May 29, 2023

The History and Meaning of Memorial Day

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By History.com Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2023 will occur on Monday, May 29. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official

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Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's 141st Commencement Exercises Wednesday, May 18, 2022, in New London, Conn. (AP Photo/Stephen Dunn)
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VP Harris becomes the first woman to give a West Point commencement speech

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By Emma Bowman and Juliana Kim Vice President Harris delivered the keynote speech at West Point’s graduation ceremony on Saturday, making her the first woman to give a commencement address in the military academy’s 221-year history. The watershed moment comes amid the 75th anniversary of two major turning points in the U.S. military — the

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The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. House Democrats set up a Tuesday vote on a bill that would suspend the U.S. debt ceiling through December 2022 and temporarily fund the government to avert a shutdown at the end of this month. Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What the Memorial Day weekend debt ceiling deal teaches us about politics

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By E.J. Dionne Jr. This Memorial Day weekend, there is a strange disconnect in our country’s public life. In Washington, negotiators scrambling to avoid a market calamity reached a debt ceiling deal that was more narrow than Republicans hoped and Democrats feared it would be. You might expect from this that our politics is primarily about taxes,

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