Everybody Loves DEI Now

The Trump regime’s efforts to undo the gains of the Civil Rights movement are shockingly unpopular

Bad Faith Times

Trump again presses Congress on voter bill, says he will not sign other legislation

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, laid down a tough marker for the SAVE America Act, which passed the Republican-led House of Representatives in February but faces an uphill battle in the Senate, also controlled by ​Republicans. The measure would need at least 60 votes in the Senate to overcome the chamber’s filibuster rules, ​meaning it needs Democratic support that currently appears unlikely.

Reuters

‘One year of failure.’ The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief

A quote from the piece marks an otherwise blank front cover: “The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm.”

NPR

Trump’s Fantasy Is Crashing Down

It is unsettling how often Trump affects astonishing indifference, as though the most powerful man in the world were merely a spectator to events he himself has set in motion — and who in any case has little investment in the outcome. But that curious passivity reveals a darker truth. Trump seems to believe that he, like his fantasy America, exists on a different plane, utterly untouchable by the swirl of global events. The devastating consequences of his actions are not just someone else’s fault. They are someone else’s problem, too.

The New York Times

Poll finds Florida voters disapprove of ICE, divided over Trump handling of immigration

The overall numbers somewhat obscure the depth of feeling on both sides; 33% of Florida voters strongly approve of the way the Trump administration is handling immigration and 41% strongly disapprove.

South Florida Sun Sentinel

The 40-Year-Old Virgin Trying to Ban Abortion Nationwide

Amy Littlefield profiles moral crusader Mark Lee Dickson in this first except from Killers of Roe.

Autonomy News

Blue states push to ban ICE at the polls amid federal voter intimidation fears

“When the president says he’s going to break the law, I actually believe him,” said California state Sen. Tom Umberg, a Democrat who has introduced legislation that would prohibit federal immigration enforcement within 200 feet of polling places. He said Trump’s call to “nationalize” elections was the “triggering event” that prompted him to offer the bill.

Florida Phoenix

U.S. Judge says Kari Lake broke law in overseeing Voice of America

“Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote in his ruling. He declared all of Lake’s actions over the past year to be null and void. That includes the layoffs of more than 1,000 journalists and staffers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Voice of America.

NPR

Generally recognized as safe? The FDA may reconsider corn syrup, other processed food ingredients

In August, Dr. David A. Kessler formally asked the FDA to stop categorizing more than a dozen ingredients as “generally recognized as safe.” Kessler was FDA commissioner under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and he held an advisory role in the Biden administration.

His petition said that refined carbohydrate ingredients used in industrial food processing, which are often seen as markers of ultraprocessed foods, likely harm people’s metabolism and contribute to people eating faster. 

Politifact

James Talarico Is a Christian X-Ray

Talarico doesn’t just root his policies and ideology in his Christian beliefs, he’s a seminarian willing to dive deep into theology. When he’s arguing with the religious right about, say, Christian nationalism, he makes a specifically Christian argument to counter a poisonous Christian movement.

The New York Times

Pentagon’s Anthropic Designation Won’t Survive First Contact with Legal System

This is designation as political theater: a show of force that will not stick.

Lawfare Media

With an Eye on Violence Intervention, These People Are Determined to Make Change

Practitioners from the community violence prevention space are stepping into politics.

The Trace

Will James Talarico Really Fight for Justice in Texas?

The Senate primary between Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett emphasized style over substance. Now local organizers want concrete promises.

The Intercept

House Bill Could Weaken EPA Oversight of Hazardous Chemicals

Advocates say the proposal could weaken protections for workers and communities exposed to hazardous chemicals.

Truthout

What you need to know about Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s new pick to lead DHS

The first-term senator, who is known for bouncing a ball as he moves through the Capitol, has been a reliable defender of President Trump in Congress, including on immigration enforcement tactics and this week, backing the president’s strikes against Iran.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, he voted against certifying election results and amplified Trump’s debunked claims about fraud. He also was praised for helping Capitol Police barricade doors during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

NPR

Doctor-senator who backed RFK Jr. fights for his job, and his legacy

A year after Sen. Bill Cassidy warily cast the vote that ensured Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation, the Louisiana Republican’s life’s work — in medicine and in politics — is unraveling.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

International Relations Is Not a Morality Play: What to Expect From the War With Iran

The Trump administration has no plan and no path to a good outcome.

Liberal Currents

Obama Presidential Center’s opening date set for Juneteenth on South Side

A dedication ceremony is set for June 18 before the Jackson Park museum and campus open to the public June 19.

Chicago Sun Times

As Louisiana’s Wetlands Erode, A Fishing Culture Fights to Survive

Shell Beach, where generations have made a living from the marshes, is battling rising waters and environmental degradation. That doesn’t stop efforts to save it.

Civil Eats

ProPublica Sues Education Department for Withholding Records About Discrimination in Schools

The agency’s Office for Civil Rights aims to protect millions of students from being discriminated against based on disability, race and gender. Under Education Secretary Linda McMahon, that work has become cloaked in secrecy, the lawsuit alleges.

ProPublica

Healing a region: How healthcare is bringing peace to Arauca, Colombia

The crisis in Arauca is not only about battles and bullets. It is about how conflict seeps into daily routine. A recent analysis by the Global Protection Cluster identifies these urgent risks as the “illicit impediment and restriction of freedom of movement, confinement, and forced displacement.” The same report notes that as of 2023, 34 percent of the department’s population has been recognized as victims of the armed conflict, leaving thousands cut off from education, food, and especially basic medical needs. As Siham Hajaj, MSF’s head of mission in Colombia, tells Peace News Network (PNN), “For the communities caught in the middle of clashes between armed groups and for thousands of migrants, access to healthcare has been hampered by multiple effects associated with the armed conflict.”

Global Voices

What to know about Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a powerful force within the country’s theocracy

The force is again in the spotlight as Iran widens its attacks across the Middle East following the start of a U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign that’s already killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Religion News Service

China’s rare-earth dominance is hard for EV makers to escape

Western automakers are chasing rare earth-free motors but China’s cost advantage remains difficult to crack.

Rest of World

As Iranians in Portland hope for a free Iran, other protesters call for speedy US exit

“There’s this huge fear right now within Iranian people that if the war stops, then the Islamic Republic is going to crack down on its own people even harder,” said one protester, who declined to give her name because she fears her family members still in Iran could be arrested or killed because of her views.

OPB

Deadly Clashes in Lebanon as Israel Renews Search for Missing Airman

Dozens were killed in the Bekaa Valley overnight, the Lebanese health authorities said, amid airstrikes and intense violence in the town of Nabi Sheet.

The New York Times

Amazon Data Centers on Fire After Iranian Missile Strikes on Dubai

Some AWS services are down in the Middle East. Recovery is unclear as it requires ‘careful assessment to ensure the safety of our operators,’ according to Amazon.

404 Media

Hongkonger fights in Ukraine as diaspora marks grim anniversary

“I felt it was very unfair,” Nid told Global Voices over a crackling video call from his military base in Ukraine. “When those in power don’t do anything, those below have to act. We, ordinary citizens, have to do it.”

Global Voices

Purim parties shift to bomb shelters as Israelis celebrate under Iran war threat

People of all ages wearing sequined suits, bunny ears, pirate costumes and peacock feathers streamed into a mall’s underground parking lot that also functions as a bomb shelter for the traditional reading of the Purim story followed by a live band with dancing.

Religion News Service

A U.S. scholarship thrills a teacher in India. Then came the soul-crushing questions

When a woman shares her success, it is never a full sentence. It always demands a footnote about duty and sacrifice.

NPR

U.S.-Mexico Cooperation After El Mencho

Mexico’s government is successfully taking the fight to the cartels, but Trump is pressing for more.

Lawfare Media

Bhutan’s crypto experiment shows how hard digital money is in the real world

Nearly a year after launching a nationwide crypto payment system for tourists, merchants say hardly anyone is using it — raising questions about who the experiment really serves.

Rest of World

The many stories behind Holi, Hinduism’s festival of colors

In all interpretations, Holi is seen as a festive day to end conflicts, forgive the past and start a new season.

Religion News Service

The Film the BBC Wouldn’t Air

Two veteran journalists produced a documentary that showed evidence of war crimes in Gaza. But the BBC refused to air the film. Why?

Reveal

Inside Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps where fire continues to shape the existence of refugees

This is not the story of accidents. Rather, it chronicles how a refugee crisis has metastasized into something more insidious — an infrastructure of permanent crisis.

Global Voices

Huge fire at Glasgow Central Station prompts evacuations as building collapses

A huge blaze has engulfed a building at Glasgow Central Station causing it to partially collapse.

The fire started in a vape shop on Union Street on Sunday afternoon, with the B-listed Victorian building collapsing several hours later as flames spread.

BBC

Conservative Anglican leaders meet in Nigeria to elect a leader, fueling concerns of schism

Officials say the intention of the meetings is not to create a new communion but to reorder the current one.

Religion News Service