The Syrian government carried out air strikes and barrel bombings against rebels in the Damascus suburb of Douma, killing at least 150 civilians; Syrian rebels accused the Islamic State of using mustard gas on children; the head of an international gay-rights organization told the United Nations that the Islamic State has shot, stoned, beheaded, or pushed from tall buildings at least 30 gay, lesbian, and transgender people; and a study in Germany found that civil wars, political uprisings, and the spread of the Islamic State have improved air quality in the Middle East. “Negative NO2 trends,” the scientists wrote, “are associated with humanitarian catastrophes.” Read more...
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In Trinidad, the rise of Jack Warner—and his putative fall—has become something of a parable for the larger foibles of the “nation building” project it’s been engaged in
Read MoreFormer U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced he would begin radiation therapy for brain cancer and said he hoped to see the eradication of the guinea worm before he dies. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held a rally that drew at least 20,000 people in Mobile, Alabama; and poll found that 81 percent of North Carolina voters are unsure how they feel about Deez Nuts, a 15-year-old presidential candidate. “Anyone,” said Deez Nuts, “can run.”
Read MoreIn Mississippi, a suit was filed challenging a state law that forbids adoption by same-sex couples; in Ohio, a judicial-conduct board announced that judges who perform marriages must wed same-sex couples; and the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, who stopped issuing all marriage licenses when same-sex unions became legal, did not show up for work after receiving a court order to resume issuing licenses. Read more...
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William Deresiewicz discusses education in the age of neoliberalism, Andrew Cockburn argues that invasive species don’t deserve their bad reputations, Elaine Blair reviews Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, and more
Read MoreHow $1.8 billion in aid to Ukraine was funneled to the outposts of the international finance galaxy
Read MoreThe Islamic State captured at least 230 people in the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn and threatened to behead a man for protesting the arrests of Muslim Brotherhood–affiliated women in Egypt. Nineteen girls held hostage by the group in Mosul, Iraq, were executed for refusing to have sex with soldiers, and the United Nations confirmed the authenticity of an Islamic State pamphlet listing the prices of its sex slaves. “The girls get peddled,” said one U.N. official, “like barrels of petrol.” Read more...
Read MoreThousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants attempted to reach England by entering the Channel Tunnel in Calais, France, and jumping onto passing trucks and freight trains. French authorities sent 120 riot police, equipped with dogs and tear gas, to assist the 60 officers who were already blocking the migrants’ passage. A Sudanese man was killed while trying to hop on a truck, becoming the ninth migrant since June to have died while attempting to cross into Britain. “It’s an incredible place,” said British prime minister David Cameron, “to live.”Read more...
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How American high school students learn to loathe literature
Read MoreMississippi authorities began investigating a suspicious car accident that resulted in the death of a black man who was an advocate for the Confederate flag. A former Baltimore police officer was told by a venue owner in Glen Burnie, Maryland, that he couldn’t perform in blackface at a fundraiser for the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody. Police in Texas released a video of the arrest of Sandra Bland, a black woman who later hanged herself in jail, showing an officer pointing a stun gun at Bland and saying, “I will light you up.” Read more...
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An illustration of Johannes Kepler writing his science-fiction novel, Somnium, in 1608.
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Kai Wright spends two years in a town where the Great Recession never ended; Mya Frazier explores the discomfiting economics of police brutality; Sarah Manguso, Michelle Tea, and eight other contributors discuss parenthood; and Harpers.org launches a metered paywall
Read MoreA man kills four Marines and a Navy sailor in Tennessee, the Islamic State’s chief singer-songwriter dies in an airstrike, and a squirrel is detained for stalking
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"The fix was in from the beginning, despite the revolt. Fast-track authority was never in danger."
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“A progressive Europe—the Europe of sustainable growth and social cohesion—would be one thing. The gridlocked, reactionary, petty, and vicious Europe that actually exists is another. It cannot and should not last for very long.”
Read MoreSouth Carolina removes the Confederate flag from its State House, El Chapo escapes from prison again, and the soundtrack to a pornographic film plays over the PA system of a Target in California
Read MoreBoko Haram kills 200 villagers in Nigeria, the mayor of Sacramento files for a restraining order against his city, and a teenager in Arkansas finds a four-inch centipede in his ear.
Read MoreThe United States legalizes same-sex marriage, the Islamic State bombs a Shiite mosque, and a man named Rod is struck by lighting
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