The president has approximately 4,000 executive branch positions to fill; over 1200 require Senate confirmation. This tracker from The Washington Post is following the activities that surround about 800 executive branch positions.
The Plum Book details the 9,000 noncompetitive positions that need to be filled in both the legislative and executive branches.
Begun as a side project by the good folks at the OED and now independent of them, the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction contains over 1800 entries along with precise examples of usage from documented sources. As an example, the word “positronic” is defined, examples are given of its appearance in science fiction works, and where allowed, page images of the original text are made available. The authors who employed the term can be traced; in this instance, Isaac Asimov has 126 quotations in this work.
It is not a pretty picture: hundreds of millions of dollars spent in refunds and purchasing new technologies; declining student enrollments; furloughs and pay cuts; erosion of student mental health;the inability of high school seniors to get adequate college counseling; social isolation; and the realization that many students are not equipped with computers or internet access.
This NJ Spotlight report details the grim reality that was played out at the January 21 meeting of the New Jersey Senate Committee on Higher Education.
This list contains all the New Jersey school districts and their plans for in-person, hybrid, or remote learning.
The impact of Covid-19 on college students is the main thrust of this piece of reporting; NJCU appears at approximately 3:41. And as a shameless self-promotional act, I need to point out that the Congressman Frank J Guarini acts as a background for part of this.
For those who want to read these presidential actions, they are available here; as he signs more of them, they will be added to this list.
The first tranche of documents from the National Security Archive have been released and show a trail ineptitude. And here is the site for continuously updated court filings on over eighty individuals at the federal and non-federal levels. Another site – Lawfare – is also listing criminal filings.
This CRS report provides some background on this riot. Additional readings that may help are: The Gutted, ‘Unnerving’ State of the Agencies Supposed to Keep the U.S. Safe (Politico); Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology (FBI); Impeachable Speech (Emory Law Journal); Federal Criminal Law: January 6, 2021, Unrest at the Capitol (CRS); The U.S. Capitol Police: Brief Background (CRS); and Everyone’s talking about sedition, treason and conspiracy. Here’s what these terms actually mean and how they’ve been enforced (Marshall Project).
You can read these speeches dating back to George Washington; you can also view select videos of these addresses (obviously not back to George Washington) courtesy of C-SPAN.
Here is President Biden’s speech with annotations; also C-SPAN has a video of it as well.
Opinions vary. Please read the following pieces: The Impeachment and Trial of a Former President CRS, numerous links); Can President Trump be impeached after he leaves office? (National Constitution Center); Can former presidents be impeached? (Washington Post); Can The Senate Try An Ex-President? NPR); The Constitution’s Option for Impeachment After a President Leaves Office (authored by Michael J Gerhardt, an expert on impeachment; here is one of his latest writings ((Just Security)); and Resignation was not the end (Miller Center).
The first renderings of the massive Bayfront project have been issued; these are for the initial stages of buildings and construction. Once fully complete, Bayfront will be the largest mixed-use community on the East Coast.
War & Peace (podcast from the International Crisis Group); Recommendations to Improve Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the U.S. Military (Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion); Paths to Destruction (RAND, part of its Domestic Terrorism topics page); How U.S. agencies’ trust in untested software opened the door to hackers (Politico); How Russian hackers infiltrated the US government for months without being spotted (MIT Technology Review); The SolarWinds cyberattack: The hack, the victims, and what we know (Bleeping Computer); Top Expert Backgrounder: Russia’s SolarWinds Operation and International Law (Just Security, contains many valuable links); CISA Updates Alert and Releases Supplemental Guidance on Emergency Directive for SolarWinds Orion Compromise (CISA); The SolarWinds Compromise and the Strategic Challenge of the Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain (CFR, from its Digital and Cyberspace Security Program); and Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power (US Naval Service).
Taiwan: Political and Security Issues; Intelligence Community Diversity and Equal Opportunity;
Defense Primer: Strategic Nuclear Forces; Cybersecurity: A Primer (December saw over two dozen primers published. They can be found here.); U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues; U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress; Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress (updated 12/15); and SolarWinds Attack – No Easy Fix (numerous links).
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 