Hollywood Pays Tribute to Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier is remembered as the entertainment world mourns the esteemed actor.

The Root

Ballroom Culture in Nigeria Is Being Revived By Queer Youth

For queer people across the world, seeing LGBTQ folks celebrating themselves onscreen in Pose was revolutionary. The show portrays a fictionalized version of New York’s queer, BIPOC-led ballroom culture that burgeoned in the 1980s. Drag balls have existed in America since the 1800s, but came to wider popularity in the ‘80s and ‘90s, At the balls, individuals or “houses” compete in different categories, dressing in drag and Vogueing. Sulieman longs for a similar scene in Nigeria, where being queer is illegal. It turns out, that scene exists.

Teen Vogue

What Biden is missing on for-profit college debt

The Biden administration has pledged to make college more affordable. But it has chosen not to reinstate an Obama-era rule meant to prevent students from taking on too much debt to attend predatory for-profit colleges.

CNN

Federal agencies prepare to act against unvaccinated employees

Federal government agencies are preparing to take increasingly harsh steps against unvaccinated employees in order to implement President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers. 

The Hill

Lani Guinier, Legal Scholar and Civil Rights Champion, Dies at 71

A Republican-driven attack on her views on voting rights led President Clinton to rescind his nomination to appoint her as assistant attorney general in 1993.

The Root

How historians view Trump – and how Trump sees himself

There’s at least one thing that Donald Trump’s critics and supporters can agree on about his presidency, according to Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University: “He came in to be a disrupter, and of all of his accomplishments, I think it’s very easy to say that he accomplished that one.”

CBS News

The racist 1890 law that’s still blocking thousands of Black Americans from voting

This conclave took place in 1890. But remarkably, approximately 130 years later, the laws they came up with are still blocking nearly 16% of Mississippi’s Black voting-age population from casting a ballot.

The Guardian

The days of US multinationals in China ‘keeping quiet while making a fortune’ are numbered – just ask Tesla or Walmart

As Beijing gives up on keeping a low profile to take on the US, and the West weaponises human rights, businesses are caught in the nationalistic crossfire

South China Morning Post

The Hidden Agenda Behind the Attack on Vaccine Mandates

Six Republican-appointed justices may use these cases to seize power from the president and Congress.

Slate

France’s Left Has Lost Touch With the Working Class

Ahead of April’s presidential election, France’s left is badly divided. But calls for unity behind a milquetoast centrist threaten only to deepen the Left’s split with its historic working-class base.

Jacobin Magazine

California farmworkers now get overtime pay after 8 hours. Some growers say it’s a problem

For years, hundreds of thousands of farmworkers toiling in California’s agricultural heartland weren’t entitled to overtime pay unless they worked more than 10 hours a day. But that has changed due to a 2016 state law that’s been gradually implemented over four years. As of Jan. 1, California law requires that employers with 26 or more employees pay overtime wages to farmworkers after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week.

Fresno Bee

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson announces run for re-election, breaking pledge to serve only two terms

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Sunday he’s running for re-election, breaking a campaign pledge to serve only two terms yet determined to keep the seat in Republican hands and sway the balance of political power in Washington, D.C. during the 2022 midterms.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Bob Saget, Comic Who Portrayed Danny Tanner in ‘Full House,’ Dies at 65

The actor, who had also hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” was found dead in an Orlando hotel room while on tour.

New York Times

Prosecutors Hit Anti-Pipeline Protesters With Felony Charges to Send a Message, Defense Says

One county prosecutor asked oil company Enbridge for reimbursement to help with some of the prosecutions clogging up rural courts.

The Intercept

The Bad Deal Democrats Should Take

Electoral-count reform is a narrow fix, insufficient for the many problems in the voting system—but it’s better than nothing at all.

The Atlantic

Chicago Public Schools would go remote Wednesday under new CTU proposal, but mayor rejects it: ‘We will not relent’

The Chicago Teachers Union unveiled a new proposal Saturday that would have remote learning start Wednesday districtwide if school officials agree to a set of additional COVID-19 safety protocols.

But even before the union’s announcement was complete, Mayor Lori Lightfoot shot down the idea.

Chicago Tribune

John Thune, No. 2 Senate GOP leader, announces he will seek reelection

John Thune, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader and likely successor to Republican leader Mitch McConnell, has announced he will run for reelection in 2022, putting an end to the speculation about the South Dakota senator’s political future.

NPR

Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camp fire leaves thousands homeless

Authorities say more than 5,000 people lose their homes after the fire raced through shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin.

Al Jazeera

Bosnian Serbs celebrate statehood day defying bans, sanctions

Bosnian Serbs held public celebrations to mark their autonomous Serb Republic’s national holiday with armed police forces parade on Sunday, defying a top court’s ban of the commemoration and U.S. sanctions slapped this week on their leader Milorad Dodik.

Reuters

The first transgender woman officeholder in Baja wants to make Tijuana more inclusive

The first transgender woman to hold public office in Baja California is determined to help develop a more inclusive language in Tijuana — and with it, a city government aimed at more awareness and acceptance of the broad spectrum of gender identities.

San Diego Tribune

US tells Putin to choose confrontation or dialogue over Ukraine

The US has told Vladimir Putin to choose between dialogue and confrontation on the eve of a critical week of diplomacy over Ukraine as Russian troops remained massed along its borders.

The Guardian

Irish Government and EU brush off Truss threat to trigger article 16

The European Union and the Irish Government have brushed off a threat from British foreign secretary Liz Truss to trigger article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol if she fails to win more concessions from European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic.  

Irish Times

On Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling’s Transmisogyny, and What We Owe Each Other

You don’t have to answer for any random person out there, but being aware of what you’re consuming and from whom shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Teen Vogue