President Biden salutes at yesterday's National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“As President Biden heads to Tulsa today on the 100th anniversary of the racist massacre, he's announcing plans to bolster homeownership and small businesses in communities of color.
Why it matters: The White House says the post-riot experiences of Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood, once known as Black Wall Street — redlining, denial of credit, new highways that cut off opportunity — ‘have echoes in countless Black communities across the country.’
Biden's plans include an ‘interagency effort to address inequity in home appraisals, and conducting rule-making to aggressively combat housing discrimination.’
Biden also plans to use ‘the federal government's purchasing power to grow federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses by 50 percent, translating to an additional $100 billion over five years.’ Read more at Axios
Go deeper: Read the fact sheet.
“ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Joe Biden honored America’s war dead at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the hallowed burial ground and extolling the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy, ‘the soul of America.’
Biden invoked the iconic battles of history and joined them to the present as he implored Americans to rise above the divisions straining the union, which he described in stark terms.
The president was joined Monday by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff in a somber ceremony at the Virginia cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is dedicated to deceased service members whose remains have not been identified.
His face tight with emotion, Biden walked up to the wreath, cupping it in his hands in silent reflection, then making the sign of the cross. His eyes were wet. The gathered dignitaries and military families were hushed and solemn; the chattering of cicadas loud.
In remarks that followed, Biden called on Americans to commemorate their fallen heroes by remembering their fight for the nation’s ideals.
‘This nation was built on an idea,’ Biden said. ‘We were built on an idea, the idea of liberty and opportunity for all. We’ve never fully realized that aspiration of our founders, but every generation has opened the door a little wider.’
He focused much of his speech on the importance of democracy, saying it thrives when citizens can vote, when there is a free press and when there are equal rights for all.
‘Generation after generation of American heroes are signed up to be part of the fight because they understand the truth that lives in every American heart: that liberation, opportunity, justice are far more likely to come to pass in a democracy than in an autocracy,’ Biden said. ‘These Americans weren’t fighting for dictators, they were fighting for democracy. They weren’t fighting to exclude or to enslave, they were fighting to build and broaden and liberate.’
But he suggested these ideals are imperiled.
‘The soul of America is animated by the perennial battle between our worst instincts, which we’ve seen of late, and our better angels,’ he said. ‘Between Me First and We the People. Between greed and generosity, cruelty and kindness, captivity and freedom.’
After the ceremony, the Bidens stopped by a row of gravestones in a cemetery where some 400,000 are buried in the gentle hills and hollows.
The Bidens held hands and strolled along the rows of Section 12, one of the primary burial locations of service members killed overseas and repatriated to the United States after World War II and the Korean War. They stopped to chat with several families visiting the graves of their loved ones or searching for them — one family came to find a great-uncle missing in action from the world war.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined Biden and Harris in the ceremony.
On Sunday, Biden addressed a crowd of Gold Star military families and other veterans in a ceremony at War Memorial Plaza in New Castle, Delaware. Earlier in the day, he and other family members attended a memorial Mass for his son Beau Biden, a veteran who died of brain cancer six years ago to the day.” Read more at AP News
“TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday for an interfaith service dedicating a prayer wall outside historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood on the centennial of the first day of one of the deadliest racist massacres in the nation.
National civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Barber, joined multiple local faith leaders offering prayers and remarks outside the church that was under construction and largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. Estimates of the death toll range from dozens to 300.
Barber, a civil and economic rights activist, said he was ‘humbled even to stand on this holy ground.’
‘You can kill the people but you cannot kill the voice of the blood.’
Although the church was nearly destroyed in the massacre, parishioners continued to meet in the basement, and it was rebuilt several years later, becoming a symbol of the resilience of Tulsa’s Black community. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.” Read more at AP News
“ROME — The Vatican on Tuesday said that Pope Francis had signed off on a rewrite of the universal Catholic Church's internal penal system, updating a version in place since the 1980s and laying out clearer penalties for the sexual abuse of minors.
The changes, though years in the making, are in part a response to the church’s raft of abuse and financial scandals — which have often been magnified by secretive, highly subjective decision-making about how and whether to apply punishments.
Pope Francis, in a letter accompanying the revisions, said the laws aimed to be clearer and simpler, and reducing the number of instances in which penalties are left to the ‘discretion of authorities.’
‘It is necessary that these norms be closely related to social changes and the new needs of the People of God,’ the pope wrote.
Pope Francis acknowledges sexual abuse scandals have damaged the Catholic Church
The changes give the church authorities — whether in the Vatican or a far-flung parish — a new template for assessing and addressing possible church violations. The changes deal specifically with church penal sanctions; other parts of canon law — the church’s vast set of ecclesiastical rules — remain unchanged. Still, those revisions alone mark the most significant rewrite of canon law in four decades, since the era of Pope John Paul II.” Read more at Washington Post
“Finance ministers from Group of Seven nations meeting in London on Friday are expected to back President Biden’s call for a global minimum tax on corporate profits, giving him an early win in a grueling diplomatic campaign that is just beginning.
The new minimum tax, one half of a two-pronged global reform effort, is designed to halt a cycle of corporate tax-cutting that has sapped government revenue around the globe. As part of a package deal, negotiators are also wrestling with European demands to tax American technology giants such as Google and Facebook, which earn substantial revenue in countries where they have little physical presence.
Biden catalyzed the global tax debate in late May by proposing a worldwide minimum tax of at least 15 percent, which was lower than many tax specialists had expected. If he can secure agreement from the world’s leading democracies — en route to a broader global consensus later this year — it could eventually produce the most significant global tax shift in decades.” Read more at Washington Post
“The White House is cranking up pressure as talks drag on with Republicans over President Biden’s ambitious yet divisive infrastructure plans. The administration had hoped for a deal on the proposal, originally tagged at $2.2 trillion, by Memorial Day. However, there’s still a $700 billion gap between Biden’s original proposal and the GOP’s counterproposals. There are fears among the President’s allies that this ongoing inertia could lead to a ‘summer slump’ that often happens in the first year of a presidency, when unanticipated challenges at home and abroad slow down the early months of a president’s legislative momentum.” Read more at CNN
“Half the US population is now at least partially vaccinated, which means health experts are less concerned about the crowds that gathered at beaches, bars and other venues over the holiday weekend. Still, they warn that those who aren’t vaccinated remain at great risk of serious illness from Covid-19. The next goal? Biden wants to get 70% of the population at least partially vaccinated by July 4. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has assigned new labels to key coronavirus variants so the public can refer to them by letters of the Greek alphabet instead of where the variant was first detected. For instance, the UK variant that made its way around the US is now variant Alpha, and the one responsible for India’s most recent deadly surge is Delta.” Read more at CNN
“Texas has become the next battleground in the voting rights fight after state Democrats successfully derailed a restrictive voting bill. Legislators walked off the state House floor late Sunday night, leaving majority Republicans without the quorum they needed to approve the bill before a midnight deadline. The bill would make mail-in voting more difficult, ban early voting on Sunday mornings and prohibit local elections officials from sending out absentee ballot applications to anyone who has not requested one. The measure may be dead for now, but Gov. Greg Abbott made it clear the issue will be top of mind during the next legislative session. States like Georgia and Florida have already passed similarly restrictive voting measures based on falsehoods promoted by former President Trump that the outcome of the 2020 election was somehow fraudulent.” Read more at CNN
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure as Israeli Prime Minister could be coming to an end after two political rivals announced they are working toward forming a new government in the Knesset, the country’s parliament. Naftali Bennett, leader of the small right-wing party Yamina, said he is working toward a coalition deal with centrist party leader Yair Lapid to avoid a fifth round of elections, the prior of which have failed to produce a new government. If successful, Netanyahu -- who faces an ongoing trial on bribery and fraud charges -- will be ousted as Israel’s longest-serving PM. Lapid now needs to reach and sign formal coalition agreements with the eight parties involved. Parliament then has a week to vote on the coalition arrangements before the new government -- and a new Israeli prime minister -- could be sworn in.” Read more at CNN
“Today marks the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, but the first named storm is already in the books. Subtropical Storm Ana formed in the Atlantic 10 days ago, marking the seventh year in a row when at least one named storm formed prior to the official start of the season. Hurricanes are getting deadlier and deadlier as oceans and the air around them heat up due to the climate crisis. Rising sea levels also raise the risk of destructive storm surges. As we gear up for another potentially dangerous season, Amazon and the Red Cross are partnering on a new disaster hub that will allow for a faster response to places hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters. And coastal Catholics are calling on a more divine go-between: Our Lady of Prompt Succor, a version of the Virgin Mary known to protect from storms.” Read more at CNN
“A government-sanctioned report on unidentified aerial phenomena is expected to be released by the Pentagon and other federal agencies on Tuesday. It will include information that cannot easily be explained , according to a former top national intelligence official. UFOs are often synonymous with aliens in pop culture, but those who study the phenomenon say they should be understood by their literal name: unidentified flying objects. Often, they may have mundane explanations like weather balloons or drones. But for now, some sightings don't have accepted explanations.” Read more at USA Today
“After receiving backlash for deciding not to partake in post-match press conferences at this year's French Open, Naomi Osaka announced she is withdrawing from the event.
USA TODAY Sports columnist Dan Wolken noted: ‘This has now become the biggest story in tennis, something that in many ways transcends sports, and the consequences are going to reverberate for a long time.’” Read more at USA Today
Naomi Osaka played her first-round match at the French Open on Sunday before announcing her withdrawal from the tournament on Monday.Susan Mullane, USA TODAY Sports
“A massive asteroid is expected to whiz by Earth in a relatively close encounter – 4.5 million miles – on Tuesday, according to NASA. The asteroid, known as 2021 KT1, is about 600 feet, the size of the New York Olympic Tower or the Seattle Space Needle. The asteroid is classified by NASA as a ‘potentially hazardous object’ because it is larger than 492 feet and within 4.6 million miles of Earth. It will be flying near Earth at a speed of 40,000 mph, according to the laboratory. While the asteroid is not expected to make a direct hit, NASA is keeping a close watch.” Read more at USA Today
“West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is personally on the hook for nearly $700 million in loans his coal companies took out from now-defunct Greensill Capital, according to people familiar with the loans and documents described to The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Justice’s personal guarantee of the loans, which hasn’t been reported, puts financial pressure on the popular Republican governor. He is also dealing with unrelated lawsuits alleging parts of his sprawling network of coal companies breached payment contracts or failed to deliver coal.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“From Tesla to GE, how much CEOs made in 2020. The annual WSJ ranking of pay and performance for leaders of S&P 500 companies is here. Median pay reached $13.4 million for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies in 2020, setting a fifth straight annual record.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“New this morning: LGBTQ advocates are still reaping rewards of a 2020 anti-discrimination ruling by the Supreme Court. But legal experts see challenges ahead.” Read more at USA Today
“‘A beautiful journey’: Actors Blair Underwood and Desiree DaCosta revealed in a joint statement that they are splitting up after 27 years of marriage.” Read more at USA Today
“3,241 — The number of kilograms that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium has reached, following the Natanz incident in April that destroyed potentially hundreds of centrifuges. The amount is about 16 times higher than that permitted in the country's 2015 nuclear agreement with Western nations.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“NEW YORK (AP) — Moviegoing increasingly looks like it didn’t die during the pandemic. It just went into hibernation.
John Krasinski’s thriller sequel ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ opened over the Memorial Day weekend to a pandemic-best $48.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Including the Monday holiday, the studio forecasts the film will gross $58.5 million in North America. It added another $22 million in ticket sales overseas.
The film’s performance cheered a movie industry that has been punished and transformed by the pandemic. Paramount Pictures’ ‘A Quiet Place Part II,’ which was on the cusp of opening in March 2021 before theaters shut, was the first big film this year — and one of the only larger budget COVID-era releases beside Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ — to open exclusively in theaters.” Read more at AP News
“Foster Friess, a Wyoming businessman who founded an investment firm, made a fortune and gave a lot of it away to Republican presidential candidates and charities, sometimes with flair, died on Thursday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 81.
His organization, Foster’s Outriders, which confirmed the death, said he had been receiving care at the Mayo Clinic there for myelodysplastic syndrome, a disorder of the blood cells and bone marrow.
On Twitter, Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming, who defeated Mr. Friess in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2018, called Mr. Friess “a strong and steady voice for Republican and Christian values.”
Mr. Friess’s run for governor was his only try at major elected office. In the political arena he was primarily known for his donations, particularly to the presidential bids of Rick Santorum, the former United States senator from Pennsylvania, in the 2012 and 2016 campaigns. After Mr. Santorum left the 2016 race, Mr. Friess became one of the first Republican megadonors to embrace Donald J. Trump.” Read more at New York Times
“China’s three-child policy. China will allow married couples to have three children, up from a previous limit of two, in a bid to reverse its declining population trend. The decision was announced on Monday following a meeting of China’s Politburo, chaired by President Xi Jinping. The new policy will also include education and housing supports in order to offset high childcare costs. In a further attempt to retain a pool of workers, China’s retirement age will be raised gradually, the Politburo said. China currently has one of the world’s lowest retirement ages—60 for men and 50 for women.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday it’s not an isolated incident that over 200 children were found buried at a former Indigenous residential school.
Trudeau’s comments come as Indigenous leaders are calling for an examination of every former residential school site — institutions that held children taken from families across the nation.
Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia said the remains of 215 children, some as young as 3 years old, were confirmed this month with the help of ground-penetrating radar. She described the discovery as ‘an unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented’ at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the largest such school in the country.” Read more at Boston Globe
“PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday declared that wiretapping ‘is not acceptable between allies’ and asked the United States for clarity after new claims emerged about National Security Agency efforts to spy on European leaders between 2012 and 2014.
Denmark’s public broadcaster reported over the weekend that the Danish foreign intelligence service had helped the NSA gain access to underwater Internet cables, allowing officials to track calls, messages, chats and browsing histories of select targets in an operation code-named Dunhammer.
The NSA’s wiretapping of friendly foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was first revealed in documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. According to the latest reports, the Danish agency also helped the NSA to monitor officials and high-profile politicians in France, Norway and Sweden.” Read more at Washington Post
“Of all the regions of the world to have felt the political impact of the pandemic, Latin America stands out as among the most deeply affected.
Just how far its politics have been influenced by Covid-19’s cross-currents will become clear after two key elections this weekend.
Peru is experiencing a tight race for the presidency between two polar extremes. And in Mexico, the ambitious — and controversial — transformation proposed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces its biggest test yet in midterm voting where control of congress is at stake.
The votes take place against a backdrop of political upheaval across the region, from Chile’s attempt to rewrite its constitution to deadly street protests in Colombia. Brazil’s political landscape has further fractured over President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic.
Demonstrators clash with police during a protest in Bogota on May 28.
Photographer: Nathalia Angarita/Bloomberg
The combination of one of the world’s deadliest waves of Covid-19 with years-long economic malaise has exposed and exacerbated long-standing inequalities and frustrations, fanning anti-establishment sentiment among Latin Americans.
One outcome is the emergence of a rural school teacher and union organizer, Pedro Castillo, as a contender in Peru, a country that for decades has enjoyed economic growth that pulled millions out of poverty but where general prosperity proved elusive.
As Maria Cervantes and Jim Wyss write, Castillo faces Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a jailed former president, a contest that encapsulates the growing demands for change across Latin America that are running up against the entrenched elite.
That’s a turbulent mix. Investors should be watching carefully as stocks, bonds and currencies react strongly to the region’s swinging political moods.” — Juan Pablo Spinetto Read more at Bloomberg
“Congo killings. At least 55 people were killed in overnight attacks near two villages in eastern Congo, close to the border with Uganda. Congolese officials blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist insurgent group that in March was deemed a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. The group killed more than 850 people in 2020, according to the United Nations. At the beginning of May, President Félix Tshisekedi declared a state of siege across the affected regions, surging troops in a bid to quell violence.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Peru’s COVID-19 review. Peru updated its official COVID-19 death toll on Monday, almost tripling its previous figure to 180,764. The revised numbers means Peru now has the highest death toll per capita of any country over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. ‘We think it is our duty to make public this updated information,’ said Peruvian Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez in announcing the new data. Peru’s government initiated the review because of a lack of testing prevented an accurate count. The new figure matches up with Peru’s excess death figure, or the difference between 2020 deaths and death rates seen in previous years.” Read more at Foreign Policy