The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is the federal agency responsible for directing policies that govern the executive branch of the federal government that relate to conflicts of interest. Tasks of the Office include:

• Establishing standards of conduct for the executive branch
• Issuing rules and regulations that explain and interpret criminal conflict of interest laws
• Establishing financial disclosure rules for executive branch employees
• Developing training and education for executive branch officials and employees
• Setting requirements for ethics programs of federal agencies and reviewing these programs

The Director of the Office is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The director served a term of five years. All other Office employees are federal civil servants. 

The Office of Government Ethics was created by the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, and in 1989 was separated from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The link to their website is here: ​https://www.oge.gov/

The updated gift rules is one of the many documents available from the Office of Government Ethics relating to standards of conduct and the appearance of propriety in the executive branch. It is shown in its entirety below. 

​In 1989 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning an American flag is protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in his concurrence with the opinion of the Court: 
​
"Though symbols often are what we ourselves make of them, the flag is constant in expressing beliefs Americans share, beliefs in law and peace and that freedom which sustains the human spirit. The case here today forces recognition of the costs to which those beliefs commit us. It is poignant but fundamental that the flag protects those who hold it in contempt."

The case, Texas vs. Johnson, and the opinions of the Justices can be found here:
​http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/491/397.html

The Constitution is the primary document setting out the basic tenets of our government, and describing the basic rights of Americans. The White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) explains:

"The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. Empowered with the sovereign authority of the people by the framers and the consent of the legislatures of the states, it is the source of all government powers, and also provides important limitations on the government that protect the fundamental rights of United States citizens."

The National Constitution Center (https://constitutioncenter.org/) has the text of the document, as well as lessons for learning more about the Constitution. of particular interest in the news this week are these sections:

Article I, section 9: Known as the Emoluments Clause, this is the section that prohibits a person holding office from accepting gifts from foreign governments.

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

Article II, section 1:  This section describes how the President shall be elected, and describes what is to happen in the event that no candidate receives more than half of the votes of the Electoral College.

The entire text of the Constitution can be found here. Explore an interactive version at the National Constitution Center website.

The Washington Post reported in August 2016 that hackers had targeted voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona. The FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russians were behind the assault on the election system in that state.

There will likely be more information about Russian interference in the U.S. election system. Stories will be added to this post as they become available.

A recount of presidential votes has been requested in several states by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. President-Elect Trump has responded with Twitter messages suggesting voting impropriety. The Pew Center brief recommending an upgrade to America's voter registration system has been referenced in news articles. The report in its entirety is presented below.

President-Elect Trump's Twitter messages from November 27, 2016 are also attached below.

Laura Sydell of NPR tracked down the owner of a company, Disinfomedia, that employs dozens of writers of fake news stories. While the story mentioned in the headline above is completey false, the story was shared on Facebook more than half a million times.

This is apparently a very lucrative business, generating the owner of the fake news mill between $10.000 and $30,000 per month in advertising sales, by his own estimate.

​The complete interview and text of the story is linked below.

www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=503146770

Politifact has investigated the claim by "InfoWars," "Milo," and other websites that there is a report detailing widespread voter fraud in this year's national election. This November 18 article explains that the only "evidence" seen so far is a Tweet from a website called VoteFraud.org, which redirects to a website called http://electionnightgatekeepers.com. I could find no  information related to the supposed report. The website does assert that there exists "blockbuster evidence, which the 5 Big TV Networks and related media have been hiding from America."

The claim about the 3 million votes by "illegal aliens" is completely unsupported, and has been ruled "False" by Politifact.

​Unfortunately, this unsupported claim has been shared more than 48,000 times on Facebook.

"A lie travels around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
​                                                                                                   (Sometimes attributed to Mark Twain)

www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/nov/18/blog-posting/no-3-million-undocumented-immigrants-did-not-vote-/

A story (completely false) that started on Reddit and Facebook asserted that a family-friendly pizza restaurant was the home base of a child sex abuse ring run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta.

According to the New York Times, which broke the story, Twitter accounts, including the Twitter account of Breitbart News, spread the false accusations, and 4Chan users added the suggestion (completely unfounded) that the restaurant was part of a Democratic child trafficking ring.

Politifact investigated the claims and found that the conspiracy theory presented without documentation or named sources "fails to rise above rumor or hoax." Nevertheless, the false news has received hundreds of thousands of views, outraged comments from believers have been shared, and the owner of the restaurant has received hundreds of death threats.

The Snopes article linked below has a rundown of how the story spread far and wide with no fact behind it, and how unrelated information was used to make it seem real, and that there was a widespread conspiracy to cover it up.
www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html
www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Pizzeria-Owner-Receiving-Death-Threats-After-Conspiracy-Theory-Circulates-402484555.html
​www.snopes.com/pizzagate-conspiracy/

I went to the Wikileaks website and searched for the name of the restaurant targeted. John Podesta attended a fundraiser there. This is the only reference to the location, and seems to be the impetus for the targeted attack against the restaurant, Clinton, Podesta, and the Democratic Party.

You can do your own search at the Wikileaks website. Disclaimer: These emails were illegally hacked, possibly by a hostile foreign government.
wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/8981

In the week after the election, you may have heard assertions that people protesting had been paid by billionaire George Soros. This absolutely untrue allegation grew from a Tweet by a Texas marketer who states that he is "a very busy businessman and I don’t have time to fact-check everything that I put out there, especially when I don’t think it’s going out there for wide consumption.” His photos with the false explanation were seen and shared by hundreds of thousands of social media users, including the President-elect, who shared the fake news via Twitter.