LawFare – “The draft articles of impeachment released on Dec. 10 by House Democrats reflect a series of careful and intentional strategic choices. First, the document is short—just over eight pages. It contains only two articles of impeachment: one on abuse of power, and one on obstruction of Congress. It uses no Latin terms. It… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Developing Systems to Summarize Legislation
Center for Data Innovation: “Researchers from FiscalNote Research, a technology firm based in Washington, DC, have released a dataset of U.S. Congressional and California state bills to advance the development of systems that can summarize legislation. The dataset contains more than 22,000 U.S. Congressional bills and summaries from 1993 through 2018 and more than 1,200… Continue Reading
Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 7, 2019
Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues December 7, 2019 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading
In Hearing, Scholars Debate Whether Trump’s Conduct Was Impeachable
The New York Times – The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment – “The House of Representatives on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 opened a critical new phase of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump, featuring legal scholars vigorously debating whether his conduct and the available evidence rose to the… Continue Reading
House Intelligence Committee Releases Draft Report As Part of Impeachment Inquiry
“Today, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the draft report – “The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report” – to all Members and the public. The Committee will vote tonight [the vote was 13-9] to issue the report, before the Chairman of the Committee transmits it and any accompanying materials to the House Judiciary Committee… Continue Reading
Mobile apps developed in Russia are potential counterintelligence threats
One more time – “For all of you that used the FaceApp to see what you would look like in old age, the FBI just told @SenSchumer that “the FBI considers any mobile application or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat…” [via Frank Thorpe – producer and off-air… Continue Reading
Libraries 2020 – campaign to support libraries
“Libraries 2020 is a national campaign to build support for local libraries in order to help them keep their doors open. But how does a national campaign and fundraising for EveryLibrary benefit local libraries like yours? We are dedicated to working in conjunction with other library advocacy organizations and to providing all of our tools,… Continue Reading
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson broadly rejects absolutist claims of executive power
Washington Post: “In her ruling that Don McGahn must comply with a congressional subpoena, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of Washington goes to great lengths to illustrate how far out on a constitutional limb President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr have crawled with their absolutist claims of executive power. Jackson invokes “Animal Farm”… Continue Reading
Commentary – Making Impeachment Matter
The Republic: “A national poll in September, one of the first taken after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would initiate a formal impeachment inquiry regarding the president’s dealings with Ukraine, turned up a plurality of respondents already backing Trump’s impeachment. The spread of opinion was as follows: 42 percent of Americans… Continue Reading
Police can keep Ring camera video forever and share with whomever they’d like
Stars and Stripes – “Police officers who download videos from homeowners’ Ring doorbell cameras can keep them forever and share them with whomever they’d like without providing evidence of a crime, the Amazon-owned firm told a lawmaker earlier this month. More than 600 police forces across the country have entered into partnerships with the camera… Continue Reading
ALA’s Report to Congress on Libraries and the Ebook Industry: A Primer
ALA’s Report to Congress on Libraries and the Ebook Industry: A Primer George H. Pike – InfoToday – “ALA recently made a case to Congress that the ebook publishing industry has been engaging in anticompetitive behavior at the expense of libraries and library patrons. Congress has been involved in an ongoing series of hearings and work… Continue Reading
They Toil Gladly Offstage. Impeachment Lands Them in the Spotlight
Mark Leibovich – The New York Times: They Toil Gladly Offstage. Impeachment Lands Them in the Spotlight. “They are, in a sense, the permanent, beating, bipartisan heart of the government of the United States. They are deeply credentialed, polyglot, workaholic and respectful before Congress. They are graduates of Harvard and West Point, and veterans of… Continue Reading
