Maryland's The Land Of Pleasant Living: Thanks To Your Taxes, Folks

(BALTIMORE) — The body of the last missing construction worker killed in the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March has been recovered, officials announced Tuesday as demolition crews prepared to use explosives in the ongoing cleanup effort. Officials said the crew of the Dali will remain on board the grounded container ship while crews conduct a controlled demolition to break down the largest remaining span of the fallen bridge. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The steel span landed on the ship’s bow after the Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns on March 26.

Conservative podcast host Steve Bannon exploded with anger Monday after a New York judge threatened former President Donald Trump with jail. Bannon unleashed a rant after Justice Juan Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for each of four violations of a gag order. The judge previously fined Trump for nine other violations. During the Monday hearing, Merchan also said jail could be a future sanction. "It's all this to smear Trump," Bannon opined.

Advocacy groups, congressional Democrats, and U. S. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign on Monday pointed to new government reports on Medicare and Social Security as proof that the key programs must be protected from Republican attacks. The annual trustee reports show that Social Security is projected to be fully funded until 2035, a year later than previously thought, while Medicare is expected to be fully funded until 2036, five years beyond the earlier projection. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee to face Biden in November, "proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare every year he was in office, he's said repeatedly he would cut them, his allies openly plan to target them, and just this weekend he dismissed them as bribes," noted James Singer, a spokesperson for the Democrat's campaign. "Let's be clear, Donald Trump will steal the hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits Americans have been paying into their entire lives and he'll use it to fund tax cuts for rich people like him," Singer warned.

Kathleen Hanna has always been dead serious and slyly funny at once. More perspicacious than angry invective alone, that alchemy of tones has been her signature since the early ’90s, when a 20-something Hanna fronted Bikini Kill, the punk band that became the most visible act associated with the third-wave feminist movement known as riot grrrl.

Macklemore’s newest single “Hind’s Hall”—inspired by the pro-Palestinian activism seen at Columbia University and other college campuses around the world—is the latest addition to the catalog of American protest songs that includes Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and Crosby, Stills, and Nash & Young’s “Ohio.” The song’s title is in reference to the recent siege of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University that ended with a confrontation between demonstrators and police that broke up the pro-Palestinian encampment.

Performers from across Europe and beyond will compete in the first semi-final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday, amid heightened security prompted by pro-Palestinian protesters objecting to Israel’s participation in the competition. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The international songwriting competition kicked off over the weekend in Malmo, Sweden. The city already expected about 100,000 fans to visit, and amped up security for the event in anticipation of thousands of people protesting Israel’s participation in the contest.