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Southern Rites (HBO Documentary)

Producer John Legend set out to document the desegregation of a Southern prom, and discovered that it would turn into a much larger story. Airs May 18.

Jeb Bush’s ‘Weird’ Iraq Answers

Jon Stewart wades through all of Jeb Bush‘s different answers on Iraq. Misheard the question. Mistakes get made all the time. These questions do a disservice to the soldiers. Really, is it so hard?

B. B. King, Defining Bluesman

Tim Weiner The New York Times
“I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions,” Mr. King said in his autobiography, “Blues All Around Me.” Many of the songs he sang — like his biggest hit, “The Thrill Is Gone” (“I’ll still live on/But so lonely I’ll be”) — were poems of pain and perseverance.

Two Poems by Eleanor Lerman

Eleanor Lerman The Poet
The poet explains the transition between these two poems and reveals a mordant humor.: "That Sure is My Little Dog," written some years ago, arose from what I felt at the time was a lack of political outrage on the left, particularly among younger people, but by the time of Occupy Wall Street, I was feeling more hopeful about my generation (the Woodstock era folks) passing the banner on to the next.generation. Which leads us to the second poem, "Leonard Cohen's Guitar."

After Lobbying by Obama, Senate Agrees to Vote on Trade Bill After All; Why Elizabeth Warren is Fighting the TPP

Jonathan Weisman; Bud Meyers
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) - what's at stake? Why the secrecy, why the rush, why cut-off debate and input? The reason is - Money, big money, says the New York Times. Major American business interests, from Nike to Boeing and Hollywood to Silicon Valley, want the deal badly. Labor and environmental groups see it as a threat to American workers at the expense of profits.