"Why is it controversial to step in when someone’s getting bullied and try to stop it?”
—Billie Eilish
“Since 1900, scientists have observed more than 20 phases of ice, many of them shaped under extreme conditions. The growing list includes hot ice and even ice that conducts electricity.”
The evolving news landscape: Comparing media habits and trust between teens and adults
The Evolving News Landscape: Comparing media habits and trust between teens and adults is the latest study from the Media Insight Project, a collaboration of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This study features a combined sample 1,092 respondents ages 18 and older and 1,009 respondents ages 13-17, both nationally representative.
The new survey’s large nationally representative sample provides a unique opportunity for a detailed analysis of America’s most diverse generations. This report from the study will examine the news behaviors and views of five distinct age groups: 13- to 17-year-olds, 18- to 34-year-olds, 35- to 49-year-olds, 50- to 64-year-olds, and adults 65 and older. The sample allows us to explore how new-related habits and views vary across different age groups.
Over 80% of US government agencies already use AI agents – and it’s only the beginning
ZDNET: “According to IDC research focused on public-sector readiness, agentic AI is no longer in the experimental phase for government; it is a leadership mandate. IDC finds that while many government agencies are implementing agent-driven workflows, few have moved beyond pilots. The rate of agentic AI adoption in government is due to several factors:
- Budgetary pressures
- Sovereignty and compliance, including requirements for data resistance, algorithmic transparency, and accountability
- Workforce disruption, which points to skill gaps in cybersecurity and machine learning operations
- Citizen expectations for faster, more personalized, and equitable services…
Trump blames No Kings for assassination attemptPopular Information
Cole Allen Hated the Democratic Party, Too Ken Klippenstein
US bill would require warrants for digital surveillance, biometric searches Biometrics Update. In a sign of what I am willing to pay, literally and figuratively, to try to preserve a modicum of privacy, I refused a free hotel for a long layover (the Dubai Connect service) because I would have had to enter the UAE, which meant an iris scan. I have ruled out the EU and UK permanently because they have the same requirement. I went instead to a pod hotel in the airport, which was not great (too cold!!!)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is preparing banks to collect citizenship data
CNBC:” Banks in the U.S. may not like the idea of being forced to collect citizenship data on customers, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says they better be prepared for the task.
“If Treasury and the banking regulators say it’s their job, it’s their job,” Bessent told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the Invest in America Forum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. An executive order that has been discussed for months took a step closer to reality earlier this week when Bessent said in an The planned EO is one more plank in President Donald Trump’s broader effort to tie his immigration policy to collection of information in the United States, including for voting and Census efforts. In the U.S., citizenship documents are not necessary in order to open a bank account. Banks are required to verify identity.
The U.S., like many countries, uses “know your customer” rules for bank accounts to prevent money laundering and other forms of financial crime, verifying client identities, assessing risks, and monitoring transactions to prevent fraud. Laws including the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA, and the USA Patriot Act also underpin efforts to verify customers. Banks collect Social Security numbers, or an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, names, dates of birth and addresses, among other documents.
But that doesn’t satisfy Bessent. “Why can unknown foreign nationals come and open a bank account?” he said at the CNBC event. “Our bank executives job is to know your customer. How do you know your customer if you don’t know if they have legal or illegal status, whether they are a U.S. citizen or green card holder?”
Overseas, citizenship information is more often required for banking access, but there is no universal mandate. Bessent told Eisen: “Every other country does it. Every other country. … There should be stricter rules.” Republicans have voiced support for the idea…”
Trump fought to keep the ballroom fundraising contract secret. Here’s what’s in it
Follow-up to Banquet of Greed: Trump Ballroom Donors Feast on Federal Funds and Favors – See Washington Post – no paywall: “The agreement governing hundreds of millions in private donations was kept secret until a watchdog group sued and a judge ordered it disclosed [the full text of this document is embedded in this WaPo article – view the 14 page PDF without the paywall here]…
“The Trump administration’s failure to disclose this contract was flatly unlawful,” said Wendy Liu, a Public Citizen attorney and lead counsel on the lawsuit, filed after the Park Service and the Interior Department failed to fulfill a public records request for the document.
“The American people are entitled to transparency over this multi-million-dollar project.” The secrecy surrounding the contract mirrors the administration’s broader approach to the project. White House officials have declined to disclose the total amount raised, the identities of all donors or, until recently, basic details about the building’s design. Court documents show Trump knew he was going to tear down the East Wing at least two months before doing so, but he never told the public.
The contract provisions, taken together, allow wealthy donors with business before the federal government to contribute anonymously to a sitting president’s pet project, while exempting the White House from key conflict of interest safeguards and limiting scrutiny by Congress and the public…The contract resembles templates used by the Park Service for more routine fundraising partnerships — with several notable differences:
Provisions peppered throughout the agreement prevent the signatories from revealing the identities of anonymous donors, and a review process for detecting conflicts of interest with the Park Service and Interior Department makes no mention of doing the same for the president, other White House officials or the 14 other executive departments he oversees.