May 10, 1857 The Sepoy Rebellion was triggered in Meerut, India, when native troops (known as Sepoys, which also designated a rank equivalent to private) turned on their British officers.It was the first instance of armed resistance against colonial rule. Indians constituted 96% of the 300,000-man British Army.ย Loading the Lee-Enfield Rifled Musket assigned to the Sepoys involved biting the end of a cartridge greased in a combination of pig fat and beef tallow. “Attack of the Mutineers,” a British illustration of the Sepoy Rebellion The former is haraam (forbidden) under Islamic law, the latter offensive to Hindus who consider the cow as aghanya (that which may not be slaughtered). When the Sepoys, including both Hindu and Muslim Indians, became aware of this, some refused to load their weapons. Mangal Pandey, a soldier in the Army shot his commander for forcing the Indian troops to use the controversial rifles. When others were charged with mutiny for refusing, Sepoys turned on their officers and released the imprisoned soldiers. The rebellion is now considered the first Indian war for independence. More on the rebellionย
May 10, 1967 Army Captain Howard Levy, a physician, was imprisoned three years for refusing to train U.S. Special Forces soldiers for Vietnam. He refused an order to perform the training as he considered it a violation of his medical ethics. “The United States is wrong in being involved in the Viet Nam War. I would refuse to go to Viet Nam if ordered to do so. I don’t see why any colored soldier would go to Viet Nam: they should refuse to go to Viet Nam and if sent should refuse to fight because they are discriminated against and denied their freedom in the United States, and they are sacrificed and discriminated against in Viet Nam by being given all the hazardous duty and they are suffering the majority of casualties.โ – From the Supreme Court case, Parker, Warden, et al. v. Levy.
May 10, 1968 Peace talks began in Paris between the U.S. and North Vietnam with businessman, former New York governor, ambassador and cabinet secretary W. Averell Harriman representing the United States. Former Foreign Minister Xuan Thuy, heading the North Vietnamese delegation, immediately demanded cessation of U.S. bombing.
May 10, 1972 Jane Briggs Hart, the wife of Senator Philip A. Hart (D-Michigan), informed the Internal Revenue Service that she wouldnโt pay some of her taxes; instead, she deposited her quarterly estimated tax of $6,200 in a special bank account. She wrote: “I cannot contribute one more dollar toward the purchase of more bombs and bullets.” Jane Briggs Hart More about Jane Briggs Hartย
May 10, 1980 A federal judge in Salt Lake City, Utah, found the U.S. government negligent for its above-ground testing of nuclear weapons in Nevada from 1951 to 1962. The land of the Nevada Test Site is scarred with craters from nuclear testing.
May 10, 1994 Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africaโs first black president. He had won the countryโs first election in which all South Africans could vote, regardless of race. Mandela had spent nearly three decades imprisoned for his part in the struggle to attain political and civil rights for black and colored citizens. This ended more than three centuries of white rule, beginning with the Dutch in 1652. Biography of Nelson Mandelaย South African chronologyย
John Oliver discusses the recent deportations by the Trump administration, the conditions in the facility people are being sent to abroad, and why even Henry Winkler could be in danger of being expelled from the U.S. Yeah, even national treasure Henry Winkler.
When books burn, humans follow โ a warning we cannot afford to ignore Read on Substack
When I tell you that fascists don’t start with violenceโthey start with booksโI’m not speaking in fucking hypotheticals. On May 6th, 1933, while the ink was barely dry on Hitler’s chancellorship, young Nazis stormed the Institute of Sexual Research. They ransacked the place that night, and then four days later, they took more than 20,000 books from the Instituteโs library to Berlinโs Bebelplatz Square and burned them.
They didn’t just burn paper. They burned hope. They burned sanctuary. They burned the world’s first transgender clinic and decades of groundbreaking research that might have spared generations of queer people unimaginable suffering.
I’m not being dramatic when I say this is one of the most gut-wrenching episodes in queer history. The visceral image of Magnus Hirschfeldโa gay Jewish doctor and pioneering advocate for gay and transgender rightsโwatching on television as his life’s work went up in flames should haunt us all. Because make no mistake: these weren’t military operations. These were everyday people, your neighbors, your classmates, who decided certain knowledge was too dangerous to exist.
A Haven of Revolutionary Care
The Institute for Sexual Research wasn’t just ahead of its timeโit was blazing the trail for a future we’re still fighting to reach nearly a century later. Opened in 1919 by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, this non-profit institution provided care that modern transphobes claim is “experimental” today, despite the fact that Hirschfeld was performing these procedures over a hundred years ago.
Initially hesitant about gender-affirming surgeries, Hirschfeld changed his mind when he recognized a simple truth: this was life-saving care that prevented suicide. Think about thatโwhile most of the world was still living in willful ignorance, this man understood that people would rather die than live in bodies that betrayed them. The Institute provided facial feminization and masculinization surgeries, hair removal, and complex gender reassignment procedures when most doctors wouldn’t even recognize trans people as human.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around just how revolutionary this place was. Hirschfeld recognized that gender identity and sexual orientation were entirely separate entitiesโa concept some people still struggle with a century later. He coined the terms “transsexual” and “transvestite,” creating language for experiences that had been silenced for millennia. The Institute was staffed with every specialist imaginableโpsychologists, gynecologists, radiologists, lawyers, general practitionersโproviding low-cost or free care to those whom society had abandoned.
History Doesnโt Repeat, But It Does Rhyme
My friend (and my Editor-in-Chief) thepoetmiranda saw the dark echoes of history when one of Trumpโs first orders was for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to start scrubbing medical literature related to healthcare for transgender Americans from government databases (an erasure policy that has spread beyond healthcare to all historical references of transgender peopleโeven on the Stonewall National Memorial website). She wrote the poem linked below, which is a fucking must read:
Hirschfeldโs clinic wasn’t just a clinic. It was a fucking sanctuary. Hirschfeld and his partner Karl Giese lived in the building, creating a warm, plush space filled with life. They hosted costume parties where queer people could express themselves freely. They recommended local bars and venues where LGBTQ+ folks could find community instead of isolation.
When trans women struggled to find employment after transitioning, Hirschfeld hired five of his own patients to work at the clinic. He fought for the repeal of Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexuality, and even secured legal identification passes for his trans female patients with a “transvestite” gender marker to prevent them from being arrested for crossdressing.
Instead of the torturous conversion therapy that was common practice, the Institute taught “adaptation therapy,” instructing queer people how to navigate a hostile world while staying true to themselves. Their motto was “Through science to justice”โa radical notion that education and understanding were the path to equality.
The Day Knowledge Became Dangerous
When the Nazi youth and the German Student Union piled the contents of the Institute in the square on May 10th, 1933, they topped it with Hirschfeld’s bust before setting it ablaze. This wasn’t random destructionโit was a deliberate erasure of knowledge they deemed threatening. This happened just three months after Hitler was named Chancellor. It wasn’t soldiers who did this; it was civilians, ordinary Germans who had been convinced that minorities were the root cause of inflation and social problems.
Anyone who wasn’t white, cisgender, and Christian was deemed immoral and dangerous to German youth and the “traditional family.” Sound familiar? It should, because we’re hearing the same bullshit rhetoric recycled today by people who would burn books all over again if given half a chance.
Hirschfeld, who was out of the country, watched the destruction on television. He never returned to Germany and died of a stroke in 1935, his life’s work reduced to ashes. The loss was immeasurableโnot just papers and books, but decades of research that could have advanced trans healthcare by generations.
The Brutal Reality of Lost Knowledge
We lost so much ancestral knowledge about our community in this one raid. The world’s first transgender clinicโgone. Groundbreaking research on gender identityโgone. Records of successful gender-affirming surgeriesโgone. Resources for queer people to find communityโgone. All of it, up in smoke because knowledge in the wrong hands threatened the status quo.
The memorial for this event bears the quote, “Where they burn books, in the end, they will burn humans, too”โa line from Hirschfeld’s own library that would prove prophetic. The Nazis began with books but ended with concentration camps where thousands of queer people wore pink triangles to their deaths.
Practical Tools for Preserving Our History
Document and digitizeย queer history in multiple locations and formats
Support LGBTQ+ archivesย financially and through volunteer work
Learn and shareย the stories of pioneers like Magnus Hirschfeld
Recognize warning signsย when marginalized communities are blamed for societal problems
Protect trans healthcareย by understanding its long history and scientific basis
Community Connection
The story of the Institute’s destruction isn’t ancient historyโit’s a warning. When you hear politicians targeting trans healthcare, when you see books about queer experiences being banned from libraries, when you witness the demonization of drag performances, remember the Institute. Remember what happens when fear and ignorance are weaponized against knowledge.
Today, organizations like the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation continue his legacy, but the threat remains. Every time a state bans gender-affirming care, every time a library removes LGBTQ+ books, every time a transgender person is denied basic dignity, we’re watching echoes of that burning pile in Berlin.
Conclusion
Knowledge is a form of rebellion, and the facts and history you carry in your mind can never be taken away from you. Education and queer joy are our greatest protections right now, just as they were in Hirschfeld’s time.
When we learn about the Institute for Sexual Research, we’re not just studying historyโwe’re resurrecting knowledge that fascists tried to erase. When we speak the names of Magnus Hirschfeld and his patients, we’re undoing their work of erasure. Every time we share these stories, we’re rebuilding what they tried to destroy.
The memorial’s warning echoes across time: “Where they burn books, in the end, they will burn humans, too.” We must never forget this. We must never allow it to happen again.
Because our history isn’t just about the pastโit’s about fucking surviving the present and building a future where institutes like Hirschfeld’s aren’t revolutionary; they’re just how we treat each other.
References:
Hirschfield, M. 1912 โDie Transvestiten: Eine Untersuchung รผber den Erotischen Verkleidungstriebโ
Hirschfield, M. 1920 โDie Homosexualitรคt des Mannes und des Weibesโ
Hirschfield, M. 2017 (Reprint) โBerlinโs Third Sexโ
May 4, 1961 A group of Freedom Riders left Washington, DC for New Orleans in a first challenge to racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals; it was organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).ย The Freedom Riders dining at a lunch counter in Montgomery before traveling to Jackson, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. Read more about the freedom ridersย ย 50 Years After Their Mug Shots, Portraits of Mississippiโs Freedom Ridersย
May 4, 1970 Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others, one permanently disabled. The previous day, President Nixon had announced a widening of the Vietnam War with bombing in neighboring Cambodia. There were major campus protests around the country with students occupying university buildings to organize and to discuss the war and other issues. Read more about that day at Kent State with picturesย
May 4, 1983 A โsense of the Congressโ resolution, intended to urge a halt to all testing of nuclear weapons, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives (287-149). The support for a nuclear freeze, ending all American and Soviet nuclear weapons testing, was widespread. In ballot resolutions in 25 states, the freeze had passed in all but one, losing in Arizona by just two points.
The billionaire helped fund an effort to gin up fraud claims against the Democratic donation platform.
Trumpโs claim that he can order the Justice Department to investigate a fundraising platform used by his political foes based on vague allegations is part of hisย ongoingย effortย to use the governmentโs powers to target political enemies. Itโs not a particularly realistic accusationโthe fact sheet claims itโs targeting โstraw donorโ schemes, in which one person donates on behalf of another. Given the fairly strict limitations on campaign contributions, any straw donor scheme that wants to inject any noticeable amount of money into an electoral system that had $15.5 billion run through it is a great deal of tedious, high-risk work for a scammer.
On the other hand, in the post-Citizens Unitedย era, there are plenty of ways to inject unaccounted-for moneyโeven, theoretically, foreign moneyโinto the election. Super-PACs can accept unlimited donations from fairly easy-to-obscure sources, for instance, which makes the idea of anyone using a small-dollar conduit like ActBlue (or the GOP equivalent WinRed) fairly silly.
And notably, the funding for some of Trumpโs โdataโ on an alleged ActBlue โfraudโ seems to have come from just such a source: a super-PAC bankrolled by Elon Musk.
Last year, an opaque group called the Fair Election Fund beganย promisingย to pay โwhistleblowersโ who cited election fraud โwith payment from our $5 million fund.โ That never panned out, but the same organization found more success with a claim that 60,000 people who were named as small-dollar donors in the Biden-Harris campaignโs July Federal Election Commissionย report did not recall making the contribution when contacted by the Fair Election Fund.
Asย Mother Jonesย reportedย last year, the Fair Election Fund appears to have generated this finding by blasting out ominous-sounding texts and emails telling ActBlue donors that their donations had been โflagged,โ then tallying people who respondedโaccurately or notโby checking a box saying they did not recall making the contribution.
More at the link above
Israel carrying out โlive-streamed genocideโ in Gaza, Amnesty says
Amnesty accuses US President Donald Trump of committing a โmultiplicity of assaultsโ on human rights.
Israel is perpetrating a โlive-streamed genocideโ in Gaza, committing illegal acts with the โspecific intentโ ofย wiping out Palestinians, Amnesty International has said.
Israeliย forces in Gaza have violatedย the United Nations Genocide Convention with acts that include โcausing serious bodily or mental harm to civiliansโ and โdeliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destructionโ, the human rights organisation said in its annual report released on Monday.
Israeli air strikes have alsoย frequently hit civiliansย who were following evacuation orders, while its forces continued to โarbitrarily detain and, in some cases, forcibly disappear Palestiniansโ, the rights group said.
DOGE has made a big impact on Washington. But government spending is up.
Elon Musk and his shadowy โtech supportโ team have ripped through Washington, reshaping the government and culling the federal workforce with astonishing speed and scope.
Nearly a quarter of a million workers have or are expected to leave their federal jobs. That includes more than 112,000 federal workers who have opted into the deferred resignation program, according to a POLITICO analysis of previous reporting and conversations with administration officials. It also includes some 121,000 workers across agencies who have been fired, according to aย CNN analysis.
DOGE has hollowed out or shut down 11 federal agencies and says it has terminated more than 8,500 contracts and 10,000 grants. It has wiped out foreign aid and volunteerism in the U.S., slashed education spending and made sweeping changes to the way the government makes procurements, hires contractors and shares data.
DOGE, after promising $2 trillion in savings, now says it has saved the government $160 billion. But even these reported savings, so far, have not led to any meaningful decline in total government spending this year, according to the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model, which tracks weekly Treasury data.
In fact, the government has actually been spending more compared to this time last year, the model found.
Total spending rose by 6.3 percent, or $156 billion since Trump took office, compared to the first four months of 2024, said Kent Smetters, a Wharton professor who directs the model. Even when accounting for inflation, the federal government has still added $81.2 billion more spending to its books compared to the same period last year, he added.
ICE is a thug unit run by a major thug.ย ย This family was badly mistreated, in some ways brutalized.ย ย I read earlier where the mother said the 20 ICE agents who broke into their home with no warring then wanted the women, one adult and the others teenagers to remove their clothing in front of them to get dressed before being forced outside in the rain.ย ย The report said the mother refused saying even her husband had not seen the children nude and she did not want them to do that in front of these men.ย They were ordered in their “underwear” outside in the rain where they were kept for hours.ย ย Is this the government / police any way people should be treated by law enforcement in the US.ย They so disrespected this family sure in the fact they were correct with no room for any doubt.ย They had no empathy, no common sense.ย In the time I was an axillary sheriff’s deputy we were trained never to act like that.ย We were taught to respect the rights of people but be aware they might be lying and the danger of the situation.ย ย Respect the rights of the people.ย All people on US soil, in the country regardless of status have due process rights.ย ย The right wing haters want to tell you that if you are here illegally you have no rights but SCOTUS has repeatedly said every person here does.ย Hugsย ย
As for Marissaโs phones, electronics, and cash, they have no idea which agency has those belongings or how to get those items back.ย ย
At this time, there is not a fundraising campaign set up for the family. KFOR will share any details if that happens.
Original:
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) โ A woman says her familyโs fresh start in Oklahoma turned into a nightmare after federal immigration agents raided their home, taking their phones, laptops, and life savings โ even though they were not the suspects the agents were looking for.
The agents had a search warrant for the home, but the suspects listed on the warrant do not live in the house.
The woman who actually lives in the house had just moved to Oklahoma City from Maryland with her family about two weeks earlier.
The woman, who News 4 will refer to as โMarisaโ, and her three daughters came to Oklahoma looking for a slower, more affordable pace of life.
They rented a house in a seemingly safe northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood.
Her husband stayed back in Maryland a couple of extra weeks, planning to join them this weekend.
โI was like, โokay, Oklahomaโs my home now,โโ Marisa said.
But any comfort they had disappeared Thursday morning when about 20 men, armed with guns, busted through the door.
โI donโt know who they were,โ she said. โIt was dark. All the lights were off.โ
Marisa said the men identified themselves as federal agents with the U.S. Marshals, ICE, and the FBI.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service denied having agents present during the raid, telling News 4 they were โaware of the operation before it happened,โ but did not assist in any capacity.
โI keep asking them, โwho are you? What are you doing here? Whatโs happening,โโ she said. โAnd they said, โwe have a warrant for the house, a search warrant.โโ
She said they ordered her and her daughters outside into the rain before they could even put on clothes.
โThey wanted me to change in front of all of them, in between all of them,โ she said. โMy husband has not even seen my daughter in her undergarmentsโher own dad, because itโs respectful. You have her out there, a minor, in her underwear.โ
Marisa said the names on the search warrant were not hers or anyone in her family.
She recognized them as names listed on mail still arriving at the houseโlikely former residents.
โWe just moved here from Maryland,โ she said. โWeโre citizens. Thatโs what I kept saying. Weโre citizens.โ
She said the agents didnโt care.
โThey were very dismissive, very rough, very careless,โ she said. โI kept pleading. I kept telling them we werenโt criminals. They were treating us like criminals. We were here by ourselves. We didnโt do anything.โ
Marisa said the agents tore apart every square inch of the house and what few belongings they had, seizing their phones, laptops and their life savings in cash as โevidence.โ
โI told them before they left, I said you took my phone. We have no money. I just moved here,โ she said. โI have to feed my children. Iโm going to need gas money. I need to be able to get around. Like, how do you just leave me like this? Like an abandoned dog.โ
Before they left, Marisa said one of the agents made a comment.
โOne of them said, โI know it was a little rough this morning,โโ she said. โIt was so denigrating. That you do all of this to a family, to women, your fellow citizens. And it was a little rough? You literally traumatized me and my daughters for life. Weโre going to have to go get help or get over this somehow.โ
Now, Marisa said they have, quite literally, nothing.
โI said, โwhen are we going to get our stuff back?โ They said it could be days or it could be months,โ she said.
Marisa said she is left with nothing but questions.
โWhat if I would have been armed,โ she said. โYouโre breaking in. What am I supposed to think? My initial thought was we were being robbedโthat my daughters, being females, were being kidnapped. You have guns pointed in our faces.Can you just reprogram yourself and see us as humans, as women?A little bit of mercy. Care a little bit about your fellow human, about your fellow citizen, fellow resident. We bleed too. We work. We bleed just like anybody else bleeds. Weโre scared. You could see our faces that we were terrified. What makes you so much more worthier of your peace? What makes you so much more worthier of protecting your children? What makes you so much more worthy of your citizenship? What makes you more worthy of safety? Of being given the right that they took from me to protect my daughters?โ
Marisa told News 4 the agents wouldnโt even leave her a business card.
She said she has no idea who to contact to get her things back.
Marissa told KFOR the U.S. Marshalโs Service and the FBI were involved in this raid.
However, a representative for the U.S. Marshalโs Service says their team was not involved.
News 4 reached out to the FBI. Last week, a spokesperson said they were assisting on this case and directed inquiries to Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for Homeland Security told News 4 they are looking into it and will get back to us, but we have not heard from them.
As for Marissaโs phones, electronics, and cash, they have no idea which agency has those belongings or how to get those items back.
Ten years after the far-right Law and Justice Party was elected to power in Poland, and two years after their defeat in national elections, a last vestige of the partyโs state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ policies has finally been eliminated.
On Thursday, a council in the southeastern Polish town of ลaลcut officially abolished the countryโs last remaining โLGBT-freeโ resolution.
Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are twice as likely as their straight peers to attempt suicide or have thoughts of taking their own life, new figures have revealed.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday (9 April) revealed that not only is suicidal ideation higher among LGB+ people, but also that the risk of intentional self-harm is almost three times as high.
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Trump administration opens a โsnitch lineโ to report trans kids getting health care
The new portal launch coincides with an investigation into a major children’s hospital.
In twin actions this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued its efforts to end gender-affirming care for trans youth with the new whistleblower portal and the launch ofย an investigationย ofย โa major pediatric teaching hospitalโย over the alleged firing of a nurse because she sought a religious exemption to avoid administering puberty blockers and hormones to minor patients.
That order has been blocked by multiple federal judges with temporary restraining orders, but the Trump administration continues to invoke it in its crackdown on doctors and hospitals.
The Trump administration continues to characterize evidence-based trans healthcare as โmutilationโ, despite every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Endocrine Society, supporting the practice.
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Corporations are scaling back Pride support to avoid right-wing backlash
Fortune 1000 companies fear backlash amid Trump’s executive orders on DEI and transgender Americans.
A new survey of Fortune 1000 companies reveals that corporations are dramatically scaling back their public expressions of support for the LGBTQ+ community. Itโs a trend LGBTQ+ organizations across the country haveย already reportedย in the lead-up to Pride celebrations this year.
Nearly two-fifths of corporations plan on reducing engagement for Pride Month this June, according to a survey of corporate executives by Gravity Research.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have guttedย diversity, equity, and inclusionย initiatives andย targeted the transgender community,ย Forbesย reports.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have guttedย diversity, equity, and inclusionย initiatives andย targeted the transgender community,ย Forbesย reports.
Hungary passes constitutional amendment banning Pride as protesters hold โGray Prideโ protest
Supporters of the law said that it would protect children from knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist
Tens of thousands of Hungarians filled the countryโs capital Saturday to protest a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, including Pride celebrations.
The Assembly Act declares that a childโs rights to moral, physical, and spiritual development supplant any right other than the right to life, including peaceful assembly.
Like Russia, its ally in a politically motivated campaign against the โdegenerate West,โ Hungary has institutedย โgay propagandaโ lawsย prohibiting the โdepiction or promotionโ of homosexuality to minors.
Itโs โa clear messageโ for transgender and intersex people, Dรถbrentey said: โIt is definitely and purely and strictly about humiliating people and excluding them, not just from the national community, but even from the community of human beings.โ
Librarians in UK increasingly asked to remove books, as influence of US pressure groups spreads
Anecdotal evidence suggests a rise in requests to take books off shelves, particularly LGBTQ+ titles
Requests to remove books from library shelves are on the rise in the UK, as the influence of pressure groups behind book bans in the US crosses the Atlantic, according to those working in the sector.
Most of the UK challenges appear to come from individuals or small groups, unlike in the US, where 72% of demands to censor books last year were brought forward by organised groups, according to the American Library Associationย earlier this week.
However, evidence suggests that the work of US action groups is reaching UK libraries too. Alison Hicks, an associate professor in library and information studies at UCL, interviewed 10 UK-based school librarians who had experienced book challenges. One โspoke of finding propaganda from one of these groups left on her deskโ, while another โwas directly targeted by one of these groupsโ. Respondents โalso spoke of being trolled by US pressure groups on social media, for example when responding to free book giveawaysโ.
The types of books targeted may also differ. โAlmost all the UK attacks reported in my study centred on LGBTQ+ materials, while US attacks appear to target material related to race, ethnicity and social justice as well as LGBTQ+ issues,โ said Hicks.
This supports the findings of anย Index on Censorship surveyย last year, in which 28 of 53 librarians polled reported that they had been asked to remove books from library shelves, many of which were LGBTQ+ titles. In more than half of those cases, books were taken off shelves.
Tennessee county sued for banning books without even reading them
They’re accused of just using an anti-LGBTQ+ organization’s book ban list to deny students access to tomes like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
The plaintiffs in this case are three families, who wish to remain anonymous, of two freshmen and a senior who will attend a Rutherford County school next year. Joining in on the lawsuit is PEN America, a nonprofit freedom of expression advocacy group for writers. Thirty-two writers in the organization have seen 53 of their books included in the ban.
More than 145 books have been removed from school libraries in the district. The Board of Education began banning material in early 2024 through informal requests by school board members initially, without any public discussion or input from members of the board, according to the ACLUโs lawsuit.
Concerningly, the lawsuit claims that the board had indicated that, rather than reading any of the material they were suppressing, they relied on a rating system created by individuals with ties to the far-right group Moms for Liberty. Through this system, books are classified as inappropriate material if they include LGBTQ+ characters, racial, social, or religious commentary, profanity, and written depictions of nudity.
Trump DOJ Ordered ICE to Invade Homes Without Search Warrant
The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Actโno warrant required.
The Justice Department quietly invoked the Alien Enemies act last month to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the power to conduct warrantless searches of peopleโs homes as long as they suspect them to be an โalien enemy.โย USA Todayย obtainedย the memo that contained this order on Friday.
In the memo, the Justice Department defined an โalien enemyโ as anyone who is 14 years of age or older, not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, a citizen of Venezuela, and โa member of the hostile enemy Tren de Aragua,โ per the Alien Enemy Validation Guide, a document that has already been slammed by immigration experts.
The broad definition has already resulted in the apprehension and deportation of more than 200 men to El Salvador who just happened to have tattoos, like gay makeup artist Andry Josรฉ Hernรกndez Romero.
This type of order will likely lead to more indiscriminate arrests and wanton racial profiling. The memo, which is from March 14, is another massive departure from the U.S. immigration norms.
White House Confirms Trump Is Exploring Ways To โDeportโ U.S. Citizens
The administration could try removing American citizens if it identifies a pathway it can claim to be legal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Presidentย Donald Trumpย is exploring legal pathways to โdeportโ U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where the administration has already arranged to house deported immigrants in a prison known for its human rights abuses.ย (Watch the video, above.)
Trumpย told reportersย aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he โlove[s]โ the idea of removing U.S. citizens, adding that it would be an โhonorโ to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele โ an eagerย partnerย in Trumpโs schemes.
โI look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,โ Trump wrote. โPerhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!โ
Shocking report reveals HIV deaths will explode due to Trumpโs foreign aid cuts
Nearly 500,000 children could die from AIDS by 2030 without PEPFAR funding.
Nearly half a million children could die from AIDS-related causes by 2030 without restoration of PEPFAR programs cut by the Trump administration,ย a new studyย published in theย Lancetย reveals.
The new health policy analysis estimates that one million children could become infected with HIV and nearly half a million could die from AIDS by 2030. Additionally, 2.8 million children could experience orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa (because their parents died from preventable HIV-related illnesses) if the PEPFAR funding isnโt restored.
A study releasedย by UNAIDS in March showed an uptick in new HIV infections has already started as local HIV prevention programs funded by PEPFAR have been thrown into chaos.
Men who have sex with men, girls, and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 not pregnant or breastfeeding, and sex workers and people who inject drugs โcan notโ be offered PrEP during the pause or โuntil further notice,โ Trump administration officials wrote.
โThey were shouting at me, threatening to rape me, chanting โdeath to Arabsโ. I thought the police would protect me from the mob, but they did nothing to intervene,โ she said.
At one point, she and the police officer were nearly cornered against a building, the video shows. โI felt sheer terror,โ the woman recalled. โI realized at that point that I couldnโt lead this mob of men to my home. I had nowhere to go. I didnโt know what to do. I was just terrified.โ
After several blocks, the officer hustled the woman into a police vehicle, prompting one man to yell, โGet her!โ The crowd erupted in cheers as she was driven away.
Committee calls figure a โconservative estimateโ and warns Musk may seek to use his influence to avoid legal liability
โWhile the $2.37 billion figure represents a credible, conservative estimate, it drastically understates the true benefit Mr Musk may gain from legal risk avoidance alone as a result of his position in government,โ the report states.
UPDATED: Super Hornet Assigned to USS Harry S. Truman Lost at Sea
The single-seat Super Hornet assigned to the โKnighthawksโ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136, โwas actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,โ reads the statement.
โSailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.โ
DOGE employees gain accounts on classified networks holding nuclear secrets
Two members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency were given accounts on classified networks that hold highly guarded details about America’s nuclear weapons, two sources tell NPR.
Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, and Adam Ramada, a Miami-based venture capitalist, have had accounts on the computer systems for at least two weeks, according to the sources who also have access to the networks. Prior to their work at DOGE, neither Farritor nor Ramada appear to have had experience with either nuclear weapons or handling classified information.
Karoline Leavitt Boasts Trump Wouldnโt Hesitate to Arrest SCOTUS Justices
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested the Trump administration would consider arresting high-ranking judgesโincluding Supreme Court justicesโat a press briefing Monday.
โAs you guys look at other judges, would you ever arrest somebody higher up on the judicial food chain, like a federal judge or even a Supreme Court justice?โ Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.
Leavitt said no judge is safe from the administrationโs crackdown on the judiciary.
โThe first time, I had two things to do โ run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,โ Trump said in theย interview published Monday. โAnd the second time, I run the country and the world.โ
Johnson says itโs โgame timeโ as House committees draft first piece of Trump agenda
The $150 billion in defense programs includes $25 billion for Trumpโs โGolden Domeโ for missile defense, $34 billion in ship building and more than $20 billion in munitions purchases. The House Armed Services Committee plans to begin voting on Tuesday on this aspect of the bill.
On border security, the House Homeland Security Committee proposes $46.5 billion for new border barriers, $5 billion for new Customs and Border Protection facilities and $4 billion for new Customs officials and border personnel.
The committee proposes several billion dollars more in new technology to tighten security measures at the border and also includes $1 billion for security and planning for the 2028 Olympics, as well as $625 million for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Rev. William Barber arrested in Capitol Rotunda after praying against Republican-led budget
Reached for comment, a Capitol police spokesperson said Barber and two others were charged with โcrowding, obstructing and incommoding,โ explaining demonstrations in congressional buildings are โnot allowed in any form, to include but not limited to sitting, kneeling, group praying, singing, chanting, etc.โ
Some quickly argued that Barberโs arrest appeared incongruous with President Donald Trumpโs efforts to eliminate โanti-Christian biasโ in federal agencies.
โArresting Rev. Barber and others at the Capitol after announcing a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias in government is an absolute travesty,โ Anthea Butler, a professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a text message. โSeems like this administration only wants Christians who are supporters of Trump to have access to pray in the Capitol and express their faith.โ
Exclusion Order No. 20 affected 660 people living in the area bounded by Sutter and California streets and Presidio and Van Ness Avenues in San Francisco. The Japanese Americans living in those neighborhoods were ordered to report to 2031 Bush St. for registration, and then, on this day, for removal to internment camps for the duration of the Second World War, and faced loss of their homes and businesses. Presentation on what happenedย (Check it out! Some of Dorothea Lange’s work.)
April 29, 1962 Nobel Prize-winner (for chemistry in 1954) Linus Pauling picketed the White House with others protesting the resumption of nuclear weapons testing. He had been invited there by President John Kennedy, to be honored at a dinner along with other Nobelists.
April 29, 1968 Peace message, Vanessa Redgrave, 1968 photo: Frank Habicht Actress Vanessa Redgrave was among 826 British anti-nuclear protesters arrested during a London demonstration protesting the Vietnam War. Film from the BBC and their take on the demonstration that day
April 29, 1970 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia and began a bombing campaign, known as Arclight, that widened the Vietnam War. They were after North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops and supplies that had been moved into Cambodia. By the time the bombing ceased in 1973, the U.S. had dropped more than half a million tons of ordnance on Cambodia, three and a half times that dropped on Japan in World War II. Background on the Cambodia โincursionโย
April 29, 1992 Deadly rioting erupted in Los Angeles after an all-white jury in Simi Valley acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the beating of Rodney King, an African-American motorist who had been stopped for a traffic offense.Videotape of the abuse had been seen around the world. 17 other officers, who had been present and had not intervened, were never charged. The National Guard was called out to help restore civil order. By the time schools were able to re-open on May 4, more than 50 had been killed, over 4000 injured, 12,000 people arrested, and $1 billion in property damage. The Riotย The trialย (The original link to the trial news on History.com is no longer present. This link will take you to more about the rioting. Again, noting the loss of the info, this time, also again, that an all white jury acquitted police of battery of a Black man.)
April 29,ย 2016 Gary Tyler was released from Angola penitentiary in Louisiana. He was just 16 years old when charged with shooting a white student in 1974. Gary was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury and becameย the youngest person on death row. His case sparked a movement to gain his release which persisted for 40 years. FreeGaryTyler.comย Read more about the case and the movement to free him Listen/watch more about the caseย Democracy Now
Scottie's Playtime 