Here’s some amazingly good news amidst all of the nonsense of late. On Thursday, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House announced that they were updating policy guidance to mandate that all taxpayer-supported research should be immediately available to the public at no cost. According to the actual policy guidelines, US departments and agencies have until the end of 2025 to make this change (though, it’s not clear that there’s any remedy if they don’t). This is really huge — and it seems to have come out of nowhere.
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Of course, it also wouldn’t surprise me if Congress comes back with bills to lock up such research again — or a future administration flip flops on this. But… for now… good news!
Huge News: Biden Administration Announces All Publicly Funded Research Should Be Available For Free To The Public
Tag: Transparency
UK: State-sponsored behavioural science
The ubiquitous deployment of behavioural-science techniques – ‘nudges’ – to increase compliance with both covid-19 restrictions and the vaccine rollout has raised major ethical concerns. Particularly alarming has been the state’s strategic use of fear (or ‘affect’ in the language of behavioural science), shaming (‘ego’) and peer pressure (‘norms’). The tentacles of behavioural science have extended beyond the arena of pandemic management and into many other areas of day-to-day life, including debt collection and the green agenda. Given their widespread prevalence and the profound ethical questions associated with them, it is imperative that the Government’s deployment of these powerful techniques adheres to a robust and transparent ethical framework. Alarmingly, politicians and state-sponsored behavioural scientists have – to date – displayed a stubborn reluctance to discuss these issues.
State-sponsored behavioural science
CHINA: The West has Double Standards! West: China has Double Standards! Who is to be trusted?
Rampant Data Broker Sale Of Pregnancy Data Gets Fresh Scrutiny Post Roe
from the the-check-is-coming-due-for-apathy dept
Mon, Aug 15th 2022 06:29am – Karl Bode
For decades now, privacy advocates warned we were creating a dystopia through our rampant over-collection and monetization of consumer data. And just as often, those concerns were greeted with calls of “consumers don’t actually care about privacy” from overly confident white guys in tech.
Rampant Data Broker Sale Of Pregnancy Data Gets Fresh Scrutiny Post Roe
Pentagon contractors in Afghanistan operated with minimal disclosure and oversight
According to a new report, the Defense Department doled out billions to companies that are not identifiable on contracting databases.
Pentagon contractors in Afghanistan operated with minimal disclosure and oversight
Chile’s Draft Constitution: Undemocratic—or Too Much Democracy?
Chileans will vote in September on whether to approve a new constitution that promises to address inequality and lack of democracy (Reuters, 7/4/22). It would replace the present constitution imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who came into power through a US-backed coup in 1973. The nation’s newly elected left-wing leadership is calling for a “yes” vote, although in the much-divided country, the constitution faces steep opposition from the right.
Chile’s Draft Constitution: Undemocratic—or Too Much Democracy?
70% of Western weapons sent to Ukraine don’t reach troops – CBS
New Evidence Suggests the US Navy Continues to Poison Oʻahu Residents Months After Declaring the Water Safe
New York Times columnist: Deeper mistrust between Biden and Zelenskyy than people know
Thomas Friedman wrote Monday in a column for the New York Times that there was a deeper mistrust between the White House and Volodymyr Zelenskyy than what has been reported.
New York Times columnist: Deeper mistrust between Biden and Zelenskyy than people know
Related:
Why Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan Is Utterly Reckless
The timing could not be worse. Dear reader: The Ukraine war is not over. And privately, U.S. officials are a lot more concerned about Ukraine’s leadership than they are letting on. There is deep mistrust between the White House and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky — considerably more than has been reported.
And there is funny business going on in Kyiv. On July 17, Zelensky fired his country’s prosecutor general and the leader of its domestic intelligence agency — the most significant shake-up in his government since the Russian invasion in February. It would be the equivalent of Biden firing Merrick Garland and Bill Burns on the same day. But I have still not seen any reporting that convincingly explains what that was all about. It is as if we don’t want to look too closely under the hood in Kyiv for fear of what corruption or antics we might see, when we have invested so much there. (More on the dangers of that another day.)
‘I Know You Are But What Am I’: Russia’s Ready Response to US Africa-Alarmism
Perhaps you’ve heard: not only is Moscow about to maraud its way through Ukraine, not only is Tsar Vladimir I seeking a new Eurasian empire, but – as if to add insult to injury – Russia is “returning” to Africa in a big way, intent on “displacing” the influence of the continent’s apparently rightful influencers (interesting language, that – no?). Anyway, at least that’s the hyper-panicked Russophobic narrative emanating from America’s top think tanks, papers of record, and bipartisan but paltry politicians.
‘I Know You Are But What Am I’: Russia’s Ready Response to US Africa-Alarmism
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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