Biden: Americans should ‘pay attention’ to MLK’s legacy

The president made a historical pilgrimage Sunday to “America’s freedom church” to mark Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday,

NBC News

Biden classified documents probe: What you need to know

The discovery of classified documents at Joe Biden’s residence has cast a shadow over his political future. But comparisons with Donald Trump must be taken with caution. DW takes a closer look.

Deutsche Welle

Opinion: Why Martin Luther King Jr.’s sharpest question remains unanswered

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” King observed amidst this tumult in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

CNN

Santos to be removed from U.S. Congress if he broke campaign finance laws, committee chairman says

U.S. Representative George Santos, who lied about much of his resume and life story, will be removed from Congress if found to have broken campaign finance laws, fellow Republican and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said on Sunday.

Reuters

Board shake-ups, threats to tenure and money: How conservatives are reshaping colleges

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s decision to overhaul the board of trustees at a progressive public college was his latest move in a larger movement against so-called “woke” education. 

“Like so many colleges and universities in America, New College of Florida has been completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’s press secretary, told USA TODAY, attributing low student enrollment and other financial challenges to the college’s “skewed focus and impractical course offerings.” 

USA Today

Wyoming wants to phase out sales of EVs by 2035 to “ensure the stability” of the oil & gas industry

The State of Wyoming is considering phasing out the sales of electric vehicles by 2035 to “ensure the stability” of its oil and gas industry.  Senators Jim Anderson, Brian Boner, Ed Cooper, Dan Dockstader, Representatives Donald Burkhart, Jr, and Bill Henderson sponsored the bill SJ0004.

In the bill, the group of politicians claimed that oil and gas production has been one of the state’s proud and valued industries, creating “countless jobs” and contributing “revenues to the state of Wyoming throughout the state’s history.”

The group also based their worries on a lack of EV charging infrastructure which would “make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state.”

Teslarati

Carrying a concealed loaded gun without a permit may soon be legal in most states

Republican leaders in Florida intend to move legislation that would make it the 26th state to allow individuals to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits.

NBC News

FEMA fires group for nonsensical Alaska Native translations

FEMA fired the California company hired to translate the documents once the errors became known, but the incident was an ugly reminder for Alaska Natives of the suppression of their culture and languages from decades past.

AP News

A Sheriff in Louisiana Has Been Destroying Records of Deputies’ Alleged Misconduct for Years

A lawsuit brought by the family of an autistic teen who died while in custody found the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office destroyed the disciplinary records of a deputy involved in the case.

ProPublica

A 6-year-old shot a Virginia teacher with his mother’s gun. The tragedy highlights the lack of strong secure storage laws across the nation

In the week since a six-year-old boy in Newport News, Virginia took a gun from his home, brought it to school and shot his teacher, community members and officials are grappling with an unsettling question: How did the child get access to a loaded firearm?

CNN

Charges dropped against Baltimore man who stood trial 4 times for the same murder

A Baltimore man accused of killing a security guard in 2015 was freed and had all charges dropped against him after he stood trial four separate times for the crime, Baltimore’s new top prosecutor announced Friday.

USA Today

A trans woman founded a group to help trans people leave the U.S. due to rising hate

“There’s like 30 states right now I wouldn’t even drive through,” the group’s founder said.

LGBTQ Nation

Arizona plots to eradicate ‘extremists’

Factions in both parties look to overhaul the battleground state’s primaries. Failed GOP candidate Kari Lake called any Republican who backs the move “a Democrat in Sheep’s clothing.”

NBC News

Biden’s New Immigration Policy Criticized As Trump-Era Tactic

Critics like Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) and immigration experts were quick to condemn the announcement that the administration would be limiting asylum for four nations.

Teen Vogue

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders bans “Latinx” from government documents “to respect the Latino community”

“One can no more easily remove gender from Spanish and other romance languages than one can remove vowels and verbs from English,” the order says. “It is the policy of the Governor’s administration to prohibit the use of culturally insensitive words for official state government business.” 

CBS News

A New Oklahoma Bill Will Attempt to Criminalize Trans Care for Adults 

If passed, adults up to age 26 could be barred from accessing gender-affirming care. 

them.

X González on Fighting Gun Violence and Coming Out as Nonbinary

Being an activist for gun control took a toll on X González, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. — but González remains committed to the cause.

Advocate

Legacy Walk Is An Outdoor LGBTQ+ History Museum That’s A Must-Visit On Your Next Trip To Chicago

Chicago has a long history of hosting LGBTQ+ activists and other prominent LGBTQ+ icons, reaching back to 1889 when social reform activist Jane Addams opened the Hull House, according to the Chicago Tribune. An inductee of the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the nineteenth-century figure reportedly had same-sex relationships.

Explore

New Anti-Trans Bills Could Force Trans Adults Like Me to Detransition

In this op-ed, Will Malloy explores the impact of anti-trans bills that could force trans adults to detransition.

Teen Vogue

How Ukraine became a laboratory for Western weapons and battlefield innovation

Last fall, as Ukraine won back large swaths of territory in a series of counterattacks, it pounded Russian forces with American-made artillery and rockets. Guiding some of that artillery was a homemade targeting system that Ukraine developed on the battlefield.

CNN

Over 80,000 Israelis protest against Supreme Court reform

More than 80,000 Israeli protesters have rallied in Tel Aviv against plans by the new right-wing coalition government to overhaul the judiciary.

The reforms would make it easier for parliament to overturn Supreme Court rulings, among other things.

BBC

Zelensky draws comparisons between ‘Ruscism’ and Nazism in Saturday address

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drew comparisons between “Ruscism” and Nazism on Saturday, following another barrage of Russian missile strikes that battered cities across Ukraine.

The Hill

‘They are on the run’: Somalia leads fight against al-Shabab

In what is being called “total war” by the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s that was elected in May, Adow and others across the Horn of Africa nation are being encouraged to stand up to the al-Shabab extremists who have long embedded in Somali society, exploiting clan divisions and extorting millions of dollars a year from businesses and farmers in their quest to impose an Islamic caliphate.

AP News

The Humanitarian Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh Is a Textbook Example of Ethnic Cleansing

A group of Azerbaijani citizens identifying as “environmental activists” barricaded the Lachin corridor, a mountainous road that serves as the only path between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, since December 12. The flow of food and medicine fell to a trickle before the supplies essential for the continuation of normal life gradually disappeared altogether. A place that once received 400 tons of food and medical supplies daily now barely receives a few carloads on a good day. Hospitals have indefinitely put surgeries on hold. Children are going hungry. There is an acute shortage of fuel as temperatures drop to below -4°C, and families are burning scraps to heat their homes.

Time

England bans the sale of single-use plastics

Single-use plastics are becoming never-use plastics in England.

Mashable

Why Asia’s arms race risks spinning out of control

It’s an arms race bigger than anything Asia has ever seen – three majornuclear powers and one fast-developing one, the world’s three biggest economies and decades-old alliances all vying for an edge in some of the world’s most contested land and sea areas.

In one corner are the United States and its allies Japan and South Korea. In another corner, China and its partner Russia. And in a third, North Korea.

CNN

Saudi prosecutors seek death penalty for academic over social media use

A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia is facing the death penalty for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian.

The Guardian

Switzerland Moves to Soften Restrictive Arms Export Law

Switzerland has started working on a reform to allow some countries to export Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine, after international criticism of its restrictive arms export law, according to newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

Bloomberg

Andrew Tate: Romanian authorities seize luxury cars from influencer’s villa in Voluntari

Earlier this week, self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate lost an appeal against his continued arrest and Romanian authorities carried out raids on several homes and seized more than 10 properties.

Sky News

Mexico tightens ban on smoking in public places

Mexico has brought into force one of the world’s strictest anti-tobacco laws by enacting a total ban on smoking in public places.

The step, which was first approved in 2021, also includes a ban on tobacco advertising.

BBC

‘This will last a long time, but we know the outcome’: Kyiv’s year of defiance

Kyiv was Vladimir Putin’s first objective when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is both Ukraine’s political heart, which Russia’s leader wants to control, and symbol of more than a thousand years of history, which he wants to appropriate.

The Guardian

Also, from our own favorite former VP, Agnew:

How We Got Here: Martin Luther King and the “Right Way to Protest”

Few moments in the Civil Rights Movement – not even the Birmingham Bus Boycott or the March on Washington – encapsulate the stark moral drama embodied by Martin Luther King and his allies than “Bloody Sunday.”

The Avocado