The Onus of Choice: Picks of the Week
Facebook Wants Users to Help It Weed Out Fake News | Forbes Jack Dorsey says Twitter is not responsible for Trump’s election, but it’s ‘complicated’ | CNBC Reddit moves against ‘toxic’ Trump fans | BBC Twitter bans multiple ‘alt-right’ accounts | engadget 2016 was not a good year to be a tech company. Twitter’s struggling to profit, Facebook is still reeling from its massive fake news debacle, and major web … Read More
‘Truck tolls’ roads, bridges plan named R. I. Story of the Year
Newport, R.I. – Governor Gina Raimondo’s ambitious and controversial plan to modernize aging state roads and bridges – in part, through the imposition of tolls on trucks – has been voted the 2016 Pell Center Rhode Island Story of the Year. Raimondo’s blueprint, approved by the General Assembly in February, was selected by a panel of 19 judges from the media and academia. Runners-up in the annual contest were the … Read More
Tearing Up Trade Agreements Won’t Help Workers: A More Responsible Approach Just May
Newport, R.I. – The current heated debate over international trade is the outcome of a flawed public policy and political framework. With growing public sentiment against trade and political leaders on both the left and right opposing international trade agreements, the United States needs a new approach to international trade that addresses the inequities many believe damage America’s national interest while preserving the good that trade does in the world. … Read More
Truth is the First Casualty: Picks of the Week
Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’ | The Washington Post Trump takes credit for saving Ford factory that was not closing | The Guardian Megyn Kelly tells ‘The View” how she felt when Trump was elected president | The Daily Beast Feelings are the hobgoblins of American politics. Voters “feel” like one candidate will do a better job than another. Voters … Read More
The Rise of Far Right Populism in the West: Picks of the Week
Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash | Ronald F. Inglehart and Pippa Norris The Ruthlessly Effective Rebranding of Europe’s New Far Right | The Guardian The Power of Populism | Foreign Affairs Podcast What the Right’s Intellectuals Did Wrong | The New York Times In a singularly thoughtful working paper, Ronald F. Inglehart of the University of Michigan and Pippa Norris from the Harvard Kennedy school set out … Read More
We Know What a Fair Election Looks Like
In a remarkable election season, with one candidate speaking frequently about voter fraud and “rigged” elections, we asked an experienced international election observer how we would know if the election was fair. Here is his response. Standing amidst the rubble of war, a woman stood against a cold and bitter wind. I asked the woman why she stood patiently waiting in a line with hundreds of her neighbors. “I have … Read More
A Republic, If You’ll Keep It: Picks of the Week
How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History | Esquire Steve Bannon’s Vision for the Trump Coalition After Election Day | The New Yorker Donald Trump’s Contempt for Democracy | The New York Times Hackers Used New Weapons to Disrupt Major Websites Across U.S. | The New York Times The United States is currently the target of a Russian information operation—of this there is no doubt. From … Read More
Ongoing Tensions in Asia: Picks of the Week
Rodrigo Duterte, Scorned Abroad, Remains Popular in the Philippines | The New York Times If Duterte Kicks Out U.S. Special Operators, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall | War on the Rocks Vietnam Says No to Foreign Military Base on its Soil | Reuters Everything is Not Well in the South China Sea | The Huffington Post Australia As Donald Trump’s campaign enters its Gotterdammerung phase, our attention has been captured by … Read More
Who Stole Conservatism?
The American political system has always cycled through periods of progress and conservatism. As voters grapple with just which course they favor in 2016, Mario DiNunzio, professor emeritus of history at Providence College, kicked off the Pell Center’s 2016-2017 lecture series with a discussion of his new book, Who Stole Conservatism? DiNunzio outlined a history of conservatism from the 18th century to today, crediting the structure of classic conservatism to political … Read More
Championing Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Picks of the Week
Presidential Proclamation – National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, 2016 | The White House How Weak Cybersecurity could Disrupt the U.S. Election | Politico Cybersecurity is just too much trouble for the general public, claims study | TripWire Obama administration accuses Russian government of election-year hacking | Politico October marks National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) – a time when participating governments and organizations come together to raise public awareness about cybersecurity, provide … Read More