Nearly 80 years ago, Richard Wright became one of the most famous Black writers in the United States with the publication of “Native Son,” a novel whose searing critique of systemic racism made it a best-seller and inspired a generation of Black writers.
This week, four parents from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico were reunited with their children in the United States after being separated under former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. They were the first families to be reunited on U.S. soil since the Biden administration began its reunification process.
Former President Donald Trump will continue to stay off Facebook after the company’s Oversight Board ruled Wednesday that his ban was justified for creating “an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.” Trump was banned shortly after the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which he helped foment by promoting baseless claims of election fraud. The Oversight Board also said Facebook should reassess its ban and make a final decision in six months.
At least 30 people in Colombia have been reportedly killed since a nationwide uprising erupted against the government of right-wing President Iván Duque. Protesters are vowing to remain in the streets amid a deadly crackdown by police and military officers. About 800 people have been injured and 87 people are missing in the midst of the demonstrations, which were initially sparked by a now-withdrawn tax reform proposal, but they have since expanded in scope.
The National Rifle Association picked a really weird way to mark a Mother’s Day that began with more deadly violence.
Trump “put himself in this bed, and he can sleep in it,” former federal judge Michael McConnell told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.
In the news today: As House Republicans solidify plans to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership, devotion to spreading party-favored hoaxes and propaganda becomes a Republican litmus test for membership. It is a fascist movement, and if it can’t win elections it intends to declare democracy itself is rigged against it. And Florida is facing a new post-spring break wave of COVID-19 infections, including the most cases of virus “variants” in any state.
This story was written in celebration of International Jazz Day on April 30, the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month, which this year was dedicated to “Women’s Impact and Contributions in Jazz.”
Five years ago, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted the International Jazz Day All-Star Gala Concert in a pavilion on the South Lawn of the White House. The IJD program also included events all over Washington, D.C.
“It just bothers me that you have to swear fealty to the dear leader or get kicked out of the party,” the Maryland governor said of Liz Cheney’s likely ouster.
She agreed she’d be horrified if I did this to her.
When Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld Facebook’s decision to lock Donald Trump out of his Facebook and Instagram accounts, it should have been bad news to the rabidly pro-Trump, charismatic Pentecostal “prophets” who have been insisting that Trump’s return to the White House is nigh. After all, it’s pretty clear that Trump made the board’s decision for it with his obstinate insistence that he had victory stolen from him.
And Donald Trump is hunting for “women’s clothing” so he can “get on the first lifeboat,” the Illinois lawmaker said.
Normally it’s a given that the party that wins the White House will lose congressional seats in subsequent midterm elections. In 2010, Democrats got clobbered after Barack Obama’s historic 2008 victory. And a blue wave took hold in 2018, almost certainly in response to Donald Trump’s 2016 creepy-twins, blood-elevator Overlook Hotel red wave.
The restaurant business is booming in Florida, propped up by “a huge spring break and tourist influx,” reports The Washington Post as prelude to yet another story about how Americans are still not eagerly lining up to take the worst jobs in America even though restaurant owners really, really would prefer they did. But something else is booming in Florida as well, due to that same “huge” spring break: The COVID-19 pandemic.
McCarthy said he supports Rep. Elise Stefanik to replace Cheney for the job of Republican Conference chair.
However your 2021 is going, what’s undeniable is that after Donald Trump left office earlier this year, a strange cultural quietude settled upon America. No one would dare call it peace. But the audiences for TV news and online media immediately shrunk. Rather than fretting quite as much about an imminent civil war, commentators have been arguing about sexy hip-hop videos.
Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed says things should get better as people overcome fears related to the pandemic.
Jeff Zients said the pause proved the federal government was monitoring the situation closely.
“I believe that we will be about as close to back to normal as we can,” the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said, with a caveat.
As populism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, many have focused on the hazards the ideology poses to democratic systems. But today’s complex and highly technical global threats—pandemics, climate change, cyberattacks, financial crises—that demand technocratic solutions have driven home a grim reality: Populism can place us all at risk.
Zeno sent
his arrow flying
endlessly from point
to point along its arc
to make a point
about eternity:
getting there is tricky.
That’s what I think
anyway, as snowflakes
stall in the morning’s
freezing air
like seed fluff
reluctant to drop
anchor in the ice.
Photo Illustrations by Tabitha SorenTabitha Soren documented the months following the birth of her third child, in 2006, with the help of a digital camera mounted in her bedroom and operated by remote. In her new series, Motherload, Soren layers together the resulting images.This article was published online on May 9, 2021.I was excited about having a third child, but dreading the first year.
This is unbelievably selfish, but I kind of understand.
Doctors could be especially helpful vaccinating hesitant Americans, but health officials are still figuring out how to get them involved.
Parenting advice on country clubs, new babies, and mom guilt.
President Joe Biden is facing problems Gerald Ford would have appreciated. Like Ford in 1974, Biden has come into office following a president accused of criminality. Both Biden and Ford inherited a Department of Justice plagued by scandal and well-grounded charges of politicization. Both had to choose a nominee for attorney general knowing that recent occupants of that office contributed to partisanship and displayed a lack of integrity.
Republican politicians have already made up their minds about what to do. They—and everyone else—should chill.
Not only is it callous, it doesn’t even make sense.
The president suggested his agenda shouldn’t be paid for with debt.
