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When killing becomes commonplace

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." — Voltaire (1694-1778) Last week, when the Pentagon resumed its attacks on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, the media barely noticed. The ...

GOP incumbent in Louisiana loses Senate primary race

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When Charles Wandfluh voted in Louisiana's Republican primary over the weekend, he could only conjure the unflattering image of a panicked rodent when talking about Bill Cassidy's desperate attempt to cling to his U.S. Senate seat despite opposition from President Donald ...

Almanac for May 18, 2026

Today is Monday, May 18, the 138th day of 2026. There are 227 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupted, leaving an estimated 57 people dead or missing. Also on this date: In 1863, the Siege of Vicksburg began during the Civil War, ending on July 4 with a Union victory that gave its forces control of the Mississippi River. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation. (The decision was reversed in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.) In 1927, in ...

Decluttering till death do we part

Margareta Magnusson was an artist in Stockholm who wrote a bestselling book, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning." Decluttering, the removal of unnecessary items from our living spaces, had already become an international obsession. That was doubly so for Americans, whose large houses ...

Ex-election clerk’s sentence commuted after Trump pressure

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters after pressure from President Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of ...

Almanac for May 16, 2026

Today is Saturday, May 16, the 136th day of 2026. There are 229 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1966, the Chinese Communist Party issued the May 16 Notification, a document that criticized "counterrevolutionary revisionists" within the party and marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Also on this date: In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. In 1868, having already been impeached by the House of Representatives, President Andrew Johnson narrowly avoided impeachment by the Senate, which voted 35-19 in favor of ...