The move, which will first affect Brazil, Canada and Indonesia before being tried out in the US in a few weeks, is part of a company goal to “lower the temperature and discourage divisive conversations” globally, and was announced by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at a January conference. The change will initially impact only a small … Read more
At least a significant portion of their supporters, according to U of Aarhus researchers. When two competing political parties in Denmark reversed their policy stance on an issue — suddenly they both supported reducing unemployment benefits — their voters immediately moved their opinions by around 15% into line with their party. The same thing happened … Read more
At a Senate intelligence hearing for an unrelated matter this week, senators ended up asking NSA and other intelligence brass about the president and the Russia investigation. The officials told senators they would not discuss the specifics of conversations with the president. They said they thought it was confidential information that should be protected from … Read more
Fired FBI Director James Comey has delivered a prepared statement to Congress this week. The statement described the six meetings Comey had with the president, some of which are considered quite unusual by analysts. During one meeting with Trump, Comey testified, he shared with the president sensitive information of a salacious nature that had been … Read more
Although there haven’t been any big breaks in the story, the relationship between Trump, Trump staff, Flynn, and Comey continues to dominate U.S. news headlines this week. Read more
Two days before the French Election, there is a media blackout for anything political. This is supposed to provide a few days of uninterrupted consideration of the candidates, without the distraction of big news headlines, scandalous revelations, or campaigning last minute. Similar things are done in other countries. In the UK, for example, on the … Read more
Many parties are concerned about hacking having an effect on the election, and there are questions about whether false material is mixed in with the email leaks, which are purported to be from four top-level members of the Macron campaign. Macron is the front-runner in the the election, which is itself a runoff (with Macron … Read more
The 39-year-old centrist independent will win, it looks like, by a decisive margin of 65% to 35%. Le Pen’s 35% is seen as still being an important indicator of political feeling in the country. Read more
New Orleans has been removing monuments to its Confederate history, led by Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Sunday afternoon protesters met at Lee Square, as did people who support monument removal. The protesters included some considered to be white supremacists, but the peaceful protesters of all beliefs were aligned, as, in the words of one man who attended … Read more
The French president-elect, the youngest leader of the country since Napoleon and a man who was unknown a year ago, could find himself without much power to act if he doesn’t quickly form a movement to win a majority in the French national assembly. In the run up to the election, two candidates were chosen … Read more
The former Obama administration director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former Trump administration National Security Advisor is back in the news this week after Sally Yates, former acting-Attorney General, testified to the Senate about his history. She said that the Obama administration had warned Trump not to hire Flynn because Flynn was vulnerable to … Read more
The President’s new TV and online campaign touts the accomplishments of his first 100 days in office, including tax cuts, approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Read more