海角大神

A man was charged with third-degree assault after attacking Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, spraying her with an unknown substance from a syringe during a Minneapolis town hall yesterday. The congresswoman had been calling for the abolishment of ICE and the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. She appeared uninjured. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on social media, 鈥淲e can disagree without putting people at risk... This kind of behavior will not be tolerated in our city.鈥�

UNICEF said it began听诲别濒颈惫别谤颈苍驳 school kits into Gaza for the first time in more than two years after Israeli authorities approved their entry. Thousands of kits have arrived, with more expected. A spokesperson for the U.N. children鈥檚 agency told Reuters they are 鈥渇inally seeing a real change鈥� in restoring schooling. The move comes as officials work to advance the second phase of the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

ICE agents will provide security at the Milan Olympics, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed. The agents will come from ICE鈥檚 Homeland Security Investigations division, which oversees a broad range of criminal investigations such as human trafficking and financial crimes. They will support diplomatic security, not immigration enforcement. While not unusual for the department to send support for international events, Milan鈥檚 mayor 鈥� citing recent violent confrontations between immigration officials and protesters in the United States 鈥� has said ICE agents are not welcome in his city.

Social media companies face legal scrutiny over claims their platforms harm young people鈥檚 mental health. A lawsuit filed by a California teen and her mother alleges that the companies knowingly designed addictive features that contribute to depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. TikTok and Snap have settled, while Meta and YouTube are set to defend themselves before a Los Angeles jury in a trial that began yesterday.

Spain is granting legal status to at least half a million immigrants already living in the country, expediting a decree to amend its immigration laws. The move comes as much of Europe and the U.S. adopt increasingly harsh immigration policies. It marks Spain鈥檚 first large-scale migrant regularization in two decades and has drawn backlash from the political right, including a pledge to challenge the measure in the courts.

A bipartisan bill in Georgia aims to freeze new data center construction statewide for a year. The Atlanta area leads the nation in artificial intelligence-driven construction, but concerns over energy use and infrastructure strain are driving moratorium efforts. Ten Georgia municipalities and others in at least 14 states have already pushed the pause button as AI-related data facilities proliferate across the U.S.

鈥� From Monitor writers around the globe

Alex Pretti was a lawful gun owner, and not brandishing his weapon, when he was disarmed and then fatally shot by federal agents. The resulting controversy focuses on an incident that appears to contradict decades of conservatives鈥� efforts to legitimize public gun carry.

Democrats in Congress had planned to support funding to avert another government shutdown. They changed course after federal agents killed a second person opposing immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, and now say securing Department of Homeland Security reforms is worth the price of a shutdown.

Despite billions in foreign aid to Haiti, life for most Haitians hasn鈥檛 improved. 鈥淪olutions must come from the people,鈥� says one local minister.

In Pakistan, U.S.-Pakistan rapprochement has always been viewed as a double-edged sword. But now that Islamabad is joining Trump鈥檚 鈥淏oard of Peace,鈥� many worry the government has made a Faustian pact.

Our reviewers鈥� picks for this month include a tribute to winter, a police blotter鈥檚-worth of mysteries, and a real-life spy thriller involving the KGB. This tantalizing crop of books has something for every reader.

Amid a fraught political environment, Americans are preparing to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States this year. It鈥檚 a timely opportunity for both honest self-reflection and potential unity 鈥� around a remarkable story of national achievement and a recognition of all that still needs doing to fully realize the country鈥檚 founding ideals.

Two-thirds of Americans, the Pew Research Center reported this week, believe it is extremely or very important to publicly discuss historical strengths and successes 鈥� as well as flaws and failures.

Yet, the nation still disagrees on how to tell its history. The Trump administration has issued directives to parks and museums to remove signage that it views as not in 鈥渁lignment with shared national values.鈥� Last week, the city of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department for removing exhibits referencing slavery at the site of a residence once occupied by George Washington. The City Council deemed this 鈥渁n effort to whitewash American history.鈥� The exhibits were controversial in 2010 when they opened during the Obama administration.

At the same time, according to a report by the center-left Progressive Policy Institute, recent historical scholarship has tended to present 鈥渁 one-sided and unrelentingly negative portrait鈥� of the U.S., examining its 鈥渕oral failings but nothing about its virtues.鈥� Studying nearly 100 articles published in American Quarterly, a journal of the American Studies Association, the report found that 80% were critical of the U.S., 20% were neutral 鈥� and not one was positive.

Ideally, the researchers said, scholars should 鈥渟eek to capture the whole of America: the challenges alongside the heroism; the slavery and segregation, but also freedoms and values that gave rise to the civil rights movement; ... economic inequality with an understanding of how the country came to have the world鈥檚 most vibrant economy.鈥�

Their observation echoes counsel that President Barack Obama offered in 2015 during a speech honoring civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama.

鈥淭o deny ... hard-won progress 鈥� our progress,鈥� Mr. Obama said, 鈥渨ould be to rob us of our own agency ... to do what we can to make America better.鈥�

Attaining a candid and balanced reckoning with history is a worthy endeavor, one that might help bridge political divides and offer guideposts for the next 250 years. The process would call for a willingness to consider varied perspectives, especially from those whose stories and contributions have previously been ignored. But it would also need to avoid what one historian has described as 鈥渞eading the present into the past鈥� 鈥� judging (and condemning) history and historical figures by present-day norms and standards.

Ultimately, coalescing around a shared history is about a civic purpose that goes beyond academic debate or disciplines. As late sociologist James Loewen observed: 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 just learning about the past to satisfy our curiosity 鈥� we are learning about the past to do our jobs as Americans.鈥�