Our picksFacebook takes on White Nationalism; lasting grief after a mass shooting; Russian blackmail, and more

Published 28 March 2019

·  Election security in 2020 means a focus on county officials, DHS says

·  Facebook takes on White Nationalism

·  What to do when the Russian government wants to blackmail you

·  State spent $69M on mental health after school shooting, but didn’t mention PTSD, suicide

·  Colorado Springs council approves buyouts of landslide-damaged homes

·  New bill would finally stop NSA’s mass collection of U.S. phone data

·  The Russia skeptics are committing the sins they despise

·  A bipartisan coalition says Congress should reform surveillance powers—and it’s right

·  Lasting grief after a mass shooting

Election security in 2020 means a focus on county officials, DHS says (Alfred Ng, C|Net)
It’s a local thing.

Facebook takes on White Nationalism (Alex Baker Whitcomb, Wired)
After months of grappling with its stance, Facebook has finally decided to ban white nationalist content on both Facebook and Instagram. Starting next week, US users who attempt to search for or post this type of content will be redirected to a nonprofit that works to help people leave hate groups. Facebook appears to be the first platform to take a stand against white nationalism specifically, but the question of whether other platforms will follow suit, and if Facebook can actually rid its platforms of these kinds of posts, remains to be seen.

What to do when the Russian government wants to blackmail you (Anna Nemtsova, The Atlantic)
Russian officials have a long history of using compromising material, or kompromat, as a weapon against political opponents.

State spent $69M on mental health after school shooting, but didn’t mention PTSD, suicide (Elizabeth Koh, Miami Herald)
There was little discussion while crafting the bill — and no mention in the final 105 pages of legislation — that specifically directed schools to consider suicide prevention efforts, the most pressing mental health challenge facing a generation and the second leading cause of death for young people under 35.

Colorado Springs council approves buyouts of landslide-damaged homes (by Rachel Riley, The Gazette)
Each house will be demolished after it’s appraised and cleared of hazardous materials, and the land will be left as open space.

New bill would finally stop NSA’s mass collection of U.S. phone data (Spencer Ackerman, Daily Beast)
The surveillance giant shut down its flawed dragnet last year. Four legislators are trying to stop one of the security state’s most infamous post-9/11 programs from returning.

The Russia skeptics are committing the sins they despise (Alex Shephard, New Republic)
They’re rushing to judgment, ignoring the facts, and declaring victory—just like the journalists they’ve been criticizing.

A bipartisan coalition says Congress should reform surveillance powers—and it’s right (Dan King, Observer)
A diverse coalition of 40 different organizations recently called on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether the National Security Agency’s bulk phone data collection program has overstepped its bounds.
Clearly, it has.

Lasting grief after a mass shooting (Ashley Fetter, The Atlantic)
Suicides among people affected by shootings are, unfortunately, a familiar phenomenon—and support for survivors often misunderstands the nature of their grief.