Citizen Cartwright

Note to readers

I have an opportunity for a extended weekend of fun family time; I’m expecting to publish next on Tuesday, June 5.

How we’re being ‘nudged’ to behave better — or worse

Ways governments “nudge” us to behave one way or another are a topic of the Yale course some of you are joining me in taking through Coursera.

 

Nudging is new to me, even though governments have been doing it for years.

 

For example, beginning in 2010, Britain's Behavioral Insights Team, or nudge unit, improved on-time tax payments just by telling people about the large number of citizens who paid their taxes on time.

 

President Obama established a White House behavioral unit in 2015.

 

But “despite ample evidence showcasing the benefits of such nudges, commentators from both sides of the political spectrum have labeled them unethical,” says a Scientific American article from 2015. "They emphasize that manipulating choice undermines our ability to choose freely, even when nudges are disclosed or implemented with good intentions. As a result, nudge initiatives to improve education, health and safety are encountering increased resistance.”

 

And what happens when someone uses behavioral science "to systematically influence others’ behavior to favor his or her own interests – even at the expense of everyone else’s?" asked Jon Jachimowicz, a Columbia University PhD student, in an article in February 2017 in The Conversation.

 

"That’s my concern with President Donald Trump, whose campaign appears to have exploited behavioral science to suppress the vote of Hillary Clinton supporters,” he wrote.

 

Jachimowicz was referring to the work of Cambridge Analytica, citing a Bloomberg report that the company identified likely Clinton voters such as African-Americans and tried to dissuade them from going to the ballot box.

 

"It doesn’t seem to be a stretch to imagine that Trump, given his poor track record where ethics is concerned, could cross the fine ethical line and abuse behavioral science for self-serving ends,” Jachimowicz wrote.

 

"The problem is that we may not even be aware when it happens,” Jachimowicz wrote. "People are often unable to tell whether they are being nudged and, even if they are, may be unable to tell how it’s influencing their behavior.”

 

Sigh.

 

To those of you who are taking the course with me, let’s talk about how it’s going when I get back next week. 

 

My observation so far is that if I learned nothing else than about the ways I’m being unknowingly nudged, this exercise is valuable — if unfun.

Also in the news

AP: Both sides are preparing as if U.S.-North Korea summit will happen

 

House GOP prepares to consider Trump's $15 billion clawback of funding passed in omnibus spending bill

 

NYTimes: Trump asked Sessions to reverse his recusal from Russia investigation

 

Missouri GOP Gov. Eric Greitens resigns amid widening investigations

 

California’s crowded primaries, unusual top-2 system could mean Democrats have no general election candidate in key races

 

Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria death toll could exceed 4,000, researchers estimate

 

Is your recycling actually being recycled, now that China has stopped recycling most ‘foreign garbage?’

 

Purdue Pharma knew its opioids were widely abused but hid the information, Justice Department report shows

 

Another drug to prevent migraines is showing promise

 

Research review: For preventing heart disease, vitamin and mineral supplements probably are a waste of money

 

A young life lost to America’s high price for insulin

Will the U.S.-North Korea summit happen after all?

As we now know, the only thing permanent about the Trump administration is that everything changes minute to minute.  

 

And I’m trying hard in this blog, with limited success, to spend your time and mine only on hard news and real developments.

 

President Trump on Thursday canceled the planned U.S.-North Korea summit, citing hostile North Korean comments.

 

On Friday, he said the meeting still might take place.

 

So, knowing that things might change again before I post this, let’s speed through an update of developments over the weekend.

 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who's lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

 

Moon said Kim expressed willingness to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Trump. But Kim also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States' promise to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Moon.

 

As far as Kim’s motivation for meeting with Trump, an Associated Press analysis says North Korea is interested in improving trade with China and with South Korea, which it sees as a potential goldmine for tourism and large-scale joint projects. Getting the United States to back off sanctions so he can pursue those goals, along with the boost to his legitimacy and whatever security guarantees he can get, is likely foremost on Kim’s mind.

Also in the news

Ireland votes to remove constitutional ban on abortion, by two-thirds majority

Colombia’s presidential election heads to runoff with divisions over peace

 

EU proposes ban on plastic straws, cutlery to reduce marine pollution

 

Trump’s trade agenda running into reality of global geopolitics

 

Former Kansas GOP Gov. Sam Brownback has ‘big’ plans as religious freedom envoy

The Hill: GOP congressional aides who were instrumental in writing the tax law are heading to lobbying firms

 

Virginia GOP Rep. Thomas Garrett reverses course, won’t seek reelection amid battle with alcoholism

 

AP: China has approved 13 new Ivanka Trump trademarks in the last 3 months

 

Millennial candidates are flooding — and winning — Democratic congressional primaries

 

As California primary approaches, Franklin Graham brings conservative political message to evangelical voters

 

Starbucks to close more than 8,000 stores nationwide Tuesday to conduct anti-bias training

 

Coca-Cola starts selling its first-ever alcoholic drink, in Japan

 

Investment giant Fidelity, bruised from crises, searches for life after mutual funds

Insecticide-treated clothes marketed to prevent tick-borne illness actually work, government study confirms

Note to readers

Because of the Memorial Day holiday, Citizen Cartwright will publish next on Tuesday, May 29.

Why Trump canceled the summit with North Korea’s Kim

The president and his team weathered insults, tolerated unanswered phone calls and waited hours for negotiating partners who never showed up as they tried in recent days to keep the planned Singapore summit with Kim on track, says The Associated Press.

Trump suspected that Chinese President Xi Jinping may have had something to do with North Korea’s actions.

“When Kim Jong Un had the meeting with President Xi, in China, the second meeting . . . I think there was a little change in attitude from Kim Jong Un,” Trump said on Tuesday as he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

 

"The way this summit was moving, we were going to end up with a U.S.-North Korea summit, South Korea playing a bit part and China not even on the stage,” says Retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander of NATO and currently the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "That is unacceptable to President Xi.”

 

The North has its own list of complaints, says a New York Times analysis. After Trump accepted Kim’s offer to meet face-to-face, he replaced his national security adviser with John Bolton. Bolton talked publicly about the "Libyan model" of turning over nuclear weapons, a reference to a deal he helped design in 2003 in which Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi turned over a nascent nuclear program in return for exactly the kinds of economic lures Trump was talking about.

 

To the North Koreans, Bolton knew, the Libya example was shorthand for making a bad decision to unilaterally disarm. They have little doubt that if North Korean citizens rose to overthrow their government — as Libyan rebels did against Colonel Qaddafi in 2011 — Washington would be more than happy to help chase down the leadership, the Times says.

 

Trump initially sought to placate North Korea, saying he wasn't pursuing the “Libya model” in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

 

But in an interview on Fox News, Vice President Pence again compared North Korea to Libya, leading a North Korean official to call him a "political dummy."

 

Trump’s cancelation of the summit caught South Korea and other allies off guard. The president feared the news would leak out if foreign counterparts were alerted, though some in the White House were concerned about insulting allies, reports The Washington Post.

 

Reached shortly after the release of the letter Trump wrote to Kim canceling the summit, South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said, “We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means.”

 

Hours before Trump canceled the summit, Kim made good on his promise to demolish his country’s nuclear test site. It was formally closed in a series of explosions as a group of foreign journalists watched.

 

North Korea is saying Friday that it’s still willing to talk with the United States “at any time, (in) any format,” a "remarkably restrained and diplomatic response, from a nation noted for its proud belligerence,” says a separate AP article.

Also in the news

House passes defense bill that backs penalties for China’s ZTE

 

Senate passes sexual harassment bill for Congress as civil rights groups slam it

 

As former Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski receives Medal of Honor, controversy is reignited

 

Trump pardons Jack Johnson, boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, a century later

 

Lawmakers denounce presence of Trump lawyer at briefings on FBI’s Russia source

 

ProPublica: Holes in Facebook’s new system to make political ads more transparent

 

Three giant canyons discovered in Antarctica

The next frontier in workplace wellness: Voluntary programs to help employees manage their money

KHN analysis: Drugmakers blamed for blocking generics have jacked up prices, cost U.S. billions

 

Why we’re getting emails on privacy policy, and why we need to read them

This topic is making my eyes glaze over as I just type this. 

 

On Friday, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect. It’s the most sweeping overhaul of online privacy in more than two decades, says Vox.

 

“While it was designed for Europeans, the borderless nature of the online world has virtually every commercial entity that touches the web making changes to its sites and apps to comply,” says Brian Chen, The New York Times’ lead consumer technology reporter.

 

The Associated Press, on the other hand, says "many companies are likely to maintain double privacy standards.”

 

AP cites Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony in April. "When asked if U.S. users would have the same rights Europeans have to object to the use of data, Zuckerberg said, 'I’m not sure how we’re going to implement that yet.’”

 

Nevertheless, when you do get emails and alerts from companies telling you about changes in their privacy policies, “Don’t ignore them,” says Chen.

 

"Yes, there is a lot of legalese to wade through,” Chen says. "But resist the temptation to immediately delete those emails or close the alerts right away. They may contain important information about managing your digital privacy at a time when it’s become clear that our online data is far from safe."

Also in the news

Evidence that Iran’s long-range missile program may have resumed

 

North Korea slams Pence as prospect for summit with Trump grows shakier

 

Congress sends major overhaul of veterans healthcare to Trump for signature

 

Trump administration explores tariffs on auto imports

 

Trump's blocking of critics on Twitter violates the Constitution, judge rules

 

Jared Kushner gets permanent security clearance

 

Study: More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can make rice crops less nutritious

FDA says products for teething pain containing benzocaine pose health threat to babies