Global

Former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro safety and Super Bowl champ Ryan Clark was recently fired from his job as an analyst for ESPN. The news caught many in the sports world by surprise and has become a topic of conversation within some African American circles. To add insult to injury, Clark was notified of his release midway through his segment. When he did not return after a break in the action viewers were left wondering what occurred. 

The Emmy award winning analyst’s dismissal from a job he held for eleven years has many people scratching their heads. Was Clark’s firing racially motivated? Given the number of other employees (many of whom are nonblack) that were let go, the racial argument is a difficult but not impossible one to make. Was it merely a cost-cutting-move? Had Clark fallen out of favor with the brass? Did someone have an axe to grind? These are the kinds of questions that have been floated since Clark’s abrupt departure from ESPN. 

AYUTTHAYA, Thailand -- Here in Ayutthaya, Buddhist shrines, temples, and tombs emerge from the jungle amid the wreckage of a war 260 years ago.

Fortunately, during the past few decades, the damaged royal city of Ayutthaya ("eye-YOO-tee-ah") has blossomed into a major pilgrimage site for tourists, archeologists and Buddhist devotees, thanks to an ambitious slicing away of dense vines and other foliage which had covered its treasures, threatening to gobble them up forever.   

Only 86 kilometers north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya once-upon-a-time rivaled London and Paris in its heyday, until the fateful year 1767 when Burmese invaders obliterated the city.  

Thai forces eventually staged a counter-attack and ousted the Burmese, but by then it was too late.  

Fifteen years later, heart-broken Thais abandoned Ayutthaya and decided to head south where they built Thailand's current capital at Bangkok.

Charli XCX’s Music, Fashion, Film answers historic music conversations. What does an artist do if their last album achieved commercial, critical, and touring success?

Charli knew the last album, subsequent remixes, and merch launched a presidency that was an attempt at thwarting fascist white supremacy. People questioned if electoral politics were too uncool for Charli XCX in 2024.

Does anyone regret they didn’t vote for Trump? Doesn't Film Theory require a rejection of fascist white supremacy?

Reporting ​as a Black woman looking through the lens of historical facts—the true Bloodline of the Architect—we see the games they play. Whether it is the corporate spin coming out of Fox News reporting or the calculated betrayals from the establishment Democrats, we are done swallowing the script they hand us. 

We are living through a continuous cycle where both major political parties treat our lives, our safety, and our future as bargaining chips while protecting the status quo. ​Fox News operates as the public relations firm and loudspeaker for the Trump administration, packaging fear and division for the masses, while the other side offers empty rhetoric and broken promises. 

The November midterm elections are shaping up to be a showdown unlike anything the world has witnessed. Although the American Empire is in decline, it still exerts enormous influence over much of the world. Acting as though it can dominate the globe through bombs, assassinations, and drones, the U.S. government has proven increasingly incapable of negotiating lasting agreements or achieving decisive military victories.

Inflation in America has become a fact of life, driven in large part by perpetual war. It is impossible to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the military budget without fueling inflation. This administration has shown no ability to restore the nation's economic health while devoting vast American resources to building weapons and waging wars that kill civilians around the world.

President Jimmy Carter demonstrated what accountability looks like. After the failed Iran hostage rescue mission in 1980, he addressed the nation, looked Americans in the eye, and accepted full responsibility for the operation's failure.

Today, the human cost of U.S. military operations continues to grow, with American service members being killed and wounded in the Middle East. Behind every casualty is a son, daughter, spouse, parent, or friend whose sacrifice forever changes the lives of those left behind.

President Trump appears out of his depth on multiple fronts. In my view, his administration has allowed Israel to derail yet another opportunity for peace in pursuit of its own objectives. At the same time, many Americans are struggling at home—unable to find good jobs, pay rent, or keep up with the rising costs of gas and groceries.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that the United States should use ground troops to overthrow the Iranian regime. At the same time, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the war serves Israel's interests while making clear that Israel would not send its own ground troops to fight in Iran.

Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA) has released “They Walk Among Us: A List of 59 Sexually and Physically Abusive ICE and Border Agents” in the wake of ICE agent David Brouillette’s killing of Johan Sebastian in Maine.

“David Brouillette’s disturbing history of domestic violence is not unusual for an ICE agent,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance and author of this report. “But we have no way of knowing the full extent of the problem, because the agency doesn’t even look at family court records. What we do know is that ICE and Border Patrol agents have a disturbing track record of sexually and violently abusing women and children, including members of their own families. These are not people who should be given guns and free rein to roam U.S. communities. Their job is to enforce civil laws, but they act like they live in the wild west, and are killing people in our streets. Congress has to stop writing blank checks to these agencies and start enforcing order and accountability.”

During a military raid on the small town of Tell, southwest of Nablus, a moment of direct defiance shattered the illusion of total Palestinian submission.

Faced with relentless military incursions, land confiscation, and settler harassment and violence, local villagers and farmers refused to retreat.

In the confrontation that followed, a single Palestinian disarmed an Israeli soldier and opened fire on the invading forces near the illegal Havat Gilad settlement outpost, killing two soldiers and wounding three others.

What followed was the predictable, unyielding fury of the occupation: Israeli forces and state-backed armed settlers immediately launched a series of raids across Tell and neighboring communities, killing four Palestinians, setting fire to homes, and converting residential buildings into field interrogation centers.

In a swift collective punishment campaign, Israeli occupation troops detained over 70 Palestinians—including more than 40 in Tell alone—while expanding military incursions into Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Hebron (Al-Khalil), Bethlehem, and Jericho.