Feb. 25, 2021
Credit.Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
Among the more farcical developments of the early Biden presidency has been congressional Republicansâ newfound passion for bipartisanship.
After years of Republican lawmakers treating Democratsâ concerns with all the respect of used Kleenex, reasonable observers might have assumed the G.O.P. disdained cross-party cooperation. Few legislators practice partisan obstructionism with the zeal of the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell.
But with Democrats now holding unified, if narrow, control of government, Republicans have had an epiphany. Bipartisanship has become their North Star, their holy grail. Democrats need to aggressively move to reclaim the concept in a way that better serves not only their political aims but also the American people.
Washington GOP bill would limit neck restraints, activists want them banned by Tim Gruver, The Center Square | February 03, 2021 09:00 AM Print this article
Polls show most Americans want to see an end to the use of neck restraints that killed George Floyd of Minnesota, but Washington activists say new legislation will accomplish the opposite.
Neck restraints, or strangleholds, are promoted by American police as safe ways of rendering suspects unconscious by reducing blood flow to the brain with a carotid restraint compressing two large blood vessels on either sides of the neck. Chokeholds, by contrast, cut off a person s airflow by applying pressure directly to the neck and throat.
HBKU, University of Maryland strengthen collaboration
01 Feb 2021 - 7:50
Dr. Anis Ben Brik
The Peninsula
Doha: The College of Public Policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, USA, to formalise their cooperation on the development of joint projects in fields of mutual interest.
The agreement was made official with a signing between HBKU, represented by Dr. Leslie A. Pal, founding dean of the College of Public Policy (CPP), and Dr. Anis Ben Brik, associate professor and founding director of the program of social policy and evaluation research (PROSPER), and the University of Maryland (UMD), represented by Senior VP and Provost Mary Ann Rankin, Dean of the UMD School of Public Policy Robert C. Orr, and Professor Douglas Besharov.
Commentary: A V-Shaped Recovery for Volunteering?
January 13, 2021
Despite a record-low year in volunteering, the nation is primed for a volunteering renaissance in the post-pandemic 2021. Following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States experienced a multi-year historic increase in the volunteer rate. In the devastating wake of the coronavirus there will once again be a pent-up demand for impact and what will be a nationalizing sentiment of rebuilding, similar to what drove the previous volunteering boom.
Combined with the desire to be outside with others, which will finally be made safe again thanks to mass vaccinations, the conditions will be perfect for another country-wide volunteering movement.
Is the American Experiment Still Viable?
Your guide to the United States in 2021 and beyond.
Story by
Erin Peterson | Illustrations by Dan Bejar
If America has always had its share of problems simmering just beneath the surface, 2020 was the year that brought many of them to a full boil. A contentious election ushered in furious charges of rigging and interference. Police killings of Black men and women led to uprisings that were decades in the making. Trust in the media sank, political polarization skyrocketed and an exponential growth in COVID-19 cases at the end of the year had the whole world watching.