Mother Jones – Dashka Slater: “…The American Library Association reports that more than 2,500 books were challenged in 2022, a big uptick from the already astonishing 1,858 challenged in 2021, which was already five times the number challenged in 2019. Last year, some 41 percent of challenged books were by or about LGBTQ people, and… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Freedom of Information
Why the Trump trial should be televised
Washington Post – Opinion – Neal Katyal, a law professor at Georgetown University, served as acting solicitor general of the United States from 2010 to 2011. “The upcoming trial of United States v. Donald J. Trump will rank with Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education and Dred Scott v. Sandford as a defining… Continue Reading
How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians
Via LLRX – How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – Nicole A. Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and a Professor at the School of Library and Information Science, at the University of South Carolina, identifies the significant and socially charged work of librarians who are defending the rights of readers and… Continue Reading
Make the Wayback Machine the real internet
Tom Scocca – Indignity: “The Archive Is the Thing That’s Worth Browsing Now. I was trying to find a lost article on the internet. It had been published 14 years ago on a website that stopped updating 5 years ago and had bounced between different platforms during its existence. Somewhere along the way, something broke,… Continue Reading
AP investigation into ethics practices of Supreme Court justices
“An Associated Press examination of the ethics practices of the U.S. Supreme Court relied on documents obtained from more than 100 public records requests to public colleges, universities and other institutions that have hosted the justices over the past decade. Here’s a look at how the reporting was done: To conduct its review, the AP… Continue Reading
Lobbyist Database
FMinus: “Companies and organizations that are supposed to be on the right side of the environmental movement too often hire compromised lobbyists. Search our database to find out who’s hiring who—and whether or not their track record is consistent with their values. [Search by State or Search by Client] Launched in July 2023, F Minus… Continue Reading
Trump ‘Standing Order’ to Declassify Not Found by DOJ, Intelligence Agency
Bloomberg, Jason Leopold: “A “standing order” that former President Donald Trump has claimed authorized him to instantly declassify documents removed from the Oval Office could not be found by either the Justice Department or Office of Director of National Intelligence. The disclosure by the agencies was made in response to a Freedom of Information Act… Continue Reading
Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?
The New York Times: Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield. “Everyone loves reading. In principle, anyway. Nobody is against it, right? Surely, in the midst of our many quarrels, we can agree that people should learn to read, should learn to enjoy it and should do a… Continue Reading
Chamber of Secrets
Washington Monthly: “…The Supreme Court’s habit of deciding hugely important cases without briefings, arguments, or even a word of explanation threatens democracy. Some progressive legal scholars have coined the term demosprudence to underline that the opinion announcements are the only time that the Court’s members directly address the public. Clearly, however, the justices do not… Continue Reading
Free ABA Webinar Lost Trust: Politics and Intelligence
Four national security lawyers who have served in prominent positions within federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies will discuss whether U.S. institutions have become politicized in a webinar sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security at 4 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 23. Recent political developments have damaged the… Continue Reading
1,626 Books Were Banned in America Last Year…We Reviewed All of Them
Statecraft: What do these books have in common? By Arman Madani – “The non-profits PEN America and the American Library Association keep a catalog of banned books in the United States up to the 2021-22 academic year. In this 1 academic year alone, 1600+ books were irregularly banned from 138 school districts across America; 3.8… Continue Reading
OIP’s Redesigned Website Now Released
DOJ – “The Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce the release of its redesigned website to align with the broader modernization of Justice.gov. The redesigned page provides enhanced functionality to meet the requirements of the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act and a new design based on the U.S. Web Design System… Continue Reading
