https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till_Antilynching_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States
https://www.house.gov/
https://judiciary.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=4902
https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings?ID=E40E2148-B897-48AE-8CC4-06D6F895D969
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Albright
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Council
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_v._Town_of_Gilbert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_v._Texas_Division,_Sons_of_Confederate_Veterans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Maritime_Administration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_Fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Mobility_Command
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Naval_history_and_strategy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rule
https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0003262/
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Links - 4/1
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-1029
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/21-12
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-804
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/21-5592
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/21-309
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-603
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/21-588
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-493
From the Texas Tribune: Texas power grid, energy sectors facing elevated Russian cyber threats during war in Ukraine
- Click here for the article.
Russian hackers have been probing Texas’ energy infrastructure for weak points in digital systems that would allow them to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations, according to interviews with energy companies, state officials and cybersecurity experts.
State regulators and energy companies — from utilities to oil and gas transportation hubs to their associated vendors — said they have been aware of the elevated Russian cyber threats since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month, but they’re careful to not say too much.
“We are on super high alert,” said Thad Hill, CEO of Texas power giant Calpine, adding that he has been closely monitoring Russia’s cyber actions.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberwarfare
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%E2%80%93Ukrainian_cyberwarfare
- https://www.rrc.texas.gov/news/
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
From the Congressional Research Service: Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress
Timely - if a bit disturbing.
- Click here for the study.
The United States has actively pursued the development of hypersonic weapons—
maneuvering weapons that fly at speeds of at least Mach 5—as a part of its conventional
prompt global strike program since the early 2000s. In recent years, the United States
has focused such efforts on developing hypersonic glide vehicles, which are launched
from a rocket before gliding to a target, and hypersonic cruise missiles, which are
powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines during flight. As former Vice Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command General John Hyten has stated, these
weapons could enable “responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical
threats [such as road-mobile missiles] when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred.” Critics,
on the other hand, contend that hypersonic weapons lack defined mission requirements, contribute little to U.S.
military capability, and are unnecessary for deterrence.
Funding for hypersonic weapons has been relatively restrained in the past; however, both the Pentagon and
Congress have shown a growing interest in pursuing the development and near-term deployment of hypersonic
systems. This is due, in part, to the advances in these technologies in Russia and China, both of which have a
number of hypersonic weapons programs and have likely fielded operational hypersonic glide vehicles—
potentially armed with nuclear warheads. Most U.S. hypersonic weapons, in contrast to those in Russia and
China, are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead. As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely
require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and
Russian systems.
The Pentagon’s FY2022 budget request for hypersonic research is $3.8 billion—up from $3.2 billion in the
FY2021 request. The Missile Defense Agency additionally requested $247.9 million for hypersonic defense. At
present, the Department of Defense (DOD) has not established any programs of record for hypersonic weapons,
suggesting that it may not have approved either mission requirements for the systems or long-term funding plans.
Indeed, as Principal Director for Hypersonics (Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and
Engineering) Mike White has stated, DOD has not yet made a decision to acquire hypersonic weapons and is
instead developing prototypes to assist in the evaluation of potential weapon system concepts and mission sets.
- Are they worth the cost?
From Wikipedia: Medicaid
A major component of HHS spending in Texas - which itself is the second largest area of expenditures in the state.
- Click here for the entry.
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and personal care services. The main difference between the two programs is that Medicaid covers healthcare costs for people with low incomes while Medicare provides health coverage for the elderly. There are also dual health plans for people who have both Medicaid and Medicare.[1] The Health Insurance Association of America describes Medicaid as "a government insurance program for persons of all ages whose income and resources are insufficient to pay for health care."[2]
2023 United States Budget
- OMB: President’s Budget.
- Wikipedia: US Federal Budget.
- Wikipedia: US Federal Budget Process.
HHS funding in Texas
Its the second largest area of funding in the state.
- Feds restore billions in halted payments to Texas hospitals, but the fight over uninsured care continues.
Federal health officials on Friday restored $7 million a day in funding to Texas hospitals after stopping it six months ago over concerns about how the state pays for health care for uninsured Texans.
Until last September, Texas had tapped this funding, which comes through what is known as the 1115 Medicaid waiver, to reimburse hospitals for patients who use Medicaid. Most states are able to get these dollars by matching the federal dollars from their general revenue.
But Texas had come up with its own mechanism known as the Local Provider Participation Funds, in which private hospitals set up taxing districts and sent that money through local and state governments to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- Analysis: Texas gets a respite on Medicaid, but not a cure for the uninsured.
Texas got some breathing room when the federal government decided last week to continue sending Medicaid money for health care for some of the state’s residents without private insurance.
Texas is one of a dozen states that hasn’t expanded its Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. It’s a financially attractive federal match — the state would get roughly 90 cents for every dime invested — that has been the bane of Republicans in Texas from the moment of its inclusion in what some of them still refer to as Obamacare.
It’s also the state with the highest number of uninsured residents: 4.9 million, according to the latest American Community Survey data for 2020 from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was 17.3% of the population — also the highest in the country.
Texas found a way to bring in more Medicaid money without signing up for expansion. As The Texas Tribune’s Karen Brooks Harper described it, “Texas had come up with its own mechanism known as the Local Provider Participation Funds, in which private hospitals set up taxing districts and sent that money through local and state governments to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
- Texas health providers are suspending gender-affirming care for teens in response to GOP efforts.
Leading medical organizations across the country say gender-affirming care is the best way to provide care for transgender children. It primarily involves choices around name, pronouns and clothing that align with a child’s gender identity. It can eventually include puberty blockers and hormone treatment. Surgical care is rarely, if ever, performed on teenagers.
But in response to the Texas GOP’s recent efforts to limit scientifically backed gender-affirming care, LGBTQ advocates say hospitals, insurance companies and pharmacies across the state had already started restricting critical treatment for fear of legal consequences.
Health care providers worry they could lose their medical licenses if they don’t abide by Abbott’s directive.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told the Tribune that Abbott’s directive has had a chilling effect on health care practitioners, hospital systems and clinics.
“What’s happening right now is the state inserting itself between doctors, patients and families,” Murthy said. “That runs counter to the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship.”
From Texas Tribune: Texas schools won’t lose funding for attendance drops during the pandemic
- Click here for the article.
Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency announced Tuesday that public school districts may not lose funding because of low attendance rates caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The average daily attendance is calculated by the sum of children present divided by days of instruction that schools are required to give. Texas schools have to be open for a minimum of 75,600 minutes over a school year, which includes recess and lunch.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/torres-v-texas-department-of-public-safety/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Plant_4
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/28/top-takeaways-from-bidens-fiscal-2023-budget-request/
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/29/inflation-may-shrink-bidens-big-defense-plan/
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/28/supreme-court-to-hear-battle-over-war-powers-and-veterans-lawsuits/
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/28/committee-sets-vote-for-supreme-court-pick-ketanji-brown-jackson/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin
https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/03/justices-add-three-new-cases-including-challenge-to-animal-welfare-law-and-warhol-copyright-dispute/
https://militarybases.com/texas/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_installations_in_Texas
https://www.alvin-tx.gov/page/boards.planning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carswell_Air_Force_Base
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/why-cities-flood/538251/
https://www.hcfcd.org/About/Flooding-and-Floodplains/Drainage-Network
From the Texas Tribune: Amid Russian aggression, Fort Worth leaders say the F-35 fighter jet’s value is now on display in Europe
Lot's going on here.
- iron triangles
- issue networks
- the revolving door.
- Click here for the article.
In the storied history of the factory known as Air Force Plant 4 on Fort Worth’s western edge, there has never been a fighter jet to roll off the assembly line quite like the F-35: It’s an aeronautical marvel, a fiscal disaster and a North Texas economic linchpin.
But as Western countries scramble to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine, the pride of Fort Worth — Lockheed Martin’s F-35 — is now at the center of American diplomacy and in demand all over Europe. For those who have fought for the program, it’s a validation of that work.
“What’s happening at the plant matters right now,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, who grew up underneath the screeching planes of Fort Worth during the twilight of the Cold War. “It seems like that we’re back in that same sort of mindset, that same sort of posture now, because it’s just as serious now, if not more serious than, quite honestly, back then.”
There is almost no conceivable scenario in which the United States would give the Ukrainian military an F-35, according to interviews with several defense policymakers and observers. It’s not even remotely a topic of open discussion because such an action would likely escalate the Ukrainian conflict and pilots would have to be trained on the complex aircraft.
Even so, the F-35 is having an indirect impact in Europe, as countries reconsider their defense readiness in the wake of Russia’s aggression.
Beginning earlier this year, western officials publicized eastward F-35 deployments into and around Europe, announced via tweets, press releases and confirmed news reports. There is likely more classified F-35 activity, and aviation experts regularly track online other F-35 sightings in Eastern Europe.
- From Wikipedia: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
- From Wikipedia: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II development.
Monday, March 28, 2022
From the Texas Tribune: In defiance of Attorney General Ken Paxton, Austin ISD’s Pride Week marches on
More state / local conflict.
And maybe a bit of separated powers.
- Click here for the article.
Austin ISD has been hosting Pride Week since 2014, largely without much attention. But earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ignited a political firestorm by sending the district a letter equating Pride Week festivities with “human sexuality instruction.”
In Texas, parents are required to opt their children in to sex education after being properly notified about the content of the material that’s going to be taught. But the district rejects Paxton’s suggestion that Pride Week needs to go through the same channels.
“This is not about sex education,” district spokesperson Cristina Nguyen said. “This is really a week about inclusion … acceptance and celebrating everyone for who they are and being their authentic self.”
Every school did different kinds of events for Pride Week, Nguyen said. Some elementary schools had students bring in family photos to highlight different family structures. Some older students watched a recent episode of the Netflix show Queer Eye that featured the school district.
UH - terms 3/28
intermediate scrutiny
rational basis test
political socialization
agents of socialization
party machines
voter turnout – demographics
expansion of suffrage
minimum drinking age
gender gap
media conglomerates
media industry
quid pro quo harassment
citizenship
native Americans
gerrymandering
- racial
- partisan
agenda setting
political values
framing
priming
FCC
information literacy
United Farm Workers
self-selection bias
confirmation bias
political ideology
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Civil Rights Act of 1964
14th Amendment
Telecommunications Act of 1996
voter mobilization
democracy
whistle blowers
social media
digital political participation
ADA
Title IX
Sunday, March 27, 2022
From Wikipedia: Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.
For our look at the court.
- Click here for the entry.
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926), more commonly Euclid v. Ambler, was a United States Supreme Court landmark case[1] argued in 1926. It was the first significant case regarding the relatively new practice of zoning, and served to substantially bolster zoning ordinances in towns nationwide in the United States and in other countries of the world, including Canada.
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Ambler Realty owned 68 acres (0.28 km2) of land in the village of Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The village, in an attempt to prevent industrial Cleveland from growing into and subsuming Euclid and prevent the growth of industry which might change the character of the village, developed a zoning ordinance based upon six classes of use, three classes of height and four classes of area. The property in question was divided into three use classes, as well as various height and area classes, thereby hindering Ambler Realty from developing the land for industry. Ambler Realty sued the village, arguing that the zoning ordinance had substantially reduced the value of the land by limiting its use, amounting to a deprivation of Ambler's liberty and property without due process.
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Lower court
In the lower court, the village moved to dismiss the complaint entirely, arguing that Ambler Realty had no right to sue in the first place without taking the issue before the Euclid Zoning Board, as required by the zoning ordinance. Euclid was basing this argument on a legal doctrine which has come to be known as the exhaustion of administrative remedies. The court denied this motion. Finding that the zoning ordinance did in fact constitute a taking by Euclid of Ambler's property, the court stated that the ordinance was unconstitutional. The ordinance defined the use and size of buildings permissible in each district. Ambler Realty's land spanned multiple districts, and the company was therefore significantly restricted in the types of buildings it could construct on the land. Thus there was no reason for the company to abide by the ordinance's requirement. Euclid's motion was denied and the lower court decided in favor of Ambler Realty. Prominent lawyer Newton D. Baker argued the case for Ambler Realty and James Metzenbaum represented Euclid.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court agreed with the lower court's denial of the dismissal motion, but overturned the outcome of the case and sided with the Village of Euclid. The Court held that the zoning ordinance was not an unreasonable extension of the village's police power and did not have the character of arbitrary fiat, and thus it was not unconstitutional.
Further, the Court found that Ambler Realty had offered no evidence that the ordinance had any effect on the value of the property in question, but based their assertions of depreciation on speculation only. The court ruled that speculation was not a valid basis for a claim of takings.
Ambler Realty had argued their case on the basis of the 14th Amendment's due process clause. The Court noted that the challenger in a due process case would have to show that the law in question is discriminatory and has no rational basis. The Court found that Euclid's zoning ordinance in fact did have a rational basis.
Planner and lawyer Alfred Bettman, supported by the Ohio Planning Conference (now APA-Ohio, a chapter of the American Planning Association), submitted a friend of the court brief on behalf of Euclid, arguing that zoning is a form of nuisance control and therefore a reasonable police power measure.
In short the court ruled that zoning ordinances, regulations and laws must find their justification in some aspect of police power and asserted for the public welfare. Benefit for the public welfare must be determined in connection with the circumstances, the conditions and the locality of the case.
The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers
- Click here for the article.
Students of the U.S. Constitution will remember the peculiar phrase used in Article 1, section 8, that gives Congress the power to “grant letters of marque and reprisal.” A clue to the phrase’s meaning and a sign of its importance may be surmised from the power granted immediately prior to it in the Constitution: Congress’s power “to declare war.”
Letters of marque and reprisal, granted as early as the twelfth century, were designed to bring the anarchy of retaliation under the rule of law. A merchant whose property had been stolen could apply to his sovereign for a permit to take limited actions for the purpose of restitution, not revenge, against specified agents. A private cause of action was initially required, but in wartime sovereigns began to issue letters of marque and reprisal that were good against any enemy ship. Thus, private means were used to wage public wars.
Public navies were expensive, especially because they had to be maintained in peacetime as well as in wartime, and, until the late nineteenth century, tax systems tended to be ineffectual and inefficient. Governments, therefore, sometimes relied heavily on private initiative and enterprise to fight their wars. With a few extra cannon and men, a merchant vessel could be converted into a commissioned vessel capable of capturing small prizes should any cross its trading route. The more adventurous might build ships solely for the purpose of capturing prizes. The merchant vessels went on “voyages”; the commissioned vessels “cruised” and became known as privateers. The great era of Elizabethan exploration and expansion, for example, was financed and run by privateers. Sir Francis Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher, and Sir Walter Raleigh all operated as privateers with the Crown as partner.
Related:
- The Law of Nations.
- Letter of Marque.
- Privateer.
- Sea lines of communication.
- Piracy.
- Corsairs.
Friday, March 25, 2022
https://www.alvinisd.net/domain/260#:~:text=Superintendent%20Carol%20Nelson%20has%20passionately,ISD%20for%20over%2027%20years.
https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2021&id=F319905
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/24/voting-rights-lawsuit-waller-county/
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/11/texas-mail-in-voting-lawsuit/
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/14/texas-primary-voting-turnout/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granbury,_Texas
https://www.tabc.texas.gov/about-us/agency-meetings/
https://www.tabc.texas.gov/about-us/leadership/commissioner-hasan-k-mack/
From Roll Call: Fortenberry convicted on 3 felony counts in campaign finance case
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/24/fortenberry-convicted-on-3-felony-counts-in-campaign-finance-case/
https://rollcall.com/2021/11/03/fortenberry-asks-court-to-dismiss-indictment/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Chagoury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska%27s_1st_congressional_district
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska
From Roll Call: Vela leaving House in coming weeks to join lobbying firm, reports say
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/24/vela-leaving-house-in-coming-weeks-to-join-lobbying-firm-reports-say/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_34th_congressional_district
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akin_Gump_Strauss_Hauer_%26_Feld
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S._Strauss
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Cowboys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Silver_Spurs
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Links - 3/24/22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killeen,_Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood
https://www.houstoniamag.com/news-and-city-life/2020/06/1982-oil-bust-houston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider
https://redistricting.capitol.texas.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth,_Texas
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/28/mattie-parker-fort-worth-mayor/
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
From Open Secrets: How do Dark Money Groups work?
- Click here for the page.
Many laws govern what a 501(c) organization, or Dark Money group, can do with its money and what it is required to report. While some expenditures, such as explicit political spending, must be publicly disclosed, many other expenditures remain off the radar screen.
Most of what we know about spending by Dark Money groups spending is gathered from their annual IRS 990 forms, including their major vendors and the organizations to which they give grants. As the example below illustrates, groups often submit only vague descriptions of their outlays to vendors, such as "media services" or "consulting phone programs." They are not obligated to say what the money purchased with any specificity.
These organizations can spend money on direct political advocacy, but that cannot be their primary purpose, which is usually determined by how much the group spent on politics as a proportion of their overall expenditures. Disclosure requirements mandate that 501(c) groups report direct political expenditures to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). But expenses earmarked as "educational" or "membership building" are considered part of the organization’s primary purpose and (most of the time) need not be detailed.
To help bring some clarity to this murky landscape, OpenSecrets is providing a few breakdowns here of the more than 1,500 annual Form 990 filings from more than 400 organizations we track. Keep in mind there is no way to systematically track all political spending by 501(c) organizations. Groups often use loopholes in the FEC regulations to buy web ads, mailers, and, in particular, to make large expenditures for ad production and TV air time without reporting it as such; that’s because, as long as their ads don’t contain an explicit call to vote for or against a candidate and they air more than 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election, there’s no FEC requirement for that spending to be reported. OpenSecrets regularly reveals this additional activity, but there is no component in the overall data that can be used to track it consistently and uniformly across the board. For this reason, the percentages reported here for many of the groups are conservative, because a significant portion of the largest groups' activities takes place outside the FEC’s reporting windows.
The chart below allows you to explore this spending; the data can be sorted by rank, organization, end date, total expenditures, political spending reported by a group to the IRS, political spending reported by a group to the FEC and the percentage of FEC-reported political spending with donors disclosed.
From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Texas government’s favorite local tax
For our look at public finance
- Click here for it.
If you think about it, property taxes in Texas are a pretty sweet deal for the state government.
But the state of Texas itself doesn’t levy a property tax. Only school districts, counties, hospital districts and local government entities can do that — and they often use those locally raised property tax dollars to cover holes left in their budgets by the state.
It has proven almost impossible to get meaningful property tax relief from the same state politicians who campaign on that issue every two years. Not only are they insulated from collecting property taxes, but the only way to lower property taxes is to either cut services and programs that Texans want, like public schools and public health, or to raise other taxes themselves.
Making sympathetic noises about Texans’ high property taxes while not actually doing anything meaningful to lower them is much easier — and, so far, has provided legislative and statewide incumbents with a powerful and perennial political issue that doesn’t require them to do anything they’d consider painful.
In the case of school district taxes in particular, that means Texans pay higher property taxes because the state relies on school districts to lower its own bill for public education. It’s baked into the state budget, as pointed out, most recently, by the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts.
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
From Wikipedia: Choke Points
not helpful if you are a country trying to invade another
- Click here for the entry.
In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or bridge, or maritime passage through a critical waterway such as a strait, which an armed force is forced to pass through in order to reach its objective, sometimes on a substantially narrowed front and therefore greatly decreasing its combat effectiveness by making it harder to bring superior numbers to bear. A choke point can allow a numerically inferior defending force to use the terrain as a force multiplier to thwart or ambush a much larger opponent, as the attacker cannot advance any further without first securing passage through the choke point.
From the Harvard Business Review: Choke Points.
From Wikipedia: European Plain
An apparent flaw in Russia's topography.
- Click here for the entry.
The European Plain or Great European Plain is a plain in Europe and is a major feature of one of four major topographical units of Europe - the Central and Interior Lowlands.[1] It is the largest mountain-free landform in Europe, although a number of highlands are identified within it.
From Wikipedia: Dark Money
- Click here for the entry.
In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to political spending by nonprofit organizations—for example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that are not required to disclose their donors.[3][4] Such organizations can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions. In this way, their donors can spend funds to influence elections, without voters knowing where the money came from. Dark money first entered politics with Buckley v. Valeo (1976) when the United States Supreme Court laid out Eight Magic Words that define the difference between electioneering and issue advocacy.
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Under the Buckley ruling, speakers that did not invoke any of the eight specific words and phrases of Buckley, or similar language expressly calling voters to vote for or against a candidate, were exempt from campaign finance laws.[1]The eight words and phrases appearing in Buckley were
"vote for,"
"elect,"
"support",
"cast your ballot for",
"Smith for Congress",
"vote against",
"defeat",
"reject",
or any variations thereof.[2][3]
That footnote was intended to provide examples of the types of things that would lead a reasonable person to conclude the speaker was advocating a particular candidate or ballot measure.[4]
The Court felt that limiting campaign finance laws to speech with such express advocacy was necessary to avoid a "chilling effect" on speech about political officeholders and issues that was protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
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Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using facts, their relationships, the media, and messaging to educate government officials and the public. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research. Lobbying (often by lobby groups) is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on a specific issue or specific piece of legislation.[1] Research[whose?] has started to address how advocacy groups in the United States[2] and Canada[3] are using social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.
-----------
The rise of dark money groups was aided by the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2008) and Citizens United v. FEC (2010).[4] In Citizens United, the Court ruled (by a 5–4 vote) that corporations and unions could spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against political candidates.[12]
In some elections, dark money groups have surpassed traditional political action committees (PAC) and "super PACs" (independent-expenditure-only committees) in the volume of spending.[4] In 2012, Freedom Partners had the ninth-highest revenues among all U.S. trade associations which filed tax returns that year, more than "established heavyweights" such as the American Petroleum Institute, PhRMA, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.[4] Freedom Partners largely acted as a conduit for campaign spending; of the $238 million it spent in 2012, 99 percent went to other groups, and Freedom Partners itself did not have any employees.[4] This was a major distinction between other high-revenue trade associations, which typically have many employees and devote only about 6 percent of spending to grants to outside groups.[4] In 2014, Freedom Partners was identified as the "poster child" for the rise of dark money.[4] The largest and most complex network of dark money groups are funded by conservative billionaire business magnates Charles and David Koch;[13] the Koch brothers' network accounted for about a quarter of dark money spending in 2012.
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - TITLE 1. CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - CHAPTER 35. FORMATION OF THE JURY
More on my excellent adventure.
- Click here for it.
Interest Group in the news: Beer Alliance of Texas
Specifically, these guys represent the interests of beer distributers. They prefer you not be able to drive to a brewery an buy your beer from them.
- Click here for their website.
The economic impact of beer distributors in Texas is significant. Texas beer distributors are heavily invested in our state. Distributors deliver direct economic benefits to the communities they serve through local investments, quality local jobs, local tax revenue, local business-to-business commerce and support of community events and charitable activities.
- Click here for a look at the three tier-system.
-----------
For info on money:
- The Beer Alliance of Texas Political Action Committee.
- The Beer Alliance of Texas Political Action Committee spends $165,217 during Q4.
- Beer Alliance Of Texas PAC Endorses Governor Greg Abbott For Re-election.
Looking ahead to our look at public policy in Texas
The two largest areas are education and health and human services.
For a look at each, you might want to open up the Texas Fiscal Size-Up.
Health and Human Services starts at page 161, Education starts at page 230.
Recent stories:
Education:
- Texas Public Schools Explorer.
- Gov. Greg Abbott wants task force to examine state teacher shortage.
- NAACP Legal Defense Fund files federal civil rights complaint against Carroll Independent School District.
- Texas schools are majority Hispanic. There’s been a shortage of bilingual teachers since 1990, and the pandemic made it worse.
- public education.
Health and Human Services:
- Analysis: A health care problem too big for the Texas Legislature.
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map.
- Medicaid expansion for uninsured Texans had bipartisan support, but lawmakers won't pass it this session.
- Coronavirus in Texas: Track hospitalizations, vaccinations, cases and deaths.
links - 3/22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsuccessful_nominations_to_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bork
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/02/25/5-maps-that-explain-chinas-strategy/?sh=5d11530e65b7
https://rollcall.com/2022/03/22/states-often-first-in-crypto-enforcement-leaving-feds-to-follow/
https://rollcall.com/
https://www.texasmarijuanapolicy.org/txmj21/
Monday, March 21, 2022
From Open Secrets: Federal and state lobbying spending soared to $10 billion during the 2020 election cycle, but state lobbying disclosure remains limited
- Click here for the article.
Big dollar lobbying efforts are not limited to the federal level. Federal lobbying spending broke $3.7 billion in 2021 — an all-time high — and billions more were spent on lobbying efforts at the state-level.
Of that lobbying spending, $5.1 billion came in 2020. In 2020, federal lobbying spending reached $3.5 billion and OpenSecrets tracked about $1.6 billion in lobbying spending across 19 states.
OpenSecrets’ analysis revealed about $3.3 billion in lobbying spending during the two-year 2020 election cycle across 19 states with $1.7 billion in 2019 and $1.6 billion in 2020.
Of the states tracked by OpenSecrets, California saw the most lobbying spending over the two-year election cycle with over $760 million paid to lobbyists in 2019 and 2020. The top spending lobbyist clients in the states tracked were Reynolds American Inc, a U.S. subsidiary of British American Tobacco previously known as RAI, and AT&T, each spending in excess of $15 million over the two years. AT&T spent money in 18 of the 19 states and Reynolds was active in 17 of them.
While these numbers are striking on their own, it only tells part of the story of state lobbying efforts.
Because of variations in data availability, OpenSecrets has only been able to collect spending data from 19 of the 50 states. The $3.3 billion in known spending in 2019 and 2020 is just a portion of the actual, unknown, total.
The issue here comes down to what states require to be reported.
From Open Secrets: What is Dark Money?
As we try to make sense of money in campaigns
- Click here for it.
“Dark money” refers to spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed. Here’s how dark money makes its way into elections:
Opaque nonprofits and shell companies may give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs. While super PACs are legally required to disclose their donors, some of these groups are effectively dark money outlets when the bulk of their funding cannot be traced back to the original donor.
Dark money groups have spent roughly $1 billion — mainly on television and online ads and mailers — to influence elections in the decade since the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling that gave rise to politically active nonprofits.
Citizens who are barraged with political messages paid for with money from undisclosed sources may not be able to consider the credibility and possible motives of the wealthy corporate or individual funders behind those messages.
Interest group spotlight: Texas Association of Community Colleges
- Website.
"Community Colleges--initially known as junior colleges--are institutions of higher education whose history can be traced to American roots in contrast to the European traditions associated with four-year colleges and universities in this country. The first junior college can be attributed to the ideas of William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, and J. Stanley Brown, principal of the public high school in Joliet, Illinois. Harper believed the first two years of college could be provided by secondary schools and that the universities should concentrate on the junior and senior years. Inspired by Harper, Brown created Joliet Junior College in 1902 by adding a fifth and sixth year of courses to the high school curriculum. Joliet Junior College is the oldest continuously operating public two-year college. From the very beginning, the primary mission of junior colleges was to provide access to higher education for students who otherwise would have been denied the opportunity (A Policy Analysis of Community College Funding in Texas, Don. C. Hudson, 2008)."
Today, it has evolved into a comprehensive association focused on facilitating communication between participating colleges and institutions, lobbying for favorable legislation, and providing important information about the current status of community and junior colleges within Texas.
TACC builds and maintains relationships with legislators to promote its primary mission of advocacy.
- Priorities for the 86th Texas Legislature.
TEKS - 4th Grade
Government. The student understands how people organized governments in different ways
during the early development of Texas.
The student is expected to:
(A) compare how various American Indian groups such as the Caddo and the Comanche
governed themselves; and
(B) identify and compare characteristics of the Spanish colonial government and the early
Mexican governments and their influence on inhabitants of Texas.
Government. The student understands important ideas in historical documents of Texas and the
United States.
The student is expected to:
(A) identify the purposes and explain the importance of the Texas Declaration of
Independence, the Texas Constitution, and other documents such as the Meusebach Comanche Treaty;
(B) identify and explain the basic functions of the three branches of government according to
the Texas Constitution; and
(C) identify the intent, meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S.
Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (Celebrate Freedom Week).
(16) Citizenship. The student understands important customs, symbols, and celebrations of Texas.
The
student is expected to:
(A) explain the meaning of various patriotic symbols and landmarks of Texas, including the
six flags that flew over Texas, the San Jacinto Monument, the Alamo, and various
missions;
(B) sing or recite "Texas, Our Texas";
(C) recite and explain the meaning of the Pledge to the Texas Flag; and
(D) describe the origins and significance of state celebrations such as Texas Independence
Day and Juneteenth.
(17) Citizenship. The student understands the importance of active individual participation in the
democratic process.
The student is expected to:
(A) identify important individuals who have participated voluntarily in civic affairs at state
and local levels such as Adina de Zavala and Clara Driscoll;
(B) explain how individuals can participate voluntarily in civic affairs at state and local levels
through activities such as holding public officials to their word, writing letters, and
participating in historic preservation and service projects;
(C) explain the duty of the individual in state and local elections such as being informed and
voting;
(D) identify the importance of historical figures and important individuals who modeled
active participation in the democratic process such as Sam Houston, Barbara Jordan,
Lorenzo de Zavala, Ann Richards, Sam Rayburn, Henry B. González, James A. Baker III,
Wallace Jefferson, and other local individuals; and
(E) explain how to contact elected and appointed leaders in state and local governments.
(18) Citizenship. The student understands the importance of effective leadership in a constitutional
republic. The student is expected to:
(A) identify leaders in state, local, and national governments, including the governor, local
members of the Texas Legislature, the local mayor, U.S. senators, local U.S.
representatives, and Texans who have been president of the United States; and
revised August 2019
22
(B) identify leadership qualities of state and local leaders, past and present.
From the Texas Tribune: Texas’ traditionally sleepy school board races are suddenly attracting attention — and money
Local school board elections are coming up soon:
- AISD.
- PISD.
- HISD.
- From the SOS: Important 2022 Election Dates.
For the story, click here.
Venture out about 20 miles northwest of Austin and you’ll eventually find Lake Travis — the favored boating and recreation destination. The pickup trucks and SUVs pulling boats are an easy tipoff this time of year. What you won’t be immediately aware of is that the Lake Travis Independent School District, which serves about 11,357 students, is getting ready for a tense school board election.
Before 2020, the biggest issue grabbing parents’ attention was the occasional personnel matter. And most recently, the community might be asked to consider approving bonds to pay for another high school as the district continues to grow, attracting some of the influx of new residents flocking to Austin.
But now, two years later, there’s a laser focus on school board races as angry debates over masks, race and sex have unfolded between parents and school boards on weekday nights all over the state.
And in Lake Travis, Erin Archer, candidate for place 3 on the Lake Travis school board, has seen her community become more engaged with the school district and how it operates — more than she’s seen in the last 15 years.
“Pre-pandemic and [before] the new focus on cultural issues, I would say our school board was pretty quiet,” Archer said.
Just last September, Lake Travis ISD made headlines when a parent furiously confronted their school board about the book “Out of Darkness,” a novel set in East Texas in the days before the 1937 natural gas explosion at New London School, one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. The parent claimed the book promoted anal sex to middle schoolers, something the author, says is completely false.
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Terms to review
fiscal federalism
constitutional democracy
oligarchy
state-local relations
federalism
confederated governments
supremacy clause
reserved powers
citizenship
suffrage
commerce clause
dual federalism
cooperative federalism
design of federal courts
separation of powers
checks and balances
direct action politics
The Land Ordinance of 1785
Printz v. U.S.
right to privacy
delegated powers
implied powers
the New Deal
the slave trade
central governments
state governments
national judiciary
strong president
NFIB v Sebelius
the comity clause
Bill of Rights
laboratories of democracy
regulatory federalism
dual sovereignty
secession
national origins quota system
restraint
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Medicare
Medicaid
Loving v. Virginia
Obergefell v. Hodges
direct democracy
republic
term lengths
unitary government
the Grange movement
the Populist movement
McCulloch v Maryland
powers of the branches
elections
appointments
unfunded mandates
the Great Society
home rule
Lochner
formula funding
redistribution
revenue sharing
Sweatt v Painter
pluralism
elastic clauses
political knowledge
devolution
separate but equal
civil liberties
judicial review
Civil War
WW2
Gibbons v Ogden
national power
From Texas Statute Code: CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
For a quick scroll through the criminal justice process.
- Click here for it.
From Wikipedia: Jury Trial
Jury trials are used in a significant share of serious criminal cases in many but not all common law judicial systems. The majority of common law jurisdictions in Asia (such as Singapore, Pakistan, India, and Malaysia) have abolished jury trials on the grounds that juries are susceptible to bias. Juries or lay judges have also been incorporated into the legal systems of many civil law countries for criminal cases. Only the United States makes routine use of jury trials in a wide variety of non-criminal cases. Other common law legal jurisdictions use jury trials only in a very select class of cases that make up a tiny share of the overall civil docket (like malicious prosecution and false imprisonment suits in England and Wales), but true civil jury trials are almost entirely absent elsewhere in the world. Some civil law jurisdictions, however, have arbitration panels where non-legally trained members decide cases in select subject-matter areas relevant to the arbitration panel members' areas of expertise.
The use of jury trials, which evolved within common law systems rather than civil law systems, has had a profound impact on the nature of American civil procedure and criminal procedure rules, even if a bench trial is actually contemplated in a particular case. In general, the availability of a jury trial if properly demanded has given rise to a system in which fact finding is concentrated in a single trial rather than multiple hearings, and appellate review of trial court decisions is greatly limited. Jury trials are of far less importance (or of no importance) in countries that do not have a common law system.
From Wikipedia: Superpower
Russia seems to miss being one.
- Click here for the entry.
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural strength as well as diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers.
..........
No agreed definition of what is a superpower exists and may differ between sources.[3] However, a fundamental characteristic that is consistent with all definitions of a superpower is a nation or state that has mastered the seven dimensions of state power, namely geography, population, economy, resources, military, diplomacy and national identity.[5]
The term was first used to describe nations with greater than great power status as early as 1944, but only gained its specific meaning with regard to the United States and to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union after World War II. This was because the United States and the Soviet Union had proved themselves to be capable of casting great influence in global politics and military dominance. The term in its current political meaning was coined by Dutch-American geostrategist Nicholas Spykman in a series of lectures in 1943 about the potential shape of a new post-war world order. This formed the foundation for the book The Geography of the Peace, which referred primarily to the unmatched maritime global supremacy of the British Empire and the United States as essential for peace and prosperity in the world.
A year later in 1944, William T. R. Fox, an American foreign policy professor, elaborated on the concept in the book The Superpowers: The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union — Their Responsibility for Peace which spoke of the global reach of a super-empowered nation.[6] Fox used the word superpower to identify a new category of power able to occupy the highest status in a world in which—as the war then raging demonstrated—states could challenge and fight each other on a global scale. According to him, at that moment there were three states that were superpowers, namely the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. The British Empire was the most extensive empire in world history and considered the foremost great power, holding sway over 25% of the world's population[7] and controlling about 25% of the Earth's total land area, while the United States and the Soviet Union grew in power before and during World War II. The UK would face serious political, financial and colonial issues after World War II that left it unable to match Soviet or American power. Ultimately, Britain's empire would gradually dissolve over the course of the 20th century, sharply reducing its global power projection.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
What is NATO?
From Wikipedia
- Click here for the entry.
NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. It was established during the Cold War in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance has remained in place since the end of the Cold War, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
----------
On 4 March 1947, the Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by France and the United Kingdom as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of a possible attack by Germany or the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II. In 1948, this alliance was expanded to include the Benelux countries, in the form of the Western Union, also referred to as the Brussels Treaty Organization (BTO), established by the Treaty of Brussels.[9] Talks for a new military alliance, which could also include North America, resulted in the signature of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 by the member states of the Western Union plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
----------
Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only time after the September 11 attacks,[30] after which troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF. The organization has operated a range of additional roles since then, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations[31] and in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1973. Article 4, which merely invokes consultation among NATO members, has been invoked five times following incidents in the Iraq War, Syrian Civil War, and Russia's annexation of Crimea.[32] This annexation led to strong condemnation by NATO nations and the creation of a new "spearhead" force of 5,000 troops at bases in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.[33]
At the subsequent 2014 Wales summit, the leaders of NATO's member states formally committed for the first time to spend the equivalent of at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic products on defence by 2024, which had previously been only an informal guideline.[34] In 2014, only 3 out of 30 NATO members reached this target (including the US); by 2020 this had increased to 11. Taken together, in 2020, the 29 non-US member states had six consecutive years of defence spending growth, bringing their average spending to 1.73 per cent of GDP.[35] Lack of firm financial commitments, and the dependency on the US military are ongoing problems for the alliance
Friday, March 18, 2022
Terminology for March 21
GOVT 2305 - ACC
Bicameralismchecks and balances
reapportionment
redistricting
party discipline
party line voting
the whip system
indictment
impeachment
arraignment
oversight
constituency service
the committee system
filibuster
cloture
franking
the pork barrel
presiding officers
hold
divided government
trustee
delegate
politico
fragmentation
the people’s branch
the state’s branch
the role of the Senate
conference committee
co-sponsors
majority leaders
minority leaders
----------
GOVT 2306 – ACC
education of legislators
power of presiding officers
special caucuses
the Texas Budget
the LBB
size of chambers
majority power
minority power
chubbing
quorum
hold
filibustering
killer amendments
committee system
redistricting
partisan gerrymandering
racial gerrymandering
professional / amateur legislatures
delegate / trustee / politico
term lengths
super majority
plurality
party line voting
party cohesion
powers of the lieutenant governor
constitutional rules for redistricting
low pay – part time
regular sessions
special sessions
preclearance
gender gap
Voting Rights Act
----------
UH GOVT 2306 – US Chapter 8
voter mobilization
voter turnout
voter behavior
level of income
level of education
age
race and ethnicity
gender gap
voter participation
civil war amendments
suffrage
mail in voting
state and local initiatives
referenda / recall
self interest
digital divide
traditional participation
voting
donating / funding
attending meetings
protests
letters to the editor / meme sharing
block walking
phone banks
misinformation
dissention
safe states
battle ground states
party identification
suffrage amendments
accidental mobilization
digital participation
low turnout in the US
voter registration
state level registration
permanent absentee ballots
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
The road ahead
March 14 – April 11: Module Three: Governing InstitutionsMar 14 – 21: Chapter Ten: Congress
Mar 21 – 28: Chapter Eleven: The Presidency
Mar 28 – Ap 4: Chapter Twelve: Bureaucracy
Ap 4 – Ap 11: Chapter Thirteen: The Judicial Branch
- Test Three: April 4 - 11
April 11 – May 9: Module Four: Public Policy
Ap 11 – Ap 18: Chapter Six: Public Opinion and Political Participation
Ap 18 – Ap 25: Chapter Five: The Struggle for Civil Rights
Ap 25 – May 2: Chapter Fourteen: Domestic and Foreign Policy
May 2 – May 9: Review
- Test Four: May 2 – May 9
Ap 15 & 18 – spring holiday
May 6 – classes end
May 9 – May 14 – Finals
All work is due by May 13th at midnight
May 18 – Grades due
ACC GOVT 2306
March 14 – April 11: Module Three: Governing Institutions
Mar 14 – 21: Chapter Three: Texas Legislature
Mar 21 – 28: Chapter Four: Texas Governors
Mar 28 – Ap 4: Chapter Five: The Plural Executive and Bureaucracy in Texas
Ap 4 – Ap 11: Chapter Six: Texas Judicial System
- Test Three: April 4 - 11
April 11 – May 9: Module Four: Public Policy
Ap 11 – Ap 18: Chapter Seven: Texas Sized Justice
Ap 18 – Ap 25: Chapter Thirteen: Social Policy: Education and Health
Ap 25 – May 2: Chapter Fourteen: Energy, Environment, Transportation, etc…
May 2 – May 9: Review
- Test Four: May 2 – May 9
Ap 15 & 18 – spring holiday
May 6 – classes end
May 9 – May 14 – Finals
All work is due by May 13th at midnight
May 18 – Grades due
UH GOVT 2306
Week of March 14: Fed Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
Week of March 21: The Media - Fed Chapter 7: The Media
Week of March 28: - Fed Chapter 6: Public Opinion
Week of April 4: - Fed Chapter 5: Civil Rights
Test Three
Week of April 11: - TX Chapter 12: Public Policy
Week of April 18: - TX Chapter 11: Public Finance
Week of April 25: - TX Chapter 13: Crime, Corrections, and Public Safety
Week of May 2: - TX Chapter 14: Building the Future: Public Policies for a Changing Texas -
Test Four
May 2 – Last Day of Classes
May 4 - 12 – Final Exam Period
May 12 – Official Closing
From Wikipedia: Foundations of Geopolitics
wow
This explains a good deal of the politics of the past 25 years. The full name of the book is: The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia.
- Click here for the entry.
bits and pieces:
The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia is a geopolitical book by Aleksandr Dugin. Its publication in 1997 was well received in Russia; it has had significant influence within the Russian military, police and foreign policy elites[1] and has been used as a textbook in the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian military.[1][2] Powerful Russian political figures subsequently took an interest in Dugin,[3] a Russian political analyst who espouses an ultranationalist and neo-fascist ideology based on his idea of Neo-Eurasianism,[4] who has developed a close relationship with Russia's Academy of the General Staff.
In Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin calls for the United States and Atlanticism to lose their influence in Eurasia, and for Russia to rebuild its influence through annexations and alliances.[2]
The book declares that "the battle for the world rule of Russians" has not ended and Russia remains "the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution". The Eurasian Empire will be constructed "on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us."[8]
Military operations play relatively little role. The textbook advocates a sophisticated program of subversion, destabilization, and disinformation spearheaded by the Russian special services. The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of Russia's gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries.[8]
The book states that "the maximum task [of the future] is the 'Finlandization' of all of Europe".[8]
In Europe:
Germany should be offered the de facto political dominance over most Protestant and Catholic states located within Central and Eastern Europe. Kaliningrad Oblast could be given back to Germany. The book uses the term "Moscow–Berlin axis".[8]
France should be encouraged to form a bloc with Germany, as they both have a "firm anti-Atlanticist tradition".[8]
The United Kingdom, merely described as an "extraterritorial floating base of the U.S.", should be cut off from Europe.[8]
Finland should be absorbed into Russia. Southern Finland will be combined with the Republic of Karelia and northern Finland will be "donated to Murmansk Oblast".[8]
Estonia should be given to Germany's sphere of influence.[8]
Latvia and Lithuania should be given a "special status" in the Eurasian–Russian sphere.[8]
Poland should be granted a "special status" in the Eurasian sphere.[8]
Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, "Serbian Bosnia" and Greece – "Orthodox collectivist East" – will unite with "Moscow the Third Rome" and reject the "rational-individualistic West".[8]
Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because "Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics". Ukraine should not be allowed to remain independent, unless it is cordon sanitaire, which would be inadmissible.[8]
In the Middle East and Central Asia:
The book stresses the "continental Russian–Islamic alliance" which lies "at the foundation of anti-Atlanticist strategy". The alliance is based on the "traditional character of Russian and Islamic civilization".
Iran is a key ally. The book uses the term "Moscow–Tehran axis".[8]
Armenia has a special role: It will serve as a "strategic base," and it is necessary to create "the [subsidiary] axis Moscow-Yerevan-Teheran". Armenians "are an Aryan people ... [like] the Iranians and the Kurds".[8]
Azerbaijan could be "split up" or given to Iran.[8]
Georgia should be dismembered. Abkhazia and "United Ossetia" (which includes Georgia's South Ossetia) will be incorporated into Russia. Georgia's independent policies are unacceptable.[8]
Russia needs to create "geopolitical shocks" within Turkey. These can be achieved by employing Kurds, Armenians and other minorities.[8]
The book regards the Caucasus as a Russian territory, including "the eastern and northern shores of the Caspian (the territories of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan)" and Central Asia (mentioning Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).[8]
In East and Southeast Asia:
China, which represents a danger to Russia, "must, to the maximum degree possible, be dismantled". Dugin suggests that Russia start by taking Tibet–Xinjiang–Inner Mongolia–Manchuria as a security belt.[1] Russia should offer China help "in a southern direction – Indochina (except Vietnam), the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia" as geopolitical compensation.[8]
Russia should manipulate Japanese politics by offering the Kuril Islands to Japan and provoking anti-Americanism.[8]
Mongolia should be absorbed into Eurasia-Russia.[8]
The book emphasizes that Russia must spread anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."
In the United States:
Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics".[8]
The Eurasian Project could be expanded to South and Central America.[8]