Q+A: Judge throws out NRA's bankruptcy bid – Politics Weekly

+ why Haitians are protesting in English US Edition - Today's top story: Faces of those America is leaving behind in Afghanistan [View in browser]( US Edition | 13 May 2021 [The Conversation]( Academic rigor, journalistic flair On vacation last week while my son visited from his home in Alaska, I took a break from the news, or as much of a break as a newsy household can take. My husband, my son and I are all journalists. So dinner-table conversations often are … about the news. Or about how the news is being covered. Or how the news should be covered – and isn’t. Some of us even talk back to the TV or radio during news programs. Maybe just one of us; not saying who. Among this past week’s stories, there’s one that was different from our usual fare. News people have shorthand for different kinds of stories – there are, for example, “explainers,” which do just that; and “tick-tocks,” which attempt to reconstruct how an event played out. This story, [“Faces of those America is leaving behind in Afghanistan,”]( fell outside the usual categories because it’s about images, not words. Editor Jeff Inglis, who commissioned the story, told me that scholar Brian Glyn Williams had emailed him, “saying that he loved Afghanistan and its people and wanted to show Americans more about them and their part of the world, with photos he had taken.” Jeff says he thought the scholar’s story idea provided “a really interesting opportunity to actually look at a faraway place about which Americans know relatively little, and learn about what life there is like for the people who were there when U.S. troops arrived, and who will still be there long after the U.S. military is gone.” We also published a helpful Q&A on a federal judge’s dismissal of the [NRA’s bankruptcy case]( as well as a useful explainer on the religious and [political importance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque]( in Jerusalem, the site of some of the latest violence to erupt in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Society The people of Afghanistan that the author encountered live very different lives from Americans. Brian Glyn Williams [Faces of those America is leaving behind in Afghanistan]( Brian Glyn Williams, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth As American troops leave Afghanistan, a scholar of the country's history and culture reexamines his photos of the nation's people. Litigation against the gun group, which had been on hold, may now proceed. Zach D. Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images [Judge rejects NRA’s bankruptcy bid, allowing New York’s lawsuit against the gun group to proceed: 5 questions answered]( Lindsey Simon, University of Georgia Judge Harlin Hale found that the gun group wasn't acting in 'good faith' when it filed for bankruptcy. Muslims pray at the Mihrab, a niche in a wall indicating the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, at the Foundation Stone, located under the Dome of the Rock in the Al- Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images [Why the Al-Aqsa Mosque has often been a site of conflict]( Ken Chitwood, Concordia College New York The Masjid al-Aqsa of Jerusalem is linked in the Quran to the story of the night journey of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and has deep religious meaning for Muslims across the world. - [Free speech wasn’t so free 103 years ago, when ‘seditious’ and ‘unpatriotic’ speech was criminalized in the US]( Eric P. Robinson, University of South Carolina Free speech is a long American tradition -- but so are attempts to restrict free speech. A First Amendment scholar writes about measures a century ago to silence those criticizing government. - [Domestic violence isn’t about just physical violence – and state laws are beginning to recognize that]( Lisa Aronson Fontes, University of Massachusetts Amherst The law continues to treat intimate partner violence like a bar fight – considering only what happened in a given violent incident. But domestic violence isn't about just physical violence. - [What the US can learn from Africa about slavery reparations]( Kwasi Konadu, Colgate University As the US debates reparations for descendants of slavery, cases in Africa help illustrate the limits of programs focused solely in financial restitution. - [Haitians protest their president in English as well as Creole, indicting US for its role in country’s political crisis]( Tamanisha John, Florida International University Haitian president Jovenel Moïse is accused of overstaying his term, embezzling funds and dismantling parliament. Protests are a hallmark of his presidency – but the language of them has changed. - [Myanmar’s anti-coup protesters defy rigid gender roles – and subvert stereotypes about women to their advantage]( Ei Hlaing, University of Lynchburg Myanmar's culture values men over women – and the military, which staged a Feb. 1 coup, brutally enforces the patriarchy. But Gen Z democracy activists are busting stereotypes with their struggle. - [States pick judges very differently from US Supreme Court appointments]( Joshua Holzer, Westminster College Many states have found ways to remove partisan politics from their court systems. You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe](. 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451