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National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

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Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#81

Post by DonHopkins »

samus wrote: post #70
LastTrain wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything they do is meant to sew mistrust. It doesn’t need to have any other benefit. I don’t think they are trying to hide anything, and I don’t think this is about staffing - they just want to wreck government and your trust in it.

You're assuming competence. They are simply not giving a flying s**t about many things, break stuff and cause chaos somewhere else (Chesterton's Fence applies), cut funding, and affected agencies now have to deal with it.

Who in their right mind ever assumed anything about the Trump administration was competent? You don't need to be competent to break things on purpose out of spite and malice and hate. That's easy!

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#82

Post by gs17 »

cortesoft wrote: post #54
efitz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until some random crazy person exercises the same right and destroys an irreplaceable rare book. You have to get a library card for the library. I don’t see why there is so much outrage over this, and I think the timing is more about budget cuts than about Trump [caveat- firing the archivist might have been personal]. I find the arguments that “he just wants to sow distrust” etc. are completely unbelievable; he has b…

> You have to get a library card for the library No you don't. You only need a library card if you want to bring a book home. Anyone can read at the library.

When I went to the Library of Congress, I'm pretty sure they made me get a card before I could enter the reading room (you can look into it from the main tourist-y area, but to actually get where the books are is different).

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#83

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

XorNot wrote: post #80
dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sort of bureaucratic nonsense people actually rail against. You're assuming you'd get something truthful or informative out of that process, when in reality you'll get the opposite due to the inherit (dis)incentives.

This is how Russia works. This is why the Russian government does what it does and why the people let it happen. Because obviously nothing can ever change, so don't even try. How silly of of you citizen, to imagine even trying to fix corruption.

That's not what I'm talking about. It's the notion that if you get the corrupt to justify their actions that you'll somehow avoid corruption.

Fixing corruption involves people refusing to put up with corruption.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#84

Post by jgerrish »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #21
treetalker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abandon all hope, ye who seek reflective reasoning from this government. But my guess is that less public access to national information helps, and does not hinder, a speed-run to autocracy.

I dunno. I'm very much not a Trump fan, but I don't see how restricting access to "national information" would help him. And if it would, how does restricting access to one of them help him? I could more see this as being just random action without any real purpose, or aimed at petty revenge on someone, or something.

These things create very subtle but definite opportunities for conflict. And conflict can be twisted very easily by media organizations.

Even if only four researchers out of a hundred or thousand who visit every year complain, if that complaint is caught on camara we have a "Liberal Karen exploiting and abusing federal employees just trying to do their jobs. Why can't she go through the approval process like everyone else?".

And maybe that woman just wanted to research, not be exploited to increase protection for federal services. Maybe she just wanted transparent processes for helping those employees and a public who respected those dedicated public sector workers who help us navigate the system.

Because increased funding for protection of federal workers by that kind of drama scenario does create conservative or authoritarian momentum. Even if it's not reflected as that affiliation on voting cards, it's a deep mindset.

I know in a dozen years the Karen stereotype will be seen as the sexist trope it is. But sometimes we create these feedback systems, inadvertently or purposefully, that reinforce those tropes.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#85

Post by caseysoftware »

yieldcrv wrote: post #58
cogman10 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike the fact that people are so hostile to the idea of public goods/services/places. It's really sad that free access to information is something anyone would find crazy or objectionable.

I dislike it when all the normal, common, things this administration does is masqueraded as an egregious affront to freedoms and democracy When the same energy should have either been applied to all the other administrations Or only focus on the things that actually are unique

Everything is "unprecedented" when you don't know history.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#86

Post by vkou »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #66
vkou wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, I guess we should throw up our hands and let the dictator of the week run things as he sees, with no oversight. If it meaningfully impacts the public, the public should have input. The input doesn't need to be binding, but it needs to be taken into consideration. Representative government is not a once-every-four-years exercise, nor is it something that should only be accessible to the mega-rich. There's an en…

there's no oversight needed when the government does a lot less If there's no loose budget, there's far fewer things that go into the black budgets.

Your political opinions about which parts of government should exist are entirely off-topic to this question.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#87

Post by downrightmike »

Molitor5901 wrote: post #46

I have a researcher card, it's not an arduous process. The staff are very kind. When you show up to the National Archives in Washington, DC., prepare to encounter a general group of 2 dozen pros carrying scanners, laptops, etc. It's quite the experience. I don't see this is that big of a deal. It's open, you can access it, but they are controlling more. Given the propensity for the theft and destruction of archives d…

Or they plan to destroy more and not have people see them doing it.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#88

Post by ajkjk »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #55
gardnr wrote: post #29

Looks like NARA are underfunded [1] and trying to grapple with how to prioritize digital transformation while still meeting KTLO demands. They closed three facilities last year. [2] The goal was/is to digitize everything to increase access to the archives for everyone. The current administration reduced NARA funding and, in February, dismissed Shogan as "Archivist of the United States" but it appears a plan for a str…

> KTLO Keep The Lights On?

yes

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#89

Post by unethical_ban »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #21
treetalker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abandon all hope, ye who seek reflective reasoning from this government. But my guess is that less public access to national information helps, and does not hinder, a speed-run to autocracy.

I dunno. I'm very much not a Trump fan, but I don't see how restricting access to "national information" would help him. And if it would, how does restricting access to one of them help him? I could more see this as being just random action without any real purpose, or aimed at petty revenge on someone, or something.

Remember that the Trump administration are active enemies of open inquiry, justice and accountability - and they have done a solid job illegally dismantling the federal government due to extremist ideology.

If an organization is a source of inconvenient truth to a ruler, or serves the public without a profit motive, it will be ruined by this administration.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#90

Post by runlevel1 »

Looks like they quietly took the message down. For posterity, it said:

> ⓘ Restricted-Access Federal Facility, Effective July 7, 2025

>

> Effective July 7, 2025, the National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted-access federal facility with access only for visitors with a legitimate business need. It will no longer be open to the general public. Security officers will enforce these restrictions, and your cooperation is appreciated.

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