Former US President George H.W. Bush has died at 94.
Often known for presiding over the end of the Cold War, Bush also began America's large-scale military involvement in Iraq, with Operation Desert Shield in 1990, which led to Operation Desert Storm the following year. There are currently 5,200 US troops stationed in Iraq.
Bush was also known for his strong stance against same-sex marriage while he was in office. Though he professed compassion for victims of the AIDS crisis, he simultaneously cut funding for AIDS drugs. In 2013, he attended a same-sex marriage, and later said his views on same-sex marriage had "mellowed." During his presidency, 132,660 Americans died from AIDS.
Here are poems to read in honor of World AIDS Day, which is today.
Trump's policies have resulted in an increase in the number of uninsured American children, after years of decline.
The good guy with the gun is never black. Jamil Smith reminds us who the Second Amendment really protects.
Essential read: The consequences of being a white police officer who refuses to shoot a black man.
See more in The Editors' Longreads Picks.
None of the 42 migrants who were arrested in the border melee will face criminal charges.
Living under constant threat, even when there is no war: "This is what living in wartime feels like."
A mystery ballot found on a table at a Fairbanks voting precinct could be the tiebreaker in an undecided Alaska state House race.
The stories of the women who modeled for the works that made Manet's career.
The precincts that swung hardest for Trump in 2016 and for the GOP in 2018 also had the highest incidence of Google searches for “erectile dysfunction,” “hair loss,” “how to get girls,” “penis enlargement,” “penis size,” “steroids,” “testosterone” and “Viagra.” An analysis of search terms finds a strong correlation between Trump supporters and “fragile masculinity.”
How US customs and postal workers foiled a California succulent smuggling operation.
Traffic cameras in Shenzhen, China, caught hundreds of marathoners taking a shortcut—as well as fake bibs and "imposters."
Some sex scenes were “so over the top as to be almost outrageous”, said Brinkley, pointing to this line in Scoundrels: “I yearned again for the cogs of her Iron Maiden to grind my glans around inside her like an opera singer with a mouth lozenge.” The Literary Review announces the 2018 finalists for its “bad sex in fiction” award.
Intricate illustrations of everyday life, by Paige Jiyoung Moon.
A subreddit of imaginary subway maps connecting various cities' Subway restaurant locations.
In the 19th century, American students—often young women—drew maps of the US from memory, as mental and dexterity exercises.
Video: A mesmerizing, mirrored time-lapse of humans moving through cities. (Seizure warning.)
A poster of David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, if the songs were Penguin books.