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Connect! Unite! Act! 20 years of history together

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It was the year 2002. The top movie of the year would be Spiderman starring Toby McGuire.

BIPOC activists consider how to end book bans for good

by Williesha Morris

This article was originally published at Prism

A recent spate of book bans have accelerated at schools across the U.S., and students, activists, and educators from marginalized communities are aggressively speaking out against them—especially since many of the recent bans have disproportionately targeted BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors.

Brittney Griner’s Plight Says More About America Than Russia

The Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner is one of the most dominant WNBA players ever. Yet now she’s in custody in Russia—a predicament that not only threatens her safety amid a major global crisis but also exposes the inferior status of professional women’s basketball in America.

Drive Slow for America

Halfway from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, I was running out of gas. A couple of hours before, when I’d left home in my Ford Escape plug-in hybrid, the range predictor told me I had miles to spare in the tank. But, late for an appointment, I’d been driving fast in Interstate 15’s far-left lane, where the prevailing culture dictates that the 70-mph speed limit is merely a suggestion. As a consequence, I had less than 100 miles of fuel left and 130 miles to go.

This Is a Uniquely Perilous Moment

To understand the perils of the present, it is necessary to understand the perils of the past, a distant past that few Americans remember well. In the early days of the Cold War, NATO allies faced a daunting strategic challenge. The Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies possessed an overwhelming advantage in conventional weaponry. They had more men, more tanks, and more planes—and they were massed in proximity to NATO’s borders.

The Things I’m Afraid to Write About

One evening, I sat on the brown-leather couch of a younger man who admired me for my writing, and maybe other things, if the salty text messages were true. He came from a different generation, but I was pleased to discover that he shared many of my unconventional opinions and favorite authors, that taste and perspective weren’t necessarily a matter of the year you were born. Joan Didion, Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, though I had more reservations about that last one.

‘We’re Going to See an Exodus From Russia to Hollywood’

After Russian troops began invading Ukraine, Hollywood mobilized in protest. Major studios paused the release of films in Russian theaters. Netflix suspended operations in the country, halting future productions and acquisitions. This week, Discovery, WarnerMedia, and Amazon ceased their services in Russia. The U.S. film and TV business has, effectively and collectively, pulled the plug on Moscow.

Attack on Maternity Ward is a War Crime: David Miliband on Russia’s Bombing of Mariupol

Russian forces reportedly killed at least three people when they bombed a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Wednesday, shelling a humanitarian corridor and breaking a ceasefire deal that was was meant to allow residents to flee. The actions constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and, therefore, a potential war crime, says David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee.

News Roundup: Ukraine; Biden begins leaning toward immigration action; GOP hypocrisy

It is Friday and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Revelations about the nature of Trump’s DHS reveal complicity in the insurrection. The GOP landscape is filled with the hypocrisy we have come to understand as endemic to the conservative lifestyle. And, after a year and a couple of months, President Joe Biden seems to be leaning more and more toward making some of the executive decisions he promised to make when he was running for office.

Ukraine update: The price of ‘we need to do more’ is much higher than most people realize

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It’s hard to read through Twitter or the Daily Kos comments and not see people shocked by Russia’s brutality in Ukraine, demanding that we “do more.” This is a common sentiment, from very smart people: 

This makes me very sad. Like I am not doing enough. I have girls this age. We (the world) must do more to help Ukraine. I understand all the political and escalation lines. I don’t care. We can and must do more. pic.twitter.

Even Russian state TV appears to be souring on Putin’s war

Okay, so you may have read that headline and thought, “What? Tucker Carlson is finally souring on Putin’s war?” Oh, no. Don’t worry. It’s not like we’ve entered Bizarro World or anything. No, we’re simply at the stage in Vladimir Putin’s career when Russian state TV is obliquely questioning its supreme leader’s infallible judgment. Normal stuff. No biggie.

The Party of Putin has an awful lot to answer for, but don’t hold your breath

Few foreign world leaders—let alone any murderous dictators—have received more solicitous treatment from the Republican Party during the last five years than Vladimir Putin. Imagine if Democrats so warmly and fulsomely embraced someone who now threatens to rain destruction down on our country (Osama Bin Laden comes to mind). Or if they had gleefully sent delegations to kowtow to that person’s criminal syndicate, thugs, and cronies (on the 4th of July, no less).

From one alleged spy to another? Tulsi Gabbard received donations from an alleged Russian agent

Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who ran in the 2020 presidential race as a Democrat, is apparently putting a bow on her total transmutation to a hardcore conservative—complete with a donation from an alleged Russian spy. Okay, that’s not totally fair; the donation to Gabbard happened when she was still a Dem. But …

Elena Branson, aka Elena Chernykh, 61, is a dual Russian-U.S. citizen.