RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week July 14 to July20 Stefan Halper, the shadowy Cambridge academic who may have helped the FBI spy on the Trump campaign, was paid more than $1 million by a U.S. agency for research papers of dubious value, according to a new government report. But even as it shed new light on Halper's work, the report left unanswered central questions about his Trump-Russia role and raised new ones about the circuitous winds on which Washington dollars manage to fly out the window. As Eric Felten reports forRealClearInvestigations, the report by the Pentagon's Inspector General does not address why Halper questioned - sometimes amiably, sometimes aggressively- two men who became linchpins of the now-debunked Trump-Russia conspiracy theories: George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. But the IG report does suggest the question: If Halper wasn't a spy or a confidential human source, why did the Officeof Net Assessment, a Department of Defense policy outfit,pay him $1.05 million during a four-year period for research papers of dubious value? Mining the report,Feltenwrites: Halper's richest contracts with the ONA - $411,575 for two studies on China's economy - were awarded on September 26, 2016, around the time Halper was meeting with Page and Papadopoulos. Halper's expenses received little scrutiny - estimated travel expenses for the China project ballooned to $14,717.86 from the original estimate of $9,260. Halper promised a raft of interviews in his proposal for a Russia-China study but the IG found that "none of the 851 footnotes" in that study, "attributed source material to an interview conducted by Professor Halper." Felten also reports that the lack of rigor and oversight involved in Halper's work appears to conform to ONA guidelines, which can make the outfit seem more like a slush fund than a serious think tank. Read Full Article Here's Why School Chromebooks Aren't All They're Cracked Up to Be RealClearInvestigations In today's high-tech world, it's a no-brainer that computers should be at the center of learning, right? Guess again, Einstein. In fact, hopes for education tech are being blasted like eggshells in a shooting gallery by a mindless computer game called Shell Shockers -now wildly popular on school-issued Chromebooks. Tim Cavanaugh reports for RealClearInvestigationsthatthe student-driven craze for the online game is emblematic of the broader failure of education technology, widely embraced less than a decade ago thanks to messianic marketing efforts by Apple, Google and others. It was a movement that led some 66 percent of America's K-12 schools to equip their students with tablets or laptops - often iPads or Chromebooks. How have things turned out? Well, to stretch the egg metaphor a bit more, rotten. Cavanaugh reports: A wide-ranging report from the Paris-based Reboot Foundation in June has found "evidence of a negative relationship" between nations' performance on the Program for International Student Assessment test and their students' reported use of technology. A 2015 study of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries found that "students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after accounting for social background and student demographics." In addition "the results show no appreciable improvements in student achievement in reading, mathematics or science in the countries that had invested heavily in information and communications technologies for education." Cavanaugh also reports that tech companies - which have been collecting reams of data from students - have not released data to demonstrate their products work. Understandably, some parents and educators are boiling mad. So to review, class: There have been many splattered animated eggs but few human eggheads as a result of all this. Ed tech, like Humpty Dumpty, has had a great fall. The Trump Investigations: Top Articles How Assange Used Ecuador Embassy for 2016 Election Meddling, CNN House Overwhelmingly Rejects Impeachment, Washington Examiner Files Show Trump Involved in Scramble to Pay Stormy, Washington Post The Epstein Investigations: Top Articles Jeffrey Epstein Denied Bail, Daily Beast GhislaineMaxwell's Father Was a LotLikeJeffrey Epstein, Daily Beast Jeffrey Epstein's 'Lady of the House', New York Times The Victoria's Secret Pipeline to Jeffrey Epstein, New York Post How Epstein Groomed His 'No. 1 Girl', Smoking Gun Kamala Harris Got Epstein Law Firm's Cash Day She Blasted It, AP Epstein Only Half a Billionaire, New York Post Photos Inside Jeffrey Epstein's 'Lolita Express', Daily Mail Other Noteworthy Articles and Series Facial Recognition Tech Is Growing Stronger, Thanks to Your Face New York Times
Dozens of databases of people's faces are being compiled without their knowledge by companies and researchers, with many of the images then being shared around the world, in what has become a sprawling ecosystem fueling the spread of facial recognition technology. The images are pulled from social networks, photo websites, dating services likeOkCupid ,and cameras placed in restaurants and on college quads. Law enforcement has used the technology to identify illegal immigrants and suspected criminals; activists fear it is another step in the destruction of privacy. Recent MS-13 Arrivals, Grisly String of Deaths Los Angeles Times Before summarizing this article, we need to define the word "bogeyman." It is "an imaginary evil spirit or being, used to frighten children." Got it? Good. This article begins with the "gruesome murders" of at least seven people in Los Angeles linked to a faction of the MS-13 street gang: One by one, the victimswerelured to remote locations: an abandoned building in downtown Los Angeles, an empty rooftop in Hollywood, a quiet park in the San Fernando Valley. Each was accused of a transgression against the notorious MS-13 street gang. Each would meet their endin amanner federal investigatorsdescribed as "medieval." Turns out that 19 of the 22 defendants charged with these crimes had entered the country illegally in the last four years. Nevertheless, in just the 6th paragraph the reporters feel they must reform the reader: "MS-13 has also become a bogeyman used by President Trump to justify stronger immigration enforcement by linking the issue to crime." Those murders seem pretty real, which raises the question: Has bogeyman become a synonym for media bias? Few Benefit as Precision Medicine Beats 'Incurable' Cancer Newsweek Cancer is not a single disease but a range of related diseases complicated by the specific biological and chemical environment of a patient's body. Precision medicine can address this complexity by individually tailoring treatments. But it's hampered by many doctors' lack of expertise and a failure to administer the crucial genetic tests. Expense is also an obstacle: Insurance companies don't reimburse adequately for the tests. So, only 10 percent of cancer patients undergo genetic testing. Behind the Wealth Gap: Blacks Kicked Off the Land ProPublica/New Yorker Most African-Americans don't have wills: 76% of them, twice the rate for whites. And that creates opportunities for unscrupulous people and governments to steal their land, this article suggests. Heirs are rarely aware of the tenuous nature of their ownership. Even when they are, clearing a title is often an unaffordable and complex process, which requires tracking down every living heir, and there are few lawyers who specialize in the field.The article details the historic roots and contemporary issues created by this problem while focusing on a North Carolina family who appear to have had their land stolen from them - legally. After Bangladesh Horror, Are Garment Workers Any Safer? The Nation The glamour of the global fashion industry was shattered six years ago when a garment factory building on the outskirts of Bangladesh fell apart, killing at least 1,132 people and injuring a further 2,500 or more. The public shock led to demands for an ends to the culture of impunity and abuse that had for decades sustained the world's most famous fashion brands. This article looks at what has changed, and what hasn't. By "focusing on three keystone international labor agreements for workers in Indonesia, Honduras, and Bangladesh," the article "shows the promises and pitfalls of the ongoing efforts to build real corporate accountability into global garment supply chains." Alaska: Town Where All the Cops Have a Domestic Abuse Rap Anchorage Daily News/ProPublica WhenNimeronMike applied to be a city police officer in Stebbins, Alaska, last New Year's Eve, he didn't really expect to get the job. He was a registered sex offender who had served six years behind bars in Alaska jails and prisons. He'd been convicted of assault, domestic violence, vehicle theft, groping a woman, hindering prosecution, reckless driving, drunken driving and choking a woman unconscious in an attempted sexual assault.Among other crimes. But he got the job anyway. On his police force, every cop has a criminal record, including the chief. Given the low pay and few aspirants for the work, it's easy for a convicted felon to become the law in some small Alaska communities. It is also against the law. Were the First Words on the Moon Misheard? The Conversation More evidence that what everybody knows is wrong. Many Amercans quote with absolute confidence Neil Armstrong'sfirst words upon stepping on the moon 50 years ago: "That's one small step for man.One giant leap for mankind." But that repetitive and hence nonsensical statement is not what he said. Armstrong has long contended - and slowed-down audio tape included in this article confirms - that he said this: "That's one small step for a man.One giant leap for mankind."A prediction: On the 100th anniversary of the moon landing in 2069, someone else will write the same article making the same point because, well, everybody knows what he said. |