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We recently had a client come to us with a request for a simple serverless API. They wanted little to no administrative overhead, so we went with the AWS Lambda service. It was my first foray with Lambda, and getting it set up came with its fair share of headaches. If you’re starting down the same path and want to build a simple API with Lambda, here’s a tutorial to help.
Planet Money: The Other Davos: Saudi Arabia’s Dashboard Indicators
Each year, the World Economic Forum takes place in Davos, a small ski town in the Swiss Alps. The goal of the conference is to promote international cooperation and collaboration, and ultimately improve the state of the world. It’s filled with diplomats, CEOs, billionaires, and idea gurus.
But, all those powerful people gathered in one place means that Davos is a prime opportunity for business. Representatives from various countries come to the conference to woo the global elite to invest. Most countries do this by displaying their best stats, but one country has a different approach. In addition to the good stuff, this year, Saudi Arabia also shared their less favorable rankings. They came to Davos with a database of 700 indicators—both good and bad.
Today on the show, we find out what Saudi Arabia’s up to, and why asking that question helps us understand a world viewed through ranks and ratings.
Full text: James Comey testimony transcript on Trump and Russia
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Comey, let me begin by thanking you for your voluntary compliance with our request to appear before this committee and assist us in this very important investigation. I want first to ask you about your conversations with the president, three conversations in which you told him that he was not under investigation. The first was during your January 6th meeting, according to your testimony, in which it appears that you actually volunteered that assurance. Is that correct?
COMEY: That’s correct.
COLLINS: Did you limit that statement to counterintelligence invest — investigations, or were you talking about any FBI investigation?
COMEY: I didn’t use the term counterintelligence. I was briefing him about salacious and unverified material. It was in a context of that that he had a strong and defensive reaction about that not being true. My reading of it was it was important for me to assure him we were not person investigating him. So the context then was actually narrower, focused on what I just talked to him about.
The Memo and the Mueller Probe
If the investigation arose from partisan opposition research, what specific crime is he looking into?
The Steele dossier is 35 pages of opposition research on Donald Trump, described by former FBI Director James Comey as “salacious and unverified.” It was paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent who had a luminous dislike for Mr. Trump and was also an informant for the FBI.
.. the FBI’s only objection to the House memo at the time of its release was that it was incomplete, not that it disclosed sources and methods.
.. How does possible misconduct by senior FBI officials, which is certainly bad enough, intersect with the Mueller investigation? As follows: The Justice Department regulation that authorizes the appointment of special counsels requires a determination that a “criminal investigation” is warranted, and that there is a conflict or other good reason that prevents ordinary Justice Department staff from conducting it.
.. The letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointing Mr. Mueller says he is to “conduct the investigation confirmed by then-Director James Comey before the House Intelligence Committee on March 20, 2017,” which covers “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and any matters that may arise “directly” from that investigation.
.. “links” or “coordination”—or “collusion,” a word that does not appear in the letter of appointment but has been used as a synonym for coordination—does not define or constitute a crime.
.. By contrast, the Watergate, Iran-Contra and Whitewater investigations, whatever you think of how they were conducted, identified specific crimes. The public knew what was being investigated.
.. none of the charges Mr. Mueller has brought thus far involved “coordination” or “collusion” with the Russians.
.. the public should get access to a carefully redacted copy of the FISA application and renewals, so we can see whether officials behaved unlawfully by misleading a court; and Mr. Mueller’s mandate should be defined in a way that conforms with the legal standard of his office