curated citations to news sources

Capital & Main: Why the Black Pope Matters — from New Orleans’ 7th Ward to South Los Angeles and Beyond

Reports that the new leader of the Catholic Church has mixed African ancestry offer a fascinating antidote to President Trump’s attacks on diversity in America.
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It’s remarkable enough that Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Robert Francis Prevost, is the first pope from the United States, and the second to spend much of his career in Latin America. But the real revelation is that this man from Chicago has roots in Creole Louisiana, specifically the 7th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans.

“Creole,” which originally referred to French and Spanish-descended people who lived in the territory before the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, has long referred to an ethnic and racial gumbo of people with Black, French, Spanish and Native American heritage.

It’s a unique subset of Black America, one that brings together a complicated and unresolved history of slavery, miscegenation and white fear of “race mixing” that gave rise to the local and state laws known as Jim Crow that enforced segregation after the Civil War, especially in the South.

(Capital & Main more…)

NY Times: For Trump, Civil Rights Protections Should Help White Men

Administration officials pick and choose which civil rights protections they want to enforce, and for whom.
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“They’re conveying that white men are the most discriminated against people in American society,” she added, “and therefore entitled to affirmative action.”

• Bill McKibben: Darn it, that’s just not true

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  First, and most consequentially, the news leaked yesterday that the E.P.A. (which definitely needs a new name) is planning to “eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States.” Internal documents reviewed by the New York Times (shout out to Lisa Friedman for some enterprising reporting) show that

  In its proposed regulation, the agency argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions. Eliminating those emissions would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare, the agency said.

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• Guardian: Trump’s revenge spree on Harvard echoes well beyond education

  Attacks on the university make clear that the administration will wield its power against anyone who incurs its displeasure
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  We can draw larger lessons from this – so far – failed attack (eight investigations, involving six different agencies, are still ongoing). One has to be ready – Harvard’s lawyers clearly were. Universities have to stand with each other; Noem warned all of them that they have to “get their act together” or else. Not least, university leaders have to explain to a larger public how Trumpists, in an unprecedented spree of national self-destruction, are busy preventing cancer cures, damaging American soft power, and killing one of the country’s major exports, namely higher education.
  (Guardian more…)

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• Nation: How the Rich and Powerful Destroyed Free Speech

  And how we get it back.
  

  
  
  
  (Nation more…)

  ABC: Navy reverses course on DEI book ban after Pentagon review

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• WUSA9: Washington Performing Arts ‘will not utilize The Kennedy Center’ for new season of performances

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  Season highlights include visits by major orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Sigorney Weaver will join the Pacifica Quartet as narrator of the annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Concert. And world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform a recital at the Strathmore.

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  Washington Performing Arts is the latest organization to remove programming from the Kennedy Center following changes at the venue made by President Donald Trump’s administration.

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• Allison Gill: The Contempt Provision in the Billionaire Bailout Bill

  Buried in republican billionaire bailout bill is a provision about contempt citations issued by judges. But does it actually do anything?

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• Ruth Ann Crystal MD: COVID & Health News, 5/25/25

  
  
  
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• Daily: John Kerry Defends Biden And Calls Out The Media For Piling On

  Former Sec. of State John Kerry, who served as President Biden’s climate envoy, defended Biden and his presidency while calling out the media for piling on.

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  Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda

  Project 2025 Tracker

  DOGE Tracker

  ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew