Albuquerque Is Throwing Out the Belongings of Homeless People, Violating City Policy by Nicole Santa Cruz ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. On a recent morning, Christian Smith ran an errand, leaving a shopping cart carrying everything she owned near the Albuquerque, New Mexico, underpass where she’d been sleeping. When she returned, the cart was nowhere to be found. Most of the belongings, such as clothing, makeup and blankets, could be replaced in time. But she panicked when sh ..read more

By Marisa Lagos My ability to be neutral as a political journalist depends on the intellectual honesty of the people—and the society—I cover. But in an era when one side of the political spectrum is not always operating in good faith, and when people in my position are increasingly losing the trust of the audiences we serve, I don’t think neutrality should be the final goal. Instead, perhaps, we should think about neutrality more as a means to an end: uncovering the truth, without fear or favor, and presenting that truth to the public. The dictionary defines being neutral as, “not aligned wi ..read more

The Cling-ons by Bill Day, FloridaPolitics.com The post THE CLING ONS (CARTOON) appeared first on The Moderate Voice ..read more

Michael Cohen leaves his home to attend his second day of testimony at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 14, 2024, in New York City. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images David E. Clementson, University of Georgia and John E. Jones III, Dickinson College Sex, money and power – all three subjects got an airing over the three days of testimony and cross-examination of Michael Cohen in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump. Trump is accused of illegally covering up a hush-money payment to a woman claiming she had a sexual encounter with Trump; Cohen, known as Trump’s former “fixer,” says he ..read more

The bill sponsor, state Senator Buck Newton, claims protesters wear masks to hide their identity, calling it “craziness.” Rejecting repeated efforts to amend House Bill 237, the 30 Republicans in the North Carolina Senate struck down a state law “passed after the start of the Covid pandemic that explicitly allowed the public to wear masks for health reasons.” On Wednesday, “Unmasking Mobs and Criminals” passed the Senate 30-15. It had passed the House on May 3, 93-24; 21 Democrats voted with Republicans. Sen. Buck Newton, 55, “told reporters that he believes some people are abusing the normal ..read more

Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble the floating pier, off the Gaza shore. (U.S. Army photo) The U.S. Central Command press release is short, even modest: Today [May 16] at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in need anchored a temporary pier to the beach in Gaza. As part of this effort, no U.S. troops entered Gaza. Trucks carrying humanitarian assistance are expected ..read more

Bernie Sanders writes in The Guardian: “I know. Biden is not popular and many progressives, including me, strongly disagree with his policies regarding Israel and this disastrous war in Gaza. “But, let’s be clear. Biden is not running against God. He is running against Donald #Trump, the most dangerous president in American history whose second term, if he is re-elected, will be worse than his first. And, on his worst day, Biden is a thousand times better than Trump… “ And if you have problems with Biden’s position on Israel and the war in Gaza, Trump’s position is far worse. Biden has at le ..read more

She Campaigned for a Texas School Board Seat as a GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism. by Jeremy Schwartz ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Weeks after winning a school board seat in her deeply red Texas county, Courtney Gore immersed herself in the district’s curriculum, spending her nights and weekends poring over hundreds of pages of lesson plans that she had fanned out on the coffee table in her living room and even across her bed. She was searching for ..read more

Donald Trump, his crappy lawyers, and crappy Republicans are attempting to discredit Michael Cohen who testified this week in the Trump hush money case. Cohen was the money man in paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her awkward and uncomfortable hotel quickie with Donald Trump. The way the scheme worked was that Cohen would pay Daniels with his own money and later be reimbursed by Trump. Cohen paid Daniels the full $130,000 upfront and Trump would repay Cohen in installments in order to conceal his connection to the payments to Daniels and because he’s cheap. When Trump created ..read more

Is misogyny a biblical requirement for churches, or are modern preachers missing the cultural context of the Apostle Paul’s instructions? In Paul’s instructions about women, he says, “I do not allow” instead of, “God does not allow.” So, can we deduce a limit to Paul’s restrictions on women? When debating this issue, it is too easy for one to overlook the cultural context of Paul’s statements. Not only did Paul have to deal with the cultural expectations of the Jewish religious leaders, he also had to deal with the cultural expectations of the traditional Greek society as well as the expectat ..read more