Searchable database for the Epstein Files – Only Fraction of Files Released

Below the Belt – We created a searchable database for the Epstein Files, including everything the DOJ wants hidden. “The repository will continue to grow as the Trump administration releases hundreds of thousands more documents from the investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The US Department of Justice on Friday [December 19, 2025] published a …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Search Engines

The year Trump broke the federal government

The Washington Post [no paywall]: “How DOGE and the White House carried out a once-unthinkable transformation of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy…“It isn’t easy to fire federal employees,” her co-worker told her. “We have all these protections. We’ll be okay.” He was wrong. The United States’ 2.4 million federal employees were about to get caught up …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Defense, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Housing, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian

Card Catalog – Hana Lee Goldin: “The verification tricks that would make fact-checkers weep with joy. Last Tuesday, a client sent me their “thoroughly researched” white paper on workplace automation. It had 47 citations. Looked bulletproof. Every claim backed by a study, every statistic sourced to a journal. I was impressed for exactly three minutes. …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 20, 2025

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 20, 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 complex and …

Subjects: AI, E-Commerce, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

DuckDuckGo has introduced a new AI image generation tool

Android Headlines: “DuckDuckGo has introduced a new AI image generation tool that emphasizes privacy, anonymizing prompts and storing images locally on users’ devices. While it faces stiff competition from Google and OpenAI, the tool could appeal to users who want AI image generation without giving up personal data. It seems like everyone is launching their …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

LLMs’ impact on science: Booming publications, stagnating quality

Ars Technica: “There have been a number of high-profile cases where scientific papers have had to be retracted because they were filled with AI-generated slop—the most recent coming just two weeks ago. These instances raise serious questions about the quality of peer review in some journals—how could anyone let a figure with terms like “runctitional,” …

Subjects: AI, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Bills Igniting Book Bans

Evolving State Legislative Efforts to Censor Public School Libraries – “Thousands of books removed from schools out of fear of state governments nationwide. Judy Blume’s Forever… banned from every Utah public school; To Kill a Mockingbird and 39 other titles pulled from a Texas school district that used AI to review materials; a list of …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries

Internal Forest Service report finds ‘unpassable trails, unsafe bridges’

“The Trail Status Program Report, obtained by The Washington Post, [no paywall] concludes public lands are deteriorating quickly after the Trump administration cut staff. Trails maintained by the U.S. Forest Service nationwide are being “abandoned” and deteriorating rapidly, threatening visitor safety, after the Trump administration cut staff, according to an internal report obtained by The …

Subjects: Climate Change, E-Records, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Rx Inspector: ProPublica’s New Tool Provides Drug Info the FDA Won’t

ProPublica: “With every bottle of prescription medication comes an implied promise: The drugs are safe and effective and meet strict standards set by the Food and Drug Administration. But the agency known as one of the world’s toughest regulators provides only intermittent oversight of the foreign factories where generic drugs are made. And when investigators …

Subjects: E-Records, Health Care, Medicine, Search Engines