Author: Reporter

The world’s focus will be on the remaining survivors of Nazi Germany’s atrocities on January 27 as world leaders and royalty join them for commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The main observances take place at the site in southern Poland where Nazi Germany murdered over a million people, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people, and others targeted for elimination in Adolf Hitler’s racial ideology. The anniversary has taken on added poignancy due to the advanced age of the survivors, and an awareness that they...

Right-wing extremists have been celebrating Elon Musk’s straight-arm gesture during a speech on January 20, although his intention was not totally clear. “I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said during a speech at Capital One Arena, referring to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Then he pounded his hand on his chest, and extended his arm straight outward and upward with his palm facing downwards. He turned around and made a similar gesture facing the other way. “My heart goes out to you,” he said. Many social media users noticed that the...

President Donald Trump on January 22 demanded an apology from the Episcopal bishop of Washington after she made a direct appeal to him during a prayer service marking his inauguration to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers who are in the United States illegally. Referencing Trump’s belief that he was saved by God from assassination, the Right Rev. Mariann Budde said, “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” After he returned...

A day that began with the outgoing president’s pardon of lawmakers and his own family ended with the incoming president’s pardon of supporters who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol four years ago. The clemency grants by departing President Joe Biden and new President Donald Trump — one benefiting uncharged people not accused of wrongdoing, the other aiding rioters convicted of violent felonies — are vastly different in scope, impact, and their meaning for the rule of law. But the remarkable flex of executive authority in a 12-hour span also shows the men’s deeply rooted suspicion of one another, with...

A federal judge on January 23 temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution promises citizenship to those born on U.S. soil, a measure ratified in 1868 to ensure citizenship for former slaves after the Civil War. But in an effort to curb unlawful immigration, Trump issued the executive order just after being sworn in for his second term on January 20. The order would deny...