Category «Government Documents»

The Tyrant Test

The Atlantic [no paywall] – A leader who uses military force to suppress his political opposition ought to lose the right to govern. “Trump came into office promising to carry out a “mass deportation” of undocumented immigrants. Because of a degraded information environment riddled with right-wing propaganda, many Trump supporters came to think this meant …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research, Social Media

Artificial intelligence and defense are becoming increasingly intertwined

“Artificial intelligence and defense are becoming increasingly intertwined, especially in the US. OpenAI this week announced a $200 million Pentagon contract as part of a project to bring “advanced AI tools to [US] public servants.” In December, the ChatGPT-maker said it was working with the military tech company Anduril, while rival Anthropic is collaborating with …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trump Anti-Press Social Media Tracker

“Few modern presidents have waged a more visible or sustained campaign against the press than Donald Trump. From the launch of his political career, Trump has used social platforms — first Twitter, then Truth Social — to attack, belittle and discredit journalists, news outlets and the media as a whole. To better understand the scope …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

How a Single Court Case Could Determine the Future of Book Banning in America

Lit Hub: “Only one library book ban case has ever been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court: Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico (1982). In 1975, the Island Trees school board in Nassau County, New York removed nearly a dozen books from the high school and junior high …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Economy, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

Trump accelerates push to reward loyalty in federal workforce

Wasington Post via MSN: “President Donald Trump is accelerating efforts to transform the nonpartisan, merit-based federal workforce into one that demands and rewards loyalty to the president, according to civil servants, public service experts and employment attorneys. The ongoing shift would ditch decades-old rules that were intended to ensure that federal hiring, retention and promotion …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Tracking State-Level DOGEs

Revolving Door Project – “While Elon Musk’s brainchild continues to rampage through our federal government, governors and state legislatures are creating their own DOGE-esque bodies. In some cases, these bodies have been set up by executive order, while others have been codified in the law by (primarily Republican) state legislators, and still others merely consist …

Subjects: Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Immigration Arrests in the Interior of the United States: A Primer

CRS Legal Sidebar: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is primarily responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States. ICE has considerable authority to arrest and detain aliens identified for removal. While DHS’s immigration enforcement priorities may change over time depending on the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Legal Research

GitHub is Leaking Trump’s Plans to ‘Accelerate’ AI Across Government

404 Media – The federal government is working on a website and API called “ai.gov” to “accelerate government innovation with AI” that is supposed to launch on July 4 and will include an analytics feature that shows how much a specific government team is using AI, according to an early version of the website and …

Subjects: AI, E-Government, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Trump reports over $600 million in income in latest financial disclosure

Washington Post via MSN – “The president reported making millions from cryptocurrency, his golf properties, foreign licensing deals and other sources. JD Vance also filed forms disclosing Bitcoin holdings. President Donald Trump reported over $600 million in income and $1.6 billion in assets in a public financial disclosure filed late Friday, including cryptocurrency holdings, income …

Subjects: Courts, Cryptocurrency, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

US District Judge rules Trump’s deployment of California National Guard was illegal – Court of Appeals grants stay of order

Robert B. Hubbell: “In rapid succession on Thursday evening, the following occurred in California’s lawsuit challenging the legality of Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard for deployment in Los Angeles: US District Judge Bryer granted California’s motion for a temporary restraining order, finding that Trump violated the statutory conditions for federalizing the National Guard. …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trump administration will civilly and criminally prosecute companies that have employed migrant workers

Semafor: “The Trump administration will civilly and criminally prosecute [some] companies that have employed migrant workers, White House border czar Tom Homan said in an interview with Semafor’s Ben Smith Wednesday, a new dimension of risk for executives. “Worksite enforcement operations are going to massively expand,” he said. “They’re coming here for a better life …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Economy, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Legal Research

Where did billions in climate and infrastructure funding go?

Grist – From clean energy projects to bridges, this interactive tool shows what projects lawmakers announced in your neighborhood. “By the time President Donald Trump retook office, lawmakers had announced nearly $700 billion in funding for infrastructure- and climate-related projects under two bills passed during Joe Biden’s administration — the Inflation Reduction Act and the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Search Engines