What is Presidents Day and how is it celebrated? What to know about the federal holiday

Many will have a day off on Monday in honor of Presidents Day. Consumers may take advantage of retail sales that proliferate on the federal holiday, but here’s what to know about the history of it.

USA Today

I asked criminologists about immigration and crime in the US. Their answers may surprise you

Human beings commit crime in pretty much all societies across the globe. But the bottom line is what gets lost in those anecdotal stories — those lead you to a flashpoint of negativity in which you ignore all the potentially good things that immigrants bring to our society. And it’s frustrating to try to bring evidence to the table and try to contextualize things and put it statistically when you’re arguing against this flashpoint that allows people to more or less kind of ignore everything else.

CNN

Trump wants to fire thousands of government workers. Liberals are preparing to fight back if he wins

Former President Donald Trump has plans to radically reshape the federal government if he returns to the White House, from promising to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally to abolishing government agencies and firing tens of thousands of workers and replacing them with loyalists.

AP News

Tlaib urges ‘uncommitted’ protest vote in Michigan over Biden Israel policy

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is urging Democrats not to vote for President Joe Biden in the Michigan presidential primary to protest his policies toward Israel and Gaza.

Washington Examiner

Top Maricopa county official quits as election looms: ‘All I do is play defense’

Clint Hickman, who helped lead Arizona’s largest county through the pandemic and 2020 election, has faced endless harassment for the last few years

The Guardian

Finally, the Census Bureau will ask questions about LGBTQ+ people

However, some worry that the questions will still continue to erase some queer Americans.

LGBTQ Nation

Most state abortion bans have limited exceptions − but it’s hard to understand what they mean

More than a year after the Supreme Court found there is no fundamental right to get an abortion, 21 states have laws in effect that ban abortion well before fetal viability, generally allowing it only in the first trimester.

The Conversation

Trump hawks $399 branded shoes at ‘Sneaker Con,’ a day after a $355 million ruling against him

As he closes in on the Republican presidential nomination, former President Donald Trump made a highly unusual stop Saturday, hawking new Trump-branded sneakers at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.”

CBS News

Biden’s brother used his name to promote a hospital chain. Then it collapsed.

In 2017, a hospital operator set out to build a rural health care empire with the help of a Philadelphia-area consultant.

The consultant, Jim Biden, had no experience running hospitals. But he did understand the federal government and had ties to labor unions. Perhaps more important, he was the younger brother of Joe Biden.

Politico

Cruz: Senate GOP leadership should show ‘some backbone’ in bringing up Mayorkas impeachment trial

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Sunday called on his GOP colleagues in the upper chamber to demonstrate “some backbone” and push for an impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached by the GOP-led House last week.

The Hill

New York archdiocese calls funeral for trans activist at cathedral ‘scandalous’

Gentili was an activist and actor known for her advocacy on behalf of sex workers, as well as an atheist and author of Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist. Her cause of death has not been revealed.

The Guardian

The desert “erases people:” Volunteers try to count migrant deaths, but the true number is unknown

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 8,050 people have died illegally crossing the Southwestern border between fiscal year 1998 and 2020. Although Border Patrol hasn’t publicly reported on the number of migrant deaths since fiscal year 2021, Salon obtained CBP’s most recent report on unidentified remains, which lists a total of 895 reported migrant deaths during fiscal year 2022. Despite Border Patrol’s restrictive policies for reporting remains, this is an all-time high.

Salon

Arizona Republicans call basic income payments ‘unearned,’ introduce a bill to ban them

Republican lawmakers in Arizona are joining a chorus of conservatives across the country trying to ban basic income programs, which offer residents no-strings-attached payments.

Arizona state lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban any municipality or county from making payments to a person as part of a guaranteed basic income program. The law, House Bill 2375, describes a “guaranteed income program” as any program where someone receives payments that are “unearned” and can be used for any reason.

Business Insider

Haley won’t say if she’d still back Trump as GOP nominee: ‘I am running against him for a reason’

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday wouldn’t definitively say if she’ll back primary rival Donald Trump in the general election but stressed that she’s staying in the race against him because of what she called his unfitness for office.

ABC News

Ronald Reagan’s daughter says he would be ‘appalled’ by current political tenor

“I think he’d be appalled … it was just more civilized,” Patti Davis told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “He didn’t understand lack of civility. He didn’t understand attacking another person. … He didn’t understand cruelty. And that’s what we’re dealing with now.

“I think he would be really scared for our democracy,” Davis added.

The Guardian

Wyoming bill could take trans kids from parents

House Bill 156 would define gender-affirming care to be “not in the best interest” of youth in the state. The bill affects guardianships, custody fights, and child protective services.

Advocate

Nikki Haley says Congress is ‘lying to the American people’ as they fail to pass border, aid deals

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Sunday accused Congress of “lying to the American people” as lawmakers fail to pass long-awaited legislation addressing the U.S.-Mexico border and aid to Israel, Ukraine and other American allies.

USA Today

President Jimmy Carter Hits 1-Year Mark Since Entering Hospice Care: ‘It’s Very Powerful’

Carter chose to terminate medical intervention last February and spend his remaining time at home with family. His public journey, experts say, has changed the narrative about end-of-life care

People

Monument to Japanese American WWII detainees lists over 125,000 names

“We wanted to repair that moment in American history by thinking of the fact that this is a group of people, Japanese Americans, that was targeted by the government. As long as you had one drop of Japanese blood in you, the government told you you didn’t belong,” Williams said.

Honolulu Star Advertiser

Right-wing org blasts Oreo for “indoctrinating” kids by partnering with “militant” LGBTQ+ group

Oreo supports LGBTQ+ families, but this organization wants parents to think it’s putting their kids in danger.

LGBTQ Nation

Biden Runs on Reproductive Rights as Movement Fractures Over Gaza

“Kamala and I will restore Roe v. Wade and make it once again the law of the land. Donald Trump will ban abortion nationwide. That is what is at stake this November,” the Democratic president warns.

Common Dreams

Pete Buttigieg complains Railroad Safety Act still ‘waiting its turn’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized Congress for not voting on a bill that would issue more railroad safety measures.

Washington Examiner

The age-old question: How old is too old for Washington, D.C.?

The Washington Post’s Dan Balz is considered by many the dean of political reporters. Balz is 77 years old – the same age as former Presidents Trump, Clinton and Bush. He says the spotlight on President Biden’s age (81) is understandable, and nothing new.

In 1984, when Ronald Reagan – then 73 – was running for reelection, he playfully used his age as an asset when debating his opponent, 56-year-old Walter Mondale: “I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” Reagan said. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

Balz said, “I think the lesson would be that you have to confront the issue directly, and you have to find a way to diffuse it and to get people to move past it. You don’t want people dwelling on it.”

CBS News

The GOP Has Crossed an Ominous Threshold on Foreign Policy

A new study of Republican attitudes helps explain why.

The Atlantic

‘Never said that’: US has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally

“We have never said that was our policy,” Lew told the Conference of Presidents when quizzed about the matter on Sunday night.

Jerusalem Post

US forces again conduct self-defense strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen

U.S. maritime forces on Saturday conducted five self-defense strikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command announced Sunday.

Stars and Stripes

How did Navalny die? No clear answers as 400 arrested for paying tribute: Live updates

Over 400 Russian supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last week in an Arctic prison, have been arrested for paying tributes as modest as laying flowers at the impromptu memorials that have sprung up across the country, a Russian rights group reported Sunday.

USA Today

What next for Putin? After Navalny’s death, many fear what leader will move on to

With Ukraine retreating and western sanctions having little impact, the Russian president is growing bolder and may embark on more reckless moves

The Guardian

British Museum facing social media campaign to return Easter Island statue

The British Museum has been subject to a campaign by social media users in Chile demanding the return of a stone monument taken from Easter Island.

BBC

India port workers refuse to load Israeli arms shipments, call for Gaza ceasefire

A trade union representing port workers in India have announced they will not handle any arms shipments to Israel because of its war on Gaza.

The New Arab

Ex-Russian president Medvedev again threatens nuclear war

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has once again threatened the West with an all-out nuclear war if Russia is pushed back to its 1991 borders.

dpa International

Brazil president slams Israel’s assault on Gaza: “It isn’t a war, it’s a genocide”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel Sunday of committing genocide against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and compared its actions to Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jews.

TAG24

Israel cabinet officially rejects allies’ two-state solution

Ultra-nationalists push government to pre-empt international push for recognition of Palestine

The Telegraph

Gaza doctors: ‘We leave patients to scream for hours and hours’

Doctors across Gaza have described operating on patients without anaesthetic, turning people with chronic conditions away, and treating rotting wounds with limited medical supplies.

BBC

Hungary’s government declines to meet U.S. senators pushing approval of Sweden’s NATO bid

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators made an official visit to Hungary’s capital Sunday and called on the nationalist government to immediately approve Sweden’s request to join NATO.

Marketwatch

Israeli PM Netanyahu ‘bans Palestinians of 1948 from Al-Aqsa’ during Ramadan

Despite security warnings, Israel PM Netanyahu has agreed to limit Palestinians’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, likey to spark further conflict.

The New Arab

Lufthansa ground staff strike announced, to last 27 hours

Germany’s Verdi union has called on Lufthansa ground staff to strike from Tuesday morning. It’s the latest escalation in a wave of industrial disputes which have hit the country’s aviation industry already this year.

Deutsche Welle

Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow as west rejects Hamas role in ruling Gaza after war

Palestinian Authority ‘ready to engage’, says prime minister ahead of talks on formation of new Gaza government

The Guardian

Hearings on legality of Israeli occupation of Palestinian-claimed lands set to begin at top UN court

The United Nations’ highest court opens historic hearings Monday into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state, plunging the 15 international judges back into the heart of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

PBS

Israel-Gaza war: Relief and guilt after Gazans find safety in Egypt

The war has exacerbated an already difficult situation for disabled people in Gaza, where an estimated 21% of households have at least one member living with a disability. That amounts to approximately 58,000 people according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics run by the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ governing body based in the occupied West Bank.

BBC