Media

Last week, I explored the question of whether federal contracting wastes tax dollars. But that post missed at least one key part of the equation -- the high costs of having no institutional memory.

A top government research scientist wrote me in response to the post to make this very good point:

NEW YORK -- Today, the Supreme Court released its decision in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (No. 12-71), striking down an Arizona law that created unnecessary barriers to voter registration in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a report on how the City could prepare for the rising sea levels that will result from climate change. A Stronger, More Resilient New York is a 438-page blueprint for climate adaptation that covers everything from coastal protection to built infrastructure, like buildings and telecommunications, and community rebuilding and resiliency. It is an ambitious plan, to say the least, and the vast majority of it, if implemented, will be under the next Mayor.

If the NSA leak had happened twenty years ago, Edward Snowden would have been defended by lots of progressives and a few libertarians here and there. But it's unlikely that any major leaders in the Republican Party or the mainstream conservative media would have come out as Snowden cheerleaders. 

Why this was a real win, and an affirmation of the continuing importance of the NVRA.

The current version of immigration reform already includes a decade-plus path to citizenship, not to mention potential fees and fines, but it's progress -- more than Congress has made in years. Unfortunately, some senators have decided that the proposed long and winding path to citizenship wasn't hard enough, and one of them, Marco Rubio (R-FL), is backing away from his own bill, calling it merely "an excellent starting point."

In a 2011 speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, civil rights hero and Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) eloquently described attacks across the country on Americans' access to the ballot box: "Voting rights are under attack in America.

Kathleen Turner tells New York state legislators not to come home without Fair Elections for New York.

Credit reports weren’t designed to be job-screening tools. But about half of employers now use them when making hiring decisions, according to a 2012 study by the Society for Human Resource Management. The practice cuts across all sectors of the economy, from high-level management to office assistants, home health-care aides, and people who work the counter serving frozen yogurt.