You Oughta Know - Old News

The worst part about the hysteria of the news cycle is that the news ages poorly. Consider this post a clearinghouse of what is now considered old news, even though much of it was fresh just last week.

The Lifestyles of the…

“Awhile back” (read: On February 3), reports came out that a single weekend of travel for a member of the presidential family cost taxpayers almost $100,000 in hotel bills alone. I held off on posting due to a theme of such expenditures not yet being obvious. However, a little over a month into this administration has cost taxpayers much more. The Washington Post again reported on the elaborate lifestyle of the presidential family and labelled it a “logistical nightmare” with some estimates pointing to almost $10 million in expenditures on Mar-a-Lago visits. You don’t have to look far for even more coverage on this overspending spree. Of course, our country is too poor to provide health insurance for everyone, though.

Technology and Politics

Technology is an important topic for me and my career and while this site has started to focus more on current events due to the obvious circumstances in which we find ourselves, technology is more important than ever in such circumstances. For instance, the ubiquity of the Internet has caused many shifts over the past few decades and it is increasingly important that everyone has access to the web.Wired has a good rundown of an important broadband program that was just put on hold by the FCC, even though millions in the country would benefit from it.

ProPublica wrote about the kid friendly Department of Energy website that was reworded and reduced of its pointers to climate change data. I assume we can all agree that the education of our children is of utmost importance to our future, so you may want to check out this list of additional appointments in the administration that will affect education with DeVos. The worst part of all of this is a general intention to dismantle climate change data sharing within the classroom and replace it with “God”; I just don’t think He will be too happy with this outcome.

And finally, with the uptick in efforts to allow encrypted communications, BuzzFeedNews writes about the White House staff that are using an app called “Confide” even after reports that the app is not actually secure enough for such uses. Of course, using encrypted software doesn’t help matters when the president himself leaves keys in classified lockbags and invites friends into cabinet interviews.

One Video

If you watch one video today (or need a pick-me-up after the above), make it this ESPN report about a middle school basketball team that took a stand against gender discrimination within their league and forfeited their winning season and their shot at the playoffs in the process.