The secret Afghan women’s book club defying the Taliban to read Orwell; The Guardian, February 19, 2026

Azada Raha, from Rukhshana Media, The Guardian; The secret Afghan women’s book club defying the Taliban to read Orwell

"Most of the books the five women have discussed since they started the reading circle last June are classics, and most deal with issues of power, suffering, and the place of women, though they have embraced variety. The works they’ve read include George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Zoya Pirzad’s I’ll Turn Off the Lights and Symphony of the Dead, also by Abbas Maroufi.

Most of the books can be found online and downloaded free, although occasionally they borrow books from libraries.

They meet every week for an hour-and-a-half at the home of one of the members, varying the location to avoid scrutiny in a country where women’s freedoms have been severely curtailed."

Trump administration is erasing history and science at national parks, lawsuit argues; AP, February 17, 2026

MATTHEW DALY, AP; Trump administration is erasing history and science at national parks, lawsuit argues

"Conservation and historical organizations sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America’s national parks. 

A lawsuit filed in Boston says orders by President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change. 

Separately, LGBTQ+ rights advocates and historic preservationists sued the park service Tuesday for removing a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, the New York site that commemorates a foundational moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. 

The changes at exhibits came in response to a Trump executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Interior Department to ensure those sites do not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” Burgum later directed removal of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control...

The suit was filed by a coalition that includes the National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers and Union of Concerned Scientists. It comes as a federal judge on Monday ordered that an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia."

Stephen Colbert says CBS lawyers pulled James Talarico interview as early voting begins in Texas; AP, February 17, 2026

MEG KINNARD, JIM VERTUNO AND JOHN HANNA, AP; Stephen Colbert says CBS lawyers pulled James Talarico interview as early voting begins in Texas

"Late-night host Stephen Colbert said his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was pulled from Monday night’s broadcast over network fears it would violate regulatory guidance from the Trump administration on giving equal time to political candidates.

The issue came just hours before early voting opened Tuesday in Texas’ primary elections, which feature hotly contested Senate nomination races in both parties. 

“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said on his program, ”The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”"

Judge invokes George Orwell’s ‘1984’ in ordering restoration of Philadelphia slavery exhibit; The Hill, February 16, 2026

 ZACH SCHONFELD, The Hill; Judge invokes George Orwell’s ‘1984’ in ordering restoration of Philadelphia slavery exhibit 

"A federal judge ordered the National Park Service to restore exhibits about slaves who lived at the nation’s one-time executive mansion in Philadelphia, agreeing with the city that the Trump administration likely unlawfully removed the displays. 

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe invoked the dystopian novel “1984” as she blocked the Trump administration from changing or damaging the site, which is now an outdoor exhibition.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” Rufe wrote. 

Rufe is an appointee of former President George W. Bush."

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling; The Guardian, February 13, 2026

Editorial,The Guardian; The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling

[Kip Currier: This is the "money quote" for me in this persuasive Guardian Editorial on supporting the BBC World Service:

Accurate journalism is the strongest weapon in the war of information.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/13/the-guardian-view-on-the-bbc-world-service-this-is-london-calling]

With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

"The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good,” said the then BBC director general John Reith, when he launched its Empire Service in December 1932. Nearly a century later, the BBC World Service, as it is now known, broadcasts in 43 languages, reaches 313 million people a week and is one of the UK’s most influential cultural assets. It is also a lifeline for millions. “Perhaps Britain’s greatest gift to the world” in the 20th century, as Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, once put it.

But this week Tim Davie, the corporation’s director general, announced that the World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Most of its £400m budget comes from the licence fee, although the Foreign Office – which funded it entirely until 2014 – contributed £137m in the last year. The funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.

Meanwhile, Russia and China are pouring billions into state-run media. And American news organisations are crumbling under the Trump administration. Last week the Washington Post axed 300 jobs including its Ukraine reporter, and hundreds were lost at Voice of America, the closest US equivalent to the BBC, last year.

Although some question why licence-fee payers should subsidise services largely consumed abroad, it is also loved by many at home. In the small hours, it is a window on a dark world, an alternative to doomscrolling and a pushback against parochialism. Jeremy Paxman summed it up when he compared the World Service to a cords- and cardigan-wearing “ageing uncle who’s seen it all. It has a style that makes understatement seem like flamboyance”. But we should not allow this cosy, slightly fusty image to obscure its purpose.

For many it is not just life-enhancing, but life‑saving. Last month, during the internet blackout in Iran, the BBC’s Persian service provided additional radio programmes over shortwave and medium wave. Emergency services were also launched in response to conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Gaza and Sudan, and after the earthquake in Myanmar. It remains the only international news organisation still broadcasting inside Afghanistan, setting up an education programme for Afghan children in 2024.

But it has been beleaguered by cuts, closures and job losses. In 2022, radio broadcasts in 10 languages including Arabic, Persian, Chinese and Bengali were replaced by digital services, a decision criticised for disproportionately affecting women, who rely most on radios. Wherever the BBC has been forced to withdraw – for financial or political pressures – propaganda has been quick to fill the gap.

No one doubts the World Service’s value as an instrument of soft power. But, as BBC bosses argue, it is also part of our national security. Accurate journalism is the strongest weapon in the war of information. The World Service must not be allowed to stumble into decline. Mr Davie is right – if optimistic – to urge the government to back it decisively and urgently.

During the second world war, radio was “scattering human voices into the darkness of Europe”, Penelope Fitzgerald wrote in her 1980 novel Human Voices, based on her time working for the BBC. Amid the AI noise and disinformation, the World Service must be enabled to keep scattering human voices in our own dark times."

Climate Change Is Erased From a Manual for Federal Judges; The New York Times, February 10, 2026

 Karen Zraick, The New York Times ; Climate Change Is Erased From a Manual for Federal Judges

After Republican criticism, a group that offers professional resources to judges withdrew a climate science chapter from its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.

"In a new attack on the science of climate change, a federal agency has stripped a chapter on global warming from a manual written to help judges understand important scientific questions they may face in their courtrooms.

The chapter was deleted after a group of Republican state attorneys general complained about it to the Federal Judicial Center, a government agency that provides resources to judges. In recent years, judges in the United States have had to contend with a widening array of cases related to climate change, putting jurists in the position of having to understand the complexities of the science and research behind its causes and effects.

Late last week, the director of the Federal Judicial Center, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, wrote a letter to one of the attorneys generalto say that the chapter on climate change had been removed from its digital version of the manual."

Trump Administration to Cut $600 Million in Health Funding From Four States; The New York Times, February 9, 2026

Apoorva Mandavilli , The New York Times; Trump Administration to Cut $600 Million in Health Funding From Four States

The states, all led by Democrats, used the grants to support a wide variety of functions, including H.I.V. prevention and surveillance.

"The Trump administration plans to rescind $600 million in public health funds from four states led by Democrats because it finds the grants “inconsistent with agency priorities,” according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The programs slated to be cut are in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. They include grants to state and local public health departments as well as to some nongovernmental organizations. A list of the cuts was shared with relevant congressional committees on Monday.

The funds are administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include grants given to states for a variety of purposes, including hiring staffs, modernizing data systems and managing disease outbreaks. Some programs are aimed at the needs of specific communities.

Some of the cuts will be finalized this week and others over the coming weeks, totaling roughly $600 million. The figure was first reported by The New York Post."

State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office; NPR, February 7, 2026

Shannon Bond, Stephen Fowler, NPR; State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office

"The State Department is removing all posts on its public accounts on the social media platform X made before President Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025.

The posts will be internally archived but will no longer be on public view, the State Department confirmed to NPR. Staff members were told that anyone wanting to see older posts will have to file a Freedom of Information Act request, according to a State Department employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration. That would differ from how the U.S. government typically handles archiving the public online footprint of previous administrations.

The move comes as the Trump administration has removed wide swaths of information from government websites that conflict with the president's views, including environmental and health data and references to women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The government has also taken down signs at national parks mentioning slavery and references to Trump's impeachments and presidency at the National Portrait Gallery.

The White House has also launched a revisionist history account of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has replaced the government's coronavirus resource sites with a page titled "Lab Leak: The True Origins of Covid-19."

The removal of State Department X posts from public view appears to be less about ideological differences with past statements and more about control of future messaging. The directive will see the removal of posts from Trump's first term as well as those under then-Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

In response to NPR's questions about the removals, an unnamed State Department spokesperson said the goal "is to limit confusion on U.S government policy and to speak with one voice to advance the President, Secretary, and Administration's goals and messaging. It will preserve history while promoting the present." The spokesperson said the department's X accounts "are one of our most powerful tools for advancing the America First goals and messaging of the President, Secretary, and Administration, both to our fellow Americans and audiences around the world.""

Bill would bar students from using school IDs to check out public library books; Radio Iowa, February 5, 2026

 O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa; Bill would bar students from using school IDs to check out public library books

"Some agreements between public schools and local libraries would be blocked under a bill approved by Education Committee in the Iowa House.

Library bookmobiles would be barred from school property and the bill prohibits schools from letting students use school IDs to access books and other materials from public libraries. During a subcommittee hearing, Katherine Bogaards with a group called “Protect My Innocence” said the bill is needed to stop Iowa schools from going around a state law that bans school libraries from having books with sexually explicit content.

“It closes the loopholes and ensures schools remain accountable to parents, accountable to the taxpayer, transparent to the public, and compliant with the law,” she said.

Republican Representative Brooke Boden of Indianola said the bill reinforces the 2023 law she and other legislators passed after learning kids and teens were able to check out books with graphic sexual content from some school libraries. “Reading is so important, but we also don’t want our kids reading literature that they’re going to need counseling for for the rest of their lives either,” Boden said during last night’s House Education Committee meeting.

Representative Elinor Levin, a Democrat from Iowa City is a former public school teacher who opposes this year’s bill, especially the ban on bookmobile visits to public schools. “Watching the bookmobile pull up at my local elementary school, there is no greater delight that I see on children’s faces, other than maybe running around a snow day,” Levin said. “It is incredible and it is powerful and I cannot think of a reason to take that away.”

Other critics say the bill would create barriers for students in schools that don’t have libraries or have limited book collections. Five of the Des Moines School District’s schools do not have libraries and about 12,000 middle and high school students use their school ID cards at Des Moines Public Libraries."

Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump; ProPublica, February 6, 2026

Jaimie Seaton , ProPublica; Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump

[Kip Currier: ProPublica's 2//6/26 article detailing Trump 2.0 guidelines for IMLS grant applications should be deeply concerning for anyone who values scholarly inquiry and academic freedom. 

IMLS grant applicants are told that the agency "particularly welcomes” projects that align with President Donald Trump’s vision for America".

The description goes on to note that the kinds of projects that would be favored "would include those that foster an appreciation for the country “through uplifting and positive narratives". Stop and think about that language for a moment -- "through uplifting and positive narratives". A "problem statement" is an essential component of most grant applications and is often the fundamental component of research. Problems by their very nature are almost always not uplifting and positive. But it is crucial for researchers and research grant applicants to identify problems in order to understand and solve problems.

As the ProPublica article's author notes, IMLS grant application guidelines have historically been apolitical. These Trump 2.0 IMLS grant guidelines are nakedly political and evince an intent to suppress research that does not fit within the narrowly-defined contours of "acceptable research" by the present administration. Such brazen bias is antithetical to free societies, healthy, functioning democracies, and the ideals of scientific inquiry by higher education and research organizations.]

[Excerpt]

"A library in rural Alaska needed help providing free Wi-Fi and getting kids to read. A children’s museum in Washington wanted to expand its Little Science Lab. And a World War I museum in Missouri had a raft of historic documents it needed to digitize. They received funding from a little-known federal agency before the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to dismantle it last year.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is now accepting applications for its 2026 grant cycle. But this time, it has unusually specific criteria.

In cover letters accompanying the applications, the institute said it “particularly welcomes” projects that align with President Donald Trump’s vision for America.

These would include those that foster an appreciation for the country “through uplifting and positive narratives,” the agency writes, citing an executive order that attacks the Smithsonian Institution for its “divisive, race-centered ideology.” (Trump has said the museum focused too much on “how bad slavery was.”) The agency also points to an executive order calling for the end of “the anti-Christian weaponization of government” and one titled Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again.

The solicitation marks a stark departure for the agency, whose guidelines were previously apolitical and focused on merit.

Former agency leaders from both political parties, as well as those of library, historical and museum associations, expressed concern that funded projects could encourage a more constrained or distorted view of American history. Some also feared that by accepting grants, institutions would open themselves up to scrutiny and control, like the administration’s wide-ranging audit of Smithsonian exhibits “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”"

America Is Losing the Facts That Hold It Together; The Atlantic, February 5, 2026

David A. Graham, The Atlantic; America Is Losing the Facts That Hold It Together

"The CIA World Factbook occupies a special place in the memories of elder Millennials like me. It was an enormous compendium of essential facts about every country around the world, carefully collected from across the federal government. This felt especially precious when the World Factbook went online in 1997 (it had previously been a classified internal publication printed on paper, then a declassified print resource), a time when the internet still felt new and unsettled. Unlike many other pages on the World Wide Web, it was reliable enough that you could even get away with citing it in schoolwork. And there was a special thrill in the idea that the CIA, a famously secretive organization, was the one providing it to you.

Memories are now the only place the World Factbook resides. In a post onlineyesterday, the agency noted that the site “has sunset,” though it provided no explanation for why. (The agency did not immediately reply to my inquiry about why, nor has it replied to other outlets.) The Associated Press noted that the move “follows a vow from Director John Ratcliffe to end programs that don’t advance the agency’s core missions.”

The demise of the World Factbook is part of a broad war on information being waged by the Trump administration. This is different from the administration’s assault on truth, in which the president and the White House lie prolifically or deny reality. This is something more fundamental: It’s a series of steps that by design or in effect block access to data, and in doing so erode the concept of a shared frame for all Americans. “Though the World Factbook is gone, in the spirit of its global reach and legacy, we hope you will stay curious about the world and find ways to explore it … in person or virtually,” the CIA wrote in the valedictory post. Left unsaid: You’re on your own to figure it out now.

If the World Factbook was indeed shut down because it didn’t meet Ratcliffe’s standard for core CIA functions, that reflects the Trump administration’s impoverished view of the government’s role. The World Factbook was a public service that helped Americans and others around the globe be informed, created a positive association with a shadowy agency, and spread U.S. soft power by providing a useful service free to all. I’ve been unable to determine how much it cost the government to maintain, but there’s no reason to think it would be substantive."

‘That Is A Dangerous Statement’: Federal Judge Eviscerates DOJ Over Slavery Exhibit Takedown; Above The Law, February 2, 2026

Kathryn Rubino , Above The Law ; ‘That Is A Dangerous Statement’: Federal Judge Eviscerates DOJ Over Slavery Exhibit Takedown

"The Trump administration is trying to memory-hole slavery, and a federal judge is running out of patience with their shenanigans. 

At a hearing last week over the Trump administration’s decision to rip out materials discussing slavery at George Washington’s former Philadelphia residence Senior U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe — a George W. Bush appointee! — delivered a sharp rebuke to the DOJ lawyers defending the government’s actions. The exhibit in question, located on Independence Mall, was created by the City of Philadelphia in partnership with the National Park Service and tells the story of the nine enslaved people who lived and labored in Washington’s home. Earlier this year, federal workers reportedly took a crowbar to the plaques, citing President Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to “restore truth and sanity to American history.” But let’s be so fucking for real right now, it’s a literal whitewashing of it.

Judge Rufe was not impressed. “You can’t erase history once you’ve learned it,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way.” That theme only sharpened as the hearing went on. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory in den Berken attempted to defend the removals by gesturing vaguely at disagreement and discretion. “Although many people feel strongly about this one way, other people may disagree or feel strongly another way,” he said, adding, “Ultimately, the government gets to choose the message it wants to convey.”

Danger, Will Robinson. Though appearing before a Republican-appointed judge, it does NOT mean they’re cool with the current administration’s we-get-to-rewrite-history plan. Judge Rufe cut off the AUSA, according to reports, saying, “That is a dangerous statement you are making. It is horrifying to listen to,” she said. “It changes on the whims of someone in charge? I’m sorry, that is not what we elected anybody for.”...

At present, the government has stripped the site of all substantive discussion of the enslaved people who lived there, leaving only their names — Austin, Paris, Hercules, Christopher Sheels, Richmond, Giles, Oney Judge, Moll, and Joe — engraved into a cement wall. Plaintiffs are asking the court to order the exhibit restored, and Judge Rufe instructed DOJ to ensure that the remaining materials are not damaged any further, and she intends to personally inspect the removed materials. She also indicated she intends to rule swiftly, particularly with the nation’s 250th birthday celebration looming and a surge of visitors expected at Independence Mall."

Judge Bars Further Changes to George Washington’s Philadelphia House; The New York Times, February 2, 2026

Mattathias Schwartz, The New York Times; Judge Bars Further Changes to George Washington’s Philadelphia House

The Interior Department removed placards and videos about Washington’s involvement with slavery. A new court ruling blocks further changes, for now.

"A federal judge in Philadelphia ordered the National Park Service not to make further changes to the President’s House Site, where George Washington lived as the head of the fledgling U.S. government, as she considers a lawsuit filed by the City of Philadelphia.

At a daylong hearing on Friday, the city argued that the Park Service was obliged to restore plaques and videos commemorating nine enslaved people who served Washington’s household on the site. Those items were removed by the Trump administration as part of a broader effort to use its control of the park system to reframe American history by eliminating materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, expressed deep skepticism about President Trump’s effort on Friday. She called its purported legal basis “cavalier” and the prospect of further changes “frightening.”

On Monday, according to the case docket, she inspected the removed displays, which the government has said are being held in storage at the National Constitution Center. Judge Rufe’s Monday order stops short of mandating that the displays be put back up, as the city requested...

The case before Judge Rufe turns on whether the Interior Department, which includes the Park Service, was obliged to consult with the city before removing the slavery-related materials. Those kinds of consultations took place when Independence National Historical Park was first created and during years of planning for the slavery memorial at the President’s House leading up to its 2010 dedication. The city argues that while the site is Park Service property, some portions of a decades-long series of agreements between the federal government and the city governing its operation remain in force.

Justice Department lawyers have argued that the city is trying to infringe on the federal government’s right to free speech in deciding how the history of the site should be described."

Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it; The Guardian, February 2, 2026

 Margaret Sullivan, The Guardian; Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it

"The turn began in earnest when Bezos – apparently trying to protect his other commercial interests – spiked the draft of an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for president. Whatever one thinks about endorsement editorials, the timing was terrible; it was the 11th hour, shortly before the 2024 election.

Unsurprisingly, droves of Post subscribers canceled. They were disgusted by the apparent effort to please Donald Trump at the price of editorial independence.

Later, even more subscribers decamped after Bezos made it clear that he wanted its opinion section to take a sharp right turn. Some of the nation’s best columnists departed, and a fine cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, left after she tried to publish a cartoon depicting Bezos and others of his ilk cozying up to Trump. On the news side, many of the paper’s star reporters and editors left for places like the Atlantic, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Since then, Bezos only continued down this misbegotten path, with Amazon contributing to the Trump inauguration and putting a ridiculous $40m behind a regrettable Melania Trump documentary that is leaving seats empty in a theater near you."