Very long, but incredibly moving piece on what it's like, for many, to be black in America.
“Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage.”
Colorado’s Effort Against Teenage Pregnancies Is a Startling Success →
Over the past six years, Colorado has conducted one of the largest experiments with long-acting birth control. If teenagers and poor women were offered free intrauterine devices and implants that prevent pregnancy for years, state officials asked, would those women choose them?
They did in a big way, and the results were startling. The birthrate among teenagers across the state plunged by 40 percent from 2009 to 2013, while their rate of abortions fell by 42 percent, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. There was a similar decline in births for another group particularly vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies: unmarried women under 25 who have not finished high school.
Greeks Reject Bailout Terms in Rebuff to European Leaders →
Greeks delivered a shocking rebuff to Europe’s leaders on Sunday, decisively rejecting a deal offered by the country’s creditors in a historic vote that could redefine Greece’s place in Europe and shake the Continent’s financial stability.
As people gathered to celebrate in Syntagma Square in central Athens, the Interior Ministry reported that with more than 90 percent of the vote tallied, 61 percent of the voters had said no to a deal that would have imposed greater austerity measures.
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After five years in which unemployment soared beyond 20 percent and the country’s economy contracted by 25 percent, many said that a no vote was at least a vote for hope, the possibility of a new deal, rather than following the mandates of creditors who had failed to set Greece on a course to recovery.
For others, the hardship proved only that Greece, like it or not, was in the hands of its creditors and could do little but take whatever terms were being offered — the alternative of default, financial collapse and withdrawal from the euro being unthinkable. Many blamed Mr. Tsipras’s government for having returned the country to recession when it had shown hints of recovery just before the January elections.
Why Bernie Sanders Is the Left’s Ron Paul →
Take last week, when the self-described socialist spoke to a packed arena in Madison, Wisconsin, detailing his plans to break up Wall Street and pass universal health care. At 10,000 people, his crowd was the largest of any candidate in the presidential race so far: Hillary Clinton drew 5,500 people to her speech on Roosevelt Island in New York City, while Jeb Bush drew just 3,000 people to his announcement event at Miami Dade College in Florida.
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Sanders won’t be the Democratic nominee. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be important. Here, it’s useful to think of Ron Paul, the former Republican representative who ran for the GOP nomination in 2008 and 2012. Paul drew large crowds and raised huge sums for his campaign but couldn’t translate that success into votes. Nonetheless, his splash mattered. He helped bridge the divide between libertarians and the Republican right, and he inspired a new group of conservative and libertarian activists who have made a mark in the GOP through Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
If Sanders can sustain and capture the left-wing enthusiasm for his campaign, he could do the same for progressives. He could bring their issues onto a presidential debate stage and into the Democratic mainstream, and bring them into the process itself. No, Democrats won’t change overnight, but with time and effort, the Sanders revolution could bear real fruit.
Hooray! 4th of July Fireworks: 2015 →
The chemistry behind a firework explosion →
It’s Independence Day, and that means it’s time for controlled explosions in the sky. No, not Texas post-rock — the great scientific display that is a fireworks show.
U.S. to Reopen Embassy in Cuba, for Now Without an Ambassador →
That the United States is finally ready to reopen its embassy in Cuba comes as little surprise; U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration had hoped to plant its diplomatic flag in Havana back in April, more than a half-century since the two nations severed relations. But Obama’s announcement Wednesday was absent a salient detail: a decision on who will serve as the ambassador.
U.K. Law Targets Extremism in Schools →
An unusual measure that requires teachers, including at preschools, to report extremist leanings or behavior by students to police took effect Wednesday in the U.K., as the government steps up its efforts to counter terrorism at home and abroad.
The provision applies to all public officials, including health workers and local government employees, requiring them to alert authorities if they suspect someone is at risk of becoming radicalized.
Though avenues exist elsewhere for teachers to report students who they believe may be at risk, experts said they weren’t aware of any other countries have implemented a legal requirement to do so.