America’s sin debt for slavery was paid for long ago. “Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments…
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As businesses reopen across the U.S. after coronavirus shutdowns, many are requiring customers and workers to sign forms saying they won’t sue if they catch COVID-19. Businesses fear they could be the target of litigation even if they adhere to safety precautions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials. But workers’ rights groups say the forms force employees to sign away their rights should they get sick. The liability waivers, similar to what President Donald Trump’s campaign is requiring for people to attend a Saturday…
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NEW YORK – Walmart is testing a store that will only offer self-checkout. The retailer is removing cashiers and standard conveyor belt lines at one of its popular superstores in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Walmart says it is an attempt to see if checkout times are faster while limiting human interaction in the age of the coronavirus. Workers will still be available to help customers who have trouble doing the checkout themselves. Depending on the success of the test run, Walmart could expand the program to more stores. The retailer recently launched a touch-free payment system…
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South Korea said Tuesday that North Korea’s military demolished an inter-Korean liaison office building just north of the tense Korean border, only days after the Hermit Kingdom threatened a “tragic scene” at the site. The building, located in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, was destroyed at 2:49 p.m. local time, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said. NORTH KOREA VOWS TO CUT OFF ALL LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH SOUTH KOREA NK News, an organization that tracks North Korean state-run media, reported that the North’s KCNA said the nation had cut off all communication between the…
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President Trump on Monday slammed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as “weak & shot,” claiming that he has done more in his first term than the former vice president did in his entire career of public service. “I’ve done more in less than 4 years than Biden’s done in more than 40 years, including for Black America,” Trump tweeted early Monday morning. “Biden has been a part of every failed decision for decades. Bad Trade Deals, Endless Wars, you name it, he has shown a complete lack of leadership.” He added:…
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TO SOME IN the tech industry, facial recognition increasingly looks like toxic technology. To law enforcement, it’s an almost irresistible crime-fighting tool. IBM is the latest company to declare facial recognition too troubling. CEO Arvind Krishna told members of Congress on Monday that IBM would no longer offer the technology, citing the potential for racial profiling and human rights abuse. In a letter, Krishna also called for police reforms aimed at increasing scrutiny and accountability for misconduct. “We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology…
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for the removal of 11 Confederate statues from the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. In a letter sent on Wednesday, Pelosi asked the Joint Committee on the Library — led by Senate Rules and Administration Chairman Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, and House Administration Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat — to direct the Architect of the Capitol to remove the statues of soldiers and officials who represent the Confederacy. Pelosi specifically mentioned two prominent Confederates — Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens — who served as president and…
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Prosecutors in Sweden announced Wednesday the name of the man they believe gunned down Prime Minister Olof Palme more than three decades ago on a Stockholm street. At a news conference in the capital, chief prosecutor Krister Petersson identified the likely assassin as Stig Engström, a graphic designer who was interviewed along with more than a dozen others who said they saw someone fleeing the scene immediately after the attack in 1986. At the time, Engström was briefly considered a suspect. It’s too late, however, to pursue a case against…
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U.S. prosecutors and attorneys for Britain’s Prince Andrew sniped at one another across the Atlantic on Monday, each saying the other side was to blame for the duke’s failure to participate in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking probe. Andrew’s lawyers said in a statement that he has offered three times this year to speak with U.S. investigators after being assured that he “is not and has never been a ‘target’ of their criminal investigations into Epstein.” That offer, though, came with a request that “our co-operation and any interview arrangements…
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In the broad sweep of American history, certain years stand like grim mileposts. The year 1968, bathed in blood and drenched in sorrow, is one. The year 2020 may be another. The nation is convulsed today in a way it has not been in more than half a century: stalked by a mysterious virus, burdened by soaring joblessness, wrestling — once again — with the twin plagues of racism and inequality that have poisoned the country from its outset. As it happens, 1968 was a presidential election year. So, too,…
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