Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community

"Threats to US national security will expand and diversify in the coming year, driven in part by China and Russia as they respectively compete more intensely with the United States and its traditional allies and partners. This competition cuts across all domains, involves a race for technological and military superiority, and is increasingly about values. Russia and China seek to shape the international system and regional security dynamics and exert influence over the politics and economies of states in all regions of the world and especially in their respective backyards.

 China and Russia are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s, and the relationship is likely to strengthen in the coming year as some of their interests and threat perceptions converge, particularly regarding perceived US unilateralism and interventionism and Western promotion of democratic values and human rights.

 As China and Russia seek to expand their global influence, they are eroding once wellestablished security norms and increasing the risk of regional conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and East Asia.

 At the same time, some US allies and partners are seeking greater independence from Washington in response to their perceptions of changing US policies on security and trade and are becoming more open to new bilateral and multilateral partnerships..."
Threat assessment

Travel to the Extreme

"Is an off-the-grid adventure on your bucket list this year?

From frigid Antarctica to the uninhabited islands of the Pacific—be ready when you go where most do not. Learn about your risks and prepare for a fun and safe trip with CDC Travelers’ Health.

Adventure travel has become a popular way to explore new destinations and test your physical abilities. Adventure travel includes “extreme” activities such as mountaineering, backpacking, diving, surfing, bungee jumping, rafting, zip lining, and paragliding.
Many adventure travelers also enjoy skipping the tourist-filled areas and opting for harder-to-reach locales. Some of the best travel experiences can take place in the middle of nowhere. However, traveling to a far-flung destination for adventure can require a bit more prep work than a typical vacation.

Before You Go

Adventure activities, both at home and abroad, carry some risk of injury. Remote locations can pose additional risks:

• Limited or no access to medical care
• Unreliable communication that can delay emergency response
• Unexpected weather changes that can make safety more challenging and rescue efforts more difficult

Here are some healthy travel tips to know before you head off on your adventure:.."
Extreme places travel

Fighting Flu with Antiviral Drugs

"Most of the United States is reporting widespread flu activity according to CDC. Flu activity is expected to continue nationally for a number of weeks. 

What can you do to protect yourself and your loved ones? If you have not received a flu vaccine, it is not too late! Flu vaccines reduce the risk of flu illness and potentially serious flu complications that can result in hospitalization and death. Flu activity usually peaks between December and February, although activity can last as late as May.

If you get sick with flu, antiviral drugs can be used to treat your illness.

Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines that fight against flu viruses in your body. They are different from antibiotics, which fight against bacterial infections. Antiviral drugs can lessen fever and flu symptoms, and shorten the time you are sick by about one day. They also may reduce the risk of complications such as ear infections in children, respiratory complications requiring antibiotics in adults, and hospitalization.

For people at high risk of serious flu complications, early treatment with an antiviral drug can mean having milder illness instead of more severe illness that might require a hospital stay. For adults hospitalized with flu illness, some studies have reported that early antiviral treatment can reduce their risk of death.."
Antiviral drugs

13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of

"Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Read more at Our Documents......"
13th Amendment

The Effects of the Partial Shutdown Ending in January 2019

"The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the effects of the five-week partial shutdown of the government that started on December 22, 2018, and ended on January 25, 2019. This report presents CBO’s findings, which include the following:

 CBO estimates that the five-week shutdown delayed approximately $18 billion in federal discretionary spending for compensation and purchases of goods and services and suspended some federal services.

 As a result of reduced economic activity, CBO estimates, real (that is, inflationadjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2018 was reduced by $3 billion (in 2019 dollars) in relation to what it would have been otherwise. (Such references are in calendar years or quarters unless this report specifies otherwise.) In the first quarter of 2019, the level of real GDP is estimated to be $8 billion lower than it would have been—an effect reflecting both the five-week partial shutdown and the resumption in economic activity once funding resumed.

 As a share of quarterly real GDP, the level of real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018 was reduced by 0.1 percent, CBO estimates. And the level of real GDP in the first quarter of 2019 is expected to be reduced by 0.2 percent.1 (The effect on the annualized quarterly growth rate in those quarters will be larger.)2

 In subsequent quarters, GDP will be temporarily higher than it would have been in the absence of a shutdown. Although most of the real GDP lost during the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 will eventually be recovered, CBO estimates that about $3 billion will not be. That amount equals 0.02 percent of projected annual GDP in 2019. In other words, the level of GDP.."
Federal government shutdown

The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2019 to 2029

"The Congressional Budget Office regularly publishes reports presenting projections that indicate what federal deficits, debt, revenues, and spending—and the economic path underlying them— would be for the current year and for the next 10 years if existing laws governing taxes and spending generally remained unchanged. This report is the latest in that series...."
Federal budget outlook

Compromise of 1850

"The Compromise was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to slavery. The bills provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of new states, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia, settled a Texas boundary dispute, and established a stricter fugitive slave act. This featured document is Henry Clay's handwritten draft.
Read more at Our Documents......"
Compromise 1850

Credentials of Hiram Rhodes Revels

"Dated January 25, 1870, these are the credentials for Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi, the first African American to serve in the Senate..."
Read more at the Treasures of Congress...
Hiram Rhodes Revels

Tuberculosis (TB) Disease: Symptoms and Risk Factors

"Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that are spread through the air from person to person. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. People infected with TB bacteria who are not sick can take medication to prevent TB disease from developing in the future. Learn to recognize the symptoms of TB disease and find out if you are at risk.

Anyone Can Get TB

At first Shaka thought he had the flu. He had chills, was tired all the time, and had no appetite. After almost a month of night sweats, chest pain, persistent cough, and losing about 30 pounds, Shaka knew something was really wrong, and went to the doctor.

After several more weeks of doctor visits and exams, and worsening symptoms, he was admitted to the hospital. Eventually he was diagnosed with TB.

“And they came to me, and they said, we think you have tuberculosis. While I was laying there on the stretcher, I laughed as best that I could and told them that nobody gets tuberculosis. And they said, well, we think you have it,” says Shaka.

Mildred had a similar experience. It started with a cough and sore throat. She was initially diagnosed with strep throat and was given antibiotics. But the cough continued. She also began having night sweats and a fever. One night she was up all night coughing and couldn’t keep any food down. She knew something was very wrong and went to the hospital. After six months of uncertainty, she was finally diagnosed with TB.

“One of the main concerns I had when the diagnosis with TB was made was everybody else. As soon as you learn that you’re infectious, as soon as you learn that for the last 6 or 7 months you’ve been exposing everybody you see – and you’re thinking the Metro. You’re thinking your job, you’re thinking your family,” Mildred recalls.

Anyone can get TB. People with TB disease can be found in every state; in rural areas and cities; in schools, workplaces, homes; and in many other places where people are in close contact. Learn to recognize the symptoms of TB disease and find out if you are at risk..."
Tuberculosis

Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects

"When federal agencies and programs lack funding after the expiration of full-year or interim appropriations, the agencies and programs experience a funding gap. If funding does not resume in time to continue government operations, then, under the Antideficiency Act, an agency must cease operations, except in certain situations when law authorizes continued activity. Funding gaps are distinct from shutdowns, and the criteria that flow from the Antideficiency Act for determining which activities are affected by a shutdown are complex.

Failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on full-year or interim funding measures occasionally has caused shutdowns of affected federal government activities. The longest such shutdown lasted 21 full days during FY1996, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. More recently, a relatively long funding gap commenced on October 1, 2013, the first day of FY2014, after funding for the previous fiscal year expired. Because funding did not resume on October 1, affected agencies began to cease operations and furlough personnel that day. A 16-fullday shutdown ensued, the first to occur in over 17 years. Subsequently, two comparatively brief shutdowns occurred during FY2018, in January and February 2018, respectively.

Government shutdowns have necessitated furloughs of several hundred thousand federal employees, required cessation or reduction of many government activities, and affected numerous sectors of the economy. This report discusses
 causes of shutdowns, including the legal framework under which they may occur;
 processes related to how agencies may plan for the contingency of a shutdown;
 effects of shutdowns, focusing especially on federal personnel and government operations; and
 issues related to shutdowns that may be of interest to Congress..."
Federal government shutdown

National Intelligence Stragetyof the U.S., 2019

"This National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) provides the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for the next four years. It supports the national security priorities outlined in the National Security Strategy as well as other national strategies. In executing the NIS, all IC activities must be responsive to national security priorities and must comply with the Constitution, applicable laws and statutes, and Congressional oversight requirements..."
Intelligence strategy

Scarlet Fever: All You Need to Know

"If your child has a sore throat and a rash, it may be scarlet fever (also called scarlatina). Your child’s doctor can do a quick strep test to find out. If your child has scarlet fever, antibiotics can help your child feel better faster and prevent long-term health problems. Antibiotics can also help protect others from getting sick.

Bacteria Cause Scarlet Fever

Bacteria called group A Streptococcus or group A strep cause scarlet fever. The bacteria sometimes make a poison (toxin), which causes a rash — the “scarlet” of scarlet fever

How You Get Scarlet Fever

Group A strep live in the nose and throat and can easily spread to other people. It is important to know that all infected people do not have symptoms or seem sick. People who are infected spread the bacteria by coughing or sneezing, which creates small respiratory droplets that contain the bacteria.

People can get sick if they:

• Breathe in those droplets
• Touch something with droplets on it and then touch their mouth or nose
• Drink from the same glass or eat from the same plate as a sick person
• Touch sores on the skin caused by group A strep (impetigo)

Rarely, people can spread group A strep through food that is not handled properly (visit CDC’s food safety page). Experts do not believe pets or household items, like toys, spread these bacteria.."
Scarlet fever

Weight Loss: What Works for Me

"Real people share how they took control and lost weight their way.

If you’re like many people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, weight loss is part of your treatment plan. It sounds so simple: eat less and move more. But if weight loss were that easy, millions of people wouldn’t be struggling right now to do it. And you’ve probably noticed that even people who take the weight off have a hard time keeping it off.

More and more studies show that people respond differently to diets. For example, some lose weight on low carb; some gain weight. The same goes for other plans.

So how do you find your secret sauce for weight loss? Make sure to focus on healthy, nutritious food, and then experiment with eating, activity, and setting goals until you find a method that works for you. Here are a few success stories to get you started.
Weight loss & diabetes

CRS Series: Introduction to Financial Services

"The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has created a series providing an introduction to various financial services issues in the 116th Congress. Click on any of the titles below to access an In Focus, a two-page briefing product on issues of active and ongoing interest to Congress.

The CRS authors are also available to answer questions, research policy issues, prepare confidential memoranda, and provide in-person briefings. Their contact information can be found in each In Focus.

The Regulatory Framework
As shown in Figure 1, financial activity can generally be divided into three broad categories—banking, securities markets, and insurance. The financial regulatory structure is more fragmented, involving multiple, overlapping regulators at the federal and state levels. Further, because institutions, markets, and products can be subject to various regulations, an activity may fall under the purview of multiple regulators..."
Financial Services

Can the Department of Defense Build the Border Wall?

"According to multiple reports, President Trump may be contemplating declaring a national emergency in order to fund the construction of a physical barrier along the southern border with Mexico. The funding for such construction has been the focal point of the partial government shutdown that began on December 22, as Congress has thus far refused the President’s demand for $5.7 billion in funding for the construction of physical barriers by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (the lead agency responsible for deterring illegal border crossings). A number of media outlets have reported that the President is considering whether to resolve this impasse by directing the Department of Defense (DOD) to construct border fencing with its existing appropriations. Certain federal statutes potentially provide the DOD with limited authority to construct physical barriers along the border. However, the President may seek to avail himself of broader authorities by declaring a “national emergency” under the National Emergencies Act (NEA). Such a declaration could enable the President to invoke certain emergency military construction authorities established by the Military Construction Codification Act (MCCA). Whether these authorities—individually or in combination—extend to the construction of a border wall would present a reviewing court with several questions of first impression.

This Sidebar provides an overview of the NEA; the military construction authorities available in the event of a declared emergency that the Administration may rely upon to deploy border fencing; and other  statutory authorities that may provide the DOD with the authority to engage in certain construction operations..."
Border wall

Cervical Cancer Awareness

"You can prevent cervical cancer by getting screened regularly, starting at age 21.

“I was busy working, traveling, and enjoying life. I completely forgot to pay attention to my health,” said actress Cote de Pablo. “Too much time passed since my last Pap.

“By the time I was tested, things didn’t look too good. We thought I might have cervical cancer.

“I was lucky! After lots of worries—no cancer.

“I’ve always been very close to my mother. When we finally got good results, she broke down. And that’s when I realized it’s not just about me. It’s about your loved ones, too. Get checked for cervical cancer.”

Screening Tests

Two tests help prevent cervical cancer or find it early—

• The Pap test (or Pap smear) looks for precancers, which are cell changes on the cervix that might become cervical cancer if they are not treated appropriately.
• The human papillomavirus (HPV) test looks for the virus that can cause these cell changes.

Screening Options

You should get your first Pap test at age 21. If your test result is normal, you can wait three years for your next test.

If you’re 30 years old or older, you have three options—

• You can continue getting a Pap test only. If your test result is normal, you can wait three years for your next test.
• You can get an HPV test only. If your test result is normal, you can wait five years for your next test.
• You can get both an HPV and Pap test together. If your test results are normal, you can wait five years for your next tests.

If you have a low income or do not have health insurance, you may be able to get free or low-cost cervical cancer screening through CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. Find out if you qualify.,,"
Cervical cancer

Healthy Pregnancy

"Learn what you can do before and during pregnancy to improve your chances of having a healthy baby.

What steps can I take to have the healthiest pregnancy possible?

• Be sure to take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day.
  • Folic acid is important because it can help prevent some major birth defects of the baby’s brain and spine. These birth defects develop very early during pregnancy when the neural tube—which forms the early brain and spinal cord—does not close properly. Start taking folic acid at least one month before becoming pregnant and continue during pregnancy.
• Book a visit with your healthcare provider before stopping or starting any medicine.
  • Many women need to take medicine to treat a health condition during pregnancy. If you are planning to become pregnant, discuss your current medicines with a healthcare provider, such as a doctor or pharmacist. Creating a treatment plan for your health condition before you are pregnant can help keep you and your developing baby healthy.
• 
  
  Become up-to-date with all vaccinations, including the flu shot.
  • Vaccines help protect you and your developing baby against serious diseases. Get a flu shot and whooping cough vaccination (called Tdap) during eachpregnancy to help protect yourself and your baby.
  • Flu: You can get the flu shot before or during each pregnancy.
  • Whooping Cough: You can get the whooping cough vaccine in the last three months of each pregnancy..."
    Pregnancy

The Special Counsel Investigation After the Attorney General’s Resignation

"Recent Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership changes have raised questions about their impact on the special counsel investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters. Who will oversee the investigation? How do personnel changes affect the investigation? What are Congress’s possible roles in this matter? Before his resignation, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from the inquiry with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein serving as Acting Attorney General for the investigation. With President Trump’s designation of Matthew G. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General pending Senate consideration of his nominee for Attorney General, supervision of the special counsel investigation may change in the coming months, possibly impacting ongoing litigation regarding the special counsel’s authority. This Sidebar examines how DOJ leadership changes may interplay with the special counsel investigation.

Authority to Oversee the Special Counsel’s Investigation.

In 1999, pursuant to its general authority to promulgate departmental regulations, DOJ issued the current special counsel regulations, which expressly vest authority to initiate special counsel investigations in “[t]he Attorney General, or in cases in which the Attorney General is recused, the Acting Attorney General.” Thus, as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has affirmed, the Attorney General has authority over special counsel investigations but, if he recuses, the Acting Attorney General has authority. That authority includes review of particular aspects of the investigation; review and approval of the special counsel’s annual budget requests; and sole authority to discipline or remove the special counsel for “good cause.”
Special Counsel Investigation

Congress’s Authority to Influence and Control Executive Branch Agencies

"The Constitution neither establishes administrative agencies nor explicitly prescribes the manner by which they may be created. Even so, the Supreme Court has generally recognized that Congress has broad constitutional authority to establish and shape the federal bureaucracy. Congress may use its Article I lawmaking powers to create federal agencies and individual offices within those agencies, design agencies’ basic structures and operations, and prescribe, subject to certain constitutional limitations, how those holding agency offices are appointed and removed. Congress also may enumerate the powers, duties, and functions to be exercised by agencies, as well as directly counteract, through later legislation, certain agency actions implementing delegated authority.

The most potent tools of congressional control over agencies, including those addressing the structuring, empowering, regulating, and funding of agencies, typically require enactment of legislation. Such legislation must comport with constitutional requirements related to bicameralism (i.e., it must be approved by both houses of Congress) and presentment (i.e., it must be presented to the President for signature). The constitutional process to enact effective legislation requires the support of the House, Senate, and the President, unless the support in both houses is sufficient to override the President’s veto..".
Congress authority

A Guide To Who's Who In House Leadership For The 116th Congress

via NPR:
"The 116th Congress officially convened on Thursday with Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years. And with Democrats' newfound power and Republicans' first time in the minority in nearly a decade, both parties saw a shuffle in their leadership teams.

 The Democratic leadership is a diverse slate, representing the record number of women and minorities their new caucus brings to Capitol Hill — Nancy Pelosi is resuming her place as the first female House speaker in history, with four other top positions either being filled by a woman or person of color.

Republicans, however, have a leadership slate made up almost entirely of white males.
Here's who you need to know in House leadership for both parties in the new Congress..":
House Leadership

President Franklin Roosevelt�s Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress

"This speech delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, became known as his "Four Freedoms Speech," due to a short closing portion describing the President�s vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties were extended throughout the world.
Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of FDR's Four Freedoms Speech at the FDR Library.."
Four Freedoms

Protect Yourself and Your Family from Radon

"Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking. If you smoke and live in a home with high radon levels, you increase your risk of developing lung cancer. Having your home tested is the only effective way to determine whether you and your family are at risk of high radon exposure.

Radon is a radioactive gas that forms naturally when uranium, thorium, or radium, which are radioactive metals break down in rocks, soil and groundwater. People can be exposed to radon primarily from breathing radon in air that comes through cracks and gaps in buildings and homes. Because radon comes naturally from the earth, people are always exposed to it.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Surgeon General’s office estimate radon is responsible for more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the U.S. When you breathe in radon, radioactive particles from radon gas can get trapped in your lungs. Over time, these radioactive particles increase the risk of lung cancer. It may take years before health problems appear.

People who smoke and are exposed to radon are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer. EPA recommends taking action to reduce radon in homes that have a radon level at or above 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air (a “picocurie” is a common unit for measuring the amount of radioactivity).."
Radon

Stalking: Know it. Name it. Stop it.

"January is National Stalking Awareness Month. Learn how you can help prevent stalking in your community.

Stalking occurs when someone repeatedly harasses or threatens someone else, causing fear or safety concerns. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), about 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 men have experienced stalking in their lifetimes.

These behaviors can come in the form of threatening phone calls, text messages, spying, or showing up at the victim’s home or workplace, and leaving unwanted gifts or cards. Most often, stalking occurs by someone they know or with whom they had an intimate relationship.

Join CDC in Preventing Stalking

To prevent stalking, CDC promotes the importance of early prevention and support efforts, which can include:

• Empowering everyone to understand, recognize, and address stalking.
• Mobilizing men and boys as allies in prevention efforts.
• Creating and supporting safe environments within relationships, schools, and communities through programs and policies that reduce risk and promote healthy relationships..."

Stalking

Criminal Victimization, 2017

"Presents national data on criminal victimization reported and not reported to police in 2017 and the annual change in criminal victimization from 2016. The report examines personal crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, and personal larceny) and property crimes (household burglary, motor vehicle theft, and theft). It also includes data on domestic violence, intimate partner violence, injury to victims, and weapon use. Data are from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which collects information from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older.

Highlights:

• The rate of robbery victimization increased from 1.7 per 1,000 persons in 2016 to 2.3 in 2017.
• The portion of persons age 12 or older who were victims of violent crime increased from 0.98% in 2015 to 1.14% in 2017.
• From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of persons who were victims of violent crime increased among males, whites, those ages 25 to 34, those age 50 and over, and those who had never been married.
• From 2016 to 2017, the rate of overall property crime declined from 118.6 victimizations per 1,000 households to 108.4, while the burglary rate fell from 23.7 to 20..."
  Criminal victimization

Library of Congress Web Archive Collection

"The Library of Congress Web Archive selects, preserves, and provides access to archived web content selected by subject experts from across the Library, so that it will be available for researchers today and in the future. Web sites are ephemeral and often considered at-risk born-digital content. New web sites form constantly, URLs change, content changes, and web sites sometimes disappear entirely. Web sites document current events, organizations, public reactions, government information, and cultural and scholarly information on a wide variety of topics. Materials that used to appear in print are increasingly published online.

This site provides general information about program activities, information for researchers who are interested in using the web archives, and information for site owners who might be included in the archives..."
Libary of Congress Web

It’s Never Too Early to Quit Smoking

"Quitting smoking can be challenging, but you can find support for your quit journey where and when you need it, to raise your chances of quitting for good.

“I’m sick of this addiction.” Clay A. left that comment on the CDC Tobacco Free Facebook page. “I quit for a year and four months and came back,” he went on to say. “Quitting is not easy.”

CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) knows that it may take a number of tries before you’re able to quit for good, but we also know that it can be done.  In fact, so many people have quit that there are now more former smokers than current smokers in the United States. Quitting can be challenging, but you can find support for your quit journey where and when you need it, to raise your chances of quitting for good. This year, make a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking for good.

“At this time of year, we know that many smokers make a resolution to quit and start off on a healthier course,” says Corinne Graffunder, DrPH, MPH, director of OSH. “If now is your time to quit tobacco, there are many tools available to help you find and follow a quit strategy that works for you.”

Whether you’ve never tried to quit or have tried many times, a new year means another chance to create your successful quit plan..."
Smoking

For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain

"Whose woods these are, I think I”—whoa! We can’t quote any more of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” because it is still under copyright as this magazine goes to press. But come January 1, 2019, we, you, and everyone in America will be able to quote it at length on any platform.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, all works first published in the United States in 1923 will enter the public domain. It has been 21 years since the last mass expiration of copyright in the U.S.

That deluge of works includes not just “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” which appeared first in the New Republic in 1923, but hundreds of thousands of books, musical compositions, paintings, poems, photographs and films. After January 1, any record label can issue a dubstep version of the 1923 hit “Yes! We Have No Bananas,” any middle school can produce Theodore Pratt’s stage adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and any historian can publish Winston Churchill’s The World Crisis with her own extensive annotations. Any artist can create and sell a feminist response to Marcel Duchamp’s seminal Dadaist piece, The Large Glass (The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even) and any filmmaker can remake Cecil B. DeMille’s original The Ten Commandments and post it on YouTube.

“The public domain has been frozen in time for 20 years, and we’re reaching the 20-year thaw,” says Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain. The release is unprecedented, and its impact on culture and creativity could be huge. We have never seen such a mass entry into the public domain in the digital age. The last one—in 1998, when 1922 slipped its copyright bond—predated Google. “We have shortchanged a generation,” said Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive. “The 20th century is largely missing from the internet.."
Copyright works