Positive news, resistance, legal challenges to book bans, Smithsonian threatened, and LGBTQ+ people under attack
This newsletter will cover topics including resistance, legal challenges, people defending the Smithsonian, DOGE running rampant, and various efforts aiming to marginalize LGBTQ+ people
Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've written my last newsletter on current issues, which came out on April 13, part of my Current Affairs Review section. Some personal circumstances delayed the publication of this newsletter, which Substack is telling me is “too long for email” (i.e. it may be truncated in your email inboxes when it arrives). There's a lot to cover here. I made it easier to put together by dividing what I had into subjects/categories, and keeping the number of links under 100, so there isn't as much content for readers to go through. With that, let me get started.
There is positive news. The first Black woman was elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court. U.S. university presidents agreed to denounce the administration's Mafia-style "pressure" on higher education. A Federal judge blocked the administration's transphobic passport policy. The U.S. Supreme Court halted deportation of detained Venezuelans (for now). Otherwise, universities have recently rallied around Harvard's lawsuit against the administration, which wants to take over the university and determine how it operates with overarching plans going beyond supposed fight against anti-Semitism (a convenient way for them to suppress pro-Palestinian protest). While this moment is certainly significant, Harvard has made recent concessions, either wanting "viewpoint diversity," symbolic changes which remove a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and agreeing to the anti-Palestinian demands, leading some to say you should watch what Harvard does, rather than what they say.
The ACLU started lawsuits against DOGE over access to sensitive data and challenged the book purge (i.e. a book ban) at the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, which I noted in my last newsletter (and how the participation of staff at the library, if it occurred, would violate stated library ethics, despite the fact the ALA still has not released a statement on the book ban, according to recent statements posted here), and its possible impact on other U.S. military libraries, if book bans begin at all U.S. military facilities, many of which have libraries. The latter is notable, for how the ACLU is arguing the case, showing it is broader than just the book ban, but includes much more about control of information:
…The ACLU, representing the students and their families, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing that the Defense Department’s actions infringe upon the students’ First Amendment rights to obtain information, particularly about “their own identities and history.” The 12 students whose families are party to the lawsuit range in age from pre-kindergarten to high school and attend DoDEA schools in Quantico, Virginia; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Aviano, Italy; and Misawa, Japan. “When we saw the three executive orders come out, one on gender ideology, one on K-12 schools and another on military schools, plus the range of other anti-DEI executive orders, we were alarmed because we saw immediate compliance and enforcement within the DOD’s schools that they run on bases,” Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told The 19th. “Books were pulled from libraries. Black History Month was canceled. Specific chapters were pulled from curricula, specific modules were withdrawn. Health courses were canceled.”…An estimated 67,000 children from active-duty military and civilian families attend the DoDEA’s 161 schools worldwide…Representatives have denied banning any books or curriculum, telling The 19th and other news outlets that these materials have been temporarily set aside so staff can determine if they comply with recent executive orders…The plaintiffs paint another picture of DoDEA. They say they have not been able to access the books under review and that the agency has not disclosed which texts have been targeted. Moreover, the DoDEA has discouraged students from protesting censorship at its schools and disciplined some student demonstrators…The lawsuit argues that DoDEA has pulled books without considering the caliber of the texts or their grade-level appropriateness…The ACLU filed its lawsuit on the same day that civil rights organizations, the Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal, sent a letter to Hegseth and U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Yvette M. Davids objecting to the academy’s decision to remove 381 books discussing race, gender and sexuality from its Nimitz Library. They argue that cadets have a right to receive information…
The above-noted article also notes that some of the books that the U.S. military pulled include, ironically enough, J.D. Vance's eugenics trash-book/memoir Hillbilly Elegy, and others, sadly not surprisingly, like Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, Ray Bradbury's prescient Fahrenheit 451, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States, and many others noted in the LDF press release, like Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, while retaining Thomas Dixon Jr.'s neoconfederate The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, Hitler's Mein Kampf, and Joseph Conrad's controversial novella Heart of Darkness. It is good to see people resisting these fascist actions.
The same goes for those standing against Pete Hegseth, with resignations and the Pentagon apparently in disarray. While some have concerns about a "military coup" going in the Pentagon, which is certainly troubling, considering having civilian leadership over the Pentagon is important, Hegseth himself is certainly not qualified for the position in any way, shape, and form. Say what you will about the people he has removed, there's no doubt he wants to replace them with White men, as his recent actions have shown he doesn't want Black people nor women or trans people in the military whatsoever. The U.S. military is garnering a massive budget at the same time that social programs and other government programs, which help people, are slashed. Recent actions will likely lead to an economic crash in the imminent future, which will hurt many, many people, while wealthy people will act like nothing is wrong, going about their lives without a care in the world.
Resistance to the current regime, as it can be called, is important, especially by legislators and ordinary people. Just look at those standing against the attacks on the Smithsonian, especially the National Museum of African American History (also known as the Blacksonian), either calling it, rightly, an attempt to rewrite history or saying it would erase Black history. Lonnie Bunch III, still the secretary of the Smithsonian, said, in a talk at Howard University last month, "if people try to close the African American Museum, they'll do it over my body. Cultural institutions alone can't fight these battles, we all have to speak up." He also added that "museums are not about yesterday — they are about today and tomorrow. They must be fountains of knowledge that feed justice, truth, and social progress." That's the opposite of what the regime, and its sycophants, wants, as it continues with its Smithsonian coup d'etat, with Lindsey Halligan as the attorney assigned to remove what is considered "improper ideology." She may want to be a "private person" but her actions impact a public institution.
Surely some criticize the "hands off" effort and propose their own ideas to fight the onslaught of democracy, saying it should be "hands on" so it does not engage in "oppositional behavior and the politics of deconstruction" with a focus on government spending on useful infrastructure, taxing super-rich, reducing military spending, regulatory reforms, new foreign policy, moving money into "cooperative and domestically-anchored platforms," a program of domestic manufacturing revival, a cooperative network of manufacturing and service firms, and an "extension of cooperatives to the transnational sphere." Even so, such ideas are not as much help when organizing is happening now, whether among Black women who are "being strategic, pragmatic and creative about what their resistance looks like now," or those standing against Zionist groups, like the one in UMD which bribed student voters with offers for "free Chipotle and Chinese food" if they voted against the divestment referendum. Such actions were a failure because the referendum passed, showing the pathetic nature of these pro-Israel groups, which are actually Zionist groups. No one should ever trust such groups and individuals espousing such an ideology which was once condemned by the U.N. General Assembly (in a vote by delegates representing millions of people across the world) as racist.
On a negative side, there's been efforts to continue weakening the federal government, harm people's health, and be cruel, along with proposals to label those opposed to the immigration policy of the regime as terrorists (which was reportedly pulled back) and targeting of "people who don’t believe in anything at all," a label which can be applied to anyone, even if it isn't remotely true. Presently, there's:
the proposed overhaul of the State Department (which would, if approved, "cut more than 700 positions and eliminate 132 of 734 offices")
DOGE goons visiting the National Gallery of Art (not good)
White House COVID webpage supporting the Sinophobic lab leak story (i.e. that COVID-19 wasn't caused by natural causes, but directly by a leak from a Chinese lab)
the declaration that those people whose student loans are in default will be "referred to debt collection," which will lead to economic chaos for millions
rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at universities under attack by the regime (like University of Michigan and University of Virginia), which is destroying "campus support systems for students of color"
firing of library workers after loss of federal funds
proposed layoffs, local office closures and program eliminations at USDA
proposal to significantly limit the Endangered Species Act's power to preserve crucial habitats by changing what "harm" means
acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin demanding a scientific journal ensure "viewpoint diversity" (a threat to academic and scientific freedom)
the White House starting a new media policy that restricts access of wire services like AP and Reuters to the President
the White House backing "a bill on nonconsensual intimate images" but firing the enforcers at the same time
the beginning of a multi-pronged offensive on a "natural bounty of federal public lands…encompassing spectacular mountains, sagebrush basins, and cactus-studded deserts" by opening it to a huge sell-off to "pay for tax cuts for the wealthy" which represents a "serious threat to America's Indigenous peoples and their treaty rights," to say the least (luckily efforts are building to stop this dangerous, reckless, and craven plan, which will only benefit the wealthy)
All of this has led to an undoubted brain drain, millions dead (from foreign aid cuts), and more police abuse (from freezing of police reform by the DOJ).
All the while, LGBTQ+ people are under attack more now than ever. Consider parents claiming, in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, that "LGBTQ-inclusive books in schools are infringing on their First Amendment rights to freely exercise religion." If their argument is accepted, it will open the door to more book bans/book purges and would weaken the ability of the U.S. to operate the public education system (perhaps that’s the idea). There's also dangerous impacts of anti-trans federal action. Others have talked about how and why lesbians face a maternal health crisis (due to "systemic bias…[and] outdated medical policies" with a health system “"never designed with them in mind") and the impacts of the transphobic decision of the U.K. Supreme Court, which disgustingly does not recognize trans men as men or trans women as women under the Equality Act. Although the legal ramifications are not certain, with advocates expressing surprise and dismay at the ruling, it is not clear "how far-ranging the Court's ruling will be" or whether it will "affect Scottish trans people's ability to serve on the boards of public bodies," but it will undoubtedly have chilling and far-reaching impacts.
While there's been some other disturbing news, like an Indiana mother bringing a loaded gun to school and threatening a lesbian teacher, and claiming the teacher's girlfriend, a police officer, "had visited and kissed her in the classroom" (if so, so what?) or a trans teacher threatened after Nancy Mace mocked her on social media. On the positive side, actress Nicola Coughlan raised the equivalent of over $96,000 for trans rights following the aforementioned ruling of the U.K. High Court and actress Aimee Lou Wood expressed her outrage over the ruling. There has been palpable anger over the independent bookstore Bodacious Bookstore & Café in Pensacola, Florida removing LGBTQ+ titles from their shelves (another book purge), resulting in some employees hiding "queer books and document[ing]...each title removed from the system." Curiously, bookstore management, in an effort to be "family-friendly" (i.e. please reactionary parents), is "using the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media to vet titles for removal or potential return to the shelves" even though the latter has an entire page entitled “books with LGBTQ+ characters” and many other pages, which are ALL positive, including those noting the importance of representation in media and having diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging task force since 2017. The censorship by Bodacious Bookstore & Café is a disturbing development and this bookstore should be boycotted.
There's other bad news: a police raid on a queer bar in Pittsburgh, the regime ending federal monitoring of violent crimes "against trans victims" (again another effort to to dehumanize them), ILGA World pathetically reinstating an Israeli LGBTQ rights group named The Aguda despite opposition from ILGA Asia, which said there's "significant harm and internal division caused by the Aguda's 2024 bid to host the World Conference in Israel, at a time of escalating genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza…lack of a public stance from The Aguda on war crimes and human rights violations in Gaza…the presence of content glorifying militarism on their public platforms…[and] unresolved harm and trauma experienced by many within the ILGA family…[which] warranted a longer and more restorative process before reinstatement." Otherwise, LGBTQ+ grads are celebrating their Lavender Graduations despite universities (like University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College, and University of Louisville) cowering and canceling these events at a time that queer joy should be celebrated, a trans rights bill set to advance in the Colorado Senate, the pride flag banning bill and others failed during the Florida state legislative session.
Shifting to other topics, I thought I'd focus briefly on RFK, Jr. who is spreading all sorts of lies about measles, autism, and diet. On a related note, there's:
NIH ending its largest study centered on women
FDA suspending milk quality tests amidst workforce cuts
FDA fired food safety inspectors (and replaced them with contractors!)
Firing of CDC team that "updated go-to physician reference on contraceptive science" which jeopardizes the future of this reference
the idea of what some have called 'soft eugenics,' i.e. "the idea that if you take away life-saving services, then only the strong will survive" (we don't need the survival of the fittest mentality in this day and age)
At the same time, disappearances and detentions continue, whether it comes to Ksenii Pretrova, various students who had their visas revoked (and many others fearing deportation), a U.S.-born citizen detained by ICE in Florida (and consideration to deport U.S. citizens by the orange one), or a U.S. citizen and immigration attorney "accidentally" getting a letter telling them to self-deport. One of the most important articles was by Baltimore Beat. It noted that:
The Maryland cop who first linked Kilmar Abrego Garcia to alleged gang activity in 2019 was placed on a "do not call" list published by Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy in 2021 — meaning he was deemed unfit to testify in state court due to criminal charges filed against him for sharing confidential information about a police investigation. This means that the Trump administration has [illegally] detained Abrego Garcia in the CECOT prison in El Salvador, against the rulings of the Supreme Court and a Maryland District Court, based solely on the word of a cop deemed untrustworthy by the county's state's attorney's office…Abrego Garcia has been illegally abducted by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador on the basis of the allegation of gang membership, which, the administration claims, annuls the 2019 "withholding order" that made it illegal to deport him to El Salvador…the United States Department of Justice is basing the extraordinary rendition of a Maryland resident solely on the credibility of just such an officer…So, because of his illegal use of information, Mendez was only an active-duty officer for five days after alleging that Abrego Garcia was a gang member
There was a supposed informant who had information on Abrego Garcia (whose name has not been revealed), but Abrego Garcia still was never charged with a crime, with the informant, nor the officers who accused him previously, ever being cross-examined.
Others have written about the privatization of mass detention (with the reopening of many shuttered prisons in an effort to bring more incarceration to immigrant communities), the creation of a deportation army of local cops, student and faculty repression on U.S. campuses, the dark McCarthyist history of deporting activists, and pro-Palestine censorship when it comes to:
Coachella (and calling for revoking Kneecap's U.S. visas for "pro-Palestinian messages" and referring their videos to the U.K. counterterrorism police)
social media review for vetting of "all visa applicants who have been to the Gaza strip since 2007"
That's only two examples. It will likely get worse considering the actions of the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which is headed by Pam Bondi, and including senior counsel Leo Terrell, Federal Acquisition Service commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, acting Department of Education general counsel Thomas Wheeler, acting HHS acting general counsel Sean Keveney, and acting GSA administrator Stephen Ehikian. All the while, tariffs are about to hit lifesaving medical equipment, and the Russia-Ukraine peace talks have been disastrous (as would be expected).
The policies implemented (and proposed) by the regime are great for the wealthiest Americans, including big corporate interests and megadonors, like those which gave to the orange one’s inauguration, like poultry producers, cryptocurrency companies, big oil companies (like Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Occidental Petroleum), big computing companies (such as Micron, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Microsoft), healthcare companies (Johnson and Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, and Amgen), Silicon Valley firms (Amazon and Meta) and many others. The stage has been set for DOGE beginning to tap the "most sensitive and valuable data" in the world for its own ends, specifically to benefit the Muskrat. As this happens, democracy continues to crumble and is starting to collapse, while retired U.S. presidents remained silent until recently (and even then have done very little to help anyone).
Other disturbing stories out there included a customer support A.I. going "rogue" and serving as a "warning for every company considering replacing workers with automation" and Seattle almost boasting at breaking records at the number of homeless tests removed from encampments (what a disgusting milestone). There were further postings on the harms caused in cancer alley on environmental, plant, and human health, dangers to the once-extinct dire wolf, the new trial for Harvey Weinstein (which could go in his favor), and the masked face of power in Syria, which is suffering in the current Islamist reactionary government, with actions which would make right-wingers smile. There's many more news items I could cover here, but I think what I have here is enough without overwhelming readers.
That's all for this newsletter. Until next time!
- Burkely