Members of Congress pay respects as casket of Ruth Bader Ginsburg departs U.S. CapitolMembers of Congress waited along the steps of the U.S. Capitol to pay respects as the casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was carried out.Read more ….. Read More.MSNBC – The Latest | U.S. and World NewsFri, September 25, 20205 hours ago
White House angered that FBI director testified to lack of widespread voter fraudFBI Director Christopher Wray was the target of White House criticism for the second time in a week Friday as Chief of Staff Mark Meadows chided him over his remarks a day earlier to Congress about voter fraud. ….. Read More.CBC News – General World News | World News & EventsFri, September 25, 20205 hours ago
Senate Republicans’ Last Chance to Stand Up to TrumpNearly every reporter in Washington has experienced it: A Republican member of Congress says, “Off the record,” shifts into a quieter voice, and expresses how much he or she doesn’t like President Donald Trump. Soon after, you watch this same elected official speak up in favor of the president—or, more often, avoid saying anything meaningful at all. Sometimes it concerns the same issue that they were complaining about to you in private. Sometimes within the same day. Sometimes within the same hour.The battle to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death is a pivotal moment for these whispering Republicans in the Senate.The prospect of a conservative-heavy Court persuaded many Trump-wary conservatives to support him in 2016. This election, Ginsburg’s death will likely energize Biden-wary Democrats—millions of dollars have been raised online since news of her death broke last…
For Republicans, the Fires Change NothingMary Nichols has been part of the struggle to prevent catastrophic climate change for about as long as anyone in American life. For years, she’s directed California’s pathbreaking efforts to reduce carbon emissions as the chair of the California Air Resources Board—a position she held first in the 1970s before taking it up again in 2007. Nichols has also served at the federal level, working as the chief regulator for air pollution at the Environmental Protection Agency under Bill Clinton in the 1990s. And yet even Nichols has never seen anything that crystallizes the dangers of climate change more clearly than the historic outbreak of wildfires scorching California and other Western states this year.“Yes, absolutely,” she told me earlier this week, when I asked her if this year’s fires are the most tangible danger to California that she’s seen from climate change. “It’s not suddenly…
The invisible labor of content moderationHave you ever taken a look at Facebook’s content policies? Or Twitter’s? Probably not — they’re decently hard to find, and most social media platforms don’t necessarily go out of their way to advertise their moderation policies. But this silence around moderation illuminates a fascinating dichotomy: moderation is the actual commodity of any social computing system. It classifies the kinds of content allowed on a given platform, and it has downstream influences on how people use the platform to interact. Moderation shapes social norms, public discourse, and cultural production — so why does it receive so little scrutiny?The benefits of social media platforms are obvious. They foster connection, community, and opportunity — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy even went so far to call these sites the “modern public square.” But alongside this value, the perils of social computing platforms are apparent and painfully underdiscussed. We’re…
1000 Days: This President Continues To Be An EmbarrassmentGARYWORDS by The Real GabbyGary – I’m sorry, but, any truly conscientious person who has been paying close attention to the daily, real news coming out of Washington, D.C., the home of the United States Congress, White House and various federal agencies, should already understand why the Impeachment Inquiry in the House of Representatives is […] ….. Read More.GARYTALK – Conversations & Commentary | This, That and The OtherWed, October 23, 201911 months ago