Новости за 17.07.2020

In an outcome absolutely no one could have predicted, President Trump’s decision to send federal Department of Homeland Security agents into Portland, Oregon, ostensibly to protect statues, has led to violent crackdowns on protesters. On Saturday, a demonstrator was maimed by a “less lethal” munition, sustaining injuries that required facial reconstruction surgery. Just as disturbing is new evidence that federal agents in Portland are now abducting protesters in unmarked vehicles, as reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting on Thursday night. Читать дальше...

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Jim Webb might have seemed like a weird candidate to give the keynote speech to a roomful of antiwar activists, journalists, creative writers, and academics in New York City. Remembered today as a rigid one-term Democratic Virginia senator who rode an anti-Bush wave to Capitol Hill during the worst years of the Iraq War, Webb had taken a wall of shrapnel in Vietnam, shielding his Marine Corps platoon mates from a fragmentation grenade. But by... Читать дальше...

As the Trump administration rushes to tick off as many polluters’ wish-list items as possible before November, there are some quiet, if symbolic, changes afoot. On Monday, the American Petroleum Institute unveiled a new logo that, according to the oil and gas lobby’s Twitter account, “reflects the industry’s growth and showcases the modern, future-focused, collaborative, problem solving, and nonpartisan nature of our work.” (Instead of just red, it’s now red and blue—but mostly blue.) If this “nonpartisan” rebranding is any hint... Читать дальше...

Last month’s Democratic primaries in New York likely made history—for all of American politics. Mondaire Jones won in the 17th Congressional District, which includes Rockland County and parts of Westchester County, while Ritchie Torres won in the 15th Congressional District, in the Bronx. As both districts are deep blue, Jones and Torres will almost certainly become the first openly gay Black and Black-Latinx members, respectively, ever to serve in the U.S. Congress. But their victories aren’t just symbolically significant... Читать дальше...

This week, billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations announced plans to grant $220 million to racial justice initiatives and Black-led organizations over the next five years. The recipients, according to The New York Times, will include nonprofits like the Equal Justice Initiative and Repairers of the Breach, the group founded by the civil rights activist and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, Reverend William J. Barber II. Grants will also go to a number of local efforts around criminal justice reform and voter outreach. Читать дальше...