The United States had already seen its share of disasters, from back-to-back hurricanes that devastated Texas, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands to roaring wildfires in the West. Then, after battering the rest of the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria left the island of Puerto Rico facing a humanitarian crisis. About a dozen people died in the…Continue Reading
What is the predominant aesthetic of the twenty-first century? According to sociology professors Ruth Holliday and Tracey Potts, “we are on the point of drowning in kitsch. A casual survey of the British metropolitan high street offers ample evidence of the kitschification of everyday life.” Kitsch can also be called cheesiness or tackiness. Specialists have…Continue Reading
An art show has become Brazil’s latest political battleground. For those who didn’t get to see the 270 LGBTQ-themed works that comprise “Queer Museum,” good luck: You may never see them. The exhibition, until recently on display at the Santander Cultural Center in Porto Alegre, was abruptly closed on September 10, fully one month early.…Continue Reading
Hurricane Maria, the 15th tropical depression this season, is now battering the Caribbean, just two weeks after Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the region. The devastation in Dominica is “mind-boggling,” wrote the country’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, on Facebook just after midnight on September 19. The next day, in Puerto Rico, NPR reported via member…Continue Reading
Early in the morning on Sept. 16, 1810, priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the bell of his church in the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato, Mexico. His parishioners gathered round, and he urged them to revolt against Spain’s two-year-old Napoleonic government. Hidalgo’s call to arms, which later became known later as the Grito…Continue Reading
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl has reported that on October 19, 2020, Trump loyalist John McEntee — then serving as White House director of presidential personnel — issued a memo listing reasons to fire then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper from the Trump Administration. Never Trump conservative Max Boot discusses Karl’s reporting and that memo in his November 15…Continue Reading
Last night, on Last Week Tonight’s season finale, host John Oliver ripped into Jenna Ryan, a participant in the January 6th riots. Oliver singled out Ryan of the Jan. 6 defendants. Ryan, who is a Texas real estate agent, flew out to the Capitol to participate in the riots. In March, two months after the…Continue Reading
Senator Joe Manchin, echoing the rightwing billionaire’s think-tanks’ PR and every Republican in Congress, recently said his objection to free college for students and eyeglasses for seniors was that such things created an “entitlement society,” a slur that means “a nation of welfare recipients.” In that, he displays a fundamental ignorance about what governments…Continue Reading
Nancy Pelosi, Paul Gosar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) This article originally appeared on Raw Story Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., is responding to critics who called him out for his tweet of a cartoon showing him assassinating Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and swinging swords preparing to kill President Joe Biden. According to an email posted…Continue Reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised the “great gesture” of Union minister Bhagwat Karad. In a much-lauded gesture, Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat K. Karad rushed to the aid of a co-passenger who took sick during a flight early on Monday. Praising Karad’s gesture the Indian PM tweeted “A doctor at…Continue Reading