George Washington

For a historian who writes about war, Rick Atkinson is surprisingly optimistic. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former journalist — who recently released the second volume in a trilogy of books about the American Revolution — believes that the bedrock of American democracy is solid enough to withstand any assaults on its founding principles.

As the guest of honor at a Sunday night dinner sponsored by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles as part of its biennial Literary Feasts fundraiser, Atkinson was the most upbeat person at the event, which took place just before Election Day. Speaking to about 18 guests gathered around two circular tables carefully laid out on the back patio at the home of fellow writers and hosts Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed, Atkinson buoyed the flagging spirits of those certain that the country was currently dangling on the precipice of disaster at the hands of the Trump administration.

“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation, and it includes strictures on how to divide power and keep it from concentrating in the hands of authoritarians who think primarily of themselves,” Atkinson said with the cheery aplomb of a man who has spent the bulk of his time burrowing deep inside archives filled with harrowing stories of the darkest days the world has ever seen. “We can’t let that slip away. We can’t allow it to be taken away, and we can’t allow ourselves to forget the hundreds of thousands who’ve given their lives to affirm and sustain it over the past 250 years.”

The questions and conversation that followed Atkinson’s rousing speech about the history of the Revolution — including riveting details about key players like George Washington who Atkinson noted had “remarkably dead eyes” in order to not give away a scintilla of his inner life to curious onlookers — was what the evening’s book-loving guests had come for.

A total of 40 authors are hosted at salon-style events at 40 houses with more than 750 guests over the course of a single evening, raising more than $2 million for the Library Foundation, which is a separate entity from the public library. Founded in 1992 in the wake of the devastating 1986 fire at downtown’s Central Library, which destroyed more than 400,000 books, the foundation seeks to continue the community-driven mission of the library when funding runs short, including supporting adult education, early literacy programs for children, and services for immigrants and the unhoused.

“I often describe it as the dream-fueling work, the life-changing work,” said Stacy Lieberman, the Library Foundation’s president and chief executive. “Because it’s a lot of the one-on-one support that people will get.”

The Foundation typically raises about $7 million to $8 million a year, with an operating budget of nearly $11 million, so money raised through the Literary Feasts is a significant slice of the funding pie. The feasts began in 1997 and have continued apace every other year since then, featuring a who’s who of literary accomplishment across every genre. Writers past and present include Sue Grafton, Jane Fonda, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abraham Verghese, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly.

Dinner hosts fund the events themselves — no small outlay considering the lavish offerings.

The Ahameds delighted guests with a tangy grapefruit and greens salad, followed by tender steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes; a dessert of hot apple tart à la mode drizzled with caramel sauce; and plenty of crisp red and white wine. Both hosts are literary luminaries in their own right: Liaquat, a former investment manager, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” and Meenakshi recently published “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America.”

The couple travels in bookish circles and enjoys hosting salons at their home, including one earlier this year in support of New Yorker political columnist Susan Glasser and her husband, New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. As friends of Atkinson, the Ahameds did their part to introduce him, and later tried their best to entice him to stop taking questions and eat his dinner.

The guest of honor could not be persuaded. There was too much to say. “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April, and Atkinson has spent the past eight months touring and speaking on panels with documentarian Ken Burns to promote Burns’ six-part documentary series “The American Revolution,” which premieres Nov. 16 on PBS.

Atkinson is a featured speaker in the series and has been involved with it for about four years.

The week before the Literary Feast, Atkinson and Burns spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and also screened a 40-minute clip at Mount Vernon where Atkinson discussed Washington’s unique talents as a general.

“I’ve seen the whole thing several times and it’s fantastic,” Atkinson said of the 12-hour film. “It’s as you would expect: beautifully filmed, wonderfully told, great narrative.”

The country is now more than four months into its semiquincentennial, which Atkinson joked “sounds like a medical procedure,” but is actually the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s well known that Trump is planning a splashy party, with festivities and commemorations intensifying over the next eight months, culminating in a grand celebration in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026.

“My hope is that as a country, we use the opportunity to reflect on those basic questions of who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and what they were willing to die for,” said Atkinson. “I’m optimistic because I’m a historian, because I know our history. No matter how grim things seem in 2025, we have faced grimmer times in the past, existential threats of the first order, starting with the Revolution.”

The politically deflated might also consider World War II — the subject of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy — the second volume of which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for history. The writer knows his stuff. Guests — and readers — take heart.

Ian Roberts, superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public school system, was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last week. The district announced it will file suit against the consulting firm that recommended him for the job. Photo courtesy of ICE.

Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Des Moines Public Schools plans to file a lawsuit against a consulting firm that recommended former superintendent Ian Roberts, who was detained by immigration officials.

JG Consulting is the superintendent search firm that helped the district find and vet potential candidates. The board paid $41,000 to JG Consulting.

The district said in a news release it claims breach of contract for failing to properly vet Roberts “and referred Roberts for consideration even though he could not lawfully hold the position.” It also claims negligence for presenting Roberts “as a suitable and viable candidate when he was not.”

The Des Moines Register’s own investigation found Roberts did not earn a doctorate from Morgan State, which he claimed. He also claimed he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and MIT had no record of his enrollment. He claimed he was awarded the Washington, D.C., “Principal of the Year” from George Washington University, which doesn’t exist.

JG Consulting CEO James Guerra wrote in a statement this week that another company, Baker-Eubanks, conducted a “comprehensive background review” of Roberts, the Des Moines Register reported.

“All required employment procedures were completed by DMPS prior to his appointment,” Guerra wrote. “As always, the authority to hire and oversee the Superintendent rests solely with the school board.”

Roberts was born in Guyana and came to the United States for college in 1999. He claimed he went on to get a Ph.D. and became a teacher and school administrator. He said he has worked in education for 20 years and had jobs in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

He was arrested on Sept. 26 “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife,” an ICE press release said. It said when his car was approached by officers, he sped away. “Roberts has existing weapon possession charges from Feb. 5, 2020. Roberts entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May of 2024.”

The district is requesting a jury trial with damages for reputational harm, superintendent pay and costs related to additional hiring processes, The Register reported.

Roberts is now in the Polk County Jail on a U.S. Marshals hold.

Television’s biggest night is here and with it comes some of the best red carpet fashion of awards season.

This year’s Emmy-nominated stars include the always stylish Kristen Bell (“Nobody Wants This”), Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”), Carrie Coon (“The White Lotus”), Cate Blanchett (“Disclaimer”) and Michelle Williams (“Dying for Sex”). Meanwhile, Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This”), Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), Colman Domingo (“The Four Seasons”), Bowen Yang (“Saturday Night Live”), Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”), Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”) and Javier Bardem (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”) are among the men who are sure to impress. Here’s hoping that host Nate Bargatze dresses as George Washington at one point in the night to revive his hit “Saturday Night Live” sketch “Washington’s Dream.” Hollywood (and red carpet) veterans Kathy Bates, Jean Smart, Catherine O’Hara, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Harrison Ford, Martin Short and Gary Oldman may school them all on sartorial taste.

The 77th Emmy Awards will be broadcast from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live at 5 p.m. Pacific on CBS. Apple TV+’s “Severance” leads all nominees this year with 27, followed by HBO’s “The Penguin” with 24.

Here are the best looks from the 2025 Emmys, updating live:

Taylor Dearden

Jackie Tohn

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor

Jeannie Mai

Krys Marshall

Walton Goggins and Nadia Conners

Phaedra Parks

Zuri Hall

Kit Hoover

Haley Kalil

Derek Hough

Justine Lupe

Shanina Shaik

Bresha Webb

Sept. 5 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday directing the Department of Defense to revert to its old title of Department of War and for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s title to be changed to Secretary of War.

The order makes clear the name change was aimed at emphasizing the armed services’ dynamic offensive capabilities with the aim of “projecting power and resolve,” as well as their role in defending the United States and its interests.

“The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities,” the text of the order states.

It adds that the change would “sharpen the focus of this Department on our national interest and signal to adversaries America’s readiness to wage war to secure its interests.”

“The United States military is the strongest and most lethal fighting force in the world, and the president believes this department should have a name that reflects its unmatched power and readiness to protect national interests,” the White House added in a fact sheet.

However, the Pentagon, which replaced the George Washington-era War Department in 1947, will only be able to use the new title as a secondary name for now because formally creating new cabinet-level departments is a power reserved to Congress — although the administration can make the switch for official communications.

The order does direct Hegseth to bring forward legislative and executive actions to formalize the renaming in law, however, Trump has expressed confidence that the process wouldn’t prove an obstacle.

“We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along, if we need that. I don’t think we even need that,” he said.

Anticipation that a name change could be imminent has been stoked by Trump, who has sought to link the name used to the United States’ record in the theater of war, noting that the country prevailed in two world wars under the “War Department.”

“Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was the Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week.

A post from Hegseth on X late Thursday simply read: “DEPARTMENT OF WAR.”

However, the administration has been mute on the potential costs associated with the rebrand, when and if it is made permanent, amid reports that implementing the changes to emblems, email addresses, uniforms, at U.S. bases and around the world and across hundreds of related agencies could run to $1 billion.

The department was called the War Department from 1789 to 1947, when Congress enacted legislation merging it with the navy and air force to become the National Military Establishment.

Congress created the civilian-led Department of Defense two years later via an amendment to the National Security Act.

Aug. 27 (UPI) — The federal government signed-off on the latest round of COVID-19 vaccines, but new limits were set on which Americans can get them after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fulfilled many of his promises to reshape U.S. vaccine policy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday ended its authorization for the broad use of COVID-19 shots, clearing them only for patients at higher risk of severe illness, and those age 65 and older — or younger adults with at least one underlying health condition who would qualify.

“The emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded,” Kennedy stated early Wednesday afternoon in a post on X.

Kennedy said the American people “demanded science, safety and common sense,” and he claimed this new framework “delivers all three.”

But this new action is likely to complicate access, observers say, and prompts questions on insurance plan coverage.

According to Kennedy, vaccine shots still will be available for patients but only after they consult with a doctor.

On Wednesday, both Moderna and Pfizer confirmed its vaccines were approved for use in adults age 65 and older and those age 5 through 64 with at least one underlying condition.

However, it remains to be seen how easily it can be obtained for patients without higher risk health factors.

Previous U.S. vaccine policy suggested an annual COVID-19 shot for people age 6 months and older.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the nation’s leading pediatrics association, recently recommended children as young as 6 months old be inoculated against COVID-19 in a departure with Trump administration guidelines.

The COVID-19 vaccine shots must be voted on by a panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this year Kennedy, a known skeptic of long-used and effective vaccines, gutted the CDC panel and named widely-known vaccine critics to sit in place.

On Wednesday the chief of America’s Frontline Doctors, a right-wing group known to spread false and unsubstantiated claims, cheered Kennedy’s actions on the U.S. coronavirus vaccine policy switch.

“Mandates are dead. Freedom wins,” Dr. Simone Gold, AFD’s president, said on social media.

However, a noted television medical analyst offered advice to those still on the fence on getting another COVID-19 shot.

“If you want to know if you or members of your family should get vaccinated, my recommendation is to solicit advice from your doctor, not the federal government,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at the D.C.-based George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences and its director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, stated on X.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is threatening to investigate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as he continues to use the Justice Department to punish political adversaries.

Trump made the threat Sunday on his Truth Social account after Christie criticized him during an appearance on a Sunday talk show for rejecting “the idea that there should be separation between criminal investigations” and the president.

In a statement published on his Truth Social media platform Sunday, Trump suggested the Justice Department should investigate Christie over the so-called Bridgegate scandal of 2013, in which former staffers to Christie closed two lanes of the George Washington Bridge, creating traffic jams over several days.

Christie came under intense criticism over Bridgegate, but said he was never aware of what his associates did.

Trump accused Christie of lying about “the dangerous and deadly closure” of the bridge “in order to stay out of prison.”

“Chris refused to take responsibility for these criminal acts,” Trump said. “For the sake of JUSTICE, perhaps we should start looking at that very serious situation again? NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!”

Trump campaigned on using the office of the presidency to retaliate against his political rivals, and he has done just that since returning to the White House in January.

He has used his executive powers to punish those he accuses of targeting him, including lawyers who prosecuted his criminal cases, as well as law firms.

His attorney general, Pam Bondi, earlier this month ordered a grand jury into former President Barack Obama over his administration’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

And most recently, the FBI raided the home of Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. Bolton has become a critic of Trump and published a book about his time in his administration in 2020, which the U.S. president tried to prevent from happening.

Trump has claimed that Bolton revealed classified information.

Trump’s post on Sunday was made after Christie’s appearance on ABC News’ This Week, in which the former New Jersey governor discussed Trump’s prosecution of Bolton.

“Let me say candidly to the American people who are watching: you were told this,” Christie said.

“You were told that this was what he was going to do. And not by me, by Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign. He told you he was going to do this, that he was going to have a Justice Department that acted as his personal legal representation, and that is what they’re doing.”

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that George Washington University was in violation of federal civil rights laws and described it as “deliberately indifferent” to anti-Semitism on campus.

The DOJ published a letter to GWU President Ellen M. Granberg saying that the department had finished its probe of the allegations against the university and found that GWU’s response to incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students that “despite actual notice of the abuses occurring on its campus, GWU was deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received, the misconduct that occurred, and the harms that were suffered by its students and faculty, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

The letter from Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon offered “the opportunity to resolve this matter through a voluntary resolution agreement.”

The allegations stem from campus protests in April and May 2024. The protests were about the Israeli attacks on Gaza, but some Jewish students experienced alleged anti-Semitism on several university campuses.

The letter alleged that students and faculty at GWU experienced a hostile educational environment “that was objectively offensive, severe, and pervasive. The anti-Semitic, hate-based misconduct by GWU students directed at Jewish GWU students, faculty, and employees was, in a word, shocking. The behavior was demonstrably abhorrent, immoral, and, most importantly, illegal.”

GWU hasn’t yet responded publicly.

The allegations stem from an encampment that students created in GWU’s University Yard, in the middle of campus.

“The purpose of the agitators’ efforts was to frighten, intimidate, and deny Jewish, Israeli, and American-Israeli students free and unfettered access to GWU’s educational environment. This is the definition of hostility and a ‘hostile environment.’ [DOJ’s] investigation found numerous incidents of Jewish students being harassed, abused, intimidated and assaulted by protesters. To be clear, Jewish students were afraid to attend class, to be observed, or, worse, to be ‘caught’ and perhaps physically beaten on GWU’s campus.”

The letter cites a few examples of students being harassed and having their movements restricted. It says the students were told by faculty and security personnel to leave for their own safety, and no other measures were taken.

“Jewish students, parents and alumni contacted GWU numerous times to express their alarm and concern about the actions of protesters and to express their legitimate and reasonable fears for their safety,” the letter said.

GWU is one of dozens of American universities that have been targeted by the Trump administration with civil rights and constitutional investigations in connection to protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has been cracking down on institutions of higher learning, especially elite schools, over a slew of allegations, from not protecting Jewish students to illegally enforcing diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

On Aug. 1, the University of California, Los Angeles, announced it had lost research funding from the federal government over the accusations of anti-Semitism on campus. UCLA paid $6.13 million to three Jewish students and one professor who said their civil rights were violated.

On July 30, Brown University agreed to pay $50 million over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, its home state. It also agreed to:

• Separate men’s and women’s sports facilities on the basis of sex.
• Stope the health system from prescribing puberty blockers or conducting gender reassignment surgeries on minors.
• Ban programs that contain “unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes” and instead utilizing “merit-based” admission policies.
• Provide data and information to the federal government showing compliance with the deal.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — National Purple Heart Day will be celebrated on the seventh day of August after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation making it so on Thursday.

The president was joined by many Purple Heart recipients and their families during a signing ceremony honoring the nation’s military personnel at the White House.

“We’re here to honor and celebrate the unyielding patriotism and grit and devotion to America’s Purple Heart veterans with emotion and great love,” Trump told the audience.

He said Gen. George Washington created the Purple Heart on Aug. 7, 1782, when he presented a purple ribbon shaped like a heart to each of three soldiers for their gallantry in battle.

“Just as George Washington did 243 years ago, today we give our everlasting thanks to you and your unbelievable families,” Trump said while referencing the dozens of Purple Heart recipients in the audience.

While Washington was the first to bestow a Purple Heart to soldiers, it remained a footnote in U.S. military history until Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the War Department officially created the Purple Heart as a badge for military merit in 1932.

The award was narrowed to one solely for those wounded or killed in combat in 1944, and nearly 1.9 million service members have received the honor.

Three of the nearly 100 wounded warriors who attended Thursday’s signing ceremony last year gave their Purple Heart medals to Trump after he survived being shot in his right ear by a would-be assassin during a campaign rally in Butler, Penn., on July 13, 2024.

Those veterans are Thomas Matteo, Gerald Enter Jr., and John Ford.

“What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” Trump said while thanking the three men.

“In a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me, either,” he added,” but you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it all very much.”

The president also honored his 2024 campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who is a Marine Corps veteran and received a Purple Heart in 1991 while serving in the Gulf War.

Others mentioned during the signing ceremony include Kevin Willette and his son Brian Willette. Both he and his son received Purple Hearts while serving in Afghanistan.

Military specialist Kevin Brown also was honored for pulling Capt. Sam Brown from a Humvee that an explosive device had damaged.

Both men earned their Purple Hearts on that day, and the Senate last week confirmed Brown as the Military Affairs Department’s under-secretary for memorial affairs.

Trump said the Purple Heart “tells a story of courage, sacrifice and purpose” and “speaks of a price paid for the soldier beside you, the country behind you and the generations of Americans yet to come.”

He then signed the proclamation designating Aug. 7 as National Purple Heart Day.

June 16 (UPI) — The Nimitz aircraft carrier group was rerouted from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, joining the USS Carl Vinson. The move comes amid airstrikes between Israel and Iran.

Also, the Defense Department is moving aircraft to the European and Central Command theaters if needed to support U.S. bases in the region, the Navy Times reported.

And other ships, including Navy destroyers, are also headed to the region, a U.S. official told NBC News. Those ships, which are now based in U.S. European Command, include ballistic missile defense, or BMD, capabilities. Some destroyers are now stationed off Israel’s coast in the Mediterranean.

“Over the weekend, I directed the deployment of additional capabilities to the United States Central Command Area of Responsibility, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted Monday on X. “Protecting U.S. forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region.”

The Nimitz was scheduled to go to the Middle East but officials canceled a stop in Vietnam, NBC News reported. The George Washington carrier group is operating in the Philippine Sea.

The Nimitz strike group could reach the Middle East later this week, an official told Politico. The exact location hasn’t been disclosed.

The carrier was sailing in the South China Sea and has made its way through the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea and is about 1,200 miles from Iran.

The Vinson has sailed in the Arabian Sea, and it has partnered with the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group to hit Houthi targets in Yemen, as well. Its home port is San Diego.

President Donald Trump hasn’t said whether the United States will join Israel against Iran.

“We’re not involved in it,” Trump said during an interview with ABC News. “It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved.”

Israel’s aircraft have mainly been targeting nuclear facilities, including the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant built into a mountain and buried deep underground.

The Nimitz carrier group has about 5,000 sailors and Marines, including aircraft crews. Assigned destroyers are Wilbur, Gridle, Meyer and Higbee

The aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1975 and the home port is in Bremerton, Wash.

All but three of the 11 active U.S. aircraft carriers are in homeports now.

The Vinson and Nimitz are among the 10 in an older carrier class. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier is only one commissioned in the new class.