Throughout the year, The New York Times publishes lesson plans on a wide variety of topics and subjects ranging from history to science to literacy skills. Each plan comes with links both to internal New York Times resources as well as to reputable outside sites. Where needed, charts and graphs supplement the presentations. At the end of the year, the newspaper aggregates all the plans into one site for ease of searching. Past lesson plans can also be accessed. This lesson plan proves to be especially relevant: Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning About Fake News.
Congressional Research Service’s 2016 Annual Report
This iteration highlights that “…Congress relied on CRS expertise, placing more than 62,000 requests for custom analysis and research. The Service hosted more than 9,200 congressional participants at seminars, briefings, and training; published more than 3,500 new or updated reports; summarized more than 6,300 bills; and maintained nearly 10,000 products on its website for Congress….”(iii) FYI, this $100,000,000 Congressional think tank is a branch of the Library of Congress. More on it here.
For those who would like access to the “products”; i.e., reports, sidebars, documents, etc. generated by the CRS in fulfillment of its mission, please go to either FAS (Federation of American Scientists) Congressional Research Reports page or everycrsreport.com (contrary to the .com suffix, the reports are freely available).
Live! – Ex-FBI Director Comey’s Testimony Before Senate Intelligence Committee
His highly anticipated appearance begins at 10am today.
Former FBI Director Comey’s Prepared Statement Before Senate Intelligence Committee
Although he is testifying tomorrow, the Senate Intelligence Committee has just released his opening statement. It is riveting reading.
Upcoming Congressional Intelligence Hearings
There are many hearings in Congress on various security-related issues. These two seem most relevant: Senior security officials testify re: FISA before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, and former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the same committee tomorrow on the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. More than 100 additional hearings before this committee can also be viewed; they all come with searchable transcripts.
National Security Reports – May 2017 Update
Cybersecurity: Legislation, Hearings, and Executive Branch Documents; Iran’s Presidential Elections; Iran: Politics, Human Rights, and U.S. Policy; (all CRS); Strategic Security Challenges for 2017 and Beyond (presentation to the National Academy of Sciences by RL Garwin); and Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (presented by Daniel Coats, DNI).
China’s Economy
Here are some recent reports on the world’s second largest economy: Economic Survey of China (OECD); China’s Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States (CRS); Moody’s Downgrades China Over Worries About Its Growing Debt The New York Times); China (IMF); China (World Bank);8 things you need to know about China’s economy (World Economic Forum); China (Council on Foreign Relations); China (Center for Strategic and International Studies); and China’s domestic politics and foreign policy (UK Parliament library).
