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Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Under Trump, book bans have gone federal. Some readers are fighting back.
Write to us at . To subscribe, . TODAY'S STARTING POINT An MIT professor's study of lyric poetry in Elizabethan England, a children's book about a freckled 7-year-old girl, and Vice President JD Vance's best-selling memoir about his working-class roots would seem to have little in common. Yet they all appear to have gotten swept up in the Trump administration's efforts to restrict Americans' access to certain books. Book bans in the US predate the founding of the country. The first known instance was in 1637 in what is now Quincy, Mass. Most efforts to remove books from libraries and school curriculums are usually at the state and local level, hashed out in legislatures, town council meetings, and school board elections. But the Trump administration's various efforts to make them a priority of the federal government is novel. Advertisement 'It's a definite escalation,' Sabrina Baêta, who researches book bans and censorship at PEN America, a free-expression nonprofit. Today's newsletter explains the administration's efforts and how some are resisting them. Flying off the shelves Most directly, the Trump administration The administration says the culling reflects Advertisement The Defense Department has also allegedly removed or placed under review hundreds of books from the PreK-12 schools it runs for the children of service members in the US and abroad. According to '1984,' George Orwell's classic about a government that censors information and polices language. Why officials would have pulled some of those books for review, including Vance's, isn't clear. A spokeswoman for the Department of Defense Education Activity, which oversees Pentagon-run schools, said she couldn't comment 'as this matter is currently the subject of active litigation.' But for Baêta, of PEN America, the notion that a Trump order could end up removing a book by his own vice president 'speaks to the pernicious nature of censorship.' Trying to stifle certain topics, she said, inevitably sucks in ideas that even proponents might not find objectionable. Arguments in the ACLU's case are scheduled for early next month. The administration's actions could also make it harder for other Americans to access books. In March, President Trump signed an executive order that aimed to gut the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides federal grants to libraries around the country. A judge has Advertisement Trump The next chapter But the administration's efforts, and ongoing attempts in many states and localities to limit access to certain books, have triggered a response from free-speech advocates. Most Americans Advertisement Book bans can also turn reading itself into an act of resistance. Last fall, the ACLU's Massachusetts branch started Of course, some books do contain information that every kid may not be ready to read. 'The Kite Runner' depicts horrible violence and child abuse and those under 18 needed a parent's permission join the ACLU of Massachusetts' book club to read it. But Baêta argues that engaging with challenging subjects in a classroom, in a book club, or with a parent is better than encountering them for the first time in the real world. 'We don't want students to be coming across uncomfortable topics in their lives for the first time in real life,' she said. 'We want that to be in a book. What softer introduction is there?' 🧩 4 Down: POINTS OF INTEREST The MBTA has said it needs at least $25 billion for repairs, far more than it's budgeting. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Boston and Massachusetts Harvard connection: House Republicans accused the university of having 'hosted and trained' members of a Chinese paramilitary organization and demanded the school turn over information Scathing: The state auditor accused Governor Maura Healey's administration Nuts and bolts: The MBTA's board of directors approved a $9.8 billion budget for construction projects that Karen Read: Her defense attorney continued to cross-examine a digital forensics analyst over his credentials and School's in: The state education board voted to require trade schools to Trump administration Deportations: The administration appears to have begun deporting migrants to South Sudan, a war-torn African country, despite a court order. ( Another one? Shortly after ending a probe into New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the administration is investigating former NY governor Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner to replace Adams, over testimony Cuomo gave to Congress. ( Local resistance: Massachusetts residents RFK Jr.: Trump's health secretary Not quite: A Democratic senator asked Kristi Noem, Trump's homeland security secretary, to define habeas corpus, which protects against wrongful detention. Noem said it lets the president remove people from the US. ( No tax on tips: The Senate unexpectedly passed a bill that would create a tax deduction for workers who earn tips, a Trump campaign promise. It now goes to the House. ( The Nation and the World SCOTUS vs. Maine: The US Supreme Court ordered the Maine House to restore a conservative lawmaker's right to speak and vote on the floor. The House had censured her for posting a transgender minor's name and photo online. ( George Wendt: The actor who earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for his performance as Norm Peterson on the NBC comedy 'Cheers' died at age 76. ( Diddy trial: The mother of Cassie Ventura, Sean Combs's former girlfriend, testified that she photographed bruises Combs allegedly left on her daughter. ( BESIDE THE POINT 🎓 Valedictory: Across New England, graduating high school athletes 💬 Talker: Nobody's spoken the Proto-Indo-European language in 4,000 years, but billions speak one descended from it. A new book explains how it spread around the world. ( Advertisement ☀️ Fun in the sun: From parades to the ice cream trail, consider these nine ways to 📱 Hear that? If Siri eavesdropped on you sometime over the last decade, Apple might owe you money. ( ⛳ Second wind: Burnt out, he decided to play every golf course in Massachusetts. 📸 Authorial dispute: Who really took the famous 'napalm girl' photograph during the Vietnam War? A new documentary upends the official story. ( 🎵 Fan guide: Here's what's new at this year's Thanks for reading Starting Point. This newsletter was edited by ❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at ✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can 📬 Delivered Monday through Friday. Ian Prasad Philbrick can be reached at
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After bombshell group chat report, Hegseth denies what White House already confirmed
Pete Hegseth has now been the secretary of defense for exactly two months, and by any fair measure, the wildly unqualified and scandal-plagued former Fox News personality has struggled in his powerful position. Hegseth, for example, ordered U.S. Cyber Command to halt offensive cyber operations and information operations against Russia. And made indefensible hires. And derailed the Defense Department's efforts to take the climate crisis seriously. He's also needlessly fired several key officials, including the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force. And targeted Pentagon-run schools. And shuttered the Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon's internal think tank for the last half-century that focused on long-term security threats. But just when it seemed things couldn't get much worse for the amateur Cabinet secretary, Hegseth confronted fresh allegations as part of the scandal that some are calling 'Signalgate.' As The New York Times summarized: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed war plans in an encrypted group chat that included a journalist two hours before U.S. troops launched attacks against the Houthi militia in Yemen, the White House said on Monday, confirming an account in the magazine The Atlantic. ... It was an extraordinary breach of American national security intelligence. By now, the basic elements of the controversy are probably familiar. Top members of Donald Trump's national security team chatted in a Signal group over the classified details of a military strike in Yemen, and they accidentally included Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor in chief. The final paragraph of Goldberg's piece read, 'All along, members of the Signal group were aware of the need for secrecy and operations security. In his text detailing aspects of the forthcoming attack on Houthi targets, Hegseth wrote to the group — which, at the time, included me — 'We are currently clean on OPSEC.'' 'OPSEC' referred to 'operations security.' In other words, the defense secretary was certain that he and his colleagues — while chatting on a free platform that has never been approved for chats about national security and classified intelligence — had locked everything down, and created a secure channel of communications. Of course, we now know that Team Trump was most certainly not 'clean on OPSEC,' Hegseth's embarrassing boast notwithstanding. Hours after the public learned of this devastating White House debacle, the beleaguered Pentagon chief tried something unexpected: As NBC News reported, Hegseth denied what the Trump administration had already confirmed. Asked how information about war plans was shared with a journalist and whether the information was classified, Hegseth went after Goldberg, calling him a 'so-called journalist.' Asked why military details were shared on Signal and how he found out a journalist was on the chain, Hegseth said: 'I've heard I was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that.' The White House had already acknowledged — publicly and on the record — that administration officials really did discuss highly sensitive military plans using an unclassified chat application. Hegseth tried to peddle a clumsy denial anyway. It's possible that the defense secretary will try to parse the meaning of the phrase 'war plans,' but let's note for context that Goldberg reported the messages specifically included 'precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.' Indeed, after being shown Hegseth's comments to reporters, The Atlantic editor said plainly that the Pentagon chief's claim was 'a lie.' Complicating matters further, Hegseth, with his carelessness, also fell short of the very standards he espoused when going after Hillary Clinton over her email server protocols. In a normal and healthy political environment, the question wouldn't be whether Hegseth needed to resign; it would be when he'd exit the Pentagon. The latest column from the New York Times' David French called on the defense secretary to do exactly that, writing, 'I don't know how Pete Hegseth can look service members in the eye. He's just blown his credibility as a military leader.' If recent history is any guide, the president won't care, though given the circumstances, Trump's indifference will be impossible to defend. This article was originally published on
