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Category Archives: Legislation

This Election Should Not Determine the Fate of Libraries

EveryLibrary – (But it Might Have) – “Libraries have never been immune from political and social movements, but we have behaved as if we are somehow a special place, a place apart from these fights. The last three years of censorship and discrimination fights should have been a wake-up call for our library organizations, stakeholders,… Continue Reading

Justice Department to Monitor Polls in 27 States for Compliance with Federal Voting Rights Laws

Federal prosecutors are on call in every district in the country. Interfering with voting rights is a federal offense. Any effort to intimidate, harass, threaten or harm voters will result in a visit from the FBI. Witnesses or victims may call 9-1-1. (Making a false report is a crime, too!) Let’s keep voting safe, free,… Continue Reading

Nearly 200 Percent Surge in School Book Bans (2023-2024 School Year)

“PEN America today released new documentation of public school book bans for the full 2023-2024 school year, recording 10,046 instances of books banned nationwide, a dramatic 200 percent rise over the previous school year. Since 2021, the free expression organization has counted close to 16,000 instances of book bans in public schools.” “Nineteen Minutes by… Continue Reading

There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth.

The New York Times Opinion [unlocked], Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, professors of government at Harvard and the authors of “Tyranny of the Minority.” :”…In the United States, the civic response to the Trump threat has been tepid. For a moment, business leaders seemed poised to defend democracy. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, many leading… Continue Reading

The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data

Krebs on Security: “…Delaware-based Atlas Data Privacy Corp. helps its users remove their personal information from the clutches of consumer data brokers, and from people-search services online. Backed by millions of dollars in litigation financing, Atlas so far this year has sued 151 consumer data brokers on behalf of a class that includes more than… Continue Reading

Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind

The New York Times unlocked article Robert Paxton thought the label was overused. But now he’s alarmed by what he sees in global politics — including Trumpism…Paxton, who is 92, is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history. His 1972 book, “Vichy France:… Continue Reading

Inside US Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics

404 Media: “On a computer screen a map shows the movements of smartphones around the globe. Zooming into an abortion clinic in the south of the United States, the online tool shows more than 700 red dots over the clinic itself, each representing a phone, and by extension, a person. The tool, called Locate X and… Continue Reading

Modernizing Congressional Data – Senate Legislation and Amendments on Congress.gov

In Custodia Legis: “Continuing our series on modernizing the legislative data exchange behind Congress.gov, we are going to look at the next phase of the project – modernizing the exchange of Senate measures and amendments data. The Legislation collection is comprised of bills and resolutions, along with associated actions (including Action Codes), titles, sponsors, cosponsors, and committee-related activity. Legislation text… Continue Reading

Marching Toward Violence: The Domestic Anti-Israeli Protest Movement

Over 150 groups involved in the disruptive anti-Israel protests on college campuses and elsewhere in the United States are “pro-terrorism.” The vast majority support Hamas and/or the October 7 terrorist attacks. The movement contains militant elements pushing it toward a wider, more severe campaign focused on property destruction and violence properly described as domestic terrorism.… Continue Reading

Comics art against Project 2025

“Project 2025 is a detailed plan to shut you up, and shut you out. You matter, and you have a voice. Project 2025, also known as “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” is a document created to be a roadmap for a second Donald Trump presidency. It was prepared by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation and… Continue Reading

Leaked recordings detail a major environmental agency quietly gutting its workforce

Vox: This story was published in collaboration with High Country News. “Americans visit hiking and camping areas managed by the US Forest Service more than 150 million times each year. If you have climbed a peak or hiked in a golden aspen forest, paddled a protected river or visited a cultural site on any of… Continue Reading