Ukrainian mood hardens as MPs insist country should not be forced to surrender; The Guardian, August 17, 2025

Dan Sabbagh in Kyiv and Artem Mazhulin , The Guardian; Ukrainian mood hardens as MPs insist country should not be forced to surrender

[Kip Currier: For anyone who thinks Ukraine should just capitulate to Putin and Trump's pressure to give up its sovereign territory and its peoples, realize what that means: 

all. Ukrainians. in. those. territories. will. now. be. living. under. Russian. totalitarian. rule. 

Period. Full stop.

Ask yourself, too, if you're an American, if you'd be willing to just acquiesce to pressure and surrender a half dozen U.S. states to an authoritarian invader.

Moreover, giving up those states to Russia is no guarantee that Russia won't later use those newly acquired regions as footholds to again attack Ukraine and try to take over the entire country. As an 8/17/25 BBC article reports:

Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine would not hand over the Donbas in exchange for peace. And confidence in Russia to abide by any such arrangement – rather than simply use the annexed land for future attacks – is low.  

For that and other reasons, about 75% of Ukrainians object to any formal cessation of land to Russia, according to polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv1pdkll8o

 

That's what a despotic abductor of Ukrainian children, a bomber of hospitals, and indicted war criminal like Putin is likely to do.

And for anyone who is a marginalized person in those territories, such as LGBTQ+ persons, your very life may be at risk if Russia takes control of those lands. (See here and here and here.]

[Excerpt]

"A string of Ukrainian politicians and public figures condemned the idea of handing over unoccupied land to Russia for peace on Sunday, arguing that their country had not been defeated and should not be forced into a surrender.

The hardening of the mood came at the end of a weekend where there was first ridicule and disgust in Ukraine at the red-carpet treatment of Vladimir Putin by Donald Trump at their summit in Alaska, followed by frustration as it appeared that Trump was siding with the Russian leader.

Trump reportedly told European leaders that he believed a peace deal could be negotiated if Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to give up the areas of the Donbas region that the Russian invaders have not been able to seize in more than three years of fighting.

Halyna Yanchenko, an independent member of Ukraine’s parliament, said the suggestion that Ukraine should “simply surrender new territories without a fight – just because Putin wants it – is absurd from the very start”.

The MP, an anti-corruption activist previously part of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, said hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians would be affected by Putin’s proposal, initially favoured by Trump after Friday’s Alaska summit.

Official estimates are that 255,000 people still live in the 3,500 square miles (9,000 sq km) of Donetsk province that Russia has been unable to seize in its three-and-a-half-year invasion, which includes the industrial cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The Donbas also comprises Luhansk province, which is almost totally occupied by Russia.

Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion the population of Donetsk was 1.9 million, so the number of people with property and other connections to the area wanted by Russia is higher. “So when someone brings up the idea of ‘trading territory’, we must understand that in practice it is trading people,” Yanchenko said...

Cartoons and memes circulated widely online over the weekend with a particular focus on the sight of US soldiers kneeling to straighten out the red carpet in Alaska for the Russian president.

“Dishonored,” wrote Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian drone fundraiser, on X, comparing the image to soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima towards the end of the second world war.

Maksym Palenko, a cartoonist, drew a picture of a glum-looking Trump with his trademark red tie spooling out beneath him and turning into a carpet on which a laughing Putin was standing. It reflected shots of Putin smiling as he was sitting in Trump’s limousine while it was setting off.

“We do not deserve to surrender and we are not in a position to surrender,” said Oleksiy Goncharenko, an MP with the opposition European Solidarity party. “This part of Donetsk is a fortress and Putin has tried and failed to take it for 11 years. Now he wants to take it through diplomatic tricks and manoeuvres.”"

‘State-driven censorship’: new wave of book bans hits Florida school districts; The Guardian, August 16, 2025

Olivia Empson, The Guardian ; ‘State-driven censorship’: new wave of book bans hits Florida school districts

"A new wave of book bans has hit Florida school districts, with hundreds of titles being pulled from library and classroom shelves as the school year kicks off.

The Republican-dominated state, which has already had the highest rate of book bans nationwide this year, is continuing to censor reading materials in schools, bowing to external pressures in an effort to avoid conflict and government retaliation.

“This is an ideological campaign to erase LGBTQ+ lives and any honest discussion of sex, stripping libraries of resources and stories,” William Johnson, the director of PEN America’s Florida office, told the Guardian.

“If censorship keeps spreading, silence won’t save us. Floridians must speak out now.”

Book bans have been rising at a rapid rate across the US since 2021, but this latest wave comes after increased pressure from the state board of education in Florida.

The board issued a harsh warning to the Hillsborough county school district in May, saying that if they didn’t remove “pornographic” titles from their library, formal legal action could ensue. More than 600 books were pulled as a result, and the process was expected to cost the district $350,000.

The books taken off the school shelves included The Diary of Anne Frank and What Girls Are Made of by Elana K Arnold. None of them were under formal review by the district, and they hadn’t been flagged by local parents as potentially inappropriate. Parents with children in the school system even had the opportunity to opt their children out of a particular reading, without removing them from the class for everyone.

PEN called the board of education’s mass removal in Hillsborough county a “state-driven censorship”, and concluded “it is a calculated effort to consolidate power through fear, to bypass legal precedent, and to silence diverse voices in Florida’s public schools,” in their press release.

Fearing similar retribution, nine surrounding school districts have taken proactive measures, pulling books which they are worried could cause similar controversy. This includes Columbia, Escambia, Orange and Osceola, who have followed suit and quietly complied, probably to avoid similar state retaliation.

“Censorship advocates are playing a long game, and making Hillsborough county public schools bend the knee is a huge win for them,” said Rachel Doyle, who goes by “Reads with Rachel” on social media.

Doyle has two children in the Hillsborough school district system and is frustrated that they are being used as political pawns. She feels that her voice has been erased by far-right groups like Moms for Liberty and that parental rights groups do not have her kids’ best interests in mind.

“I do not want or need a special interest group or a ‘concerned citizen’ opting out for me,” Doyle said. “Once Florida becomes a place where this is the norm entirely, other states will follow.”

In Escambia county, one of the nine school districts that have taken books off their library shelves after the Hillsborough removal campaign, 400 titles have been removed without review. These include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a satirical anti-war novel centered around a prisoner of war in Dresden after the Allied bombings in the second world war.

What is happening in Florida is part of a broader, nationwide censorship drive fueled by conservative backlash against teachings about race, gender and diversity.

Unsurprisingly, red states on average have seen higher instances of banned reading materials, with Florida accounting for 4,561 cases of prohibited titles this year, spanning 33 school districts.

These bans often target authors of color, female writers and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Books that educate about any of these experiences, or that document historical periods, are the recipients of frequent censorship attacks.

Rob Sanders, the author of several acclaimed children’s books like Ruby Rose and Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, and a former Hillsborough county educator, has seen many challenges to his books in Florida and beyond.

“If we eliminate every book that tells a story that is different than the life experiences of an individual or a family, there will be no books left in the library,” Sanders said.

“As an author, the best thing I can do for children is to keep writing books that tell the truth and that celebrate the wonderful diversity in our world.”

Trump’s Shameful “Summit” Was Even Worse Than We Thought; The Bulwark, August 16, 2025

 TIM MILLER , The Bulwark; Trump’s Shameful “Summit” Was Even Worse Than We Thought

"Tim Miller takes on how the Trump-Putin Alaska summit went from what seemed to be an empty nothing-burger to a grotesque betrayal as it’s now being reported Trump pushed Putin’s demands onto Zelenskyy that Ukraine give up Donetsk and Luhansk."

Margaret Boden, Philosopher of Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88; The New York Times, August 14, 2025

 Michael S. Rosenwald , The New York Times; Margaret Boden, Philosopher of Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88

"As a philosopher of AI, Professor Boden was often asked if she thought that robots would, or could, take over society.

“The truth is that they certainly won’t want to,” she wrote in Aeon magazine in 2018.

Why? Because robots, unlike humans, don’t care.

“A computer’s ‘goals,’” she wrote, “are empty of feeling.”"

Why Trump’s Latest Reality TV Show Is a Flop; The Daily Beast, August 16, 2025

 David Rothkopf, The Daily Beast; Why Trump’s Latest Reality TV Show Is a Flop

"It is important to note that while Trump threatened to get tough on Russia if it did not go along with peace plans, what Trump really did was the opposite. He gave Putin a huge win by inviting him to the U.S. He literally rolled out the red carpet for a mass murderer, ending Putin’s well-deserved isolation from the U.S. and the international community. Trump spoke not of penalties for Russia but of future economic deals the two nations could celebrate. In other words, once again, Trump got fully played by Putin.

That is because Putin has realized all along that Trump was just a reality TV star playing at being president. The Russian thereby understands how to give Trump what he wants and therefore how to get what he seeks from Trump. He granted Trump just enough of a victory for the cameras while also sending an unmistakable message to those who really understand the game that is being played that Trump is weak, a stooge, a transitory character Putin will use and ultimately move on from.

There was a pathos to the whole event because if you watched closely, particularly during the closing press conference, it appeared Trump understood this as well. He was low-energy. He seemed defeated. He was going through the motions."

Trump’s Attempt to Make Museums Submit Feels Familiar; The New York Times, August 15, 2025

Michelle Goldberg , The New York Times; Trump’s Attempt to Make Museums Submit Feels Familiar

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

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

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

For Pawel Machcewicz, founding director of the Museum of the Second World War, it’s been unsettling to see American museums subject to the sort of political intimidation he experienced in Poland...

Standing up to his government was costly. Machcewicz said he was subject to two separate criminal investigations, and for a time he left the country...

But for now, Machcewicz has the peace that comes from doing the right thing. “If I had capitulated, I would have been a completely frustrated man, because I would feel like someone who has betrayed himself,” he said. It’s a message that those who are tempted to try to appease this administration, at our museums or anywhere else, might remember."

Mayor of New Orleans Is Indicted on Corruption Charges; The New York Times, August 15, 2025

 Rick Rojas and Pooja Salhotra, The New York Times; Mayor of New Orleans Is Indicted on Corruption Charges

"Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans was charged on Friday with going to criminal lengths to carry out and cover up a romantic relationship with a city police officer who had been assigned to protect her, prosecutors said.

The indictment emerged from a lengthy federal investigation into corruption that has cast a shadow over Ms. Cantrell’s second and final term as mayor, which ends in January. She and her former bodyguard, Jeffrey Vappie, face a combined 18 felony counts, including making false statements, obstruction of justice and conspiracy."

Fox News Calls Out Trump for No-Question ‘Press Conference’; The Daily Beast, August 16, 2025

William Vaillancourt , The Daily Beast; Fox News Calls Out Trump for No-Question ‘Press Conference’

"Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, who witnessed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ignore reporters’ questions after their summit Friday, said everyone in the room was “surprised” by the president’s silence.

Heinrich, the network’s senior White House correspondent—whom Trump has previously targeted—spoke about the summit’s conclusion with anchor Brian Kilmeade, who also said he hadn’t expected things to wrap up with the usually talkative Trump walking away without taking questions...

When reached for comment, the White House did not answer the Daily Beast’s question about why neither Trump nor Putin took reporters’ questions.

As for Heinrich’s report, a press aide directed the Daily Beast to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung’s brief post on X in reply to the tail end of her comments to Kilmeade. 

“Total fake news,” was the response from Cheung, who just yesterday tried to criticize California Gov. Gavin Newsom for avoiding questions after a speech—except Newsom answered nine questions, nine more than Trump did Friday."

Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to End Standards of Care for Detained Migrant Children; The New York Times, August 15, 2025

Miriam Jordan, The New York Times; Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to End Standards of Care for Detained Migrant Children

[Kip Currier: Take a moment to reflect on the utter amorality of individuals and an administration that would continue to strive to be liberated from providing "basic standards of care and oversight for children in U.S. immigration custody".

Yet this same Trump 2.0 administration has cratered funding for world healthcare and life-saving vaccines through USAID, allocated an estimated one billion dollars to retrofit a Qatari "gift" jet as the new Air Force One, eliminated basic healthcare for millions of Americans, and approved more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. The unethical depravity of such actions and indifference to offering minimal levels of humane care for children in need is shameful.]

[Excerpt]

"A federal judge rejected on Friday the Trump administration’s second attempt to end a decades-old legal agreement that mandates basic standards of care and oversight for children in U.S. immigration custody.

Judge Dolly M. Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the Flores Settlement Agreement, in effect since 1997, must remain in place. Court-appointed monitors and lawyers will continue to have access to migrant children in border stations and family detention centers to ensure that the government is complying with the agreement.

The first Trump administration tried and failed in 2019 to dissolve the settlement agreement. And in a 20-page ruling, Judge Gee criticized the government for trying again, even though, she wrote, “they point to no meaningful change either in factual conditions or in law since their last motion to terminate.”

Under the 1997 consent decree, migrants who are 17 years old and younger must be held in the “least restrictive” setting while efforts are made to expeditiously release them. The minors must receive adequate meals, clean water, clothing, education and medical assistance, among other basic needs."

Larry Ellison Wants to Do Good, Do Research and Make a Profit; The New York Times, August 12, 2025

  Theodore Schleifer and Nicholas Kulish, The New York Times; Larry Ellison Wants to Do Good, Do Research and Make a Profit

"Mr. Ellison has rarely engaged with the community of Giving Pledge signers, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. He has cherished his autonomy and does not want to be influenced to support Mr. Gates’s causes, one of the people said, while also sensitive to any idea that he is backing off the pledge.

But the stakes of Mr. Ellison’s message on X are enormous. His fortune is about 10 times what it was when he signed the pledge as the software company he founded, Oracle, rides the artificial intelligence boom. Mr. Ellison controls a staggering 40-plus percent of the company’s stock...

“Oxford, Cambridge and the whole university sector are under pressure to capitalize on intellectual property because of long-running government policy belief that the U.K. has fallen behind economically,” said John Picton, an expert in nonprofit law at the University of Manchester."

Meta faces backlash over AI policy that lets bots have ‘sensual’ conversations with children; The Guardian, August 15, 2025

Edward Helmore, The Guardian ; Meta faces backlash over AI policy that lets bots have ‘sensual’ conversations with children

"A backlash is brewing against Meta over what it permits its AI chatbots to say.

An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, showed the social media giant’s guidelines for its chatbots allowed the AI to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual”, generate false medical information, and assist users in arguing that Black people are “dumber than white people”."

Thousands Ask Harvard Not to ‘Give in’ and Pay Fine to Trump; The New York Times, August 14, 2025

Vimal Patel, The New York Times; Thousands Ask Harvard Not to ‘Give in’ and Pay Fine to Trump

"A coalition of groups at Harvard urged the university to reject striking a deal with the Trump administration that would relinquish “the university’s autonomy in unconstitutional or unlawful ways.”

The letter, signed by more than 14,000 Harvard alumni, students, faculty and members of the public, comes as the school is at the negotiating table with the Trump administration. The university is trying to restore the billions of dollars in research funds that the Trump administration has frozen and put an end to attacks on several other fronts.

“A settlement with the Trump administration will have a chilling effect on the Harvard community and on all of higher education,” stated the letter, sent by Crimson Courage, a new alumni group that formed to defend academic freedom. It was addressed to Alan M. Garber, the university’s president, and the board that governs the university.

The government has targeted top universities, claiming that they have failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and allowed diversity programming to flourish. It has cut off or frozen research money, forcing universities to negotiate to turn the funding tap back on."

The cruel human cost of the ‘land swap’ idea for Ukraine; The Washington Post, August 14, 2025

Anna Husarska, The Washington Post; The cruel human cost of the ‘land swap’ idea for Ukraine

[Kip Currier: The callous nonchalance and indifference with which Trump speaks of the suffering that Ukraine has endured -- and continues to face -- at the hands of Putin is both galling and appalling. Note, too, that this is the same person who reportedly called Sweden's finance minister recently in pursuit of a Nobel Prize for Peace: transactionalism and grandiosity are at Trump's very core.]

[Excerpt]

"On Monday, President Donald Trump elaborated on what kind of deal might emerge from his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage this week. “There’ll be some land swapping going on. To the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff.

“Also, some bad stuff for both,” Trump conceded.

Let us imagine a different kind of swap. Suppose Cuba invaded the United States, occupied most of Florida (justifying it with the claim that there are many Cubans living there) and three-quarters of Texas — and then agreed to withdraw from Texas if the United States gave it the whole of Florida. Would this qualify as a swap? And would it be “to the good” of the United States?

It is unjust to reward territorial aggression with territorial concessions. And such concessions would certainly set evil precedents in an increasingly chaotic world. But while these big questions are important, we must also not lose sight of the human costs such a “swap” would put on the Ukrainian people. Immediately ceding whatever territory Ukraine still holds in Donetsk region, as Russia is reportedly demanding, would be disastrous for the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians still trying to live in a war zone."

Trump’s answer to numbers he doesn’t like: Change them or throw them away; The Washington Post, August 14, 2025

Cat Zakrzewski

, 

David Ovalle

, 

Scott Dance

 and 

Laura Meckler

, The Washington Post; Trump’s answer to numbers he doesn’t like: Change them or throw them away

"President Donald Trump presented inaccurate crime statistics to justify a federal takeover of D.C. police. He announced plans for the census to stop counting undocumented immigrants. And he ordered the firing of the official in charge of compiling basic statistics about the U.S. economy after a weak jobs report.

This month marked an escalation in Trump’s war on data, as he repeatedly tries to undermine statistics that threaten his agenda and distorts figures to bolster his policies. The latest instances come on top of actions the administration has taken across federal health, climate and education agencies to erase or overhaul data collection to align with the administration’s agenda and worldview.

The president’s manipulation of government data threatens to erode public trust in facts that leaders of both parties have long relied on to guide policy decisions. A breakdown in official government statistics could also create economic instability, restrain lifesaving health care and limit forecasts of natural disasters. Trump has routinely spread misinformation since the start of his political career, but his efforts in his second term to bend data to support his agenda have invited comparisons to information control in autocratic countries."

Judge blocks two Trump efforts to eliminate DEI in schools and colleges; Associated Press via The Guardian, August 14, 2025

 Associated Press via The Guardian; Judge blocks two Trump efforts to eliminate DEI in schools and colleges

"A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nation’s schools and universities.

In her ruling, US district judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland found that the education department violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that continued with DEI initiatives.

The guidance has been on hold since April when three federal judges blocked various portions of the education department’s anti-DEI measures."

This Evangelical Pastor Wants to Replace Women’s Right to Vote; The New York Times, August 14, 2025

David French, The New York Times ; This Evangelical Pastor Wants to Replace Women’s Right to Vote

"There are many reasons for Wilson’s rise, but one of them is squarely rooted in politics. When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, he inherited a recent Republican tradition: The Republican president isn’t just a political leader — he’s a de facto religious leader as well.

Leaders inspire imitators, and all too many people are open to pastors exhibiting the same values as the president they admire so much. Or to put it another way, when George W. Bush was in office, “compassionate conservatism” was en vogue. And now? When Trump runs an administration where it often appears that cruelty is the point, well then, empathy is a sin. It’s not that men like Wilson had no audience before Trump; it’s that there is a new demand for Wilson’s message because it matches the Trumpist spirit of this evangelical age.

Trump is a profane, authoritarian man who delights in attacking his critics. Wilson is also a profane, authoritarian man who similarly delights in personal attacks. He created something he calls “No Quarter November,” a month when he grants Christians the right to “hoist the Jolly Roger and just go to war with the world.” His aggression is referred to as the “Moscow mood.”"

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations; NiemanLab, August 11, 2025

 ANDREW DECK  , NiemanLab; Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations

"The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper by circulation, has sued the generative AI startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in Tokyo District Court on August 7, marks the first copyright challenge by a major Japanese news publisher against an AI company.

The filing claims that Perplexity accessed 119,467 articles on Yomiuri’s site between February and June of this year, based on an analysis of its company server logs. Yomiuri alleges the scraping has been used by Perplexity to reproduce the newspaper’s copyrighted articles in responses to user queries without authorization.

In particular, the suit claims Perplexity has violated its “right of reproduction” and its “right to transmit to the public,” two tenets of Japanese law that give copyright holders control over the copying and distribution of their work. The suit seeks nearly $15 million in damages and demands that Perplexity stop reproducing its articles...

Japan’s copyright law allows AI developers to train models on copyrighted material without permission. This leeway is a direct result of a 2018 amendment to Japan’s Copyright Act, meant to encourage AI developmentin the country’s tech sector. The law does not, however, allow for wholesale reproduction of those works, or for AI developers to distribute copies in a way that will “unreasonably prejudice the interests of the copyright owner."

How Scientists Are Using Drones to Study Sperm Whales; The New York Times, August 13, 2025

Alexa Robles-Gil , The New York Times; How Scientists Are Using Drones to Study Sperm Whales

"In the waters off Dominica in the Caribbean, a drone descends from the sky toward a sperm whale. Instead of dropping a tag from above, this drone will press against the whale’s back to attach a specialized sensor. The tag’s suction cups will stick to the whale’s skin, allowing the device to record audio of these marine mammals communicating.

The technique, which researchers call tap-and-go, is described in a new study published in the journal PLOS One on Wednesday. The findings demonstrate that the approach is a possible way to gather vital scientific data while minimizing the disturbance to whales.

“This is definitely the future,” said Jeremy Goldbogen, a marine biologist at Stanford University who was not involved with the research. “It’s really exciting to see these new innovations,” he said.

Scientists have long used a traditional tagging method that involves standing on a boat’s prow and using a 20-foot pole to attach the tag to the whale. But the boat’s noisiness and proximity to the whales can cause them stress."

Washington bishop, interfaith leaders oppose Trump militarization of DC: ‘Fear is not a strategy’; Episcopal News Network (EPN), August 13, 2025

ENS Staff, Episcopal News Network (EPN); Washington bishop, interfaith leaders oppose Trump militarization of DC: ‘Fear is not a strategy’

 "Washington Bishop Mariann Budde and Washington National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith on Aug. 13 joined a group of Christian and Jewish leaders from the nation’s capitol to issue a statement opposing the Trump administration’s temporary federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement, saying, “fear is not a strategy.”

President Donald Trump has said he is deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., because he is unsatisfied with the local police force’s protection of a city he says is “overrun by violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.” That move, however, comes at a time when the most recent statistics show crime rates are down in Washington, and local officials there have not asked for military assistance.

The president’s administration is able temporarily to take over law enforcement in the city of 700,000 people because of its special status under the U.S. Constitution and the Home Rule Act of 1973, a law originally intended by Congress to give the city more independence from the federal government.

“From the White House, the president sees a lawless wasteland. We beg to differ. We see fellow human beings – neighbors, workers, friends and family – each made in the image of God,” the faith leaders said in their joint statement, which is posted on the National Cathedral’s website. In addition to Budde and Hollerith, it is signed by six Washington rabbis, the region’s United Methodist bishop, and local leaders of the Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

“Even one violent crime is one too many, and all Washingtonians deserve to live in safety,” they said. “But safety cannot be achieved through political theater and military force. It requires honesty and sustained collaboration between government, civic and private partners – work now being sidelined. Inflammatory rhetoric distracts from that work, even as the administration has cut more than $1 billion from programs proven to reduce crime, including law enforcement support, addiction and mental health treatment, youth programs, and affordable housing.”

They also noted that Trump has threatened to attempt similar military interventions in other U.S. cities.

“As religious leaders, we remain firm in our commitment to serve those in need and to work collaboratively toward solutions to our city’s most pressing problems. We call on our political and civic leaders to reject fear-based governance and work together in a spirit of dignity and respect – so that safety, justice, and compassion prevail in our city.”"

Female vets in Congress slam Hegseth’s repost of Christian Nationalist; Military Times, August 13, 2025

 Carla Babb, Military Times; Female vets in Congress slam Hegseth’s repost of Christian Nationalist

[Kip Currier: Pete Hegseth's views are antithetical to the fundamental American values of equality, liberty, and the inherent dignity of every human being.]

[Excerpt]

"Democratic congresswomen, including several military veterans, are demanding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth apologize and resign after reposting a video about a Christian nationalist church with pastors who advocate for the repeal of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and feel women should not serve in certain combat and leadership positions.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Army helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs during combat in Iraq, told Military Times, “these views are antiquated, flat out wrong and — more dangerously — designed to justify discrimination and mistreatment of women, including those who sacrifice in uniform to defend Americans.”

“He is the least qualified secretary of defense in our nation’s history — despite commanding tens of thousands of women who actually are qualified and earned their jobs, unlike him," she added. “Hegseth’s incompetence and outright idiocy continue to put our troops and national security at greater risk every day he remains in office, and he should resign in disgrace immediately.” 

In the CNN video, the pastors also said they want the United States to be a Christian republic. They call for the criminalization of homosexuality and expect women to submit to their husbands. 

“Women are the kind of people that people come out of … it doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically,” Pastor Doug Wilson says in the video...

Military Times reached out to Republican female military veterans in Congress for comment but did not receive a response as of this publication."

AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study; Bloomberg, August 12, 2025

Bloomberg ; AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study

Judge rejects Anthropic bid to appeal copyright ruling, postpone trial; Reuters, August 12, 2025

 Blake Brittain , Reuters; Judge rejects Anthropic bid to appeal copyright ruling, postpone trial

"A federal judge in California has denied a request from Anthropic to immediately appeal a ruling that could place the artificial intelligence company on the hook for billions of dollars in damages for allegedly pirating authors' copyrighted books.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said on Monday that Anthropic must wait until after a scheduled December jury trial to appeal his decision that the company is not shielded from liability for pirating millions of books to train its AI-powered chatbot Claude."