The New York Times – The White House Blocked My Report on Climate Change and National Security – Politics intruded on science and intelligence. “That’s why I quit my job as an analyst for the State Department. Ten years ago, I left my job as a tenured university professor to work as an intelligence analyst… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Congress
Journey to power: The history of black voters, 1976 to 2020
NBC News has assembled for the first time a record of the black vote for each competitive Democratic presidential campaign since exit polling began. ” Not that long ago, they were just a slender fraction of the party, one kept at arm’s length by presidential candidates. But today, black voters have emerged as a muscular… Continue Reading
U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia: The Corporate Connection
Center for International Policy – U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia: The Corporate Connection, by William Hartung and Cassandra Stimpson, July 29, 2019 – “This report provides information on arms offers to Saudi Arabia involving the four largest U.S. arms suppliers to that nation: Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics. Over 90% of U.S. arms… Continue Reading
The Mueller Report’s Fundamental Dodge
The National Review: It misinterprets the rule against indicting a sitting president. “Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony was such a bumbling fiasco that it was easy for a viewer to be confused — and stay that way — about the main bone of Democratic contention regarding his report: the “OLC guidance” that prevents the Justice Department… Continue Reading
Visualizing Political Polarization in U.S. Cities
Center for Data Innovation: “FiveThirtyEight has created data visualizations illustrating where Democrats and Republicans live in the 153 largest metro areas in the United States, highlighting distinct political polarization based on geography in many cities. The visualizations combines data about each voting precinct’s two-party margin in the 2016 presidential election with mapping data from OpenStreetMap.… Continue Reading
New York Review of Books – Real Americans
Joseph O’Neil – August 15, 2019 Issue – Reviewing: This America: The Case for the Nation by Jill Lepore Liveright, 150 pp., and This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto by Suketu Mehta Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 306 pp. “A poignant quality of anachronism threatens these exigent, idealistic books by the writer-professors Jill Lepore… Continue Reading
Federal Preemption: A Legal Primer
EveryCRSReport.com: Federal Preemption: A Legal Primer July 23, 2019 R45825 – “The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause provides that federal law is “the supreme Law of the Land” notwithstanding any state law to the contrary. This language is the foundation for the doctrine of federal preemption, according to which federal law supersedes conflicting state laws. The Supreme Court… Continue Reading
Senate Intel Committee Unveils Election Security Report In Wake Of Mueller Hearings
NPR – “The Senate intelligence committee has released its report detailing Russia’s targeting of election systems in 2016 along with recommendations for protecting American elections from foreign interference. The committee’s final report on election security [redacted] appeared Thursday as the 2020 presidential race gets underway in what promises to be a bitter and divisive election… Continue Reading
New Online Resource Tracks Legislation Affecting Global Health
KKF – U.S. Global Health Legislation Tracker. Published: Jul 22, 2019. “This tracker provides a listing of global health-related legislation introduced in the 116th Congress. Currently, there are more than 30 pieces of legislation related to global health. They address topics ranging from global health security to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and reproductive health. The… Continue Reading
China slams U.S., says it’s open to using force to reunify Taiwan
Axios: “China criticizes the U.S. for undermining global stability and says it won’t “renounce use of force” against Taiwan in a defense white paper published on Wednesday. Details: Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news conference if “anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will certainly fight, resolutely defending the country’s… Continue Reading
Trust and Distrust in America
Pew – Many Americans think declining trust in the government and in each other makes it harder to solve key problems. They have a wealth of ideas about what’s gone wrong and how to fix it: “Trust is an essential elixir for public life and neighborly relations, and when Americans think about trust these days,… Continue Reading
Trump falsely states Constitution gives him ‘the right to do whatever I want’
Washington Post: “President Trump believes the Constitution gives him a wide breadth of power. That’s the message he delivered ― not for the first time — on Tuesday while addressing a crowd of teenagers and young adults at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington. There are numerous viral video clips from… Continue Reading
