Featured
Trump, by Any Means Necessary. By David Frum / The Atlantic
Trump tried to steal the 2020 election. He shows no sign that he would accept a loss in the future.
Eight years later, not even Trump’s staunchest partisans would describe his 2025 address as conciliatory. He mocked, he insulted, he called names, he appealed only to a MAGA base that does not add up to even half the electorate. But in 2025, the big question hanging over the nation’s head is not one about oratory, but about democracy. In 2017, Americans did not yet know how far Trump might go. Now they do. They only flinch from believing it. Read more
Related: Trump Promised Retribution. Turns Out He Had a Very Big Target in Mind. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Related: Trump Is Doing Real Damage to America. By David French / NYT
Political / Social
Trump slams DEI as ‘tyranny’ in address to Congress, says US ‘will be woke no longer.’ By Gerren Keith Gaynor / The Grio
During his hour-and-a-half-long joint address to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted his executive actions to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the federal government.
“We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military,” said Trump to applause from Republican lawmakers and members of his cabinet. He added, “Our country will be woke no longer.” Read more
Related: A Black Studies Curriculum Is (Defiantly) Rolling Out in New York City. By Bernard Mokam / NYT
“Free speech” warrior Trump announces “unlawful” assault on college protests. By Nicholas Liu / Salon
“The goal here seems to be intimidation and fear to chill free speech,” ex-prosecutor warns
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that his administration would cut off federal funding to colleges that “allow illegal protests,” in addition to threatening arrest, expulsion and deportation for student participants. While he did not divulge many more specifics in his post, it’s clear from past statements that he’s referring to pro-Palestine activism that has surged in wake of Israel’s destructive invasion of Gaza. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he wrote on Tuesday. Read more
What Trump, DOGE, and McMahon want to do to the Education Department. By Annan North / Vox
Between DOGE and new Secretary Linda McMahon, the department is allegedly on its “final mission.”
One of President Donald Trump’s biggest targets in his second term has been the Education Department, a federal agency established in 1979 that oversees the enforcement of federal law in schools. He’s called the department “a big con job,” and expressed his hope that Linda McMahon, confirmed on Monday to head the agency, will “put herself out of a job.” Read more
A Kennedy Ally Puts Money Into a Push to Recall Karen Bass. Theodore Schleifer and Laurel Rosenhall / NYT
Nicole Shanahan, who pumped millions into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign last year and joined him on the ticket, is now backing an effort to remove Mayor Bass of Los Angeles.
The first serious effort to recall Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles after the city’s devastating fires is taking shape, with financial backing from Nicole Shanahan, who was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in last year’s presidential election. Ms. Shanahan, a onetime Silicon Valley lawyer, could bring financial firepower to the effort: She has a fortune in the realm of $1 billion that stems largely from her divorce settlement with Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder. Read more
How Black leaders are taking on Trump. By Perry Bacon Jr. / Wash Post
Resistance to the president should include lawsuits, boycotts, marches — and not forgetting history.
African Americans have long overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates and held prominent roles in liberal organizations, creating an inevitable conflict whenever a Republican is president. But it’s new to have an administration so fixated on labeling as reverse discrimination, and then banning, almost any policy that considers race. So Black historians, organizers, activists and other African American political figures have both a huge stake in stopping the administration and some unique insights, given that they are well versed in the civil rights policies Trump and his aides are trying to overturn. Read more
World News
USAID cuts could send global health into chaos. By Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill
The Trump administration’s decision to end almost all foreign aid spending from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is poised to plunge global health into chaos.
The contract terminations announced Wednesday will end grants for HIV treatments and prevention, tuberculosis, polio, malaria, Ebola and numerous other diseases and conditions. Nutrition assistance programs for infants in developing countries have also been halted, organizations said. Read more
Arab leaders adopt Gaza reconstruction plan in rebuke of Trump’s vision. By Claire Parker, Heba Farouk Mahfouz and Mustafa Salim / Wash Post
Arab League states approved an Egyptian proposal for a phased reconstruction plan that would keep Palestinians in Gaza while excluding Hamas from governing.
The $53 billion plan, laid out in a 91-page document obtained by The Washington Post, would proceed in three phases, from an initial period focused on clearing debris to a more comprehensive reconstruction of communities and infrastructure over the span of five years. It proposes moving Palestinians among seven sites with temporary housing while segments of the enclave are rebuilt sequentially. Egypt and Jordan would take the lead in training a Palestinian police force, “to enable the Palestinian Authority to return to its governing duties in the Gaza Strip,” the document says. Read more
Related: Israel Faces Backlash After Halting All Aid Into Gaza As A Method Of Warfare. By
Lech Walesa, Polish Labor Leader Who Fought U.S.S.R.’s Power, Joins in Horrified Letter to Trump. Andrew Higgins / NYT
Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which helped end Moscow’s grip on Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War, joined with former Polish political prisoners on Monday to send an impassioned letter to President Trump voicing “horror and disgust” at his scolding of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine last week, saying it reminded them of their encounters with bullying Communist-era officials.
They wrote in Polish that they were “terrified by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of the one we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and from courtrooms in Communist courts.” Read more
Related: Trump’s deep obsession: Winning the Nobel Peace Prize. By Alex Eisenstadt / Axios
Ethics / Morality / Religion
The Moral Cost of Murdering Ukraine. By Russell Moore / Christianity Today
Faith Leaders Blast GOP’s Attacks on Poor and Tax Cuts for the Rich. By Jessica Corbett / Common Dreams
Leaders from various faiths came together in Washington, D.C. on Christians’ Ash Wednesday to share an open letter and report calling out efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and Republicans in Congress to rip resources away from the working class to fund tax giveaways for the ultrarich.
“Budgets are moral documents,” said Bishop William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, in a statement. “We are releasing this powerful report to expose for the American people how immoral, dangerous, and insane the administration’s proposed economic decisions are and how they are going to hurt people.” Read more
Trump’s Christian Nationalists are targeting those the Bible is most worried about. By Liz Theoharris / AlterNet
“There has almost always been an outright hostility that is shown towards people of the Christian faith,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said on a podcast recently. He was talking with Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana lawmaker and president of the Family Research Council, about freedom of religion and the actions of the second Trump administration.
I have to admit that such a statement from this country’s third most powerful politician and an avowed Christian nationalist almost takes my breath away. Of all the people facing hostility, discrimination, and violence now and throughout history, Christians like Mike Johnson rank low on the list. Still, his comment is consistent with a disturbing religious trend in the country right now. Read more
Related: Choose Christ over Trump this Lent. By Rebecca Hamilton / Public Catholic
Historical / Cultural
How the Study of Slavery Has Shaped the Academy. By Scott Spillman / Chronicle of Higher Ed.
What does it mean to study slavery? To study something means to make arguments based on evidence. But what counts as evidence, and who has the authority to make those determinations?
Initially, however, the study of slavery in America did not occur primarily among scholars in academic settings. Instead, it was conducted by people we might regard as gentleman amateurs. The reason was simple: Universities as we know them today did not yet exist in America. When the American research university eventually took shape in the decades after the Civil War, slavery was an important subject of research almost from the start. Read more
Related: Dredging Up the Ghostly Secrets of Slave Ships. Julian Lucas / The New Yorker
Related: The Missing Persons of Reconstruction. By Joshua D. Rothman / The New Republic
How Do We Combat the Racist History of Public Education? By Naomi Elias / The Nation
A conversation with Eve L. Ewing about the schoolhouse’s role in enforcing racial hierarchy and her book Original Sins.
Eve L. Ewing has spent much of her career examining inequities in our educational system, in works such as Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, an in-depth look at a 2013 school policy decision that resulted in mass school closures that disproportionately affected Black communities. In her latest book, Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, The Chicago-born educator, poet, and sociologist at the University of Chicago likens her work to the curious walking pattern of the mythical Sankofa, a bird who walks forward while looking back. Read more
Nickel Boys Ending Explained: What Happens To Turner & Elwood. By Robert Pitman / ScreenRant
Nickel Boys is one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2024, and here’s what happens at the end of the film, including the fates of Turner and Elwood, explained.
Since its release, Nickel Boys has been nominated for all kinds of awards, including the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. The massive film tells a complex story that spans decades, and here’s what occurs at the end of the film as well as what it all means. Read more
Caribbean Matters: A tribute to Harry Belafonte’s activism. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
While Belafonte lived most of his life in the United States, both those early years spent in the Caribbean and his Caribbean-born mother shaped his future as an activist.
For a deep dive into Belafonte’s life and career—in his own words—check out his autobiography, “My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance.” Sarah Rodman reviewed it for The Boston Globe in 2011. Read more
Examining Nat King Cole’s Legacy Through The Lens Of Civil Rights. By Donna M. Cox / NewsOne
Six decades after Nat King Cole’s death in 1965, his music is still some of the most played in the world, and his celebrity transcends generational and racial divides. His smooth voice, captivating piano skills and enduring charisma earned him international acclaim.
One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Cole was not only a groundbreaking musician but also a quiet, yet resolute, advocate for social justice. Read more
Sports
Serena Williams set to be an owner of new WNBA team the Toronto Tempo. By David K. Li / NBC News
“This moment is not just about basketball; it is about showcasing the true value and potential of female athletes,” Williams said.
All-time tennis great Serena Williams purchased a share of the Toronto Tempo, the new WNBA team that’s set to take the floor next summer, she and the club announced Monday. Williams, 43, is set to join an ownership group led by Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of both Kilmer Sports Ventures and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which has a portfolio that includes the NHL’s Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Raptors. Read more
A Right-Wing Group Accused NASCAR of Discrimination Against White Dudes. It’s a Blueprint for Trump. By Abby Vexoulis / Mother Jones
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has new priorities: protecting white, American-born, heterosexual men and women.
It’s not surprising a national legal nonprofit would allege in late 2023 that NASCAR had a diversity problem: Of the 42 drivers on the entry list for the 2024 Daytona 500, for example, only one was Black and zero were women. But that wasn’t the diversity issue that America First Legal (AFL)—a group founded by Stephen Miller, a senior Trump official and a mastermind of the infamous child-separation immigration policy—had in mind. Rather, in an 8-page letter sent to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requesting a formal investigation, the conservative organization accused NASCAR of “ongoing, deliberate, and illegal discrimination against white, male Americans.” Read more
Sports Under Fascism & All-Time NBA Injury What-Ifs. By Dave Zirin / The Nation
On this episode of Edge of Sports, a talk from 2023 on sports during authoritarianism and Arya on NBA injury what-ifs.
This week, we have a talk I gave two years ago about the social function of sports in an authoritarian society. It rings more true today, and I wanted to share it with you all. Also, I talked to basketball savant Arya Shirazi about the injuries that changed the course of NBA history. Read more and listen here
Gymnast Jordan Chiles shares what’s next after 2024 Olympics. By Juana Summers, Brianna Scott and Christopher Intagliata / NPR
Chiles’ new memoir,I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams. traces her transformation from that bouncy 6-year-old to a two-time Olympian decorated with gold and silver medals.
But reaching such heights in gymnastics was never a sure thing. Chiles writes that she thought seriously about quitting in her mid-teens until she had a pivotal conversation with her friend and fellow gymnast, Simone Biles, at a training camp in Florida. Read more
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