Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse; The Hill, June 21, 2025

AMALIA HUOT-MARCHAND , The Hill; Pope Leo lauds journalism in comments about Catholic church abuse

"“Your fight for justice is also the Church’s fight. A faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul has not yet understood the Gospel,” he added.

He also stressed the importance of independent journalism for society.

“In this time of deep institutional and social tensions, defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty for all who aspire to a strong and participatory democracy,” he wrote.

Sexual abuse continues to plague the Catholic Church. Although Pope Francis began to take away the taboo of abuse within church walls, victims are seeking more recognition and action from Pope Leo such as a zero-tolerance policy.

Leo has already made the free press a cause for which he is willing to fight.

On May 12, Pope Leo called for the release of unlawfully detained journalists all over the world and defended the importance of free speech and press."

Two men jailed for life for supplying car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia; The Guardian, June 10, 2025

Juliette Garside, The Guardian ; Two men jailed for life for supplying car bomb that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia

[Kip Currier: It's encouraging to see that justice can occur, even in places and situations where corruption is deeply entangled and seemingly intractable. I vividly remember learning from The Guardian's reporting about the horrific car bomb murder of courageous investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017:

The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.

Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the vehicle into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field.

A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers, Caruana Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a “one-woman WikiLeaks”. Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe’s smallest member state.

Her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/16/malta-car-bomb-kills-panama-papers-journalist

As mentioned in the 2017 article, Galizia was reporting about corruption that involved the Maltese government at the time. Journalists like Galizia risk -- and all too often lose -- their lives to expose corruption and promote public awareness and accountability for wrongdoing.

These intrepid reporters also shed important light on the ways that the wealthy, powerful, and famous are frequently able to circumvent laws and ethical standards that apply to everyone else, as was revealed by the Panama Papers investigation.

Non-profit groups like Transparency International are committed to exposing corruption and promoting democracy and accountability:

We are Transparency International U.S. (TI US), part of the world’s largest coalition against corruption. We give voices to victims and witnesses of corruption, and work with governments, businesses, and citizens to stop the abuse of entrusted power.

In collaboration with national chapters in more than 100 countries, we are leading the fight to turn our vision of a world free from corruption into reality. Our U.S. office focuses on stemming the harms caused by illicit finance, strengthening political integrity, and promoting a positive U.S. role in global anti-corruption initiatives. Through a combination of research, advocacy, and policy, we engage with stakeholders to increase public understanding of corruption and hold institutions and individuals accountable.

https://us.transparency.org/who-we-are/]

My forthcoming Bloomsbury book Ethics, Information, and Technology (January 2026) examines the corrosive impacts of corruption. It also explores organizations like Transparency International that report on and educate about corrupt practices, as well as efforts to root out public trust-damaging activities and positively influence and change organizational cultures where corruption exists.

Corruption is often intertwined, too, with other ethical issues like conflicts of interest, censorship, research misconduct, misinformation and disinformation, counterfeit goods and deficits of transparency, accountability, data integrity, freedom of expression, and free and independent presses, which are critically assessed and considered in the book.]

[Excerpt]

"Two men have been sentenced to life in prison for supplying the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta eight years ago.

The sentencing on Tuesday of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, reported to be members of the island’s criminal underworld, marked a significant step in the long campaign to bring those charged with Caruana Galizia’s murder to justice.

Her death in October 2017 sparked outrage across Europe and embroiled Malta’s governing party in accusations of a coverup, ultimately leading to the resignation of the then prime minister, Joseph Muscat.

Prosecutors have brought charges against seven people, including a millionaire businessman who is still awaiting trial."

5 ethical questions about artificial intelligence; Britannica Money, May 2025

 Written byAllie Grace Garnet; Fact-checked byDoug Ashburn, Britannica Money; 5 ethical questions about artificial intelligence

"Are you wondering about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence? You’re not alone. AI is an innovative, powerful tool that many fear could produce significant consequences—some positive, some negative, and some downright dangerous.

Ethical concerns about an emerging technology aren’t new, but with the rise of generative AI and rapidly increasing user adoption, the conversation is taking on new urgency. Is AI fair? Does it protect our privacy? Who is accountable when AI makes a mistake—and is AI the ultimate job killer? Enterprises, individuals, and regulators are grappling with these important questions.

Let’s explore the major ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence and how AI designers can potentially address these problems."

Excruciating reason Utah lawyer presented FAKE case in court after idiotic blunder; Daily Mail, May 31, 2025

JOE HUTCHISON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM; Excruciating reason Utah lawyer presented FAKE case in court after idiotic blunder

"The case referenced, according to documents, was 'Royer v. Nelson' which did not exist in any legal database and was found to be made up by ChatGPT.

Opposing counsel said that the only way they would find any mention of the case was by using the AI. 

They even went as far as to ask the AI if the case was real, noting in a filing that it then apologized and said it was a mistake.

Bednar's attorney, Matthew Barneck, said that the research was done by a clerk and Bednar took all responsibility for failing to review the cases.

He told The Salt Lake Tribune: 'That was his mistake. He owned up to it and authorized me to say that and fell on the sword."

This Latest AI Book Debacle Is A Disturbing Part Of A Growing Trend; ScreenRant, May 29, 2025

Rose-Graceling Moore, ScreenRant; This Latest AI Book Debacle Is A Disturbing Part Of A Growing Trend

"Yet another AI scandal has hit self-publishing, as an author left generative AI in a final draft of their book - but this isn't an isolated incident, and reveals a growing, and deeply problematic, trend."

‘Fight back’: journalist taking Trump administration to court calls for media to resist attacks; The Guardian, May 5, 2025

Kate Lamb, The Guardian; ‘Fight back’: journalist taking Trump administration to court calls for media to resist attacks

 "Now, she finds herself pushing against fascistic tendencies in her adopted home. “I grew up in 80s Indonesia where there was no press freedom and newspapers had to be careful what they printed to avoid government closure,” she says. “Could the US backslide that far? Not if enough people resist, and that’s why I’m fighting back.”

Her lawsuit, backed by Reporters Without Borders and four unions, argues the Trump administration, through the actions of the defendants, USAGM, and the government’s special adviser Kari Lake, are attempting to unlawfully dismantle VOA’s operations because they deem it contrary to the government’s agenda.

Widakuswara argues that Trump’s executive order is a violation of press freedom, the first amendment, and laws to prevent executive overreach, with VOA funding approved by Congress, not the president."

‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’; The Atlantic, May 2, 2025

Tom Bartlett, The Atlantic; ‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’

[Kip Currier: The indifference and nonchalance of the University of Zurich researchers in this AI study -- who blatantly manipulated the Reddit human subjects without informed consent -- is deeply unsettling.

In the wake of outcries about this research study, the responses of the University of Zurich ethics board are perhaps even more troubling. That board's stated purpose:

"is to “support members of the University in their perception of ethical responsibility in research and teaching“, to “promote ethical awareness within the University” and to “represent ethical issues to the public at large"." 

https://www.ethik.uzh.ch/en/ethikkommission.html

The words "perception [italics added] of ethical responsibility" should give every researcher and Internet user pause in light of the Zurich ethics commission's providing a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card to virtually any of Zurich's researchers with its lack of substantive guardrails and accountability.]

[Excerpt]

"The researchers had a tougher time convincing Redditors that their covert study was justified. After they had finished the experiment, they contacted the subreddit’s moderators, revealed their identity, and requested to “debrief” the subreddit—that is, to announce to members that for months, they had been unwitting subjects in a scientific experiment. “They were rather surprised that we had such a negative reaction to the experiment,” says one moderator, who asked to be identified by his username, LucidLeviathan, to protect his privacy. According to LucidLeviathan, the moderators requested that the researchers not publish such tainted work, and that they issue an apology. The researchers refused. After more than a month of back-and-forth, the moderators revealed what they had learned about the experiment (minus the researchers’ names) to the rest of the subreddit, making clear their disapproval.

When the moderators sent a complaint to the University of Zurich, the university noted in its response that the “project yields important insights, and the risks (e.g. trauma etc.) are minimal,” according to an excerpt posted by moderators. In a statement to me, a university spokesperson said that the ethics board had received notice of the study last month, advised the researchers to comply with the subreddit’s rules, and “intends to adopt a stricter review process in the future.” Meanwhile, the researchers defended their approach in a Reddit comment, arguing that “none of the comments advocate for harmful positions” and that each AI-generated comment was reviewed by a human team member before being posted. (I sent an email to an anonymized address for the researchers, posted by Reddit moderators, and received a reply that directed my inquiries to the university.)

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the Zurich researchers’ defense was that, as they saw it, deception was integral to the study. The University of Zurich’s ethics board—which can offer researchers advice but, according to the university, lacks the power to reject studies that fall short of its standards—told the researchers before they began posting that “the participants should be informed as much as possible,” according to the university statement I received. But the researchers seem to believe that doing so would have ruined the experiment. “To ethically test LLMs’ persuasive power in realistic scenarios, an unaware setting was necessary,” because it more realistically mimics how people would respond to unidentified bad actors in real-world settings, the researchers wrote in one of their Reddit comments."

ESPN’s Pat McAfee and others amplified a false rumor. A teenager’s life was ‘destroyed’; The New York Times, April 1, 2025

Katie Strang, The New York Times ; ESPN’s Pat McAfee and others amplified a false rumor. A teenager’s life was ‘destroyed’

"Cornett engaged legal representation and said she intends to take action against McAfee and ESPN, which airs his show, and potentially others involved in spreading the rumor. “I would like people to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” she said."

Ethisphere Names U. S. Steel One of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the Fourth Consecutive Year; BusinessWire, March 11, 2025

BusinessWire; Ethisphere Names U. S. Steel One of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the Fourth Consecutive Year

"Integral to U. S. Steel’s ethical culture are its S.T.E.E.L. Principles, an extension of what is widely believed to be the first-ever corporate code of ethics developed more than a century ago by company co-founder Judge Elbert Gary.

“Our S.T.E.E.L. Principles are foundational to the unequivocal ethics we display in our daily business activities and across our organization at every level,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of U. S. Steel, David B. Burritt. “That Ethisphere has once again recognized U. S. Steel as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® reinforces our reputation as a corporation dedicated to promoting a strong ethical culture that builds value for everyone.”"

Former government ethics director warns of corruption danger; ABC News, February 14, 2025

ABC News; Former government ethics director warns of corruption danger

"President Donald Trump dismissed David Huitema from his role as director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on Monday.

OGE is responsible for overseeing the executive branch's ethics programs, including efforts to "prevent financial conflicts." Huitema was nominated by former President Joe Biden and was sworn in the weeks after Trump's victory in the 2024 election.

ABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with Huitema about his sudden removal from the job on Wednesday...

ABC NEWS: I guess it sounds like an obvious question, but humor us here for a moment, why do you believe that government watchdogs are important?

HUITEMA: Well, I think they're important for a couple of reasons. Even though they are mostly internally focused, they don't have a lot of visibility, I recognize that a lot of people watching probably have never even heard of the Office of Government Ethics, but they help set the tone and build a culture within government of respect for the rule of law, adherence to the rule of law, a commitment to public service, and an expectation of accountability for that public service.

And so as those institutions are eroded, people may not see it right away, but in time, you can expect to see more corruption, more abuse of office and less accountability for that. The guardrails to sort of notice and address those kinds of concerns will be reduced.

And eventually, I guess my big concern is that in the long run, if that continues now, a change of culture is really hard to reverse."

Pay Attention to the FBI; The Atlantic, February 6, 2025

 Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic; Pay Attention to the FBI

"In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we discuss where Trump and Musk seem to be headed and the obstacles they are likely to encounter in the future. What happens when Trump starts to face challenges from courts? What happens when Musk goes after programs that Americans depend on, particularly those who voted for Trump? What new political alliances might emerge from the wreckage? We talk with staff writer Jonathan Chait, who covers politics. And we also talk with Shane Harris, who covers national security, about Trump’s campaign to purge the FBI of agents who worked on cases related to the insurrection at the Capitol.

“I think that will send a clear message to FBI personnel that there are whole categories of people and therefore potential criminal activity that they should not touch, because it gets into the president, his influence, his circle of friends,” Harris says. “I think that is just a potentially ruinous development for the rule of law in the United States.”"

Can Musk Be Stopped?: A high profile lawsuit by Public Citizen takes aim at the DOGE takeover at Treasury., Status Kuo, February 5, 2025

JAY KUO , The Status Kuo; Can Musk Be Stopped?: A high profile lawsuit by Public Citizen takes aim at the DOGE takeover at Treasury.

"There’s a lot of activity by both Trump and his co-president Elon Musk these days, and it can feel overwhelming. Every time we turn around, there’s some new horror. (Wait, Trump wants the U.S. to take over Gaza?!)

Our natural inclination when bombarded with so much is to curl up, cover our heads and hope it ends soon. Rather than give in to this impulse, however, I want to help chart a path through. To do that, we need to prioritize among the many assaults upon our system and understand clearly what is being done and how we can help.

I don’t want to sugarcoat this. To my mind, the greatest threat right now is this: Elon Musk and his goons have taken over critical payment systems at the Treasury Department. This is a DEFCON 1 moment for our government. An unaccountable private citizen, who is also the world’s richest man acting under authority of a would-be dictator, apparently has admin—not just read-only—access to the very lifeline of our Republic: the money.

With such access, Musk has effective control over trillions of dollars of payments each year, and he could terminate some or even all of these at the flip of a switch. This includes our entire social safety net of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps. This puts tens of millions of American who rely on government support at great risk. Already he is threatening to selectively determine which programs are “wasteful” and cut off the money to them.

Yes, this is illegal. Yes, someone needs to stop it. But how?

Many lawsuits have been filed against DOGE, but I’m watching one closely. It’s by Public Citizen, filed on behalf of three plaintiffs: the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union. The suit alleges that the personal and private financial information of the plaintiffs’ members was illegally accessed by young Musketeer coders over the weekend.

The Public Citizen lawsuit names as defendants the Treasury, its Secretary, and the Bureau of Fiscal Services, which granted access and even admin rights to Musk’s team. This is smart. The lawsuit goes after these defendants in particular because, if ordered by a court, they are the ones that have the power to revoke the access they granted earlier to DOGE.

When I first heard about the lawsuit, the first question I had was, “What’s the legal hook?” By this I mean, what specific laws were broken, and under what statute or law would a court have the power to step in with an injunction?

That’s what I want to cover today. It’s important that we’re all on the same page about our rights as recipients of federal money and payers of federal taxes, and how Musk and DOGE have violated those rights and must be brought to heel."

Could AI Help Bust Medicaid Scammers? Minnesota May Find Out; Government Technology, January 29, 2025

Nikki Davidson, Government Technology; Could AI Help Bust Medicaid Scammers? Minnesota May Find Out

"HOW CAN AI HELP?

The governor’s plan is to detect and flag anomalies for Medicaid providers, meaning an AI system would likely be trained to identify unusual or suspicious patterns in billing and payment data.

Suspicious patterns could include:

• Billing for an excessive number of services: Flagging providers who bill for significantly more services than their peers
• Billing for unnecessary or inappropriate services: Flagging claims for services that are not medically necessary or do not align with the patient's diagnosis
• Billing for services not rendered: Flagging claims for services that were never actually provided
• Unusual billing patterns or trends: Flagging providers whose billing practices deviate significantly from established norms or show sudden, unexplained changes

In an interview with Government Technology, Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) Tarek Tomes explained that this use case aligns with the state’s AI strategy of leaning into less controversial use cases that don’t reinvent any wheel, as many private-sector financial institutions already use similar technology.

“In our private lives, if we have suspicious credit card transactions, we generally get a text message asking, ‘Is this really you?’" said Tomes. “So using AI and machine learning to really look at patterns — both successful and unsuccessful patterns of transactions, and to be able to flag transactions for further review or further investigation is going to be a really important capability to add to those areas in government that have high transactions where financial benefits are paid out.”

At this point, it’s a waiting game until April or May to see if the AI pilot will be approved in the state’s budget. In the meantime, Tomes said MNIT is researching vendors and the capabilities they provide, especially in terms of low-fidelity prototypes.

If the pilot funding gets a green light from lawmakers, human beings will still play an essential role in the fraud detection process, investigating the flagged transactions for actual evidence of wrongdoing or fraud."

CREW/Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, January 29, 2025

 CREW/Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; CREW statement on Menendez sentencing

"Following the sentencing of former Senator Bob Menendez, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington President Noah Bookbinder, a former federal corruption prosecutor, released the following statement:

“Bob Menendez’s blatant corruption made a mockery of the Senate and was one more piece of the shattering of Americans’ trust in our government in recent years. We applaud Judge Stein for handing down a serious sentence in line with these very serious offenses. By sending Menendez to prison, the judge has shown that the system can work. And Americans can feel secure in the knowledge that, in at least some cases, corruption does not go unpunished.”"

Trump’s firing of independent watchdogs raises concerns about government fraud and ethics; PBS News, January 27, 2025

Laura Barrón-López , Shrai Popat, PBS News; Trump’s firing of independent watchdogs raises concerns about government fraud and ethics

"In another sweeping move of his second term, President Trump fired more than a dozen inspectors general, the non-partisan watchdogs appointed to protect against abuses of power, waste and mismanagement across federal agencies. White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López discussed the impact with Glenn Fine, former inspector general for the Department of Justice."

Career US Justice Department official in charge of public corruption cases resigns; Reuters, January 27, 2025

Sarah N. Lynch , Reuters; Career US Justice Department official in charge of public corruption cases resigns

"Corey Amundson, the U.S. Justice Department's senior career official in charge of overseeing public corruption and other politically sensitive investigations, resigned on Monday after the Trump administration tried to reassign him to a new role working on immigration issues, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

"I am honored and blessed to have served our country and this department for the last 23 years," Amundson wrote in his letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry.

"I spent my entire professional life committed to the apolitical enforcement of the federal criminal law and to ensuring that those around me understood and embraced that central tenet of our work," Amundson said.

Amundson is one of an estimated 20 career officials inside the Justice Department who was reassignedlast week to a new Sanctuary City Working Group inside the Associate Attorney General's office."

Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency; The Guardian, January 23, 2025

David Smith, The Guardian ; Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency

"A leading ethics watchdog has issued warnings to Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), an agency Trump has stated he will create, claiming its use of encrypted messaging apps potentially violates the Federal Records Act (FRA).

American Oversight, which uses litigation to obtain public records and expose government misconduct, argues that Musk’s leadership of Doge raises “significant ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest”, given his business empire and the substantial impact that Doge could have on federal agencies.

The warnings stem from reports that members of Doge, which aims to carry out dramatic cuts to the US government, are using the encrypted messaging app Signal with an auto-delete feature, which could hinder the preservation of official records."

Trump’s Friday night massacre is blatantly illegal; The Washington Post, January 25, 2025

Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post;  Trump’s Friday night massacre is blatantly illegal

"Contempt for law. Contempt for Congress. Contempt for oversight. That is the lesson of President Donald Trump’s Friday night massacre of at least 15 inspectors general — most of them appointed by Trump himself in his first term.

The blatantly illegal action is troubling in itself — nonpartisan inspectors general play a critical role in assuring the lawful and efficient operations of government, in Democratic and Republican administrations alike. An administration supposedly focused on making government more efficient would be empowering inspectors general, not firing them en masse.

But this episode is even more alarming than that. It offers a chilling foreshadowing of Trump unbound, heedless of the rule of law and unwilling to tolerate any potential impediment to his authority."

‘BREACH OF PROTOCOL’: SENATORS STILL DON’T HAVE ETHICS FILINGS FROM TRUMP NOMINEES; Rolling Stone, January 13, 2025

ANDREW PEREZ, NIKKI MCCANN RAMIREZ , Rolling Stone; ‘BREACH OF PROTOCOL’: SENATORS STILL DON’T HAVE ETHICS FILINGS FROM TRUMP NOMINEES

"Confirmation hearings for a slew of Donald Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and other high-ranking positions are scheduled to begin this week. Senate committees still have not received vetting materials for several nominees, and many of their financial disclosures and ethics disclosures have not yet been made public."

New Course Creates Ethical Leaders for an AI-Driven Future; George Mason University, December 10, 2024

Buzz McClain, George Mason University; New Course Creates Ethical Leaders for an AI-Driven Future

"While the debates continue over artificial intelligence’s possible impacts on privacy, economics, education, and job displacement, perhaps the largest question regards the ethics of AI. Bias, accountability, transparency, and governance of the powerful technology are aspects that have yet to be fully answered.

A new cross-disciplinary course at George Mason University is designed to prepare students to tackle the ethical, societal, and governance challenges presented by AI. The course, AI: Ethics, Policy, and Society, will draw expertise from the Schar School of Policy and Government, the College of Engineering and Computing(CEC), and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS).

The master’s degree-level course begins in spring 2025 and will be taught by Jesse Kirkpatrick, a research associate professor in the CEC, the Department of Philosophy, and codirector of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center. 

The course is important now, said Kirkpatrick, because “artificial intelligence is transforming industries, reshaping societal norms, and challenging long-standing ethical frameworks. This course provides critical insights into the ethical, societal, and policy implications of AI at a time when these technologies are increasingly deployed in areas like healthcare, criminal justice, and national defense.”"