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USAFacts: “In 2024, Californians paid about $275.6 billion more to the federal government than they received. In FY 2024, the federal government collected around $5.07 trillion from states and their residents through taxes on individuals and businesses and redistributed about $4.87 trillion back to states and residents through programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, food …
Shanaka Anslem Perera – The Cognitive Extraction Economy: How Humanity Became the Training Data for Its Own Replacement. “A forensic investigation into the largest uncompensated transfer of intellectual labor in history—and what it reveals about the true architecture of artificial general intelligence. “In October 2025, Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI released a study that …
Data Rescue Project: “This week’s guest post is from Benjamin Charles Germain Lee, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, and Kyle Deeds, Assistant Professor at Boston University. Learn more about their recent collaboration to create GovScape, a fantastic resource for searching publicly-available government documents…. We are excited to share GovScape: https://govscape.net, a public search …
Bloomberg’s Jealousy List for 2025 – token access [no paywall], a collection of journalism admired by the magazine’s writers and editors. “For an industry that’s perpetually facing the parallel challenges of diminishing reader trust and declining advertising revenue, the media business sure delivered in 2025. There were way too many podcasts, documentaries, in-depth investigations and …
Follow up to DOGE ‘doesn’t exist’ – with eight months left on its charter, via Wired, see DOGE Isn’t Dead. Here’s What Its Operatives Are Doing Now [no paywall] -“…On Instagram, Yat Choi described his work as ongoing, announcing that he was returning to the underground Pennsylvania mine where federal retirement claims are processed. “Like …
First Branch Forecast: “While legislative branch agencies belong to Congress, not all are entirely free of executive branch entanglements. The question of how Congress chooses, oversees, and removes legislative branch agency heads is integral to the independence of the legislative branch, especially with recent White House efforts to take over or place personnel inside the …
Recomendo: “You can add a US passport as your digital ID to your wallet app on an iPhone running iOS 26.1 or later. You still need to carry your passport overseas, but you can pull out this ID for TSA clearance at 250 airports in the U.S., including SFO, LAX, JFK and LGA. To do …
Wired – no paywall: “Nicholas Merrill has spent his career fighting government surveillance. But he would really rather you didn’t call what he’s selling now a “burner phone.” Yes, he dreams of a future where anyone in the US can get a working smartphone—complete with cellular coverage and data—without revealing their identity, even to the …
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 7, 2025 – 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 increasingly …
The New York Times Gift Article – Trump’s Security Strategy Focuses on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy. President Trump’s new National Security Strategy describes a country that is focused on doing business and reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians Lawfare: “On Dec. 4, the Trump administration released its National Security Strategy (NSS). The strategy …
From Earth and the other planets in our solar system, to supermassive black holes and the distant galaxies that contain them, explore NASA science and imagery through our library of e-books. Earth History Planets Image Books ISS Researcher’s Guides Children’s Books and Activities More NASA e-Books
LawSites – “LeaseChat [in Beta] it is a free AI tool designed to help renters across the United States analyze their leases and understand their legal rights. With more than 40 million rented properties nationwide, the tool aims to level the playing field for tenants navigating complex lease agreements and landlord-tenant law. LeaseChat provides four …
