Articles by James Varney
A conservative group filed a complaint Thursday with the Senate Ethics Committee, alleging Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson broke the law this month when claiming Russian operatives had penetrated Florida's election apparatus.
Published
August 23, 2018
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When it comes to menstruation, activists say it's time for the conversation to move out of the restroom and into the public spotlight.
Published
August 16, 2018
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In a campaign stop Tuesday, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson sought to deflect criticism he had either fabricated claims Russian operatives had penetrated the Sunshine State's election machinery or leaked classified information.
Published
August 15, 2018
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Facebook inventor and CEO Mark Zuckerberg boasted that his company was able to flag "99 percent of the ISIS and al Qaeda content ... before any human sees it" when he testified before Congress in April. But as the debate about social media's responsibility and the First Amendment rages, Mr. Zuckerberg's comment obscures as much as it reveals, experts said.
Published
August 14, 2018
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With early voting already under way in some Florida counties, Republican Gov. Rick Scott is keeping up the pressure on Sen. Bill Nelson's yet-unsubstantiated claims that Russian operatives have already compromised Florida elections.
Published
August 14, 2018
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With early voting beginning Monday in some Florida counties, the Senate race there was jolted as Republican Gov. Rick Scott kept up the pressure on Sen. Bill Nelson's thus-far unsubstantiated claims that Russian operatives have already compromised Florida elections.
Published
August 13, 2018
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Liberal groups have come out in force against a proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census, as the period for public comment on the controversial addition draws to a close Tuesday night.
Published
August 7, 2018
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The "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico shrank over the last year, researchers announced this week, suggesting at least some turnaround from 2017's record-sized region where sea life struggles.
Published
August 2, 2018
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A group dedicated to a wide-open internet said Wednesday that Facebook wound up scrubbing legitimate organizations in the company's removal operation this week.
Published
August 1, 2018
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Facebook announced Tuesday that it had pulled nearly three dozen accounts from its main platform and from subsidiary Instagram, saying the pages had engaged in the same sort of divisive political trolling that Russian operatives conducted during the 2016 election season.
Published
July 31, 2018
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It might seem a pipe dream straight from one of the left-wing darlings of the moment: a guaranteed regular paycheck from the government. But universal basic income (UBI) has its fans on the right as well.
Published
July 29, 2018
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Money is moving at a furious clip in the race for a Florida U.S. Senate seat. Whether that clip or a furious electorate will prove decisive, however, remains unclear.
Published
July 25, 2018
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Less than a week after a House committee questioned social media companies about censorship on their platforms, reports surfaced Wednesday that Twitter was "shadow banning" prominent Republicans.
Published
July 25, 2018
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Sen. Bill Nelson heads into his re-election bid this year with the backing of the Florida chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Gov. Rick Scott, his Republican opponent, counters with the backing of 55 of his state's 67 sheriffs and the endorsement of the Florida Police Chiefs Association, which publicly favored a Senate candidate for the first time ever last month. In a state familiar with disasters, whether from man or Mother Nature, public safety officials are prominent figures, so these endorsements could play significant roles.
Published
July 18, 2018
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Executives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube told Congress Tuesday that while they had identified accounts and posts linked to Russian internet operatives, their activity during the 2016 election was but a drop in the social media ocean.
Published
July 17, 2018
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A House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on monitoring social media content immediately broke down into partisan bickering and theater Tuesday, with minority Democrats highlighting instead President Trump's Monday press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Published
July 17, 2018
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A House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on monitoring social media content immediately broke down into partisan bickering and theater Tuesday, with minority Democrats and some spectators trying to jerk the proceedings back to President Trump's press conference in Helsinki.
Published
July 17, 2018
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A House committee plans a second hearing this week on the filtering practices of social media companies, amid concerns that some users have been "shadow banned," blocked or otherwise marginalized.
Published
July 15, 2018
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People who refuse to answer the citizenship question on the 2020 census are breaking the law -- but there is little chance they will be fined, much less sent to jail, for their obstinacy.
Published
July 4, 2018
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Charles Krauthammer, the erudite conservative columnist and bestselling author who became a television star and one of the most cogent critics of the Obama administration, died Thursday of cancer. He was 68 years old.
Published
June 21, 2018
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