#libraryofcongress — Public Fediverse posts

Mr Jefferson's Library (5 part series)

Michael Goldfarb visits the Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello in Virginia to see how Jefferson's reading shaped the beginnings of American history.

#MichaelGoldfarb
#LibraryOfCongress
#ThomasJefferson
#Monticello

#BBCRadio4 #BookOfTheWeek #BBCBOTW #BBCBookOfTheWeek

(15 minute episodes) (very fast reading presentation style)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ybb7

The Hill

Several years ago, I started a birthday tradition of taking either a day trip or a vacation. In 2017, it was a day trip to the Peabody Essex Museum for their Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed and Style exhibition. Last year, I went to Ticonderoga, NY, for a few days to visit, among other things, the Star Trek: Original Series Set Tour. But for my birthday this year, I decided to visit Washington, D.C., for nearly a week. Although I have been to D.C. a few times on business, I never really had the chance to explore the city during those trips, except for a quick afternoon walk around the National Mall. That changed last week.

Although I considered flying, I decided to drive because I’ve always wanted to visit the WWII battleship USS New Jersey. After a slightly over four-hour drive, I arrived at the Iowa-class battleship. Having previously visited the USS Iowa in Los Angeles, I found the New Jersey no less impressive. As the most decorated of all the Iowa-class ships, the New Jersey’s tour reflected the pride of those who work on and visit her.

The following day, I arrived by the Metro’s Red Line in Washington, D.C., and walked down to the National Mall. I had forgotten how majestic the city is. It doesn’t matter what your political views are; it’s the city’s design and grandeur that engulfs you. With the United States Capitol on one side and the Washington Monument on the other, the city invites exploration.

My first museum visit was to the storied National Gallery of Art. Its outstanding collection spans the Middle Ages to the present and encompasses two buildings—the neoclassical original and a contemporary one designed by I.M. Pei. The sculpture garden is also a delight. There are so many wonderful exhibitions and works of art on display that it’s hard to pick a favorite. I did, however, love Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life. If you love museums, the National Gallery will take most of the day.

The next day started with a VIP tour of the United States Capitol by a staff member of my state congressional representative. From the spacious visitor center and Exhibition Hall, the tour traveled from the original entrance, Senate, and Supreme Court to the wondrous Capitol Rotunda and National Statuary Hall. The tour concluded with a visit to the House of Representatives Chamber (no cameras/cell phones were allowed). As all points in Washington, D.C. radiate from this point geographically and politically, it is here that you literally feel our republic in action.

From an architectural standpoint alone, the Library of Congress is well worth a visit. The Main Reading Room would compel even the most reluctant reader to pick up a book. I particularly enjoyed the Two Georges: Parallel Lives in an Age of Revolution exhibition. The exhibition contrasts two living legends who lived at the same time – George Washington and King George III.

Needless to say, a visit to the top of the Washington Monument reveals breathtaking views of D.C. From there, a visit to the solemnity of the World War II Memorial, followed by the Lincoln Memorial, was in order. One can’t help but be reflective and thankful when viewing President Abraham Lincoln’s statue. If it were not for Lincoln, there would not be a United States of America. Although I had to memorize the Gettysburg Address in grade school, the following excerpt from his speech, written over 150 years ago, still resonates today, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” I know we can.

“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As an American citizen (and for all those who aspire to be), that singular sentence in the Declaration of Independence forms the bedrock of this country. My visit to the National Archives the next day to view the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was rightly an emotional one. For it was the authorship, execution, and adherence to these documents that established the United States. While it’s easy to take what we have here for granted if you’ve never traveled outside the country, I, for one, am both happy and thankful to see the sign “Welcome to the United States” when I return from an international trip.

For those who follow me on social media or know me personally, you know I love the world of James Bond. Therefore, a visit to the International Spy Museum was a must! When you first enter the lobby, you are greeted by the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger. That certainly gets you in the mood for spying! But this museum is much more than Bond. It takes you into the world of covert intelligence agencies around the world, with their stories, gadgets, and missions. The museum does an excellent job of covering spy networks in the OAS (precursor to the CIA) from WWII through the Cold War decades, and it features riveting exhibitions that test your abilities as a spy. Although I was there for 3.5 hours, I easily could have spent the majority of the day.

With my passion for NASA, space exploration, and all things aviation, day four was my visit to the National Air and Space Museum. Although I had previously visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia near Dulles International Airport, I had yet to visit the museum’s location on the Mall. As you enter the lobby, you’re greeted by the Friendship 7 space capsule that carried John Glenn—the first American to orbit Earth—to space. Just next to the capsule is the unflown Lunar Module from the Apollo era. You don’t need to walk far from the Lunar Module to see the iconic model of the Starship Enterprise from the 1960s TV series Star Trek. When you juxtapose the original Wright Flyer with the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia, in the same building, you can’t help but be in awe of what mankind can accomplish. In less than a century, we went from flying 120 feet at just over 6 miles per hour to landing a man on the Moon. In a museum like this, you can imagine what’s possible in the next 100 years.

My vacation to Washington, D.C. concluded the next day with a visit to the National Zoo. Having grown up on a farm, I became very familiar with a variety of animals. But certainly, the variety I lived with didn’t compare to what this magnificent zoo offered! From Giant Pandas, Asian elephants, Andean Bears, Brown Pelicans, and Siberian Tigers to over 2,000 other animals, the National Zoo has something for everyone. I particularly loved seeing the Beavers. When we lived on our farm, a family of Beavers turned our small brook into a large lake!

While my vacation to our nation’s capital may have come to an end, I left with a renewed appreciation for my country. While the Capitol represents our government, it is the museums that embody the very essence of the country. From history to art to science and all their interrelated fields, one leaves Washington, D.C., knowing more than when they arrived. The uniqueness of the United States should never be taken for granted. As the United States will soon celebrate its 250th anniversary, the founding fathers would be proud that, because of three words in the Constitution, the United States has withstood tyranny and triumphed, resulting in American exceptionalism. 

“We the People”

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 138

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 How To Get The Strongest And Most Optimized Spaceship Crew In Starfield – This year, Bethesda launched several important updates to make their 2023 science fiction role-playing game Starfield better and they also offered new DLC for those who crave for new content. One of the more defining aspects of the game is space travel and this includes setting up your own crew for your spaceship and there is impact on its functions and capabilities. If you want to learn how to get the stronger and most optimized crew for your ship, I encourage you watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/vy8iOx7eqVU?si=gn7W1mZxTOQ4SSrd

#2 Mari Iijima And The Defining Song of Macross: Do You Remember Love? – I really love watching the 1984 anime feature film Macross: Do You Remember Love? Apart from the great animation, the spectacle, the memorable characters and the solid storytelling, the movie also has a great soundtrack made to delight the long-time Macross fans. Still, the movie has its very own song performed by none other than Mari Iijima (Minmay) and it is a classic among Macross fans. In the videos below, you will see Mari Iijima perform the song live in a 1980s TV broadcast and the song playing with selected footage of Macross: Do You Remember Love? Enjoy these!

https://youtu.be/OfuW_Wbt73c?si=Q1DE8eJxo4Zk90pc

https://youtu.be/uJBMYV9e1Nc?si=veDGYU4r7s0flQ_H

#3 The Tuna City In Japan Is Changing With Tourism In Mind – If you plan to visit Japan at all, you might want to discover Miura City located in Kanagawa Prefecture. Miura City is famous for its fresh tuna and in recent times there has been a series of changes as several room-only hotels and new trends have sprouted as the locality is finding new ways to turn visitors into overnight guests. This is a place I would like to visit someday if ever I get the opportunity to return to Japan. Watch and learn from the Nippon TV video below.

https://youtu.be/fUPP30fYH78?si=MrC6Dml3IRVe7fcV

#4 Women’s Rights Activist Marries Islamist And Things Went Wrong – Did you notice that there is a gradual rising number of feminists and women’s rights activists who not embrace Islam (wicked and ugly) but also marry Islamists believing that things will be alright and they can just continue their activism. Of course, many of them activists and feminists do not fully understand Islam nor the full content of the Quran. As such, when things go very wrong, they are get into deep trouble. Watch and learn from the video below.

https://youtu.be/bx3YvoyP6cw?si=omxqhyR8CQfpfhYK

#5 Islamists Violate Hindu Women In India And Get Arrested – Let’s be very clear here. Islamists are oriented to conquer others even though they may not be numerous within a locality. Believe it or not, a group of such people who wielded power inside a business violated the Hindu women (plus at least one male employee) with regards to cultural norms and doing things that go against their faith. Even forced religious conversion happened. Watch and learn from the video below.

https://youtu.be/9xjFS-3Vuws?si=xuDIivIonrp9tQux

#6 Meatballs Reaction And Retrospective – When it comes to cinematic comedy, Bill Murray is iconic and his early work in 1979’s Meatballs already involved the late Harold Ramis and the late director Ivan Reitman. That said, there is something about Meatballs – produced for less than $2 million – that helped it achieve tremendous commercial success with ticket sales of $70 million. Remember, three of the creative minds behind the classic Ghostbusters are involved in this old movie and you will see how You, Me and The Movies react to it in the video below. Be aware that as of this writing, there are not too many movie reaction videos about Meatballs on YouTube. Also posted below is an in-depth retrospective about Meatballs by GoodBadFlicks.

https://youtu.be/nhR9xUCvpAI?si=Zh6gjAX0SdIrtSfT

https://youtu.be/D0BS-K3K_vE?si=HtyR_VThLUKv0Wj6

#7 Ashleigh Burton Reacts To The Thin Man – Have you ever heard of The Thin Man? It’s not a UFO reference. It’s the 1934 American pre-Code comedy-mystery movie that was eventually named to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress having been deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in 1997. Apart from its reputation in American film history, The Thin Man also resulted in five sequels. If you want to discover the 1934 movie but you don’t have the time nor resources to watch the movie, watch Ashleigh Burton’s reaction video and see how it impacts her.

https://youtu.be/IJRQXuw–20?si=mSYY7_Eb4EK6reBY

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

The Other Vivian Maier: The Street Photography of Angelo Rizzuto https://petapixel.com/2026/04/18/the-other-vivian-maier-the-street-photography-of-angelo-rizzuto/ #streetphotographer #libraryofcongress #streetphotography #angelorizzuto #vivianmaier #Features #Analog

Library of Congress Blog: A (tiny) recording of Amelia Earhart’s 1932 London speech, played for the first time. “When her memoir, ‘The Fun of It,’ came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover. A little over nine decades […]

Library of Congress Blog: A (tiny) recording of Amelia Earhart’s 1932 London speech, played for the first time. “When her memoir, ‘The Fun of It,’ came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover. A little over nine decades […]

Library of Congress Blog: A (tiny) recording of Amelia Earhart’s 1932 London speech, played for the first time. “When her memoir, ‘The Fun of It,’ came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover. A little over nine decades […]

Library of Congress Blog: A (tiny) recording of Amelia Earhart’s 1932 London speech, played for the first time. “When her memoir, ‘The Fun of It,’ came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover. A little over nine decades […]

Library of Congress Blog: A (tiny) recording of Amelia Earhart’s 1932 London speech, played for the first time. “When her memoir, ‘The Fun of It,’ came out a few months later, her publisher (who was also her husband and promoter, George Putnam) threw in a nifty promotional gimmick: a tiny 78 rpm record of a snippet of that speech, tucked inside the back cover. A little over nine decades […]

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections – Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

ISSN 2691-6916

Share & Subscribe to this blog

1. Home
2. Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

February 10, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith

Share this post:

This is the second post in a series that looks at different resources from the Library that support teaching and learning about the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history.  The first post highlighted several primary source sets from Teaching with the Library; today’s post brings attention to the Library’s digital collections.

More than twenty-five of the Library’s digital collections relate to the rich histories, cultures, traditions, and contemporary experiences of African Americans. A few are highlighted below, along with ideas for using collection items in the classroom.

Selected Collections

African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition 

W. E. B. Du Bois compiled a series of photographs for the “American Negro” exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition. His goal was to show the diversity and successes of African Americans as a counter to common stereotypes. The Library of Congress holds approximately 220 mounted photographs reportedly displayed in the exhibition.

• Teachers might use items in this collection to introduce, investigate, or reinforce aspects of DuBois’s approach to combating racism and segregation.
• Images from the collection are powerful visuals of African Americans holding professions in diverse fields. This may help broaden students’ understanding of African American life at the time and bring attention to the experiences, successes, challenges, and contributions of African American individuals and communities.

By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s 

To honor the remarkable life and legacy of Jackie Robinson, Library staff put together this collection featuring sources from across many different divisions of the Library.

• The colorful prints and photographs make this an inviting collection to explore with younger learners. Teachers could bring some of these visuals to support existing materials they use to celebrate Robinson and his contributions.
• For older learners, consider sending them to this set of brief essays. Topics include Robinson’s career and the greater subject of segregation in the sport of baseball.

Zora Neal Hurston

This collection features digitized plays by Hurston (1891-1960), an author, anthropologist, and folklorist.

• A timeline offers a glimpse into Hurston’s life and career and could help students find an angle or selected topic for further research.
• Teachers interested in finding more on Huston’s work might also consult this resource guide from the American Folklife Center, where Hurston’s audio recordings are held. The guide highlights unique unpublished and published materials.

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874

Douglass, a leader in the black press, used the medium to communicate and persuade the public on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. With this collection, students can explore newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass.

• These articles and essays are helpful for finding your way through the collection and identifying aspects to explore further. For example, this post gives further context to Douglass’s famous speech, “What to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?“
• Ask students to consider how Douglass used the media of his time to capture public attention. In what ways do public figures use media today to communicate a message? What differences and similarities do students notice?

We hope this overview is helpful for considering how you might bring some of the Library’s digital collections to your classroom. If you are interested in more ways for students to engage with materials from the Library, you might check out the latest transcription campaign from By the People: the papers of Christian Fleetwood an African American Union soldier during the Civil War.

Do you enjoy these posts? Subscribe! You’ll receive free teaching ideas and primary sources from the Library of Congress.

Categories

• African American History

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections | Teaching with the Library

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections – Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

ISSN 2691-6916

Share & Subscribe to this blog

1. Home
2. Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

February 10, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith

Share this post:

This is the second post in a series that looks at different resources from the Library that support teaching and learning about the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history.  The first post highlighted several primary source sets from Teaching with the Library; today’s post brings attention to the Library’s digital collections.

More than twenty-five of the Library’s digital collections relate to the rich histories, cultures, traditions, and contemporary experiences of African Americans. A few are highlighted below, along with ideas for using collection items in the classroom.

Selected Collections

African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition 

W. E. B. Du Bois compiled a series of photographs for the “American Negro” exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition. His goal was to show the diversity and successes of African Americans as a counter to common stereotypes. The Library of Congress holds approximately 220 mounted photographs reportedly displayed in the exhibition.

• Teachers might use items in this collection to introduce, investigate, or reinforce aspects of DuBois’s approach to combating racism and segregation.
• Images from the collection are powerful visuals of African Americans holding professions in diverse fields. This may help broaden students’ understanding of African American life at the time and bring attention to the experiences, successes, challenges, and contributions of African American individuals and communities.

By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s 

To honor the remarkable life and legacy of Jackie Robinson, Library staff put together this collection featuring sources from across many different divisions of the Library.

• The colorful prints and photographs make this an inviting collection to explore with younger learners. Teachers could bring some of these visuals to support existing materials they use to celebrate Robinson and his contributions.
• For older learners, consider sending them to this set of brief essays. Topics include Robinson’s career and the greater subject of segregation in the sport of baseball.

Zora Neal Hurston

This collection features digitized plays by Hurston (1891-1960), an author, anthropologist, and folklorist.

• A timeline offers a glimpse into Hurston’s life and career and could help students find an angle or selected topic for further research.
• Teachers interested in finding more on Huston’s work might also consult this resource guide from the American Folklife Center, where Hurston’s audio recordings are held. The guide highlights unique unpublished and published materials.

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874

Douglass, a leader in the black press, used the medium to communicate and persuade the public on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. With this collection, students can explore newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass.

• These articles and essays are helpful for finding your way through the collection and identifying aspects to explore further. For example, this post gives further context to Douglass’s famous speech, “What to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?“
• Ask students to consider how Douglass used the media of his time to capture public attention. In what ways do public figures use media today to communicate a message? What differences and similarities do students notice?

We hope this overview is helpful for considering how you might bring some of the Library’s digital collections to your classroom. If you are interested in more ways for students to engage with materials from the Library, you might check out the latest transcription campaign from By the People: the papers of Christian Fleetwood an African American Union soldier during the Civil War.

Do you enjoy these posts? Subscribe! You’ll receive free teaching ideas and primary sources from the Library of Congress.

Categories

• African American History

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections | Teaching with the Library

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections – Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

ISSN 2691-6916

Share & Subscribe to this blog

1. Home
2. Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

February 10, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith

Share this post:

This is the second post in a series that looks at different resources from the Library that support teaching and learning about the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history.  The first post highlighted several primary source sets from Teaching with the Library; today’s post brings attention to the Library’s digital collections.

More than twenty-five of the Library’s digital collections relate to the rich histories, cultures, traditions, and contemporary experiences of African Americans. A few are highlighted below, along with ideas for using collection items in the classroom.

Selected Collections

African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition 

W. E. B. Du Bois compiled a series of photographs for the “American Negro” exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition. His goal was to show the diversity and successes of African Americans as a counter to common stereotypes. The Library of Congress holds approximately 220 mounted photographs reportedly displayed in the exhibition.

• Teachers might use items in this collection to introduce, investigate, or reinforce aspects of DuBois’s approach to combating racism and segregation.
• Images from the collection are powerful visuals of African Americans holding professions in diverse fields. This may help broaden students’ understanding of African American life at the time and bring attention to the experiences, successes, challenges, and contributions of African American individuals and communities.

By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s 

To honor the remarkable life and legacy of Jackie Robinson, Library staff put together this collection featuring sources from across many different divisions of the Library.

• The colorful prints and photographs make this an inviting collection to explore with younger learners. Teachers could bring some of these visuals to support existing materials they use to celebrate Robinson and his contributions.
• For older learners, consider sending them to this set of brief essays. Topics include Robinson’s career and the greater subject of segregation in the sport of baseball.

Zora Neal Hurston

This collection features digitized plays by Hurston (1891-1960), an author, anthropologist, and folklorist.

• A timeline offers a glimpse into Hurston’s life and career and could help students find an angle or selected topic for further research.
• Teachers interested in finding more on Huston’s work might also consult this resource guide from the American Folklife Center, where Hurston’s audio recordings are held. The guide highlights unique unpublished and published materials.

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874

Douglass, a leader in the black press, used the medium to communicate and persuade the public on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. With this collection, students can explore newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass.

• These articles and essays are helpful for finding your way through the collection and identifying aspects to explore further. For example, this post gives further context to Douglass’s famous speech, “What to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?“
• Ask students to consider how Douglass used the media of his time to capture public attention. In what ways do public figures use media today to communicate a message? What differences and similarities do students notice?

We hope this overview is helpful for considering how you might bring some of the Library’s digital collections to your classroom. If you are interested in more ways for students to engage with materials from the Library, you might check out the latest transcription campaign from By the People: the papers of Christian Fleetwood an African American Union soldier during the Civil War.

Do you enjoy these posts? Subscribe! You’ll receive free teaching ideas and primary sources from the Library of Congress.

Categories

• African American History

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections | Teaching with the Library

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections – Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

ISSN 2691-6916

Share & Subscribe to this blog

1. Home
2. Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

February 10, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith

Share this post:

This is the second post in a series that looks at different resources from the Library that support teaching and learning about the achievements and contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history.  The first post highlighted several primary source sets from Teaching with the Library; today’s post brings attention to the Library’s digital collections.

More than twenty-five of the Library’s digital collections relate to the rich histories, cultures, traditions, and contemporary experiences of African Americans. A few are highlighted below, along with ideas for using collection items in the classroom.

Selected Collections

African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition 

W. E. B. Du Bois compiled a series of photographs for the “American Negro” exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition. His goal was to show the diversity and successes of African Americans as a counter to common stereotypes. The Library of Congress holds approximately 220 mounted photographs reportedly displayed in the exhibition.

• Teachers might use items in this collection to introduce, investigate, or reinforce aspects of DuBois’s approach to combating racism and segregation.
• Images from the collection are powerful visuals of African Americans holding professions in diverse fields. This may help broaden students’ understanding of African American life at the time and bring attention to the experiences, successes, challenges, and contributions of African American individuals and communities.

By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s 

To honor the remarkable life and legacy of Jackie Robinson, Library staff put together this collection featuring sources from across many different divisions of the Library.

• The colorful prints and photographs make this an inviting collection to explore with younger learners. Teachers could bring some of these visuals to support existing materials they use to celebrate Robinson and his contributions.
• For older learners, consider sending them to this set of brief essays. Topics include Robinson’s career and the greater subject of segregation in the sport of baseball.

Zora Neal Hurston

This collection features digitized plays by Hurston (1891-1960), an author, anthropologist, and folklorist.

• A timeline offers a glimpse into Hurston’s life and career and could help students find an angle or selected topic for further research.
• Teachers interested in finding more on Huston’s work might also consult this resource guide from the American Folklife Center, where Hurston’s audio recordings are held. The guide highlights unique unpublished and published materials.

Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874

Douglass, a leader in the black press, used the medium to communicate and persuade the public on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights. With this collection, students can explore newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass.

• These articles and essays are helpful for finding your way through the collection and identifying aspects to explore further. For example, this post gives further context to Douglass’s famous speech, “What to the American Slave is Your Fourth of July?“
• Ask students to consider how Douglass used the media of his time to capture public attention. In what ways do public figures use media today to communicate a message? What differences and similarities do students notice?

We hope this overview is helpful for considering how you might bring some of the Library’s digital collections to your classroom. If you are interested in more ways for students to engage with materials from the Library, you might check out the latest transcription campaign from By the People: the papers of Christian Fleetwood an African American Union soldier during the Civil War.

Do you enjoy these posts? Subscribe! You’ll receive free teaching ideas and primary sources from the Library of Congress.

Categories

• African American History

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections | Teaching with the Library

Trump can be bad all on his own – The New York Time

If you missed the previous newsletter, you can read it here.

The president’s advisers stink. That’s not the problem.

By Frank Bruni

Given President Trump’s habitual insistence that he’s a victim — of partisan prosecutors, incompetent pollsters, the Federal Reserve, Norway — it’s a tribute to him that Republicans are identifying yet another clique of malefactors doing him wrong: He’s being undermined by his own accomplices. They’re doling out “bad advice.”

That was the precise phrase — the exact verdict — rendered by Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma in an interview on CNN about the killing of Alex Pretti and the brutality of ICE agents in Minneapolis. Stitt acknowledged “deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability.” But he also insisted that the president’s priorities regarding immigration and border security were right. It’s just that Trump was “getting bad advice right now.”

Other Republicans delivered the same message by focusing intently on the sins of Kristi Noem, the nation’s homeland security secretary, and the callousness of Gregory Bovino, the senior Border Patrol official who egged on the government’s masked gunmen — until he was given a timeout last week. They botched the mission. Debased the president.

What a joke. You can’t dishonor someone who has no honor to begin with. You can’t humiliate someone who so consistently and thoroughly humiliates himself.

But that’s just the start of the “bad advice” bunk.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump can be bad all on his own

National Film Registry Adds ‘Karate Kid’, ‘Glory’, ‘Clueless’, ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Inception’, ‘Philadelphia’ & More In Latest Class
#News #Clueless #LibraryofCongress #NationalFilmRegistry #TheGrandBudapestHotel #TheKarateKid

https://deadline.com/2026/01/national-film-registry-2025-karate-kid-clueless-inception-1236697189/

Plunder, Mystery, and Intrigue: Visiting the British Museum and the British Library

After leaving the Lake District, I traveled to London by train, for the third part of my trip. This was where I saw the most libraries during my trip. On my last day in London, August 3rd, I visited the British Museum, located in London’s West End, which was overcrowded with tourists. This made viewing the so-called “chronicle of Western collection,” which was acquired through extensive plunder and theft, as American tour guide Rick Steves describes the museum, very uncomfortable. Even so, there were two highlights. The first was the stately and round reading room. English writers Virginia Woolf and Beatrix Potter, Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, radical thinkers Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, women’s rights campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst, independence activist Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Irish author Bram Stoker all studied there.

Note: This serves as second part of my series on this blog about my library tourism last year, with the first part, about my attempted and successful library tourism in Edinburgh and Northern England, posted on this blog last week. The series begins, chronologically, with my guest post on Reel Librarians, on February 11th, in a post entitled “Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland: Library tourism redux.” It will be reposted on here over a month later. There will be one more parts of this series, focusing on my continued library tourism in Belgium coming next week.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, as noted in Doyle’s “The Complete Sherlock Holmes,” studied in the reading room. In the 1893 short story “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual” (sometimes abbreviated as “The Musgrave Ritual”), he studied “those branches of science which might make me more efficient” in the reading room. He learned other information from the British Museum in chapter 15 of 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles and “The Tiger of San Pedro” chapter, within a 1917 collection entitled His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes (sometimes abbreviated as “His Last Bow”). There are mentions of libraries in the short stories “The Five Orange Pips”, “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”, and “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” in the 1892 short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

The same is the case for “The Musgrave Ritual,” “The ‘Gloria Scott’”, and “The Reigate Squires” all within the 1893 short story collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and the stories “The Adventures of the Three Students” and “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez” in the 1905 short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Apart from that, chapter 10 of The Hound of the Baskervilles, chapter 7 of the 1915 novel The Valley of Fear, and the story “The Problem of Thorn Bridge” in the 1927 set of short stories The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes feature libraries as well. Lastly, there’s a mention of a London Library in St. James’s Square and Lomax, who is said to be a “sublibrarian,” in “The Illustrious Client.” This is another short story within The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

In an email communication, Nathalie Belkin, an archivist who works for the London Library, told me that Doyle was a library member, joining in 1896 after his friend, and fellow writer, Arthur Griffith, nominated him. According to Belkin, Doyle was an active library user, even serving on the library’s committee. In fact, it is believed that The Illustrious Client, also entitled The Adventure of the Illustrious Client, was written in the library’s main reading room. While the borrowing history from the time has been lost, he was a “well-known fixture” of the library.

Otherwise, Karl Marx formulated ideas on communism, including within Das Kapital (also known as Capital), in the aforementioned reading room within the British Museum. Displays within the room describe it as a place for diverse thought. Many patrons left behind their mark in the visitors log. It was even one of the first places in London to have electric light (in 1879)! The room could, at maximum, hold 302 readers sitting at 38 tables, sitting across from each other, and was heated from underneath. Readers would consult a catalogue of printed books in the room’s center, then fill out a request form. In some ways, this makes this room similar to the Library of Congress’s Reading Room, since books for the British Library could be accessed there until they were moved to their current location in 1997. In fact, 62,000 people came when this reading room opened in 1857. A sign, when looking into the reading room, tells visitors to be quiet, feeding into the common conception of libraries as quiet places, which is not always the case for all libraries anymore.

What Rick Steves didn’t mention is that the historic reading room only re-opened to the public in 2024 after being closed for eleven years. The room was designed by Sydney Smirke, inspired by Rome’s domed Pantheon, and opened in 1857. It first re-opened to visitors in 2000 (after it stopped being an active reading room in 1997), then closed in 2013, when it was used for archival storage. The room, described by some as “legendary,” “stunning,” and an impressive sight for bibliophiles (protagonist and book-defender Elianna Bernstein of Bibliophile Princess would be right at home there) is not technically a library anymore. You can’t borrow any of the 25,000 books, and photography is now permitted (it wasn’t previously). Even so, it is still a marvel to see. You can even go on a twenty-minute tour there and there is currently a plan to completely transform the galleries and reading room.

The second highlight was the Enlightenment Gallery, formerly known as the King’s Library. It once held the British Library’s treasures when it was founded in 1753. Today it holds objects about the Age of Enlightenment, as Rick Steves notes. A display board, when you enter the room, says that it was developed in partnership with the House of Commons Library and the Natural History Museum. The current books on display are being loaned from the House of Commons Library. The aforementioned display notes that those who lent non-book artifacts to the gallery included the British King, the Science Museum in London, King’s College in London, Wellcome Collection, Society of Antiquities of London, Victor and Albert Museum, the Linnean Society of London, and the Royal Asiatic Society (also in London). Of these institutions, most have their own libraries. In fact, the D. Leonard Corgan Library at Kings College, the college’s main library, served as a location in Dan Brown’s controversial novel The Da Vinci Code. The building’s exterior appeared in the 2020 film Enola Holmes, a mystery film about Sherlock Holmes’ teenage sister.

The room itself was originally created, in 1823, to house King George II’s library, hence the original name. It was designed by architect Robert Smirke, known for the British Museum’s main facade and block, along with various clubs and houses within London. Of these, the Inner Temple, for which he did some work on, has a library, which continues to operate to this day, as did Bickley Hall. Smike also completed building restoration of the Bodleian Library’s Upper Reading room, which is part of the “old library.” As for the Enlightenment Gallery, it has a Greek Revival design, with neoclassical decoration. It’s said to be in keeping with the “styles of libraries in grand houses all over Britain” at the time, with claims it has echoes of “ancient wisdom and learning.” In 1998, the British Library moved to a new location across from the current St. Pancras station. The latter is not to be confused with pancreas or the Japanese anime film which centers on libraries and librarians, entitled I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. It is far too easy to call it “pancreas” by mistake, a name that almost stuck with me.

This gallery is where thousands of objects can be viewed and serves as an introduction to the British Museum’s collections. Even so, for me, I visited it at the end of my time at the overcrowded museum. I was inspired to visit this room by one particular scene in the December 2011 anime film, K-On! the Movie, a spinoff from the 2009-2010 anime series, K-On!. It features two episodes with libraries, including one about studying in the library and featuring a student librarian at an information desk. In fact, I rewatched this film before my trip to London, just for this scene. During the film, Yui Hirasawa, Ritsu Tainaka, Mio Akiyama, Azusa Nakano, and Tsumugi Kotobuki bop around London, visiting many sites, including walking through the strangely empty Great Court of the British Museum. They make their way into the gallery. During a short scene, Azusa points out that the Rosetta Stone (she put it on their itinerary) is also a replica. In fact, they used a replica in a school play as the death stone for a Romeo & Juliet play, because the fake tombstone they wanted to use had been misplaced.

The British Museum also has the actual Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian sculpture room, but like Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Azusa, and Tsumugi, I only looked at and touched the replica. The aforementioned gallery likely would have been overcrowded, as the gallery rooms I visited were extremely overcrowded and not suited for visitors. They had inadequate airflow and no overhead fans. As for the film, there were a few other short library scenes in the private all-girls school the protagonists attend, Sakuragaoka High School.

The same day I visited the British Museum, I visited the British Library. It sits across from St. Pancras station, and would be the last library I visited in the U.K. As Rick Steves put it, the British empire built its “greatest monuments out of paper.” The library holds every publication within the U.K. and Northern Ireland, with over 170 million items, such as sacred texts, maps, the Magna Carta, Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebook, plays by William Shakespeare, and lyrics of songs by the Beatles. This library, established by an act of Parliament in July 1972 and opened in July 1973, is one of the biggest in the world. It’s only rivaled by the Library of Congress, Russian State Library in Moscow, or Shanghai Library in China. Many such institutions are the legal deposit libraries for their respective countries. Anyone is open to explore the British Library reading rooms and peruse exhibits. You can get a readers registration pass if you are over 18, allowing you to enter the reading rooms.

When I visited, on August 3rd, the reading rooms for humanities, manuscripts, rare books, music, science, maps, and Asian and African studies, were not open. I even saw rooms reserved for the sole purpose of prayer, and went through the “Treasures of the British Library” exhibit in the St. John Ritblat Gallery. It contained many of the artifacts I noted in the previous paragraph. Perhaps because they have the space, the British Library holds the library collections of the British Museum. Rare books fill the middle of the library in a massive climate-controlled column, allowing the upper floors to only be accessed by stairs or elevators, and affecting the structure of each floor. There was also a fascinating collection of foreign currency, stamps, and other postage from former British colonies, called the Philatelic Collection. It could be easily overlooked, but was fun to look through, especially in the way it was displayed.

Like the British museums I visited during my travels, they asked for a donation, but they were free to enter, without payment or restriction. The number of visitors using the study area made clear that they were open to all, in line with library ethical principles, as did the books in their bookshop, some of which would likely be on banned books lists of in U.S. libraries. In the next part of this series, I’ll talk briefly about the university library I visited in Belgium.

© 2025-2026 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Sources used

• “About this Reading Room,” Library of Congress, 2025.
• “About Us,” British Library, 2025.
• “About us,” House of Commons Library, 2025.
• “About us,” Royal Asiatic Society, 2025.
• “About us,” Wellcome Collection, 2025.
• “Archives,” London Library, 2025.
• Barker, Sam. “The British Museum’s Secretive Round Reading Room Has Reopened To The Public,” Secret London, 4 Jul. 2024.
• “Bickley,” Wikishire, 13 Jul. 2025.
• “D. Leonard Corgan Library,” Kings College, 2025.
• “Dana Research Centre and Library,” Science Museum, 2025.
• “Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone,” British Museum, 2025.
• Fox, Caroline. “Every Enola Holmes Filming Location (And What Every Place Looks Like Now),” ScreenRant, 26 Oct. 2020.
• Funk, Alex. “The British Museum’s mysterious domed Reading Room has officially reopened to the public,” TimeOut, 3 Jul. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Librarians and libraries in anime,” Pop Culture Library Review, 2025 (orig. 25 Jul. 2020).
• Hermann, Burkely. “More than a coming-of-age drama: The value of libraries and librarians in “I Want To Eat Your Pancreas”,” Pop Culture Library Review, 8 Jan. 2024.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Recently added titles (March 2025),” Pop Culture Library Review, 2 Apr. 2025.
• Hermann, Burkely. “The fictional library and the value of studying redux,” Pop Culture Library Review, 30 Jul. 2024.
• Hickley, Catherine. “British Museum’s historic Reading Room opens to the public after 11 years,” The Art Newspaper, 3 Jul. 2024.
• “History of The London Library,” London Library, 2025.
• “Library,” Linnean Society of London, 2025.
• “Library & Collections,” Society of Antiquities of London, 2024.
• Mathur, Rhea. “The British Museum’s Reading Room: Past and Present,” gowithyamo, 2 Sept. 2024.
• Moran, Sarah. “The British Museum’s Stunning Domed Reading Room Reopens to Public,” Home Journal, 27 Sept. 2024.
• “National Art Library,” Victor and Albert Museum, 2025.
• “Philatelic Collections: Introduction,” British Library, 29 Mar. 2010.
• Hermann, Burkely. “Remembering “Bibliophile Princess” and its significant fictional depiction of libraries,” Pop Culture Library Review, 14 May 2024.
• “Spaces at the Bodleian Old Library,” Bodleian Library, 2025.
• “Spotlight: the Reading Room,” British Museum, 2025.
• Steves, Rick and Openshaw, Gene. London (24th Edition, US: Avalon Travel, Sept. 2022): 212, 214-215, 236, 238, 240, 244-247, 249.
• “Strand Campus: Self-guided tour,” King’s College, 5 Oct. 2014, p. 8.
•  “The British Library Philatelic Collection,” The Royal Philatelic Society London, Nov. 2005.
• “The Present Buildings,” Inner Temple Library, 2025.
• “Treasures of the British Library,” British Library, 2025.
• “Update on progress with the Masterplan,” British Museum, 19 Dec. 2024.

#AncientEgypt #archives #ArthurConanDoyle #artifacts #BeatrixPotter #Belgium #BibliophilePrincess #BlackPatrons #BlackPeople #BramStoker #BritishLibrary #BritishMuseum #China #ChinesePatrons #colonialism #communism #electricity #EnolaHolmes #HouseOfCommonsLibrary #JapanesePatrons #JenniferSnoekBrown #KOn #KOnTheMovie #KarlMarx #LibraryOfCongress #libraryStereotypes #libraryTourism #LondonLibrary #MarcusGarvey #MohandasKGandhi #quiet #railroads #reading #ReelLibrarians #restrictions #RickSteves #RosettaStone #royalLibraries #royalty #Russia #RussianStateLibrary #ShanghaiLibrary #SherlockHolmes #SunYatSen #SylviaPankhurst #TheBeatles #TheDaVinciCode #TheIllustriousClient #trains #VirginiaWoolf #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteMen #WhitePatrons

@dinelli

Você pode gostar de navegar por esta coleção de pôsteres da WPA.

You might enjoy browsing this collection of WPA posters:

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/

#Posters #GraphicArt #WPA #WorksProjectsAdministration #WorksProgressAdministration #USArt #NewDeal #LibraryOfCongress

How pecans went from ignored trees to a holiday staple – an expert explains the 8,000-year history – PBS News

• Full Episodes
• Podcasts
• Newsletters
• Live

By —

Shelley Mitchell, The Conversation

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

How pecans went from ignored trees to a holiday staple — an expert explains the 8,000-year history

Science Nov 22, 2025 3:17 PM EST

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Pecans have a storied history in the United States. Today, American trees produce hundreds of million of pounds of pecans – 80% of the world’s pecan crop. Most of that crop stays here. Pecans are used to produce pecan milk, butter and oil, but many of the nuts end up in pecan pies.

Throughout history, pecans have been overlooked, poached, cultivated and improved. As they have spread throughout the United States, they have been eaten raw and in recipes. Pecans have grown more popular over the decades, and you will probably encounter them in some form this holiday season.

READ MORE: How science can help hack tasty side dishes for your next holiday meal

I’m an extension specialist in Oklahoma, a state consistently ranked fifth in pecan production, behind Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. I’ll admit that I am not a fan of the taste of pecans, which leaves more for the squirrels, crows and enthusiastic pecan lovers.

The spread of pecans

The pecan is a nut related to the hickory. Actually, though we call them nuts, pecans are actually a type of fruit called a drupe. Drupes have pits, like the peach and cherry.

The pecan nuts that look like little brown footballs are actually the seed that starts inside the pecan fruit – until the fruit ripens and splits open to release the pecan. They are usually the size of your thumb, and you may need a nutcracker to open them. You can eat them raw or as part of a cooked dish.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: How pecans went from ignored trees to a holiday staple — an expert explains the 8,000-year history | PBS News

#2025 #8000YearHistory #america #americans80PecanCrop #cooking #drupe #education #hickory #history #holidayFoods #libraryOfCongress #pbs #pbsNews #pecanNuts #pecanProduction #pecans #theConversation

Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education raises urgent questions – The 19th

Education

‘Selling off the Department of Education for parts’: The agency’s major overhaul faces fierce backlash

The Trump administration’s restructuring plan will create “more confusion, more mistakes and more barriers” for students and families in need of support, advocates say.

By Nadra Nittle, Education reporter

Published November 19, 2025, 11:21 a.m. PT

Republish this story

As The 19th makes plans for 2026, we want to hear from you! Complete our annual survey to let us know your thoughts.

President Donald Trump has taken his most decisive step yet toward dismantling the Department of Education, a move that will have widespread ramifications for vulnerable students and has raised concerns among education leaders and lawmakers who contend that it will create chaos and confusion for families instead of giving them the help they actually need.  

His administration announced on Tuesday that it will transfer core agency functions to four other federal offices — news met with fierce criticism by education advocates who questioned its legality and said it is an abandonment of the nation’s students. 

“Donald Trump and his administration chose American Education Week, a time when our nation is celebrating students, public schools, and educators, to announce their illegal plan to further abandon students by dismantling the Department of Education,” said National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle in a statement. “It’s cruel. It’s shameful. And our students deserve so much better.”

The Trump administration will reassign the department’s key programs involving K-12 education, higher education, Indian education and international studies through so-called interagency agreements with the departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services and State.

The reorganization marks one of the most significant overhauls to the department since its establishment during former President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1979. Only Congress can create a federal agency and has the sole authority to approve its restructuring or elimination.

The move to restructure the agency, Trump officials argue, will lead to more efficiency by reducing administrative burdens and making it easier to pursue objectives like aligning education with workforce readiness. 

Vulnerable students stand to be uniquely affected by the reorganization with the shift of K-12 programs to the Department of Labor raising major concerns about the wellbeing of economically disadvantaged students. The Labor Department will manage programs such as Title I, which provides additional resources to K-12 schools serving such students. Labor will also administer postsecondary education grant programs authorized under the Higher Education Act with the goal of ending an estimated labor shortage of over 700,000 skilled jobs nationally. 

• Previous coverage
• Supreme Court ruling allows Trump to gut Education Dept., sparking fears for vulnerable students
• ‘A dark day’ for American children: Trump issues order to kill the Department of Education
• Trump’s attempt to gut special education office has some conservative parents on edge

“Moving Title I, the largest federal funding stream providing important resources to the schools serving the lowest-income students in America, to the Department of Labor makes no sense,” said Denise Forte, president and CEO of The Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for equity in the nation’s schools. 

“The Trump administration began the process of selling off the Department of Education for parts,” Forte said in a statement. “Further diminishing these offices… and sending them off to be run by agencies that work on public health and short-term training, which lack the skills, expertise, or capacity in education, isn’t about improving student outcomes. It’s about implementing a business model that transforms students into widgets instead of human beings who need support.”

Leaders of the nation’s two largest teacher unions, the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), characterized the restructuring as a betrayal of students and families.

“This move is neither streamlining nor reform — it’s an abdication and abandonment of America’s future,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “Rather than show leadership in helping all students seize their potential, it walks away from that responsibility.”

Similarly, Weingarten pushed back against the idea that the restructuring was about efficiency. 

“What’s happening now isn’t about slashing red tape,” she said. “If that were the goal, teachers could help them do it …Instead, spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need.”

Other changes affect groups of students who have traditionally needed extra support: The Department of the Interior will be the primary administrator for Indian Education programs, functioning as the point of contact for tribes and students. The Department of Health and Human Services will manage a program for student-parents in college called Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) and another related to foreign medical school accreditation standards. Finally, the Department of State will administer the Fulbright-Hays Program which awards grants to students, teachers, administrators and institutions. 

It’s unclear how Native American students will fare with Indian Education programs moved to the Interior Department, an agency that manages natural resources and not the education of children. The future of the thousands of student-parents in college who rely on campus-based childcare grants is also uncertain, since moving the Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools program to the Health and Human Services Department could lead to disruptions in support for them that sidetrack their journey to a degree. Transferring responsibilities from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor undermines public education’s purpose, according to National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues. 

“At a time when the public demands transparency regarding the Epstein files, the Administration has instead launched a chaotic assault on education,” she said in a statement. “Families see this clearly: a political diversion, not a vision for better schools. Public education has never been about turning children into factory workers, it has always been about preparing creators, innovators, and dreamers who will shape the future of our nation.”

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned the constitutionality of the interagency agreements. 

“Donald Trump and Linda McMahon are lawlessly trying to fulfill Project 2025’s goal to abolish the Department of Education and pull the rug out from students in every part of the country,” stated the Washington lawmaker, a former preschool teacher. 

Democratic Rep. Summer Lee, who serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and Workforce, called the shakeup “a direct assault on the students, families, and educators who depend on its essential protections.”

In her statement, the Pennsylvania lawmaker emphasized that even the education secretary has acknowledged that only Congress has the authority to eliminate the department. 

“Our children deserve better than political stunts that jeopardize their futures,” she said. “And let’s be clear: an uneducated electorate isn’t a by-product of authoritarianism — it’s a prerequisite for it. We will fight back.”

Critics of the department’s makeover also said they feared that its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services would be the next to be reassigned to other federal agencies. The Trump administration has diminished their power and effectiveness through staff cuts and — in the case of OCR in particular — regional office closures that have led to civil rights cases not being investigated. 

“Transferring OCR’s authority to another department that is ill-equipped to carry out its critical functions would all but guarantee that civil rights complaints will continue to be dismissed en masse without resolution,” Forte said. Such a development would disproportionately affect students of color, students with disabilities and English learners.  

Education leaders, including the AFT, and lawmakers are already preparing to challenge the reorganization in court.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education raises urgent questions

#2025 #america #books #departmentOfEducation #dismantlingEducation #donaldTrump #education #health #history #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #opinion #politics #reading #resistance #science #the19th #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates

Civil Discourse – Prosecuting Comey – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, Prosecuting Comey

By Joyce Vance, Nov 13, 2025

Today, in Alexandria, Virginia, a senior federal judge from South Carolina, Cameron Currie, heard oral argument on consolidated motions filed by former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James in their separate criminal prosecutions. Both of them filed motions challenging the legitimacy of Trump’s insurance-lawyer-turned-U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan’s role in their prosecution. Here’s what you need to know ahead of what Judge Currie said would be a pre-Thanksgiving decision:

The motions are being heard by Judge Currie, who was appointed by the chief judge of the Fourth Circuit (where Virginia and South Carolina are both located), since it would be problematic to have a judge from the same district where a U.S. attorney has been putatively installed consider whether the appointment was proper.

It’s reassuring to know that some people still care about ethics and conflicts of interest.

Appearing for the Justice Department, attorney Henry Whitaker told the court that any questions about the appointment of Halligan involved, at worst, mere paperwork errors. Whitaker was the Florida Solicitor General until earlier this year. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas after law school and worked in the Office of Legal Counsel during the first Trump administration.

Perhaps anticipating problems with the validity of Halligan’s appointment, Attorney General Pam Bondi tried to back-bless the indictments, filing that she had reviewed the grand jury proceedings. But the Judge pointed out this morning that wasn’t possible because they hadn’t been fully transcribed. And, while every attorney general would likely have loved to possess a magic wand that would permit them to fix errors after the fact, that’s not how any of this works. Prosecutors must follow the rules, which are in place to ensure that defendants’ rights are protected and justice is done. Cases are dismissed when they make procedural errors, in part to protect them and in part to deter prosecutors from making future errors. If ever an attorney general needed that sort of a reminder from the courts, it’s this one.

Politico characterized the hearing this way: “A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Thursday about whether a federal prosecutor handpicked by President Donald Trump to bring criminal cases against his political rivals was legally appointed to the role.”

We all know the history by now. Trump’s handpicked appointee to be U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, longtime, highly regarded prosecutor Erik Siebert, concluded there was insufficient evidence to indict either Comey or James. His removal and replacement with Halligan followed. Along the way, Trump stumbled, publicly posting what looked like a text message meant for Attorney General Pam Bondi:

“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW”

Bondi, apparently persuaded, put Halligan in place, and Halligan promptly indicted Comey, just barely ahead of the expiration of the statute of limitations, following up with the indictment of James.

The allegations that her appointment is improper have to do with the technicalities of the Vacancies Reform Act, which allows a president to replace a vacant U.S. attorney with an appointee for 120 days, after which the district court appoints an acting U.S. attorney until a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed nominee is put in place. Halligan’s predecessor had already been in place for 120 days when he was removed to make way for Halligan. But the government seems to be suggesting that it can swap out different people for sequential 120-day terms under the law. The defendants’ lawyers argued that if the government can continue making these interim appointments, it could perpetually avoid the constitutional requirement that the Senate confirm U.S. attorney nominees. That would give a president an open invitation to install unqualified loyalists instead of professional prosecutors for these important positions. Under the extreme facts of this case, the defendants have asked the Judge to dismiss the prosecutions with prejudice to deter future maneuvering like this.

Read more: Civil Discourse – Prosecuting Comey – Joyce Vance

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Prosecuting Comey – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #america #books #civilDiscourse #donaldTrump #education #health #history #jamesComey #joyceVance #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #opinion #politics #prosecutingComey #resistance #science #substack #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates

Civil Discourse – But his emails… – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, But His Emails…

By Joyce Vance, Nov 12, 2025

Before he was elected in 2016, Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women by the pu**y and barging into rooms of partially dressed young pageant contestants. A jury concluded he assaulted E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room. So nothing that’s in the Epstein emails is a surprise. It’s confirmation.

The emails, documents obtained from Epstein’s estate, were released today by House Democrats. Meanwhile, the swearing in of Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, after a record-busting 50-day wait, means that there are enough signatures for the discharge petition the House will use to direct the Justice Department to turn over the Epstein case files to them.

Among the emails Epstein wrote, there is one from back in 2011, when there would have been little incentive to fabricate details about Trump, to his now-convicted coconspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, stating that Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims. Although the name is redacted in emails released by Democrats, House Republicans, apparently unconcerned with protecting confidential victim information, say it was Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who committed suicide earlier this year. Giuffre had said Trump never abused her. We may never learn the truth. It’s impossible to discredit an email between Epstein and Maxwell written all those years ago with no expectation it would ever come to light. More recent comments—those by victims who might fear retaliation and those by convicted felons seeking favorable treatment—could have been made in a situation where there was an interest in shading the truth, unlike this older email. “He has never once been mentioned,” Epstein said in 2011, referring to Trump.

Given everything we know about Donald Trump, everything he himself has said about girls and women, it’s hard to envision what innocent behavior he would have been engaged in for “hours” spent with a victim of abuse at the scene of the crime—Epstein’s home, where sexual abuse was rampant.

In a 2019 email with a journalist, Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls” because he “asked [G]hislaine to stop.” That could be a reference to reports that Maxwell acquired girls who worked for Trump in locker rooms and elsewhere on the premises at Mar-a-Lago for Epstein and others.

The House obtained these emails and others that Republicans released later in the day from Epstein’s estate. They are not the full FBI file that Congressional Democrats are trying to secure, with assistance from some Republicans who remember the president’s campaign promise to release the files.

Trump himself seems to have forgotten those promises. “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again,” according to Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. Note what this isn’t. It is not a denial.

In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

After Representative Grijalva was sworn in at 4:00 p.m. today, she voted on the Epstein discharge petition almost immediately. Speaker Mike Johnson, having just called the House back into session following the end of the shutdown, told reporters he would bring a resolution to release the Epstein files to a vote on the House floor next week.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: But His Emails… – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #america #civilDiscourse #donaldTrump #education #epsteinFiles #health #hisEmails #history #jeffreyEpstein #joyceVance #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #opinion #politics #reading #resistance #substack #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates

How Seattle, King County libraries get books into your hands

• Books
• Life
• Local News
• Northwest

How Seattle, King County libraries get books into your hands

Nov. 2, 2025 at 6:00 am, Updated Nov. 2, 2025 at 6:01 am

Tony Lauricella, automated materials handling system lead, dumps a tote of books into a singulator to be sorted at Seattle Public Library’s Maintenance and Operations Center in Georgetown on Sept. 11. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)

1 of 11 | Tony Lauricella, automated materials handling system lead, dumps a tote of books into a singulator to be sorted at Seattle Public Library’s Maintenance and Operations Center in Georgetown on Sept. 11. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)

By Sara Jean Green, Seattle Times staff reporter

Under a pitch-black sky, Jason Hayes and Chris Little loaded stacks of blue storage totes into box trucks parked outside a Georgetown warehouse that, up until a few years ago, housed luxury sports cars.

On this particular Tuesday, Hayes would drive to Rainier Beach, Columbia City, Beacon Hill and Leschi while Little made stops downtown and at seven sites in the northeast part of the city.

Hayes manages the Seattle Public Library’s materials distribution and fleet services, coordinating drivers who fan out every day to deliver totes filled with books to 26 library branches. Little, a library driver for 28 years, said the “bread-and-butter” of his job is the mobile library, the unofficial 27th branch that holds pop-ups at Seattle Housing Authority buildings and housing complexes for seniors and people with disabilities.

“It’s getting the library to people who can’t get out,” he said. “‘It’s like Christmas once a month’ — that’s what people literally say.”

Hayes and Little are two of the 18 library employees who work out of the Maintenance and Operations Center, a nearly 20,000-square-foot industrial warehouse on Corson Avenue South. Known as the MOC, it serves as the Seattle Public Library’s hidden hub, where an average of 10,000 books a day begin their journeys across the city, with 60% of them destined to fill online holds and the remainder returning to their home branches.

In an industrial park 25 miles to the east, off Interstate 90 in the tiny, unincorporated community of Preston, the King County Library System’s distribution center handles three times the daily volume of books processed through Seattle’s central sorter and serves 50 branches across a vast geography, from Skykomish to Algona.

A borrowing agreement between the Seattle and King County library systems — first signed in 1943 — meansresidents can borrow from both.

For library patrons, it can seem as if books magically appear on hold shelves in their neighborhood branches. But the infrastructure, technology and logistics involved in moving books — along with CDs, DVDs and mobile Wi-Fi hot spots — reflects the value placed on public libraries and is indicative of the Seattle area’s literary culture. The two libraries’ digital collections of audiobooks and e-books are attracting even more readers who prefer listening and scrolling to turning pages.

An abundance of books — and e-books

The Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System are beloved institutions with a combined collection of 6.8 million copies of physical and digital books. E-books and audiobooks are gaining in popularity but have yet to surpass demand for bound and printed copies. Source: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GWj9m/

Seattle Public Library, King County Library System (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

The two library systems are part of a larger ecosystem, said Stesha Brandon, Seattle Public Library’s literature and humanities program manager. Our region boasts numerous local authors and “a committed community of readers” who shop at local bookstores, attend readings, take part in programming, use libraries and support library levies, she said.

“It really is the kind of place where we kind of breathe literature,” Brandon said. “Stories are part of our DNA. Maybe some cities feel it more through music or sports or other things, but I think here in Seattle, we definitely feel it through books.”

Continue/Read Original Article: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-seattle-king-county-libraries-get-books-into-your-hands/

#2025 #America #Books #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #SeattlePublicLibrary #Technology #TheSeattleTimes #UnitedStates

Good News – A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

By Joyce Vance, Nov 01, 2025

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Good News – A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

In March, Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “PRESERVING AND PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS.” Predictably, it was designed to do anything but that. Its goal was to make it more difficult to register to vote.

In April, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a senior judge in the District of Columbia, issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily prevented key parts of the executive order from going into effect while the litigation moved forward. The key problem Judge Kollar-Kotelly observed was that Trump was trying to usurp the power the Constitution affords to the states and Congress to run elections.

Friday, the Judge granted summary judgment in parts of the case, entering a permanent injunction that prevents the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from implementing the worst provision of Trump’s executive order: one that purported to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The measure was designed to suppress voter participation in elections; a solution in search of a problem. It’s akin to the poll taxes used in the South before the Supreme Court put an end to them. Trump’s plan would require people to jump through expensive hoops to acquire proof of birth and costly forms of identification, like passports. At least 21 million Americans don’t have that kind of proof readily available. Only 51% of Americans have passports, which cost adults applying for the first time a $165.00 fee, not to mention assembling the documents you need, getting a photograph of yourself, and making it to an appointment. The problem is especially acute for young people and students who live away from home, and whose documents are with their parents, if they have them at all.

The Judge wrote, “The Constitution’s allocation of authority over federal elections between Congress and the States may not be intuitive. But it is no accident,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “Instead, this design was the product of carefully considered compromises among our Constitution’s Framers.” Those compromisers were part of the attention to avoid rule by a king-a dictator.

Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to claim he has powers the Constitution does not give to the president. And this is especially dangerous when it comes to voting, given his track record. We the people must have the right to choose their leaders, not the other way around.

Tonight, another federal district judge stood up for the rule of law and for democracy, telling a power hungry president, “No.”

If you’re looking for something you can do to support the judiciary in this moment where district court judges are bravely standing for the rule of law even though they know that means the president could target them, let them know you support them. Send the Judge and others a postcard, like we do to encourage voters to participate in elections, and thank her for standing for the Constitution and the rule of law. It may seem like a small thing, but the judiciary deserves our support and our thanks for what they are doing. Let’s be visible and involved. Let’s make sure the courts know we are paying attention.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Good News: A Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Suppress The Vote

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Judge #JudgeColleenKollarKotelly #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #ProofOfCitizenship #RegisterToVote #Resistance #Science #Substack #SuppressVoting #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSAttempt #UnitedStates

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact

Professors and graduate students gathered at the Teach-In to speak out against the compact.

By Ella Crocco, Staffer-in-Training, Oct 24, 2025

Vanderbilt Student Government and members of Vanderbilt’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a Teach-In on Oct. 17 regarding the higher education compact Vanderbilt was sent from the Trump administration. Students and faculty at the event discussed how they believe the compact could endanger academic freedom, education policy and the university’s core values, among other topics.   

Jessie Hock, associate English department chair and associate professor of English, opened the Teach-In with contextual remarks. Carwil Bjork-James, associate professor in social movements, indigenous rights and political anthropology, then spoke to the crowd about how he believes that if Vanderbilt agrees to the compact, it could have negative financial impacts for the university.  

“I think that our administrators are being misled by the promise of more research funding by an administration that is clearly cutting off research funding and restricting it at every level,” Bjork-James said.  

In an interview with The Hustler, Bjork-James said that the compact will not help ensure Vanderbilt is a space where students and faculty can freely express their thoughts.  

“I would say faculty are really committed to maintaining this campus as a place where [students] can speak freely, where [students] can come here with any political opinion, with any perspective, get an open education and where there are viable places to do scholarship and research and this compact is not the right way to do that,” Bjork-James said. 

Jada Benn Torres, associate professor in genetics, race and genetic ancestry, followed by speaking about how she believed Vanderbilt signing the compact would limit scientific research and free speech. In a message to The Hustler, Benn Torres said that the compact could contribute to the marginalization of communities and hopes Vanderbilt will continue to be a place where freedom of discussion is practiced.  

“I am very concerned that the compact will upend academic freedom and freedom of expression. Additionally, there are elements of the compact that further marginalize communities that are already marginalized,” Torres said. “Overall, I think that the university needs to be a place where we are free to ask difficult questions and grapple with uncomfortable answers.” 

Rebecca Epstein-Levy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and gender & sexuality studies, spoke about how she believes the compact has anti-trans provisions which would limit her ability to teach and research certain topics about Judaism and sex, sexuality, gender and disability.   

“I’m a Jewish ethicist, and I research and teach courses at the intersection of Jewish text, Jewish thought, and sex, sexuality, gender and disability,” Epstein-Levy said. “The compact’s claim that there are only two genders — a claim which is bigoted, venal and spectacularly wrong — would make it impossible for me to teach these subjects accurately and responsibly.” 

Jonathan Gilligan, earth and environmental studies and civil and environmental engineering professor, spoke about how he believes the compact could limit research and what is taught in science classes because topics may offend conservative policies. 

Gilligan shared in an interview with The Hustler that he and many of his colleagues are worried about government overreach. They believe that if the government enforces politicized versions of science upon universities, they will not stop with the biology of sex and gender.

Editor’s Note: I am proud of hopeful of American higher education. Stand up for your rights, and protect us all with your views and passion for Democracy. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

#2025 #AAUP #AcademicFreedom #America #DEI #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StudentGovernment #TeachIn #TheVanderbiltHustler #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSCompact #UnitedStates #VanderbiltUniversity

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact

Professors and graduate students gathered at the Teach-In to speak out against the compact.

By Ella Crocco, Staffer-in-Training, Oct 24, 2025

Vanderbilt Student Government and members of Vanderbilt’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a Teach-In on Oct. 17 regarding the higher education compact Vanderbilt was sent from the Trump administration. Students and faculty at the event discussed how they believe the compact could endanger academic freedom, education policy and the university’s core values, among other topics.   

Jessie Hock, associate English department chair and associate professor of English, opened the Teach-In with contextual remarks. Carwil Bjork-James, associate professor in social movements, indigenous rights and political anthropology, then spoke to the crowd about how he believes that if Vanderbilt agrees to the compact, it could have negative financial impacts for the university.  

“I think that our administrators are being misled by the promise of more research funding by an administration that is clearly cutting off research funding and restricting it at every level,” Bjork-James said.  

In an interview with The Hustler, Bjork-James said that the compact will not help ensure Vanderbilt is a space where students and faculty can freely express their thoughts.  

“I would say faculty are really committed to maintaining this campus as a place where [students] can speak freely, where [students] can come here with any political opinion, with any perspective, get an open education and where there are viable places to do scholarship and research and this compact is not the right way to do that,” Bjork-James said. 

Jada Benn Torres, associate professor in genetics, race and genetic ancestry, followed by speaking about how she believed Vanderbilt signing the compact would limit scientific research and free speech. In a message to The Hustler, Benn Torres said that the compact could contribute to the marginalization of communities and hopes Vanderbilt will continue to be a place where freedom of discussion is practiced.  

“I am very concerned that the compact will upend academic freedom and freedom of expression. Additionally, there are elements of the compact that further marginalize communities that are already marginalized,” Torres said. “Overall, I think that the university needs to be a place where we are free to ask difficult questions and grapple with uncomfortable answers.” 

Rebecca Epstein-Levy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and gender & sexuality studies, spoke about how she believes the compact has anti-trans provisions which would limit her ability to teach and research certain topics about Judaism and sex, sexuality, gender and disability.   

“I’m a Jewish ethicist, and I research and teach courses at the intersection of Jewish text, Jewish thought, and sex, sexuality, gender and disability,” Epstein-Levy said. “The compact’s claim that there are only two genders — a claim which is bigoted, venal and spectacularly wrong — would make it impossible for me to teach these subjects accurately and responsibly.” 

Jonathan Gilligan, earth and environmental studies and civil and environmental engineering professor, spoke about how he believes the compact could limit research and what is taught in science classes because topics may offend conservative policies. 

Gilligan shared in an interview with The Hustler that he and many of his colleagues are worried about government overreach. They believe that if the government enforces politicized versions of science upon universities, they will not stop with the biology of sex and gender.

Editor’s Note: I am proud of hopeful of American higher education. Stand up for your rights, and protect us all with your views and passion for Democracy. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

#2025 #AAUP #AcademicFreedom #America #DEI #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StudentGovernment #TeachIn #TheVanderbiltHustler #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSCompact #UnitedStates #VanderbiltUniversity

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact

Professors and graduate students gathered at the Teach-In to speak out against the compact.

By Ella Crocco, Staffer-in-Training, Oct 24, 2025

Vanderbilt Student Government and members of Vanderbilt’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a Teach-In on Oct. 17 regarding the higher education compact Vanderbilt was sent from the Trump administration. Students and faculty at the event discussed how they believe the compact could endanger academic freedom, education policy and the university’s core values, among other topics.   

Jessie Hock, associate English department chair and associate professor of English, opened the Teach-In with contextual remarks. Carwil Bjork-James, associate professor in social movements, indigenous rights and political anthropology, then spoke to the crowd about how he believes that if Vanderbilt agrees to the compact, it could have negative financial impacts for the university.  

“I think that our administrators are being misled by the promise of more research funding by an administration that is clearly cutting off research funding and restricting it at every level,” Bjork-James said.  

In an interview with The Hustler, Bjork-James said that the compact will not help ensure Vanderbilt is a space where students and faculty can freely express their thoughts.  

“I would say faculty are really committed to maintaining this campus as a place where [students] can speak freely, where [students] can come here with any political opinion, with any perspective, get an open education and where there are viable places to do scholarship and research and this compact is not the right way to do that,” Bjork-James said. 

Jada Benn Torres, associate professor in genetics, race and genetic ancestry, followed by speaking about how she believed Vanderbilt signing the compact would limit scientific research and free speech. In a message to The Hustler, Benn Torres said that the compact could contribute to the marginalization of communities and hopes Vanderbilt will continue to be a place where freedom of discussion is practiced.  

“I am very concerned that the compact will upend academic freedom and freedom of expression. Additionally, there are elements of the compact that further marginalize communities that are already marginalized,” Torres said. “Overall, I think that the university needs to be a place where we are free to ask difficult questions and grapple with uncomfortable answers.” 

Rebecca Epstein-Levy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and gender & sexuality studies, spoke about how she believes the compact has anti-trans provisions which would limit her ability to teach and research certain topics about Judaism and sex, sexuality, gender and disability.   

“I’m a Jewish ethicist, and I research and teach courses at the intersection of Jewish text, Jewish thought, and sex, sexuality, gender and disability,” Epstein-Levy said. “The compact’s claim that there are only two genders — a claim which is bigoted, venal and spectacularly wrong — would make it impossible for me to teach these subjects accurately and responsibly.” 

Jonathan Gilligan, earth and environmental studies and civil and environmental engineering professor, spoke about how he believes the compact could limit research and what is taught in science classes because topics may offend conservative policies. 

Gilligan shared in an interview with The Hustler that he and many of his colleagues are worried about government overreach. They believe that if the government enforces politicized versions of science upon universities, they will not stop with the biology of sex and gender.

Editor’s Note: I am proud of hopeful of American higher education. Stand up for your rights, and protect us all with your views and passion for Democracy. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

#2025 #AAUP #AcademicFreedom #America #DEI #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StudentGovernment #TeachIn #TheVanderbiltHustler #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSCompact #UnitedStates #VanderbiltUniversity

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact

Professors and graduate students gathered at the Teach-In to speak out against the compact.

By Ella Crocco, Staffer-in-Training, Oct 24, 2025

Vanderbilt Student Government and members of Vanderbilt’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a Teach-In on Oct. 17 regarding the higher education compact Vanderbilt was sent from the Trump administration. Students and faculty at the event discussed how they believe the compact could endanger academic freedom, education policy and the university’s core values, among other topics.   

Jessie Hock, associate English department chair and associate professor of English, opened the Teach-In with contextual remarks. Carwil Bjork-James, associate professor in social movements, indigenous rights and political anthropology, then spoke to the crowd about how he believes that if Vanderbilt agrees to the compact, it could have negative financial impacts for the university.  

“I think that our administrators are being misled by the promise of more research funding by an administration that is clearly cutting off research funding and restricting it at every level,” Bjork-James said.  

In an interview with The Hustler, Bjork-James said that the compact will not help ensure Vanderbilt is a space where students and faculty can freely express their thoughts.  

“I would say faculty are really committed to maintaining this campus as a place where [students] can speak freely, where [students] can come here with any political opinion, with any perspective, get an open education and where there are viable places to do scholarship and research and this compact is not the right way to do that,” Bjork-James said. 

Jada Benn Torres, associate professor in genetics, race and genetic ancestry, followed by speaking about how she believed Vanderbilt signing the compact would limit scientific research and free speech. In a message to The Hustler, Benn Torres said that the compact could contribute to the marginalization of communities and hopes Vanderbilt will continue to be a place where freedom of discussion is practiced.  

“I am very concerned that the compact will upend academic freedom and freedom of expression. Additionally, there are elements of the compact that further marginalize communities that are already marginalized,” Torres said. “Overall, I think that the university needs to be a place where we are free to ask difficult questions and grapple with uncomfortable answers.” 

Rebecca Epstein-Levy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and gender & sexuality studies, spoke about how she believes the compact has anti-trans provisions which would limit her ability to teach and research certain topics about Judaism and sex, sexuality, gender and disability.   

“I’m a Jewish ethicist, and I research and teach courses at the intersection of Jewish text, Jewish thought, and sex, sexuality, gender and disability,” Epstein-Levy said. “The compact’s claim that there are only two genders — a claim which is bigoted, venal and spectacularly wrong — would make it impossible for me to teach these subjects accurately and responsibly.” 

Jonathan Gilligan, earth and environmental studies and civil and environmental engineering professor, spoke about how he believes the compact could limit research and what is taught in science classes because topics may offend conservative policies. 

Gilligan shared in an interview with The Hustler that he and many of his colleagues are worried about government overreach. They believe that if the government enforces politicized versions of science upon universities, they will not stop with the biology of sex and gender.

Editor’s Note: I am proud of hopeful of American higher education. Stand up for your rights, and protect us all with your views and passion for Democracy. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

#2025 #AAUP #AcademicFreedom #America #DEI #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StudentGovernment #TeachIn #TheVanderbiltHustler #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSCompact #UnitedStates #VanderbiltUniversity

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact

Professors and graduate students gathered at the Teach-In to speak out against the compact.

By Ella Crocco, Staffer-in-Training, Oct 24, 2025

Vanderbilt Student Government and members of Vanderbilt’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a Teach-In on Oct. 17 regarding the higher education compact Vanderbilt was sent from the Trump administration. Students and faculty at the event discussed how they believe the compact could endanger academic freedom, education policy and the university’s core values, among other topics.   

Jessie Hock, associate English department chair and associate professor of English, opened the Teach-In with contextual remarks. Carwil Bjork-James, associate professor in social movements, indigenous rights and political anthropology, then spoke to the crowd about how he believes that if Vanderbilt agrees to the compact, it could have negative financial impacts for the university.  

“I think that our administrators are being misled by the promise of more research funding by an administration that is clearly cutting off research funding and restricting it at every level,” Bjork-James said.  

In an interview with The Hustler, Bjork-James said that the compact will not help ensure Vanderbilt is a space where students and faculty can freely express their thoughts.  

“I would say faculty are really committed to maintaining this campus as a place where [students] can speak freely, where [students] can come here with any political opinion, with any perspective, get an open education and where there are viable places to do scholarship and research and this compact is not the right way to do that,” Bjork-James said. 

Jada Benn Torres, associate professor in genetics, race and genetic ancestry, followed by speaking about how she believed Vanderbilt signing the compact would limit scientific research and free speech. In a message to The Hustler, Benn Torres said that the compact could contribute to the marginalization of communities and hopes Vanderbilt will continue to be a place where freedom of discussion is practiced.  

“I am very concerned that the compact will upend academic freedom and freedom of expression. Additionally, there are elements of the compact that further marginalize communities that are already marginalized,” Torres said. “Overall, I think that the university needs to be a place where we are free to ask difficult questions and grapple with uncomfortable answers.” 

Rebecca Epstein-Levy, assistant professor of Jewish studies and gender & sexuality studies, spoke about how she believes the compact has anti-trans provisions which would limit her ability to teach and research certain topics about Judaism and sex, sexuality, gender and disability.   

“I’m a Jewish ethicist, and I research and teach courses at the intersection of Jewish text, Jewish thought, and sex, sexuality, gender and disability,” Epstein-Levy said. “The compact’s claim that there are only two genders — a claim which is bigoted, venal and spectacularly wrong — would make it impossible for me to teach these subjects accurately and responsibly.” 

Jonathan Gilligan, earth and environmental studies and civil and environmental engineering professor, spoke about how he believes the compact could limit research and what is taught in science classes because topics may offend conservative policies. 

Gilligan shared in an interview with The Hustler that he and many of his colleagues are worried about government overreach. They believe that if the government enforces politicized versions of science upon universities, they will not stop with the biology of sex and gender.

Editor’s Note: I am proud of hopeful of American higher education. Stand up for your rights, and protect us all with your views and passion for Democracy. –DrWeb

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Vanderbilt Student Government and the Vanderbilt chapter of American Association of University Professors host campus Teach-In in response to Trump administration’s higher education compact – The Vanderbilt Hustler

#2025 #AAUP #AcademicFreedom #America #DEI #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StudentGovernment #TeachIn #TheVanderbiltHustler #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSCompact #UnitedStates #VanderbiltUniversity

A demolition – The Washington Post

A demolition

The East Wing, the entrance to the White House for millions of Americans on official tours, the site of offices for every first lady for nearly half a century and the home of calligraphers who prepared thousands of invitations for White House state dinners, disappeared into a pile of rubble yesterday. It had stood for 123 years.

Built during the Theodore Roosevelt administration as an entryway for guests arriving in carriages, and rebuilt during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, the East Wing met its end under orders from Trump. He dismissed it this week as “a very small building” that was in the way of his planned 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom. With it went the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden and the East Colonnade, which connected the East Wing to the White House and included the president’s theater. “It’s not just a building,” said Laura Schwartz, the White House director of events in the Clinton administration. “It’s the living history.”

Meeting a need

Tearing down the East Wing to make space for the ballroom was an unfortunate necessity, said Gahl Hodges Burt, who was social secretary for three years under President Ronald Reagan. Since the largest spaces in the building have room for 200 seated guests at most, recent administrations have erected enormous tents on the South Lawn for ever larger state dinners.

“Putting up a tent does nothing but make people upset that they’ve come to a state dinner but they never get inside the White House,” Burt said. “The only bathroom facilities for a tent are porta-potties. Setting up a kitchen out there is hugely expensive. When the tent is up, the helicopter can’t land. And the grass dies.” (Ms. Burt was referring to the presidential helicopter, Marine One.)

Michael LaRosa, the press secretary to Jill Biden, lamented the loss but agreed that a ballroom was needed: “The French have the Élysée Palace, and here we are having a lawn party.”

A rich history

During its 123 years, two modern East Wing incidents stand out.

In 2009, in what passed as a scandal at the time, two uninvited guests and aspiring television reality stars, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, slipped into the first state dinner of the Obama administration. They rubbed shoulders with Vice President Joe Biden.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Secret Service agents grabbed Vice President Dick Cheney from his West Wing office and rushed him into a bunker below the East Wing, which had been built as a shelter for Roosevelt during World War II. Cheney headed underground the moment that American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

The East Wing never had the political importance or cachet of the West Wing, which houses the Oval Office. But it became prominent, and controversial, when Republicans denounced the expensive new construction, built partly to cover Roosevelt’s new underground shelter, as wasteful.

The first lady’s spot

The personality of the East Wing was always calmer and less intense than that of the testosterone-filled West Wing. Until Thursday, the ground floor housed the White House visitors’ office and the Office of Legislative Affairs, while the second floor was home to the White House Military Office and the offices of the first lady.

Presidents watched the Super Bowl and showed movies before their release in the theater in the colonnade, which was used as a coat check for big events. During holiday parties, a band would often play Christmas carols just outside the East Wing entrance as guests arrived.

Melania Trump visited the East Wing so infrequently during her husband’s first term that her empty office there was converted into a gift-wrapping room. It is unclear how many times she has been there in the second term, or if she had offered any feedback on her husband’s plans.

For more…

• The White House released a list of donors who are helping Trump pay for the $300 million ballroom he wants to build at the White House.
• “The Daily” podcast today is about the demolition.
• On late night, Stephen Colbert talked about the demolition.

Editor’s Note: This post was edited and posted from the email from The Washington Post.

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Donors #EastWing #EastWingDestroyed #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSBallroom #UnitedStates #WhiteHouse #WhiteHouseHistory

Can anyone stop Trump’s teardown of the East Wing? – The Washington Post

Can anyone stop Trump’s teardown of the East Wing?

Many preservationists fear the answer is no. A pro-Trump review board is expected to approve the president’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, too.

October 22, 2025 at 2:49 p.m. EDTToday at 2:49 p.m. EDT, 12 min

By Dan Diamond, Paul Schwartzman and Jonathan Edwards

President Donald Trump’s plan to build a White House ballroom has underscored an oft-overlooked aspect of presidential power: No one could stop the president from tearing down much of the East Wing this week.

Photos of construction teams knocking down portions of the East Wing, first revealed by The Washington Post on Monday, have rattled city residents, historians and politicians, many of whom contended that Trump was wrongly tearing apart “The People’s House” to build his long-desired ballroom.

“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” Hillary Clinton, who battled Trump for the presidency in 2016, wrote on social media.

Others contend that Trump’s shifting projections and promises — such as pledging in July that the ballroom wouldn’t “interfere” with the White House, and increasing his estimate of cost and how many people will fit in the building — illustrate the need for more transparency. Conservative commentator Byron York said Trump “needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White House. And then tell the public why he didn’t tell them before he started doing it.”

https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1980609785666879553

Rebecca Miller, executive director of the D.C. Preservation League, a nonprofit that advocates for protecting historic sites in Washington, said dozens of concerned citizens from the city and around the country have called and emailed her to express outrage.

Miller said she has had to explain that the White House, because of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, is exempt from the required reviews that other federal agencies must undergo when seeking to alter government property.

“Our hands are tied,” Miller said, adding that normally government officials discuss major projects with preservationists — but not this time. “It’s very frustrating that there’s nothing that the organization can do from a legal or advocacy perspective.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit created by Congress to help preserve historic buildings, urged the administration “to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes,” including a pair of commissions that have reviewed past White House construction.

Polls have shown many Americans are concerned. YouGov polling conducted Tuesday found that 53 percent opposed demolishing part of the East Wing, 23 percent supported it and the remainder were unsure. YouGov also found that 23 percent believed the ballroom will have a positive effect on the White House, 35 percent believed it will have a negative effect, and the remainder were neutral or unsure.

But the project is moving forward. White House officials said Tuesday to expect a full-scale teardown of the East Wing, defending it as a “modernization” of the building. They also touted past renovations, circulating a fact sheet that argued Trump was continuing a “proud presidential legacy” of changing the White House grounds — although the swimming pool, tennis pavilion and other past projects they highlighted pale next to the president’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which would be nearly twice the footprint of the 55,000-square-foot main sectionof the White House next door. Trump said this week that the ballroom will seat nearly 1,000 people, up from an earlier estimate of about 650.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Can anyone stop Trump’s teardown of the East Wing? – The Washington Post

#2025 #90000SquareFeet #America #Destruction #DonaldTrump #EastWing #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #NotHisHouse #Opinion #Politics #Reading #Resistance #Science #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpSBallroom #UnitedStates #WhiteHouse

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity – AAUP

1. Home
2. Academe
3. Issues
4. Fall 2025: Defending Academic Values
5. Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

The problems with arguments for intellectual pluralism.

By Lisa Siraganian

Among the various eye-popping demands the Trump administration made of Harvard University in its infamous April 11, 2025, letter was the bullet point on “Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring.” By August 2025, the letter stated, Harvard had to commission an outside party “to audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse.” The term viewpoint diversity was not defined; perhaps its meaning seemed obvious. In addition to other requirements to increase the variety of different perspectives, the letter commanded that any Harvard unit deemed deficient in such diversity must be “reformed by hiring a critical mass of new faculty” to counterbalance the viewpoints of those already employed. Presumably Harvard’s current faculty were imagined to be viewpoint-homogeneous.

Editor’s Note: Letter to Harvard, embedded below; direct link: https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Letter-Sent-to-Harvard-2025-04-11.pdf

Why didn’t “viewpoint diversity” require definition? Probably because the movement—whether under the label of viewpoint or intellectual diversity or ideological and intellectual pluralism—was old hat to the letter’s authors. In 2002, conservative activist David Horowitz reworked the AAUP’s long-standing definition of academic freedom to advance his “Academic Bill of Rights,” a declaration promoting “intellectual diversity” and “intellectual pluralism.” That short manifesto kicked off a revolution. It first developed in conservative circles for decades, drafted as proposed laws introduced both in the US Congress and in various state legislatures. Echoing Horowitz’s position, the “Bill of Rights” of the conservative University of Austin, launched in 2021, explicitly vows that the university “aspires to intellectual pluralism.” Most recently, the same language appeared in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the blueprint the second Trump administration relies upon. Its chapter on eliminating the Department of Education asserts that postsecondary educational institutions receiving federal funding must “embrace intellectual diversity.” 

In what follows, I offer seven theses against viewpoint diversity in any of its guises. If its supporters are as open to competing perspectives as they claim, if viewpoint diversity means committing oneself to a robust debate about truth and values, then the movement should be open to responding to and refuting the following theses challenging its premises and fundamental arguments. The options, in the end, come down to the following: To promote viewpoint diversity is to be thrilled to have my views in the mix, even if you think they are wrong, because either (a) they contribute to more viewpoint diversity (the more views you have, the more viewpoint diversity there is), or (b) they provide more views to choose from to figure out which view is the most true. In the first position, you end up not caring about whether a particular view is true or good, because you care about viewpoint diversity intrinsically: What matters is having the greatest possible variety of views. In the second position, you instrumentally value a diversity of views; having viewpoint diversity only matters until you can figure out which view is the best or most true, at which point all the other views can be rejected. 

I’ve restricted my discussion here to higher education, both because that is the AAUP’s ambit and my own and because that is the current terrain of most of these debates. But the movement is not limited to attacks on colleges and universities. Project 2025 recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency review and reorganize science advisory boards that lack such viewpoint diversity. In addition, what follows are not entirely my original arguments, and many of the theses necessarily overlap. But, as the second Trump administration continues to weaponize “viewpoint diversity,” the most serious deficiencies and problems with the concept have not yet been adequately detailed, addressed, or refuted. All of these problems must be addressed if the call for viewpoint diversity is serious, self-consistent, and offered to higher education in good faith.

The basic logic of the argument works like this. A pronouncement is made (as self-evident fact) that colleges and universities have become overwhelmingly politically liberal and that such political homogeneity “inhibits the pursuit of truth.” Frequently, the ideas of political philosopher John Stuart Mill are invoked, such as his observation, in On Liberty, that competing opinions in politics should be able to be “expressed with equal freedom,” because individuals do not have “sufficiently capacious and impartial” minds to see the entirety of truth for themselves. A situation in which the brightest and most curious thinkers feel they have to hide their true convictions would be a very bad state of things indeed. Such self-silencing, fretted Mill, deprives the world of “the open, fearless characters, and logical, consistent intellects who once adorned the thinking world.” 

For advocates of viewpoint diversity, such as the founders of Heterodox Academy (the conservative nonprofit created in 2015), freeing conservatives from their alleged self-silencing is a crucial step in reforming higher education. Homogeneous academic groups, they say, risk becoming “monocultures” and are vulnerable to “blind spots and groupthink” (or “ideological capture,” as the letter to Harvard from the Trump administration put it). Viewpoint diversity is pledged to liberate the muzzled, not only politically but throughout their professional, academic lives. To “insist on viewpoint diversity,” Heterodox Academy announces in its manifesto for university reform, is to challenge “norms that promote self-censorship or discourage dissent.” Politically heterogeneous academics will be able to think fearlessly and to Make Universities Great Again.

We are trained as scholars to reflexively recoil from hegemonic views wherever we spy them. Tyranny of the majority is a legitimate concern, and we should conscientiously challenge any view on which we substantively disagree in our field of expertise. But however seriously one worries about “groupthink” in academia, viewpoint diversity is not the answer. It only offers us another quota system. The following theses are presented, then, as an invitation to viewpoint diversity’s inquiring intellects to defend their convictions openly, fearlessly, and logically (to paraphrase Mill).

Thesis 1. Viewpoint diversity functions in direct opposition to the pursuit of truth, the principal aim of academia.

Proponents of viewpoint diversity are making a version of the both-sides argument—that is, they intuit that a plurality of opinions is better for students and faculty committed to pursuing the truth. They often invoke the rhetoric of ecological biodiversity, along with Herbert Spencer–style social Darwinism and a sprinkling of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s “marketplace of ideas.” Advocating for “the world’s first truly inclusive university system,” John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy, advances a version of perspectival pluralism: “Think of the university as a kind of garden: When the students arrive there at eighteen, . . . they step into a world now that’s new for them, where they can become more unique, more individuated, than ever before in their lives, because the garden is meant for that, to encourage that kind of growth, that kind of diversification. A university, like a garden, should be full of surprises.” 

The implication is that current university culture has become a monoculture of sterile ideas; the Edenic garden of free-thinking biodiversity has been lost. A university “fundamentally committed to truth” would want the most varied garden possible to form “more unique” students. Or, to quote Chairman Mao, “Let one hundred flowers bloom.” 

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity | AAUP

#2025 #AAUP #America #AmericanAssociationOfUniversityProfessors #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IntellectualDiscussion #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #ViewpointDiversity

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity – AAUP

1. Home
2. Academe
3. Issues
4. Fall 2025: Defending Academic Values
5. Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

The problems with arguments for intellectual pluralism.

By Lisa Siraganian

Among the various eye-popping demands the Trump administration made of Harvard University in its infamous April 11, 2025, letter was the bullet point on “Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring.” By August 2025, the letter stated, Harvard had to commission an outside party “to audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse.” The term viewpoint diversity was not defined; perhaps its meaning seemed obvious. In addition to other requirements to increase the variety of different perspectives, the letter commanded that any Harvard unit deemed deficient in such diversity must be “reformed by hiring a critical mass of new faculty” to counterbalance the viewpoints of those already employed. Presumably Harvard’s current faculty were imagined to be viewpoint-homogeneous.

Editor’s Note: Letter to Harvard, embedded below; direct link: https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Letter-Sent-to-Harvard-2025-04-11.pdf

Why didn’t “viewpoint diversity” require definition? Probably because the movement—whether under the label of viewpoint or intellectual diversity or ideological and intellectual pluralism—was old hat to the letter’s authors. In 2002, conservative activist David Horowitz reworked the AAUP’s long-standing definition of academic freedom to advance his “Academic Bill of Rights,” a declaration promoting “intellectual diversity” and “intellectual pluralism.” That short manifesto kicked off a revolution. It first developed in conservative circles for decades, drafted as proposed laws introduced both in the US Congress and in various state legislatures. Echoing Horowitz’s position, the “Bill of Rights” of the conservative University of Austin, launched in 2021, explicitly vows that the university “aspires to intellectual pluralism.” Most recently, the same language appeared in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the blueprint the second Trump administration relies upon. Its chapter on eliminating the Department of Education asserts that postsecondary educational institutions receiving federal funding must “embrace intellectual diversity.” 

In what follows, I offer seven theses against viewpoint diversity in any of its guises. If its supporters are as open to competing perspectives as they claim, if viewpoint diversity means committing oneself to a robust debate about truth and values, then the movement should be open to responding to and refuting the following theses challenging its premises and fundamental arguments. The options, in the end, come down to the following: To promote viewpoint diversity is to be thrilled to have my views in the mix, even if you think they are wrong, because either (a) they contribute to more viewpoint diversity (the more views you have, the more viewpoint diversity there is), or (b) they provide more views to choose from to figure out which view is the most true. In the first position, you end up not caring about whether a particular view is true or good, because you care about viewpoint diversity intrinsically: What matters is having the greatest possible variety of views. In the second position, you instrumentally value a diversity of views; having viewpoint diversity only matters until you can figure out which view is the best or most true, at which point all the other views can be rejected. 

I’ve restricted my discussion here to higher education, both because that is the AAUP’s ambit and my own and because that is the current terrain of most of these debates. But the movement is not limited to attacks on colleges and universities. Project 2025 recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency review and reorganize science advisory boards that lack such viewpoint diversity. In addition, what follows are not entirely my original arguments, and many of the theses necessarily overlap. But, as the second Trump administration continues to weaponize “viewpoint diversity,” the most serious deficiencies and problems with the concept have not yet been adequately detailed, addressed, or refuted. All of these problems must be addressed if the call for viewpoint diversity is serious, self-consistent, and offered to higher education in good faith.

The basic logic of the argument works like this. A pronouncement is made (as self-evident fact) that colleges and universities have become overwhelmingly politically liberal and that such political homogeneity “inhibits the pursuit of truth.” Frequently, the ideas of political philosopher John Stuart Mill are invoked, such as his observation, in On Liberty, that competing opinions in politics should be able to be “expressed with equal freedom,” because individuals do not have “sufficiently capacious and impartial” minds to see the entirety of truth for themselves. A situation in which the brightest and most curious thinkers feel they have to hide their true convictions would be a very bad state of things indeed. Such self-silencing, fretted Mill, deprives the world of “the open, fearless characters, and logical, consistent intellects who once adorned the thinking world.” 

For advocates of viewpoint diversity, such as the founders of Heterodox Academy (the conservative nonprofit created in 2015), freeing conservatives from their alleged self-silencing is a crucial step in reforming higher education. Homogeneous academic groups, they say, risk becoming “monocultures” and are vulnerable to “blind spots and groupthink” (or “ideological capture,” as the letter to Harvard from the Trump administration put it). Viewpoint diversity is pledged to liberate the muzzled, not only politically but throughout their professional, academic lives. To “insist on viewpoint diversity,” Heterodox Academy announces in its manifesto for university reform, is to challenge “norms that promote self-censorship or discourage dissent.” Politically heterogeneous academics will be able to think fearlessly and to Make Universities Great Again.

We are trained as scholars to reflexively recoil from hegemonic views wherever we spy them. Tyranny of the majority is a legitimate concern, and we should conscientiously challenge any view on which we substantively disagree in our field of expertise. But however seriously one worries about “groupthink” in academia, viewpoint diversity is not the answer. It only offers us another quota system. The following theses are presented, then, as an invitation to viewpoint diversity’s inquiring intellects to defend their convictions openly, fearlessly, and logically (to paraphrase Mill).

Thesis 1. Viewpoint diversity functions in direct opposition to the pursuit of truth, the principal aim of academia.

Proponents of viewpoint diversity are making a version of the both-sides argument—that is, they intuit that a plurality of opinions is better for students and faculty committed to pursuing the truth. They often invoke the rhetoric of ecological biodiversity, along with Herbert Spencer–style social Darwinism and a sprinkling of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s “marketplace of ideas.” Advocating for “the world’s first truly inclusive university system,” John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy, advances a version of perspectival pluralism: “Think of the university as a kind of garden: When the students arrive there at eighteen, . . . they step into a world now that’s new for them, where they can become more unique, more individuated, than ever before in their lives, because the garden is meant for that, to encourage that kind of growth, that kind of diversification. A university, like a garden, should be full of surprises.” 

The implication is that current university culture has become a monoculture of sterile ideas; the Edenic garden of free-thinking biodiversity has been lost. A university “fundamentally committed to truth” would want the most varied garden possible to form “more unique” students. Or, to quote Chairman Mao, “Let one hundred flowers bloom.” 

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity | AAUP

#2025 #AAUP #America #AmericanAssociationOfUniversityProfessors #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IntellectualDiscussion #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #ViewpointDiversity

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity – AAUP

1. Home
2. Academe
3. Issues
4. Fall 2025: Defending Academic Values
5. Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity

The problems with arguments for intellectual pluralism.

By Lisa Siraganian

Among the various eye-popping demands the Trump administration made of Harvard University in its infamous April 11, 2025, letter was the bullet point on “Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring.” By August 2025, the letter stated, Harvard had to commission an outside party “to audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse.” The term viewpoint diversity was not defined; perhaps its meaning seemed obvious. In addition to other requirements to increase the variety of different perspectives, the letter commanded that any Harvard unit deemed deficient in such diversity must be “reformed by hiring a critical mass of new faculty” to counterbalance the viewpoints of those already employed. Presumably Harvard’s current faculty were imagined to be viewpoint-homogeneous.

Editor’s Note: Letter to Harvard, embedded below; direct link: https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Letter-Sent-to-Harvard-2025-04-11.pdf

Why didn’t “viewpoint diversity” require definition? Probably because the movement—whether under the label of viewpoint or intellectual diversity or ideological and intellectual pluralism—was old hat to the letter’s authors. In 2002, conservative activist David Horowitz reworked the AAUP’s long-standing definition of academic freedom to advance his “Academic Bill of Rights,” a declaration promoting “intellectual diversity” and “intellectual pluralism.” That short manifesto kicked off a revolution. It first developed in conservative circles for decades, drafted as proposed laws introduced both in the US Congress and in various state legislatures. Echoing Horowitz’s position, the “Bill of Rights” of the conservative University of Austin, launched in 2021, explicitly vows that the university “aspires to intellectual pluralism.” Most recently, the same language appeared in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the blueprint the second Trump administration relies upon. Its chapter on eliminating the Department of Education asserts that postsecondary educational institutions receiving federal funding must “embrace intellectual diversity.” 

In what follows, I offer seven theses against viewpoint diversity in any of its guises. If its supporters are as open to competing perspectives as they claim, if viewpoint diversity means committing oneself to a robust debate about truth and values, then the movement should be open to responding to and refuting the following theses challenging its premises and fundamental arguments. The options, in the end, come down to the following: To promote viewpoint diversity is to be thrilled to have my views in the mix, even if you think they are wrong, because either (a) they contribute to more viewpoint diversity (the more views you have, the more viewpoint diversity there is), or (b) they provide more views to choose from to figure out which view is the most true. In the first position, you end up not caring about whether a particular view is true or good, because you care about viewpoint diversity intrinsically: What matters is having the greatest possible variety of views. In the second position, you instrumentally value a diversity of views; having viewpoint diversity only matters until you can figure out which view is the best or most true, at which point all the other views can be rejected. 

I’ve restricted my discussion here to higher education, both because that is the AAUP’s ambit and my own and because that is the current terrain of most of these debates. But the movement is not limited to attacks on colleges and universities. Project 2025 recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency review and reorganize science advisory boards that lack such viewpoint diversity. In addition, what follows are not entirely my original arguments, and many of the theses necessarily overlap. But, as the second Trump administration continues to weaponize “viewpoint diversity,” the most serious deficiencies and problems with the concept have not yet been adequately detailed, addressed, or refuted. All of these problems must be addressed if the call for viewpoint diversity is serious, self-consistent, and offered to higher education in good faith.

The basic logic of the argument works like this. A pronouncement is made (as self-evident fact) that colleges and universities have become overwhelmingly politically liberal and that such political homogeneity “inhibits the pursuit of truth.” Frequently, the ideas of political philosopher John Stuart Mill are invoked, such as his observation, in On Liberty, that competing opinions in politics should be able to be “expressed with equal freedom,” because individuals do not have “sufficiently capacious and impartial” minds to see the entirety of truth for themselves. A situation in which the brightest and most curious thinkers feel they have to hide their true convictions would be a very bad state of things indeed. Such self-silencing, fretted Mill, deprives the world of “the open, fearless characters, and logical, consistent intellects who once adorned the thinking world.” 

For advocates of viewpoint diversity, such as the founders of Heterodox Academy (the conservative nonprofit created in 2015), freeing conservatives from their alleged self-silencing is a crucial step in reforming higher education. Homogeneous academic groups, they say, risk becoming “monocultures” and are vulnerable to “blind spots and groupthink” (or “ideological capture,” as the letter to Harvard from the Trump administration put it). Viewpoint diversity is pledged to liberate the muzzled, not only politically but throughout their professional, academic lives. To “insist on viewpoint diversity,” Heterodox Academy announces in its manifesto for university reform, is to challenge “norms that promote self-censorship or discourage dissent.” Politically heterogeneous academics will be able to think fearlessly and to Make Universities Great Again.

We are trained as scholars to reflexively recoil from hegemonic views wherever we spy them. Tyranny of the majority is a legitimate concern, and we should conscientiously challenge any view on which we substantively disagree in our field of expertise. But however seriously one worries about “groupthink” in academia, viewpoint diversity is not the answer. It only offers us another quota system. The following theses are presented, then, as an invitation to viewpoint diversity’s inquiring intellects to defend their convictions openly, fearlessly, and logically (to paraphrase Mill).

Thesis 1. Viewpoint diversity functions in direct opposition to the pursuit of truth, the principal aim of academia.

Proponents of viewpoint diversity are making a version of the both-sides argument—that is, they intuit that a plurality of opinions is better for students and faculty committed to pursuing the truth. They often invoke the rhetoric of ecological biodiversity, along with Herbert Spencer–style social Darwinism and a sprinkling of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s “marketplace of ideas.” Advocating for “the world’s first truly inclusive university system,” John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy, advances a version of perspectival pluralism: “Think of the university as a kind of garden: When the students arrive there at eighteen, . . . they step into a world now that’s new for them, where they can become more unique, more individuated, than ever before in their lives, because the garden is meant for that, to encourage that kind of growth, that kind of diversification. A university, like a garden, should be full of surprises.” 

The implication is that current university culture has become a monoculture of sterile ideas; the Edenic garden of free-thinking biodiversity has been lost. A university “fundamentally committed to truth” would want the most varied garden possible to form “more unique” students. Or, to quote Chairman Mao, “Let one hundred flowers bloom.” 

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity | AAUP

#2025 #AAUP #America #AmericanAssociationOfUniversityProfessors #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IntellectualDiscussion #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #ViewpointDiversity

Jack Smith Speaks – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Jack Smith Speaks

By Joyce Vance, Oct 14, 2025

You have choices about where you get your news and analysis. I’m grateful you’ve chosen to read Civil Discourse. If you value clear, independent insight into the law and our democracy, I hope you’ll consider a paid subscription. Your support makes the newsletter possible. Thank you for being here with me.

ABC reported today that the House Judiciary Committee wants to have former special counsel Jack Smith testify—behind closed doors—about investigating the Mar-a-Lago, January 6, and Donald Trump. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who chairs the Committee, wants an interview by October 28. He is calling for Smith to turn over documents and communications too.

Why now? Last week, there was reporting (very unsurprising to anyone who has ever investigated a federal case) that Smith’s probe obtained phone records regarding a number of Republican lawmakers as part of the January 6 case investigation. Jordan wrote to Smith, “As the Committee continues its oversight, your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement.”

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri complained that “The F.B.I. tapped my phone.” He said he’d been wiretapped.

Not so fast, though. Obtaining phone records means getting call information—that can mean which phone number called which other phone number, when, and possibly, how long the call lasted. It’s easy to understand why prosecutors would want that information in virtually any case they’re investigating.

Here, given reports that Trump had numerous calls leading up to and on January 6 (for instance, one with brand new Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville), it would be surprising if they hadn’t done so. The New York Times reported that “The calls were scrutinized because at the time, prosecutors were trying to identify relevant communications between the president and his inner circle with members of Congress on the key days surrounding the violence.”

Call information, which frequently produces investigative leads, is acquired routinely by investigators. But it is not the same thing as a wiretap, which lets law enforcement listen in on a target’s phone calls. To get a wiretap, prosecutors and agents have to get an order from a federal judge in compliance with the strict requirements of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. They have to establish probable cause and show that less intrusive investigative methods were tried and failed. A wiretap only lasts for 30 days, and prosecutors must go back to the judge, with fresh proof, in order to reup the wiretap for an additional 30 days.

Jordan’s allegation that this is the weaponization of the DOJ should fall on deaf ears. Jack Smith was investigating one of the most serious situations our country has ever faced—an effort to interfere with the smooth transfer of power between two American administrations, with involvement by the outgoing president who had lost the election—using routine investigative techniques. Jordan and other Republicans should be able to differentiate between that and wiretaps, since these are statutory creatures and Congress sets the requirements for when they can be used.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Jack Smith Speaks – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #GOP #Health #History #JackSmith #January6AttackOnUSCapitol #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #RuleOfLaw #Science #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpPoliticalEnemy #UnitedStates

Civil Discourse – Are We the Nazis Now? -Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Are We the Nazis Now?

How do we meet this moment?

By Joyce Vance, Oct 13, 2025

It’s hard to watch. People being treated like they are less than human because of their perceived immigration status. Like this six-year-old girl.

In early October, federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI, and ATF arrested 37 people in a raid on a Chicago apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive. They banged on residents’ doors overnight, according to a report in the Chicago Sun Times, “pulling men, women and children from their apartments, some of them naked, residents and witnesses said.” A witness said she saw “agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans,” and that “kids were separated from their mothers.” DHS claimed the neighborhood was “a location known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates,” but offered no evidence in support and didn’t confirm that any of those arrested were members of the Venezuelan gang.

Earlier this month, at West Loop Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois, ICE was forced to release two sisters it pulled out of their car at a school pick up, because they have legal status under DACA. But that didn’t stop the masked agents, captured on video by a quick-thinking teacher, from surrounding the car and smashing its windows before dragging the two out. One of the sisters cried out her name and where she lived to bystanders, an apparent effort to prevent being “disappeared” into ICE custody.

Are We the Nazis Now? by Joyce Vance

How do we meet this moment?

Read on Substack

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Are We the Nazis Now? – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #America #AnneFrank #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #ImmigrantChildren #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE_ #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Nazis #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #TreatmentByICE #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Former surgeons general condemn Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health policies – The Hill

Health Care

Former surgeons general: RFK Jr. actions ‘endangering the health of the nation’

by Max Rego – 10/08/25 3:57 PM ET

Six former surgeons general criticized Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Tuesday op-ed in The Washington Post.

Editor’s Note: I recommend reading also the WP article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/07/surgeons-general-rfk-jr-robert-kennedy/

“The actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation,” the group said. “Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

The former surgeons general behind the op-ed were Vivek Murthy, Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, David Satcher, Joycelyn Elders and Antonia Novello. Murthy, Elders and Satcher were appointed by Democratic presidents, while Adams, Carmona and Novello were appointed by Republican presidents. 

In their op-ed, the former surgeons general said that under Kennedy, the “foundations of our nation’s public health system have been undermined.” They specifically criticized the HHS secretary’s longstanding claims that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, his handling of measles outbreaks throughout the country, his recommendation against pregnant women taking Tylenol and his upheaval of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel. 

In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), saying it was necessary to restore trust in vaccines. Kennedy has since replaced those panel members with individuals who have expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The ACIP’s recommendations must be approved by the CDC director before being implemented. In August, Kennedy removed former Director Susan Monarez from the post after just weeks on the job. Monarez later said she refused to preapprove the committee’s decisions.

On Monday, the CDC accepted the ACIP’s recommendation that individuals receive the COVID-19 vaccine after consulting with a health provider. Later in the day, acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill called on vaccine manufacturers to split up the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three separate shots, taking the same stance as President Trump.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Former surgeons general condemn Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health policies

#2025 #America #AmericanHealth #CDC #COVID19 #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Measles #Mumps #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Rubella #Science #Technology #TheHill #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #Vaccines

Civil Discourse – Project 2025: Taking on the Constitution – Joyce Vance

Another Saturday night in America. I remember when Saturdays were our nights off. That’s not the case right now. These developments are urgent, and it’s more important than ever that we continue to pay attention. If you aren’t already a subscriber, please consider becoming one. Your paid subscriptions help me devote the time and resources necessary to write the newsletter.

ICE rounded up parents and kids, including some American citizens, and herded them, some naked and zip-tied, into the streets, around 1 a.m. in Chicago last Tuesday. Today, there is video from Portland and Colorado showing what appears to be ICE agents attacking and tear-gassing peaceful protestors. In Chicago, agents appear to attack a man who is not threatening them, leg-sweeping him to the ground, something agents are trained not to do because it has the potential to be debilitating.

The violence is condoned, in fact directed, by the Department of Homeland Security, the agency ICE is a part of.

DHS’s Twitter feed is replete with posts claiming “more arrests of anarchists” despite the absence of any evidence of anarchy. Anyone who is looking is seeing American citizens protesting overreach by the government. It is love of country, not anarchy. DHS retweeted a post that said, “Federal agents aren’t tolerating rioting outside the ICE facility and are making prompt arrests of the far-left extremists who gathered outside to besiege the building.”

Apparently, having ICE on the streets isn’t enough for Trump, who is demanding that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker use the National Guard for law enforcement. If he won’t, Trump says he’ll federalize troops. Governor Pritzker tweeted, “I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois.”

Tonight, a federal judge in Oregon who was appointed by Donald Trump during his first term in office ruled he could not federalize the National Guard in that state. It’s a 14-day temporary injunction, but the Judge ruled the state of Oregon had shown it had a strong chance of success on the merits, would suffer irreparable injury in the absence of an injunction, and that the balance of equities and public interest were in its favor.

The administration argued, as it did in California when it deployed Guard troops and has elsewhere in multiple contexts that no court can “second guess” the president’s decisions. Judge Karin Immergut wrote that although the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in the California National Guard case, held that a president’s decisions are entitled to “a great level of deference,” that “is not equivalent to ignoring the facts on the ground” before rejecting the administration’s claim that it was necessary to federalize the Oregon Guard to protect ICE facilities. This insistence on the courts’ ability to engage in judicial review of presidential decision-making is essential to preserving the balance of the Constitution created between the three branches of government.

“The President’s own statements regarding the deployment of federalized National Guardsmen further support that his determination was not ‘conceived in good faith’ or ‘in the face of the emergency and directly related to the quelling of the disorder or the prevention of its continuance,” the Judge wrote in an opinion that is very narrowly tailored to discuss the facts and the law in this case without straying from them. “Despite the ‘minimal activity’ outside the Portland ICE facility in the days preceding September 27, 2025 … President Trump directed Secretary Hegseth ‘to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.’”

Judge Immergut concludes, with one of the most powerful judicial condemnations we’ve seen yet of the administration’s transparent excuses for sending the military against Americans, that: “this country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs. ‘That tradition has deep roots in our history and found early expression, for example, in … the constitutional provisions for civilian control of the military’ … This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation.”

But Stephen Miller still blames it all on a “growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country.” There is absolutely no evidence that movement exists.

Trump’s use of military force continues outside of the country as well. On Friday, he conducted the fourth strike on a boat in the Caribbean, claiming drug traffickers were on it. Four people on board were killed.

The government shutdown is no closer to an end. Trump is using the shutdown, which he provoked by refusing to negotiate with Democrats, to shut down entire government offices, like DOJ’s Community Relations Service, which we discussed last night, while threatening to fire government employees. If he does that, it will leave him with vacancies he can fill with loyalists.

Friday night, the largest federal employees union sued the Department of Education, accusing it of violating the First Amendment by placing partisan language into the out-of-office emails that are automatically sent from accounts of non-essential employees for as long as they are furloughed.

We studied Project 2025 together here at Civil Discourse, from the earliest moment it was made available publicly on the Heritage Foundation’s website. Much of what this administration is doing will sound familiar to those with even passing familiarity with that plan, which Trump disavowed during the campaign.

As the details of the plan came to light during the campaign and the public was repelled, Trump distanced himself from it. But we discussed why he couldn’t be believed when he said it wasn’t his plan, and of course, now, he is embracing it. All of the developments we are seeing signal that Project 2025 is in full swing.

Trump is touting the work of Russ Vought, one of the primary architects of Project 2025, while his shutdown reorganization of government is underway. Project 2025 never disappeared. Vought has been implementing it since day one of this administration. (If you’ve got time to go back and read one of our earlier posts, this is a good one.)

In addition to vowing to fire federal employees during the shutdown—expect lawsuits if this happens, as it’s strictly illegal—Vought is also behind cutting infrastructure funds for blue states including the Green New Deal. It’s partisan politics, not government, and Trump is behind it: “Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Project 2025 was always the plan. Now they’re using the shutdown to push harder and cast blame on Democrats for anything that goes wrong. They told us they would do this before the election. This was always the 2.0 plan for America.

Friday night, Trump’s pinned tweet showed him cackling with a Trump 2028 hat prominently placed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Believe them when they tell you who they are.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Editor’s Note: I rarely, and to honor Joyce and Subtack folks, include a whole post from her, but this one is very important. Please read and understand this blueprint is guiding Trump for changing America in very wrong ways. We’re in this together.

Project 2025: Taking on the Constitution by Joyce Vance

Read on Substack

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Project 2025: Taking on the Constitution

#2025 #America #Chicago #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Illinois #IllinoisGovernor #JBPritzker #JoyceVance #JudgeImmergut #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Oregon #Politics #Portland #Project2025 #Resistance #Science #StephenMiller #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Civil Discourse – Ignore The Distractions -Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Ignore The Distractions

By Joyce Vance, Sep 23, 2025

Trump is in full distraction mode. Remember the Epstein files?

But there’s also a new crisis he needs to distract from, one that could easily fly under the radar screen. It’s the firing of the interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia because he refused to indict a case that Trump wanted indicted against one of his political enemies. Trump is in the process of installing his new nominee, Lindsey Halligan, a real estate lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, but presumably plenty of loyalty to the president.

Authoritarian leaders in other countries jail their opponents. They use politically motivated, trumped-up charges to jail their opponents, to suppress dissent among their people, and to consolidate their power. Journalists and pro-democracy advocates are frequent targets. This abuse of prosecution power is a hallmark of political repression.

I spoke out on NPR yesterday. If you missed it, I hope you’ll listen now, or read the transcript.

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5546841, Transcript from NPR interview.

If Trump’s ability to control the Justice Department isn’t checked in this moment, we’ve hit a dangerous red line for democracy. We cannot afford to let this moment pass without raising our voices and continuing to do so. Other important developments are taking place, but we cannot let this one die with the news cycle. Too much is at stake.

Who might Trump demand prosecution of if he gets away with this? It could be former FBI Director James Comey, who the New York Times reports is now under consideration by the office Halligan now heads. It could be senators, state attorneys general, or governors who confront Trump. It could be any of us, and that’s the point, that’s the essential danger of the moment. It could be any of us.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Editor’s Note: Thank you, Joyce. We fight together, got your back!

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Ignore The Distractions – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Civil Discourse – The Pentagon’s Attack on Free Speech Doesn’t Have To Work – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

The Pentagon’s Attack on Free Speech Doesn’t Have To Work

Joyce Vance

Sep 22, 2025

When it comes to things the government can’t do without violating the First Amendment, imposing prior restraints on what the media can report is near the top of the list, absent a compelling rationale. That’s what the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers case, New York Times v. U.S., was about.

But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is doing at the Pentagon. Under a new policy, journalists could be required to sign a document pledging that they will not gather or use any information that has not been formally authorized for release—even if it isn’t classified. The long-standing practice at the Pentagon permitted journalists to move freely through the hallways, gathering unclassified information from both military and civilian sources. The new policy restricts their movement, confining them to a specific space and requiring them to be escorted to other parts of the building. Pete Hegseth’s Department of Defense has said that journalists who violate the new policy are at risk of losing their press credentials.

It’s not difficult to see what’s going on here. The administration wants to control what does and doesn’t get reported on, violating the tradition of journalism in this country that comes to us directly from the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. They’re also shutting down criminal investigations like the one reportedly looking into a $50,000 cash bribe to immigration czar Tom Homan and indefinitely suspending annual reports on food insecurity. It’s the tightest control on information the country has experienced in peacetime in the modern era. Because it involves placing a prior restraint on what journalists can report, it looks like a clear violation of the First Amendment.

By now, we know how this administration works. In their search to expand presidential power, they seize upon a time-honored norm and then try to challenge it in the courts. Just today, the Supreme Court took another step towards burying Humphrey’s Executor, the FDR administration case that until now has prevented presidents from firing appointees to quasi-independent boards like the Federal Trade Commission. There is no reason to believe the administration isn’t prepared to take this to the Supreme Court—perhaps arguing that the scope of information should be protected because it’s intrinsic to national security.

The First Amendment protects the press’s right to expose government deception and hold officials accountable, sometimes even when dealing with classified or controversial information. In other words, when Donald Trump objects to reporting about him that is negative, when he sues media outlets that are critical of him, he’s infringing on speech that is plainly protected by the First Amendment. That’s what has made it so disturbing to watch some news outlets voluntarily cave in to his demands before litigation can even get underway. Bending the knee may have made business deals that required government approval possible, but it is contrary to what the First Amendment requires of them, and at least arguably, contrary to their obligation to the public.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: (1) The Pentagon’s Attack on Free Speech Doesn’t Have To Work

#2025 #America #Attack #Censorship #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #Health #History #Journalists #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Pentagon #Politics #ReportingNews #Science #UnitedStates

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – Sunday Morning Wrap-Up

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Sunday Morning Wrap-Up

By Joyce Vance, Sep 14, 2025

This was a week punctuated by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which seemed to sweep all the other news we’d been following off the table.

Debates about political violence and the First Amendment emerged rapidly. In one of the key pieces I wrote this week, I reacted to the violent murder in real time, arguing that political violence is never the answer, even for those who, like me, reject Kirk’s views as repugnant.

If you missed that piece on Wednesday, I hope you’ll read it now.

If you missed any of this week’s other columns, here’s your weekly wrap-up:

• The Week Ahead: We looked at some remarkable comments by a key advisor to Chief Justice Roberts, reviewed Trump’s threat to go into Chicago with the National Guard (he’s since reconsidered and now seems to be looking at Memphis, a blue dot in a red state, and hence an easier target for expanding his use of police powers), and discussed an issue that dropped almost entirely off the radar screen in the wake of Kirk’s murder, Trump’s failure to release the Epstein files.
• Substack Live with Heather Cox Richardson: Monday, I got together for an almost hour-long chat with the eminent (and incredibly fun) historian who writes Letters from an American, and I left feeling both smarter and more certain than ever that as Americans, we can use our history and traditions to outlast the foes of democracy we are facing. The prescription is hard work, no sugar coating, lots of commitment.
• Affirmed: E. Jean Carroll Case: The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the $83.3 million verdict Carroll won in her defamation case against Trump; the one where he denied he’d sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room and denigrated her as “not his type,” although in a deposition, he subsequently misidentifed a photo of her at the time as his second wife, Marla Maples. The court wrote a lengthy opinion. This piece summarizes key points to be aware of as the appeal moves towards the Supreme Court, which can choose to hear the case or let the lower court’s opinion stand.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Sunday Morning Wrap-Up – Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #PoliticalViews #Politics #Resistance #Science #Substack #SundayWrapup #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: The Architect of Conservative Jurisprudence – A Special SCOTUS Series

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: The Architect of Conservative Jurisprudence – Here’s a look at our Chief Justice, his life, background, and how he influences our legal challenges, legal issues, from his conservative views. This report was prepared by Perplexity Pro, and edited by DrWeb.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.: The Architect of Conservative Jurisprudence

John Glover Roberts Jr. has served as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States since September 29, 2005, presiding over one of the most transformative periods in Supreme Court history. As the youngest chief justice in over a century at age 50, Roberts has authored landmark conservative decisions while attempting to balance institutional preservation with ideological advancement over his two decades of leadership.

Early Life and Formation

Born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, Roberts was the second of four children to John (Jack) G. Roberts Sr., a Bethlehem Steel Corporation executive, and Rosemary Roberts (née Podrasky). The family’s Catholic faith would prove formative, as would their move to Long Beach, Indiana, in the early 1960s when Roberts Sr. received a promotion to work at a new steel plant.

Roberts excelled academically from an early age, graduating first in his class from La Lumiere School, a Catholic boarding school in Indiana, where he also captained the football team. To help pay for college, he worked summers in a steel mill, an experience that grounded him in working-class values despite his later elite academic trajectory. His early ambition was to become a historian, reflecting an intellectual curiosity that would later influence his judicial approach to constitutional interpretation.

Academic Excellence and Early Career

Roberts completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in just three years, graduating summa cum laude in 1976 with a major in history. He remained at Harvard for law school, where he served as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude in 1979. These academic achievements established him as one of the brightest legal minds of his generation.

Following law school, Roberts secured two prestigious federal clerkships that would shape his career trajectory. From 1979-1980, he clerked for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most respected federal judges of his era. He then clerked for Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist during the 1980 term, establishing a mentorship that would profoundly influence his judicial philosophy.

Government Service and Private Practice

Roberts’s early career alternated between high-level government service and elite private practice. From 1981-1982, he served as Special Assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, then moved to the White House as Associate Counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1982-1986. During this period, he helped craft conservative legal positions that would later inform his judicial decisions, including memoranda expressing skepticism about discrimination remedies and civil rights enforcement.

In 1986, Roberts joined the prestigious law firm Hogan & Hartson as an associate, becoming a partner within a year. His appellate practice was extraordinarily successful, focusing on Supreme Court litigation and complex constitutional issues. From 1989-1993, he returned to government as Principal Deputy Solicitor General, the second-in-command in the Office of the Solicitor General, where he argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court.

Marriage and Family Life

Roberts married Jane Marie Sullivan in 1996, a fellow attorney and Harvard Law School graduate whom he met during his government service. The couple has two adopted children, Josephine and John, and their family life reflects Roberts’s commitment to balancing professional demands with personal relationships. Jane Roberts has maintained her own successful legal career, though she has faced scrutiny for potential conflicts of interest related to her legal recruiting work while her husband serves on the Court.

Path to the Supreme Court

President George H.W. Bush first nominated Roberts to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1992 when he was just 37, but the Democratic-controlled Senate never held a confirmation vote. Roberts returned to private practice during the Clinton years, also teaching at Georgetown University Law Center.

In 2001, President George W. Bush renominated Roberts to the D.C. Circuit, and he was finally confirmed in May 2003. During his brief two-year tenure on the appeals court, Roberts wrote approximately 50 opinions that demonstrated his conservative judicial philosophy and exceptional legal craftsmanship.

Bush initially nominated Roberts in July 2005 to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, but when Chief Justice Rehnquist died in September, Bush elevated the nomination to Chief Justice. Roberts’s confirmation hearings featured his famous “umpire” analogy: “Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them… I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat.” The Senate confirmed him by a vote of 78-22 on September 29, 2005.

Judicial Philosophy and Constitutional Interpretation

Roberts advocates for judicial restraint, originalism, and textualism in constitutional interpretation. He believes judges should apply law neutrally rather than engage in creative lawmaking, though critics argue his major decisions have often advanced conservative policy goals. His approach combines respect for precedent with willingness to overturn liberal rulings he views as constitutionally flawed.

As Chief Justice, Roberts has consistently emphasized institutional integrity and incremental change over revolutionary jurisprudence. However, his leadership has coincided with the most conservative Supreme Court in nearly a century, creating tension between his institutionalist instincts and ideological objectives.

Major Opinions and Legal Impact

Healthcare and Federal Power

Roberts authored the pivotal decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012), upholding the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate as a constitutional tax. This decision surprised conservatives but demonstrated Roberts’s complex approach to federal power and his occasional willingness to break with conservative orthodoxy to preserve institutional legitimacy.

Civil Rights and Voting

In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), Roberts authored the majority opinion striking down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, arguing that federal oversight of state voting laws was no longer necessary. This decision enabled numerous states to implement voting restrictions, fundamentally altering American voting rights protections.

Presidential Power

Roberts has authored several opinions expanding executive authority, including Trump v. Hawaii (2018) upholding the Muslim travel ban and Trump v. United States (2024) establishing broad presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. These decisions reflect his deference to executive power in areas of national security and foreign policy.

Race and Education

Roberts authored Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), ending race-based college admissions programs nationwide. This decision fulfilled a long-standing conservative goal and demonstrated Roberts’s willingness to overturn decades of precedent when advancing originalist constitutional interpretation.

Leadership Style and Court Dynamics

As Chief Justice, Roberts assigns majority opinions when he votes with the majority, a power he has used strategically to shape legal doctrine and maintain control over controversial decisions. His leadership style emphasizes consensus-building and narrow rulings, though the Court’s 6-3 conservative majority has enabled broader conservative decisions than Roberts might prefer.

Roberts has presided over significant constitutional developments including marriage equality, religious liberty expansions, Second Amendment jurisprudence, and abortion rights. He also presided over President Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020, maintaining judicial decorum during highly partisan proceedings.

The Roberts-Barrett Partnership: Mentorship and Judicial Alliance

A defining aspect of Roberts’s tenure has been his evolving relationship with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom he has cultivated as a key ally in advancing conservative jurisprudence while maintaining institutional credibility. Since Barrett joined the Court in 2020, Roberts has strategically assigned her significant majority opinions, including the landmark Trump v. CASA decision that expanded executive power while limiting federal court authority to issue nationwide injunctions.

Roberts’s mentorship of Barrett reflects both personal and strategic considerations. Early in her tenure, he assigned her a complex property rights case where she initially drafted a majority opinion but later changed positions—a bold move that could have antagonized the Chief Justice but instead demonstrated her independent judicial thinking. Rather than penalizing this judicial evolution, Roberts has continued to entrust Barrett with increasingly important assignments, including cases involving Native American rights and religious liberty.

Barrett’s judicial philosophy closely mirrors Roberts’s own approach to constitutional interpretation. Both justices embrace originalism and textualism, seeking to interpret constitutional and statutory language according to its original public meaning rather than evolving contemporary understanding. Like Roberts, Barrett demonstrates judicial restraint and institutionalist concerns, often preferring narrow rulings over sweeping constitutional pronouncements. Their shared commitment to incremental conservative change has made them frequent collaborators in cases where Roberts needs a reliable fifth or sixth vote for majority coalitions.

The Chief Justice appears particularly attentive to Barrett’s contributions during oral arguments and conference discussions, recognizing her potential as a swing vote who can attract liberal justices to conservative positions. In several high-profile cases, Roberts and Barrett have joined with liberal justices to constrain Trump administration overreach, demonstrating their shared concern for judicial independence and separation of powers. This partnership has frustrated some conservatives who expected Barrett to be more ideologically rigid, but it has enhanced Roberts’s ability to control controversial decisions and maintain Court legitimacy while still advancing conservative legal principles.

Legacy and Long-Term Impact

After twenty years as Chief Justice, Roberts has fundamentally transformed American constitutional law through conservative jurisprudence while maintaining the Court’s basic institutional framework. His tenure has seen the steady advancement of originalist constitutional interpretation, limited federal regulatory power, expanded religious liberty protections, and strengthened executive authority.

Critics argue that Roberts has enabled a “constitutional revolution” that contradicts his stated commitment to incremental change and judicial restraint. Supporters contend he has restored constitutional text and original meaning to Supreme Court jurisprudence while preserving essential democratic institutions.

Roberts continues to navigate the tension between conservative legal advancement and institutional preservation as he enters his third decade of service. His ultimate legacy will depend on whether his leadership produces lasting constitutional change or triggers backlash that undermines judicial authority. As both the youngest Chief Justice in over a century and one of the longest-serving, Roberts’s influence on American law will extend far beyond his eventual retirement.

Bibliography and Sources

Primary Sources:

• Current Members. Supreme Court of the United States. July 12, 2017.
• 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary. Supreme Court of the United States. 2024.

Government and Institutional Sources:

• Judicial Nominations – Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. George W. Bush White House Archives. August 7, 2008.
• Roberts, John Glover, Jr. Federal Judicial Center. June 29, 2022.
• John G. Roberts, Jr. Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
• Chief Justice John Roberts. Justia Supreme Court Center. September 28, 2005.

Academic and Scholarly Sources:

• Biography and Judicial Philosophy of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Seton Hall University Scholarship.
• Chief Justice John Roberts and the Combination of Conservatism and Institutionalism. Illinois Law Review. August 30, 2023.
• The Philosophy and Jurisprudence of Chief Justice Roberts. University of Utah College of Law.
• The Judicial Philosophy of Chief Justice John Roberts. Emory International Law Review. February 3, 2021.
• In the Balance: Law and Politics on the Roberts Court. William & Mary Law School.
• “In Search of Justice: An Examination of the Appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito”. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. April 22, 2014.
• Federalism Rebalancing and the Roberts Court. Harvard Law Review. May 1, 2025.

News and Analysis Sources:

• John G. Roberts, Jr. | Biography, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Britannica. August 14, 2025.
• The Current Court: Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Supreme Court Historical Society. March 27, 2022.
• In 20 years under John Roberts, a dramatic rightward turn for the US Supreme Court. Reuters. September 8, 2025.
• This Is the Presidency John Roberts Has Built. The Atlantic. July 21, 2025.
• The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts. Aspen Ideas Festival. August 19, 2025.
• Understanding John Roberts: A Conservative Institutionalist. JURIST. July 30, 2020.

Roberts-Barrett Relationship Sources:

• Initially wary of Trump, Roberts and Barrett offer the former president a victory. CNN. June 28, 2025.
• The behind-the-scenes power John Roberts wields to shape Supreme Court decisions. CNN. July 2, 2025.
• Amy Coney Barrett Is The Most Interesting Justice On The Court. Original Jurisdiction (Substack). July 2, 2025.
• Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts Become a Thorn in Trump’s Side. Newsweek. March 6, 2025.
• Amy Coney Barrett’s Biggest Supreme Court Allies Revealed. Newsweek. July 15, 2025.
• Supreme Court’s Roberts turns court to the right as Barrett becomes influential. NPR. July 1, 2024.
• How Amy Coney Barrett Is Confounding the Right and the Left. The New York Times. June 15, 2025.
• Opinion | Trump resistance needs Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts. The Washington Post. March 27, 2025.
• Closing the book on the term. SCOTUSblog. June 30, 2025.
• Amy Coney Barrett. Wikipedia. May 7, 2017.

#2025 #America #AmyConeyBarrett #ChiefJustice #Conservative #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JohnRoberts #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #RightWingConservative #Science #SupremeCourt #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USSupremeCourt #UnitedStates

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators, ISSN 2691-6916

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages

June 24, 2025, Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

Many of the online collections from the Library of Congress include tools to help researchers, including student researchers, find what they need in the collection. Exploring those expert resources early in their research process can give students valuable context, a better understanding of what might be in the collection, and can help them decide whether or not to examine the collection further, reducing frustration and improving search results.

Though the available information varies by collection, collections typically include a tab “About this Collection” as well as the “Collection Items” tab. Some collections also have a tab of “Articles and Essays” for additional context. The left navigation of the “About…” page links to related resources, when available, and includes information about “Rights and Access.”

Featured Content, a carousel highlighting select items, is a prominent feature of the “About this Collection” pages. Students might browse the carousel to get a sense of the kinds of items in the collection, or they might select an item and examine it to glean information and to generate questions to inspire and focus additional research.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

#2025 #Blogs #Books #CloserLook #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryCollections #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #TeachingWithTheLibrary #Technology

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators, ISSN 2691-6916

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages

June 24, 2025, Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

Many of the online collections from the Library of Congress include tools to help researchers, including student researchers, find what they need in the collection. Exploring those expert resources early in their research process can give students valuable context, a better understanding of what might be in the collection, and can help them decide whether or not to examine the collection further, reducing frustration and improving search results.

Though the available information varies by collection, collections typically include a tab “About this Collection” as well as the “Collection Items” tab. Some collections also have a tab of “Articles and Essays” for additional context. The left navigation of the “About…” page links to related resources, when available, and includes information about “Rights and Access.”

Featured Content, a carousel highlighting select items, is a prominent feature of the “About this Collection” pages. Students might browse the carousel to get a sense of the kinds of items in the collection, or they might select an item and examine it to glean information and to generate questions to inspire and focus additional research.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

#2025 #Blogs #Books #CloserLook #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryCollections #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #TeachingWithTheLibrary #Technology

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators, ISSN 2691-6916

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages

June 24, 2025, Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

Many of the online collections from the Library of Congress include tools to help researchers, including student researchers, find what they need in the collection. Exploring those expert resources early in their research process can give students valuable context, a better understanding of what might be in the collection, and can help them decide whether or not to examine the collection further, reducing frustration and improving search results.

Though the available information varies by collection, collections typically include a tab “About this Collection” as well as the “Collection Items” tab. Some collections also have a tab of “Articles and Essays” for additional context. The left navigation of the “About…” page links to related resources, when available, and includes information about “Rights and Access.”

Featured Content, a carousel highlighting select items, is a prominent feature of the “About this Collection” pages. Students might browse the carousel to get a sense of the kinds of items in the collection, or they might select an item and examine it to glean information and to generate questions to inspire and focus additional research.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

#2025 #Blogs #Books #CloserLook #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryCollections #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #TeachingWithTheLibrary #Technology

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators, ISSN 2691-6916

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages

June 24, 2025, Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

Many of the online collections from the Library of Congress include tools to help researchers, including student researchers, find what they need in the collection. Exploring those expert resources early in their research process can give students valuable context, a better understanding of what might be in the collection, and can help them decide whether or not to examine the collection further, reducing frustration and improving search results.

Though the available information varies by collection, collections typically include a tab “About this Collection” as well as the “Collection Items” tab. Some collections also have a tab of “Articles and Essays” for additional context. The left navigation of the “About…” page links to related resources, when available, and includes information about “Rights and Access.”

Featured Content, a carousel highlighting select items, is a prominent feature of the “About this Collection” pages. Students might browse the carousel to get a sense of the kinds of items in the collection, or they might select an item and examine it to glean information and to generate questions to inspire and focus additional research.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

#2025 #Blogs #Books #CloserLook #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryCollections #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #TeachingWithTheLibrary #Technology

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators, ISSN 2691-6916

Closer Look: Library Collections Pages

June 24, 2025, Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

Many of the online collections from the Library of Congress include tools to help researchers, including student researchers, find what they need in the collection. Exploring those expert resources early in their research process can give students valuable context, a better understanding of what might be in the collection, and can help them decide whether or not to examine the collection further, reducing frustration and improving search results.

Though the available information varies by collection, collections typically include a tab “About this Collection” as well as the “Collection Items” tab. Some collections also have a tab of “Articles and Essays” for additional context. The left navigation of the “About…” page links to related resources, when available, and includes information about “Rights and Access.”

Featured Content, a carousel highlighting select items, is a prominent feature of the “About this Collection” pages. Students might browse the carousel to get a sense of the kinds of items in the collection, or they might select an item and examine it to glean information and to generate questions to inspire and focus additional research.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Closer Look: Library Collections Pages | Teaching with the Library

#2025 #Blogs #Books #CloserLook #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryCollections #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #TeachingWithTheLibrary #Technology

Civil Discourse – The American Dictator – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

The American Dictator

By Joyce Vance, Sep 06, 2025

Tonight, we have the specter of an American president trying to take control of an American city for thinly veiled political reasons.

Not for the first time, or even the second, but for the third. This time, Donald Trump lacks even the veneer of justification he asserted in Los Angeles, when he claimed anti-ICE protests were out of control. He lacks the unique status he holds in D.C. as the head of the National Guard, which gives him greater latitude to act than anywhere else in the country.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday morning, an off-base reference to the famous line in the Vietnam film Apocalypse Now, “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.” “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the DEPARTMENT OF WAR, followed by three helicopters. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was quick to point out “This is not a joke. This is not normal.”

In Chicago, Trump will be the invader if he moves in. His claims of rampant crime that state and local authorities can’t handle are undercut by statistics that show serious crime is decreasing, although no one is pretending it’s not a problem. But under our system of federalism, it’s a problem that is left to the states, which have the police power, to resolve.

The Tenth Amendment provides that “[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” That includes the general police power, which is reserved to the states, because the Constitution does not specify it as a power of the federal government. The Tenth Amendment is the core tenet of federalism, which Republicans used to claim they believed in, offering it up as a reason for the federal government to stay out of all sorts of things far more benign than a federal takeover of a major American city.

The term police powers refers to a broad and somewhat amorphous governmental regulatory power. In 1954, in Berman v. Parker, the Supreme Court characterized it as involving “[p]ublic safety, public health, morality, peace and quiet, law and order,” while noting that “[a]n attempt to define [police power’s] reach or trace its outer limits is fruitless.” In other words, the power reserved to the states in this regard is broad, certainly encompassing Donald Trump’s newfound desire to have the federal government fight crime in the states—something better done by providing support and grant funding, and letting states and localities do their constitutionally assigned job.

But Donald Trump wants to be a dictator. And it isn’t limited to just his first day in office, as he once said on the campaign trail, not that anyone paying attention believed that bogus claim. Illinois’ Governor isn’t having any of it, calling out Trump for what, in essence, is a threat to go to war with an American city. That sort of plain spoken truth is essential. We can no longer afford to try and make nice with a president who so cavalierly talks about taking over Democratic cities, and only Democratic cities, despite the fact that many red state cities, like my home, Birmingham, Alabama, have crime issues too. We know what Trump is doing. We know next year’s elections are coming. We understand the context for this effort to assert the authority to seize control, at will.

Continue/Read Original Article: https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-american-dictator

The American Dictator by Joyce Vance

Read on Substack

#2025 #America #AmericanDictator #CivilDiscourse #Dictator #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #StatesRights #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration

Civil Discourse – Forgetting the Survivors – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Forgetting the Survivors

By Joyce Vance, Sep 01, 2025

Everyone but the survivors—the people who deserve it the most—seems to be the focus of the renewed interest in Jeffrey Epstein. Politics, prurience, and curiosity about which political and pop culture figures might be mentioned in the files have dominated media coverage while people on both sides of the aisle clamor for the release of information gathered by the government as it prepared to prosecute Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

This week, some of the survivors will meet privately with members of the House Oversight Committee, and there may be some public testimony. The survivors have been critical of the administration’s handling of the situation, but no one seems to be listening to them. Imagine having been victimized by these people and then having to listen to the shameful “interview” by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who let Maxwell whitewash her conduct.

Blanche, who was not on the prosecution team that tried the case, failed to challenge Maxwell, who was convicted by a jury of sex trafficking, when she claimed she never saw “underage women” (many of us would call them “girls”) being abused. Blanche even fed her lines when she faltered.

No one should be surprised that a convicted criminal, sentenced to 20 years in prison, would claim she never did anything wrong—especially when her conviction is still on appeal and the government is holding out the prospect of transfer to a much more hospitable prison setting than the one she was in. What’s appalling is that no one at the Justice Department or in the administration seems to have considered the survivors when they released the video and the transcript, or, for that matter, when they gave Maxwell favorable treatment, moving her from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas just days after the interview with Blanche.

The Justice Department, which the Bureau of Prisons is a component of, offered no explanation for the unprecedented transfer of a convicted sex offender, but it seemed to come in exchange for saying Donald Trump hadn’t done anything criminal.

“Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me. And I just want to say that I find — I — I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now. And I like him, and I’ve always liked him. So that is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him,” Maxwell said in the interview. Trump couldn’t have asked for anything better. Maxwell seems to have understood the importance of playing to the audience of one when you want something.

The Trump Justice Department has not spoken with any of the survivors as part of its review of the prosecutions. Maxwell’s trial took place during the Biden administration. The lead trial lawyer, coincidentally, was former FBI Director Jim Comey’s daughter, Maurene. She was fired by the Trump administration in July, with no reason given.

On Wednesday, there will be a nonpartisan rally on The Hill in Washington, D.C., participated in by groups that work to end human trafficking and to support survivors.

Rachel Foster, a cofounder of World Without Exploitation, an advocacy group for survivors of trafficking, explained why the rally on Wednesday is so important, why the focus should be on survivors, and what this repeated victimization is doing to them: “That is the focus of our coming together on Wednesday — to listen to those who were exploited by Epstein and Maxwell and have suffered decades long harm. These women have been omitted and silenced for too long. They are gathering to speak out about what justice means to them, and it’s not leniency or a pardon for the one perpetrator who has been held accountable for the egregious and predatory crimes she committed.”

Former federal prosecutor and Westchester County DA Mimi Rocah put it like this, “the real victims—over 1,000 by this DOJ’s own statement—have been further traumatized by allowing Maxwell this platform to spew her falsehoods. And, just as important, some of the most important cases that federal prosecutors bring–sex trafficking and child sexual enticement and abuse cases—will no doubt be jeopardized. Because who would trust a DOJ that orchestrates such a travesty of justice.”

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Forgetting the Survivors

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #Epstein #Forgetting #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Rally #Resistance #Science #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Top 7 Sources: US Elections 2025–2026 News Summary – DrWeb’s Domain

Top 7 Sources: US Elections 2025–2026 News Summary

1. 2026 United States elections overview
   Comprehensive Wikipedia summary: federal, statewide, local races; generic ballot polling; mayoral/county races; opinion polling tables.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_elections
2. August 2025 Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll results
   Trump approval rating, top voter issues, polarization, inflation vs. immigration priorities, policy support splits.
   https://harvardharrispoll.com/press-release-august-2025/
3. Sabato’s Crystal Ball: Ballot model: Democrats favored
   Conditional forecasts for House/Senate seat change; regression analysis; impact of seat exposure and generic ballot.
   https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/generic-ballot-model-gives-democrats-strong-chance-to-take-back-house-in-2026/
4. Nate Silver Bulletin: Trump approval rating aggregator
   Daily composite Trump approval/disapproval; historical net approval vs. previous presidents at same point; reliability notes.
   https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin
5. USAPP Blog: LSE ‘The road to the 2026 midterms’ series
   Calendar of 2025–2026 elections; special/primary/off-year races; Senate seat analysis and party control implications.
   https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2025/06/04/the-road-to-the-2026-midterm-elections/
6. Ballotpedia: Special Elections to the 119th Congress (archival)
   Dates, districts, results, implications for House/Senate control. Note: direct fetch unsuccessful; refer to Ballotpedia main page.
   https://ballotpedia.org/Special_elections_to_the_119th_United_States_Congress_(2025-2026)
7. Generic ballot poll aggregation – RCP/DDHQ, opinion data
   RealClearPolitics, Decision Desk HQ, poll aggregators cited via Wikipedia and Crystal Ball articles for current generic ballot, party lead.

   See references/links inside Wikipedia and Sabato’s Crystal Ball cited above.

Prepared for DrWeb’s Domain and updated by ChatGPT.

#2025 #2025Elections #2026Elections #AI #America #DonaldTrump #DrWebSDomain #DWD #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #NewsUpdates #Politics #Resistance #Science #SourceChatGPT #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USElections #UnitedStates

Trump Is Trying to Fire Lisa Cook and Purge the US Government. Can The Majority Stop Him? with Joyce Vance

Trump Is Trying to Fire Lisa Cook and Purge the US Government. Can The Majority Stop Him? with Joyce Vance

on Substack, for a live chat, where we assessed the state of our democracy in light of recent news. Despite the tough month we’re having, Waj’s questions gave me the opportunity to highlight what Trump doesn’t want you to know—the areas where democracy is still working, with guardrails in place.

Trump wants us to crown him king, obeying in advance, to help him complete his desecration of democracy. Don’t do it! Fight back with knowledge.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump Is Trying to Fire Lisa Cook and Purge the US Government. Can The Majority Stop Him? with Joyce Vance

#2025 #America #CivilDiscourse #DonaldTrump #Education #FiringLisaCook #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Purge #Resistance #Science #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates