It’s difficult to watch the film without thinking of how we currently take in news about the civil rights uprisings of today. Imagine how much more successful Hoover would have been at getting out his message if Fox News and Twitter had existed at the time! Throughout the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police, the president and his allies worked hard to associate BLM with “anarchists” and “thugs,” even as Vice President Mike Pence held up Martin Luther King Jr. as a counter-example of the proper way to protest. … [Read more...] about The damning ‘MLK/FBI’ doc shows how poorly Martin Luther King Jr. was treated in his time
The Capitol riot is spurring new interest in gun-detection AI
A new round of debate over surveillance technology broke out after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. As some oberservers wisely pointed out, such events make it tempting to loosen restrictions on surveillance technologies such as facial recognition in the name of safety, but yielding to those temptations could lead to a rapid erosion of privacy and civil liberties. The Patriot Act Congress adopted after 9/11 (and the mass surveillance programs that followed) is a notable example. … [Read more...] about The Capitol riot is spurring new interest in gun-detection AI
This startup wants to do the impossible: make healthy instant ramen
I’m not alone, according to Immi’s founders, who conducted focus groups before launching the brand. “There are many people who grew up loving ramen but have stopped eating it entirely because it’s unhealthy,” Lee says. “But these people are still nostalgic about the food. This is precisely who we’re targeting.” … [Read more...] about This startup wants to do the impossible: make healthy instant ramen
IRS stimulus checks: Painfully slow mailed-out payments frustrate many Americans
Millions of Economic Impact Payments have already arrived in people’s bank accounts via direct deposit, but those that are being delivered via snail mail are taking longer than expected for many eligible recipients. The IRS Get My Payment tool—the online portal that provides updates to taxpayers about the status of their payments—began informing people as early as January 6 that their payments had been mailed out. … [Read more...] about IRS stimulus checks: Painfully slow mailed-out payments frustrate many Americans
It’s not your imagination: Wealthy people really do practice more social distancing
“We need to understand these differences because we can wring our hands, and we can blame and shame, but in a way it doesn’t matter,” said coauthor Nick Papageorge, an economist at Johns Hopkins University, in a news release. “Policymakers just need to recognize who is going to socially distance, for how long, why and under what circumstances to give us accurate predictions of how the disease will spread and help us establish policies that will be useful.” … [Read more...] about It’s not your imagination: Wealthy people really do practice more social distancing
