Mayor McSquirrel
‘Leap Together’: Kermit the Frog Gives a Graduation Speech
The cheery muppet donned a tiny cap and gown to inspire students at the University of Maryland. “Life is like a movie. Write your own ending,” he said.
The New York Times (Gift)
U.S. citizen with REAL ID handcuffed and held in immigration raid before being released
Garcia told Noticias Telemundo that authorities took his ID from his wallet and told him it was fake before handcuffing him. REAL ID is the identification U.S. citizens are required by law to have in order to travel through airports and enter federal buildings. It is considered a higher security form of identification.
“Apparently a REAL ID is not valid anymore. He has a REAL ID,” his cousin Shelah Venegas said. “We all made sure we have the REAL ID and went through the protocols the administration is asking for. … He has his REAL ID and then they see him and I guess because his English isn’t fluent and/or because he’s brown it’s fake, it’s not real.”
NBC News
The Decline and Fall of Elon Musk
The Tesla innovator becomes the latest government employee to lose his job.
The Atlantic
Justice Department cuts to public safety grants leave police and nonprofits scrambling
The Justice Department has drastically scaled back its support for anti-crime initiatives across the country, leaving law enforcement agencies and private groups scrambling to try to replace the money. The cuts were announced in late April, and the Council on Criminal Justice estimates 373 grants were terminated, totaling about $500 million.
NPR
Illinois coal plants get Trump exemptions from Biden-era rule limiting mercury, other toxic air pollution
“Like others before them, they’re kicking the can down the road to keep running Baldwin and these other plants as long as they can,” Learner said. “People in Illinois and other Great Lakes states shouldn’t have the suffer the pollution consequences just because President Trump gave them a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card.”
Chicago Tribune
GOP won’t install Jan. 6 plaque honoring law enforcement, Democrats say
Approved by Congress in 2022, the plaque can’t be installed until House Republican leadership gives the go-ahead.
Washington Post (Gift)
Fetterman, Often Absent From Senate, Says He Has Been Shamed Into Returning
In an interview, Mr. Fetterman, who represents 13 million people, said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a “performative” waste of time.
New York Times (archive)
‘No meaningful argument’: Judge torches Trump admin for removing medical research that mentions ‘LGBTQ’ and ‘transgender’ people, orders papers to be republished
“The plaintiffs are likely to succeed in proving that the removal of their articles was a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination by the defendants in violation of the First Amendment,” the judge wrote.
Law & Crime
Target sales drop in 1st quarter and retailer warns they will slip for all of 2025
Target also said customer boycotts did some damage during the latest quarter. The company, long a fierce corporate advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people, scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House. Target’s retreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’s reduction of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June of 2023.
AP News
Masked ICE agents are showing up at courthouses. Immigrant groups call it ‘flagrant’ violation of due process
“Immigration courts are being weaponized, judges are coordinating with ICE to dismiss cases and immediately funnel individuals into the fast-track deportation pipeline known as expedited removal,” the group said.
“These are not fugitives,” the group added. “They are individuals, many who are seeking protection from torture in their countries, complying with the law.”
Independent
This doctor calls LGBTQ+ rights ‘satanic’. He could now undo healthcare for millions
The high-stakes case, and Hotze’s role in it, have flown under the radar. But research from the progressive watchdog organization Accountable.US, which shared its findings with the Guardian, reveal the rightwing activist’s long history of pushing fringe ideologies before getting a signature cause before the supreme court.
The Guardian
The Long Shadow Of Bill Clinton Over The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
“We are reintroducing Clinton-era work requirements,” Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) said in a floor speech last week. “One of the most popular things Bill Clinton achieved in his presidency, and he worked with Congress to get it done, was bringing common-sense work requirements to social welfare programs.”
Huffpost
5 Years After George Floyd’s Murder, the Backlash Takes Hold
The Black Lives Matter movement, kicked into high gear after Mr. Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020, has given way to the politics of “white grievance” championed by President Trump.
New York Times (Gift)
Paul Reubens details going “back in the closet” after gay relationship in must-see doc ‘Pee-wee As Himself’
At times playfully combative, Reubens openly struggles with handing the reigns of his life story to someone else, but nevertheless offers up a hilarious yet vulnerable and clear-eyed reflection on his life, providing head-spinning insight into what it was like for him to be closeted while simultaneously one of the most famous people in the world.
Queerty
Remembering Harvey Milk
Today, May 22nd, is the birthday of late politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. To commemorate his legacy, Governor Gavin Newsom of California declared Harvey Milk Day to be observed on May 22nd.
into
Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week?
While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.
ABC News
How the Ravages of Age Are Ravaging the Democratic Party
Mr. Connolly was the third House Democrat to die in recent months, after the deaths in March of Raúl Grijalva and Sylvester Turner, both septuagenarians. All three seats are vacant for now. Axios pointed out that eight members of Congress have died in office since November 2022. All were Democrats, with an average age of 75.
New York Times (Gift)
You Guessed It: Frank Stallone
King’s invitation to Canada sends a message to Trump – and the world
The move is “a huge affirmation and statement about the uniqueness of Canada and its traditions,” Justin Vovk, a Canadian royal historian, told the BBC – “a theatrical display that is meant to show what makes Canadians separate from Americans” and not, as Trump has often repeated, a “51st state”.
BBC
On streets of Tehran, Iranians describe daily struggles and cautious hopes
Washington Post interviews with people across Tehran offered a rare window into the lives and economic frustrations of the country’s urban middle class.
The Washington Post (Gift)
Fiona Hill: Trump is terrified of Putin, I’ve seen it first hand
“What Trump is doing is answering the wrong exam question,” Hill added.
“Trump thinks it’s just about real estate, about trade and who gets what, be it minerals, land or rare earths,” she explained. What the president doesn’t understand is that “Putin doesn’t want a ceasefire”.
“[He] wants a neutered Ukraine, not one that is able to withstand military pressure. Everybody sees this, apart from Trump,” she said.
Telegraph
Lesbian moms in Italy just won an important right in a “historic” court victory
In a major victory for lesbian couples, Italy’s top court ruled this week that the same-sex partners of women who conceive via in vitro fertilization (IVF) have the right to be legally recognized as their children’s parents.
LGBTQ Nation
Venezuela holds legislative and local elections amid opposition boycott calls
Voters are heading to the polls to elect parliamentarians and local governors amid calls from the opposition to boycott the elections. The governor of the disputed Guayana Esequiba region is also up for election.
Euronews
‘Stateless overnight’: Kuwait strips tens of thousands of citizenship
The latest campaign abolishes naturalisation by marriage, which only applied to women, and revokes citizenship granted to wives since 1987. Official data shows 38,505 women were naturalised by marriage from 1993 to 2020.
The New Arab
Protestant churches gain ground in Latin America in 21st century
Once viewed as peripheral players, Protestant churches have risen over the past two decades to become influential actors in the spiritual and political realms across Latin America.
UPI
‘It’s not fair’: Other refugees in limbo as US welcomes white South Africans
A man slept outside in a car park overnight in Kenya with his wife and infant son in January, consumed by confusion and disbelief.
The family, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been expecting a flight to the US for resettlement in just hours’ time.
But after US President Donald Trump suspended the US refugee programme just two days before the family’s scheduled departure, the man was told their flight to America was abruptly cancelled – less than 24 hours before take-off.
BBC
That zing in your teeth from a cold treat? Blame this ancient armored fish
Now, Haridy has a new surprise to share. In work that she and her colleagues have published in the journal Nature, they find that the sensitivity of our teeth (which causes them to ache and zing when confronted with an icy treat or a dentist’s drill) can be traced back to the exoskeletons of those ancient, armored fish.
NPR
Polish Presidential Hopefuls Rally Supporters Before Crunch Vote
Supporters of Poland’s presidential contenders took to the streets of Warsaw on Sunday for parallel marches that highlight deep divisions in the European Union nation a week before a tightly-contested runoff election.
Bloomberg
East Timor could join ASEAN bloc by October: minister
East Timor is a step closer to fulfilling its longstanding wish to join the Southeast Asian regional bloc and could become its 11th member state by October, Malaysia’s foreign minister said on Sunday.
AFP
