Laverne Cox Inspires First Transgender Barbie Doll

“I hope that people can look at this Barbie and dream big like I have in my career.”

Teen Vogue

Shootings Have Surged — and Gun Companies Have Made Billions

Publicly traded gun and ammo companies have raked in unprecedented profits during the pandemic.

Rolling Stone

Forest Service says it started all of New Mexico’s largest wildfire

Two blazes that grew into New Mexico’s largest ever wildfire were both started by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the agency said on Friday, prompting the state’s governor to demand the federal government take full responsibility for the disaster.

Reuters

Opinion: Student Loan Forgiveness Is A Key Step In Promoting A Democratic Culture Of Mutual Aid

Reports for the past month have indicated that President Joe Biden’s decision on whether to forgive student loan debt—and how much to forgive and for whom—is imminent.

PoliticsUSA

U.S. Emissions Rise 4 Percent as Drivers Log a Record Number of Miles

Drivers tallied 753 billion miles in the first three months of the year, the highest total on record

Scientific America

Will the power of photography spur us to act on gun violence after Uvalde?

Photographs have a power to convey a catastrophe’s human cost. A single frame can represent the essence of an issue or event when it captures the right moment. Some of the worst tragedies of the past century can be summoned by invoking iconic images that seeped into our visual consciousness.

Datebook

22 mass shootings. 374 dead. Here’s where the guns came from

The suspects in the shootings at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and a Buffalo, New York, supermarket were both just 18, authorities say, when they bought the weapons used in the attacks — too young to legally purchase alcohol or cigarettes, but old enough to arm themselves with assault-style weapons.

AP News

NRA convention in Houston met with fiery protest co-organized by Black Lives Matter

Thousands converged for a protest to counter the gun rights convention after multiple mass shootings within the last month.

NBC News

There are 2 very different kinds of recessions—and the U.S. is likely headed for something totally different than 2008

For a significant percentage of the population, 2008’s collapse is the only true recession they’ve ever experienced—if you don’t count 2020’s short-lived COVID-induced downturn. As a result, when Americans see dire predictions of impending economic doom or a “major” recession from billionaires and investment banks, most tend to freak out.

Fortune

Black Veteran Organizations to Hold the First Black Veterans Empowerment Council in Washington

Black men and women have served in the U.S. military since the Civil War but haven’t had a community or a space to join together to celebrate, rejoice, and discuss important issues. That has changed with the announcement of the Black Veterans Empowerment Council (BVEC).

Black Enterprise

The story behind a palabra investigation into Latino COVID deaths

Arana, a Salvadoran American journalist who has worked as a foreign correspondent in Latin America and Africa, decided to look deeper and learned something that medical and health experts have known for a long time: “Deaths are counted in this country, but sometimes the system is complicated and people are misidentified along the process,” she said.

Poynter

How FEMA helps white and rich Americans escape floods

An investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News reveals systemic favoritism toward wealthy and white people in a federal program that lifts homes above rising floodwaters.

Politico

U.S. House panel seeks gun marketing, sales data after shootings

The U.S. House of Representatives’ oversight panel called on five gunmakers to hand over details on the manufacturing, marketing and sales of firearms used in mass shootings, the committee’s chairwoman said on Friday following recent attacks.

Reuters

A human-trafficking case exposed farmworker abuses. The government is promising change

Federal reforms for farmworkers are in the works following a blockbuster human trafficking case out of Georgia late last year. That case highlighted loopholes for abuse in the federal visa program that provides workers to farms and meat processing plants.

NPR

Moving Backwards on Abortion Rights: Inside One Family’s Efforts to Expand Access

My Republican grandpa and Democratic mom both championed abortion rights as state lawmakers.

Teen Vogue

NRA Boss: We’re the Real Victims Here

NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre barely mentioned the slaughter in Uvalde in his Saturday speech. Instead, he whined about politicians who have “weaponized government power against us”

Rolling Stone

Adam Kinzinger Calls NRA a ‘Grifting Scam’

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R.,Ill.,) on Sunday blasted the National Rifle Association in the wake of several recent mass shootings, saying the group has “gone from defending the rights of gun owners” to becoming a “grifting scam.”

National Review

Long COVID Risk Falls Only Slightly after Vaccination

Results from a large study suggest that vaccines offer less protection against lingering symptoms than expected

Scientific American

After latest mass shooting, is the supreme court poised to expand gun rights?

Trump’s presidency saw three new rightwing judges, each backed by the powerful gun lobby movement

The Guardian

Do restrictive abortion laws actually reduce abortion? A global map offers insights

In countries where abortion is illegal, are there fewer abortions?

The question sounds simple. But it’s tough to answer, says social demographer Jonathan Bearak at the Guttmacher Institute. That’s largely because, in places with strict abortion laws, the procedure is almost completely hidden. So estimating the rate of abortions is extremely difficult.

NPR

Right-wing snowflakes love to whine about free speech — this socialist went to jail for it

Socialist Eugene Debs stood up for freedom of speech and went to prison — and then ran for president from his cell

Salon

The Cleveland Elementary School Shooting in Stockton Was Forgotten By History

The Stockton schoolyard shooting, as it’s often referred to, was considered one of the nation’s worst school shootings at the time. While it initially drew national attention, inspiring TIME’s “Armed America” cover story and a school visit from Michael Jackson, as well as helping to pave the way for the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, not many Americans outside of Stockton are familiar with the shooting today. Even fewer know the shooting was a racially motivated attack against Asians.

Teen Vogue

10 Pride Month Festival Celebrations Around the US

Queer travelers have a lot to look forward to over the rest of 2022, and the Summer will be jump-started with a slew of Pride festivals, marches, and celebrations in June.

Travel Pulse

Meghan Markle Visits Uvalde to Pay Respects to Shooting Victims

The Duchess of Sussex traveled to Texas to lay flowers at a memorial honoring the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

The Root

Adams denounces Pride March’s ban on cops as conflict continues between NYPD and LGBTQ+ activists

“Mayor Adams supports inclusivity and allowing all New Yorkers to be true to who they are,” a spokesperson for the Mayor told the New York Post. “Banning officers from wearing their uniforms at Pride is disappointing and contradicts our freedom of expression. That’s one of the many reasons why he has long supported and fought for LGBTQ+ officers to be able to wear their uniforms at the Pride parade. He will continue to do the same before next month’s parade.”

Audacy

Washington’s Hundred-Year War on Gays

A rich, harrowing chronicle of the federal government’s oppression of homosexuals in the 20th century firmly refuses to draw any connection to today’s struggles.

Washington Monthly

What can Australia’s reaction to a mass shooting teach us about guns and gun control?

“It is incontestable that gun-related homicides have fallen quite significantly in Australia, incontestable.”

CBS News

Canada Was Able To Ban 1,500 Assault Weapons As US Bickers On Background Checks

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau banned 1,500 assault-style weapons in Canada, while the US can’t get the Senate to pass background checks.

PoliticsUSA

Moscow-led Ukrainian Orthodox Church breaks ties with Russia

A branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church that remained loyal to Moscow after a 2019 schism has said it will break with the Russian church over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters

Meet the Trans Storytellers Fighting British Transphobia

How four trans-run media outlets are taking on Britain’s virulently transphobic mainstream press.

them

Cunnamulla’s first ever Mardi Gras ball celebrates outback town’s LGBTQIA+ community

The small town of Cunnamulla, with a population of just over 1,000 people, is a long way from Queensland’s capital, and its dazzling nightlife and gay bars.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Fighting focuses on Donbas, but Putin has not given up on Kharkiv – or Kyiv

The outcome of Russia’s attacks on the Donetsk and Luhansk areas will determine the fate of the rest of Ukraine

The Guardian

Brazil: Heavy rain and landslides leave dozens dead

The catastrophic weather has forced dozens to flee their homes in Brazil’s northeastern Pernambuco state. A red alert has been issued in the city of Recife for Sunday as well.

Deutsche Welle

Erdogan says he won’t let ‘terrorism-supporting’ countries enter NATO

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said talks with Finland and Sweden about their joining NATO were not at the “expected level” and Ankara cannot say yes to “terrorism-supporting” countries, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Sunday.

Reuters

Colombia presidential race to runoff; leftist vs businessman

In a blow to Colombia’s political class, a leftist former rebel and a populist businessman took the top two spots in the country’s presidential election Sunday and headed to a runoff showdown in June.

AP News

Tax rises, handouts, law-breaking: what do the Tories stand for now?

“I just have to talk about what I have done for my area and try not to mention what is going on here [at Westminster],” said one former minister. “It is the only way I have any chance of winning next time.”

The Guardian

‘We have the power’: Poles march for LGBTQ+ rights in Gdansk

Thousands of Poles marched to demand an end to homophobia on Saturday, as the northern port city of Gdansk hosted its seventh annual Equality March under the slogan “We have the power”.

Reuters

Boris Johnson ‘paving the way for increased use of imperial measurements’

The Prime Minister reportedly wants to make an announcement on Friday to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Evening Standard

Lithuanian lawmakers agree to consider same-sex partnership bill

Move to greenlight further discussion of the proposal comes a year after Lithuania’s parliament voted down a similar piece of legislation.

AlJazeera

Nigeria’s opposition picks Abubakar to run for president again

Nigeria’s former vice president, veteran politician Atiku Abubakar, will run for president again next year after the main opposition party picked him as its candidate to stand in elections to succeed incumbent Muhammadu Buhari.

Reuters