Oscar-winning Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee said Thursday he is excited to be working on his first TV project “Tyrant”, but dismissed reports he would stay away from movies to focus on television. “‘Tyrant’ is Middle East intrigue. The subject matter is touchy…
Cybersecurity, Ricin, and More from CRS
For reasons that are hard to comprehend, Congress for many years has directed the Congressional Research Service not to make its products directly available to the public.
CRS reports naturally vary in quality, originality and breadth of focus. But as a class of documents, they are both interesting and useful. Along with impartial treatments of complex policy issues, they often provide unexpected, telling detail. (“At present, about 30 million Americans, nearly 10% of the population, are subject to debt collection for amounts averaging $1,500 per person,” a newly updated report on the subject notes in passing, citing the CFPB.) Even in cases where individual reports are deficient, they are nonetheless significant to the extent that they help to inform congressional deliberation. It is therefore proper and necessary that they should be available to the public.
Some of the latest CRS reports that have been withheld from public access are posted below.
The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) Program: Background and Issues for Congress, April 17, 2013
Western Sahara, April 14, 2013
Cybersecurity: Selected Legal Issues, April 17, 2013
Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources, April 17, 2013
Ricin: Technical Background and Potential Role in Terrorism, April 17, 2013
Child Welfare: Structure and Funding of the Adoption Incentives Program along with Reauthorization Issues, April 18, 2013
The Independent Payment Advisory Board, April 17, 2013
The World Bank Group Energy Sector Strategy, April 16, 2013
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), April 11, 2013
Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations: An Overview, April 16, 2013
Changes to the Residential Mortgage Market: Legislation, Demographics, and Other Drivers, April 16, 2013
International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF), April 16, 2013
Submission of Mental Health Records to NICS and the HIPAA Privacy Rule, April 15, 2013
Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Statistics and Programs, April 15, 2013
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Acquisition: Issues for Congress, April 16, 2013
“Gang of Four” Congressional Intelligence Notifications, April 16, 2013
Ensuring That Traffic Signs Are Visible at Night: Federal Regulations, April 16, 2013
The post Cybersecurity, Ricin, and More from CRS appears on Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy. … Read More
Many teachers in Sweden lack proper training
More than half of subject-area teachers in Sweden who teach pupils in their final years of compulsory school lack training in the subjects they teach, a new report has shown. … Read More
Senate to expand background checks on gun owners
“This is common sense,” Manchin said Wednesday while introducing the proposal. The bipartisan agreement between a conservative from each party is a major step towards a deal that would expand background checks to more gun buyers. Republican lawmakers have long tried to block gun control initiatives, but the bipartisan deal could set the stage for future agreements in Congress.“I don’t consider criminal background checks to be gun control,” Toomey said, in a statement meant to persuade Republicans to support his bipartisan proposal.The deal drafted by the two senators would require an increase on background checks and sales records on gun purchases. Some private transactions, such as those between family members, would be excluded from the new legislation – but the gap would be much narrower. All purchases made over the Internet would be subject to background checks, as well as those made at gun shows.“Truly, the events at Newtown changed us all,” Manchin said, referring the massacre at which 26 people were fatally shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December. “Americans on both sides of the debate can and must find common ground.”President Barack Obama has been pushing for greater gun control and increased background checks for months, but Congress has been unable to agree on legislation addressing gun violence. In late March, the president addressed the nation, shaming Congress for its unproductivity in wake of a massacre that he said has become largely forgotten.“We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn’t just a bunch of platitudes, that we meant it,” he said at the White House.“There are some powerful voices on the other side who are interested in running out the clock, or changing the subject,” he said, adding that “their assumption is that people will just forget about it.”The agreement between Manchin and Toomey comes at a strategic moment: the Senate will vote on Thursday to begin debating gun legislation – a move that some have tried to prevent, but that the bipartisanship between the senators might encourage.But the collaboration between the Democrat and the Republican is not enough to relay support from the National Rifle Association. In a written statement sent to AP, the NRA said expanding background checks would have no effect on gun violence.“Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not save violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools,” the statement said, adding that lawmakers should instead address the flaws in the country’s mental health system and try to tackle gang violence.“President Obama should be as committed to dealing with the gang problem that is tormenting honest people in his hometown as he is to blaming law-abiding gun owners for the acts of psychopathic murders,” the NRA added.The background check system currently only covers sales made by licensed gun dealers, but the bipartisan proposal would have it apply to all commercial sales, as well as make sure all sales are channeled through a licensed dealer.But even though two senators have come to an agreement, Congress has a long road ahead in terms of collaboration between the parties. Thirteen conservatives have already vowed to block a Senate debate on gun control, and only eight Republicans have indicated their willingness to go forth with it. … Read More
Today Is the Last Day to Apply for Reason’s Summer 2013 Journalism Internship
Good morning, America! Today, March 26, is the last day to apply
for the summer 2013 Burton C. Gray Memorial Internship. Interns
work for 10 weeks and receive a $5,000 stipend.
The job includes reporting and writing
for ;Reason ;and reason.com, and helping with
research, proofreading, and other tasks. Previous interns have gone
on to work at such places as ;The Wall Street
Journal, ;Forbes, ABC News,
and ;Reason ;itself.
To apply, send your résumé, up to five writing samples
(preferably published clips), and a cover letter (the last of which
should be in the body of your email) to ;intern@reason.com, with the
subject line: Gray Internship Application. Did we mention that the
deadline is today? Finish up your applications and send them to
us! ; … Read More
No, George W. Bush’s paintings tell us nothing about Iraq
“When I get to heaven I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject.” — Winston ChurchillGeorge W. Bush’s art teacher believes in his passion. “His whole heart was in it,” said Bonnie Flood, a Georgia-based artist who reportedly spent one month — six hours a day — teaching the former president to paint.But what exactly was Bush’s heart in? The preening assertion by his once and former mentor that he will “[go] down in history as a great painter,” if not a great president, is plain flattery. Talent isn’t at issue here. Divine or profane, his is painting on faith: direct, observational subject matter — dogs, cats, fruit, sunsets, and himself in the bathroom — imbued with an otherworldly ambiguity through the botched certainty of its execution.Continue Reading… … Read More
Jay Leno’s new role? NBC insult comic — and the network’s not amused
There’s a long tradition of late-night hosts biting the hand that feeds them and making fun of their networks — it’s a good way to show you have a little edge. Johnny Carson would zing NBC, while David Letterman has made sport of dull old CBS for as long as he’s been there. Conan O’Brien even jokes about his basic-cable bosses at TBS — you’d have thought that might be a sore subject.But Jay Leno, somehow, may be crossing a line on “The Tonight Show.” Some three years after his reinstatement as that program’s host and the dismissal of O’Brien, the host has called NBC executives “snakes” and, last night, mocked the network’s bottom-of-the-barrel ratings. (Indeed, late night and the evening news broadcasts are the only elements of the schedule NBC consistently wins.) David Letterman’s jokey prank phone calls with CBS president Les Moonves this isn’t; indeed, NBC head Robert Greenblatt has reportedly asked Leno to desist.Continue Reading… … Read More
