Follow up to previous posting – EFF – A Massive Expansion of Plate Data Collection, via ACLU – Setting the record straight on DHS and license plate tracking: ” First of all, contrary to widespread understanding, DHS’ solicitation for bids had nothing to do with asking a contractor to build a nationwide license plate tracking database. Such a… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: February 2014
Joint Statement by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder on the Declassification of Additional Documents Section 501 of FISA
DNI News Release – February 12, 2014: ” On Jan. 3, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publicly that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on Jan. 3, 2014, the court renewed that… Continue Reading
Maryland Stream Health
“Maryland has over 10,000 miles of rivers and streams that reach through every corner of our State – from the Appalachians to the Eastern Shore. They range from the mighty Potomac to small, unnamed creeks in our backyards. Our streams serve as the capillaries and arteries carrying water, life, and pollutants to the Chesapeake Bay.… Continue Reading
New on LLRX – My Avatar Teacher
Via LLRX.com – My Avatar Teacher – Lorette Weldon discusses how busy business professionals determined to make the time to share and learn best practices from colleagues use a range of methods to accomplish this goal. But professionals seeking to talk to, travel and engage with experts in the skills that they wish to obtain and/or develop may be… Continue Reading
Cabinet agencies release full inventory lists of their public data
‘Cabinet agencies have released complete machine-readable lists of their public data holdings, in compliance with President Barack Obama’s Open Data Executive Order. Now, with the help of Sunlight’s Dan Drinkard and Tim Ball, you can access most of these inventories in human-readable format as well. (zip file) or Google doc spreadsheet). Thanks to the guidelines crafted by Project Open… Continue Reading
Preview Edition: A History of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series
Toward “Thorough, Accurate, and Reliable”: A History of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series. William B. McAllister, Joshua Botts, Peter Cozzens, Aaron W. Marrs, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., Preview Edition, January 23, 2014. “The Office of the Historian has generated this electronic preview edition of Toward “Thorough, Accurate, and Reliable” from the… Continue Reading
Congress.gov Enhancements
“The beta site is the first step in a phased process that will incorporate all of the information available on THOMAS.gov and more. Below is a timeline of releases that incorporated new content and improved features to the site. February 2014 – This release focuses on two new features – Advanced Search and Browse, while making improvements to facets and the Actions… Continue Reading
TRAC – Tax Lawsuits Edge Downward
“January 2014 data from the federal courts show that the number of tax lawsuits filed have declined nearly 10 percent in the past year, and are down over 30 percent from what they were five years ago. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a total of 68 new tax… Continue Reading
January global temperature is fourth highest on record for month and warmest since 2007
Global Analysis – January 2014 The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for January was the warmest since 2007 and the fourth warmest on record at 12.7°C (54.8°F), or 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 20th century average of 12.0°C (53.6°F). The margin of error associated with this temperature is ± 0.08°C (± 0.14°F) The… Continue Reading
“Leahy Law” Human Rights Provisions and Security Assistance: Issue Overview
CRS – “Leahy Law” Human Rights Provisions and Security Assistance: Issue Overview. Nina M. Serafino, Coordinator, Specialist in International Security Affairs; June S. Beittel, Analyst in Latin American Affairs; Lauren Ploch Blanchard, Specialist in African Affairs; Liana Rosen, Analyst in International Crime and Narcotics. January 29, 2014. “Congressional interest in the laws and processes involved in conditioning U.S. assistance to foreign… Continue Reading
U.S.-China Relations: Toward a New Model of Major Power Relationship
U.S.-China Relations: Toward a New Model of Major Power Relationship. Edited by Rudy deLeon, Senior Vice President of the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress and Yang Jiemian, President of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. February 2014. “In conjunction with the initiative of the two presidents [President Barak Obama and President… Continue Reading
CRS – Independence of Federal Financial Regulators
Independence of Federal Financial Regulators. Henry B. Hogue, Specialist in American National Government; Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy; Baird Webel, Specialist in Financial Economics. February 12, 2014 “This report discusses institutional features that make federal financial regulators (as well as other independent agencies) relatively independent from the President and Congress. These characteristics are diverse, their relationship to independence sometimes subtle, and they are… Continue Reading
