Trump Invokes State Secrets to Block CIA Testimony
UN Pledges Reform After Sex Abuse Scandal ; Dangers of an Interest Rate Hike ; and more Picks
UN Pledges Reform After Sex Abuse Scandal ; Dangers of an Interest Rate Hike ; and more Picks for 3/9.
PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
World Economy Could Not Handle a US Rate Hike (Jeff C.)
This according to Komal Sri-Kumar, president at Global Strategies, Inc., a macroeconomic consulting firm. He says that interest rates should have been raised three years ago, but now such a move would create divestment in Europe, and that would raise risk in overseas markets.
UN to Reform Peacekeepers Outreach After Sexual Abuse Scandal (Dan)
UN Peacekeepers were accused of sexual abuse, such as rape, in the Central African Republic in 2015. This was hardly the first time of such allegations. The new head of the UN, António Guterres, has pledged to reform the program.
State Secrets Privilege Invoked to Block Testimony in CIA Torture Case (Jimmy)
According to the NY Times, “The Trump administration has invoked executive powers in a bid to block the testimony of several top C.I.A. officials in a federal lawsuit against two psychologists who helped run the agency’s harsh interrogation program, along with portions of 172 internal agency documents.”
Machine Learning Reveals Lack of Female Screen Time in Top Films (Trevin)
According to new technology that can determine how often women and men are on screen, men have almost twice as much screen time as women in recent films.
George W. Bush Now on Right Side of Press Corps’s Nostalgia Machine (Jimmy)
FAIR.org calls out the corporate media’s fawning whitewash of the 43rd president, and the same technique that was used to the benefit of his father years earlier.
