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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Trump Legal Penalties

NewsTRACS – Trump has over half a billion dollars in legal penalties – “a review of nine+ years of Trump’s cash spreadsheets reveals new information and raises new questions -Wendy Siegelman. Heading into the 2024 presidential election Donald Trump – who faces dozens of felony charges and recently lost several big civil cases – has cinched the GOP nomination. Trump now heads into the general election after having been found liable of sexual abuse, defamation and financial fraud and with over half a billion dollars in legal penalties due.Setting aside Trump’s decades of fraudulent business practices, his network of mafia and criminal associates, his destructive, divisive, nepotistic presidential record, his incitement of violence, support of insurrectionists, and embrace of dictatorship, kleptocracy and fascism – there are also serious questions about how Trump will pay over half a billion dollars in penalties and who he will be indebted to if he becomes president. The media has repeatedly questioned how Trump will find the cash to pay these penalties. But there has been little reporting on public exhibits from the New York attorney general civil fraud case – that include revealing information on almost a decade of Trump’s cash and short-term investment accounts. I dove into the weeds and created a table with highlights and summarize some key findings. I started reviewing the cash documents because I was curious to learn more about the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and a mysterious $50 million loan associated with the property, and the very odd “0” valuation in ten years of Trump’s Statements of Financial Condition. That information is covered at the end of this piece. Below I highlight a few new findings and my hope is that other researchers, journalists and curious people will spend more time looking at the hundreds of public exhibits from the New York attorney general case which include a wealth of information and likely un-reported findings…”

A Friendly Reminder: A.I. Work Isn’t Yours

The New York Times: “Many organizations are grappling with how to manage A.I. in the workplace. The next time someone turns in work generated by A.I. without an appropriate acknowledgment, simply tell them that moving forward, they need to identify all A.I.-generated work. But it’s also important to take a more expansive approach instead of… Continue Reading

EEOC Data Reveals 75% Of High Earners Are Men

Forbes – “Data just released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exposes a clear gender pay gap, with men outearning women, especially in the highest-paid jobs. The gap is widest for women of color. This week, the EEOC released aggregated pay data collected from businesses in 2017 and 2018. To make this information accessible… Continue Reading

Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the United States

Harvard Dataverse: “The Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the United States (HISDAC-US) contains historical gridded settlement layers derived from property records compiled in the Zillow Transaction and Assessment Dataset (ZTRAX). HISDAC-US describes the built environment of most of the conterminous United States back to 1810 at fine temporal (5 years) and spatial (250 m) granularity… Continue Reading

Publishers’ reply brief in Hachette v. Internet Archive: First Impressions

Dave Hansen and Kyle K. Courtney jointly authored this post. They are also the authors of a White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books. We are not, as the Publishers claim in their brief on page 13, a “cadre of boosters.” We wrote the paper independently as part of our combined decades of work… Continue Reading

We tested Amazon’s new shopping chatbot. It’s not good.

Washington Post via MSN: “Amazon is experimenting with an artificial intelligence chatbot to help you figure out what to buy. Instead of sorting through thousands of options for vacuum cleaners, you can ask the chatbot to recommend the best models for hardwood floors or for sucking up pet hair. The chatbot called Rufus, which Amazon… Continue Reading

AI in Banking and Finance, March 17, 2024

Via LLRX – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions.… Continue Reading

Fact-opinion differentiation

Misinformation Review – paper by Matthew Mettler & Jeffery J. Mondak: “Statements of fact can be proved or disproved with objective evidence, whereas statements of opinion depend on personal values and preferences. Distinguishing between these types of statements contributes to information competence. Conversely, failure at fact-opinion differentiation potentially brings resistance to corrections of misinformation and… Continue Reading

The Lie-brary

Center for Climate Integrity: “Evidence shows that Big Oil & Gas knew as early as the 1960s that their products would lead to climate change, and that it could have disastrous impacts worldwide. This collection of internal company documents has been compiled thanks to the work of journalists, independent researchers, and academics. They Knew Scientists… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 16, 2024

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 16, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading

What’s Missing From Railroad Safety Data?

ProPublica – Dead Workers and Severed Limbs. “…But, as ProPublica has previously reported, railroad companies go to extreme lengths to portray themselves as safer than they really are — retaliating against workers who report defects and silencing those who get injured. Officials with the FRA [Federal Railway Administration] have said there is not much they… Continue Reading