The Skeptical Librarian

Rubio Orders State Department to Spy on Immigrant Students

It’s the next step in this ridiculous and immoral attack on non-white people.

Marco Rubio has directed the State Department to spy on the social media activity of immigrant students.

It’s an ideological purge of foreign students that was revealed in a new directive that was leaked.

“The Trump administration is requiring that foreign students studying in, or seeking to study in the United States, pass an ideological test in order to obtain a visa.”

This is a continuation of the anti-immigrant stance of the Trump administration. They so strongly want to make America white that they are now inventing reasons to remove even students, using ideological guidelines are that are so vague they can apply them to anyone they choose.

And includes justifying kidnapping students off the streets and sending them to internment camps without due process or even an explanation! Like Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk.

Source: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-trump-admin-spies-on-social

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/27/judge-explanation-tufts-student-rumeysa-ozturk-ice

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2025-03-29

History / Philosophy / Politics / Society

Trump Criticizes Smithsonian for Accurately Portraying US History

He is continuing his push to remove from our history anything that might be perceived as negative or critical of U.S. history. He calls it “improper ideology”. 🙄

“It marks the Republican president’s latest salvo against cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump recently had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.”

“Under Trump’s order, Vance will also work with the White House budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian Institution isn’t spent on programs that ‘degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.'”

Sounds like another another fascist regime from 80 years ago. Seriously? Federal law and policy is controlling ideologies?? How long before he starts referring to his administration as a “Reich” and using adjectives like “glorious” and “ever-victorious”?

Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-smithsonian-executive-order-improper-ideology-558ebfab722f603e94e02a1a4b06ed4d

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2025-03-28

Information Literacy / Society / Technology

My Journey Away from Meta and Google

I am continuing my journey AWAY from Meta and Google.

My Facebook account is deleted and I have no other Meta apps that I use. I’m using Bluesky and Mastodon now.

I’ve been using Gmail since 2004, the year it came out. Over 20 years! Wow! But now I’m on GMX which is secure, free, has more storage space for emails than Google, and even has an Online Office that can handle files from Microsoft and Open Office.

To replace Google Drive, I’m using Mega, which has 20GB of storage for free. And it’s very secure.

My new browser and search engine of choice is Brave, one of the most private and independent search engines, and which is completely open source. The browsers blocks ads and trackers.

The two hardest to give up are YouTube and Google Maps. I’ve found that HERE WeGo is a good alternative to Google Maps, and they have both a web and mobile version. I’ve had a premium account on YouTube for a while because it eliminates the ads, both on videos and music. I’m going back to Spotify for my music, which handles playlists and normal customization MUCH better. But I’ve gotten really used to YouTube for pulling up movie trailers and other videos for sharing on social media, and for following some of the influencers I follow. I’m finding that Dailymotion is a good option that has nice variety, including news, entertainment, and user content, and it’s searchable, but it doesn’t have the same content as YouTube. I’ll have to find other options, depending on the kind of video I want.

For more history, rationale, and alternatives:

Leaving Google

Leaving Facebook

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2025-03-25

Economy / Politics

Bear With Me

“I will lower grocery prices on DAY ONE” has turned into “Bear with me.”

The new tariffs and the retaliatory action from those countries will hurt the bottom lines of farmers and meat producers “by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.”

Source and Details: https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-farms-farmers-mexico-canada-china-prices-3a460f004633c10a6da6c4f97627dd13

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2025-03-05

Health / Politics

RFK Jr Changes His Tune

We all know how anti-vaccine RFK Jr. is, and he was downplaying the measles outbreak in Texas just last week.

Now he is calling the measles outbreak a “call to action” and telling people they need to get the MMR vaccine! This was in an opinion-editorial piece on FoxNews.com over the weekend.

“Kennedy, who has previously promoted widely circulated theories linking vaccines to autism, struck a different tone in his Fox News piece, writing: ‘Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.'”

His op-ed: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-jr-measles-outbreak-call-action-all-us

Source: https://www.mediaite.com/news/rfk-jr-urges-measles-vaccination-amid-deadly-texas-outbreak/

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2025-03-03

Politics / Society

Trump Bullies Ukraine

Basically, Trump is saying that if Ukraine gives us half of their rare earth minerals, they will “earn the right to keep fighting.”

What the hell?? An independent nation is invaded by a neighboring country that wants their land, and they have to “EARN” the right to fight against that?? Our president is completely delusional and has no understanding at all of what really goes into international relations. He’s already alienating all of our allies while he bows down to Putin. But giving permission for another country to defend themselves when attacked?? That’s a whole other level of stupidity and egotism!

But is anyone really surprised?

It’s the mindset of a bully: “Give us your valuables and we’ll let you live.” 🙄🤬

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvg1402yyvet

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-trump-economic-deal-faf1ff881802c923370053e539ec26e4

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2025-02-26

Economy / Politics

DOGE Cuts = No Savings

A.P. News reports that the Trump administration’s cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by an unelected billionaire who has millions in government contracts and was not even vetted by Congress, often result in NO SAVINGS AT ALL!

Nearly 40% of the DOGE cuts, according to their own data, will not result in saving any money.

So why make these cuts? To prove that they’re in control and to traumatize federal workers. Oh, and to prove that the USA is better than everyone else by STOPPING giving aid to the poorest people in the world!

“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”

The AP article, linked below, explains some of the cuts and how the money has already been spent, so no savings can result.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/doge-federal-contracts-canceled-musk-trump-cuts-a65976a725412934ad686389889db0df

The actual list: https://doge.gov/savings

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2025-02-25

Health / Science

Vaccines May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

“Receiving routine vaccinations against common infections like tetanus, shingles, and pneumonia may offer an unexpected benefit: a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

“A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2023 found that older adults who received these vaccines were less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease compared to their unvaccinated peers over an eight-year period.

“This research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that vaccinations could play a role in protecting against this devastating brain disease.”

A description of the actual research study and more links are available at the article below:

Source: https://www.psypost.org/the-surprising-relationship-between-vaccinations-and-alzheimers-disease/

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2025-02-23

Education / Libraries / Politics

Iowa Rushing Librarian Criminalization Bill

Iowa is rushing the HF 274 bill through quickly. It will criminalize librarians and prohibit minors from using any library that has “obscene material” in its collection.

This bill is being rushed through the process so the public does not have much opportunity to comment.

Ultra-conservatives want to block access to any library by people under 18 years old if the library contains anything that the far right considers “obscene.” Including materials about same-sex relationships or transgender people. This law would block all minors from access if the library owned a book like this.

For the record:
“There are no obscene materials in public or public school libraries in the United States. This is a moral panic brought forth by the right over books they don’t like and that represent voices, stories, and perspectives outside of the rigid white, straight, able-bodied, cis gender, Christian boundaries.”

Source: https://bookriot.com/iowa-rushes-advances-librarian-criminalization-bill/

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2025-02-21

Health / Politics / Society

Promise Immediately Broken

To get the votes he needed for confirmation, RFK Jr. promised that he would not change the children’s vaccine schedule.

Now, in his first speech to the Health & Human Services employees (the ones who are still left after he fired thousands of them last weekend), this anti-vax leader of our country’s public health promised that he WOULD investigate the children’s vaccine schedule! “Nothing is going to be off limits!”

And, of course, this statement was made while West Texas is having a measles outbreak among unvaccinated people. 🙄

Source: https://apnews.com/article/childhood-vaccines-schedule-kennedy-trump-hhs-4d5e6c52c602f5edbcd837748605e9d0

Source: https://apnews.com/article/cassidy-kennedy-trump-health-secretary-e826bc40fddf90829f6438681c5d9275

Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196

Source: https://apnews.com/article/measles-texas-new-mexico-mmr-outbreak-vaccines-408371700e3ab548777bf0354e586549

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2025-02-19