Kelly Smith

It is newsworthy that the president of the United States is increasingly verbally abusive of women reporters and he should be asked about it.

Join the American Statistical Association's federal statistics health project team for its release of "The Nation's Data at Risk: 2025 Report." A webinar will be held December 10 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Register for this impactful event: tinyurl.com/229r4ybt #STATSSKY #STATISTICS #FEDERALSTATISTICS

ALL IMLS grants restored in every state & territory.

In response to a ruling from a federal judge in Rhode Island, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reinstated all previously canceled grants in every state and territory. It's a huge win for libraries and our communities.

"The reinstatement of all IMLS grants means that libraries across the country will be able to resume vital services for learning, imagination, and economic opportunity. We are breathing a sigh of relief, but the fight is not over." ALA President Sam Helmick. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.

NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.

This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!

Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which is closing operations, released its final report today. In addition, they released an Oral History Project document and 33 edited transcripts of interviews with past and current SIGAR personnel. www.sigar.mil/News/Article...

LIVE: Kornacki Cam - See Steve Kornacki Analyze Tennessee Special Election Results | NBC News YouTube video by NBC News

The Kornacki cam is great. Raw, unfiltered numbers and nerdiness. Just heard him gulping water during a pause in analysis.

www.youtube.com/live/ZnSSld_...

Kids Can Press company logo and logo and image of Franklin character with statement text,”Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values.”

Interactive AIDS Quilt The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 48,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience People around the world can experie...

“The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience so people around the world can experience the beauty of the Quilt and witness the love and stories stitched into each panel.”

@penamerica.bsky.social is doing such important work surfacing the Trump administration's #censorship! Please support them!

White House launches website to excoriate media for ‘biased’ stories Trump administration lists reporting it objects to in latest escalation of attacks on US journalism

I was thinking how grateful I am to the journalists (and other experts) I follow on Bluesky who inform my work and make me a better government information librarian. Thanks to this list of “media offenders” from the White House, I’ll be expanding my following list over the next couple of days.

LIBRARIES MAKE BOOKS ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE, she shouts, apparently inaudibly

WHY DO THESE "YOU'RE A CLASS TRAITOR" PEOPLE KEEP PRETENDING LIBRARIES DON'T EXIST?

ARE THEY CLASS TRAITORS WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN LIBRARIES?

Tennessee public libraries close for Trump-inspired book purge One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes…

1. In Tennessee, public libraries have closed for up to a week to facilitate a Trump-inspired book purge.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) has ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books with LGBTQ characters or themes.

Federal data and tools are all around us, influencing our lives in ways we often overlook. Our new data story, Protect the Data that Nourishes Us, highlights the data and tools that inform every stage of an apple's life cycle from seed to supermarket.

screening-tools.com/blog/protect...

Giving Thanks in This Climate Moment It's a time to be defiant, but also compassionate.

"Gratitude is powerful. It’s both something we offer up and, when we mean it, it’s a gift we give ourselves that can help us to hold grief, move anger, and bring us into right relation with what is." UCS's Erika Spanger shares a few reasons to feel grateful, even in this challenging climate moment.

Joy Harjo, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, June 6, 2019. Harjo is is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

Something we love to revisit during Native American Heritage Month: 23rd Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s signature project that celebrates the poetry of contemporary Native American poets.

www.loc.gov/programs/poe...

Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973

U.S. Refugee Admissions Program The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is the creator of START, a customized computer software system to assist the processing of refugees bound for resettlement in the United States.

The Wrapsnet page, with reports on admissions & arrivals through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, has been updated for the first time since the Jan. posting of Dec 2024 reports. These reports were previously issued monthly. The arrivals reports begin with FY26, so there's no data for Jan-Sept.

THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.

I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.

Lectures on Tap- U.S. Government Censorship and the Assault on Knowledge Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in SF bars.

#SanFrancisco folks, I'm giving a #LecturesOnTap talk on 12/9 about U.S. gov #censorship & the assault on knowledge. The latest misinformation about vaccines & autism from the CDC/RFK, Jr. shows how critical this topic is. Please spread the word! #DefendResearch

www.eventbrite.com/e/lectures-o...

Screenshot of webpage at link.

On scientific topics, especially in public health, federal government webpages have been a trusted way for the public to find reliable information.

A CDC webpage with disinformation is dangerous in the short term and erodes public trust in science in the long term.

www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...

Autism and Vaccines QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS PAGE 2 OF 9 | ALL PAGES J For Everyone NOV. 19, 2025 KEY POINTS • The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. • Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.

HHS Research on Plausible Biologic Mechanisms between Vaccines and Autism HHS will evaluate plausible biologic mechanisms between early childhood vaccinations and autism. Mechanisms for further investigation include the impacts of aluminum adjuvants, risks for certain children with mitochondrial disorders, harms of neuroinflammation, and more. * The header "Vaccines do not cause autism" has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.

CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”

North County Transit District scales back DEI language in policy The San Diego transportation agency struck some references to race and other attributes following federal orders compelling it to do so.

San Diego transit agency removes diversity language following Trump administration order. From North County Reporter @katiefutterman.bsky.social and @sandiegodocumenters.org. inewsource.org/2025/11/19/n...

To Weaken Minority Voting Power, Republicans Push For Unprecedented Mid-Decade Census Read more here.

NEW: House Republicans on a judiciary subcommittee are laying the groundwork for a law-defying mid-decade census, claiming counting noncitizens and statistical errors in the 2020 Census justifies a recount to give the GOP more congressional seats.

Good news for historical LGBTQ+ research. The Internet Archive received a grant to digitize local history collections from 6 organizations in the US and Canada. The collections feature LGBTQ+ materials from Colorado, Mississippi & Alabama, San Francisco, Rochester NY, and Canada.

Very happy to see oversight.gov and several related Inspector General websites back online today!

Judge indefinitely bars Trump from fining UC over alleged discrimination The Trump administration demanded UCLA pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus.

The Trump administration demanded UCLA pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. n.pr/4hYa0pY

Awesome and Easy Creamy Corn Casserole This corn casserole is easy to make with butter, eggs, cornbread mix, whole and creamed corn, and sour cream for a pleasing holiday side dish.

Native Hoosier here, and we’re all about the corn. Grew up having this every Thanksgiving and it remains a nostalgic must-have.

The government shutdown is over. The nightmare facing public lands under Trump may have just begun During the recent government shutdown, it appeared that public lands were operating as if business was as usual. In reality, the Trump administration may have been preparing for a new, more extractive...

"The health of our community depends on the health of these landscapes. Now, their future seems increasingly uncertain." @alex-wigglesworth.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/... @latimes.com