“Educate thyself.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
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| EDUCATION |
NEW DATA SHOWS FEW COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TRANSFER WITH A
CREDENTIAL: Of the more than 1 million students who started at a two-year
institution in 2011, only 60,000 — less than 6 percent — transferred to another
school after earning a credential, according to new data out this morning from the National
Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
— "Community colleges play an incredibly important
role in our higher education ecosystem, but this new research shows only a
small number of community college students transfer to a four-year institution
with a credential," Jason Taylor, assistant professor of
educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, said in a
statement. Taylor said the new report illustrates how many students could benefit
from reverse transfer programs that would help them complete associate's
degrees for which they've likely already earned enough credits.
— The report shows it's fairly common for students to
transfer between schools before earning a degree. Nearly 40 percent of
the students who started college in 2011 enrolled in more than one school
within six years before earning a bachelor's degree, according to the report.
It also highlights some differences among student demographics: Of those who
transferred from a two-year institution, Asian and white students were more
likely to transfer into four-year institutions (49.8 percent and 50.4 percent,
respectively) than black and Hispanic students (33.2 percent and 39.5 percent,
respectively). [POLITICO's Morning Education,
August 8, 2018]
SENATE DEMS ASK ABOUT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GUIDANCE: A
group of 21 Senate Democrats is pushing back on the Trump administration's
decision to rescind guidance to schools and higher education institutions on
affirmative action.
— In a letter to DeVos and Attorney
General Jeff Sessions, they argue that getting rid
of the guidance will make it challenging for school districts and higher
education institutions to understand how the agencies plan to enforce civil
rights laws. The senators said they want to know whether field guidance for
staff looking into race-based civil rights complaints has changed.
— "The Trump administration has chosen to turn its back on
students of color by abruptly withdrawing these guidance documents,"
the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent this week. It was signed by the ranking
member of the Senate education committee, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and 20 other Democrats,
including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). [POLITICO's Morning Education, August 8, 2018]
THE CURRENT STATE OF A FAIR: Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler heads to the Iowa
State Fair in Des Moines today, where he's likely to be pressed by top
Republicans on the year-round sales of E15 under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Wheeler will meet with Gov.
Kim Reynolds, Rep. David Young, Lt.
Governor Adam Gregg and state Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig at the annual
fair. In preparation for today's trip, your ME host has studied up on the newest foods at
this year's event. Here's hoping Wheeler goes for the cookie dough spaghetti. [POLITICO's
Morning Energy, August 13, 2018]
EPA WEIGHS IN: EPA responded to allegations from the nonprofit group
Campaign for Accountability, which on Friday requested an investigation into whether Wheeler violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act by
failing to adequately report his role in seeking to shrink the boundaries of
the Bears Ears National Monument when he was a lobbyist at Faegre Baker Daniels
for uranium producer Energy Fuels Resources. The administrator "has been
very transparent concerning his work with Energy Fuels Resources, even
discussing this during his confirmation process," EPA spokesman Michael
Abboud said in a statement. "He has consistently worked to comply with the
Lobbying Disclosure Act; this particular matter involving Energy Fuels
Resources and Bears Ears National Monument does not impact his work at EPA as
this is not an agency-related issue." [POLITICO's Morning Energy, August 13, 2018]
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| FAMILY |
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| HIDDEN IN THE ATTIC |
July 1, 1863. Confederate soldiers move toward Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. Soldiers in blue stand like iron to slow the Southern advance. A
local citizen named John Burns joins the fight to protect his town. Confederate
General Robert E. Lee arrives on the scene in time to witness his victorious
men advancing beyond a formidable ridge where Lee would soon make his
headquarters. [Civil War Trust, August 16, 2017]
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| SCIENCE |
MC EXCLUSIVE: HOUSE INTEL MEMBERS DROP ELECTION SECURITY BILL —
A bipartisan group of House Intelligence Committee members today will introduce
a companion bill to the Senate's Secure Elections Act, S. 2593 . The legislation is being
proposed by Republicans Tom Rooney and Trey Gowdy and Democrats Jim Himes and
Terri Sewell. "Although the Russian government didn't change the outcome
of the 2016 election, they certainly interfered with the intention of sowing
discord and undermining Americans' faith in our democratic process,"
Rooney, who chairs the committee's NSA and Cybersecurity subpanel, said in a
statement. "There's no doubt in my mind they will continue to meddle in
our elections this year and in the future."
Like the bipartisan Senate bill — which
has the backing of several senior lawmakers and is due to be marked up by the Rules Committee on
Aug. 22 — the House measure aims to boost coordination among federal and state
agencies when it comes to sharing information about potential threats to
election systems. DHS has been pilloried by lawmakers for waiting until last
summer to disclose that Russian hackers tried to breach election systems in at
least 21 states in 2016. Last month the agency's top cyber official testified
that he believes hackers tried to target every state and territory during the
heated presidential race.
"It is our responsibility to take every precaution necessary
to safeguard our elections and ensure no vote count is ever interfered
with," according to House Oversight Chairman Gowdy, who, like Rooney, is
not seeking re-election this year. Himes, the top Democrat on the Cybersecurity
subpanel, said the measure will ensure state and local officials "have the
information, modern equipment, financial resources and federal support needed
to protect our elections." Sewell, the ranking member on the Defense
intelligence subcommittee, warned that with less than 100 days until the
midterms "action is urgently needed to protect our democracy against
another attack."
The bipartisan legislation will likely be referred to
the Committee on House Administration, whose Democratic members issued a report last month calling for
another $1.4 billion to secure the nation's election voting systems. [POLITICO's Morning Cybersecurity, August 10, 2018]
Report: US postpones rollout of Mideast 'deal of
the century'
August
3, 2018
White House, Arab officials cite
congressional elections in November, possible Israeli elections in early 2019
as reasons for delay • Trump administration seeks staff for Middle East policy
team under point men Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt.
A White
House source and senior Arab officials on Thursday said the Trump
administration was postponing by several months the rollout of its so-called
"deal of the century" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The U.S.
official said the administration has already decided not to present the peace
plan before the congressional mid-term elections on Nov. 6 because certain
components of the plan call for Israeli concessions and could harm Republican candidates'
election bids.
The official
also said that if Israel goes to elections after the Jewish holidays this
September, then the administration would postpone the peace plan even further,
as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to adopt certain aspects
during an election campaign.
Israel's
next election is scheduled for November 2019. But a single party could force
early elections by withdrawing from the government coalition. Due to the wide
range of views among the coalition parties, Israeli governments rarely complete
a full term.
Announcing
the peace plan during an Israeli election campaign "would play into the
hands of [Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Naftali] Bennett and the administration
understands this," the official said, referring to the politician deemed
Netanyahu's chief rival for the premiership.
"During
an election campaign, Netanyahu wouldn't be able to say 'yes' to such ideas. On
the other hand, he also can't say 'no' to [President Donald] Trump. It appears,
therefore, that the sides would rather play it smart and simply wait until the
elections are over, in the U.S. and in Israel," the official said.
If Israel
does not hold elections this year, a window of opportunity for unveiling
Trump's Middle East peace plan would be opened.
Senior Arab
officials confirmed to Israel Hayom that the peace plan will likely be delayed
by several months, because of assessments in Egypt and Saudi Arabia that Israel
will hold elections in early 2019.
The
officials said that regardless of the possibility of elections in Israel,
the leaders of moderate Arab states, chief among them Saudi Arabia, Egypt and
Jordan, sent a joint message to the White House, saying they preferred to wait
for the Congressional elections in the U.S. to conclude before the peace plan
is presented.
A White
House National Security Council official told Israel Hayom, "The release
date for the peace plan won't be determined by political matters in the U.S. or
the political situation in Israel, but rather by the date it is completed and
when the timing is appropriate."
Meanwhile,
U.S. officials said Thursday that the Trump administration was staffing up the
Middle East policy team at the White House in anticipation of unveiling the
still largely mysterious peace plan.
Last week,
the National Security Council began approaching other agencies seeking
volunteers to join the team, which will work under Trump's Middle East peace
point men, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the officials said.
The team,
which will organize the peace plan's public presentation and any negotiations
that may follow, is to be made up of three units: one concentrating on its
political and security details, one on its significant economic focus and one
on strategic communications, the officials said.
The establishment
of a White House team is the first evidence in months that the plan is
advancing. Although Trump officials have long promised the most comprehensive
package ever put forward to resolve the conflict, not even a small detail of
the emerging plan has been offered by Kushner, Greenblatt or any other
official.
The State
Department, Pentagon, intelligence agencies and Congress have been asked to
detail personnel to the team for six months to a year, according to the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agencies
declined to comment, but an NSC official said that Kushner, Trump's son-in-law
and senior adviser, and Greenblatt, Trump's special envoy for international
negotiations, "are expanding their team and the resources available as
they finalize the details and rollout strategy of the peace initiative."
White House
officials say the plan will focus on pragmatic details, rather than top-line
concepts, in a way that will help win public support.
The
Palestinian leadership has been openly hostile to any proposal from the Trump
administration, saying it has a pro-Israel bias, notably after Trump recognized
Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December and moved the U.S. embassy there from
Tel Aviv in May.
Since the
Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas broke off contact after
the Jerusalem announcement, the U.S. negotiating team has been talking to
independent Palestinian experts.
The White
House expects that the Palestinian Authority will engage on the plan and has
been resisting Congressional demands to fully close the Palestine Liberation
Organization office in Washington because Greenblatt and Kushner want to keep
that channel open. But officials have offered little evidence to back that up.
Palestinian
alienation has continued to grow as millions of dollars in U.S. assistance
remains on hold and appears likely to be cut entirely. With just two months
left in the current budget year, less than half of the planned $251 million in
U.S. aid planned for the Palestinians in 2018 – $92.8 million – has been
released, according to the government's online tracker, www.foreignassistance.gov.
The
remaining amount is still on hold as is an additional $65 million in frozen
U.S. assistance to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides services to
Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon.
In addition,
Israel's response to the plan is far from certain. Although Netanyahu is one of
Trump's top foreign allies, it remains unclear if he will back massive
investment in Gaza, which is run by the terrorist Hamas movement.
For the plan to succeed or even survive the starting gate, it
will need at least initial buy-in from both Israel and the Palestinians as well
as from the Gulf Arab states, which officials say will be asked to
substantially bankroll its economic portion. Arab officials have thus far
adopted a wait-and-see approach.
 |
| TRADE |
— U.S.-Japan trade talks coming to
Washington this month: The first round of high-level U.S.-Japanese
talks aimed at increasing "free, fair and reciprocal trade" between
the two countries will begin on Aug. 9, U.S. and Japanese officials said
Tuesday. Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer have been
concerned about the size of the trade deficit with Japan, which totaled $68.8
billion last year. Pro Trade's Doug Palmer has more.
[POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, August 1, 2018]
LIGHTHIZER, MOTEGI MEETING ON THE BOOKS: Mark
your calendars: Lighthizer is officially scheduled to sit down with Japanese
Economic Revitalization Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Washington next week for
the first round of high-level U.S.-Japanese talks.
The Aug. 9 meeting, which has been expected since Trump and
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tapped the two ministers in April to begin
talks aimed at "free, fair and reciprocal trade," comes at the same
time that Trump is threatening tariffs on Japan's auto exports to the United
States under a national security trade action.
The threat of Section 232 auto duties also prompted Japan and
the EU to organize a meeting of deputy trade ministers from major
auto-producing nations on Tuesday in Geneva to discuss the potential Trump
administration action. Other participants included Canada, Mexico and South
Korea, according to a government source who asked not to be identified because
of the sensitive nature of the talks. Doug has more here. [POLITICO's Morning Trade,
August 1, 2018]
 |
| NATURE & OUTDOORS |
Amcor (ASX: AMC), an Australian plastic
packaging company, has agreed to buy Wisconsin-based rival Bemis (NYSE: BMS) for
$5.25 billion in stock (12% premium to Friday's closing price). [Axios Pro Rata, August 6, 2018]
• Cushman & Wakefield, a Chicago-based real
estate services firm, raised $765 million in its IPO. The company priced 45
million shares at $17 (middle of range), for an initial market cap of around
$3.37 billion. It will trade on the NYSE (CWK), while Morgan Stanley as lead
underwriter. Shareholders include TPG and PAG Asia Capital. [Axios Pro Rata, August 2. 2018]
• Japan Tobacco (Tokyo: 2914) agreed to buy the
tobacco business of Bangladesh’s Akij
Group for approximately $1.5 billion. http://axios.link/NH2X [Axios Pro Rata, August 6. 2018]
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| READ |
Miami
The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams
Cooper's Creek: Tragedy and Adventure in the Australian Outback FICTION
ALEX HUNT and The Golden Urn: An Archaeological Adventure Thriller
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| RUSSIA |
A hacker group that claims to have stolen from Hillary Clinton was also digging in the bank accounts of several prominent Russian right-wing politicians
Russia calls new U.S. sanctions draconian, rejects poisoning allegations
Irina Yarovaya: US sanctions threaten peace and security on a global scale
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| HUNGARY |
CAN THIS REFUGEE ADVOCATE SURVIVE THE 'STOP SOROS' CROSSFIRE?
Milo Yiannopoulos and Steve Bannon spoke in Hungary. It cost $60K, seemingly in taxpayer money.
Hungary’s Leader Was Shunned by Obama, but Has a Friend in Trump
Hungary: Asylum-seekers with inadmissible claims are denied food in detention in transit zones
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| DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO |
Updated: Officials move to use vaccine against new Ebola outbreak
 Margaret Huang |
 |
| JAPAN |
Reports: Japanese Med School Shaved Test Scores to Bar Women
Tokyo’s Best Karaoke Is Karaoke Sung Alone
Is Japan Becoming a Country of Immigration?
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| CAMBODIA |
Cambodia: Supreme Court upholds deeply flawed conviction against land activist Tep Vanny
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/cambodia/
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| AUSTRALIA |
Australia and New Zealand to send fire crews to help battle California wildfires
Australia-Listed Amcor Is in Advanced Talks to Buy Bemis
Koalas Are Suddenly Behaving Strangely. Why?
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 commercial or business interest information shared is purely informational, not an endorsement. I have no connection with any such commercial or business interest.
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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