Col. Jeff McCausland (Ret.), CBS News Military Consultant, fills us in on the discussion points at one of the most important NATO summits to date.

Learn how critical infrastructure providers can enhance their cybersecurity preparedness and resilience.

The post Ask the CIO: HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response first appeared on Federal News Network.

The new system, nearly a decade in the making, is crucial to agencies managing an ever-growing store of digital records.

The post National Archives prepares to ramp up work in new federal records system first appeared on Federal News Network.

[First published on Antiwar.com]

Fantasies underlying push for conscription are delusional and dangerous.

Doubling down on their recent war-game exercises and report on the (un)readiness of the U.S. to activate a military draft, Taren Sylvester and Katherine Kuzminski of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) have a new article in War on the Rocks, “Preparing for the Possibility of a Draft Without Panic,” laying out why they think the U.S. needs to prepare for a draft in order to be able to win an all-out war with China over Taiwan.

CNAS and War on the Rocks like to describe themselves as “realists”. But their arguments for stepped-up planning and preparation for a draft are strikingly unrealistic, in at least four respects:

With all of Washington consumed by the promise and perils of generative artificial intelligence and everything that comes with it, we risk neglecting the next technology revolution brewing under our very noses. Biotechnologies, built on our deepening understanding of how to read, write, and edit genetic code, the “code of life,” are not just transforming biomedicine but are generating better, more sustainable approaches to manufacturing, agriculture, and environmental health.

On Monday, Oct. 28, the Washington Secretary of State's Office reported that a "suspected incendiary device" was put in the Fisher's Landing ballot drop box in Vancouver…

Holidaymakers urged to carry out post-Brexit 'MOT'.

Former Elizabeth Macarthur High School student Andrew Loadsman has progressed to the final eight as a contestant on The Voice, and will fight for a place in the top four on Sunday night.

via @vapaad@wandering.shop boost of https://mspsocial.net/@bright_helpings/113435299378706993

More than 100 members of the Royal Bermuda Regiment are preparing to travel to the US this weekend for an intense two-week training exercise. A spokesperson said, “The overseas deployment at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, will allow soldiers and officers to hone skills in larger facilities and more varied environments than […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Jessica Lewis put the final touches on her preparations for the Paralympic Games at the iconic Stade de France in Paris yesterday [August 29]. The 31-year-old, who competes in the T53 100 and 400 metres, joined her coach, Geoff Harris, and several other sprinters on the vibrant purple track. The group’s […]

Keep Bermuda Beautiful [KBB] is preparing for their annual islandwide ‘Spring Clean’  the Great Big Bermuda Clean-up [GBBC]. A spokesperson said, “Sponsored by BF&M, the week of clean-up activities commences on Earth Day, Monday 22 April, and culminates with a grand finale event on Sunday 28 April. “Hundreds of volunteers are expected to participate in dozens […]

“With Hurricane Milton now considered a potential threat to Bermuda, the Ministry of National Security reminds residents that hurricane season remains in effect until 30 November, and it is essential to stay attentive to personal and family hurricane preparations,” said Minister of National Security Michael Weeks. A Government spokesperson said, “Hurricane Milton passed over the […]

BELCO today advised that the Company is prepared for any potential impact from the Hurricane Milton and encouraged residents to also prepare for the storm. BELCO Managing Director Shelly Leman said, “Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited [BELCO] today advised that the Company is prepared for any potential impact from the Hurricane Milton and encouraged residents […]

As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando this week, a group of experts on active shooter/hostile incident response will assemble at National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) headquarters to develop NFPA 3000, Standard for Preparedness and Response to Active Shooter and/or Hostile Events. It is expected that the initial standard will be completed by early 2018; then the public will have the opportunity to offer input for immediate review.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised tariff hikes. Here's what experts say business owners should be doing now to prepare.

Here’s what the largest—and most expensive—infrared space telescope will set its sights on.

Now that Donald Trump has won the election, he is going to have to deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia, and that isn’t going to be easy.  The Russians have no incentive to end the conflict because they are steadily gobbling up territory in eastern Ukraine.  As long as the Russians are making progress toward …

CNN reportedly will be making more cuts in the near future, including to its highly paid on-air personalities, following poor election ratings. The New York Post reported that Fox News […]

The post On-Air Talent Will Not Be Spared as CNN Prepares Mass Layoffs in Wake of Election: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.

Xi Jinping prepares the Communist party for new reality Expert comment NCapeling 20 October 2022

Political report reflects a worsened economic and diplomatic position as Xi knows his unprecedented third term as leader will be judged on results.

In stark contrast to the aura of triumphant glory that greeted Xi Jinping at the last National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2017, this week’s convocation opened with an air of sobriety.

Amid a domestic economic downturn and a return to enmity with Western liberal democracies, Xi offered his own recipe for party legitimacy and the country’s economic survival in the lengthy executive summary of his political report to the CCP congress. The prime keyword was security, with some 73 mentions, underscored with a message of self-reliance.

The periodic report acts as a summary of the party’s achievements and of its future plans, with both expressed as the lowest common denominator of consensus between competing voices in the CCP. It thus typically sheds some light on relationships among senior party members and insights into the political fortunes of important intraparty groups.

Most portions of the new report combined Xi’s personal preferences with concessions to the reality of what is necessary for China’s economic survival. Both ends point to an urgent prioritization of economic and political self-reliance for Xi’s third term as party general secretary.

Holistic concept of security

On the domestic front, much emphasis was given to enhancing national security and promoting equitable growth.

Since even before COVID-19, Xi has advocated a holistic conceptualization of security that includes food, the internet, energy and manpower. Reflecting Beijing’s deep anxieties about high-tech development and its frustrations with dependence on overseas suppliers vulnerable to the vagaries of geopolitical tensions, the political report noted the need for China’s supply chains to become more “self-determined and self-controlled.”

Xi, though, went further to stress the importance of improving scientific education and grooming and attracting the necessary talent to accelerate China’s quest to achieve breakthroughs in semiconductor production and overcome development choke points created by Western technological monopolies.

As China has traditionally relied on connectivity with the rest of the world to support innovation and attract talent, a turn toward autarky is not a viable option, given Xi’s technological priorities. Yet the renewed mention of his ‘dual circulation’ strategy in the report signals that Beijing is indeed turning to domestic consumption and homegrown technological prowess as the means to provide the rising wealth that the Chinese people have come to expect from the Communist Party.

Worsening Sino-US relations and tightening access to overseas markets for Chinese companies have prompted party leaders not only to reconsider the country’s sources of economic growth but have also forced them to reconfigure their approach to foreign affairs.

Judging by his report summary, Xi has completely abandoned the ‘new type of great power relations’ concept used repeatedly in the last two editions of his congressional update to refer to his preferred approach to relations with the US-led West.

The omission shows that Beijing has concluded that its fraught relationship with advanced developed nations is here to stay, with little prospect of improvement soon. To this end, China needs to prepare for the worst of decoupling and become more self-reliant in terms of markets and technologies.

In place of the discarded concept, Xi stressed that China should further develop its ties with the global South through the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative he announced earlier this year. These efforts aim to reshape the global governance agenda in multilateral forums and to project Beijing’s influence on the developing world.

Meanwhile, the party’s latest official rhetoric about the Belt and Road Initiative shows it is no longer a one-size-fits-all slogan but on its way to becoming a genuine tool of trade and investment promotion with China’s near neighbors but with provincial governments taking the lead rather than Beijing.

With the central government grappling with the country’s domestic economic woes, its spending spree on development assistance has had to come to an end. The new political report clearly signals this change.

A modern socialist society is still the aim

The current economic downturn and dangerous geopolitical tensions have not dented the CCP’s ambitions to build a modern socialist society by 2035 and thus join the world’s club of upper middle-income countries, but this is easier said than done.

Schools are slowly figuring out how to balance thinking globally with acting locally, and recognizing that some key skills are valuable no matter where students end up living.

Maryland may be a model for how states should approach educating students for the workforce of the future, according to a new policy brief.

Massachusetts' new performance assessment for teacher candidates helps boost readiness.

Schools are slowly figuring out how to balance thinking globally with acting locally, and recognizing that some key skills are valuable no matter where students end up living.

A federal investigation of Chicago's failures to respond to sexual violence in schools raises troubling questions for school districts nationwide.

An exclusive group of thought leaders gathered at the museum to discuss how the world prepares for the next global pandemic, raises public awareness, and explores potential responses and solutions

With P.E.I's only full-time blood oncologist leaving at the end of November, Health P.E.I. was planning to transfer his patients to Dr. Philip Champion. Now Champion says he intends to retire in the spring.

OC Transpo is short $120 million for next year, and Wednesday's draft budget will shed light on who can expect to pay the bill.

Canadian swingman RJ Barrett was upgraded to day-to-day and engaged in non-contact practise on Monday, two days before Toronto hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers at Scotiabank Arena.

Power of One project's goal is perfecting solar technology for tomorrow's hybrid cars as high oil prices peak interest in alternative vehicles

Aarhus purchases 500 licenses of SolidWorks 3D CAD and COSMOS design analysis software to teach students engineering fundamentals

A trekking team in Moldova encourages two local believers and discover they found God through a team member’s father ten years before.

Professional experience as a teacher and personal relationships on the field equipped one long-term worker to teach at a start-up English-speaking school.

George Kolbe, Head of Life Insurance Marketing at Momentum discusses the recommended ways to prepare for unexpected occurrences.

About two dozen teachers from across the country spent a week wrestling with questions about how to remember the Confederacy.

Penn State Berks is holding a free public event, the “Eras Tour (Penn State Berks Version)” on Saturday, Nov. 2, in the Perkins Plaza. The event is held in junction with the course “Taylor Swift, Gender, and Communication,” offered this fall. Admission is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. 

Penn State New Kensington will honor its fall 2023 and spring 2024 graduates on May 6 with an in-person ceremony at 10 a.m. The ceremony will also be livestreamed. Adis Juklo, alumnus and current meteorologist at WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.

Penn State Law welcomed the LL.M. (master of laws) class of 2025 to the University Park campus for orientation on Aug. 20, kicking off another year of one of the largest and most diverse LL.M. programs in the United States. The class of 2025 includes 163 LL.M. and 13 exchange students, coming from 31 countries across the world.

Baking in the test kitchens at The Hershey Company. Studying the effects of space weather on satellite communication with NASA. Working on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as a congressional intern. Planning events at the Arboretum. These activities are just a few of the many experiential learning and professional development opportunities that Penn State students gained through internships this summer. 

A new worker is able to use his profession to reach out in Central Asia.

Provides information on insurance processes for property damage As Tropical Storm Isaias approaches Delaware, residents are urged to prepare for dangerous winds over 55 miles per hour and up to 6 inches of rain. Storm surges, localized flooding, tree damage, power outages, and other threats to life and property are possible, according to the National […]

Wilmington, DE — On December 7th from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., hundreds of local high school students with disabilities attended a transition conference at the Dover Downs Hotel in Dover, DE, focusing on their future career and employment goals as well as learning what’s current in transition services for youth with disabilities in Delaware. […]

Pathways provides high school and postsecondary students with the opportunity to gain work-based learning experiences for in-demand careers WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Friday announced a $3.25 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to expand access to economic opportunity for Delaware students. Funding will help bolster the Delaware Pathways program, which provides high school […]

NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR/DIVISION OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION CONTACT Sharon Boland DOL Division of Vocational Rehabilitation 302.761.8238 (office) or 302.757.6260 (cell) sharon.boland@delaware.gov dvr.delawareworks.com http://dol.delaware.gov/ CONFERENCE TO PREPARE HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES FOR FUTURE CAREERS Wilmington, DE, December 6, 2018 — On December 12th from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., hundreds of local […]

DOVER, DE (June 17, 2022) – The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) reports an overall decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization since the previous monthly COVID-19 update released on May 21, 2022. While COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are experiencing a decreasing trend, DPH encourages Delawareans to rely on trusted prevention actions to stay one step ahead of COVID-19 during this event-filled weekend that […]

A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for all of Delaware and a Gale Warning is in effect for coastal areas and the Delaware Bay.  Plan ahead now and be prepared.