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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 16h

News section piece on "take out Los Angeles" etc. Discuss. (Link: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/u...)

News story:
Mr. Trump has a rambling style of off-the-cuff speaking, especially while holding forth at rallies, and this is far from the first time something like this has happened.

In 2024, much of the political and media worlds were consumed with a dayslong debate about the intent behind remarks he made describing a violent hypothetical involving Liz Cheney. Mr. Trump has been defensive of his disjointed way of public speaking, christening it “the weave,” and claiming that he has “friends” who are “English professors” who have told him it is “the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.”

Other times, he has ignited public uproar with the words he has purposefully chosen to discuss violence. Last year, for example, he was condemned even by Republicans for what he said about the Hollywood director Rob Reiner after he and his wife had been stabbed to death.

The president also has a history of using callous language to describe hypothetical mass annihilation. In April, he threatened to wipe out Iran in a post online. “A whole civilization will die tonight,” he wrote, “never to be brought back again.”

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And while I'm at it: The 21 US states, with a total of 42 senators, whose population *all together* is the same as Calif's, with its two Senators. Big GOP skew among those 42 Senators: 26 R vs 16 Dem/Indep.

Map of the 21 states whose populations all together add up to California's.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Put another way, here are 10 states whose populations *all combined* equal LA County's. And of course they have 20 Senators, or 10x as many as Calif as a whole. (Interestingly, the 20 smallest-state Sens split 10/10, GOP vs Dem+Indep.)

Map listing ten states whose population together is same as LA County. They are: Alaska, both Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Trump says 'Let them take out Los Angeles.' Recall this map: The *entire states* with population smaller than LA County. Among them they have 80+ US Senators. LA is about 1/3 of Calif's population, which has 2.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Man who could order a nuclear attack. From Eric Cortellessa TIME interview. time.com/article/2026... H/t @katzish.bsky.social

Do you trust Sam Altman?

I like him. Do I trust him? Who do I trust? I like Sam Altman. Smart. Dario's smart. They're all smart. We're dealing with a very high level of IQ. Very very high level. That's a good thing. I like that. I like it. Did you see the story about my uncle?

The one who taught at MIT?

I have the highest of IQs. I have the highest. I'm fine, and I understand that stuff. You know, my uncle was at MIT for 41 years, and you know, I'm a—I believe in genetics, frankly, and I understand. I understand it much more than I think any president would, because I do have an ability on this. I have an ability on those things that were the new frontiers.

What I've done is I've created, for instance, these massive plants have no—We have no electricity in our grid. These massive plants now are allowed to make their own electric—

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And as you know, diesel map is worse. Near or above $7 in those swing states. (AK/HI not shown on this map.) Apart from west coast, upper midwest is the real pain point. Including MI and OH, plus PA. Maine also nearing $7. valverideflow.com/diesel-prices

Map of diesel prices across continental US, most nearly $7/gallon.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

And, in "It never gets old" territory, this from tenured pundit:

Headline from March 2026: 'The War Is Going Better Than You Think'

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is going great. (*Average* US price now above $6.50)

Chart of diesel prices, showing them about 50% higher than one year ago.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Q: Who could possibly have foreseen this? A: Anyone who knows anything about China. Also A: Anyone who knows how autocrats make Trump eat out of their hands. (Putin, Kim, Orban, Musk, Bezos, et al.)

Headline: "Trump, Xi wrap state visit centered on spectacle over substance."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

To follow up here, Coach *actually uttered* the words shown below in the Capitol yesterday. I do not know of a STUPIDER thing ever uttered in the Capitol before. More biased or wrong-headed, sure. But as moronic? I'm not aware of any. (Unlike Coach, I know the aviation world. This is absurd.)

A quote saying that many pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers "are part of the furry community."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

... Have added pic of other side of plaque to the post. It's shown here. Glad the long effort to get this approved, funded, and built has paid off. Worth reading IMO.

Back side of plaque on Southern Courier newspaper. Said it had circulation of 30,000, and sold for ten cents a copy.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Did Substack post yesterday including plaque from downtown Montgomery AL recognizing civil rights newspaper The Southern Courier. Where I worked for a while. fallows.substack.com/p/running-as... For space reasons had pic only of front side of plaque in original post. That's shown here. (cont..)

Historical plaque honoring The Southern Courier, in Alabama, which operated 1965-1968.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Trump's approval rating now exactly equals Barry Goldwater's popular vote percentage in 1964. Reminder: Goldwater carried 6 states (5 in the deep South, one his home state of AZ). (Current poll here www.cookpolitical.com/survey-resea... )

Chart showing Trump approval rating now at 38.9%

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Now *this* is a campaign-season shirt: (Yesterday evening, town hall for Doug Jones in Alabama governor's race, at Washington Chapel AME Church in Tuskegee.)

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A couple of times I've been in a position to OK headlines at a newspaper/magazine. A two-word sequence I always Xed-out in a headline or subhead was "critics say."

Headline: "60 Posts in 10 Hours: How Trump's Social Media Reflects His Version of Reality."

Subhead: "With an assist from AI, President Trump offers a window into how he wants to be seen—and, critics say, a barometer of his mental state."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Nutlick's house (bought from Brett Baier of "fair and balanced" Fox for 25 million, cash www.wsj.com/real-estate/...) is in our part of DC. Will see if we can flag down his SUV's some time to say, "Hey, about these crazy numbers.."

Lutnick claims that data centers "don't use water."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Front page headline. You'll never guess which nine-person court this story is *not* about. I'll hope the headline writers were sub-tweeting.

Headline: "A US Court Reliably Aids Trumps Aims."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Jesus, Google Earth: Have some dignity. Two views just now:

Map with Lake Ontario simply listed as Lake America.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Say what you will about Google, they haven't gone berserk on this front yet. (From Google Maps right now.)

Map showing Lake Ontario, with label "Lake Ontario."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Beautiful. We had two in our back yard in Wash DC, 3 miles from the White House, last month. Much fuzzier, far-distant phone pic than your stunning professional shot. But still, the colors told us what we were looking at. Maybe they've migrated north?

Grainy phone-photo of two pileated woodpeckers, with their distinctive red crest.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Further on Carney's speech: It was full of careful bits of rhetoric like ones noted here. More powerful when spoken, w with carefully matched emphasis, than they might look on the page. All the more powerful for being so simple and direct. Plain, short words. "Ask not..." "I have a dream.."

Speech text:

We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked.

In short, they asked too much and offered too little.

The new U.S. tariffs are designed to hurt and divide us.
They are a miscalculation, because Canadians will always take care of each other.

We are vacationing in our national parks. Buying Canadian products. Choosing Canadian.
Small acts of solidarity. Repeated millions of times that make a statement: we are the masters of our destiny.

Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us.
And I promised: “That will never, ever happen.”

Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America.
We are already giving ourselves more than they can take away.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Important @nytimes.com story on "Harvard *not* about to cave," and the consequences even for the nation's oldest, richest, and most renowned university. This is Cultural Revolution / Year Zero stuff. (Chan School is Harvard's public health school.) www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/u...

Text:

The Trump administration has targeted a number of the nation’s elite universities, accusing them of tolerating antisemitism and pursuing racial diversity in ways that flout the law, among other criticisms. Harvard — the country’s wealthiest university — has been one of the most frequent targets of federal officials.

As the Trump administration has pulled multiple levers to try to bring Harvard and other schools to heel, Harvard has often pushed back. It was the first institution to sue the Trump administration, has won in court on a number of occasions and has not reached a settlement with the federal government, as other prominent schools have done.

Now, however, the university faces cuts that may be harder to counter. Last September, a judge ruled that the administration had improperly cut off funding to Harvard when it ended all of its grants in 2025, finding that the government had violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights.

Text:

The N.I.H. has obligated $67 million across 63 awards to Chan through June of this fiscal year; the 2021-24 average for the same time period was $90 million across more than 100 awards.

Nancy Krieger, a professor of social epidemiology at the Chan School, said that fallout from the funding slowdown goes beyond individual projects that lost grants. More than a year of federal cuts — and legal fights over the reductions — have “shaken any sense of stability as to whether the federal government is a reliable funder,” she said.

The school is already cutting back, with layoffs and reductions in the number of slots for Ph.D. students. “It’s not just that you lost funding, it’s that you’re reducing the size of the cohort for the next generation of researchers that you’re training,” Dr. Krieger said. “What is the knowledge lost? And what are the myriad ripple effects for the economies of the cities and towns that depend on universities as major employers?”

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Yesterday p1 @nytimes.com story on Nader worth reading. (Before you ask: I publicly opposed 2000 prez run.) www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/n... Graf below got my attn: I was Ed Cox's summer roommate then, while we both were 'Nader's Raiders' in DC.

Text:
One of these Nader’s Raiders, Edward F. Cox, who graduated from Princeton University roughly a decade after Mr. Nader had, recalled driving through the streets of Washington at 4 a.m. in 1969 with Mr. Nader in a Volkswagen. There would be a news conference that day and Mr. Nader wanted to distribute their thick report to journalists so they had time to study the findings in advance, Mr. Cox said.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If only this had been hyper-evident at the time. /s (The time = last year's 'Harvard about to cave' series.) www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/u...

Text:

In the complaint, the lawyers accuse administration officials of using campus antisemitism as a pretext to cut federal grants to pressure Brown, Columbia and Harvard. Trump officials had “a predetermined, outcome‑driven approach to enforcement rather than a fact‑based investigative process,” it said, while investigators said they did not have the evidence to conclude the schools had broken the law.

Under pressure from the government, two of the schools, Brown and Columbia, agreed to settlements with the administration. Harvard has so far prevailed in a series of court fights against the government and has not reached a settlement with the government.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

What we hate tech bros, chapter four million. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/w...

"The matchmaker also puzzled over the Ivy League-education economist how said he wants to date only women who are thin, have large breasts, and are fluent in Mandarin, but who should have any artistic hobbies or talents."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

4/ Now I've noticed this incredible AI slop appearing unbidden and unwanted at the bottom of Gmail screen as I type. As discussed, if you turn this off, as I 100% want to do, Gmail also turns off a lot of "normal" features, like categorizing the incoming mail into Primary / Promotions etc. Ugh.

Gmail AI asking whether you want to change your text for "Formalize / Friendly / Shorten/

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Wisdom of crowd dept. Eons ago, I worked at Microsoft and, inter alia, lobbied to get rid of Clippy's "it looks like you're writing a letter!" intrusive "help." Now it's back, in much less charming form. How do I get rid of this? I could look this up (on AI) but for now am not.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

2/2 Maybe clearer comparison this way....

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

'The difference one word can make' dept: 1) Saw front-page hed in today's print @nytimes.com and said: You know, you could fix that by cutting one word. (First image) 2) Went to look at online version. See for yourself. (Second) Good for NYT to refine this. Maybe show it to P1 team?

Headline: Trump 'Takeover' Altered DC, But Is the City Any Better Off?

Headline the same except cutting the word "But."
And has a subhed: The deployment of National Guard troops has been expensive. How effective it has been is debatable.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Late to this, but grrrrr..... (Save your 'war' for the adversary right in front of us.)

Headline: Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left

Subhed:
One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Very interesting graf near bottom of latest NYT story on MAGA efforts to bend universities to its will, as if they were GOP Senators or the SCOTUS Six. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u... Reminder number five zillion: Except for GOP Senators thinking of a lobbying future, appeasement never pays off.

News story: " Confronted with rare, largely united resistance from higher education leaders, the administration backed down, and its ambitions for a celebratory event in the autumn faded. Administration officials insisted at the time that they were not surrendering on the idea of a reworked compact. "

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Credulous headine and framing: sigh. To its credit, story itself points out that basically every week or so Trump & Co try to juice the market with one of these "just around the corner" chimeras. www.cnbc.com/2026/08/04/b...

Headline: Bessent says there may be deal Tuesday or Wednesday to open Hormuz with 'freedom of movement.'

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

@duckduckgo.com is having user survey of why people are going to Duck.ai. Sample page below, I also pay for/rely on Gemini, but these are some ways DDG stands out (Yes, I know, in some circs it's useful for Gemini/etc know context of your past queries. But nice to escape panopticon.)

A questionnaire from DuckDuckGo AI, emphasizing its privacy settings.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Let me tell you, having chronicled Pentagon-style war game on attacking Iran nearly 25 yr ago, every single "surprise," "darkening turn," "narrowing option," spreading warfare," "rising casualties," "no easy exit," etc that comes drip-by-drip is EXACTLY why GHWB WJC GWB OBAMA BiDEN did NOT do this

From page full of headlines about things going to hell in Iran.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

-Anyone who had considered combat w Iran knew its first move would be closing strait. Second move, attack US allies/bases in region -Anyone who studied air war knew bombing alone doesn't capture territory -Anyone who observed Ukraine (or Vietnam!) knew about "asymmetrical advantage" And yet...

Headline:
Satellite Images Show Iran Is Rebuilding. Fast.

Subhed:
Tehran’s speedy recovery from damage done by the U.S. and Israeli air campaign raises concerns about its effectiveness

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

"They were careless people. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” This man did incalculable damage, while 'carried away.'

Headline: "Elon Musk says he got 'carried away' with Trump—but still holds onto contentious political views."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

"Who could possibly have foreseen this?" dept.

Headline "Iran's Fortitude Is Its Decisive Edge."

Subhead "The ayatollahs want to fight and have a greater tolerance than Trump for pain."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

In run-up to 2008 Olympics, US Embassy took radical step of posting live 'Beijing Air' readings from PM2.5 sensor on embassy roof. The air was *really* bad. PRC gov protested this intrusion. It later launched its own feed. Right now: Beijing air "good." DC air "unhealthy." Was 185 in DC this am.

Pollution reading from Beijing, saying air quality is "39 - Good."

Air pollution reading for Washington DC, saying "161 - Unhealthy"

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Writing headlines is hard. You have to compress an article into a phrase or two. And you have to fit an exact and usually inconvenient line space. Two images below: What the NYT is running on line. (h/t @jaywillis.net for calling this one out.) And what would fit exactly the same space, by me.

Two headlines:
As published. ( By NYT.)
Opportunities Narrow for Women as
Hegseth Blocks More Promotions

Would exactly fit the same space. (By me)
Hegseth Narrows Opportunities for
Women, Blocking More Promotions

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

2/2 In reply to many queries, here is how you could re-cast headline to include "lies": (Below, pic of imaginary better headline, by me. Same line count, acceptable breaks, etc. I used to make headlines fit on a hot-lead Linotype machine. Could adjust below in many ways, if needed.)

Headline "Trump Lies to Justify Money He / Has Made While in White House."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Forgive me, but: Jesus H. Christ. You know, "false" would fit the headline space that is ridiculously wasted on "inaccurate."

Headline:
Trump Justifies Money Made as President With Inaccurate Claims

Subhead:
President Trump has wrongly attributed the $2 billion windfall he gained during his second term to a hot stock market and claimed that he was the only president to donate his salary.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

It's happened! Palm Beach Airport, PBI, now officially renamed 'Emperor Caligula International,' or something similar. DJT. Tickets, baggage tags, FAA charts, etc will be updated over the summer. But effective now, if pilot files a flight plan for PBI, it will be auto-converted to DJT.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

1) Interesting "Dems Not in Disarray" front-page framing. 2) Point Dems need to keep making: -Virtually every Dem leader has now come out publicly against Platner. -Virtually every GOP party leader still all-in for Ken Paxton. (And, of course, for Trump) This is not a "both sides" situation.

NYT headline: Platner's Fall Might Just Help Democrats Win Swing State."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Frays, muddled, and unpalatable doing a lot of work here.

Headline "As Iran Cease-Fire Frays, Trump Faces a Muddled War and Unpalatable Options."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

First photo is Oval Office under Dwight Eisenhower. Second, under his successor, JFK. One was five-star general and Supreme Commander of allied forces on DDay. Other a wounded USN veteran of WWII. On July 4 weekend, a baseline of non-Versailles, zero-gilt dignity that can someday be restored.

Image of very spare office, with zero gold leaf.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

If you were wondering how Fox is presenting the moment: Hannity live from Mt. Rushmore. Says Dems are reminiscent of Soviet Union. Waiting for the Leader to arrive and give a speech. Happy Independence Day!

Fox headline: Socialism Threatens to Upend America.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

2/2 Sample, from WaPo, of why this will be so much fun: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Washington Post article:

Before entering the event area, all attendees will go through an airport-like security screening and pass through a magnetometer, officials said. IDs will not be required.

Visitors are allowed to bring either one clear bag, or one small clutch or purse, according to Freedom 250. Items such as aerosols, including bug spray and sunscreen, are prohibited, as well as drink tumblers, coolers, Frisbees, balls, backpacks and folding chairs, among other things, according to Freedom 250. Blankets — and one bottle of water per person — are permitted.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

3/ More from the great Citizen Historians:

Text
This sidewalk between the blue fence and the museums was the only crowded place I saw all day—indeed, on Friday morning some sections neared Times Square levels of pedestrian traffic, with families, strollers and tour groups forming two lanes to pass each other through the bottleneck. My bike soon became an obstruction, and I got off and pushed it several blocks, trying not to clonk pedestrians’ ankles with my pedals.

Let's pause to note how extraordinary this is. I'm sure many Citizen Historians have visited the Smithsonian Folk-life Festivals over the years, and the Mall has never been closed off like this. Back in June and July of 2002, I spent several days at the Smithsonian Silk Road Festival ("Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust"). That was an extravaganza was on a similar scale or, if anything, larger than the GASF, with pavilions stretching the length of the Mall, yurts and camels, artists and performers from across Eurasia (including Iran, China and Central Asia). But except for some waist-high snow-fences marking off sections of the festival, it was pretty much open access—you could enter—and see—from either side of the Mall and cross the "steppe" in between to get from north to south, or to the Smithsonian Metro Station—from anywhere along the Mall. Even then, less than a year after 9-11, the National Mall was not locked down as it is today.

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