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☆ With Hostage Swap, Biden Scores a Win as His Term Nears Its End
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even in the world of presidential multitasking, July 21 turns out to have been an extraordinary, whipsaw Sunday for President Biden. At 12:09 p.m., he picked up the phone at his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., to talk with the prime minister of Slovenia as part of a high-stakes diplomatic gamble to seal a complicated, multinational prisoner swap. Just 97 minutes later, he posted a world-stunning letter online abandoning his bid for re-election after a bruising pressure campaign by his own Democratic allies, climaxing the biggest crisis of his political career and signaling the end of his presidency after a half-century in public life. By any measure, it was one of the darkest moments of his time in elective office as the inescapable reality of time, age and polls finally caught up with him. And yet it would lead to one of the most joyous days of his presidency barely a week and a half later as he orchestrated the release of imprisoned Americans from the dungeons of Russia.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Democratic Locations: Rehoboth Beach, Del, Slovenia, Russia

☆ ‘What Have We Become?’ How Congress Came To Be So Boorish
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Kaia Hubbard | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +7 min

They’re members of Congress. “I mean, straighten up here.”Even before this week, a number of vulgar refrains, heated exchanges and a near physical altercation punctuated this Congress after festering in recent years. What have we become?’”Indeed, this Congress seemed to kick off with drama baked in. The picture of this Congress is a stark departure from expectations for lawmakers in recent history. “For a lot of members, Congress is not a legislature so much as it is a reality television show about a legislature,” C. Lawrence Evans, a professor of government at the College of William & Mary, says.

Persons: –, “, ” Sen, Mazie, Elizabeth Warren, There's, ” Dan Lamb, it's, Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, Hunter Biden, Lauren Boebert, Adam Schiff, Greene, Tim Burchett, McCarthy, Jared Moskowitz, James Comer, Sen, Markwayne Mullin, Barack Obama, Lindsey Williams Drath, ” Drath, ”, Drath, Lawrence Evans, College of William & Mary, “ It's, they’re, Mullin, ” Evans, Mike Johnson, Gaetz, Cynthia Lummis, Bernie Sanders, Sanders, Donald Trump, Trump, ” Sanders, Charles Sumner Organizations: Hawaii Democrat, Cornell University, Georgia Republican, Colorado Republican, House Republicans, California Democrat, New, New York Democrat, South Carolina Republican, Forward Party, Republican Party, College of William &, Wyoming Republican, Trump, Capitol Locations: Mazie Hirono, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, New York, Wyoming, Vermont, America, legislating, Arizona

☆ Capsule with NASA's first asteroid sample heads for Utah touchdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to release the gumdrop-shaped capsule, transporting about a cup of gravelly asteroid material, at 6:42 a.m. EDT (1042 GMT) for a final descent to Earth, climaxing a seven-year voyage. The spacecraft departed Bennu in May 2021 for a 1.2-billion-mile (1.9-billion-km) cruise back to Earth, including two orbits around the sun. The Bennu sample is estimated at 250 grams (8.8 ounces), far surpassing the 5 grams of material carried back from Ryugu in 2020 or the tiny specimen delivered from asteroid Itokawa in 2010. Scientists hope the integrity of the capsule and inner cannister bearing the asteroid material will be maintained through re-entry and landing, keeping the sample pristine and free of any terrestrial contamination. The main portion of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, meanwhile, is expected to sail on to explore yet another near-Earth asteroid, named Apophis.

Persons: Joel Kowsky, REx, climaxing, NASA's, Steve Gorman, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: United Launch Alliance, V, Cape Canaveral Air Force, NASA, Handout, Reuters, University of Arizona, Empire, NASA's Johnson Space Center, Thomson Locations: Florida, U.S, Utah, Salt Lake City, military's, Ryugu, Houston, Los Angeles

☆ Opinion | Shakespeare’s ‘Sublimely, Disturbingly Smutty Effect’ Must Endure
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Drew Lichtenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Throughout the play the Roman warrior Coriolanus is alternately drawn toward and repelled by his military rival Aufidius. He dreams of Coriolanus nightly, and the two are locked in mortal combat, a fight to the death, mutually assured destruction. — Iago, “Othello,” Act 1, Scene 1I taught this play every summer for almost 20 years to first-generation American high school students. My students learned that Shakespeare’s 17th-century Italy held some of the same societal evils as their 21st century. — Rachel D. Smith, 19, New York CityDrew: Here we see how Shakespeare uses rhythms and interlocking wordplay to sublimely, disturbingly smutty effect.

Persons: Drew, “, ”, Cocteau, Genet, Aufidius, Freud, —, Iago, Tom Buchanan, — Alden Mauck, Brabantio, Shakespeare, CRUDITY Katherine, Katherine : Ay, Rachel D, Smith, Katherine Organizations: New York City Drew Locations: Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Africa, Italy, Newton, New

☆ Russia said it raided Wagner boss' home and found gold bars, wigs, and a trove of weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian media shared photos that allegedly show the home of the Wagner Group boss taken during a raid. The photos show a lavish home with bizarre features like shelves of wigs and a medical room. IzvestiaRussian pro-Kremlin media outlet Izvestia shared images of what it said were photos obtained of Prigozhin's home from a raid conducted by Russian security forces. But his feud with Russia's military escalated over time, climaxing in last month's short-lived uprising. The images released showed gold bars and piles of cash.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, —, Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Sky News, Reuters Locations: Russia, Russian, Moscow, Belarus, Ukraine, St Petersburg

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