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☆ Welcome to the club: You're middle class but still counting your pennies
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The middle class is more of a club than an income bracketThe ranks of middle-income earners have been shrinking, according to the Pew Research Center. A solid chunk of millionaires consider themselves middle class, despite accounting for just over 12% of American families. And there's good reasons," Lawrence R. Samuel, the author of the book "The American Middle Class: A Cultural History," told Business Insider. "Being middle class is almost like classless. Clinging to at least the mirage of the middle class might be important to upholding more core American ideals.

Persons: —, they're, Claire Tassin, Tassin, they'd, ALICE, Amanda, She's, there's, Rakesh Kochhar, That's, Kochhar, Lawrence R, Samuel, we're Organizations: Service, Business, Pew Research, Pew Research Center Locations: America, Texas

☆ Graham Sutherland’s study for the portrait Winston Churchill hated goes up for auction
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Caitlin Chatterton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Churchill is talking about his own portrait, commissioned to celebrate his 80th birthday, as it is unveiled in London’s Westminster Hall in November 1954. This painted study of Churchill by Sutherland, made in preparation of the portrait, is up for auction for the first time. Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby'sWhile “The Crown” is not a documentary, it is true that the 80th birthday portrait —described by Churchill as “filthy and malignant” in a letter to his personal doctor — was burned. “(Sutherland) caught him in a much more relaxed, intimate way,” Zlattinger said of the study, a small canvas painted in oils. Graham Sutherland, seen with his-then unfinished but eventually much-maligned portrait of Churchill.

Persons: it’s, ” Winston Churchill, John Lithgow, Graham Sutherland, Stephen Dillane, ”, Churchill, ” Sutherland, “, Judas, Churchill’s, Clementine, Harriet Walter, Sutherland, Tristan Fewings, —, ” Andre Zlattinger, “ He’d, He’d, Churchill —, Alfred Hecht, ” Zlattinger, Hatshepsut of, Baron, Queen Elizabeth I, Robert Blyth ,, Elizabeth “, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth, Ira B, Nadel, ” Blyth, Elizabeth I, Blyth, ” Dr Caroline Rae, Stalin, ” Bryn Sayles, Jacob Epstein, Alexis Schwarzenbach, Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, Cecil Beaton, Sayles, Gary Oldman’s Organizations: CNN, Hall, Modern, Irish, Sotheby’s New, Royal Museums Greenwich, Art, University College London, Conservative Party Locations: Sotheby’s, Sotheby’s New York, London, Sutherland, Queen, Downing, Suez, Blenheim, Oxford, New York, British, Swiss

☆ Why Are China’s Nationalists Attacking the Country’s Heroes?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Joy Dong | Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To get the economy back on track, China is trying to champion its domestic companies and reassure entrepreneurs that it’s ready for business. Its efforts are running into a problem: an online army of Chinese nationalists who have taken it upon themselves to punish perceived insults to the country — including from some of China’s leading business figures. When fellow tycoons defended him, they were attacked as well, by users whose profiles featured photos of the Chinese flag. As the fervor spread, social media users also hounded Huawei, the crown jewel of China’s tech industry, accusing it of secretly admiring Japan. Others accused a prestigious university of being too cozy with the United States, and demanded the works of a Nobel-winning Chinese author be removed from circulation for purportedly smearing national heroes.

Persons: unpatriotic, tycoons Organizations: Huawei Locations: China, United States, Japan

☆ Russia’s Brutal War Calculus
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Paul Sonne | Josh Holder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Russia’s Brutal War Calculus Freedoms Wages The costs of two years of war in Ukraine have been enormous. Here is a look at how Russia at war has changed — suffering enormous costs by some metrics but faring better than expected by others. But Mr. Putin has convinced many that in invading Ukraine, Russia is defending itself against an existential threat from the West. Blood and TreasureIn the early months of the war, Mr. Putin’s military made grave mistakes, but it has regrouped. But despite their stated support for the war, many Russians would be happy for it to end.

Persons: languish, Instagram, Vladimir Putin, Putin, ”, “, Putin’s, Aleksei A, Navalny Organizations: Daily Life People, Facebook, Travel, Trade, Russia, Military Locations: Ukraine, Russia, China, Soviet Union, India, Moscow, Europe, Turkey, Ukrainian

☆ Opinion: Why Martin Luther King Jr.’s sharpest question remains unanswered
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Opinion Peniel E. Joseph | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

He is the author of “The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century.” The views expressed here are his own. CNN —Had he lived, Martin Luther King Jr. would be 95 years old this year. He turned political debates over racial integration, non-violent civil disobedience and voting rights into a national, then global, referendum on freedom. And, as their forerunners did, they continue to press for voting rights, equal education and environmental justice in communities of color – all a continuation of King’s legacy. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act were not pre-ordained - nor were they universally beloved pieces of legislation.

Persons: Joseph, Barbara Jordan, “, CNN —, Martin Luther King Jr, Joseph Kelvin Ma, Kelvin Ma, King, subversives, Communist dupes, John F, Kennedy, Robert F, Black, ” King, White, ”, Jim Crow, ‘, ” Kennedy, George Wallace Organizations: Center, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Racial Justice, CNN, Tufts University, Communist, Jobs, Birmingham City, White, University of Alabama, Blacks Locations: Austin, America, Washington, Birmingham, United States

☆ Hong Kong’s pro-democracy leaders to give final defense as landmark national security trial nears an end
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Chris Lau | Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Those on trial say that plan was simply part of the pluralistic, oppositional politics that has long been permitted in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has repeatedly denied the national security law is suppressing freedoms. They hail from multiple generations and a wide political spectrum - from moderate democrats to those who advocate for Hong Kong’s self-determination. Known as “Grandma Wong,” the 67-year-old had been a fixture of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. No national security cases in the city have been heard in front of a jury.

Persons: Hong, ”, Joshua Wong, Benny Tai, Claudia Mo, Alexandra Wong, Grandma Wong, Hong Kong’s, ” Alexandra Wong, Noemi Cassanelli, Gwyneth Ho, Leung Kwok, ISAAC LAWRENCE, John Lee, ” Lee, –, “ Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Prosecutors, Hong, Kowloon Court, CNN, Getty, Communist Party, city’s, Hong Kong’s Legislative Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, Hong, Kowloon, Britain, China, AFP, Hong Kong’s

☆ Opinion: Why student protests against Israel are so painful, polarizing and complicated
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Opinion Nicole Hemmer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Student radicals have been targets of condemnation since at least the early 1960s, when they experimented with new forms of protest against anti-Black racism, the Vietnam War, poverty and censorship. “I think they oughta shoot ‘em if they’re carrying the Vietcong flag,” actor John Wayne said of the protests. In the 1960s, student radicals occasionally waved the Viet Cong flag to show solidarity with the people of Vietnam. But students did have the power to disrupt, to grab camera time and to create the iconic imagery of an era. You may hate these student activists’ words and actions, but they’re not the ones with the power here.

Persons: Nicole Hemmer, Carolyn T, Robert M, “, Who, Stanford ”, ” Nicole Hemmer, Bill Ackman, —, Victoria’s, Leslie Wexner, Abigail, Jon Huntsman, Huntsman, John Wayne, it’s, Mao Zedong, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Israel, Christopher Rufo, they’re Organizations: Rogers Center, Vanderbilt University, “ Partisans, Conservative, CNN, “, Harvard, Hamas, University of Pennsylvania, Huntsman Foundation, Utah Gov, Penn, Democratic Party, Capitol, United, Getty, Viet, Universities, Police, National Students for Justice, Israel, Democratic Socialists of America Locations: Israel, Gaza, Vietnam, Iraq, Washington, United States, AFP, firefights, Viet, Viet Cong, California, Palestine

☆ China considering ban on clothing that ‘hurts feelings’ of nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The wording of the draft amendment is reminiscent of language used by Beijing to rein in free speech at home or to hit back at perceived slights by foreign countries and businesses. Several legal scholars have also questioned the implicit vagaries of the proposed amendment and the absence of specific guidelines. “State power directly interferes in the field of individual citizens’ daily clothing, which is obviously an overreaching intervention,” she wrote on Weibo. In the wake of this month’s draft amendment, one Weibo user questioned whether cosplayers or kimono-clad employees of Japanese restaurants might fall afoul of the proposed rules. “Why don’t we wear Chinese tunic suits or Hanfu?” he asked.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, ”, Mark Schiefelbein, Tong Zhiwei, ’, Lao Dongyan, meanwhile, Lao Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, country’s Public, AP, East China University of Political Science, Law, Twitter, Beijing’s Tsinghua University Locations: China, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Weibo, today’s China, Japan, Suzhou

☆ Why the Republican defense of Trump points to more turbulence ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Ronald Brownstein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

In the Republican coalition, it is a moment that has culminated decades of change – and one that points to years of turbulence ahead. Overwhelming majorities of Republican voters dismiss the charges against Trump. In Gallup’s latest annual survey of trust in institutions, Republicans expressed less faith in 10 of the 16 measured. Veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres points to another, more personal, reason so many GOP voters have discounted the charges against Trump. Trump is the Republican most effectively riding that wave now, but it seems unlikely to recede whenever he fades from the political scene.

Persons: Donald Trump, ”, Trump, Tresa Undem, –, Stormy Daniels, “ Trump, …, Ronald Reagan, “ There’s, Amy Fried, Goldwater, Reagan, Fried, Steve Bannon, Eric Plutzer, ” Plutzer, Hillary Clinton, “ Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Plutzer, “, MAGA, Undem, ” Trump, He’s, ” he’s, George Floyd, It’s, ” Robert P, Jones, winks, ’ Trump, ” “ MAGA, ” Jones, Daniel Cox, —, ” Cox, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, Will Hurd, Hunter Biden, Cox, wasn’t Hunter Biden, Whit Ayres, ” Ayres, Donald Trump’s, aspersions, That’s, ’, Long Organizations: CNN, Republican, GOP, Trump, Whites, Bright Line, Republicans, CBS, University of Maine, Government, National Rifle Association, NRA, Penn State University, Institute for Democracy, Department, FBI, ABC, Justice Department, Pew Research Center, Gallup, Black, Religion Research Institute, White, American Enterprise Institute, Trump —, Prestige, Senate, Trump . Veteran GOP, “, Democratic Locations: “, Vietnam, stoke, Russia, Manhattan, Fulton County , Georgia, New York, Undem, America

"Darkness and denialism can hide much but they erase nothing," Biden told guests in the ornate, marble-edged Indian Treaty Room next to the White House, before signing the proclamation. [1/5]U.S. President Joe Biden signs a proclamation to establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Illinois and Mississippi, at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2023. Signs erected at Graball Landing since 2008 to commemorate Till's killing have been repeatedly defaced by gunfire. Biden screened a film recounting the killing and its aftermath, "Till," at the White House in February. Last March, he signed into law a bipartisan bill named for Till that for the first time made lynching a federal hate crime.

Persons: Joe Biden, Emmett Till, Mamie Till, Bradley, Biden, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Frantz, Patrick Weems, Emmett, Thomas Edison's, Wheeler Parker Jr, Till's, Parker, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jonathan Allen, Steve Holland, Heather Timmons, Lincoln, Mark Porter Organizations: Rights, White, Republican, REUTERS, Temple Church of God, National Park Service, of, Thomson Locations: Chicago, Money , Mississippi, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Washington , U.S, Tallahatchie, Sumner , Mississippi, America, Washington

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday will honor Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose 1955 killing helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement, and his mother with a national monument across two states. One of the monument sites is the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till's funeral took place. REUTERS/Brian SnyderSigns erected at Graball Landing since 2008 to commemorate Till's killing have been repeatedly defaced by gunfire. Any future vandalism would be investigated by federal law enforcement rather than local police, according to Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi. Biden, an 80-year-old Democrat, will likely need strong support from Black voters to secure a second term in the 2024 presidential election.

Persons: Joe Biden, Emmett Till, Mamie Till, Bradley, Wheeler Parker Jr, Till's, Parker, Roberts, Banutu, Gomez, George Floyd, Brian Snyder, Patrick Weems, Emmett, Thomas Edison, Biden, Donald Trump, Christopher Benson, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jonathan Allen, Heather Timmons Organizations: Rights, White, Roberts Temple Church of God, REUTERS, National Park Service, of Liberty, Republican, Mobley Institute, Thomson Locations: Chicago, Money , Mississippi, America, Mississippi, Washington, Tallahatchie, Minneapolis, Lynn , Massachusetts, U.S, Sumner , Mississippi, Summit , Illinois, Lincoln

☆ Biden designates new Emmett Till monument as debates over U.S. history intensify
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"Darkness and denialism can hide much but they erase nothing," Biden told guests in the ornate, marble edged Indian Treaty Room next to the White House, before signing the proclamation. One of the monument sites is his funeral location, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, in Chicago. Signs erected at Graball Landing since 2008 to commemorate Till's killing have been repeatedly defaced by gunfire. Any future vandalism would be investigated by federal law enforcement rather than local police, according to Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi. He screened a film recounting the lynching, "Till," at the White House in February.

Persons: Joe Biden, Emmett Till, Mamie Till, Kamala Harris, Bradley, Biden, Patrick Weems, Emmett, Thomas Edison's, Wheeler Parker Jr, Till's, Parker, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Christopher Benson Organizations: White, Rights, Temple Church of God, National Park Service, of, Republican, Florida Governor, Mobley Institute Locations: theIndian, Washington , DC, Chicago, Money , Mississippi, Mississippi, Tallahatchie, Sumner , Mississippi, America, Washington, Summit , Illinois

MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) - Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of the Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters. One of the leaders of the Memorial rights group, which won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 a year after being banned and dissolved in Russia, Orlov stood by his articles and cast Russia as a country gripped by the demons of history. "Russia is going backwards," Orlov told Reuters in his Moscow flat over a glass of the traditional fermented kvas. "For Putin, war is his political technology," Orlov said. Current Russian levels of repression, he said, could be compared to the Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union after the arrest of writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel in 1965.

Persons: Leonid Brezhnev, Oleg Orlov, Orlov, Wagner, Russia, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Brezhnev, Andrei Sinyavsky, Yuli Daniel, unpatriotic, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's, William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky's, Tatiana, Guy Faulconbridge, Filipp Lebedev, Nick Macfie Organizations: Reuters, Memorial, Solidarity, West, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Soviet Union, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet, Afghanistan, Chechen, Russian, Tbilisi

☆ Ukrainian journalists fight another kind of war - against graft
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

According to Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranked slightly better than Russia but still well below the global average. Their focus also shows civil society is embracing its role as a government watchdog even as the war grinds on. Many journalists are also turning their attention to uncovering Russian war crimes and assets in Ukraine. PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPSuch reports play a key role in Ukraine's fledgling anti-corruption system, created after the 2014 Maidan revolution toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Romaniuk, director of the Institute of Mass Information, an NGO in Kyiv, said Ukrainian journalists' role as anti-corruption activists will become increasingly important as Kyiv maps out a more transparent future.

[1/2] U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia July 27, 2022. Griner arrived at the medical center last Friday after U.S. officials secured her freedom from Russia in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner, 32, was arrested on Feb. 17 at an airport outside Moscow for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. U.S. officials pressed for the release of both Griner and Whelan, who is being held on what Washington called "sham" espionage charges, a Biden administration official said. "(I) encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home," said Griner.

☆ Senior officials argued that Viktor Bout's release in exchange for Brittney Griner would be a mistake, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

WNBA star Brittney Griner was swapped for arms dealer Viktor Bout on Thursday. Her release marked the end of prolonged and agonizing negotiations for Biden, CNN reported. Some senior officials told Biden they thought Russia was getting the better deal, the outlet said. But some senior law enforcement officials told Biden prior to his decision that Bout was too notorious of a figure to release in exchange for Griner, whose offense was only minor, one official told CNN. Her release marked the end of prolonged and agonizing negotiations for Biden, CNN reported.

[1/3] Suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is escorted by members of a special police unit after a hearing at a criminal court in Bangkok October 5, 2010. "Everyone will forget about Griner tomorrow," Russian state television host Yevgeny Popov wrote on Telegram on Thursday. "Bout's life is only beginning." Bout arrived in Moscow late on Thursday after Russia and the United States swapped the arms dealer for Griner at Abu Dhabi airport. U.S. anger at Bout's release has been widely covered in the Russian media, with the pro-Kremlin tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets claiming that Department of Defense officials were "disturbed" by the exchange, citing U.S. media reports.

John Fetterman, the Democratic Senate nominee, along with Democratic candidates in local House races on the University of Pittsburgh's campus. Former President Barack Obama speaks to supporters of Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Democratic Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman speaks to supporters on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday. Jeff Swensen / Getty ImagesOz, Obama said, would be a vote for Trump in case of another close election in 2024. Oz, Trump said, is "desperately" needed in the Senate where "he could very well be the tie-breaking vote."

☆ Why Celeste Ng's new book places an Asian American mom in the eye of a social justice movement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

For the author, it was critical to place Miu, an Asian American mother and fugitive poet, at the forefront of a protest movement in her book. It was, in a way, a nod to the awareness that Asian American women more generally have long had around violence, preceding the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic. Research previously showed that 21% to 55% of Asian women in the U.S. report having experienced intimate physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetimes, according to the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. “As an Asian American woman, I feel like I’ve been aware of the possibility of violence for most of my life. “In the case of PACT, it’s the idea that there’s a right way to be American,” Ng said.

☆ 'You've done absolutely nothing for me or my family': See this woman's message to Rubio
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Alexandra Forseth, a relative of two Americans freed this weekend in a prisoner swap with Venezuela, called Sen. Marco Rubio's criticism of the exchange "unpatriotic and unhelpful." Sen. Rubio told CNN the exchange was a "win for Maduro" and put "all Americans in the world in danger."

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