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“Life is more fun if you play games.” ― Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald



GAMES




Winter Olympics
      The whole point of the Olympics is to lift us all above politics, but politics are hard to avoid when the Games are held on the Korean Pensinsula. Vice President Mike Pence takes the father of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died after being jailed in North Korea, to this week's Opening Ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea, a move sure to tick off the North. Meanwhile, North Korea plans a big military parade on the eve of the Games. No wonder some South Koreans are grumbling that the country's big moment in the international spotlight is being overshadowed by the North. [Good Morning from CNN, February 5, 2018]


      Amid flu fears, the Olympic facilities in Pyeongchang, South Korea, now battle a norovirus outbreak, just days before the Games start. At least 41 security guards have been hospitalized with vomiting and diarrhea. To stop the disease's spread, the other guards have been pulled and replaced with 900 military personnel. [Good Morning from CNN, February 6, 2018]






Lawmakers zero in on cyber diplomacy

By Morgan Chalfant
A panel of House lawmakers is set to explore how the United States engages with the international community on cybersecurity, a meeting that will feature testimony from the government's former top cyber diplomat. The hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, is the latest congressional effort to put an emphasis on cyber engagement abroad in the evolving digital age.
"Authoritarian regimes and foreign actors are working overtime to impose more control online, including through censorship," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said when announcing the hearing. "These destructive efforts to weaponize the internet undermine America's foreign policy and security, as well as our economy.
"As Americans become more and more connected with digital technology, the United States must ensure the internet remains open, reliable and secure," Royce added.
The hearing follows scrutiny of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's decision to close the Office of Cybersecurity Coordinator at the State Department. As part of a broader reorganization effort, Tillerson folded the office's responsibilities into a bureau focused on economic and business issues. Lawmakers in both parties have expressed concerns with Tillerson's decision. Earlier this month, House lawmakers passed legislation that would effectively restore the office and give its leader the rank of ambassador.
Chris Painter, the former cybersecurity coordinator, is scheduled to testify before the Foreign Affairs Committee alongside other experts on Tuesday. Painter left his position at the end of July, just before Tillerson formally notified Congress of his plans to close the cybersecurity office.
State Department officials maintain that cyber remains a top priority despite the office's closure. The department's cyber diplomacy efforts are now spearheaded by Rob Strayer at the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
On Thursday, Strayer met with European officials in Brussels as part of the 15th Information Society Dialogue between the EU and U.S. on topics that ranged from cybersecurity to international data flows. Meanwhile, a group of senators is poised to hear testimony in the coming week from a top Uber executive on the ride-share company's 2016 data breach that came to light late last year.
John Flynn, Uber's chief information security officer, is slated to testify before a Senate Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday. The company faced massive scrutiny over reports that executives paid off the hacker behind the breach through a "bug bounty" program, which rewards researchers for finding previously unknown vulnerabilities.
The coming week is likely to offer further developments stemming from the House Intelligence Committee's decision Friday to release a controversial memo that Republicans say shows the Justice Department's abuse of a critical foreign surveillance program.
President Trump authorized the memo's release, despite fierce objection from the FBI. The developments have set Republicans and the Trump White House on a collision course with the bureau and the DOJ.
Off Capitol Hill, House Homeland Security Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) will deliver his state of national security address on Monday at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. His remarks are expected to focus on efforts to combat terrorism, border and aviation security, and cybersecurity.
On Tuesday, the Atlantic Council is hosting an event on Russian cyber operations targeting Ukraine, which will feature remarks from Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and a Ukrainian government official, along with other expert panelists. [Cybersecurity Issuewatch Newsletter, February 2, 2018]



EPA






The mining industry is pulling out all the stops in its bid to destroy Alaska’s Bristol Bay. They want to build the massive Pebble Mine -- which would threaten one of the largest and last remaining wild salmon populations in the world. The developers behind Pebble Mine could soon obtain needed funding with First Quantum Minerals for $1.5 billion to advance their destructive project. We need your help to stop them!
Local communities have long been opposed to Pebble Mine. More than 65 percent of all Alaskans, 80 percent of Bristol Bay residents -- including Native people -- and more than 85 percent of commercial fishermen strongly oppose it. And it’s no secret why: the mine could generate more than 10 billion tons of dangerous waste, wipe out 90 miles of salmon streams and pollute more than 5,000 acres of wetlands, ponds and lakes. The salmon population would likely plummet -- with catastrophic impacts for the local communities.
Thanks to people like you, we stopped this mine once -- in 2014. Now, we need your help to do it again.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency decided not to greenlight Pebble Mine. This decision came after Friends of the Earth members like you sent more than 100,000 comments to the EPA opposing the project. It shows that with massive public pressure, we can stop the Trump Administration from destroying our environment.
But the EPA’s decision still leaves room for the project to go forward. And if the developers can secure funding, it’s even more likely that the mine will advance.
At Friends of the Earth, we’re pushing financiers like First Quantum Minerals to say no to the project. We’re building massive grassroots opposition to the mine. And we’re working to ensure that the EPA continues to prevent the mine from going forward.
Stop the mining industry from wiping out the world’s largest salmon fishery with toxic waste!
Standing with you,
Verner Wilson,
Senior oceans campaigner,
Friends of the Earth


ENVIRONMENT






With Washington the way it is, it's tough to make a positive difference for the environment these days.  That's why we've come up with creative campaigns to get Netflix to power its site with clean, renewable energy sources instead of coal-fired power plants that can pollute the atmosphere and harm our environment; and calling on Target to decrease the amount of food it throws away.
Now we're working to convince Amazon, one of the world's largest online retailers, to lead the pack and drive consumer knowledge by taking this simple step: alert consumers to the greener shipping option by writing "Go Green" before their standard shipping option.  With this small addition, Amazon can show millions of consumers that there's a greener choice. As online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, more and more Americans are choosing quicker shipping options -- especially when it's low-cost or free.  According to one study by consulting firm McKinsey, 25% of consumers prefer to have their items delivered as quickly as possible (same-day or instant delivery).1 When pressed to make this choice between options that are the same price but one is faster, consumers want the faster service.
However, faster shipping isn't good for our planet -- it actually has a larger carbon footprint than if you went to the store yourself. The all-around better option is to choose standard shipping, which takes about 3 - 5 days and has a smaller carbon footprint than a typical shopper.2  We need to do everything we can to eliminate carbon pollution, because these emissions are worsening climate change, which risks important species like polar bears due to melting ice caps, and puffins who are losing their source of food due to increasing ocean temperatures.3
Online retailers can make the environmental impacts of the choice between standard and quick shipping clear to consumers by taking the simple step of alerting them!  Quick-shipping leaves companies without time to organize the most energy-efficient transport, leading to more trucks sent out that are not full, and increasing the amount of emissions.4  One method that we know has impact is alerting consumers to the environmental cost of their choice. That's why we're calling on Amazon to add "GO GREEN" before their standard shipping option to alert consumers to the better choice for our planet.  Of course, one step we can take for our planet is to not produce these emissions in the first place by buying less stuff. Think about alternative options to gifts that aren't material -- like trips into nature.  However, this is one concrete step that we can take to lower emissions and better our planet
Thanks,
The Environmental Action team



EDUCATION






A CHECK-IN WITH FORMER SECRETARY KING: The Trump administration's education policies may be reversed, or at least stymied, if there's a Democratic wave in 2018 and if Democrats eventually retake the White House, said former Education Secretary John B. King Jr. in a wide-ranging interview with POLITICO on Thursday. But the effect that President Donald Trump's "hateful rhetoric" has had on students will be "very hard to undo," he said.
- King said he has seen first-hand that the president's policies have sown fear in schools over deportation. And when it comes to Trump's disparaging remarks over Haiti, El Salvador and African countries, King said, "Imagine being a Haitian student with family still in Haiti." That message coming from the president leaves a lasting impact and has "emboldened some of the most hateful elements in our communities," King said.
- King has been at the helm of The Education Trust, an advocacy organization, for nearly a year. He's closely watching implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and the plans that states are developing under the law for holding schools accountable. And his organization has raised concerns about those new plans. For example, Ed Trust has said that some states - such as Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Washington - aren't paying enough attention to the performance of individual groups of students, like low-income students or English language learners, when it comes to rating schools.
- It's "hard to reconcile" what's in some state plans "with what the statute requires," King said. "We've got to create pressure within states to insist on them fulfilling the promise of the law." It's unclear what will happen if the Education Department allows these issues to slide, he said.
- On the higher education front, King said his successor, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has allowed for-profit colleges to have an outsized presence in policymaking, especially as she negotiates a rewrite of the Obama-era gainful employment rule that measures earnings of career colleges' graduates compared to the debt they carry. He noted that a number of people with ties to the for-profit college industry are now working at the department. "The industry is on both sides of the table now," he said. [POLITICO's Morning Education, February 2, 2018]










AZAR ANNOUNCING INDIANA's MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS TODAY - The HHS secretary will announce the decision at a press conference with Gov. Eric Holcomb and state Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Jennifer Walthall, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn scooped on Thursday night.  The long-anticipated approval of Indiana's waiver will make it the second state Medicaid program to tie benefits to employment for certain able-bodied beneficiaries. Holcomb had also requested an expansion of substance-abuse treatment as part of the program.
- Some key details: CMS administrator Seema Verma designed Indiana's conservative Medicaid expansion model in 2015 when she was a consultant for then-Gov. Mike Pence. (And as CMS administrator, she had agreed to recuse herself from Indiana's waiver request as a result.) The program already includes HSA-like accounts and requires monthly payments for enrollees. [POLITICO Pulse, February 2, 2018]





DEADLINE FOR NEW TESTING PILOT: Today's the deadline for states to notify the Trump administration if they plan to apply for a new testing pilot program created by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which will allow them to experiment with more innovative exams.
- Rather than administer a traditional standardized test, the pilot will allow states to try out exams that require students to demonstrate their mastery of a subject through a real-world project or task, with the eventual goal of using the exams statewide and to hold all schools accountable. Up to seven states can participate in the pilot for up to five years, with the option of asking DeVos for a one-year extension if they need more time to deploy the tests statewide. Up to four states can work together as a group.
- Few states are expected to apply. And education policy watchers say that only one state - New Hampshire - may be truly ready. The state has been invested in this work for years and its effort appears promising so far.
- Education officials in New York, who initially expressed interest, recently announced that the state won't apply for the pilot. It has already made a number of testing changes in recent years, but scaling up a new assessment system would cost the state millions of dollars and there's no funding coming from the federal government, said state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia [POLITICO's Morning Education, February 2, 2018]


















CLIMATE CHANGE 








CANDIDATES








[AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka] said Trump "has joined with corporations and their political allies to undermine the right of workers to bargain collectively. He has taken money out of our pockets and made our workplace less safe. He has divided our country, abandoned our values and given cover to racism and other forms of bigotry." [POLITICO's Morning Shift, January 24, 2018]



WOMEN’S RIGHTS = HUMAN RIGHTS 









JUDICIARY





HHS asks court to dismiss suit over its policy of blocking abortions of undocumented minors. The Trump administration on Thursday filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the ACLU's motion to certify the undocumented teens as a class. HHS's argument: There are too few minors in their care requesting abortions to qualify as a class and that each case is too individual to be treated as one group. Additionally, the administration said that in each case they must consider the girl's age, location and her ability to find a sponsor.
- Background: Since last fall, the ACLU has filed suits against the Trump administration on behalf of four pregnant teens who arrived in the U.S. without their parents for blocking their requests for abortions. In each case the girl was eventually able to obtain the abortion. But a separate class action suit aiming to stop the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the HHS office responsible for the teens, from blocking abortions among all minors in their care is still pending. The administration maintains that it has the right to get involved in the decision of teens in its custody to have an abortion, including taking them to crisis pregnancy centers to counsel them against the procedure.
"There is nothing unconstitutional about the Director of ORR, who is charged with the care of unaccompanied minors in federal custody, being involved in their decision to seek an elective abortion," wrote the administration in its filing. [POLITICO Pulse, February 2, 2018]

Three groups sue HHS for more information on 'abortion reversal' discussion. Equity Forward and Campaign for Accountability, represented by American Oversight, say they're seeking records about why ORR director Scott Lloyd considered administering an unproven procedure to a teenage girl halfway through a medication-induced abortion. See the lawsuit.
The girl, an undocumented teen in ORR's care, had already begun the abortion when Lloyd and other officials considered administering progesterone to attempt to halt it. While the tactic of using progesterone to reverse medication-induced abortion has been hailed by anti-abortion activists, the American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists have said there's no evidence it works.
"What we're seeing here is Health and Human Services - which is supposed to stand for science and medicine and ethics - [considering] non-proven and non-medically supported therapy," Mary Alice Carter of Equity Forward said. "I can't imagine that happening at any point in the past." [POLITICO Pulse, February 2, 2018]



NOTE: The news sources here vary.  Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here.  This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased.  Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value.  Thank you

NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as  a "community service" announcement.  These again are shared for their varying perspectives.

Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post.  Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse.  They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
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