#libraryofcongress — Public Fediverse posts

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.

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A justice’s most lasting legacy – SCOTUSblog

Home Newsletters, EMPIRICAL SCOTUS

A justice’s most lasting legacy

By Adam Feldman, on Nov 14, 2025

Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making and what we can expect from the court in the future.

Among a president’s most enduring legacies are the federal judges they appoint – particularly Supreme Court justices. This permanence stems from life tenure, a constitutional provision that ensures judicial independence but also transforms each appointment into a generational bet on the nation’s legal future.

Yet history is littered with presidential miscalculations. President Dwight D. Eisenhower supposedly called his appointment of Earl Warren as chief justice one of his “biggest mistakes,” as Warren became a liberal stalwart for over a decade. Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter, both nominated by Republican presidents, evolved into some of the court’s most liberal members. Had Republican presidents consistently installed reliably conservative justices since the mid-20th century, the court would have been far more conservative than it actually was (and perhaps even is today).

But presidential legacy is only part of the story. The judges themselves have developed their own succession strategies. In recent years, a striking pattern has emerged: Supreme Court justices now appear ready to retire only with tacit – or perhaps explicit – assurances that they will be replaced by someone they helped shape, typically a former clerk. This, combined with the fact that so many such clerks now serve as judges on the lower courts, has had profound effects – and will continue to do so – on the federal judiciary. 

Judicial successors 

Supreme Court clerkships represent a relatively modern phenomenon, emerging primarily as the court evolved through the 20th century. The number of clerks allocated to each justice has steadily increased, from two until 1969, to three in the 1970s, and to four in 1980. This has also expanded the pool of potential judicial heirs. Justice Byron White was the first justice to have clerked for a former justice – Chief Justice Fred Vinson in his case. Chief Justice William Rehnquist clerked for Robert Jackson, and Stevens for Wiley Rutledge. Stevens was confirmed in 1975. Of the next several justices – Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Souter, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg – none held a Supreme Court clerkship. 

Then came Justice Stephen Breyer, confirmed in 1994, who had clerked for Justice Arthur Goldberg. The majority of justices appointed after 1994 held Supreme Court clerkships at one point in their careers – Chief Justice John Roberts for Rehnquist, Elena Kagan for Thurgood Marshall, Neil Gorsuch for Kennedy (although he was originally hired by White before his retirement), Brett Kavanaugh for Kennedy, Amy Coney Barrett for Scalia, and Ketanji Brown Jackson for Breyer. Neither Samuel Alito nor Sonia Sotomayor clerked at the Supreme Court level, leaving them a minority in this regard.

Indeed, since Kennedy retired in 2018, the phenomenon of justices being replaced by their clerks has become the norm rather than the exception. As noted, not one but two of Kennedy’s former clerks were appointed by President Donald Trump in succession: Gorsuch filled Scalia’s seat, which had remained vacant longer than any in court history, and Kennedy’s own seat went to Kavanaugh. According to Politico, Kennedy’s backroom conversations with Trump prior to his departure may have been used to facilitate a transition. For Trump, this was advantageous: he could install more consistently conservative justices than Kennedy, who had occasionally sided with liberals on consequential civil liberties cases like the same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

This trend of former clerks joining the court continued with Barrett, a Scalia clerk, replacing Ginsburg after her death, and Jackson, a Breyer clerk, succeeding her former mentor. 

The downstream effects of Supreme Court clerkships can reshape American law across generations. Consider the lineage from Jackson to Rehnquist, who clerked for Jackson, to Roberts, who clerked for Rehnquist. And this chain of influence now spans more than half a century, with each generation of jurists passing their interpretive methods to the next.

Breaking down the numbers

But that is not the full picture. The data also reveals how widespread former Supreme Court clerks are in the federal judiciary as a whole.

Thomas leads by a substantial margin, with 12 former clerks hired as federal judges – a testament both to his long tenure and his deliberate cultivation of conservative judicial talent. Kennedy follows with 10 clerk-judges, including the two Supreme Court justices mentioned earlier. Rehnquist placed eight former clerks, continuing his influence even after his 2005 death.

Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ginsburg each count six former clerks in the federal judiciary, and Stevens also placed six. Alito has four clerk-judges, while Breyer and Souter each have three. (Perhaps most surprisingly, given his position as chief justice, Roberts has not yet seen a former clerk become a federal judge.)

Implications: the self-replicating judiciary

These patterns of clerk placement, both on the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court itself, point toward a fundamental transformation in how the federal judiciary perpetuates itself. What began as perhaps an informal preference for continuity has evolved into something approaching a self-replicating system, where judicial philosophies pass from one generation to the next through carefully cultivated mentor-clerk relationships. And the implications extend far beyond individual careers or even the ideological balance of particular courts.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: A justice’s most lasting legacy – SCOTUSblog

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A justice’s most lasting legacy – SCOTUSblog

Home Newsletters, EMPIRICAL SCOTUS

A justice’s most lasting legacy

By Adam Feldman, on Nov 14, 2025

Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making and what we can expect from the court in the future.

Among a president’s most enduring legacies are the federal judges they appoint – particularly Supreme Court justices. This permanence stems from life tenure, a constitutional provision that ensures judicial independence but also transforms each appointment into a generational bet on the nation’s legal future.

Yet history is littered with presidential miscalculations. President Dwight D. Eisenhower supposedly called his appointment of Earl Warren as chief justice one of his “biggest mistakes,” as Warren became a liberal stalwart for over a decade. Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter, both nominated by Republican presidents, evolved into some of the court’s most liberal members. Had Republican presidents consistently installed reliably conservative justices since the mid-20th century, the court would have been far more conservative than it actually was (and perhaps even is today).

But presidential legacy is only part of the story. The judges themselves have developed their own succession strategies. In recent years, a striking pattern has emerged: Supreme Court justices now appear ready to retire only with tacit – or perhaps explicit – assurances that they will be replaced by someone they helped shape, typically a former clerk. This, combined with the fact that so many such clerks now serve as judges on the lower courts, has had profound effects – and will continue to do so – on the federal judiciary. 

Judicial successors 

Supreme Court clerkships represent a relatively modern phenomenon, emerging primarily as the court evolved through the 20th century. The number of clerks allocated to each justice has steadily increased, from two until 1969, to three in the 1970s, and to four in 1980. This has also expanded the pool of potential judicial heirs. Justice Byron White was the first justice to have clerked for a former justice – Chief Justice Fred Vinson in his case. Chief Justice William Rehnquist clerked for Robert Jackson, and Stevens for Wiley Rutledge. Stevens was confirmed in 1975. Of the next several justices – Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Souter, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg – none held a Supreme Court clerkship. 

Then came Justice Stephen Breyer, confirmed in 1994, who had clerked for Justice Arthur Goldberg. The majority of justices appointed after 1994 held Supreme Court clerkships at one point in their careers – Chief Justice John Roberts for Rehnquist, Elena Kagan for Thurgood Marshall, Neil Gorsuch for Kennedy (although he was originally hired by White before his retirement), Brett Kavanaugh for Kennedy, Amy Coney Barrett for Scalia, and Ketanji Brown Jackson for Breyer. Neither Samuel Alito nor Sonia Sotomayor clerked at the Supreme Court level, leaving them a minority in this regard.

Indeed, since Kennedy retired in 2018, the phenomenon of justices being replaced by their clerks has become the norm rather than the exception. As noted, not one but two of Kennedy’s former clerks were appointed by President Donald Trump in succession: Gorsuch filled Scalia’s seat, which had remained vacant longer than any in court history, and Kennedy’s own seat went to Kavanaugh. According to Politico, Kennedy’s backroom conversations with Trump prior to his departure may have been used to facilitate a transition. For Trump, this was advantageous: he could install more consistently conservative justices than Kennedy, who had occasionally sided with liberals on consequential civil liberties cases like the same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

This trend of former clerks joining the court continued with Barrett, a Scalia clerk, replacing Ginsburg after her death, and Jackson, a Breyer clerk, succeeding her former mentor. 

The downstream effects of Supreme Court clerkships can reshape American law across generations. Consider the lineage from Jackson to Rehnquist, who clerked for Jackson, to Roberts, who clerked for Rehnquist. And this chain of influence now spans more than half a century, with each generation of jurists passing their interpretive methods to the next.

Breaking down the numbers

But that is not the full picture. The data also reveals how widespread former Supreme Court clerks are in the federal judiciary as a whole.

Thomas leads by a substantial margin, with 12 former clerks hired as federal judges – a testament both to his long tenure and his deliberate cultivation of conservative judicial talent. Kennedy follows with 10 clerk-judges, including the two Supreme Court justices mentioned earlier. Rehnquist placed eight former clerks, continuing his influence even after his 2005 death.

Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ginsburg each count six former clerks in the federal judiciary, and Stevens also placed six. Alito has four clerk-judges, while Breyer and Souter each have three. (Perhaps most surprisingly, given his position as chief justice, Roberts has not yet seen a former clerk become a federal judge.)

Implications: the self-replicating judiciary

These patterns of clerk placement, both on the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court itself, point toward a fundamental transformation in how the federal judiciary perpetuates itself. What began as perhaps an informal preference for continuity has evolved into something approaching a self-replicating system, where judicial philosophies pass from one generation to the next through carefully cultivated mentor-clerk relationships. And the implications extend far beyond individual careers or even the ideological balance of particular courts.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: A justice’s most lasting legacy – SCOTUSblog

#2025 #america #clerks #donaldTrump #education #federalJudiciary #health #history #influences #justice #justices #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #opinion #politics #resistance #science #scotus #scotusblog #supremeCourtOfTheUnitedStates #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates

About | The Obama Foundation

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Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS – Spectrum News (Austin, TX)

Ady Huertas re-shelves books at the San Diego Library’s Central Branch. (Spectrum News) – Editor’s Note: Video not available without sign-in :(.

POLITICS

Li­brarians sound alarm as Trump ad­min­is­tration takes aim at agency sup­porting libraries and museums

By Cassie Semyon Washington, D.C., PUBLISHED 4:45 PM ET Oct. 13, 2025

Every day for the last nearly 30 years, you could find Ady Huertas between the stacks of books at the San Diego Public Library’s Central branch.

“My favorite part is empowering our community with information and really making sure that we’re giving access to those core resources,” said Huertas, who manages the Youth, Family, and Equity Services program.

She said she worries her position and programs offered by librarians across the country could drastically change if a directive from President Donald Trump is allowed to go into effect.

Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government. Created by Congress in 1996, IMLS was created to issue grants for libraries and museums nationwide.

But with the future of IMLS in jeopardy, libraries face a future of uncertainty.

What You Need To Know

• Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government
• The American Library Association has filed suit against Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency
• In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country Librarians worry that taking away this federal lifeline could put further strain on community libraries, particularly in rural areas

“Our operational budget is just for that: To keep the doors open. But the IMLS budget really supports the programming and engagement that we do with the community and to support and even out that playing field in our communities,” said Huertas, who added that programs such as “Lunch at the Library” for underserved youth during the summer and adult literacy and workforce development programs could be put on the chopping block.

“All of those programs are going to probably be severely minimized if we do not receive this federal support,” she explained.

In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country. That year, the federal budget was nearly $6.8 trillion dollars.

“It will have a domino effect, because we didn’t build, particularly public libraries or school libraries, on the idea that they should be privately funded. They were a community resource to be shared, and we shared that wealth together, and we shared that opportunity and that impact together,” said Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association.

“Access to information means access to opportunity, and our founders knew this, which is why when they came up with this unique form of government, they recognized that an informed society would be necessary to continue and thrive, which is why they invested heavily in libraries,” Helmick explained.

A librarian from Iowa, Helmick said there is a misconception that funding for libraries simply goes towards books.

“In a small community in my state, a grant was provided to create an electronic chair down into the basement of the library because it also serves as its emergency weather shelter, and they didn’t have an elevator,” explained Helmick.

“When folks come in to find a job or find housing or find community, when folks come in and they recognize that they have access to academic libraries across the country and they can research their own health or their own project or their own entrepreneurial goals, and now they have diminished access to them, it’s really difficult to quantify the loss of that opportunity,” Helmick added.

The American Library Association has filed a lawsuit against deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency. That case is still ongoing, and Sonderling did not respond to multiple interview requests from Spectrum News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS

#2025 #America #Austin #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IMLS #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServicesIMLS_ #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #Science #SpectrumNews #Texas #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpAttacksIMLS #TrumpAttacksLibraries #UnitedStates #Video

Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS – Spectrum News (Austin, TX)

Ady Huertas re-shelves books at the San Diego Library’s Central Branch. (Spectrum News) – Editor’s Note: Video not available without sign-in :(.

POLITICS

Li­brarians sound alarm as Trump ad­min­is­tration takes aim at agency sup­porting libraries and museums

By Cassie Semyon Washington, D.C., PUBLISHED 4:45 PM ET Oct. 13, 2025

Every day for the last nearly 30 years, you could find Ady Huertas between the stacks of books at the San Diego Public Library’s Central branch.

“My favorite part is empowering our community with information and really making sure that we’re giving access to those core resources,” said Huertas, who manages the Youth, Family, and Equity Services program.

She said she worries her position and programs offered by librarians across the country could drastically change if a directive from President Donald Trump is allowed to go into effect.

Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government. Created by Congress in 1996, IMLS was created to issue grants for libraries and museums nationwide.

But with the future of IMLS in jeopardy, libraries face a future of uncertainty.

What You Need To Know

• Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government
• The American Library Association has filed suit against Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency
• In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country Librarians worry that taking away this federal lifeline could put further strain on community libraries, particularly in rural areas

“Our operational budget is just for that: To keep the doors open. But the IMLS budget really supports the programming and engagement that we do with the community and to support and even out that playing field in our communities,” said Huertas, who added that programs such as “Lunch at the Library” for underserved youth during the summer and adult literacy and workforce development programs could be put on the chopping block.

“All of those programs are going to probably be severely minimized if we do not receive this federal support,” she explained.

In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country. That year, the federal budget was nearly $6.8 trillion dollars.

“It will have a domino effect, because we didn’t build, particularly public libraries or school libraries, on the idea that they should be privately funded. They were a community resource to be shared, and we shared that wealth together, and we shared that opportunity and that impact together,” said Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association.

“Access to information means access to opportunity, and our founders knew this, which is why when they came up with this unique form of government, they recognized that an informed society would be necessary to continue and thrive, which is why they invested heavily in libraries,” Helmick explained.

A librarian from Iowa, Helmick said there is a misconception that funding for libraries simply goes towards books.

“In a small community in my state, a grant was provided to create an electronic chair down into the basement of the library because it also serves as its emergency weather shelter, and they didn’t have an elevator,” explained Helmick.

“When folks come in to find a job or find housing or find community, when folks come in and they recognize that they have access to academic libraries across the country and they can research their own health or their own project or their own entrepreneurial goals, and now they have diminished access to them, it’s really difficult to quantify the loss of that opportunity,” Helmick added.

The American Library Association has filed a lawsuit against deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency. That case is still ongoing, and Sonderling did not respond to multiple interview requests from Spectrum News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS

#2025 #America #Austin #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IMLS #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServicesIMLS_ #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #Science #SpectrumNews #Texas #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpAttacksIMLS #TrumpAttacksLibraries #UnitedStates #Video

Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS – Spectrum News (Austin, TX)

Ady Huertas re-shelves books at the San Diego Library’s Central Branch. (Spectrum News) – Editor’s Note: Video not available without sign-in :(.

POLITICS

Li­brarians sound alarm as Trump ad­min­is­tration takes aim at agency sup­porting libraries and museums

By Cassie Semyon Washington, D.C., PUBLISHED 4:45 PM ET Oct. 13, 2025

Every day for the last nearly 30 years, you could find Ady Huertas between the stacks of books at the San Diego Public Library’s Central branch.

“My favorite part is empowering our community with information and really making sure that we’re giving access to those core resources,” said Huertas, who manages the Youth, Family, and Equity Services program.

She said she worries her position and programs offered by librarians across the country could drastically change if a directive from President Donald Trump is allowed to go into effect.

Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government. Created by Congress in 1996, IMLS was created to issue grants for libraries and museums nationwide.

But with the future of IMLS in jeopardy, libraries face a future of uncertainty.

What You Need To Know

• Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government
• The American Library Association has filed suit against Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency
• In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country Librarians worry that taking away this federal lifeline could put further strain on community libraries, particularly in rural areas

“Our operational budget is just for that: To keep the doors open. But the IMLS budget really supports the programming and engagement that we do with the community and to support and even out that playing field in our communities,” said Huertas, who added that programs such as “Lunch at the Library” for underserved youth during the summer and adult literacy and workforce development programs could be put on the chopping block.

“All of those programs are going to probably be severely minimized if we do not receive this federal support,” she explained.

In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country. That year, the federal budget was nearly $6.8 trillion dollars.

“It will have a domino effect, because we didn’t build, particularly public libraries or school libraries, on the idea that they should be privately funded. They were a community resource to be shared, and we shared that wealth together, and we shared that opportunity and that impact together,” said Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association.

“Access to information means access to opportunity, and our founders knew this, which is why when they came up with this unique form of government, they recognized that an informed society would be necessary to continue and thrive, which is why they invested heavily in libraries,” Helmick explained.

A librarian from Iowa, Helmick said there is a misconception that funding for libraries simply goes towards books.

“In a small community in my state, a grant was provided to create an electronic chair down into the basement of the library because it also serves as its emergency weather shelter, and they didn’t have an elevator,” explained Helmick.

“When folks come in to find a job or find housing or find community, when folks come in and they recognize that they have access to academic libraries across the country and they can research their own health or their own project or their own entrepreneurial goals, and now they have diminished access to them, it’s really difficult to quantify the loss of that opportunity,” Helmick added.

The American Library Association has filed a lawsuit against deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency. That case is still ongoing, and Sonderling did not respond to multiple interview requests from Spectrum News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS

#2025 #America #Austin #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IMLS #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServicesIMLS_ #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #Science #SpectrumNews #Texas #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpAttacksIMLS #TrumpAttacksLibraries #UnitedStates #Video

Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS – Spectrum News (Austin, TX)

Ady Huertas re-shelves books at the San Diego Library’s Central Branch. (Spectrum News) – Editor’s Note: Video not available without sign-in :(.

POLITICS

Li­brarians sound alarm as Trump ad­min­is­tration takes aim at agency sup­porting libraries and museums

By Cassie Semyon Washington, D.C., PUBLISHED 4:45 PM ET Oct. 13, 2025

Every day for the last nearly 30 years, you could find Ady Huertas between the stacks of books at the San Diego Public Library’s Central branch.

“My favorite part is empowering our community with information and really making sure that we’re giving access to those core resources,” said Huertas, who manages the Youth, Family, and Equity Services program.

She said she worries her position and programs offered by librarians across the country could drastically change if a directive from President Donald Trump is allowed to go into effect.

Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government. Created by Congress in 1996, IMLS was created to issue grants for libraries and museums nationwide.

But with the future of IMLS in jeopardy, libraries face a future of uncertainty.

What You Need To Know

• Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government
• The American Library Association has filed suit against Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency
• In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country Librarians worry that taking away this federal lifeline could put further strain on community libraries, particularly in rural areas

“Our operational budget is just for that: To keep the doors open. But the IMLS budget really supports the programming and engagement that we do with the community and to support and even out that playing field in our communities,” said Huertas, who added that programs such as “Lunch at the Library” for underserved youth during the summer and adult literacy and workforce development programs could be put on the chopping block.

“All of those programs are going to probably be severely minimized if we do not receive this federal support,” she explained.

In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country. That year, the federal budget was nearly $6.8 trillion dollars.

“It will have a domino effect, because we didn’t build, particularly public libraries or school libraries, on the idea that they should be privately funded. They were a community resource to be shared, and we shared that wealth together, and we shared that opportunity and that impact together,” said Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association.

“Access to information means access to opportunity, and our founders knew this, which is why when they came up with this unique form of government, they recognized that an informed society would be necessary to continue and thrive, which is why they invested heavily in libraries,” Helmick explained.

A librarian from Iowa, Helmick said there is a misconception that funding for libraries simply goes towards books.

“In a small community in my state, a grant was provided to create an electronic chair down into the basement of the library because it also serves as its emergency weather shelter, and they didn’t have an elevator,” explained Helmick.

“When folks come in to find a job or find housing or find community, when folks come in and they recognize that they have access to academic libraries across the country and they can research their own health or their own project or their own entrepreneurial goals, and now they have diminished access to them, it’s really difficult to quantify the loss of that opportunity,” Helmick added.

The American Library Association has filed a lawsuit against deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency. That case is still ongoing, and Sonderling did not respond to multiple interview requests from Spectrum News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS

#2025 #America #Austin #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IMLS #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServicesIMLS_ #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #Science #SpectrumNews #Texas #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpAttacksIMLS #TrumpAttacksLibraries #UnitedStates #Video

Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS – Spectrum News (Austin, TX)

Ady Huertas re-shelves books at the San Diego Library’s Central Branch. (Spectrum News) – Editor’s Note: Video not available without sign-in :(.

POLITICS

Li­brarians sound alarm as Trump ad­min­is­tration takes aim at agency sup­porting libraries and museums

By Cassie Semyon Washington, D.C., PUBLISHED 4:45 PM ET Oct. 13, 2025

Every day for the last nearly 30 years, you could find Ady Huertas between the stacks of books at the San Diego Public Library’s Central branch.

“My favorite part is empowering our community with information and really making sure that we’re giving access to those core resources,” said Huertas, who manages the Youth, Family, and Equity Services program.

She said she worries her position and programs offered by librarians across the country could drastically change if a directive from President Donald Trump is allowed to go into effect.

Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government. Created by Congress in 1996, IMLS was created to issue grants for libraries and museums nationwide.

But with the future of IMLS in jeopardy, libraries face a future of uncertainty.

What You Need To Know

• Back in March, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of his effort to reduce the size and cost of the government
• The American Library Association has filed suit against Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency
• In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country Librarians worry that taking away this federal lifeline could put further strain on community libraries, particularly in rural areas

“Our operational budget is just for that: To keep the doors open. But the IMLS budget really supports the programming and engagement that we do with the community and to support and even out that playing field in our communities,” said Huertas, who added that programs such as “Lunch at the Library” for underserved youth during the summer and adult literacy and workforce development programs could be put on the chopping block.

“All of those programs are going to probably be severely minimized if we do not receive this federal support,” she explained.

In 2024, IMLS provided 600 grants totaling about $270 million to libraries across the country. That year, the federal budget was nearly $6.8 trillion dollars.

“It will have a domino effect, because we didn’t build, particularly public libraries or school libraries, on the idea that they should be privately funded. They were a community resource to be shared, and we shared that wealth together, and we shared that opportunity and that impact together,” said Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association.

“Access to information means access to opportunity, and our founders knew this, which is why when they came up with this unique form of government, they recognized that an informed society would be necessary to continue and thrive, which is why they invested heavily in libraries,” Helmick explained.

A librarian from Iowa, Helmick said there is a misconception that funding for libraries simply goes towards books.

“In a small community in my state, a grant was provided to create an electronic chair down into the basement of the library because it also serves as its emergency weather shelter, and they didn’t have an elevator,” explained Helmick.

“When folks come in to find a job or find housing or find community, when folks come in and they recognize that they have access to academic libraries across the country and they can research their own health or their own project or their own entrepreneurial goals, and now they have diminished access to them, it’s really difficult to quantify the loss of that opportunity,” Helmick added.

The American Library Association has filed a lawsuit against deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the interim head of IMLS, to halt the dismantling of the agency. That case is still ongoing, and Sonderling did not respond to multiple interview requests from Spectrum News.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Librarians sound alarm as Trump admin takes aim at IMLS

#2025 #America #Austin #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #IMLS #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServicesIMLS_ #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SanDiegoPublicLibrary #Science #SpectrumNews #Texas #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpAttacksIMLS #TrumpAttacksLibraries #UnitedStates #Video

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

US federal government shutdown 2025 | The Guardian

US federal government shutdown 2025

The US government shut down on 1 October 2025 after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement by the midnight deadline.

Editor’s Note: Sharing this page. Keep up with the Shutdown 2025. The Guardian has great coverage!

11 October 2025

• Trump says military members will be paid despite government shutdown 15.53 EDT
• Democrats refuse to fold over shutdown as Republican outrage builds 09.00 EDT

10 October 2025

• US politics live with Shrai PopatAfter uproar, Pete Hegseth clarifies Qatari air force facility in Idaho is not a foreign base – as it happened Oct 10 2025 22.03 EDT
• White House announces federal worker layoffs as shutdown nears third week Oct 10 2025 21.44 EDT

9 October 2025

• Senate still deadlocked over shutdown as Trump reiterates threat to DemocratsSeventh round of votes fails to yield breakthrough while president threatens to cut funds for ‘Democrat programs’ Oct 9 2025 15.35 EDT

8 October 2025

• US politics live with Shrai PopatWhite House gives platform to conservative influencers to air grievances during ‘antifa roundtable’ – as it happened Oct 8 2025 22.13 EDT
• IRS to furlough nearly half its workforce due to government shutdown Oct 8 2025 17.24 EDT
• US shutdown deadlock deepens as senators reject competing bills Oct 8 2025 14.27 EDT
• US airport staffing shortages expected to cause more delays amid shutdown Oct 8 2025 12.14 EDT

• Democrats introduce bill to help federal workers cover childcare costs during shutdown Oct 8 2025 06.00 EDT
• Gold price tops $4,000 for first time as investors seek safe haven Oct 8 2025 05.20 EDT

Editor’s Note: The page has more days and information. Bookmark and follow.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: US federal government shutdown 2025 | The Guardian

#2025 #America #Coverage #DonaldTrump #Education #FederalGovernmentShutdown #GOP #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #NewsCoverage #Opinion #Politics #Republicans #Resistance #Science #TheGuardian #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USFederalShutdown2025 #UnitedStates

Biden’s Final Numbers – FactCheck.org

 FactCheck.org® A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Articles › FactCheck Posts › Featured Posts

Biden’s Final Numbers

Statistical indicators of President Biden’s four years in office.

By D’Angelo Gore, Brooks Jackson, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley and Alan Jaffe

Posted on October 9, 2025

Summary

The final numbers for Joe Biden’s full term are nearly all in. Here’s our rundown of various statistical measures during his presidency:

Crude oil, natural gas, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar and wind all set domestic production records in Biden’s last year in office.

Inflation roared back, shrinking the value of workers’ paychecks. Consumer prices rose 21.5%. Gasoline alone rose 31%. After adjusting for inflation, private-sector average weekly earnings shrank 4%.

The economy regained millions of jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic and around 6 million more. Unemployment averaged 4.1%, well below the historical average.

The economy grew by at least 2.5% each year, with real gross domestic product growth of 2.8% in 2024.

The percentage and number of Americans who lacked health insurance went down by 0.6 percentage points, or 1.2 million people, when measuring those who were uninsured for an entire year.

The nationwide violent crime and property crime rates declined. The murder rate dropped by 1.7 points.

All three major U.S. stock indexes set new records. The S&P 500 climbed 57.8%.

After-tax corporate profits continued to set records.

Consumer confidence sank to a historic low, when inflation surged, and then rose. But it was still lower when Biden left office than when his term began.

Apprehensions of those trying to cross the southern border illegally were 107% higher in Biden’s last year compared with the year before he took office.

The monthly average for refugee admissions was 157% higher than during his predecessor’s time in office.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services went up by nearly 40%.

Home prices rose 37.4%. The homeownership rate fluctuated slightly.

The number of people receiving federal food assistance increased only slightly.

The median household income, when factoring in inflation, went up by $2,150. The official poverty rate declined, but the alternative, supplemental measure increased, after pandemic stimulus payments ended.

The federal publicly held debt went up by one-third.

Read more at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Biden’s Final Numbers – FactCheck.org

#2025 #America #BidenSFinalNumbers #DemocraticPresident #Democrats #DonaldTrump #Education #FactCheck #FactcheckOrg #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #PresidentBiden #Resistance #Science #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

Opinion | Trump’s Attempt to Make Museums Submit Feels Familiar – The New York Times

Opinion, Michelle Goldberg

Trump’s Attempt to Make Museums Submit Feels Familiar

Aug. 15, 2025

Listen to this article · 5:32 min Learn more

By Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist

Before Poland’s illiberal Law and Justice party came to power in 2015, the country had been deep in a reckoning over its role in the Holocaust. In 2000, the historian Jan Gross published an explosive book, “Neighbors,” about a 1941 massacre in the Nazi-occupied Polish town of Jedwabne, where Poles enthusiastically tortured and murdered up to 1,600 Jews. The book punctured a national myth in which Poles were only either heroes or victims in World War II.

After “Neighbors” came out, Poland’s president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, went to Jedwabne for a ceremony broadcast on Polish television. “For this crime, we should beg the souls of the dead and their families for forgiveness,” he said.

The notion of Polish historical guilt made many conservative Poles furious. Law and Justice capitalized on their anger, running against what its leader called the “pedagogy of shame.” After the party’s 2015 victory, one of its first targets was the Museum of the Second World War, then being built in Gdansk.

The museum was supposed to explore the war’s global context and to emphasize the toll it took on civilians. Among its collection were keys to the homes of Jews murdered in Jedwabne. Before it ever opened, Law and Justice wanted to shut it down for being insufficiently patriotic.

Today in America, this history has an eerie familiarity. Five years ago, many institutions in the United States tried, with varying degrees of seriousness and skill, to come to terms with our country’s legacy of racism. A backlash to this reckoning helped propel Donald Trump back into the White House, where he has taken a whole-of-government approach to wiping out the idea that America has anything to apologize for. As part of this campaign, the administration seeks to force our national museums to conform to its triumphalist version of history.

In March, Trump signed an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” criticizing versions of history that foster “a sense of national shame.” Museums and monuments, it said, should celebrate America’s “extraordinary heritage” and inculcate national pride. This week, the administration announced that it was reviewing displays at eight national museums — including the Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian American Art Museum — and giving them 120 days to bring their content in line with Trump’s vision.

We’re already seeing glimpses of what that looks like. Last month, the National Museum of American History removed references to Trump’s impeachments from an exhibit on the American presidency. Those references were restored last week, but with changes: The exhibit no longer says that Trump made “false statements” about the 2020 election or that he encouraged the mob on Jan. 6.

Amy Sherald, the artist who painted Michelle Obama’s official portrait, canceled an upcoming solo show at the National Portrait Gallery after being told the museum was considering removing her painting of a transgender Statue of Liberty to avoid angering Trump.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | Trump’s Attempt to Make Museums Submit Feels Familiar – The New York Times

#2025 #America #AmericanHistory #Books #ContentCensorship #DonaldTrump #Education #ExecutiveOrder #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #MAGA #NationalMuseums #Opinion #Politics #Racism #Reading #Resistance #Science #Smithsonian #TheNewYorkTimes #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

08-05-2025 WORK LIFE

Why you should make the library a model for your business

Business leaders should strive to build environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected. The public library can show you how.

BY Craig Shapiro, Listen to this Article More info, 0:00 / 6:30

Walk into a library and you’ll feel it right away. It’s quiet but alive. People are reading, learning, applying for jobs, finding shelter, escaping for a moment into a story. No one’s selling anything. Yet the value being created is enormous.

In 2022 (the most recent year for which we have data), there were 671 million visits to public libraries in the United States—that’s more than the attendance at all MLB, NFL, and NBA games, plus National Park and theme park visits combined. Despite changes in media habits, younger generations use libraries more than any other cohort (54% of Gen Zers and millennials in the U.S. reported visiting a physical library in the past year). And that’s not counting the millions more who use the myriad digital services public libraries offer.

Libraries are not businesses. But they offer a model that many companies would do well to study.

We’re living in a time of rapid change. Trust in institutions is slipping, and funding is at risk (many U.S. libraries, for example, rely on federal support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is being dismantled). AI is transforming the nature of work. Economic pressure is rising for employees, founders, and leaders alike. Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to think only in terms of efficiency, cost-cutting, and optimization.

But there’s a deeper opportunity. What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected?

That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too.

Let people dream

Libraries don’t ask you to justify your interests. You can check out a book on astrophysics or attend a poetry reading. No one’s measuring your productivity. The door is open, and the invitation is simple: Explore.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

#2025 #America #Books #BusinessModels #FastCompany #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Reading #RunBusinessLikeLibrary #Science #Technology #UnitedStates

Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

08-05-2025 WORK LIFE

Why you should make the library a model for your business

Business leaders should strive to build environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected. The public library can show you how.

BY Craig Shapiro, Listen to this Article More info, 0:00 / 6:30

Walk into a library and you’ll feel it right away. It’s quiet but alive. People are reading, learning, applying for jobs, finding shelter, escaping for a moment into a story. No one’s selling anything. Yet the value being created is enormous.

In 2022 (the most recent year for which we have data), there were 671 million visits to public libraries in the United States—that’s more than the attendance at all MLB, NFL, and NBA games, plus National Park and theme park visits combined. Despite changes in media habits, younger generations use libraries more than any other cohort (54% of Gen Zers and millennials in the U.S. reported visiting a physical library in the past year). And that’s not counting the millions more who use the myriad digital services public libraries offer.

Libraries are not businesses. But they offer a model that many companies would do well to study.

We’re living in a time of rapid change. Trust in institutions is slipping, and funding is at risk (many U.S. libraries, for example, rely on federal support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is being dismantled). AI is transforming the nature of work. Economic pressure is rising for employees, founders, and leaders alike. Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to think only in terms of efficiency, cost-cutting, and optimization.

But there’s a deeper opportunity. What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected?

That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too.

Let people dream

Libraries don’t ask you to justify your interests. You can check out a book on astrophysics or attend a poetry reading. No one’s measuring your productivity. The door is open, and the invitation is simple: Explore.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

Original article: View source

#2025 #America #Books #BusinessModels #FastCompany #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Reading #RunBusinessLikeLibrary #Science #Technology #UnitedStates

Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

08-05-2025 WORK LIFE

Why you should make the library a model for your business

Business leaders should strive to build environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected. The public library can show you how.

BY Craig Shapiro, Listen to this Article More info, 0:00 / 6:30

Walk into a library and you’ll feel it right away. It’s quiet but alive. People are reading, learning, applying for jobs, finding shelter, escaping for a moment into a story. No one’s selling anything. Yet the value being created is enormous.

In 2022 (the most recent year for which we have data), there were 671 million visits to public libraries in the United States—that’s more than the attendance at all MLB, NFL, and NBA games, plus National Park and theme park visits combined. Despite changes in media habits, younger generations use libraries more than any other cohort (54% of Gen Zers and millennials in the U.S. reported visiting a physical library in the past year). And that’s not counting the millions more who use the myriad digital services public libraries offer.

Libraries are not businesses. But they offer a model that many companies would do well to study.

We’re living in a time of rapid change. Trust in institutions is slipping, and funding is at risk (many U.S. libraries, for example, rely on federal support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is being dismantled). AI is transforming the nature of work. Economic pressure is rising for employees, founders, and leaders alike. Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to think only in terms of efficiency, cost-cutting, and optimization.

But there’s a deeper opportunity. What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected?

That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too.

Let people dream

Libraries don’t ask you to justify your interests. You can check out a book on astrophysics or attend a poetry reading. No one’s measuring your productivity. The door is open, and the invitation is simple: Explore.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

#2025 #America #Books #BusinessModels #FastCompany #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Reading #RunBusinessLikeLibrary #Science #Technology #UnitedStates

Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

08-05-2025 WORK LIFE

Why you should make the library a model for your business

Business leaders should strive to build environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected. The public library can show you how.

BY Craig Shapiro, Listen to this Article More info, 0:00 / 6:30

Walk into a library and you’ll feel it right away. It’s quiet but alive. People are reading, learning, applying for jobs, finding shelter, escaping for a moment into a story. No one’s selling anything. Yet the value being created is enormous.

In 2022 (the most recent year for which we have data), there were 671 million visits to public libraries in the United States—that’s more than the attendance at all MLB, NFL, and NBA games, plus National Park and theme park visits combined. Despite changes in media habits, younger generations use libraries more than any other cohort (54% of Gen Zers and millennials in the U.S. reported visiting a physical library in the past year). And that’s not counting the millions more who use the myriad digital services public libraries offer.

Libraries are not businesses. But they offer a model that many companies would do well to study.

We’re living in a time of rapid change. Trust in institutions is slipping, and funding is at risk (many U.S. libraries, for example, rely on federal support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is being dismantled). AI is transforming the nature of work. Economic pressure is rising for employees, founders, and leaders alike. Against that backdrop, it’s tempting to think only in terms of efficiency, cost-cutting, and optimization.

But there’s a deeper opportunity. What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected?

That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too.

Let people dream

Libraries don’t ask you to justify your interests. You can check out a book on astrophysics or attend a poetry reading. No one’s measuring your productivity. The door is open, and the invitation is simple: Explore.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why you should make the library a model for your business – Fast Company

Original article: View source

#2025 #America #Books #BusinessModels #FastCompany #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Reading #RunBusinessLikeLibrary #Science #Technology #UnitedStates

#Books including “To Kill a Mockingbird,”the novel by #HarperLee about #racism in the Depression-era South, were purged from #schools run by the #Defense Dept, acc/to a lawsuit filed by the #ACLU.
The #LibraryOfCongress, which describes itself as the world’s largest #library, is home to millions of items, w/collections of books on foreign languages & world history, as well as music, films & newspapers. It serves as the #research arm of #Congress & is open to the public.
#Trump #sexism #idiocracy