Bob & Doug McKenzie - Twist-off Tops

https://homeland.house.gov/subcommittees/intelligence-and-counterterrorism-117th-congress

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/06/28/with_a_409_billion_endowment_harvard_gets_22_million_in_federal_work_study_funding_782902.html

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/regulatory/statutes/title-vi-civil-rights-act-of-1964#:~:text=No%20person%20in%20the%20United,activity%20receiving%20Federal%20financial%20assistance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Skull_and_Bones_members

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/trial

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dobbin/files/2007_asq_karabel.pdf

https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/rulemaking-process#:~:text=Rulemaking%20is%20a%20process%20for,repeal%20of%20an%20existing%20rule.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-8802

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion

https://www.rand.org/topics/domestic-terrorism.html

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/litigant

https://prospect.org/power/return-spoils-system/

https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/university-michigan-race-conscious-admissions/

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/about/executive-order-11246-history#:~:text=On%20March%206%2C%201961%2C%20shortly,without%20regard%20to%20their%20race%2C

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action

FDR's Executive Order 9066

Affirmative action at the Supreme Court

These two cases will be argued Monday 10/31/22

- Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina.

- Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College.

From Oyez: 

Facts of the case

Petitioner Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sued Harvard College over its admissions process, alleging that the process violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian American applicants in favor of white applicants. Harvard admits that it uses race as one of many factors in its admissions process but argues that its process adheres to the requirements for race-based admissions outlined in the Supreme Court’s decision in Grutter v. Bollinger.

After a 15-day bench trial, the district court issued a detailed opinion in favor of Harvard. SFFA appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed.

The case was originally consolidated for oral argument with a similar case challenging the admissions policies at the University of North Carolina under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, but the Court severed the cases.

Question

- May institutions of higher education use race as a factor in admissions?

- If so, does Harvard College’s race-conscious admissions process violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

What is Students for Fair Admissions?

Who is Edmund Blum? 

__________

SFFA v UNC

- Petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment filed. 

- Brief of respondents Cecilia Polanco, et al. in opposition filed. 

- Brief of respondents University respondents in opposition filed. 

__________

From Lawfare: An Assessment of the Second U.S. Government Domestic Terrorism Assessment

Do executive agency reports influence members of Congress? 

Sometimes.

- Click here for the article.

- Click here for the report.

By their very nature, congressionally mandated reports can be dull check-the-box exercises. By the time the reports come out, the members of Congress (or, more likely, their staff) who requested them have usually moved on to their next hot policy topic, and the executive branch is stuck writing annual reports that no one ever reads. However, every once and a while, there is a topic of such importance that the reporting requirement produces an informative piece of work that should influence public policy. The recently released intelligence assessment of domestic terrorism is such a document.

This is the second iteration of the Strategic Intelligence Assessment and Data on Domestic Terrorism. The first one, while interesting, fell short in a number of ways and felt, in a sense, like an attempt to placate eager congressional overseers. This iteration, which was released with little fanfare or a typical departmental press release, is a significant improvement. From additional granularity in the size and scope of the threat of domestic terrorism to a more forthcoming acknowledgement of its complexity, it should provide a road map for U.S. domestic counterterrorism efforts.

The 44-page report, written jointly by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, is required, under 2020 law:


[T]o the fullest extent feasible and for purposes of internal recordkeeping and tracking, uniform and standardized definitions of the terms “domestic terrorism,” “act of domestic terrorism,” “domestic terrorism groups,” and any other commonly used terms with respect to DT; methodologies for tracking incidents of DT; and descriptions of categories and subcategories of DT and ideologies relating to DT[.]

By measures of law enforcement investigations, domestic terrorism is increasing.

- What is domestic terrorism?

From Axios: Texas falls further in voting access rankings

We weren;t high on the list to begin with.

- Click here for the article. 

Texas ranks 46th in the country for voting access, according to the nonpartisan 2022 Cost of Voting Index published recently in the Election Law Journal.

Why it matters: It's harder for everyone to cast ballots here and, politically speaking, constituencies that generally favor Democrats have a harder time getting to the polls.

Details: Ease of voter registration and the availability of early voting, both in person and by mail, were the most heavily weighted in the study, Scot Schraufnagel, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University and an author of the study, told the New York Times.

The trajectory: Texas dropped one spot from the 2020 voting index.

Flashback: Since the 2020 election, Texas banned practices that made it easier to vote during the pandemic, such as drive-thru and 24-hour voting."However, as best as we can tell, there was no intention to make the 2020 provisions permanent, so banning them is curious," observe the authors. "Importantly, the changes will limit the state's ability to respond to another health crisis. Moreover, voting still is not easy in Texas. The state, previously ranked 45th, did not have a lot of room to fall."

What puts Texas ahead of states ranked 47-50? Thirteen days of early voting, per the index authors.

From 538: How Americans Feel About Abortion And Contraception

From July, so this is a bit dated.

- Click here for the article. 

It’s been more than two weeks since the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that there is no consitutional right to abortion, overturning the precedent set in 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision. This has set off a scramble across the country, as some states move to restrict legal access to abortion while others seek to expand it.

Polls show that Americans largely disapprove of the court’s decision, and the latest FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos survey found that Americans are now more likely to prioritize abortion as a major issue — even if it still isn’t their top concern. Conducted shortly after the court overturned Roe,1 FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos once again interviewed the same 2,000 or so Americans from our previous two survey waves using Ipsos’s KnowledgePanel. And from a list of 20 topics, the more than 1,500 adults who responded ranked abortion as the fourth-most important issue facing the country, with 19 percent rating it as a leading concern.2 This marked a notable increase from the 9 percent who ranked abortion as a top issue in our last survey released in early June.

Despite the clear uptick in concern about abortion, however, the issue still substantially trailed three other issues: inflation or increasing costs, crime or gun violence and political extremism or polarization. Inflation is far and away Americans’ leading worry, as more than 60 percent named it as one of their top issues. Meanwhile, concern over crime and gun violence fell to 34 percent after reaching the low 40s in June, while concerns about polarization and extremism grew to 33 percent.

Democrats and independents were especially likely to say abortion ranked as a top issue for the country.3 The share of Democrats who named abortion more than doubled, from 13 percent in our previous wave to 27 percent in our latest wave, while the percentage of independents who mentioned abortion jumped from 8 percent to 17 percent. Republicans, too, were more worried about the issue, but their share only increased from 8 percent to 13 percent.

- What is 538?

What is propaganda?

A couple definitions.

- From Britannica:

. . . dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion.

Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these, they deliberately select facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and present them in ways they think will have the most effect. To maximize effect, they may omit or distort pertinent facts or simply lie, and they may try to divert the attention of the reactors (the people they are trying to sway) from everything but their own propaganda.

- From Wikipedia: 

Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented. Propaganda can be found in news and journalism, government, advertising, entertainment, education, and activism and is often associated with material which is prepared by governments as part of war efforts, political campaigns, health campaigns, revolutionaries, big businesses, ultra-religious organizations, the media, and certain individuals such as soapboxers.

In the 20th century, the English term propaganda was often associated with a manipulative approach, but historically, propaganda has been a neutral descriptive term of any material that promotes certain opinions or ideologies. Equivalent non-English terms have also largely retained the original neutral connotation.

The content of typical slave codes

- Click here for the source.

Movement restrictions: Most regions required any slaves away from their plantations or outside of the cities they resided in to have a pass signed by their master. Many cities in the slave-states required slave-tags, small copper badges that enslaved people wore, to show that they were allowed to move about.[4]

Marriage restrictions: Most places restricted the marriage rights of enslaved people, ostensibly to prevent them from trying to change masters by marrying into a family on another plantation.[5] Marriage between people of different races was also usually restricted.

Prohibitions on gathering: Slave codes generally prevented large groups of enslaved people from gathering away from their plantations.

Slave patrols: In the slave-dependent portions of North America, varying degrees of legal authority backed slave patrols by plantation owners and other free whites to ensure that enslaved people were not free to move about at night, and to generally enforce the restrictions on slaves.[6][7]

Trade and commerce by slaves: Initially, most places gave enslaved people some land to work personally and allowed them to operate their markets. As slavery became more profitable, slave codes restricting the rights of enslaved people to buy, sell, and produce goods were introduced.[8] In some places, slave tags were required to be worn by enslaved people to prove that they were allowed to participate in certain types of work.[4]

Punishment and killing of slaves: Slave codes regulated how slaves could be punished, usually going so far as to apply no penalty for accidentally killing a slave while punishing them.[9] Later laws began to apply restrictions on this, but slave-owners were still rarely punished for killing their slaves.[10] Historian Lawrence M. Friedman wrote: "Ten Southern codes made it a crime to mistreat a slave.... Under the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825 (art. 192), if a master was ′convicted of cruel treatment,′ the judge could order the sale of the mistreated slave, presumably to a better master."[11]

Education restrictions: Some codes made it illegal to teach slaves to read.[12]

Propaganda and public policy about race.

Changes in public policy are often accompanied by efforts to sway public opinion in a direction that supports that change. The links lead to more specific info related to these efforts. We will use some of these as we begin to discuss public policy generally, and the forces that drive it.

- Black Propaganda.

- The Atrocity Propaganda Ben Franklin Circulated to Sway Public Opinion in America’s Favor.

- American propaganda in the Mexican–American War.

- Propaganda in the Mexican drug war.

- Propaganda for Japanese-American internment.

- White slave propaganda.

- American pro-slavery movement.

- Slavery as a positive good in the United States.

- Abolitionism/Antislavery Movement.

From Wikipedia: The Committee on Public Information

An agency briefly established in order to influence domestic public opinion by the use of pro war (WWI) propaganda.

- Click here for the entry.

The Committee on Public Information (1917–1919), also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States under the Wilson administration created to influence public opinion to support the US in World War I, in particular, the US home front.

In just over 26 months (from April 14, 1917, to June 30, 1919) it used every medium available to create enthusiasm for the war effort and to enlist public support against the foreign and perceived domestic attempts to stop America's participation in the war. It is a notable example of propaganda in the United States.

. . . Wilson established the first modern propaganda office, the Committee on Public Information (CPI), headed by George Creel.[6][7] Creel set out to systematically reach every person in the United States multiple times with patriotic information about how the individual could contribute to the war effort. It also worked with the post office to censor seditious counter-propaganda. Creel set up divisions in his new agency to produce and distribute innumerable copies of pamphlets, newspaper releases, magazine advertisements, films, school campaigns, and the speeches of the Four Minute Men. CPI created colorful posters that appeared in every store window, catching the attention of the passersby for a few seconds.[8] Movie theaters were widely attended, and the CPI trained thousands of volunteer speakers to make patriotic appeals during the four-minute breaks needed to change reels. They also spoke at churches, lodges, fraternal organizations, labor unions, and even logging camps. Speeches were mostly in English, but ethnic groups were reached in their own languages. Creel boasted that in 18 months his 75,000 volunteers delivered over 7.5 million four minute orations to over 300 million listeners, in a nation of 103 million people.

Who was George Creel?

Seven days after the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information, a propaganda agency acting to release government news, to sustain morale in the US, to administer voluntary press censorship, and to develop propaganda abroad.[9]: 22  George Creel was named the head of the committee, and he created 37 distinct divisions, most notably the Division of Pictorial Publicity, the Four Minute Men Division, the News Division, and the Censorship Board.[9]: 26 

The Division of Pictorial Publicity was staffed by hundreds of the nation's most talented artists, and they created over 1000 designs for paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures that instilled patriotism, fear, and interest in the war efforts.[10] Creel himself said that the images were "something that caught even the most indifferent eye."[9]: 85  Through the Four Minute Men division, roughly 75,000 civilian volunteers spoke to 314 million people over the span of 18 months on topics assigned by the CPI, like the draft, rationing, bond drives, and victory gardens.[11]: 610  These civilian volunteers spoke at social events in places like movie theaters and fellowship halls for four minutes, which was the time it took to change a movie reel and the time believed to be a human's attention span. The guidelines set forth by Creel directed the volunteers to fill their speeches with facts and appeals to emotions to bolster public support for the war efforts.[11]: 614  Between the News Division and Censorship Committee, Creel and the CPI were able to control the flow of official war information. Creel sought to portray facts without bias, though most pieces of news were "colored by nationalistic assumptions."[9]: 112  Creel's committee may have produced biased news, but it was his hope that the US could avoid rigid censorship during the war, as Creel's views on censorship were "expression, not repression."[9]: 115  Under Creel's direction, the CPI sought only to repress material that contained "dangerous" or "unfavorable" ideas to avoid demoralizing the population.

Section Ten: The Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch

The first of the governing institutions is the legislative branch. It has the power to pass bills, that can then become law unless vetoed by the chief executive.

While we are accustomed to looking at the executive as the most important and powerful branch, the framers of the original constitution thought the legislature was instead. It had the power to tax, to establish the other institutions, and to fund - or defund - them. Representatives and senators also had closer connections to the population and were in a greater position to sway them one way or another. Neither the executive nor the judiciary had been created yet, so neither had any power. That would change over time as these two branches established themselves. We will cover this in the next two sections. 

For now, we will focus on the following: 

1 - Constitutional Design.

2 - Development of the Executive Branch.

3 - Development of the Judicial Branch.

4 - Development of Political Parties.

5 - Congressional Elections.

6 - Development of Committees and Subcommittees.

7 - Congressional Leadership.

__________


Terminology

- representation
- constituency
- partisanship
- polarization
- individual constituents
- organized interests
- district
- delegates
- trustees
- agency representation
- bicameral legislature
- money bills
- appropriations bills
- shutdowns
- electoral system
- running for office
- incumbency
- casework
- patronage
- pork-barrel legislation
- gerrymandering
- parties in Congress
- party leadership
- party organization
- party caucus
- party conference
- Speaker of the House
- majority leader
- minority leader
- committee system
- standing committees
- jurisdiction
- authority
- gatekeeping authority
- proposal power
- after-the-fact authority
- conference committee
- oversight
- subcommittees
- hierarchy
- decisiveness on committees
- seniority
- monitoring committees
- the staff system
- staff agencies
- Congressional Research Service
- Government Accountability Office
- Congressional Budget Office
- congressional caucuses
- bill making
- sources of legislation
- bill introduction
- committee consideration
- closed rule
- open rule
- debate
- cloture 
- filibuster
- veto
- pocket veto
- distributive tendency
- influences on members of Congress
- reelection
- constituency
- interest groups
- PACs / SuperPACs
- lobbying
- party discipline
- party vote
- party unity scores
- roll-call votes
- polarization
- whip system
- logrolling
- presidential pressure
- impeachment
- investigations
- reports
- state legislatures
- Texas legislature
- amend
- bicameral
- casework
- committees
- delegates
- filibuster
- first reading
- general law
- incumbent
- institutional memory
- local law
- logrolling
- markup
- point of order
- political polarization
- recognition
- regular sessions
- second reading
- select committee
- seniority
- sine die
- special law
- special session
- standing committees
- third reading
- trustees
- turnover

U.S. Constitution: Article One.
- Avalon.
- Annotated Constitution.
The Unites States House of Representatives.
The Unites States Senate.
The 118th Congress.
November 2022 legislative election results. 
Congress.gov - most viewed bills.
Congress.gov - The Legislative Process.

Texas Constitution: Article Three.
- 1876 Constitution.
- Present Constitution.
- The Texas House of Representatives.
- The Texas States Senate.
- Texas Legislature Online.
- Legislative Reference Library.

______

- Lawmaking.
- Representation.
- Power of the Purse.
- Sample Ballots.
- Federalist 51.
- Declaration of Independence.
- Madison on Tyranny.
- Checks and Balances.
- Immunities.
- US Constitution: Article One.
- First Congress.
- Judiciary Act of 1789.
- United States federal judiciary legislation.
- 117th Congress.
- Top Ten Most Viewed Bills.
- Major Legislation passed by Congress.
- Appropriations.

Executive Departments and Agencies

1 - State - July 27, 1789 - The United States Department of State (DOS),[3] or State Department,[4] is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations.

2 - War - August 7, 1789 - The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947.

3 - Treasury - September 7, 1789 - The Department of the Treasury (USDT)[2] is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department.[3] The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint. These two agencies are responsible for printing all paper currency and coins, while the treasury executes its circulation in the domestic fiscal system. The USDT collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service; manages U.S. government debt instruments; licenses and supervises banks and thrift institutions; and advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of fiscal policy.

4 - Post Office - February 20, 1792 -The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postmaster general.
The Postal Service Act, signed by U.S. president George Washington on February 20, 1792, established the department. Postmaster General John McLean, in office from 1823 to 1829, was the first to call it the Post Office Department rather than just the "Post Office." The organization received a boost in prestige when President Andrew Jackson invited his postmaster general, William T. Barry, to sit as a member of the Cabinet in 1829.[1] The Post Office Act of 1872 (17 Stat. 283) elevated the Post Office Department to Cabinet status.
 
5 - Navy - April 30, 1798 - The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary of War James McHenry, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy (USN);[1] since 1834, it has exercised jurisdiction over the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and, during wartime, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), though each remains an independent service branch.[2] It is led by the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), a statutory civilian officer.

6 - Interior - March 3, 1849 - It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States, as well as programs related to historic preservation. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.[3] The department was created on March 3, 1849.

7 - Agriculture - May 15, 1862 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally.

8 - Justice - July 1, 1870 - a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the U.S. attorney general, who reports directly to the president of the United States

9 - Commerce and Labor - February 14, 1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor was a short-lived Cabinet department of the United States government, which was concerned with fostering and supervising big business. Calls in the United States for the creation of an executive department of the United States Government devoted to fostering and supervising business and manufacturing can be traced to least as far back as 1787.[1] By the latter decades of the 19th century, the momentum behind the creation of such a department grew, its advocates pointing to the creation of various U.S. executive departments and lower-level agencies to promote and regulate agriculture, fisheries, forestry, labor, mining, and transportation and noting that the United States was virtually alone among the countries of the world in lacking a government agency to perform the same function for commerce and industry.

10 - Commerce - March 4, 1913 - The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision making, and helping to set industrial standards. Its main purpose is to create jobs, promote economic growth, encourage sustainable development and block harmful trade practices of other nations.[3]

10 - Labor - March 4, 1913 - It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemployment benefits, reemployment services, and occasionally, economic statistics. The purpose of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the well being of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. In carrying out this mission, the Department of Labor administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws and thousands of federal regulations. These mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

11 - Defense - September 18, 1947 - an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. The DoD is the largest employer in the world,[5] with over 1.34 million active-duty service members (soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians) as of June 2022. The DoD also maintain's over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians bringing the total to over 2.87 million employees.[6] Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the DoD's stated mission is to provide "the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".

12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - April 11, 1953 - The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was created on April 11, 1953, when Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953 became effective. HEW thus became the first new Cabinet-level department since the Department of Labor was created in 1913. The Reorganization Plan abolished the FSA and transferred all of its functions to the secretary of HEW and all components of the agency to the department. The six major program-operating components of the new department were the Public Health Service, the Office of Education, the Food and Drug Administration, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital. The department was also responsible for three federally aided corporations: Howard University, the American Printing House for the Blind, and the Columbia Institution for the Deaf (Gallaudet College since 1954).

13 - Housing and Urban Development - September 9, 1965 - It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who reports directly to the President of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. Although its beginnings were in the House and Home Financing Agency, it was founded as a Cabinet department in 1965, as part of the "Great Society" program of President Lyndon B. Johnson, to develop and execute policies on housing and metropolises.

14 - Transportation - April 1, 1967 - The department's mission is "to develop and coordinate policies that will provide an efficient and economical national transportation system, with due regard for need, the environment, and the national defense." Prior to the creation of the Department of Transportation, its functions were administered by the under secretary of commerce for transportation. In 1965, Najeeb Halaby, administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency (predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA), suggested to President Lyndon B. Johnson that transportation be elevated to a cabinet-level post, and that the FAA be folded into the DOT.[3] It was established by Congress in the Department of Transportation Act on October 15, 1966

15 - Energy - August 4, 1977 - oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. The DOE oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy-related research, and domestic energy production and energy conservation. The DOE was created in 1977 in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis. It sponsors more physical sciences than any other U.S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories.[3] The DOE also directs research in genomics, with the Human Genome Project originating from a DOE initiative.

16 - Health and Human Services. - created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America".[3] Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). HHS is administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The position is currently held by Xavier Becerra. The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the uniformed service of the PHS, is led by the Surgeon General who is responsible for addressing matters concerning public health as authorized by the secretary or by the assistant secretary for Health in addition to his or her primary mission of administering the Commissioned Corps.

17 - Education - October 17, 1979 - The Department of Education is administered by the United States Secretary of Education. It has 4,400 employees - the smallest staff of the Cabinet agencies[5] - and an annual budget of $68 billion.[6] The President's 2023 Budget request is for 88.3 billion, which includes funding for children with disabilities (IDEA), pandemic recovery, early childhood education, Pell Grants, Title I, work assistance, among other programs.

18 - Veterans Affairs - March 15, 1989 - charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries. While veterans' benefits have been provided by the federal government since the American Revolutionary War, a veteran-specific federal agency was not established until 1930, as the Veterans Administration. In 1982, its mission was extended to a fourth mission to provide care to non-veterans and civilians in case of national emergencies.

19 - Homeland Security - November 25, 2002 - responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management. It began operations in 2003, formed as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, enacted in response to the September 11 attacks. With more than 240,000 employees,[1] DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.[4] Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy.

__________

Independent regulatory agencies

1913 - The Federal Reserve System (often called "the Fed"), is the central bank of the United States. It conducts the nation's monetary policy by influencing the volume of credit and money in circulation. The Federal Reserve regulates private banking institutions, works to contain systemic risk in financial markets, and provides certain financial services to the federal government, the public, and financial institutions.

1914 - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws by investigating complaints against individual companies initiated by consumers, businesses, congressional inquiries, or reports in the media. The commission seeks to ensure that the nation's markets function competitively by eliminating unfair or deceptive practices.

1916 - The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, determines the impact of imports on US industries, and directs actions against certain unfair trade practices, such as patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.

1917 - The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent federal agency operating with permanent authorization under the Military Selective Service Act. It is not part of the Department of Defense; however, it exists to serve the emergency manpower needs of the military by conscripting untrained men, or personnel with professional health care skills, if directed by Congress and the president. Its statutory missions also include being ready to administer an alternative service program, in lieu of military service for men classified as conscientious objectors.

1933 - The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), created in 1933, provides economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

1933 - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) provides deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was created by the 1933 Banking Act, enacted during the Great Depression to restore trust in the American banking system. Member banks' insurance dues are the primary source of funding.

1934 - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established to protect investors who buy stocks and bonds. Federal laws require companies that plan to raise money by selling their own securities to file reports about their operations with the SEC, so that investors have access to all material information. The commission has powers to prevent or punish fraud in the sale of securities and is authorized to regulate stock exchanges.

1934 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It licenses radio and television broadcast stations, assigns radio frequencies, and enforces regulations designed to ensure that cable rates are reasonable. The FCC regulates common carriers, such as telephone and telegraph companies, as well as wireless telecommunications service providers.

1934 - The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves the nation's history by overseeing the management of all federal records. The holdings of the National Archives include original textual materials, motion picture films, sound and video recordings, maps, still pictures, and computer data. The Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are preserved and displayed at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C.

1935 - The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the United States federal agency that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits. To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; future benefits are based on employee contributions.

1935 - The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administers the principal United States labor law, the National Labor Relations Act. The board is vested with the power to prevent or remedy unfair labor practices and to safeguard employees' rights to organize and determine through elections whether to have a union as their bargaining representative.

1947 - The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) gathers foreign intelligence and provides national security assessments to policymakers in the United States. It acts as the primary human intelligence provider for the federal government. It is one of the principal members of the Intelligence Community, which is overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which is itself an independent agency.

1949 - The General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for the purchase, supply, operation, and maintenance of federal property, buildings, and equipment, and for the sale of surplus items. GSA also manages the federal motor vehicle fleet and oversees remote work centers and civilian child care centers.

1950 - The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering.

1953 - The Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 to advise, assist, and protect the interests of small business concerns. The SBA guarantees loans to small businesses, aids victims of floods and other natural disasters, promotes the growth of minority-owned firms, and helps secure contracts for small businesses to supply goods and services to the federal government.

1958 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the federal government's space agency. It is responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

1961 - The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) regulates the international ocean transportation of the United States. It is charged with ensuring a competitive and efficient ocean transportation system.[19]

1961 - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides foreign aid and assists with international development.

1967 - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is responsible for civil transportation accident analysis in the US.[20] The NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of car accidents, ship and marine accidents, pipeline transport accidents, and rail transport accidents.[21]

1970 - The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) was created in 1971 as the Postal Rate Commission and strengthened under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act enacted in December 2006. Provides regulatory oversight over the activities of the United States Postal Service.

1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works for state and local governments throughout the United States to control and abate environmental pollution and to address problems related to solid waste, pesticides, radiation, and toxic substances. The EPA sets and enforces standards for air, soil and water quality, evaluates the impact of pesticides and chemical substances, and manages the Superfund program for cleaning toxic waste sites.

1970 - The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)

1971 - The United States Postal Service (USPS) is defined by statute as an "independent establishment" of the federal government, which replaced the Cabinet-level Post Office Department. The Postal Service is responsible for the collection, transportation, and delivery of the mails, and for the operation of thousands of local post offices across the country. It also provides international mail service through the Universal Postal Union and other agreements with foreign countries.

1971 - Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) is a passenger railroad service that provides intercity service throughout the contiguous United States and parts of Canada.

1972 - The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

1974 - The Federal Election Commission (FEC) oversees campaign financing for all federal elections. The commission oversees election rules as well as reporting of campaign contributions by the candidates.

1975 - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The agency protects market participants against manipulation, abusive trade practices, and fraud. Through oversight and regulation, the CFTC enables the markets to serve better their important functions in the US economy, providing a mechanism for price discovery and a means of offsetting price risk.

1975 - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and opened January 19, 1975. The NRC oversees reactor safety and security, reactor licensing and renewal, radioactive material safety, and spent fuel management (storage, security, recycling, and disposal).

1977 - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates. FERC also reviews and authorizes liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, interstate natural gas pipelines, and non-federal hydropower projects.

1979 - The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent investigative and prosecutorial agency that operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures, protects federal employees from reprisal for whistleblowing, and enforces the restrictions of the Hatch Act on partisan political activity by government employees.

1986 - The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) is one of the smaller Executive Branch agencies, with just over 100 employees. It was established to administer the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), which provides federal employees the opportunity to save for additional retirement security. The Thrift Savings Plan is a tax-deferred defined contribution plan similar to a private sector 401(k) plan.

1996 - The Surface Transportation Board (STB) was created in the ICC Termination Act of 1995 and is the successor agency to the Interstate Commerce Commission. The STB is an economic regulatory agency that Congress charged with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers. The STB is decisionally independent, although it is administratively affiliated with the Department of Transportation.

2002 - The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was formed in 2002 to serve as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration. It is charged with administering payments to states and developing guidance to meet the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and accrediting voting system test laboratories and certifying voting equipment. It is also charged with developing and maintaining a national mail voter registration form.

2011 - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. Its jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortgage-servicing operations, foreclosure relief services, debt collectors, other financial companies in the United States.

https://rollcall.com/2022/10/28/supreme-court-to-hear-arguments-over-race-in-college-admissions/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/about-un-membership

https://rollcall.com/2022/10/28/appellate-ruling-may-force-another-supreme-court-look-at-cfpb/

https://rollcall.com/2022/10/27/prosecutor-urges-supreme-court-not-to-delay-graham-testimony/

Who's on First?

Hu?

From NYT: What Happened to Hu Jintao?

A lesson in how to consolidate power.

- Click here for it.

Saddam Hussein's Very Public Purge

What is a purge?

- noun

- - the act or process of purging.

- - the removal or elimination of members of a political organization, government, nation, etc., who are considered disloyal or otherwise undesirable.

Louche

I just learned a new word. 

I’m sure y’all already knew it. I saw it in a review of a book about Anthony Boudain.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/louce

By the time Anthony Bourdain hanged himself in a French hotel room on June 8th 2018, he was the envy of food-obsessed travellers the world over. Twenty years earlier he had been a competent but unknown chef with frustrated literary ambitions and a louche, drug-filled past.

From Wikipedia: Anglo-Powhatan Wars

The start of almost three centuries of continual warfare against native tribes.

- Click here for the entry. 

The Anglo–Powhatan Wars were three wars fought between settlers of the Virginia Colony and Algonquin Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy in the early seventeenth century. The first war started in 1609 and ended in a peace settlement in 1614. The second war lasted from 1622 to 1626. The third war lasted from 1644 until 1646 and ended when Opechancanough was captured and killed. That war resulted in a defined boundary between the Indians and colonial lands that could only be crossed for official business with a special pass. This situation lasted until 1677 and the Treaty of Middle Plantation which established Indian reservations following Bacon's Rebellion.

- First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609–1614)

- For more on the Powhatan, click here.

The Darrington Plantation

I'll be teaching a class at the Darrington Unit of the TDCJ in the spring. Like other penitentiaries, it is built on the site of an old plantation. This made the transition from enslaved labor to prison labor easier than it might nave otherwise been,

For more on the plantation, click here: 

- Darrington Plantation. 
- Names of two prison units in county still a mystery.
- Brazoria County Historical Museum.
- Memorial Unit.
- Texas Republican asks state to rename several of the state's prisons honoring slave owners.

Links 10/27/22

https://lrl.texas.gov/legis/ConstAmends/results.cfm?electionDate=Nov%207,%201946

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/veterans-land-board

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_espionage

https://www.history.com/news/industrial-revolution-spies-europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act

https://www.quora.com/Did-Congress-ever-formally-declare-war-against-Native-Americans

https://www.quora.com/Can-a-country-that-is-not-the-US-declare-war-on-the-Indian-reservations-located-within-the-US

https://pollworkertraining.sos.texas.gov/

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/24/texas-early-voting-polls-rules/

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/27/critical-race-theory-state-board-education/

https://www.davidrumsey.com/maps5483.html

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationaltrailssystem/maps.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory

The Shadow Creek Loan Sharks

Just an idea

 

- List of countries by date of recognition of the United States.

- For Disabled Workers, a Tight Labor Market Opens New Doors.

- https://www.senate.gov/about/images/documents/sjres119-wwii-germany.htm

- Congress Passes Investments in Domestic Semiconductor Manufacturing, Research & Design.

 https://www.pimco.com/en-us/resources/education/across-the-spectrum-understanding-public-and-private-credit

https://lofgren.house.gov/media/press-releases/lofgren-introduces-landmark-legislation-reform-us-immigration-court-system

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2970?s=1&r=87

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/jay-treaty

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5135077

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/29/us/brett-kavanaugh-signing-statements.html

http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/04/bush_could_bypass_new_torture_ban/

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-torture-victim-protection-act-1991

https://userpages.umbc.edu/~davisj/signstmnt.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_of_2001

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Indian_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterrence_theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_Neutrality

https://www.freedomunited.org/news/texas-70-million-prison-forced-labor/

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/report-details-unpaid-prison-labor-texas/

From the NYT: Why a Question About Slavery Is Now on the Ballot in 5 States

- Click here for the article. 

Voters in five U.S. states where slavery or involuntary servitude remains legal as a punishment for people who are convicted of crimes will vote next month on whether to ban the practices outright.

If passed, the measures in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont could open a door for prisoners there to challenge forced prison labor, for which most are paid pennies per hour and in some cases not at all.

Legal experts cautioned that the ballot measures would not likely have any immediate legal effects if they passed, but prisoners and their advocates say the measures would send an instant message that Americans’ freedom from slavery does not hinge on whether they have committed a crime.

“Nothing in the Constitution is just symbolic,” said Curtis Ray Davis II, who said he earned 2 cents an hour picking cotton, okra, squash and other crops in Louisiana’s fields while imprisoned. “We do not need to enslave people in order to punish them.”

The measures, which are on the Nov. 8 ballots, have drawn criticism from some lawmakers who say that the changes are unnecessary or confusing. In one state, a former sponsor said the proposal was so ambiguous that he has started urging people to vote against it.

- Penal labor in the United States.

- Convict Labor during the Colonial Period.

- The Emergence of American Labor.

- Establishing the Georgia Colony, 1732-1750.

From ICPSR: Sources of individual voting behavior

- Click here for the article. 

On what basis do voters decide how they will cast their ballot? Several basic factors can be identified as reasons for choosing a candidate in an presidential election. A voter may choose a candidate on the basis of one or more of the following considerations:

orientations on specific issues of public policy
general evaluations of the government performance
evaluations of the personal characteristics of the candidates

When voters are asked what they like or dislike about a specific candidate--i.e., what might make them vote for or against that candidate--most of their responses fall into one of the above three categories.

These orientations and evaluations in turn are influenced by two more general attitudinal factors:

party identification
general ideological orientations

Party identification and ideology are more general, long-run factors that influence the attitudes that are more immediate to the vote decision in a particular year.

The various factors that influence the vote decision vary in their stability over time. Evaluations of candidate qualities and government performance are distinctly short-term forces, capable of substantial shifts from one election to the next. Party identification and ideology are much more stable in the short term. Not many voters change their party identification or ideology from one election to the next, and the changes that do occur often are fairly small ones. Issue orientations fall somewhere in between. While the specific issues crucial in presidential elections can change dramatically, as can how the voters evaluate the presidential candidates on the issues, many basic policy questions (e.g., defense spending, welfare programs, abortion) stretch across several elections, with partisan differences remaining relatively constant.

The various attitudes and orientations that influence voting behavior in presidential elections are interrelated. Understanding the interrelationships among these factors is important for a full understanding of voting behavior.

Chief elections officers of the states

Generally this is one of the job descriptions of the Secretary of State - which in Texas is an appointed position. 

The most common, and arguably the most important, function held by secretaries of state is to serve as the state's chief elections official (although many states also have supervisors of elections, which are usually county elected officials). In 38 states, the ultimate responsibility for the conduct of elections, including the enforcement of qualifying rules, oversight of financial regulation and establishment of Election Day procedures falls on the secretary of state.

- Click here for more from Ballotpedia.

For current controversies, click here: 

- The important role played by secretaries of state in administering fair elections is changing – and not in a good way.

The state officials who administer fair, accessible and secure elections have historically operated quietly without garnering much public attention. Elections happen, votes are counted, the winners are declared and democracy moves on.

But since 2020, secretaries of state and other state officials who oversee elections have come under increasing scrutiny and been exposed to increasing abuse.

Studies have shown both state Democratic and Republican chief election officials oversee elections with similar partisan outcomes, turnout rates and administrative policies. And despite the fact that most of these officers are selected through explicitly partisan processes, the majority of them behaved in a nonpartisan manner to ensure fair and secure elections.

But given the increasingly polarized and hostile political environment in the U.S., is the country about to experience an Election Day filled with conflict, contested election results and chief election officials who are no longer trusted?

From the Texas Tribune: Greg Abbott ran as a small-government conservative. But the governor’s office now has more power than ever.

Checks and balances don't work well in Texas.

- Click here for the article. 

Research groups consistently rank Texas as a “weak governor” state because its constitution limits what the governor can do without legislative authorization. Executive officers such as the lieutenant governor and the attorney general are also independently elected, not appointed by the governor, further diluting the power of the office.

“The way the constitution is designed, unless it’s specified in the constitution, you don’t have that power. Period. And that’s why I think you can look at a whole variety of his actions as violating the constitution. He just doesn’t have it. He asserts it, and he gets away with it,” said James Harrington, a former constitutional law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who founded the Texas Civil Rights Project. Harrington initially filed a brief defending Abbott’s early use of pandemic-related executive orders limiting crowd sizes and the types of businesses allowed to remain open, but he said the governor’s later orders fell outside of the bounds of the law.

The weak-governor structure was created by the framers in 1876 who believed that Edmund Jackson Davis, a former Union general who led Texas following the Civil War, abused his powers as governor. A Republican who supported the rights of freed people, Davis disbanded the Texas Rangers and created a state police force that he used, at times, to enforce martial law to protect the civil rights of African Americans. He also expanded the size of government, appointing more than 9,000 state, county and local officials, which left a very small number of elected positions.

Currently, the governor’s office accrues power largely through vetoes and appointments. While the Legislature can override a veto, governors often issue them after the legislative session ends. The governor is the only one who can call lawmakers back.

During a typical four-year term, a governor makes about 1,500 appointments to the courts and hundreds of agencies and boards covering everything from economic development to criminal justice. The longer governors serve, the more loyalty they can build through appointments.

Abbott’s predecessor, Republican former Gov. Rick Perry, set the stage for building power through appointments. Over 14 years, Perry, a former state representative who became Texas’ longest-serving governor, positioned former employees, donors and supporters in every state agency.

Perry could not be reached for comment through a representative.

In contrast to his predecessor, Abbott, a jurist with no legislative experience, found other avenues to interpret and stretch the law. Abbott has benefited from appointments and vetoes, but he has also taken advantage of emergency orders and disaster declarations like no other governor in recent state history.

Disaster declarations are generally used for natural calamities such as hurricanes and droughts and are useful legally for governors who could face legislative gridlock or state agency inaction if going through normal channels. Abbott’s use of such tools has grown even as his party holds a majority in the state Legislature.

In his eight years as governor, Abbott has issued at least 42 executive orders. Perry signed 80 orders during his 14-year tenure, though they rarely brought controversy. He once required human papillomavirus vaccines for girls but backtracked after pushback from the Legislature.

“Rick Perry experimented with and developed a number of tools that former governors had,” said Cal Jillson, professor of political science at Southern Methodist University. “That he sharpened appointments would be one of those, executive orders would be another of those, the use of the bully pulpit would be a third. And Abbott went to school on that.”