AMERICA NEEDS A MASS MOVEMENT—NOW: Without one, America may sink into autocracy for decades.; The Atlantic, October 14, 2025

 David Brooks , The Atlantic; AMERICA NEEDS A MASS MOVEMENT—NOW

"For their 2011 book, Why Civil Resistance Works, the political scientists Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan looked at 323 resistance movements from 1900 to 2006, including more than 100 nonviolent resistance campaigns. What Chenoweth and Stephan showed is that citizens are not powerless; they have many ways to defend democracy.

For the United States, the question of the decade is: Why hasn’t a resistance movement materialized here? The second Trump administration has flouted court decisions in a third of all rulings against it, according to The Washington Post. It operates as a national extortion racket, using federal power to control the inner workings of universities, law firms, and corporations. It has thoroughly politicized the Justice Department, launching a series of partisan investigations against its political foes. It has turned ICE into a massive paramilitary organization with apparently unconstrained powers. It has treated the Constitution with disdain, assaulted democratic norms and diminished democratic freedoms, and put military vehicles and soldiers on the streets of the capital. It embraces the optics of fascism, and flaunts its autocratic aspirations.

I am not one of those who believe that Donald Trump has already turned America into a dictatorship. Yet the crossing-over from freedom into authoritarianism may be marked not by a single dramatic event but by the slow corrosion of our ruling institutions—and that corrosion is well under way. For 250 years, the essence of America’s democratic system, drawing on thinkers going back to Cicero and Cato, has been that no one is above the law. Public officials’ first duty is to put the law before the satisfaction of their own selfish impulses. That concept is alien to Trump."

Pentagon calls Netflix's hit gay Marines show Boots 'woke garbage'; Out, October 16, 2025

 Mey Rude, Out ; Pentagon calls Netflix's hit gay Marines show Boots 'woke garbage'

[Kip Currier: As the head of the Department of Defense-cum-War, Pete Hegseth's statements, reported in this article and other news stories, are disrespectful to the thousands of LGBT service members who have selflessly served and sacrificed for their country.

All people are entitled to dignity and respect. The divisiveness of Hegseth and others who denounce people and groups must not be normalized.

Thank you to all military service members, living and deceased, who have given so much for democracy, our nation, and the world.]

[Excerpt]

"Netflix's new show Boots is topping the streamers' viewing charts, but the U.S. military isn't as enthusiastic about the show as fans are.

The Pentagon now says in a statement that it does not endorse the new show, which stars Miles Heizeras a closeted young man who joins the Marines in a time when it was forbidden for gay recruits to serve.

"Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn't care if you're a man, a woman, gay, or straight," a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson to Entertainment Weekly says.

In the statement, Wilson says that officials "will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children."

Netflix has yet to respond.

Since becoming Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has made several moves to erase LGBTQ+ people from the military. In June, he announced that a Navy ship named for gay rights leader Harvey Milk would be renamed. Hegseth also supports Trump's Executive Order 14183, which mandates the discharge of all trans service members and prevents new trans troops from enlisting."

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits; The Washington Post, October 3, 2025

 

Susan Svrluga

, 

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel

 and 

Emily Davies

, The Washington Post; Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits

"The Trump administration this week offered a select group of universities the opportunity to score priority access for federal funding, prompting an enthusiastic and swift response from a university leader in Texas, who called it “an honor.”

But the other schools that received the 10-page proposal Wednesday night were largely silent Thursday, as they considered the wide-ranging conservative terms that some experts warned would trample on free-speech rights and threaten finances and academic freedom at top universities.

The Washington Post first reported this week that the White House intended to launch a campaign to bring colleges into compliance with Trump’s ideological priorities by offering a competitive advantage to those that sign on...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) threatened Thursday to yank billions of dollars’ worth of funding from any school in the state that signed onto the agreement, writing on social media that the state would not “BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.”...

White House officials signaled last week that they intended to launch a campaign to bring colleges into compliance with Trump’s ideological priorities."

Weber State cracks down on censorship conference; KSL.com, October 2, 2025

 

Par Kermani, KSL.com ; Weber State cracks down on censorship conference

• Weber State University canceled its Unity Conference due to diversity initiative shifts.
• The 2024 Utah law requires eliminating diversity programs at public institutions.
• The Wildcat Collective, which operates outside of official university programming, organized an uncensored version of the conference for Friday."