns of a systematic effort to “disenfranchise, delude, manipulate and intimidate American voters,” Axios’ Russell Contreras writes. “[T]here’s a plot to destroy American democracy,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial told reporters on a call ahead of today’s release of the annual… Continue Reading
U.S. Government Information: Stats/Data
“LibGuide – U.S. Government Information: Stats/Data Guide to information resources by and about the federal government – The Library – UC San Diego – Please note that resources tagged with a blue lock symbol are available remotely only to UC San Diego affiliates. Anyone may access these resources using library computers, though. Search By: Directories… Continue Reading
Obama: I Underestimated the Threat of Disinformation
“Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg in conversation with Barack Obama about the social web, Ukraine, and the future of democracy. When they last sat down for an interview, in November 2020, Barack Obama told Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg that disinformation is “the single biggest threat to our democracy.” The threat was not… Continue Reading
A Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court? Legal Questions and Considerations
CRS Legal Sidebar: A Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court? Legal Questions and Considerations Updated April 6, 2022: “The Code of Conduct for United States Judges (the Code) is a set of ethical canons that the Judicial Conference of the United States (Judicial Conference) has adopted to promote public confidence in the integrity, independence,… Continue Reading
Inside Pence-world’s preparation for a Jan. 6 legal showdown
Politico: “As forces loyal to Donald Trump began calling on Mike Pence to single-handedly stop Joe Biden from becoming president, the then-vice president dashed off a request in late 2020 to his top lawyer: Just how much power did he actually have over certifying electoral votes? His counsel, Greg Jacob, replied the next day with… Continue Reading
