Category: International

Former President Donald Trump scored a legal victory today. The Supreme Court ruled 9 to 0 that the likely Republican nominee for President should be restored to the ballot in Colorado.

The decision also says individual states cannot bar candidates for federal office under the insurrection clause. So: a legal victory, and also a political victory.

As the clock ticks toward November 5th – Election day – it’s increasingly looking like the many legal cases focused on former President Trump may tip his way, or remain unresolved.

What impact will this have on Trump’s campaign for a second term in the White House?

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Chances are, this November 5th 2024 is going to feel a lot like November 3rd 2020 — a bit like Groundhog Day.

After a decisive set of Republican primaries, it’s increasingly clear President Joe Biden is likely to face off against a familiar foe: former President Donald Trump.

A race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden isn’t only a rematch, but a contest between two men who have already occupied the Oval office and been in the public eye for decades.

This, despite the fact that several polls show Americans did not want a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. So what is there still to learn about the two candidates, their styles, and the policies they would put in place if they get another four years in the White House?

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Are we alone in the universe?

It’s a question that’s been posed again and again. Carl Sagan posed it in the 1970s as a NASA mission scientist as the agency prepared to send its twin Viking landers to Mars.

And nearly 50 years after the first of two landers touched down on Mars, we’re no closer to an answer as to whether there’s life — out there.

Scientists haven’t stopped looking. In fact, they’ve expanded their gaze to places like Saturn’s largest moon, Titan and Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The search for life beyond planet earth continues to captivate. And NASA has upcoming missions to both moons. Could we be closer to answering that question Carl Sagan asked some 50 years ago?

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Here in the US, the average age of retirement is 61. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky passed that birthday more than 20 years ago. And on Wednesday afternoon, he announced that while he still isn’t ready to retire just yet, he will no longer lead Republicans in the Senate.

McConnell says he still has “enough gas” in the tank to thoroughly disappoint his critics. The soon-to-be former leader intends to serve out the rest of his term which continues through January 2027.

McConnell’s Congressional career began back in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was President. The Kentucky republican has long embraced Reagan’s conservatism and view of American exceptionalism.

Today’s Republican party is one Mitch McConnell played a key role in shaping. Yet as he gets ready to step down from leadership, McConnell seems out of step with the direction the party is heading.

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Despite a last minute agreement to push a deadline for a shutdown, Congress and the White House have to agree on how to fund the government. So far, all they’ve been able to do is kick the can down the road.

And conditions for making a political deal are only getting worse. Republicans can only lose two votes. And there’s skepticism all around.

Finding a way out largely depends on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana. But Johnson has a fractious caucus, is relatively inexperienced, and shutdowns have become the political weapon of choice.

If the House leader can’t find a path to a deal, the entire country could pay the price.

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The backlash to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling designating frozen embryos has been intense. Republicans at the state and national level have openly disagreed with the decision. And Democrats have used the ruling to hammer Republicans over reproductive rights.

Last month, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced a bill to protect IVF. It hasn’t gotten a lot of attention – until now.

Duckworth used IVF to build her own family, and has been warning since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that the decision could lead to reproductive rights being challenged.

Duckworth discusses her legislation and whether she thinks republicans will support it.

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In the last few years, a new trend has emerged on social media: De-influencers.

Instead of selling, de-influencers encourage their followers to stop buying things they don’t actually need. De-influencers are also using this trend as an opportunity to raise awareness about the negative impact of overconsumption on the environment.

From plastic packaging to useless gadgets that end up in landfills, over-consumption doesn’t just have a negative effect on our wallets – but also on our planet and climate change.

We look at what role can de-influencers play in helping address climate change and spreading the message of sustainable living.

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Popular culture is filled with stories of the underground railroad – the legendary secret network that helped enslaved people escape from southern slave states to free states in the north.

Harriet Tubman is the underground railroad’s best known conductor. Tubman, who was a Union spy during the Civil War, escaped slavery in Maryland, but returned again and again, risking her own freedom to help free others, including members of her family.

Inevitably there’s much we don’t know …including how the term, the Underground Railroad, came to be.

Journalist Scott Shane, stumbled on the answer while he was writing his book “Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland.”

His book tells the story of Thomas Smallwood, an activist and writer who’s story and the key role he played in the abolition movement has mostly been lost to history.

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In Kansas City neighborhood organizations do the work of violence prevention one block, and one person at at time.

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Quote – “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” That statement, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the U-S Embassy, came two days after Russian missiles began raining down on his country two years ago.

After weeks of speculation and warnings Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared war.

Fueled by grit, patriotism and billions of dollars from the US, Ukraine has waged a fight no one expected they could. But nearly two years in that could be changing.

US aid is stuck in Congress. This week, Russian forces captured their first city in 9 months. And that plea Zelensky made for ammunition in February 2022 – he’s still making it.

Ukraine has waged a war against Russia that has exceeded expectations. Can it continue to stand up to Russia if western aid doesn’t come through?

We get the view from the battlefield from a Ukrainian writer turned soldier.

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