With all the memes wishing a good riddance to 2016, and John Oliver’s epic send-off to this annus horribilis, it may seem small comfort that this was a year that might be remembered as one of the most important in a long time in my corner of the scholarly universe: for works that illuminate race and religion in America, and for books reinterpreting African American religious history for a new, more disillusioned generation. If you surmise this could be self-serving, very well, it is.
Day: December 26, 2016
The Latest: Obama sends Kwanzaa greetings from Hawaii
President Barack Obama laughs with his daughter Malia as they eat shave ice in front of Island Snow Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, during the first family’s annual vacation. Obama is emphasizing the principles enshrined in the Kwanzaa holiday: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
The fight to save Medicare and Medicaid begins in January
Donald Trump has won the presidency after narrowly carrying a few states to put him above 270 electoral votes.But according… Senate Republicans refused to give President Obama’s pick to replace Supreme Court Justice Scalia even the courtesy of a… You’ve heard a lot less from Republicans, including popular vote loser Donald Trump, about plans to privatize Medicare and gut Medicaid under the new administration. In fact, House Speaker Paul Ryan has seemed to cool off a bit on the whole idea.
The Women On The Fox Couch Say Obama’s A Commie
So says Kennedy crossing her legs on the Fox News Outnumbered Couch at the Roger Ailes Memorial Mini-skirt Extravaganza. As my colleague Heather sums up this clip, the Outnumbered cast also blamed Obama for any FUTURE partisan gridlock, because it’s clearly his goal in his emeritus years to make it “hard” for Trump to “govern.”
Joe Scarborough Blames Obama For Washington’s Obstructions
On this morning’s Morning Joe, Scarborough decides to compare his own glory days in the 1994 Congress with the Tea Party. JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, Rick, I think for me personally, that’s the great failure of Barack Obama.
10 Things to Know for Today
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, arrive for an event to thank service members and their families at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. Ministry of Emergency Situations employees prepare rescue boats at a pier just outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.
Take @realDonaldTrump seriously: Don’t dismiss Trump’s…
As someone who spends a frankly unhealthy amount of my day on Twitter, I have to say that it concerns me how much time President-elect Donald Trump spends on Twitter. That particular social-media platform is many things, few of them good: a miserable time suck, a forever-grinding outrage machine, a vehicle for harassment.
Stranded in Mexico: Family spends Christmas without husband, father amid immigration battle
Her husband, Edgar Aispuro, has been in Mexico for six weeks after U.S. consulate officials blocked his return . But,this week, Kathryn learned that the consulate had suddenly reversed its decision and would allow her husband to come back to the U.S. soon.
Trump repeating some behaviors he criticized in Clinton
Trump repeating some behaviors he criticized in Clinton – WASHINGTON – Donald Trump spent the past two years attacking rival Hillary Clinton as crooked, corrupt, and weak. – But some of those attacks seem to have already slipped into the history books.
Trump Will Inherit 100+ Court Vacancies
Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary – Donald Trump is set to inherit an uncommon number of vacancies in the federal courts in addition to the open Supreme Court seat, giving the president-elect a monumental opportunity to reshape the judiciary after taking office.
2016 Recap: Our Feministing Favorites
As the shitshow that’s been 2016 winds to an end, we’re taking this week to reflect on some of the best feminist writing of the last twelve months. Here are our favorites from the site.
Praxair facilities in western New York to remain open
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says Praxair has committed to preserve its facilities in that region of the state, where it employs more than 1,000 workers. The New York Democrat says Praxair will preserve its entire work force after completing a merger with a German firm.
Boeing Sends Sub-Hunters to Norway
Earlier this year, Boeing Defense head Leanne Caret laid out a plan to refocus Boeing’s efforts away from fighter jet production, and toward the sale of auxiliary aircraft such as transports and surveillance and maritime patrol aircraft. Earlier this year, we told you about Boeing’s big $3.2 billion sale of nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to Great Britain.
Obama’s exit interview: Hope and change can still win elections
Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year’s election if he was eligible to run. “I am confident in this vision because I’m confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the “The Axe Files” podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.
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Republicans are united on repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law, but ideologically and practically speaking, they’re in different camps over replacing it. Getting the factions together won’t be easy.
Trump Appointee Resigns After Miami’s A.J. Delgado Calls Him Out Over Alleged Affair
Donald Trump owes so much of his ascendency – and his continued commitment to sowing world chaos – to Twitter that it’s appropriate the first big black eye of his White House came via some tweets. And Miami’s own A.J. Delgado, an attorney and Trump campaign advisor, appears to have delivered the knockout blow.
Following anti-settlement UN vote, Netanyahu looks to rally Israelis against Obama
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York September 21, 2016. Netanyahu has been unrelenting in his criticism of the Obama administration over what he condemned as its “shameful” decision not to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement-building.
Netanyahu offers condolences to Russia over plane crash
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, France, on November 30, 2015. The day after upbraiding the Russian ambassador over a UN Security Council vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday sent his sympathies to Moscow for a military plane crash in which 92 people are believed to have perished.
Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel has all sides on edge
If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he may have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for US ambassador. The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government.
Obama and the UN’s outrageous assault on Israel’s legitimacy
US President Barack Obama holds a year-end press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, December 16, 2016. UN Security Council Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli house building in the West Bank including East Jerusalem is itself illegal, unjust and immoral.
Pipeline uncertainty illustrates broader concerns for tribes
For hundreds of protesters, it was cause to cheer when the Obama administration this month declined to issue an easement for the Dakota Access pipeline’s final segment. But that elation was dampened by the uncertainty of what comes next: a Donald Trump-led White House that might be far less attuned to issues affecting Native Americans.
Report: Trump aide Miller to write inaugural address
Stephen Miller, a senior policy and immigration advisor for U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally in Bangor, Maine, June 29, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder – RTX2IXXG Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller reportedly has been tapped to write President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural address next month.
Cuban President Raul Castro faces deep problems in 2017
In this Dec. 3, 2016 file photo, a soldier of the Revolutionary Armed Forces stands guard next to the tomb of Cuba’s late leader Fidel Castro at Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago, Cuba. Fidel’s brother Raul must manage economic and diplomatic challenges during his last full year as president without his older brother whose presence endowed the system he created with historical weight and credibility in the eyes of many Cubans.
How ‘Dumpster Fire’ Became 2016’s Word of the Year
The American Dialect Society just named “dumpster fire”-and the two emoji that represent it-its Word of the Year. Why? Because, it says, the phrase best represents “the public discourse and preoccupations” of 2016.
Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General Hearing: 3 Questions Senators Must Ask
Senator Jeff Sessions waits for Donald Trump to arrive in Mobila, AL for his USA Thank You Tour on December 17, 2016. Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, will kick off a packed week of Senate confirmation hearings today.
How next year can be better — and even worse — than 2016 :0
The incoming year couldn’t face a less-demanding mandate: Don’t be as messed-up as 2016, which seemed to set a new low almost weekly. Prominent among them, of course, is the refugee crisis that never seems to end.
Cuban President Raul Castro faces deep problems in 2017
” Alex Romero was delighted when President Barack Obama came to Havana in March bearing the promise of a bright new future. Like so many other Cubans, the 42-year-old state photography shop employee thrilled at the president’s vision of restored ties between the U.S. and Cuba.
What have we learned from 9 years of debate?
After nine years and hundreds of debates, the Red Blue America column is coming to an end. Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis began this column while Barack Obama was battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in late 2007; they end it as Donald Trump prepares to enter the White House — and American politics appear to be massively upended.
The Enduring Monologues of Ruth Draper
Ruth Draper was born in New York in 1884. When she was very young, she entertained her siblings by sitting on a window seat in the nursery of her family’s brownstone, on East Forty-seventh Street, and imitating grownups they knew, among them the tailor who made their clothes.
The Mail
Dexter Filkins’s article on the Muslim scholar and preacher Fethullah GA1 4len, the founder of the social and religious movement Hizmet, of which I am a participant, misrepresents GA1 4len and leaves unchallenged a series of claims against him . Filkins refers to statements that GA1 4len made decades ago regarding Jews, but does not explain the evolution of his views, which GA1 4len has clarified in other interviews, or mention his consistent criticism of terrorist attacks in Israel and support for interfaith dialogue.
A Friendship for a More Tolerant America
In late August, just as Donald Trump was making his improbable pitch to black voters , an unusual and tender video began to make the viral rounds. It showed Heather McGhee, the president of the progressive think tank Demos, responding to a caller on C- ‘s “Washington Journal.”
Orient Epithalamion
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“Paterson” and “Neruda”
The hero of the new Jim Jarmusch film, “Paterson,” is named Paterson . He lives in Paterson, New Jersey, with his wife, Laura .
Turning Hermes’s Trash Into Treasure
As snow settled on the silent New York Stock Exchange one recent Sunday, a nearby boutique was abuzz with activity. Inside the HermA s store, Pascale Mussard, the fifty-nine-year-old great-great-great-granddaughter of the saddle-maker Thierry HermA s, presided over the petit h Holiday Factory, where fans of the brand toiled at craft tables, in the presence of hundred-thousand-dollar handbags.
To Speak Is to Blunder
In a dream the other night, I was back in Beijing, at the entrance of my family’s apartment complex, where a public telephone, a black rotary, had once been guarded by the old women from the neighborhood association. They used to listen without hiding their disdain or curiosity while I was on the phone with friends; when I finished, they would complain about the length of the conversation before logging it in to their book and calculating the charge.
Briefly Noted
Evelyn Waugh , by Philip Eade . This crowded, witty biography follows Waugh from the ancestral home in Somerset to the jungles of Brazil.
Registry
Andrea Cohen directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series and The Writers House at Merrimack College. Her most recent poetry collection is “Furs Not Mine.”
A Bigger Problem Than ISIS?
On the morning of August 7, 2014, a team of fighters from the Islamic State, riding in pickup trucks and purloined American Humvees, swept out of the Iraqi village of Wana and headed for the Mosul Dam. Two months earlier, had captured Mosul, a city of nearly two million people, as part of a ruthless campaign to build a new caliphate in the Middle East.
Bach’s Holy Dread
“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” The words of the Psalm look bright on the page, but the music pulls them into shadow. The key is G minor.
Egypt’s Failed Revolution
The Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who came to power in a coup that, in its aftermath, resulted in the massacre of more than a thousand supporters of his predecessor, has a reputation for speaking very softly. This quality often disarms foreigners.