Новости за 14.06.2017

The shooting of U.S. Representative Steve Scalise and four others early Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, is a reminder of how paralyzed the gun debate has become in America. After all, if anything could change the minds of legislators who oppose gun control, it would be their becoming the target of gun violence. But, as with the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Gifford in Tuscon, Arizona, the immediate response has been for lawmakers to reiterate their political positions on the issue.

Exactly ten days before the publication of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, I asked feminist author Roxane Gay how she felt about the book’s release. “I feel existential dread,” Gay replied almost immediately. Since we were seated on a stage in Berkeley, California, before a crowd of her cheering and clapping fans, it was not the response I expected. Why would a woman best known for telling it like it is, for brazenly calling out white privilege, boldly interrogating her own imperfect embrace of feminism... Читать дальше...

Earlier this year, as the Russia scandal heated up, a number of commentators bemoaned Washington’s “obsession” with the story. The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe, noting that “there remains no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the election,” wrote that “the Siberian Candidate theory is so dangerous is that it is a distraction from more pressing issues. Based on Trump’s first weeks in office, it is clear he is a threat to many things that Americans... Читать дальше...

“Sometimes you can actually create as much change with a really transformative loss,” Tom Perriello told the New Republic after conceding Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary to Lt. Governor Ralph Northam. It was the kind of sentiment that losing candidates have trotted out since time immemorial, a positive gloss to assure your supporters (and perhaps yourself) that all the glad-handing and money-soliciting and speech-making had not been in vain. But Perriello, despite putting on a brave face as he hugged staff and volunteers... Читать дальше...

The Lord of the Rings is not usually portrayed as a love story. But that epic of magic and monsters and fraternal friendship contains many slivers of romance. As the movie adaptations of the 2000s brought out, the affair between Arwen the elf and Aragorn the man pits the lovers against impossible odds, and yet their love triumphs. Their relationship gives emotional and narrative depth to Aragorn’s heroics, while in the books their marriage symbolizes the everlasting bond between their two races. Читать дальше...

When Maryann Sonnenberg voted for the man whose name is on the nursing home where she lives, she didn’t think it would wind up harming her and her fellow residents. A retired teacher’s aide from Queens, Sonnenberg lives at Trump Pavilion, a 228-bed nursing home located in the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, the birthplace of our forty-fifth president. Sonnenberg, 88, spends her days playing bingo, singing old pop tunes, and chatting with other residents. She doesn’t pay much attention to politics... Читать дальше...

The odor of corruption and criminality engulfing the Trump administration has forced Democrats in Congress to oppose the president on two fronts—one in the realm of legislation, and another in the realm of oversight.