Not Unmindful weekly digest #3

It's been busier than usual on the site this week. My ongoing goal is to publish one story a day during the work week, but the stories within our purview just keep coming and there are still many I can't get to. So posting has been heavier than normal because of what is happening and my actual availability.

I will still occasionally send out a longer story on it's own, but most will be captured here.

All that said, here are the stories we posted on the site the week of August 11, 2025.

Monday

Trump administration takes new aim at higher education with new directives.

The administration tightens it's grip on higher education, trying to exert more control on who colleges enroll and which grants are funded.

Turning back the clock, women's suffrage edition

Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

Tuesday

An assault on civil rights 60 years in the making

Sixty years after its groundbreaking passage, the Voting Rights Act faces its gravest threats yet. It has evolved into a legal battlefield where the very foundations of American democracy are being contested.

The Lost Cause lives on

Hegseth's order to restore a confederate memorial (without calling it what it is) perpetuates America's most pernicious historical lie.

Wednesday

VCU preemptively caves on DEI

VCU scrubs race references from scholarships amid federal DEI crackdown.

LGBTQ+ rights back in the crosshairs

Supreme Court may face first direct challenge to same-sex marriage rights Since 2015, courtesy of Kim Davis, of course (15 minutes weren't enough).

Thursday

White-washing the Smithsonian

White House orders sweeping review of Smithsonian Museums to ensure they align with their mythologies.

Civil servants at risk

First they came for the universities. Now for the expertise in state craft. Federal workers are now also under fire. How a pro-Trump group Is waging war on civil servants.

Update on the Pike Statue story:

Pike didn’t serve in the Confederate Army for long before resigning in July 1862 after he was accused of committing war crimes against Union soldiers. And he's thus honored? Jeebus. These assholes.

Friday

DHS goes fully fascist in plain sight

DHS's troubling social media campaign is more than mere "mean memes." It's full on use of imagery from fascist and white supremacist propaganda.