Global
We start with “Kidnapping the Rubicon” from our Poet Laureate MIMI GERMAN.
The duly elected MAYOR HEIDE LAMBERT of Waldport, Oregon has been arrested by a fascist city council in an attempted coup; the activist progressive Mayor shares her amazing tale as we hear her plans to get re-instated.
Our co-convenor MIKE HERSH assures us all that the fight-back will inspire deep regrets among the Trumpist attackers.
LAProgressive.com editor-publishers SHARON KYLE & DICK PRICE give us the scoop on the Trump attack against Wisconsin Judge Hanna Dugan and many others like her who are standing up for actual justice & the law. Such judges, says Kyle, have been subjected to DOXing and other forms of Nazi-style attacks.
Emmy-winning documentarian DAVID SALTMAN explains the key elements to maintaining a lawful society.
Climate activist DIANE CAMERON talks about defeating a new highway proposed for Maryland.
Green campaigner MARGARET SCHOAP OF US-PIRG expands on the great grassroots work happening in Maryland to preserve what’s left of the state.
Prelude: As we welcome Pope Leo XIV, we do so with full awareness of the Church’s failures as an institution. Church-sanctioned teachings too often became instruments of empire, rather than channels of Christ’s peace. They upheld systems of enslavement, patriarchy, and racial hierarchy, instead of challenging institutions and bidding them to change. —
When Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost was proclaimed as Pope Leo XIV and then stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, for me it was a moment of disbelief and wonderment: The first American-born Pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Then came his Urbi et Orbi (to the City and the World) blessing, in which he repeatedly, and beautifully, invoked peace.
“Peace be with you all…Peace be with you…. The peace of the Risen Christ - - an unarmed and disarming peace, …uniting everyone, always in peace. …a Church that always seeks peace, …for peace in the world.”
I have in the past speculated that the day might come when President Donald Trump, he of a massive ego, might just become tired of his being manipulated and controlled by America’s Israel Lobby and by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. I thought, and hoped, that he might become so annoyed that he might move to take control of the so-called tail wags the dog relationship that has for so long put Israel in the driver’s seat. While I am loathe to read too much into several recent developments, the first suggestion that all is not well in Washington’s relationship with what has been euphemistically referred to as “America’s best friend and closest ally.”
President Biden left behind an economy that was pretty healthy, conventionally speaking. Unemployment was low and wages were rising, but stubbornly high costs of living opened a door for Donald Trump’s political comeback.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Some people imagine seeing a famous person's face on a burnt piece of toast.
Online viewers and international media however were wondering if the embroidered crotch and rear of a sexy bodysuit branded by Louis Vuitton (LV) intentionally portrayed the late Black civil rights leader Rosa Parks' face.
And, if so, why did one of Thailand's most cherished celebrities, Lisa, wear and display the dazzling, no-pants outfit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala on May 5 in New York?
"People think the Louis Vuitton panties Lisa wore to the 2025 Met Gala have Rosa Parks' face on them," People magazine headlined its report.
"According to Vogue, artist Henry Taylor embroidered portraits into her [Lisa's] ensemble.
"Taylor was previously commissioned by Pharrell Williams -- Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director and 2025 Met Gala co-chair -- to embroider the same design for the brand’s Men's Spring-Summer 2024 show," People reported.
After photos and questions about Lisa's outfit went viral online, Louis Vuitton said in a statement to The New York Times: