Author archives

A Few Easy Steps Everyone Should Take to Protect Their Digital Privacy

Via ACLU – “Much of the privacy protection we need in today’s world can’t happen without technological and legislative solutions, and the ACLU will continue leading the fight for digital security and privacy through our litigation and advocacy efforts. But there are simple steps that everyone can take to improve their digital privacy. While there …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, PC Security, Privacy, Search Engines

A Macroeconomic Analysis of the President’s 2017 Budget

“Each year, after the President releases the Administration’s budget request, the Congressional Budget Office analyzes the proposals in that request. Using its own economic projections and estimating procedures, CBO projects what the federal budget would look like over the next 10 years if the President’s proposals were adopted. CBO provides that information in two reports. …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

Several Western States Among Leaders in Public Welfare Spending Increases

News release: “The recent expansion of state Medicaid programs pushed the nation’s public welfare expenditures up 4.9 percent, from $519.2 billion in 2013 to $544.6 billion in 2014, according to statistics released today from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State Government Finances. Hawaii (23.2 percent), Oregon (22.1 percent), Kentucky (17.9 percent) and Washington …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

TSA Is Taking Steps to Improve Expedited Screening Effectiveness, but Improvements in Screener Oversight Are Needed

Aviation Security: TSA Is Taking Steps to Improve Expedited Screening Effectiveness, but Improvements in Screener Oversight Are Needed, GAO-16-707T: Published: Jun 7, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 7, 2016. “In 2015, TSA screened or oversaw the screening of more than 708 million passengers at more than 450 U.S airports. In carrying out the screening process, TSA …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Defense, Government Documents, Privacy, Transportation

Poverty in the United States – 50-Year Trends and Safety Net Impacts Report

HHS – “Poverty in the United States: 50-Year Trends and Safety Net Impacts presents analyses of the impact of the safety net on poverty rates and a close look at populations experiencing high risks of poverty during the 50 years since the War on Poverty began. The report highlights the increasing role of safety net …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Poverty

Strategic Technology strengthens the Capacity of Libraries to serve their Communities

BREEDING, Marshall (2016) Strategic Technology strengthens the Capacity of Libraries to serve their Communities. Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2016 – Columbus, OH – Connections. Collaboration. Community in Session 137 – Information Technology. “In this era where libraries face enormous pressures in terms of inadequate funding and increasing demands for their services, technology plays a …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Stem cell study in stroke patients results in restored motor function

Washington Post: “Stanford researchers studying the effect of stem cells injected directly into the brains of stroke patients said Thursday that they were “stunned” by the extent to which the experimental treatment restored motor function in some of the patients. While the research involved only 18 patients and was designed primarily to look at the safety of such a procedure and not …

Subjects: Health Care

Muhammad Ali

David Remnick, Editor, The New Yorker – The Outsized Life of Muhammad Ali: “Ali, who died Friday, in Phoenix, at the age of seventy-four, was the most fantastical American figure of his era, a self-invented character of such physical wit, political defiance, global fame, and sheer originality that no novelist you might name would dare …

Subjects: Knowledge Management

Joint Center Report: Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence

“April 29, 2016 the Joint Center, the Urban Institute, and the Joyce Foundation released our report Engaging Communities in Reducing Gun Violence: A Road Map for Safer Communities. The conversation around gun violence in the United States is often focused on mass shootings, but too often ignores its devastating effects on communities of color. African-Americans account for …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research