#libraryofcongress — Public Fediverse posts

Library of Congress: Remembering the Past, Preserving the Present: The America 250 Semiquincentennial Web Archive. “The America 250 Semiquincentennial Web Archive documents how Americans are commemorating and reflecting on the nation’s 250th anniversary. In this interview, Malea Walker discusses how the collection evolved from a project focused on government websites into a broader effort to […]

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

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

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 […]

New-to-me, from Library of Congress: Preserving U.S. Indigenous Government Websites: From Directory to Digital Archive. “As a 2025 Junior Fellow, Maggie Jones helped build the United States Indigenous Government Websites Web Archive with the guidance of her mentor, Giselle Aviles. In this interview, they describe how the collection developed from a list of over 500 tribes and what that process […]

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

Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

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Resources for African American History Month: Selected Digital Collections

February 10, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith

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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.

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

Library of Congress: From Print Volumes to Digital Scholarship: The Handbook of Latin American Studies Web Archive. “Since the 1930s, the Handbook of Latin American Studies has documented scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean. In this interview, Tracy North describes how that long-standing mission now extends to web archiving, ensuring long-term access to web-based research materials. […]

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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Library of Congress: Web Archiving at the Library After 25 Years. “The Web Archiving Program started as a small pilot program to archive the 2000 Presidential election. The following year, the September 11th attacks happened. Suddenly, there was a lot of material online about the terrorist attacks. The Library and some external partners quickly ramped up web archiving efforts to try to preserve […]

Library of Congress: Library of Congress Celebrates America’s 250 Years. “The 225-year-old Library of Congress serves Congress and the American people with more than 181 million physical items and an expansive digital archive. In 2026, the Library will be opening several new exhibitions to connect the public with the Library’s collections, including…”

Library of Congress Blogs: Where Science Meets Storytelling: Twelve Years of the Science Blogs Web Archive. ” More than a decade after its launch, the Science Blogs Web Archive continues to grow and evolve. In this interview, Jennifer ‘JJ’ Harbster reflects on building and maintaining the collection, while intern Yahir Brito brings a fresh perspective on updating and expanding it. Together, […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/05/where-science-meets-storytelling-twelve-years-of-the-science-blogs-web-archive-library-of-congress-blogs/

Supreme Court has empowered Trump. How much further will it go? – The Washington Post

Supreme Court has expanded presidential powers under Trump. How far will it go?

The justices will hear arguments Wednesday on the legality of most of the president’s tariffs — the first in a series of tests of sweeping claims of authority.

November 2, 2025 at 8:36 a.m. EST, Today at 8:36 a.m. EST, 10 min

By Justin Jouvenal

For nine months, in a flood of emergency orders, the Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump to expand his power.

The justices have permitted Trump to slash the federal bureaucracy, fire the heads of nominally independent agencies and exercise powers traditionally ascribed to Congress.

How much further will the court go?

That will be the overriding question Wednesday when the court hears arguments on the legality of most of the president’s tariffs — the first case to reach the justices in a series of high-stakes tests of Trump’ssweeping claimsof authority.

His asserted tariff powers are uniquely dear to Trump, who has repeatedly warned of economic devastation if the court were to rule against one of his signature policies. But the other tests of presidential power could also have major impact.

In November, the court will considerwhether to strike down a 90-year-old precedent that insulates independent agencies from White House interference. In January, it will explore whether Trump can remake the Federal Reserve, with its vast powers over the economy.

Taken together, the cases will determine the extent to which the Supreme Court will embrace Trump’s view of a presidency constrained by few checks and wielding the type of authority typically only seen in times of war or national crisis. Decisions are expected in the cases by the summer.

“I think the court so far has been more deferential to President Trump than most Supreme Courts in modern times,” said Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “It’s very hard to point to a significant way in which the court has said ‘stop’ to the White House. It raises the pressure on the court, and it raises the stakes for the term ahead.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement the high court’s rulings have corrected erroneous decisions by “far-left liberal activist judges” and thatthe president is doing what he was elected to do.

“The President will continue implementing the policy agenda that the American people voted for in November and will continue to be vindicated by higher courts when liberal activist judges attempt to intervene,” Jackson said.

Trump’s claim that he can unilaterally impose massive tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic agenda, is among his most aggressive moves to date. His assertion rests on a 1977 law that grants the president emergency powers to regulate international commerce. Trump’s argument that the law can be used for tariffs is one no other president has made in the statute’s 50-year history.

The administration has asked the justices to overturn federal court rulings that found the law did not convey authority to impose tariffs. Trump said the levies, some of which he announced at an event he dubbed “Liberation Day,” will help stem the flow of fentanyl across the border and restore America’s manufacturing base.

Small businesses and states have sued to block the levies, arguing they will cause widespread economic harm.

Arguably, no institution has set the stage for Trump’s efforts to expand his poweras much as the Supreme Court and in particular its chief justice. John G. Roberts Jr. has written decisions in recent years declaring the president a uniquely powerful figure.

In a 2020 ruling, Roberts wrote the “entire ‘executive Power’ belongs to the President alone.” He has also intimated the president should have a free hand to fire low-level government employees and made it easier for the president to remove the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Supreme Court has empowered Trump. How much further will it go? – The Washington Post

#2025 #America #ChiefJustice #ConservativeMajority #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Roberts #SCOTUS #SupremeCourtOfTheUnitedStates #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UncheckedPower #UnitedStates

Opinion – Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era – The New York Times

Opinion Interesting Times

Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era

The Supreme Court justice isn’t making decisions based on public opinion.

 There’s a roster of cases before the Supreme Court that could reshape the entire Trump presidency and redefine executive power. And my guest this week, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is likely to be the decisive vote in some of these cases.

Unfortunately but predictably, that means that she couldn’t or wouldn’t respond to my most direct questions about the Trump administration.

But my goal was to push the justice on a question that she can answer, and one that she addresses at length in her new book, “Listening to the Law.” I wanted to know whether her preferred legal theory, originalism, can bend and flex in response to prudential and political concerns.

Barrett believes strongly that it shouldn’t, that justices should rule without worrying about public opinion or who happens to be in the White House. But I tend to think real-world politics constantly tests and limits that ideal. So in our conversation, I’m trying to find those limits and the ways in which even justices devoted to the original meaning of the Constitution have to deal with the highly unusual pressures of right now.

Amy Coney Barrett Doesn’t Need You to Like Her

The Supreme Court justice isn’t making decisions based on public opinion.

Below is an edited transcript of an episode of “Interesting Times.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Editor’s Note: Embedded from Spotify below.

Ross Douthat: Justice Barrett, welcome to “Interesting Times.”

Amy Coney Barrett: Thank you for having me, Ross.

Douthat: I honestly would never have said no. [Barrett chuckles.]

Your book is mostly about — and we’re mostly going to talk about theories of jurisprudence, the place of the Supreme Court in American life, possibly some issues related to the Trump presidency and executive power — but it does start with a little window into the personal world of Amy Coney Barrett, so I’m going to start with a couple of questions about that terrain.

We looked it up, and you are the first guest we’ve had on the show who has more children than I do — which is only because we haven’t yet succeeded in booking Elon Musk, I should say.

Barrett: [Laughs.] There’s still time for you to catch up with me.

Douthat: That’s a bold statement. I appreciate your confidence in my youthful energy and vigor.

When you were being nominated, this newspaper, The New York Times, ran a story that talked about your mix of personal and professional obligations and how it made you a certain kind of trailblazer. And the story described you — and you can accept this description or not — as “a woman who is both unabashedly ambitious and deeply religious, who has excelled at the heights of a demanding profession,” even as she speaks openly about prioritizing her faith and family.

I’m curious if you actually see yourself this way at all? Do you see yourself as a particular kind of trailblazer or role model in that kind of balancing act?

Barrett: I don’t see myself as a trailblazer, nor do I love the word “ambitious,” because I feel like the word “ambition” puts a focus on success or ambition for its own sake, which isn’t how I’ve ever conceived of my career.

When I was growing up — I was born in 1972 — my mom stayed home, and the parents of most of my friends had a working dad and a stay-at-home mom. My kids have had a mix, and for them, it’s become unexceptional to have a mom that worked, whereas it felt like a big thing for me to make the choice because my own mother had a large family — I’m one of seven — which is, I say in the book, that’s what I always wanted. That was my No. 1 priority. And I wasn’t sure that I could do that and work at the same time, but I always have, since I had our first child.

So I think my life looks different than the life of my mom and my aunts and my friends’ parents at the time, but it’s one that my own daughters and sons and their friends, I hope, can just treat as unexceptional. Like, you can stay home if you want. You can work if you want. You can do both.

Douthat: Do you think of yourself as a feminist — a conservative feminist, if that is a category that you would accept?

Barrett: I don’t know, labels are so dangerous because they mean different things to different people. I mean, if being a feminist simply means having the view that women can do whatever it is they put their minds to and have opportunities open to them, then yes, I am.

But I think any stripe of feminism that you describe is going to have — labels are risky. So I’ll just say: Yes, yes, labels are risky.

Douthat: Labels are risky, especially when you are charged with the interpretation of the entire U.S. Constitution.

Barrett: [Laughs.] It’s so true.

Douthat: How do you actually do it? And I say this as someone who, obviously, works. Here I am working. My wife is a journalist and writer, and we do a lot of the same kind of balancing that you and your husband have done, and it takes some strange forms. But it’s very challenging. Any number of kids is challenging, but to have a large family and have a busy professional life — I’m just curious: As a Supreme Court justice, how do you feel like you guys make it work?

Barrett: A lot of people ask. That’s probably the question that I get asked most often.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era – The New York Times

#2025 #America #AmyConeyBarrett #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #InterestingTimes #Interview #JusticeBarrett #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Podcast #Politics #Resistance #Science #SCOTUS #SupremeCourtOfTheUnitedStates #Technology #TheNewYorkTimes #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpEra #UnitedStates

Concerns mount over increased violence among federal immigration agents – NPR

Immigration

Tackles, projectiles and gunfire: Many fear ICE tactics are growing more violent

October 13, 202512:57 PM ET

By Meg Anderson

There are countless videos on social media showing similar scenes. One, filmed by a photographer in Hyattsville, Md., shows a man pinned to the ground by two ICE officers. He pleads in Spanish and English for someone to help him.

During the incident, one of the officers drops his gun and fumbles for it. Then, he appears to point it at bystanders. Emily Covington, an assistant director in ICE’s Office of Public Affairs, told NPR in a statement that drawing a weapon can be used as a de-escalation tactic.

Another video, from Broadview, Ill., near Chicago, appears to show a man outside an ICE facility getting shot in the head with a pepper ball, a projectile filled with chemical irritants. That man, Pastor David Black, has sued the Trump administration.

Late last month, a local CBS reporter said a masked ICE agent fired a pepper ball at her car at that same facility, causing her to vomit for hours. The reporter, Asal Rezaei, said there was no protest happening at the time. Broadview Police are now investigating.

“These are just the tip of the iceberg,” says Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “People being tackled, people getting pepper sprayed or tear gassed. We’ve seen people getting threatened. And we’ve seen at least two incidents involving gunfire.”

A majority of Americans do not approve of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, according to a recent survey from The New York Times and Siena University. Yet in Chicago, immigrant advocate groups say federal immigration officers are escalating those tactics and becoming more violent.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Concerns mount over increased violence among federal immigration agents : NPR

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Education #FederalImmigrationViolence #Gunfire #Health #History #Ice #ICETactics #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE_ #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Opinion #Politics #Projectiles #Resistance #Science #Tackles #Takedowns #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #ViolenceByICE #YouTube

In Chicago hearing on National Guard deployment, federal judge appointed by Biden will hear arguments – Chicago Sun-Times

Donald Trump Politics Immigration

Federal judge hits Trump administration credibility in siding with city and state against National Guard deployment

Judge’s order bars ‘federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois’ for at least 14 days.

By Jon Seidel and Tina Sfondeles Oct 9, 2025, 6:02pm PDT

For U.S. District Judge April Perry,

it all came down to credibility.

Should she believe local law enforcement officials, who say they have protests over President Donald Trump’s immigration campaign well in hand? Or Trump, whose aides claim a “brazen new form of hostility” targeting federal law enforcement had broken out in Illinois?

In the end, Perry concluded the Trump administration’s “perception of events” around Chicago “are simply unreliable.” She’d seen “no credible evidence that there is danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois,” nor that Trump “is unable … to execute the laws of the United States.”

Related

• Judge refuses to immediately block National Guard deployment to Illinois

And after a historic hearing that lasted more than three hours at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, the judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from “ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois.”

Perry ruled orally from the bench and promised a written opinion Friday. The order is effective for two weeks, and Perry set a hearing for Oct. 22 to determine whether it should be extended for two more. Trump’s lawyers are sure to appeal in the meantime.

Gov. JB Pritzker reacted in a statement by saying, “Donald Trump is not a king — and his administration is not above the law.”

“Today, the court confirmed what we all know: There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: In Chicago hearing on National Guard deployment, federal judge appointed by Biden will hear arguments – Chicago Sun-Times

#14Days #2025 #America #AprilPerry #Chicago #ChicagoSunTimes #DistrictJudge #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Illinois #JBPritzker #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #Travel #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian Is Creating a Digital Archive of Exhibits – School Library Journal

Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian Is Creating a Digital Archive of Exhibits

by Kara Yorio, Oct 03, 2025 | Filed in News & Features

The all-volunteer initiative is documenting exhibits at the more than 20 Smithsonian Institution museums and the National Zoo in response to the Trump administration’s announcement that museums’ contents would be subject to review and revision to align with the president’s directive.

When retired Virginia school librarian Mary Anne O’Rourke learned about a project to digitally archive the Smithsonian Institution museums, she immediately wanted to volunteer.

“I spent my career teaching children how to research and look up facts, how to know facts from distortions, and what were good sources? The Smithsonian has been our greatest source,” says O’Rourke, who was a preK–8 librarian for 11 years after being a classroom teacher and working at the Smithsonian Visitor Information Center.

Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian is an all-volunteer effort to document everything on display at the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, the National Zoo, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Volunteers take photos and videos of exhibits in this crowdsourced archiving endeavor. Organizers call it “Crowd to Cloud” and plan to make the information accessible to the media and public.

The initiative is a response to an August letter sent by the Trump administration to the Smithsonian Institution secretary stating that exhibits were subject to review and revision in an effort to “reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story.” The letter went on to say it was an effort to “ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives.”

After learning of the administration’s intentions, Georgetown University history professors Chandra Manning and James A. Millward wanted to take action. Inspired by Save Our Signs—which seeks to document signs and information at National Parks that may be removed by the administration—Manning and Millward sent an email to the university’s history department saying they wanted to find a way to document the Smithsonian exhibits. Upon receiving the email, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, a graduate research assistant at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, immediately proposed possible ways of achieving the goal and offered to help coordinate. Not only is the dual master’s student pursuing a degree in Global, International, and Comparative History, the Smithsonian also holds a special place in her personal history.

“When I was in college, my partner and I were long distance, and we would meet up every other weekend in D.C. and go to the Smithsonian,” Dickinson Goodman says. “They are very personal to me. They’re a big part of my sense of my country, and my sense of my field, and my sense of pride in what it means to be an American—that we can produce these amazing free institutions to the public and to the world. And these institutions hold within them a huge amount of human wisdom and American and world experience that deserve to be accessible.”

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

https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/Citizen-Historians-Smithsonian-creating-digital-Archive-Exhibits

#2025 #America #CitizenHistorians #DigitalArchive #DonaldTrump #Education #Exhibits #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #SchoolLibraryJournal #Science #SLJ #Smithsonian #SmithsonianInstitution #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Why this Portland library is a flashpoint in the debate over downtown safety, and what can be done – oregonlive.com

1. Politics

Why this Portland library is a flashpoint in the debate over downtown safety, and what can be done

• Updated: Sep. 23, 2025, 1:46 p.m.
• |Published: Sep. 21, 2025, 5:00 a.m.

By Austin De Dios | The Oregonian/OregonLive

On a recent Friday afternoon, children and parents attended a playtime event in the vibrant first-floor youth section of Portland’s Central Library. Meanwhile, a pair of medical responders carried a stretcher up to the third floor to assist an adult in crisis.

Elsewhere, a patron lamented to a librarian about their lack of culinary talent while picking out a new cookbook. A man sitting on a bench outside the bathroom changed his clothes in the open. Security guards stood stationed on every floor. More patrolled outside, along with an employee, who picked up litter.

It was a typical day at Multnomah County’s flagship branch, which has increasingly been called on to serve dual roles as both a central information hub and a stopgap refuge for people experiencing homelessness in a city where such spaces are scarce.

It has also recently become a flashpoint in debates over downtown safety following two violent incidents outside its doors. Local leaders are now mulling significant changes to security protocols at the library that the county Board of Commissioners will take up later this month. That discussion has raised deeper questions about how the library serves its community and how changes could reshape its relationship with the public now and in the years ahead.

Librarians have already had to adapt to increased demands, becoming more than just stewards of information but also social workers and rule enforcers, Director of Libraries Annie Lewis said.

“We’ve had to evolve,” Lewis told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Both in the sense of the tools that people access to get the information they need and the people we serve.”

The downtown library is the county’s most visited, and also one of its most challenged, accounting for a disproportionate share of rules violations tracked by the county, data shows.The branch has struggled with drug overdoses and fentanyl use in and outside the building. Librarians there and elsewhere have reported feeling unsafe at work in the past.

The situation intensified in July after a deadly shooting outside the branch put it under increased scrutiny. County and city officials bickered and blamed one another for the fatal confrontation between two people who had left the library just moments before, while powerful business interests framed the shooting as a county failure.

 Original Article Source: Library Link of the Day
http://www.tk421.net/librarylink/  (archive, rss, subscribe options)

Editor’s Note: There is news online about Trump viewing a Portland video from 5 years ago, and thinking it was “now.” And thus, he’s decided to send in troops. Link for more: http://tiny.cc/569t001

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why this Portland library is a flashpoint in the debate over downtown safety, and what can be done – oregonlive.com

#2025 #America #Debate #DonaldTrump #Downtown #DowntownSafety #Education #FederalPolice #Flashpoint #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Oregon #Oregonlive #OregonliveCom #Politics #Portland #Resistance #Science #Troops #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Inside the Battle for The Smithsonian – Vanity Fair

CULTURE WAR

Inside the Battle for The Smithsonian

Donald Trump’s unprecedented measures to take control of The Smithsonian Institution have rattled staffers, enraged artists, and even put the future of its vast collection in doubt.

By Manuel Roig-Franzia, September 29, 2025

The look on the curator’s face said it all, and the intensity of the conversation was escalating by the moment. Confusion to worry. Worry to dread.

“I want to do this,” the curator said. “But I don’t think I can do this. I’m worried that I might get in trouble.”

On any other day, the curator’s sit-down with a high-ranking Smithsonian official about an exhibition plan would have been routine—the idea wasn’t particularly controversial. But not on this day in late March. President Donald Trump’s White House had just issued an executive order, a mere 1,100 words or so but plenty enough to shake the world’s largest museum and research institution to its core, a document titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The order lambasted The Smithsonian, saying it had “in recent years come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.” It went on to order Vice President JD Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to seek out and “remove improper ideology” and to take a hand in reshaping content at the popular 21-museum complex as well as its research centers and the National Zoo. The Trump administration, the order said, would work to ensure The Smithsonian would transmit an “uplifting” message to remind “Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing.”

The order felt almost Orwellian to some.

“It taps into people’s basest fears,” a high-ranking official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about retribution, told me.

Across the breadth of the vast Smithsonian network, similar reactions were taking place. Officials were beginning to doubt their decisions. Might they be self-editing to appease a vengeful president? Might self-editing morph into self-sabotage? Might The Smithsonian, which gets a large percentage of its budget from the federal government but prides itself on independence, become a political propaganda tool?

“The whole thing is fucked up,” said artist Mika Rottenberg, whose work will be featured at The Smithsonian in November. “So many things are fucked up.”

Continue/Read Original Article: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/inside-the-battle-for-the-smithsonian

#2025 #America #Battle #Censorship #DonaldTrump #Education #EraseHistory #Health #History #InsideSmithsonian #KennedyCenter #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #RemoveHistory #Resistance #Science #Smithsonian #SmithsonianInstitution #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #VanityFair

Letters from an American – September 11, 2025 – Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American, September 11, 2025

By Heather Cox Richardson, Sep 11, 2025

Twenty-four years ago today, terrorists from the al-Qaeda network used four civilian airplanes as weapons against the United States, crashing two of them into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Four years ago, George W. Bush, who was president on that horrific day, spoke in Pennsylvania at a memorial for the passengers of the fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, who on September 11, 2001, stormed the cockpit and brought their airplane down in a field, killing everyone on board but denying the terrorists a fourth American trophy.

Former president Bush said: “Twenty years ago, terrorists chose a random group of Americans, on a routine flight, to be collateral damage in a spectacular act of terror. The 33 passengers and 7 crew of Flight 93 could have been any group of citizens selected by fate. In a sense, they stood in for us all.” And, Bush continued, “The terrorists soon discovered that a random group of Americans is an exceptional group of people. Facing an impossible circumstance, they comforted their loved ones by phone, braced each other for action, and defeated the designs of evil.”

Recalling his experience that day, Bush talked of “the America I know.”

“On America’s day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another…. At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith…. At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees…. At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action.”

Bush celebrated the selfless heroism and care for others shown by those like Welles Crowther, the man in the red bandana, who helped others out of danger before succumbing himself; the airplane passengers who called their loved ones to say goodbye; neighbors; firefighters; law enforcement officers; the men and women who volunteered for military service after the attack.

That day, and our memories of it, show American democracy at its best: ordinary Americans putting in the work, even at its dirtiest and most dangerous, to take care of each other.

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

Continue/Read Original Article Here: (1) September 11, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson

#2025 #911 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #HeatherCoxRichardson #History #LettersFromAnAmerican #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #PresidentBush #Resistance #Science #September112001 #Substack #Television #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TwinTowers #UnitedStates #WorldTradeCenter

Court Temporarily Stops Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful Attempted Takeover of the Library of Congress – Democracy Forward

Court Temporarily Stops Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful Attempted Takeover of the Library of Congress

Press Release September 10, 2025

Washington, DC — In a significant victory for the separation of powers, a federal court today granted an injunction pending appeal, temporarily preventing the Trump-Vance administration from unlawfully removing the Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, from her position, and from installing Executive Branch officials to run the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office. Democracy Forward is representing Perlmutter in this case. 

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia pauses, for now, what the court said might constitute a “grave intrusion by the President into the constitutional powers of a coordinate branch of government.” The ruling confirms that the President does not have the legal authority to fire or replace the Register of Copyrights — a position that can be filled only by the Librarian of Congress.

“This is a significant victory for the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the independence of Congress. The President does not have the authority to remove the Register of Copyrights or to install his own officials to run the nation’s library. We are proud to represent Shira Perlmutter in defending the integrity of our democratic institutions, and we will continue this fight as it proceeds,” said Brian Netter, Legal Director at Democracy Forward.

–Democracy Forward

This case challenges the President’s unlawful actions, including attempts to appoint a Justice Department official as Acting Register of Copyrights and to name an Acting Librarian of Congress under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — an action that is legally invalid because Congress structured the Library of Congress to be part of the Legislative Branch under the Act, not the Executive.

The court’s order ensures that Perlmutter remains the lawful Register of Copyrights, and that any actions taken by improperly appointed officials at the Library of Congress have no legal effect, while the case continues.

The case is Perlmutter v. Blanche. Perlmutter is represented by Democracy Forward’s Brian Netter and Allyson Scher, and Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.

The court’s decision can be read here [and PDF below], and Democracy Forward’s initial complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction can be read here. 

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Court Temporarily Stops Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful Attempted Takeover of the Library of Congress – Democracy Forward

#2025 #America #Books #BrianNetter #CopyrightOffice #DemocracyForward #DistrictOfColumbia #DonaldTrump #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #RegisterOfCopyrights #Resistance #Science #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USCourtOfAppeals #UnitedStates

Democratic senators urge Smithsonian to resist White House attempts to ‘bully the institution’ : NPR

Culture

Four Democratic senators urge Smithsonian to resist White House attempts to ‘bully the institution’

Updated September 5, 2025, 3:32 PM ET

By Anastasia Tsioulcas

In a letter sent Friday to the Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and three other Democratic senators urged Bunch to resist any attempts by the White House to “bully the institution to go against its mission and values.”

The letter from the four Senate Democrats comes weeks after President Trump called the Smithsonian and museums “all over the Country essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’” On Truth Social, he said that the Smithsonian presents a narrative of the country’s history that is about “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

The White House also released an unsigned memo last month specifically criticizing 22 exhibitions, live programs and other materials at the Smithsonian, titled, “President Trump Is Right About The Smithsonian.” NPR has reported that some of the exhibitions were temporary and are no longer on view.

The coauthors of Friday’s letter are three senators with ties to the institution: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., both current members of the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents; and Sen. Jeffrey A. Merkley, D-Ore., the ranking member of an appropriations subcommittee which holds jurisdiction over the Smithsonian’s federal funding. The letter was provided to NPR by Padilla’s office.

Within the letter, the senators asserted that oversight of the Smithsonian rests with Congress from its founding, not the White House.

“As you know,” the senators wrote in part, “the Smithsonian Institution is a national treasure, and it is also a public-private partnership managed as an independent federal trust. It is not an executive agency over which the President can exert unilateral control over its historical, scientific or artistic content. The Institution was created by Congress to care for the bequest of James Smithson and to found ‘an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.’ In recent years, it has been funded with a relatively even split of private donations to support its programming, and federal appropriations provided by Congress to support its core operations including the maintenance of the facilities, further underscoring its unique status.”

The letter continued: “Congress assigned the trust responsibility for this gift of private property to the United States and its ongoing mission to the Smithsonian Board of Regents, not to the executive branch.”

In a written statement sent to NPR on Friday afternoon, Lindsey Halligan, a White House official tasked with reviewing the Smithsonian, said: “The Smithsonian is not an autonomous institution, as 70% of its funding comes from taxpayers. While we acknowledge the Smithsonian’s recognition of its own programmatic failures and is moving toward critical introspection, it cannot credibly audit itself. By definition, an ‘audit’ must be neutral and objective. The American taxpayers deserve nothing less, which is why the White House will ensure the audit is conducted impartially. This is non-negotiable.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic senators urge Smithsonian to resist White House attempts to ‘bully the institution’ : NPR

#2025 #America #bullying #Democrats #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Opinion #Politics #Resist #Resistance #Science #Senators #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMuseums #SupportSmithsonian #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #WhiteHouse

Smithsonian secretary reaffirms institution’s ‘independence’ in response to White House’s demand for review – ABC News

Smithsonian secretary reaffirms institution’s ‘independence’ in response to White House’s demand for review

Sec. Lonnie Bunch said that the institution’s “independence is paramount.”

By Elizabeth Thomas and Deena Zaru, September 5, 2025, 12:31 PM

White House wants Smithsonian exhibits to fit Trump’s view of history: Official
The White House plans to conduct a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian Institution’s museum exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III asserted the Smithsonian Institution’s control over its programming and content this week in a letter addressed to the White House after the Trump administration demanded a review of the institution’s exhibits, a Smithsonian official confirmed to ABC News.

The White House announced last month that it plans to conduct a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian’s museum exhibitions, materials and operations to ensure they align with President Donald Trump’s view of American history.

In the Sept. 3 letter, Bunch responded to Trump’s demand that his administration review the Smithsonian’s exhibitions, materials and operations. It also said that the Smithsonian, which is the world’s largest museum complex, will remain control over programming and content and that it will do its own review of exhibits, material and operations, the official told ABC News.

Following its internal review, Bunch said he will brief the White House on its findings, but the Smithsonian will not be sending a formal report to the White House, the Smithsonian official added. The museum’s review of exhibits is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Asked about the Smithsonian’s internal review and whether the White House will insist on being involved, a White House official told ABC News that the Smithsonian “cannot credibly audit itself.”

“The Smithsonian is not an autonomous institution, as 70% of its funding comes from taxpayers. While we acknowledge the Smithsonian’s recognition of its own programmatic failures and is moving toward critical introspection, it cannot credibly audit itself,” White House official Lindsey Halligan said. “By definition, an ‘audit’ must be neutral and objective. The American taxpayers deserve nothing less, which is why the White House will ensure the audit is conducted impartially. This is non-negotiable.”

ABC News reached out to the Smithsonian but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

Bunch, who met with Trump at the White House on Aug. 28 over lunch, referenced the Smithsonian’s response to the White House and his conversations with Trump during the lunch in a Sept. 3 letter to the institution’s employees, which was obtained by ABC News.

In the letter, Bunch told Smithsonian employees that he communicated to the president during their Aug. 28 meeting that the Smithsonian’s “independence is paramount.” He also told employees that the Institution remains committed to telling the “American story” and “will always be, a place that welcomes all Americans and the world.”

Asked about the Smithsonian’s internal review and whether the White House will insist on being involved, a White House official told ABC News that the Smithsonian “cannot credibly audit itself.”

“The Smithsonian is not an autonomous institution, as 70% of its funding comes from taxpayers. While we acknowledge the Smithsonian’s recognition of its own programmatic failures and is moving toward critical introspection, it cannot credibly audit itself,” White House official Lindsey Halligan said. “By definition, an ‘audit’ must be neutral and objective. The American taxpayers deserve nothing less, which is why the White House will ensure the audit is conducted impartially. This is non-negotiable.”

ABC News reached out to the Smithsonian but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

Bunch, who met with Trump at the White House on Aug. 28 over lunch, referenced the Smithsonian’s response to the White House and his conversations with Trump during the lunch in a Sept. 3 letter to the institution’s employees, which was obtained by ABC News.

In the letter, Bunch told Smithsonian employees that he communicated to the president during their Aug. 28 meeting that the Smithsonian’s “independence is paramount.” He also told employees that the Institution remains committed to telling the “American story” and “will always be, a place that welcomes all Americans and the world.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Smithsonian secretary reaffirms institution’s ‘independence’ in response to White House’s demand for review – ABC News

#2025 #ABCNews #America #Books #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Reading #Resistance #Science #SecretaryLonnieBunch #SmithsonianInstitution #SmithsonianMuseums #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #WashingtonDC #WhiteHouse

Try and Stop Me – GovTrack.us

1. News From Us
2. Legislative Preview

Try and Stop Me

Sept. 3, 2025 · by Amy West

House and Senate Return

The House has 12 committee meetings scheduled. On Tuesday, there will be a Rules Committee meeting to set debate rules for three resolutions canceling Biden Administration regulations and for the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026. House Appropriations will have markup hearings on the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Bill and the Financial Services and General Government Bill (also for fiscal year 2026). The House has 16 bills on its schedule this week on a wide range of topics.

The Senate returned late Tuesday to, per Craig Caplan on X, “vote at 5:30pm on whether to advance the 2026 defense programs and policy bill. This first floor action on the NDAA needs 60 Yes votes to advance it.” (The National Defense Authorization Act, aka the NDAA, advanced 84-14 on Tuesday evening.) There are nine committee hearings, none on appropriations, five on pending nominations.

Meanwhile

Epstein Files Transparency Act

Rep. Massie (R-KY4) has a resolution demanding the release of all Epstein files. He is filing it as a discharge petition which will need 218 co-sponsors. Currently, he has 134 with three Republicans besides himself.

A discharge petition is a tool for House members not in leadership to force votes on topics that leadership doesn’t want to vote on. The first hurdle is to get 218 co-sponsors. Once the petition has 218 co-sponsors, the member may introduce it which will require that the House vote on it within two legislative days.

Massie’s effort might have been doomed except that releasing the Epstein files is popular with the Republican base. Releasing them is not popular with the President though. Exploiting this intra-Republican conflict appeals to Democrats and so about 130 of them have signed on so far. It will take all of the Democrats signing on as well as a few more Republicans to get to 218. We’ll let you know how far Massie gets.

Government Shutdown?

Even with the appropriations work listed above, Congress will almost certainly not get all 12 regular appropriations bills passed through both chambers by September 30, the last day of the fiscal year. After that, government agencies cannot spend funds and will shut down. (See our post Learn how Congress directs government spending for more details).

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Try and Stop Me – GovTrack.us

#2025 #America #Congress #DonaldTrump #Education #FallTerm #GovTrack #GovTrackUs #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #ReturnForCongress #Science #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USCongress #UnitedStates

Tracking Trump: – The Washington Post

Tracking Trump: D.C. mayor’s National Guard order; a judge rules against Trump’s L.A. deployment; Trump attacks Chicago; and more

The 7 follows President Donald Trump’s second term, Today at 5:32 p.m. EDT

1

D.C. mayor orders indefinite cooperation with federal law enforcement.

• Today: Washington Mayor Muriel E. Bowser issued an executive order requiring local police coordination with federal law-enforcement officials. There is no expiration date.
• Context: President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to D.C. has a 30-day limit, but he has indicated he will seek to extend the deployment.

2

A judge ruled that Trump’s L.A. troop deployment was illegal.

• The latest: District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles this summer violated a law banning them from engaging in domestic law enforcement activities.

• Why: Breyer wrote that federal officials “knew that they were ordering troops to execute domestic law beyond their usual authority.”

3

Trump amped up anti-Chicago rhetoric.

• What he said: “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC.”

• Why it matters: After he sent troops to D.C., Trump said Chicago would see a National Guard deployment “probably next.”

4

Trump’s nominee to lead BLS discussed gender IQ with interns.

• New: While at the Heritage Foundation last year, E.J. Antoni told interns about a controversial IQ theory that says there are more women of “average” intelligence than men.

• Context: Trump nominated Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after firing its previous head for releasing a negative jobs report.

5

Trump announced the Space Command HQ will move from Colorado to Alabama.

• What to know: Space Command, which oversees space military operations, has been in Colorado Springs since 2019, but will now move to Huntsville, Alabama.

Background: Trump reestablished the Space Command in 2019. An initial plan to move it from its interim HQ in Colorado to Alabama was scrapped by President Joe Biden in 2023.

Read MORE…

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The 7 things to know about President Donald Trump for [day, date] – The Washington Post

#2025 #7Things #America #BLS #BureauOfLaborStatistics #Chicago #DCMayor #DonaldTrump #Education #FederalizePolice #Health #History #LATroopsIllegal #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Resistance #Science #SpaceCommand #TheWashingtonPost #Travel #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Trump’s attacks on the ‘Blacksonian’ have a history in a century-old myth | The Guardian

Trump’s attacks on the ‘Blacksonian’ have a history in a century-old myth

By Saida Grundy

The United Daughters of the Confederacy set out to make slavery respectable again by promoting ‘the lost cause’

Sat 23 Aug 2025 07.00 EDT

It should surprise no one that former cast members from reality shows that ran for more than 15 seasons are running out of new material.

Days ago, Donald Trump, former star of NBC’s The Apprentice and current US president, posted a lengthy Truth Social rant in which he (again) threatened the country’s leading cultural institutions to adhere to his political ideology. The target was one he has had in his crosshairs before – the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) – which Trump called “OUT OF CONTROL” in his post. “Everything discussed [in NMAAHC exhibits] is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was,” Trump unloaded. “WOKE IS BROKE,” he continued through his customary use of all caps and misplaced capitalization of common nouns. “We have the HOTTEST Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”

The tirade left many wondering what exactly Trump saw as the upsides of slavery, but also where they had previously heard this recycled talking point. The comment seemed to echo comments made just days prior by his fellow reality show bully Jillian Michaels, a former trainer on NBC’s The Biggest Loser, the weight-loss competition show that launched alongside The Apprentice in 2004. Michaels had been making her rounds in media and public appearances, rebranding from verbally abusive fat shamer to Maga influencer.

On CNN’s NewsNight, the host Abby Phillips moderated a roundtable discussion on Trump’s months-long overreach into cultural institutions such as the Kennedy Center and the NMAAHC. Michaels hijacked the conversation into a lament about slavery’s prominence in the massively popular museum’s displays on US history. “[Trump] is not whitewashing slavery, he’s not,” Michaels said. “You cannot tie slavery to just one race, which is what every single exhibit [at NMAAHC] does.” Turning towards the representative Ritchie Torres, who was seated beside her, Michaels unloaded popular far-right talking points. “Do you realize that only less than 2% of white Americans owned slaves?” she continued. “Do you realize slavery is thousands of years old? Do you know who was the first race who tried to end slavery?”

Torres’s interjections that slavery was a system of white supremacy, not a set of individual white acts, went unaddressed by the TV star. (From 20% to 50% of the white population in southern US states owned enslaved people, and all white people nationwide benefited from slavery’s racial order. Michael’s false claims prompted Phillips to later post a public correction.)

The tirade was an escalation of Trump’s previous open declarations to “restore truth and sanity to American history”, an effort to overhaul exhibits and installations across federally operated museums and galleries and politicize their content, with the NMAAHC locked squarely in the administration’s sights for what it called “corrosive ideology”. Previous edicts about the museum, lovingly nicknamed “The Blacksonian” by many of its patrons, had not specifically identified slavery as the White House’s gripe. But Trump’s Truth Social post more directly reflected a return to a century-old tactic to minimize chattel slavery as “not that bad”.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s attacks on the ‘Blacksonian’ have a history in a century-old myth | Saida Grundy | The Guardian

#2025 #America #AmericanMuseums #Blacksonian #Books #CivilWar #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #OldMyths #Opinion #Politics #Reading #Resistance #Science #Slavery #SmithsonianInstitution #TheGuardian #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedDaughtersOfTheConfederacy #UnitedStates

Changing the Smithsonian doesn’t erase slavery and the racial wealth gap – The Washington Post

Changing the Smithsonian doesn’t erase slavery and the racial wealth gap

There isn’t enough museum space to represent the full extent of the brutality that millions had to endure.

August 22, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT, Yesterday at 6:00 a.m. EDT, 5 min

Column by Michelle Singletary

The legacy of slavery — and the decades of theft associated with it both before and after it ended — cannot be erased from American history.

Nor should it be minimized.

One might assume this didn’t need to be said. But comments made by President Donald Trump suggest otherwise.

Trump this week accused the Smithsonian Institution of being “WOKE” and too focused on slavery, using his platform to diminish itsimpact and criticize exhibits, including those at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

I am a descendant of enslaved people, and there isn’t enough museum space to represent the full extent of the brutalitythat millions had to endure.

In a 10-part award-winning series that I wrote five years ago, I aimed to dispel common misconceptions about race and inequality.

Sincerely, Michelle

Yes, Black Americans are entitled to reparations. We’ve earned them.

In one part, I recounted how my grandmother, Big Mama, told me about her enslaved great-grandmother, Leah Drumwright.

While caring for her own infant, Leah was forced to nurse the baby of the White woman who owned her. The woman made another demand, one that still fills me with grief and anger.

Leah was told she could nurse her own baby only on her right breast. Theleft was strictly reserved for the White baby. The woman’s rationale: The left breast, being closer to the heart, produced healthier milk, and therefore, the best milk had to be given to the White child.

One evening, exhausted from cleaning and cooking for the plantation owners, Leah was caught in the kitchen feeding her child on her left breast.

Fueled by rage, the White mother struck Leah across the face. A beating followed the slap.

I want to revisit part of the “Sincerely, Michelle” series because understanding our history with slavery is crucial to addressing economic disparities that still exist for Black Americans.

The institution that stripped Leah of basic human rights also seeded the discriminatory policies that systematically denied Blacks opportunity.

After the Civil War, many newlyfreed people purchased land, only to see it stolen. Prosperous Black towns were looted and burned. Blacks were denied the right to vote and were prohibited from living in certain neighborhoods.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Changing the Smithsonian doesn’t erase slavery and the racial wealth gap. – The Washington Post

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #RacialWeathGap #Racism #Resistance #Science #Slavery #SmithsonianInstitution #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Live updates: Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview | CNN Politics

Live Updates

Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, Katelyn Polantz, Veronica Stracqualursi, Clare Foran, Dan Berman, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Kaanita Iyer and Marshall Cohen, CNN

Updated 5:26 PM EDT, Fri August 22, 2025

Below is a related video from Forbes:

https://youtu.be/R9m0oUD3z2E

Trump claims he didn’t know or approve Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison transfer 01:12 (see on original article)…

What we’re covering here

• Maxwell transcript: The Justice Department has released a transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. You can read the full transcript here.

• Terms of the interview: The Justice Department gave Maxwell limited immunity so that she could discuss her criminal case but did not promise any other benefits in exchange for her testimony, according to the transcript.

• Trump and Epstein: In the transcript, Maxwell said she never witnessed anything untoward in Donald Trump’s friendship with Epstein and never heard of any allegations that he acted inappropriately. Shortly before the release, Trump told reporters that he supported transparency in the case.

• Records transfer: Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has received the first batch of records related to Epstein from the Justice Department, and it contains “thousands of pages of documents,” a spokesperson said this afternoon.

30 Posts 33 min ago

Read the full transcript of Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell

Scroll below to read the full transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Here’s the latest round of top lines from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview with the Justice Department

From CNN’s Aditi Sangal, Casey Gannon, Katelyn Polantz, Kara Scannell, Marshall Cohen, Sarah Ferris, Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene

This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.US District Court for the Southern District of New York

We are recapping the key findings from the released 337-page transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell last month.

Here’s the latest batch of updates:

No client list: Maxwell said there is no Epstein client list, and gave an explanation, which seemed to confuse Blanche.

Birthday book: She referred to her notes as she tried to recount different financial clients that Epstein kept. When Blanche asked about the notes, Maxwell’s attorney responded, “not the birthday book,” appearing to crack a joke about a reported collection of letters Maxwell had compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday that included one bearing Donald Trump’s name. Trump has repeatedly denied writing the letter and sued The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the letter, for defamation.

Bizarre exchange: Maxwell acknowledged that Epstein preferred younger women, of legal age, but said he liked them not because of anything sexual but because they were “invigorating” and “up to date on music” and brought new “ideas” to the table.

Bill Clinton: Maxwell said to her knowledge that the former president never received a massage while in her presence and never went to Epstein’s private island.

Admiring Trump: Maxwell complimented Trump for “his extraordinary achievement” of becoming president. She said she only visited Mar-a-Lago once or twice, for an event, alone. Epstein, who she described to be in closer touch with Trump than her, visited separately.

Meanwhile, in the present-day Trump world: The president’s team discussed releasing the audio and transcripts for several weeks, officials familiar with the matter told CNN. Many in the administration argued against resurfacing the Epstein story, but others insisted that releasing the material would help them better control the narrative.

Read more: Live updates: Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview | CNN Politics

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Live updates: Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview | CNN Politics

#2025 #America #BillClinton #CNN #CNNPolitics #DonaldTrump #GhislaineMaxwell #Health #History #JeffreyEpstein #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Reading #Resistance #Science #Transcripts #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USDepartmentOfJustice #UnitedStates #YouTube

Trump administration’s anti-woke campaign targets Smithsonian museums | Trump administration | The Guardian

Trump administration’s anti-woke campaign targets Smithsonian museums

Exclusive: White House flags seven institutions including those for Latino, African and Asian art for review, document shows…

Joseph Gedeon in Washington, Wed 20 Aug 2025 20.36 EDT

Amid the Donald Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that details examples of how the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history.

The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, points to what it says are problematic exhibits at seven different museums, including a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.

“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.”

Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

The seven museums that have so far been flagged for review include the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art.

The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump administration’s anti-woke campaign targets Smithsonian museums | Trump administration | The Guardian

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Politics #Resistance #Science #SmithsonianInstitution #TheGuardian #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Opinion | American history can be painful. The Smithsonian should embrace it. – The Washington Post

Good foreign policy depends on good information

Readers also discuss a new way to address Confederate memorials, socialism in New York City and the Smithsonian.

Regarding the Aug. 13 news article “Rubio recasts beliefs with cuts to human rights reports”:

I oversaw the production of the State Department’s annual human rights reports from 2009 to 2012. For almost 50 years, thousands of career diplomats have participated in the compilation of these reports, which have become the most comprehensive and reliable public assessment of human rights conditions in almost 200 countries.

Mandated by Congress in the 1970s to inform decision-making about foreign aid and trade policies, the reports have become an indispensable resource. Global leaders use them to assess risks where they conduct business. Immigration judges in the United States and elsewhere rely on them when evaluating asylum claims. Civil society activists turn to them for credible information when they operate in places where publishing criticism of government actions leads to official reprisals. Journalists and representatives of humanitarian organizations use them to orient themselves as they begin working in complex environments.

All of these benefits are now being jeopardized by the Trump administration’s decision to slash the comprehensive nature of these reports and to dramatically politicize their content. Good foreign policy depends on good information. That begins with thorough, independent accounting of the state of human rights everywhere.

Weakening this foundation risks blinding us to them. Once the credibility of our reporting is lost, it will be extraordinarily difficult to rebuild.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Opinion | American history can be painful. The Smithsonian should embrace it. – The Washington Post

#2025 #America #AmericanHistory #DonaldTrump #Health #History #HumanRightsReport #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #MandatedByCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Rubio #Science #SmithsonianInstitution #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #USStateDepartment #UnitedStates

‘Big Hearts’ book will represent Hawai‘i at 2025 National Book Festival : Maui Now

File (2024): “Big Hearts on …
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Books #BigHeartsonaLittleIsland #Booksaboutlahainafire #Entertainment #grassrootsreliefefforts #HawaiiCenterfortheBook #HawaiiStateLibrary #LahainaPublicLibrary #LibraryOfCongress #mauiauthor #MauiNews #MauiNow #Mauiwildfires2023 #NationalBookFestival2025 #VictoriaMoore #wildfirerecovery
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/10886/

@internetarchive
The #LoC #LibraryOfCongress needed to be funded and tasked with maintaining a official #PublicRecord.