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America being pushed off a cliff

Since it’s been over 70 years since Sen. Joseph McCarthy used his power as chairman of a Senate investigative committee to bully and crush citizens at his whim, the closest younger Americans can come to visualizing the truly thuggish abuse of power to destroy dissenters may come, of all places, from a popular musical. “Wicked,” which opened on Broadway in 2003 and has generated a vast new audience with a recent movie version, features a character named Dr. Dillamond, a teacher at Oz’s Shiz University. Dillamond, a goat, is arrested and taken away for warning that under the Wizard ...

Engaging in high-stakes temper tantrum

Last week, audience members loudly booed Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The crowd was telling the Second Couple: You don’t belong on our turf. Ah, but there’s a new sheriff at the opera. President Donald Trump is now chairman of the Kennedy Center board. Monday, he took a walk through America’s culture center and shared his thoughts on the institution’s faults and future with reporters. Let’s just say that Trump was not love-struck with the iconic cultural center, which first opened in 1971. It looks ...

European allies try to retrieve their money from USAID

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three European allies provided millions of dollars that the United States was supposed to spend for low-income countries. Then the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s government-cutters arrived. Government officials from Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands told the Associated Press that a combined $15 million they contributed for joint development work overseas has been parked at the U.S. Agency for International Development for months. After the Republican administration and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut USAID’s funding and the bulk of its ...

At least seven killed in Ukraine as Moscow launches drone attack ahead of ceasefire talks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least seven people were killed after Russia launched a barrage of drones across Ukraine overnight on Sunday, according to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services. The attacks, including on the capital, Kyiv, came ahead of ceasefire negotiations in Saudi Arabia in which Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold indirect U.S.-mediated talks on Monday to discuss a pause in long-range attacks targeting energy facilities and civilian infrastructure. The Ukrainian delegation is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia a day ahead of the indirect ...

Pope at home after five weeks in hospital

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A frail Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after a five-week hospitalization for life-threatening double pneumonia, and he made a surprise stop at his favorite basilica on the way home before beginning two months of prescribed rest and recovery. The 88-year-old pope sat in the front passenger seat of his white Fiat 500L wearing nasal tubes to give him supplemental oxygen as he entered the Perugino gate of Vatican City, where his return brought relief after fears that his illness could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation. Francis’ ...

New museum tells life stories of Medal of Honor recipients

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A new museum devoted to telling the stories of those who have received the nation’s highest military honor is opening this coming week in Texas. The National Medal of Honor Museum is set to open Tuesday in Arlington, just west of Dallas. It highlights the lives and service of Medal of Honor recipients from the Civil War to the global war on terrorism. Over 3,500 people have received the Medal of Honor, which is awarded by Congress for risking one’s life in combat beyond the call of duty. Jack Jacobs, a retired U.S. Army colonel who was awarded the Medal ...