Dark parts of American history are often swept under the rug for being too shameful and painful. But engaging with that history is crucial to understand the present — and figure out how to move forward.
A new website, called Monroe Work Today, is bringing the harrowing history of lynching in the United States out of the shadows. Its detailed map and other resources document the names and experiences of nearly 5,000 people of color who were killed between 1835 and 1963.
“History class taught you the tip of the iceberg,” the site reads. “Every citizen has a duty to know this story. This history belongs to everyone.”
Throughout the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency, 100 artists are coming together to illustrate the things that already make America great.
The “What Makes America Great” project, a pointed reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” was launched on Inauguration Day by the Creative Action Network — a global community of artists making “art with purpose.”
America is great,” the project website says. “The things that make it great are unique to each and every one of us, and deserve to be celebrated.”
Just days after President Obama’s historic trip to Cuba, Fidel Castro ripped the warming of relations between his nation and the U.S., angrily stating that “we don’t need the empire to give us any presents.”
In a 1,500-word bristling letter titled “Brother Obama,” published Monday in Cuban state media, Castro, who did not meet with Obama during the visit, recounted decades of U.S. aggression against his country and told Obama to stay out of Cuba’s affairs.
A deal to establish a central unified government in Libya may be reached by early next week, paving the way for the country to ask the U.S. and other international powers to act against the so-called Islamic State’s presence there, according to a top official from the country hosting the Libyan peace talks.
Mbarka Bouaida, Morocco’s minister-delegate for foreign affairs, made the prediction in an exclusive interview this week with The Huffington Post.
“We try as much as we can, as far as we can as Moroccans, to make a deal between them to find a solution,” Bouaida said Wednesday. “We’re still optimistic on this point. We think we can find a good deal, and they can maybe by the end of this week or early next week, find a solution to fix their government.”
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STRINGER via Getty Images
An oil storage tank set ablaze after ISIS tried to capture oil export facilities in Libya in January.
Gunshots set the tempo for one of the most draining rhythms of American life.
Mass shootings, which have been about as consistent as the rise of the sun this year, are a constant source of tragedy and anxiety across the country. Again and again, the United States reacts to mass shootings with a ritualized bout of mourning as critics of the country’s gun policies slide into a well-worn cycle of horror, sadness and anger.
One established feature of this cycle is a chart that circulates across the Internet showing how exceptional the U.S. is in the developed world for the frequency of its gun deaths.
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United States reacts to mass shootings with a ritualized bout of mourning
As the U.S. heroin epidemic grows, so does the wait list for federally-funded rehab.
In Massachusetts, substance abusers have to wait weeks to get help. In Florida, it’s a month.
Wait times are as long as 18 months in Maine.
One Ohio woman couldn’t wait. That’s why she asked a judge to send her to jail so she could get clean. “There’s no help out there anymore,” Kayla Dempsey told c. “There’s a three-month waiting list for any rehab around here because of the heroin epidemic.”
Watched over by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Marines raised the American flag at the embassy in Cuba for the first time in 54 years on Friday, symbolically ushering in an era of renewed diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes.
Three retired Marines who last lowered the flag in 1961 participated in the ceremony, handing a new flag to the Marine Color Guard, which raised it on the grounds outside the embassy building on the Havana seafront.
Kerry, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, told the ceremony it was obvious that “the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba have been traveling is not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction.”
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
The threat of severe thunderstorms loomed over parts of the Midwest and Southeast on Monday, after a pregnant woman and two of her children were killed in floodwaters in Ohio.
Victoria Kennerd, 32, was six months pregnant. Her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter were also killed, but her husband and her other two children survived when the family’s mobile home was swept away by the surging Red Oak Creek in Ripley, Ohio, NBC station WLWT reported.
The deaths came as heavy rain pounded much of the Eastern U.S. on Saturday and Sunday. Ripley was one of the worst hit areas, with four inches of rain falling in an hour. Dramatic images showed a flipped-over car, buckled garage doors and a torn-up roadway.
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Pregnant Woman and Two Children Swept Away in Floods
For anyone wondering about whether to take a fish oil pill to improve your health, the Web site of the National Institutes of Health has some advice.
Yes. And no.
One page on the Web site endorses taking fish oil supplements, saying they are likely effective for heart disease, because they contain the “beneficial” fatty acids known as omega-3s.
But another page suggests that, in fact, the fish oil pills seem useless: “Omega-3s in supplement form have not been shown to protect against heart disease.”
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Fish oil is one of the most popular dietary supplements in the U.S., worth $1.2 billion annually. But a new look at the research doesn’t match all the hype. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba have struck a deal to open embassies in each other’s capitals and re-establish diplomatic relations for the first time in half a century.
“The progress we make today is another demonstration we don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said.
Obama emphasized that the U.S. and Cuba have some shared interests, such as strong anti-terrorism policies and disaster response. But he acknowledged that the two nations still have “very serious differences” on issues like free speech.
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U.S., Cuba Will Reopen Embassies in Havana and Washington Within Weeks
Explore the dynamic relationship between faith and science, where curiosity meets belief. Join us in fostering dialogue, inspiring discovery, and celebrating the profound connections that enrich our understanding of existence.
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
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