Comment on Mike's Blog Round Up

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have accepted invitations to debate live on television at least twice before the Nov. 5 election, giving voters a chance to hear from both presidential candidates side-by-side well before early voting begins. The first debate will be hosted by CNN on June 27 and the second will be hosted by ABC on Sept.

After officials repeatedly warned that they would consider stopping the flow of weapons to Israel if it pressed forward with a ground invasion into Rafah, the Biden administration announced it would nonetheless attempt to send more than $1 billion in additional weapons to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night, citing congressional officials. The Journal reports that the latest package “includes the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds.” Congress will have to approve the latest package. The latest announcement comes as something of an about-face for the White House: Just last week, President Biden made headlines after he told CNN that he would stop shipping certain weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proceeds with a major ground invasion of Rafah—which Israeli forces have already seemingly begun, leading nearly 450,000 people to flee the area since May 6, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations.

This article is part of The D. C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. Two years ago, former President Donald Trump bullied the Republican National Committee into passing a resolution declaring zero cooperation with the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Trump was convinced the group that has run the events since 1988 was stacked against him.

Oh look, the people from one of the most gratuitous and wasteful industries in the U. S. are giving us another tongue-lashing for having the audacity to exist on the same planet.

A message from a Harvard Teaching fellow about the American Novel and how it should be taught is eye-opening and utterly depressing.

Is this the new “wetback” slur?