Month: December 2016

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.

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.”

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.

Incident Review

Report on the Flight of the Starship Enterprise Through the Nebula to Rescue a Stranded Crew on a Mystery Planet; the Subsequent Crash; and the Actions of the Crew of the Enterprise, Up to and Including Its Return to Yorktown, the Resupply Planet. Submitted to the United States Congress and the Rulers of the Federation.

Kyle Abraham’s Political Choreography

The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual Next Wave Festival, as its name indicates, usually brings us work that is new, or new to New York. But in this year’s festival you could see Kyle Abraham’s “Pavement” looking very much as it did when it premiA red, at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, four years ago.

Israel: humbled Netanyahu places hopes in Trump

In this Dec. 11, 2016, file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem. Netanyahu lashed out at President Barack Obama on Saturday, Dec. 24, accusing him of a “shameful ambush” at the United Nations over West Bank settlements and saying he is looking forward to working with his “friend” President-elect Donald Trump.

In defense of the Electoral College

“Electors cast their ballots for Donald Trump this week, but that has not ended calls to revamp or replace the Electoral College. While the disconnect between the electoral and popular votes may be cause for alarm, however, abolishing the Electoral College poses even greater dangers, particularly for liberals.

Fox’s Kurtz: Media Obsessed Over ‘GOP Civil War,’ Not So Much the Current Democratic One

On Fox’s MediaBuzz today, Howard Kurtz observed that there may not be as great an “in-depth examination of why the Democrats really lost” as opposed to when, say, Republicans were in the midst of “civil war.” Washington Examiner chief congressional correspondent Susan Ferrechio said that while Democrats make noise about everything from Russia to the FBI, “what’s being drowned out” is why they didn’t connect with the rust belt.

The Latest: Quiet morning for Obamas in Hawaii on Christmas

Authorities in central Maine say a man set his estranged wife’s house on fire during the middle of the night before fatally stabbing himself in front of responding officers. A central Maine man set his estranged wife’s house on fire during the middle of the night before fatally stabbing himself in front of responding officers, police said Sunday.

Bernie Sanders Says Donald Trump’s ‘Dangerous’ Nuclear Arms Race Talk Must Be Challenged

Sen. Bernie Sanders has made it known that Donald Trump should not go unchallenged by his congressional colleagues as troubling comments by the President-elect about nuclear weapons this week sparked alarm across the United States and the world. Following an initial out-of-the-blue tweet Thursday saying the U.S. should “expand” its nuclear arsenal followed by “clarifying” remarks Friday to MSNBC in which Trump said, ” Let it be an arms race ,” Sanders responded: “It’s a miracle a nuclear weapon hasn’t been used in war since 1945.

La La Land

Whenever I do a music thread or movie thread or something like that, lots of people in the comments say they’d like to see more such threads because it’s such a depressing time politically. I thought I’d do one on movie musicals.

More

FILE – In this Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, file photo, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Roy Cooper speaks with supporters at the Guilford County Democratic Party headquarters in Greensboro, N.C. Cooper, No… RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s next Democratic governor has seen a deal he helped broker to repeal the state’s law limiting LGBT protections fall apart and had several of his powers stripped away by the state’s Republican-dominated legislature. And he hasn’t even been sworn in yet.

CBB star Heavy D, 43, SPLITS from his fiancee Bryony Ann Harris,…

Melania Trump wears a VERY short dress to church for midnight mass in Florida – as the congregation goes wild for The Donald It’s a white-out! Winter Storm Europa brings blizzards, ice storms and freezing rain as it moves across the central states on Christmas Day – making travel by road and rail ‘dangerous if not impossible’ Pictured: The bloodied ear of flight attendant who was BITTEN by passenger en route to San Francisco when he was asked to stop smoking Look who got candy canes for Christmas! Prince George and Princess Charlotte enjoy their sweet treat as their parents take them to the church in Kate’s home village – where Pippa is getting married in May The Queen misses traditional Christmas day church service at Sandringham for the first time in 30 years as she is ‘recovering from a heavy cold’ but the rest of the Royal family attend Checking out the venue, Pippa? Bride-to-be and … (more)