Gordon Mantler

Column | Why the demolition of the East Wing is so shocking By Thursday, the White House’s East Wing was gone. The speed of destruction, and the projection of power, are part of the strongman playbook.

" ... the precedent he is setting is that history doesn’t matter; laws, procedures and customs are irrelevant; and there is no role for collaboration, transparency and review in the construction of new buildings." www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

UVA says NO to the "compact"

University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges

University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...

Opinion | I resigned from the military because of Trump I could not swear to follow a commander in chief who seems so willing to disregard the Constitution.

"This president acts as though one election makes 236 years of constitutional order irrelevant." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

JD Vance tries to downplay leak of disgusting Young Republican chats For JD Vance to suggest it’s “pearl clutching” to condemn those who were part of a racist group chat says a great deal about the vice president's judgment.

Here's your periodic reminder that the GOP has been taken over by fascists. This time it's the College Republicans and this disgusting sycophant. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/sh...

New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history The historic number of No Kings protesters and their expansive geographic spread are signs of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement.

From Harvard & UConn researchers on the June 14th No Kings Day protests. (report came out in August)

THIS is why MAGA is so spooked by the upcoming (Oct 18th) peaceful protests.

New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history wagingnonviolence.org/2025/08/new-...

It was this kind of ineptness by the Post's new regime that finally convinced me to end my paid subscription. And it's my local newspaper. Sigh.

Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.

As always, Chicago shows up.

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

This latest blackmail attempt by the regime, if accepted by any of these institutions, would a be a remarkable violation of the Constitution. The regime's continued assault on the First Amendment is breath-taking. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

“To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.”

- Judge William Young, September 30, 2025

The good news about soldiers remaining in Washington is that they will be able to help take out the trash and other mundane tasks when the park service stops maintenance operations during the upcoming shutdown.

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Tells Top Brass American Cities Should Be ‘Training Grounds’ for Military

So the dictator wants our military to train for urban combat in American cities. So how many people will be detained and killed in the process? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Will mining destroy America’s most-visited wilderness? The Trump administration is moving rapidly to approve a mine next to the Boundary Waters that many fear will pollute the pristine wilderness area.

My daughter canoed a portion of the Boundary Waters with the Girl Scouts in a life-changing experience. Boy Scouts do the same. It would be a real crime to ruin a national treasure for short-term economic gain for some while destroying others' livelihood. wapo.st/4pN2VfE

The ‘what’ economy?

Horrific.

Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States The government can and should vigorously pursue justice for Kirk and all the others murdered by politically motivated terrorists, but it can and should do so without new political witch hunts, expande...

2/ Of course, if the Cato author looked at the past, say, 60 years -- to include the assassinations of MLK and RFK -- that percentage would be higher. The numbers also don't include attempts, it appears, such as many assassination plots foiled by law enforcement. www.cato.org/blog/politic...

Eye-opening analysis from the conservative libertarian Cato Institute, on political violence in the U.S. over the last 50 years. If one sets aside 9/11, as the author does halfway through, it remains remarkably rare, but about two-thirds of the violence is motivated by right-wing ideology. 1/

Opinion | Kennedy Said He Wouldn’t Take Away Vaccines. This Week Will Be the Test.

While I'm home sick with covid. " ... when the hospitalization rates and deaths begin to rise — as they inevitably will — we will communally suffer the painful lesson that politics and incompetence cause far more side effects than any vaccine ever could." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/o...

National park to remove photo of enslaved man’s scars The Trump administration is ordering the removal of information on slavery at multiple national parks in an effort to scrub them of “corrosive ideology.”

Just the latest in the regime's Make Slavery Great Again campaign -- this time at Harpers Ferry, Independence Hall, and the President's House in Philadelphia. wapo.st/4mnNDLt

Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push Citing concerns about DEI, the U.S. Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advoc...

Ed Dept has pulled funding for programs in eight states aimed at supporting students who have hearing & vision loss. They got caught in Trump admin’s attacks on DEI, with Ed Dept spokesperson citing concerns about “divisive concepts” and “fairness” in acknowledging decision to withhold the funding.

AAUP President Condemns Political Firings of Texas Faculty, Calls for Reinstatements The sudden firings of faculty members this week at two Texas universities are serious violations of well-established standards and principles of academic freedom and tenure and set a dangerous new pre...

The AAUP calls on Texas A&M & Texas State to reverse the ideological firings of faculty members. We condemn the removal of the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences & the chair of the English department at Texas A&M for supporting the academic freedom of an instructor as a draconian abuse of power.

Historic peace vigil partially dismantled after Trump orders: ‘Take it down’ On Sunday, law enforcement officials removed parts of the Peace Vigil, which is widely considered to be the longest continuous act of political protest in U.S. history.

Free speech = "eyesore" www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Trump to rename Defense Department to War Department Trump is expected to sign an executive order Friday, though it is unclear if he can permanently change the agency’s title without legislation from Congress.

Uh, there was a reason why it was changed in the first place. Another sign that the regime is rejecting the world order that made the U.S. prosperous, for better or worse. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

House GOP weighing bills to remove elected D.C. AG, overhaul justice policies The bills could shepherd in some of the most intense interventions in the city’s justice system since the federal government took over the local courts in the 1990s.

Republicans are so despicable. This legislation is the worst threat to democratic rights in DC in thirty years, but they don't believe in democracy, do they? Free DC. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

For decades, Republicans screamed that the “big, bad” government was coming for you. Now, it actually is, but they’re the ones in charge.

Important point and thread abut the historian's craft.

OAH statement on the White House's authoritarian attempt to politicize and control the national narrative: "The effort as outlined is divorced from the realities of an evidence-based, comprehensive telling of the U.S. past." www.oah.org/2025/08/14/s...

As the military patrols the Mall and ICE operates checkpoints in the city's most diverse neighborhoods, it's important to note that DC already has nearly 40 different federal law enforcement agencies and surveillance cameras everywhere. More police presence will not reduce crime in any real way.