New Faces In the President’s Crew
Includes videos and interactive visualization on presidential line of succession (Prezi)
Disclaimer: This is a video produced by the White House, not an independent source.
Change is a–coming to the president’s Cabinet.
As President Barack Obama prepares for his second term in the White House, he’ll be joined by a handful of new faces to help guide him through the sausage factory we call government. The Cabinet includes the vice president and the heads (or “secretaries”) of 15 executive agencies, each of whom helps advise the president. PBS NewsHour Extra lists a good description of each position (you know, in case you’re looking for a new job).
It’s pretty common for a president entering a second term to switch up his Cabinet a bit. Of course, whether the departing Cabinet member has chosen to leave or was told to get packing is not always clear.
Each new Cabinet member is nominated by the president, but most need to be confirmed by a majority vote of the U.S. Senate. The practice of picking Cabinet members dates back to America’s first president, George Washington, who had a four member Cabinet that included Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War and Attorney General. Continue reading
FILED UNDER: American History, Government, Interactive Presentations, Law & Power, Video, cabinet, president, succession
The 15 Most Popular News Stories of 2012
Features interactive timeline
A lot went down in 2012. Here are the top 15 stories that Americans paid the most attention to this year. The results are based on polls from the Pew Research Center, the producers of this timeline.
FILED UNDER: American History, Interactive Presentations, Video, 2012, current events, media, popular news stories
The Geography of U.S. Gun Homicides
Includes interactive map
Explore the map below for detailed figures on each state’s firearms-related homicide rates for 2010 and 2011. For every state except Alabama and Florida (which post their own records), data are taken from FBI records. The darker the shade of blue, the greater the number of gun homicides in a state for every 100,000 residents living there.
In 2011, the highest gun homicide rate (per 100,000 residents) in the nation was, ironically, in the city where the nation’s gun control laws are decided: Washington, D.C. The rate there was 12.4 (actually down from 2010). A close second was Louisiana, with a rate of 10, followed by Mississippi, with 7.4. California, the most populous state, has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country as well as the greatest number of overall homicides (1,790) and the most gun-related murders (1,220). In 2011, the state had a gun homicide rate of 3.25 (per 100,000 residents).
Sources:
National: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20
Alabama: http://www.acjic.alabama.gov/
FILED UNDER: Data Visualization, Gun Control, Maps, gun control, guns, homicide, U.S.
The United States of Firearms: America’s Love of the Gun
Includes data visualizations and video
Regardless of where you stand on gun control, the fact remains that America is one gun-toting country. There are 89 guns for every 100 civilians, according to the 2011 Small Arms Survey. That amounts to roughly 270 million guns owned nationwide, far and away the highest gun ownership rate in the world. With less than 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. is home to anywhere between 35 and 50 percent of all civilian-owned guns on earth.
Created by Simon Rogers at the Guardian (click to explore interactively)
And while America certainly does not have the highest firearms-related homicide rate in the world (it ranks 28th), our rate is more than four times that of any other industrialized country (including all of Europe, Japan, Australia, Turkey and India): in 2011, there were well over 9,000 gun-related homicides (nearly 70 percent of all homicides committed), or roughly three per 100,000 population, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That’s about 20 times the average rate of all other developed nations, according to the Washington Post.
Max Fisher_The Washington Post (source: UNODC; using 2010 data)
In contrast, Great Britain has a gun ownership rate of about 6 guns for every 100 civilians. Last year it had 41 gun-related homicides, or .07 per 100,000 population. Meanwhile, Finland, where there are 45 guns per 100 civilians, had only 24 gun homicides in 2011, a rate of .45 per 100,000 population.
Simon Rogers_The Guardian
The infographic below, produced by Good Magazine and Column Five, further illustrates America’s deep and exceptional love affair with the gun.
Editor’s Note: The U.S. rate of gun ownership was previously stated incorrectly: there are 89 guns for every 100 civilians (NOT: 89 out of 100 civilians own a gun).
FILED UNDER: Charts and Infographics, Data Visualization, Government, Gun Control, Maps, firearms, gun control, homicide, maps
Same-Sex Marriage Lesson Plan
Includes downloadable PDF
By Donelle Blubaugh
Download the whole guide (PDF)
FILED UNDER: Charts and Infographics, Government, Law & Power, gay marriage, lesson plan, same-sex marriage
I Do … I Think? Making Sense of Gay Marriage in the Golden State
INCLUDES: ARTICLE; INTERACTIVE MAP; KQED RADIO AND PBS VIDEO CLIPS
For the better part of the past decade, California has been engaged in an epic battle over, well, getting engaged. The multiple court cases, votes, legal victories, reversals, protests, celebration and more protests have kept same-sex couples in an ongoing state of marital limbo and made it downright confusing to keep track of where things stand. Continue reading
The 12 Nations of Same-Sex Marriage
Same-sex marriage has been legalized in a growing number of states around the country. But under federal law, marriage is still defined as a union between a man and a women. If the U.S. ever does legalize same-sex marriage nationally, it won’t be the first country in the world to do so. Not even close. In fact, there are currently 10 nations around the world where same-sex marriage is universally legal. Explore this map to see where and since when.
FILED UNDER: English Language Arts, Government, Maps, gay marriage, international, same-sex marriage
Same-Sex Marriage Laws by State
Includes interactive map
The data visualization wizards at the Los Angeles Times put together a great chronological map that illustrates the change in same-sex marriage rights by state since 2000. Click the image below to see the interactive version.
Background
In 1996 the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), stating that “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.’’.
Under the federal law, states do not have any obligation to recognize same-sex marriages and the legal/financial rights that go along with it. However, individual states have the power to decide – either through legislation or voter initiative – to legalize same-sex marriages. And in recent years, a growing number of states have done just that. They include Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as Washington D.C. In the 2012 election, voters in the state of Washington, Maryland and Maine also legalized marriage for same-sex couples, raising the total number of states to nine.
In California, same-sex marriage was briefly allowed until voters in 2008 passed Proposition 8, which struck down the law. A federal court has since ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional. Same-sex marriages, however, have yet to resume here, and the U.S. Supreme Court is now considering whether to hear the case.
FILED UNDER: American History, Charts and Infographics, Government, Interactive Presentations, Law & Power, Maps, adoption, chart, DOMA, gay marriage, map, same-sex marriage
Which Propositions Passed (and which counties voted for them)?
Includes interactive map
Let’s be honest: voting in California can be kind of overwhelming.
Along with having to decide on a president, a senator, state and local officials, and local ballot measures, California voters were also faced with no less than eleven statewide propositions this election. Of these, five passed.
The map below shows which counties supported what (counties in green voted Yes, those in red voted No). The voting patterns emphasize the fairly sharp political divide between more liberal counties in and around the Bay Area, Los Angeles and along the coast, and the far more conservative counties of the Central Valley.
