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AI in Finance and Banking, June 30, 2026 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to …
The Atlantic Gift Article: “Chain-link fences, construction cranes, armed guards, and portable toilets everywhere…In Washington, Trump’s dreams have been slowed by lawsuits. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Birnbaum’s Washington-based nonprofit, has filed a challenge to Trump’s renovations to the Reflecting Pool and joined as a co-plaintiff on suits related to the president’s plans for the Kennedy …
The New York Times Gift Article: “President Trump is trying to use the levers of the federal government, along with personal influence over state and local lawmakers, to reshape the rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections in extraordinary ways. Many of these efforts have been blocked by courts, stymied by the Constitution or …
Above the Law: “A new poll from Verasight dropped this week, and its findings should be a wake-up call for everyone currently pretending the Supreme Court’s legitimacy crisis is a partisan fever dream. Short version: it isn’t. We’ve been tracking the Court’s legitimacy crisis for years now, and the numbers keep getting grimmer. Registered voters …
Internet Archive Blogs: “As America celebrates its Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) this year, explore a curated list of materials preserved at the Internet Archive documenting the nation’s founding, the Declaration of Independence, past ephemera created for the nation’s anniversaries, and new efforts to capture and preserve the materials published by democracies. Democracy’s Library – The Internet …
Brookings Institute: As the country heads into its 250th birthday this weekend, more than 40% of American households are struggling to make ends meet, and the reasons why look different depending on where you live, what you drive, and how you get to work. To understand why, Brookings researchers delved into the details—how the rising …
Washington Post no paywall: “The White House routed a $500 million no-bid contract through a White House office that typically handles repairs and furnishings and is exempt from competitive bidding requirements. White House officials last year secretly awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroom in …
Washington Post no paywall: “Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure [link added by beSpacific – not included in the article] shows he earned at least $1.2 billion in 2025 from cryptocurrency and memecoin ventures. The filing reports more than $588 million in income from World Liberty Financial, the crypto company co-founded by Trump, his sons, and …
Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University via LinkedIn – “Three years ago this month, the Justice Department indicted Donald Trump under the Espionage Act for concealing and refusing to return classified documents—the first time a president had been charged with a crime, let alone one so grave. But President Trump hasn’t had to face …
Tech Policy: “Political violence is on the rise in the United States. According to a summary of key trends from the Princeton University Bridging Divides Initiative, this rise is reflected across a range of different statistics, from an increase in targeted violence and assassination attempts to an increase in the overall volume of threats and …
The Guardian: “The US supreme court has ruled that Donald Trump can fire leaders of independent agencies or commissions, ending 90 years of court precedent that curbs executive power. The vote in the case of Trump v Slaughter is 6-3, with dissents from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan. The case was …
The Guardian: “The National Design Studio, staffed by Doge veterans, installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal website. An opaque White House office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has quietly rebuilt some of the federal government’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s …
