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Thousands Protest On NYC Streets Ahead of Climate Week (Maria) 

The author writes, “Thousands of climate activists marched through Manhattan streets this weekend as part of a coordinated global wave of protests demanding urgent environmental change. The demonstration took place on the eve of Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest climate event, which runs September 21-28 across all five boroughs of New York City. The timing of these protests underscores growing tensions between grassroots climate activism and institutional climate discussions…Activists are demanding more aggressive action from those with the greatest economic and political power.”

Military Weighs Using Charlie Kirk’s ‘Legacy’ To Recruit Soldiers (Reader Jim) 

From Truthout: “Officials say the Pentagon is considering a recruitment campaign that would use slain culture war activist Charlie Kirk as a symbol and call to service, NBC reports, as the president is calling for anti-fascist advocates to be considered terrorists. The campaign, led by Undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness Anthony Tata, would ‘encourage young people to honor the legacy’ of Kirk by ‘by joining the military.’ One of the slogans reportedly being considered is, ‘Charlie has awakened a generation of warriors.’ Pentagon officials are considering using Turning Point USA chapters, which are present at colleges and high schools across the country, as recruitment centers, the report finds.”

I’m a Red-State Mayor. Diversity Is Not Reverse Bigotry (Al) 

The author writes, “As residents of a purple city in a red state, we’ve been hearing a lot of talk that portrays the drive for equal opportunity as a form of reverse discrimination, that says we should not celebrate greater diversity as evidence that we have expanded opportunity or even that we should not support L.G.B.T.Q. Pride or other celebrations of our residents’ unique identities. Sometimes this language is cloaked in patriotism, but it is really just repackaged bigotry, misogyny and racism. To cast equal opportunity as a threat rather than a goal is to move backward.”

Scientists Take on Trump: These Researchers Are Fighting Back (Laura) 

From Nature: “Maphis and other scientists are fighting back against the administration. Some, like her, are suing to reinstate grants. Some are collecting information about the budgetary carnage to keep a record of the administration’s actions and to help in lawsuits. Others are trying to spread the word about the damage that is being done, either publicly or secretly, often risking their own careers in the process.”

Federal Judge Is ‘Inclined’ To Order Trump To Restore $500 Million in UCLA Research Grants (Reader Steve) 

The author writes, “A federal judge Thursday said she was ‘inclined to extend’ an earlier ruling and order the Trump administration to restore an additional $500 million in UCLA medical research grants that were frozen in response to the university’s alleged campus antisemitism violations. Although she did not issue a formal ruling late Thursday, US District Judge Rita F. Lin indicated she is leaning toward reversing — for now — the vast majority of funding freezes that University of California leaders say have endangered the future of the 10-campus, multi-hospital system.”

Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books (Laryn) 

From 404 Media: “AI tools are changing the nature of how patrons treat librarians, both online and IRL. Alison Macrina, executive director of Library Freedom Project, told 404 Media early results from a recent survey of emerging trends in how AI tools are impacting libraries indicate that patrons are growing more trusting of their preferred generative AI tool or product, and the veracity of the outputs they receive. She said librarians report being treated like robots over library reference chat, and patrons getting defensive over the veracity of recommendations they’ve received from an AI-powered chatbot. Essentially, like more people trust their preferred LLM over their human librarian.”