Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / KULCHA! / Open Thread: News That Doesn’t Actually Suck

Open Thread: News That Doesn’t Actually Suck

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Dr. Carla Hayden will join @mellon.org to advise on efforts to advance public knowledge through libraries & archives.
📚💙
“Together, we will work to strengthen the public knowledge ecosystem and ensure that the transformative power of information remains accessible to all.”
apnews.com/article/carl…

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— American Library Association (@amlibraryassoc.bsky.social) July 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM

… The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation exclusively told The Associated Press that Carla Hayden will join the humanities grantmaker Monday as a senior fellow whose duties will include advising on efforts to advance public knowledge through libraries and archives.

The year-long post places Hayden back at the center of the very debates over American culture that surrounded her dismissal. The White House ousted Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to hold the title, after she was accused of promoting “radical” literary material by a conservative advocacy group seeking to squash Trump opposition within the federal government.

Hayden acknowledged existing threats to “the free exchange of ideas” in a statement to the AP.

“For generations, libraries, archives, and cultural institutions have been the guardians of knowledge and the catalysts for human progress,” she said. “Together, we will work to strengthen the public knowledge ecosystem and ensure that the transformative power of information remains accessible to all.”

Meanwhile, the Mellon Foundation has been working to fill fiscal holes for arts communities reeling from federal cuts. Its $15 million “emergency” fund aims to offset the $65 million that were supposed to go to the state humanities councils that organize book fairs, heritage festivals, theater productions and other programs fostering cultural engagement.

The foundation has previously supported the American Library Association’s efforts to counter book bans, increase scholarships for librarians of color and boost adult literacy…

The library’s interim leadership is a point of dispute. Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented the president during his 2024 criminal trial, as acting librarian. But staff, awaiting congressional approval of Trump’s permanent pick, have recognized Robert Newlen, who assumed the title upon Hayden’s ouster.

The role ‘s responsibilities range from looking after collections to selecting the country’s poet laureate to awarding the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The library also manages the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Librarians serve 10-year terms, and Hayden’s was scheduled to end in 2026. Her tenure included modernizing its reservoir of the nation’s books and history. She oversaw new initiatives reaching out to rural and online audiences. Recent campaigns sought to improve accessibility for everyday visitors. And she arranged for Lizzo’s 2022 performance where the artist played a crystal flute owned by President James Madison — among the Library’s troves of artifacts…

Reader Interactions

25Comments

  2. 2.

    Josie

    I love the fact that Newlen and the staff are refusing to recognize Blanche as acting librarian until the new person is approved by congress. We librarians may be quiet and polite, but we are relentless.

  4. 4.

    bbleh

    As observed elsewhere, it has long been an article of faith among wingnuts (Tea Party, MAGA, whatever) that Libruls and Democrats and lots of other folks HATE them and are working against them, taking their money, blah blah blah (even as said Libruls and Democrats did things like pass the ACA, which got affordable healthcare coverage for an AWFUL lot of wingnuts, but leaving that aside …), often in my experience to the bafflement of many of said Libruls, Democrats, et al.

    But it also seems like MAGA / Trumpism / whatever the Republican Party has devolved into is finally getting a lot of Libs and Dems to actually take a side, to say hmm maybe we really DO need to work against them, not give them the benefit of the doubt, not try to be even-handed goo-goos.  And I think there are rather more of said Libs and Dems in the woodwork than perhaps many people assumed..

    Too much hopium?  Or maybe the heat is affecting me.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    LOL

    Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) posted at 7:09 PM on Sun, Jul 13, 2025:
    From about 1983 to 1991, Phil Collins sang like every fourth song on the radio. If you were in your car with the radio on for 15 minutes, you heard Phil Collins at least once. That’s just how it was. I feel like everyone over 40 will confirm this to be accurate. t.co/Jv6V6X5Ftk
    (x.com/Super70sSports/status/1944549902773895468?t=lgUgfinl87H5xeMHke-VxA&s=03)

    Michelle_BYoung (@michelle_byoung) posted at 8:36 PM on Sun, Jul 13, 2025:
    It wasn’t just that he was omnipresent on the radio it’s that he was on different charts. You could hear “In the Air Tonight” on rock charts, “Easy Lover” on R&B, “Sussudio” on pop charts and “In too Deep” & “Against All Odds” on Easy listening. It was an incredible run!
    (x.com/michelle_byoung/status/1944571631806079145?t=Ovznj7be3PeNSIxf7-gYYg&s=03)

  14. 14.

    artem1s

    @Steve in the ATL: @rikyrah: on the plus side, the same was true of Prince in the mid-eighties

    and Michael Jackson. The summer of ’81 seemed like every other song I heard on the radio was from Thriller.  It got old really fast. That’s about when I stopped listening to Top 40 stations altogether. Left end of the radio dial only. College stations, NPR, and WCLV (classical) home of the Cleveland Orchestra.

  15. 15.

    JWR

    @bbleh:

    … whatever the Republican Party has devolved into is finally getting a lot of Libs and Dems to actually take a side, to say hmm maybe we really DO need to work against them, not give them the benefit of the doubt,

    Well here ya go and right on time! From NBC:

    The party has spent days poking the bear after an administration memo knocked down conspiracy theories related to Epstein’s past activities and his suicide in 2019. In Congress, Democratic committees and lawmakers are demanding that the Trump administration release more documents related to the investigation into Epstein, accusing the president and his allies of either a cover-up or a cynical ploy to exploit conspiracy theories about Epstein for political gain.

    And on the campaign trail, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic candidates — including ones running in places Trump won in 2024 — have been fanning the flames as some of Trump’s most prominent right-wing supporters threaten a revolt over the issue.

  17. 17.

    WTFGhost

    @bbleh: Right now, Trump is THE MOST Republican President ever, and is saying all the right things, and has cheerleaders saying the same things, no matter how stupid.

    And there is enough news that it’s breaking through, so a lot of people may start to realize how bad Republicans are, and have been, for decades. “This is what they’ve always said they’d do; now, here they are, doing it, and it’s clearly horrible.”

    I don’t think it’s too much hopium, but, it’s definitely something to keep in mind for the “the gods favor those who work for themselves,” (aka “God helps those who help themselves”) – yes, it is hopium to think the news, alone, will win, but now, it’s time to start rubbing it in. You can even go all faux-sympathetic, “oh, Gramps, I knew you were a Trumper, but I just know you weren’t down with him just yanking people off the streets for the crime of looking too Hispanic, and arresting citizens and criminalizing green card holders… who could have supported that kind of hideous abuse? So, if you want to talk about how betrayed you feel by Trump, I’m willing to listen.<BEEEP>”

    (Really had you going there, didn’t I? Thinking you should risk a live conversation like that? Haha no, hopeful yes, stupid no.)

  18. 18.

    WTFGhost

    @rikyrah: The soul-chilling miasma of contemptuous hate that surrounds Vance like the synesthesic stench of his boss, somehow causing stench originating in your frontal lobes to overwhelm your brain, is that much more visible in happy, prancing places that remind us that it can be good to be as innocent and fun loving as small children. 

    Those who wish to leave the earth habitable by young-at-heart innocents know full well that the adults must protect the earth, so there are times to play, with gleeful abandon.

    It makes a perfect sort of sense to me. I’m just surprised that his presence didn’t immediately evoke stormclouds and stinklines and a small cloud of insects about him.

  22. 22.

    Matt McIrvin

    @bbleh: The problem is that there are blue voters in red areas, and MAGAs also have children who asked for none of this, so there’s a limit to how evil we can really directly be to these people even if we wanted to be. The other side has no such inhibitions. They’ll kill their own to own the libs.

  23. 23.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    If JD showed up at Disneyland, likely very few were going to be happy. And they likely booed him because it’s supposed to be the happiest place on earth. And like everywhere else he shows up, especially at the happiest place on earth – it’s going to no longer be the happiest place, at least till he leaves and sanitation has come in and fumigated the place.

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    @artem1s:

    The advent of CDs and players in cars meant that one didn’t need to listen to the radio. I haven’t turned my car radio on in a long time, because I can listen to what I want. Of course I rarely drive now because old fart, that and far better pubic transit, and I don’t miss it in the least.

  25. 25.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @NotMax: nice flute.
    odd costuming choices, maybe it’s summer, but the music is great

    And luckily, a fun ad for Michaels, with crocheted fogs and the song Jeremiah was a bullfrog. I love when the Davis itself a respite or a joy. Now I need a crocheted frog for my froggie collection..

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