Author: CNN

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CNN
 — 

William Carlos Williams is perhaps best known for the red wheelbarrow on which so much depends, but “Spring and All” – the 1923 book which includes that poem – is a manifesto on how language, through its own slow renewal, can recreate the world. “It is the imagination on which reality rides,” Williams wrote. “To whom then am I addressed? To the imagination.”

In 2012, the Library of Congress cited “Spring and All” as one of 88 “books that shaped America,” which feels, as we prepare to take on 2023, like a prescient gesture, one that anticipated the power of imagination to create change and the role of culture in efforts to attend to the present while staying connected to the past and committed to transforming the future.

Sometimes the past speaks directly from the page. As Laura Beers wrote, George Orwell’s perspective following the Second World War forecast the realities of 2022: disinformation, “reality control,” and freedom of expression as the bedrock of all other freedoms – making it the most important, and also the most vulnerable to attack and suppression. For Issac Bailey, a free copy of Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” opened his imagination in ways a childhood stutter had kept locked inside – and prompted him to speak out against ongoing efforts to ban books.

Or it’s a single word. Take Merriam-Webster’s word of the year: gaslighting. Its selection was a statement on the precarity of truth in our lives, but Nicole Hemmer, who wrote one of the first pieces connecting the term to then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016, objected to synonymizing “gaslighting” with lying without emphasizing its origins as a form of psychological abuse against women. “This loss of context for a single word might not feel urgently important – after all, words evolve as they work their way from novel to commonplace to, eventually, trite (as the word ‘gaslighting’ now feels after years of overuse). But in a culture where histories of abuse are regularly erased – even five years into the #MeToo movement – the erasure feels significant,” insisted Hemmer. Changing one word’s meaning can empower women to claim their experiences and take one more step toward justice and equality.

Consider also how cultural figures have loomed large this year in our most painful moments. As Peniel E. Joseph reminded us, cultural icons including basketball coach Steve Kerr and actor Matthew McConaughey spoke out after the massacre of 19 schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, serving in Joseph’s words “as courageous models for a progressive White male identity that challenges systems of oppression, speaks truth to power and confronts the divisions of our current moment by publicly highlighting the gap between the nation’s professed values and a more bitter reality that allows 19 children to be killed in such grotesque fashion.”

And during the Jackson water crisis, W. Ralph Eubanks recounted how the richness of Mississippi’s literary and cultural heritage informed his conviction that “Mississippi has something to say … Mississippi matters.” And yet, while in Jackson to celebrate that heritage, he instead encountered “a new way the past and the present are colliding in Mississippi. Instead of the cultural charm and pull of this place that I love so much, I was confronted by the remnants of Jim Crow Mississippi living on in the present.”

But if I might borrow and riff on Williams’ formulation to look back at 2022 in cultural commentary, another part of the reason reality rides the back of imagination is because the latter functions as a source of joy and revelation that can invigorate the former. After the last few years, don’t we deserve a little more of that?

In March, absurdist dramedy “Everything Everywhere All At Once” – led by Michelle Yeoh playing Evelyn Wang – took the screen by storm, offering what Jeff Yang described as a “perfect metaphor for this thing we call Asian America.” In the film, Yeoh’s character “can conjure up any reality she imagines, bringing substance to the outrageous worlds of her imagination by drawing power from the infinite diversity of her myriad selves – making many into one, sometimes by chance, sometimes by choice. And we, as Asian Americans, are in the process of doing the same, building a cultural collage out of mixed media and lived experiences,” wrote Yang.

Summer romance took an unconventionally sexy (and equally dramedic) turn with Emma Thompson’s “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” which chronicled her recently-widowed protagonist’s quest for sexual pleasure and her first orgasm – with a sex worker. This is a new kind of romance, affirmed Sara Stewart – a romance between Thompson’s Nancy and her own post-60 body: “Talk about a message at odds with our current political moment, where women’s bodily and autonomy and power are under siege.”

Come fall, noted Stewart, it was time to be served some “eat the rich” satire in “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness.” Predictable, perhaps, given a pandemic “in which billionaires got richer while millions died,” she wrote. But while investing any film with “single-handedly dismantling capitalism seems too heavy a lift … Mark Twain said, ‘the human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.’ We can at least capitalize, so to speak, on these films’ painting their ultra-rich subjects as inherently ridiculous. We can begin to puncture the idea that obscene wealth is the ultimate American aspiration,” argued Stewart.

More on films that made a difference in 2022:

Lilit Marcus: ‘CODA’ didn’t change my life. It showed my life

Vanessa Hua: Why ‘Turning Red’ gives me hope

Nsenga K. Burton: What the calls to boycott ‘The Woman King’ are really saying

Jemar Tisby: This film is a timely reminder of what patriotism looks like

Emmy glory and the second season premiere of “Abbott Elementary,” the beloved comedy set in a Philadelphia school, was a triumph for an underdog that “has earned its stature – and then some,” wrote Gene Seymour, who has lived in the City of Brotherly Love off and on for 40 years. It’s more than a show about teaching, he insisted – it’s a show that, like its city of origin, “teaches you. And one of its lessons is not to understand anyone or anything too quickly, but to give each person time and space to figure themselves – and each other – out.”

2022 was also the sophomore year for Netflix’s Regency-era hit “Bridgerton,” and Holly Thomas outlined how the show’s second season made her fall in love with Anthony Bridgerton like the rest of us, while stressing the importance of remembering “just how rooted in fantasy ‘Bridgerton’ is. It suggests that a strikingly bigoted country – one which failed miserably to accept a non-White royal in the 21st century, let alone the 19th – has managed to dismantle structural racism in a generation, all because the king made a Black woman his queen. … All this to say, literally nothing is beyond the redemptive power of love on this show.”

That’s a far cry from “The Crown” – now a fifth-year senior with a new cast – where love is nowhere to be found and, as Thomas noted, fiction is rightly putting history in the corner. (In other streaming period drama-drama of the Regency variety, Thomas also praised the Jane Austen “adaptation” of “Persuasion” for being a so-bad-it’s-brilliant work of sneaky genius.)

More smart takes on television:

Sara Stewart: ‘Dahmer’ debate is finally saying the quiet part about true crime out loud

Bill Carter: Trevor Noah’s bombshell was almost predictable

Olachi Ihekwaba: I turn to romance series when nothing else makes sense

Lindsey Mantoan: ‘House of the Dragon’ isn’t perfect, but it may be what we need

Even before the Supreme Court released its decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case in June, women across America began speaking out about what the end of Roe v. Wade meant to them. Laura Beers shared that her own parenting journey could be rendered illegal or practically prohibited in states with abortion bans. Her younger son was conceived via IVF after she endured a miscarriage requiring a dilation and curettage procedure in one pregnancy and chose to abort another after a fatal anomaly was discovered. “Each step in my journey to motherhood – the D&C following my miscarriage, my abortion, and my IVF treatment – relied on the good faith support and care of doctors committed to helping me achieve the healthy pregnancy that I so desired,” Beers wrote. “Recent anti-abortion legislation imperils the ability of doctors to provide similar care to their patients.”

Franchetta Groves, a student at Catholic University, wrote in June that the Dobbs decision didn’t feel like a setback, but rather a triumph for those like herself who identify as pro-life. “After Roe, I believe it will be possible for our nation to be one that doesn’t cast judgment on women who become pregnant, but one that embraces them with love and compassion,” she reflected.

Dr. Mae-Lan Winchester, an Ohio maternal-fetal medicine specialist who works with high-risk pregnancies and whose patients have had to go out of state for abortion care, wrote in October that “it felt like a slap in the face to be told by lawyers … that my medical opinion is not enough for the law to permit me to provide the care I am trained to give. … I worry that the next lawyer I discuss a complex case with will not understand, and that the patient who needs an abortion will be denied. I worry they will lack the time, money, transportation and support to get the care they need. … I am scared they will die.”

Anxieties over the realities of a post-Roe America touched families who fear the rollback of rights around contraception and same-sex marriage. As Joan Lester wrote: “Twice, I’ve survived the legal marital shadows,” in her first interracial marriage to a Black man and in her later same-sex union to a woman. “I wonder and worry: are they coming for my marriage next?” They touched our daily lives as directly as the phones in our pockets do (as Katherine Yao and Megan L. Ranney noted in citing the vulnerability of data gathered by period-tracker apps) – or as routinely as our kids’ activities (as Ranney also wrote after a Florida school’s request for athletes’ period data raised legal and security issues).

For more:

CNN contributors: The conflicts in a post-Roe America are just beginning

Erika Bachiochi, Reva Siegel, Daniel Williams and Mary Ziegler: We disagree about abortion but with one voice support this urgently-needed law

When Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company in April, Kara Alaimo warned it could be a death knell for the social media platform: “Musk has been vocal that he thinks Twitter should be a platform for mostly unfettered speech,” she wrote, but “allowing harmful forms of ‘free speech’ – like misogyny and hate – on Twitter will actually have the effect of silencing many people and will be disastrous for the social network.”

Once Musk took the reins at Twitter in the fall, he gutted the company and reinstated users who had engaged in hateful or mendacious speech on the platform in the past. Hate and harassment, already a problem, skyrocketed. Roxanne Jones deleted her account on the same day Musk took over, after years of battling haters online as a Black woman in the public eye. She wrote: “Waking up to toxic attacks on Twitter kept me in beast mode, on and off the site. That’s what the Twitter-verse will do to you. … Twitter will have you fighting anonymous bots meant to misinform the masses and real people who don’t have the courage or the intellect to challenge you in person. So nah, I’m done. I’ll take my power and my voice and walk in the real world.”

More on Twitter:

David M. Perry: Why those of us on Twitter are saying “I was here”

Dean Obeidallah: Elon Musk’s Twitter is helping to normalize a neo-Nazi

The death of Queen Elizabeth II in September was more than a turning point in 2022; it was a seismic shift for a country whose global imperial imprint has diminished but for many will never fade. The wave of public grief was immediate, and the opposition to and conflictedness around that grief equally passionate. And in marking the seven decades of her reign in its unmatched longevity, from her 1953 coronation (the first televised) to her death at 96, “Britain closes a chapter on its past, a farewell to members of the wartime generation that saw this country’s finest hour, encapsulating as they did the spirit of 1940, when Britain stood alone against fascism, undaunted and unbowed,” wrote Rosa Prince.

In her nearly 71 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth stood alongside countless world leaders, most of them men, including 12 American presidents (she met a 13th, Harry S. Truman, while still a princess). “Queen Elizabeth’s sovereignty was framed by her gender even before she came to the throne,” observed Sarah Gristwood. “For 70 years, the British people have grown used to singing ‘God Save the Queen.’ To sing ‘God Save the King’” – as the British people will conceivably do for at least three generations, with Charles, William and George – “will catch in the throat for some time to come.”

For more on the royal family:

Holly Thomas: King Charles’ biggest problem isn’t his crown, but his voice

Peggy Drexler: Why ‘Harry & Meghan’ is a royal disappointment

In November, Michelle Obama published another best-selling book, and what made “The Light We Carry” fascinating, assessed Nicole Hemmer, was that it was not a follow-up to her memoir “Becoming.” Hemmer classified it as a self-help book, except instead of a life coach, readers get a former first lady. Unlike Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote an advice column for two decades, or more recent first ladies’ children’s books or policy statements, Hemmer wrote that Obama picks up where Betty Ford left off, sharing her own authenticity in service of a social purpose and building a brand beyond the limitations of her political role: “She has an intuitive sense of how blurred the lines have become between not only the personal and the political, but between influencer and politician. In this book, Obama shows her desire to use that tangle of emotion and power to bring people together, but the ease with which feelings and politics now blend is also a reminder of how easily that combination could also be used to divide.”

Don’t miss:

Jill Biden: What Ukrainian mothers taught me about this war

Adrienne Childs: Why the Obamas’ portraits matter

The dismissal of a renowned adjunct chemistry professor from New York University in October after a spate of student complaints about his teaching reinvigorated a series of long-standing questions about the modern academy, wrote Jill Filipovic. “Are academic standards dropping? Are professors and administrators too beholden to students’ fragile emotions – and their parents’ tuition dollars? And what’s wrong with kids these days, anyway?” Filipovic argued that the university got it wrong: “Whether or not [Dr. Maitland] Jones was an effective teacher for aspiring medical students is up for debate, but in firing him, NYU is effectively dodging questions about the line between academic rigor and student well-being with potentially life-and-death matters at stake.”

When it comes to mental health on campus, the stakes couldn’t be higher, noted David M. Perry, who classified recent lawsuits against Yale and Stanford Universities as a necessary spotlight on the need to do better at caring for students with mental health disabilities. “The good news is that there are solutions,” he wrote. “Which is good, because the bad news is that as Generation Covid arrives on campus, students whose entire high school experience has been shaped by living through an ongoing global mass death event, the quotidian pressures of college life are only going to get worse.”

More sharp campus takes:

Issac Bailey: I was the kid who stayed silent in college

Evan Mandery and Michael Dannenberg: It’s time to put an end to early decision

David M. Perry: Tips for picking a college major

In a year of sports largely bookended by a second Beijing Olympics and the first FIFA World Cup held in the Middle East, it was clear that in between, some of the biggest milestones were in arenas beyond the playing field.

In August, Serena Williams rewrote what retirement means in an essay in Vogue. “By using the word ‘evolve,’” applauded Roxanne Jones, “Serena has done what society has failed to do when it comes to framing talented women who excel early in a chosen career, then leave on their own terms and lean into themselves. Watching women realize their limitless capacity for greatness is a beautiful thing. … Many women of all economic backgrounds, including those in my own peer group, are reimagining and expanding what success looks like in our lives. It isn’t an easy choice to make.”

The magic spun by the bat of Aaron Judge in late summer and early autumn kept many in thrall, but Jeff Pearlman had harsh words for Major League Baseball’s myth-making attempts to capitalize on the spark, finding them hypocritical after years of sweeping rampant doping under a rug of greed. Aaron Judge “has had a season for the ages,” wrote Pearlman. “This should be an historic time for baseball. This should be an historic time for Aaron Judge. Instead, greed destroyed baseball – and took its history with it.”

At a Qatar World Cup staggeringly diminished by human rights protests and the untimely death of legendary US soccer journalist Grant Wahl, the Moroccan national team brought light by praying and joyously kissing the covered heads of their mothers – in a year when in France (whose team are the defending World Cup champion), women athletes had been banned from wearing hijab while playing sports (a move Shaista Aziz contended dehumanized French Muslim women). Wrote Khaled Beydoun from Doha: “Morocco’s celebrated run of World Cup victories has been, in some ways, vicarious vindication against Belgium and Spain, Portugal and France – the most formidable of its former colonial overlords and present footballing foes. While much of France remains largely trapped within a dark history of its own making, Morocco is remaking its own history, claiming its place in the world and the World Cup.”

More on sports:

Michael Croley: The March Madness shot that broke our hearts and the real tragedy that followed

Amy Bass: Elite women athletes aren’t safe. What does that mean for us mere mortals?

Kaitlyn Weaver: My Olympic figure skating dream came true. Don’t let others get ruined

Keri Blakinger: Why I’ll never forget having my period in prison

Katherine Pisabaj: How a bullet fired by a stranger almost killed and forever changed me

Chimére L. Smith: Doctors didn’t believe that I had Covid-19. I found a way to make them listen

Dave Lucas: I am a lapsed Catholic who finds blessings at this Passover table

Danté Stewart: We redefined Blackness as a world and a gift

Jennifer Harvey: The kids I coach are the living rejection of anti-LGBTQ hate. They shouldn’t have to be

Roy Schwartz: Why Lego is the best toy ever invented

Tess Taylor read three books – by a poet, a psychoanalyst and a priest (who really should walk into a bar together, she noted) – about radical joy to ready herself the holidays. She also reflected on a recent conversation with friends, all of whom are grinding through a time of suffering, that brought her to tears. “It’s ok to be fragile,” her friend told her. “We’re all fragile now.” “Yeah,” she thought, “and maybe we’re ready to be joyful, too. It’s winter. It’s cold. The holidays are coming. We’re about to try to find light in darkness.”

For Amy Bass, joy is going to rock concerts with her high school best friend – and their two teenage daughters. “It has been an amazing experience. I loved every second of watching our girls battle for position in the pit at Harry Styles’ show. … Indeed, just as we once joined the thousands of voices walking out of a U2 show singing ’40’ long after the band had left the building, our girls are part of a generation of fans that seems to look out for one another,” Bass wrote in a reflection on Taylor Swift-mania and Ticketmaster. Getting tickets to concerts has never been easy, recalled Bass, who remembers sleeping outside in the cold to stay in line for tickets and getting Joey Ramone’s guitar pick after her mom accompanied her into a venue at age 15 due to her lack of ID. But Bass argued this amazing generation of kids deserves more magic and less merch. She pledged to stay “in the trenches with my kid, trying to support her love for music the way my mother did for me.”

We wish you joy and health this holiday season. Thank you for sharing another year with us.

CNN
 — 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “following the devil” and waging a war to ensure that its President Vladimir Putin remains in power “until the end of his life.”

Zelensky switched to speaking Russian in his nightly address on Saturday to send a message to the Kremlin and Russian citizens, as Moscow launched a series of deadly strikes that swept several regions of Ukraine ahead of New Year.

“All this war that you are waging, you – Russia, it is not the war with NATO, as your propagandists lie,” Zelensky said. “It is not for something historical. It’s for one person to remain in power until the end of his life.

“And what will be with all of you, citizens of Russia, does not concern him,” he added.

Zelensky said “Russian leader is hiding behind the troops, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces” and behind his people. “He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. No one will ever forgive you for terror,” Zelensky emphasized.

Zelensky said “most of the Russian missiles intercepted by air defense forces.”

“If it were not for air defense, the number of casualties would have been different. Much bigger,” he stressed. “And this is yet another proof for the world that support for Ukraine must be increased.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal earlier said Moscow wants to cause darkness and leave the country “in the dark for the New Year.”

Moscow intends to “intimidate, leave us in the dark for the new year, cause as much damage to civilian infrastructure as possible,” Shmyhal said on Telegram.

“There are attacks on civilian infrastructure in different regions of our country. Residential buildings, hotel, (a) shop, place for festivals were damaged. There are dead and injured,” he wrote.

“Russians want to intimidate, leave us in the dark for the New Year, cause as much damage to civilian infrastructure as possible.”

Russian shelling in recent weeks targeting critical infrastructure across Ukraine has left much of the country without access to heat and power, amid a harsh winter season.

Out of the 20 injured, 14 were hospitalized, while six others were given medical care on the spot, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Several school buildings in the capital suffered severe damage from the explosions, the mayor added.

Air raid sirens, which were activated earlier following the attacks, are now off in Kyiv.

Further east in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions, Russian strikes killed at least six people.

Three people died and three more were wounded in the Donetsk region, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.

One person was wounded in the Zaporizhzhia region. Two were killed and one wounded in the Kharkiv region. Two people were wounded in the Kherson region, while one died in the Chernihiv region.

It came after Russia launched five missiles and 29 air strikes on Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Saturday.

“26 of the enemy’s air strikes were on civilian infrastructure. In particular, the occupants used 10 Shahed-136 UAVs, but all of them were shot down. In addition, the enemy made 80 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, civilian settlements were also hit,” the General Staff said in its latest operational update.

It said that Russia “continues to conduct offensive actions at the Lyman and Bakhmut directions and is trying to improve the tactical situation at the Kupiansk and Avdiivka directions.”

Russian forces fired on several towns and villages, including in Lyman, in the direction of Bakhmut, in the areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Thirty percent of the capital was left without power due to emergency shutdowns, Klitschko said.

“The municipal ‘life support system’ of the capital is operating normally. Currently, 30% of consumers are without electricity. Due to emergency shutdowns,” he said on Telegram.

“Kyiv residents have water and heat,” he added.

Klitschko also reported that the restrictions were applied to check the open section of the red metro line in the city “for the presence of remnants of missile debris.”

“Specialists are on the way to that area,” he said. “We will inform you further about the resumption of traffic on the red line.”

Locals in Kyiv told CNN how they planned to spend the New Year in the capital.

“From 2023 I really want to win, and also to have more bright impressions and new emotions. I miss it very much. I also want to travel and open borders. And I also think about personal and professional growth, because one should not stand still. I have to develop and work for the benefit of the country,” said Alyona Bogulska, a 29-year-old financier.

“This year, it’s a symbol, not that it’s a small victory, but a symbol that we survived the year,” said Tatiana Tkachuk, a 43-year-old pharmacy employee.

“And I want to thank everyone who helps Ukraine. We’ve made a lot of friends. And in order to understand that we have a lot of good things, unfortunately, we had to go through terrible things. But so many people are doing real miracles for Ukraine.”

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska said the country “will persevere,” following the strikes.

“On New Year’s Eve, cities should be covered by wave of celebration, joy and hope. Ukrainian cities are again covered by missile wave from Russia,” Zelenska tweeted.

“Ruining lives of others is a disgusting habit of our neighbors. But we will persevere and be even stronger – in spite of everything.”

CNN
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Paris Hilton is back to see “what love can do” for the second time with a new version of her 2006 song “Stars Are Blind.”

The socialite (and occasional actress, musician, model, and youth advocate) originally released the song as a single off her debut studio album, Paris. The love song topped charts around the world.

Hilton announced the release of an updated version of the song on Instagram Friday. The new version, titled “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version)”, is streaming on Amazon Music.

“This song has always meant so much to me, it felt right to close out 2022 with a refreshed version,” wrote Hilton on Instagram alongside photos of Times Square screens advertising the song. “And seeing my face lighting up Times Square is so special. Thank you to everyone who has always supported my music career.”

She added fans can look out for “new music to come in the new year.”

In another Instagram posted on New Year’s Eve, she hinted she had another surprise to announce before the end of the year.

“I have one more surprise for you all tonight to ensure I close out the year with a bang, like a wrecking ball,” she wrote.

CNN
 — 

President Joe Biden mourned the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, saying in a statement Saturday that the late pontiff “will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the Church, guided by his principles and faith.”

Benedict died Saturday at the age of 95 in a Vatican monastery, according to a statement from the Vatican. He was the first pope in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, doing so in 2013.

Biden, the second Catholic to serve as president of the United States, reflected on his meeting with Benedict at the Vatican in 2011, recalling the late pontiff’s “generosity and welcome as well as our meaningful conversation.”

“As he remarked during his 2008 visit to the White House, ‘the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity.’ May his focus on the ministry of charity continue to be an inspiration to us all,” Biden said Saturday.

Benedict’s funeral will be held on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City at 9:30 a.m. local time, the Vatican statement said. The funeral will be led by Pope Francis.

Benedict was a polarizing figure, hailed by conservatives who admired his erudite writings and careful theology. But he faced criticism, particularly in the postmodern West, for his staunch insistence on fidelity to church doctrine and his willingness to silence dissent. He also came under fire for his handling of the sexual abuse crisis that engulfed the Catholic Church during his years as a senior cleric.

Benedict met with three sitting US presidents – in addition to future President Biden – during his time as leader of the Catholic Church.

“It was like going back to theology class,” Biden told America, a Jesuit publication, in 2015 of his meeting with Benedict. “And by the way, he wasn’t judgmental. He was open. I came away enlivened from the discussion.”

Benedict met with his first sitting president in 2007 when George W. Bush traveled to the Vatican. Benedict made his only papal visit to the United States the following year. Bush took the rare step of meeting the pope when his plane arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC, and he later welcomed Benedict to the White House with an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn where thousands gathered and sang “Happy Birthday” to the pope, who turned 81 that day.

Later that year, Bush visited Benedict at the Vatican, where the two men strolled through the Vatican Gardens and met privately for roughly 30 minutes.

In 2009, President Barack Obama met with Benedict for 30 minutes at the Vatican. Officials at the time said their meeting included discussions on addressing poverty and the Middle East, as well as issues such as abortion and stem cell research.

Abortion also appeared to be a topic of discussion during Biden’s meeting with Benedict. In his 2015 interview with America, Biden said the two men spoke about Catholic doctrine and the then-vice president’s view that he should not impose his own beliefs on other people, including on issues such as abortion.

Benedict talked about Biden’s abortion stance after he became president in 2021.

“It’s true, he’s Catholic and observant. And personally, he is against abortion,” Benedict said in an interview with The Tablet, a Catholic publication. “But as president, he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party … and on gender policy, we still don’t really understand what his position is.”

Biden also spoke of Benedict at a White House event this summer, calling him a “great theologian, a very conservative theologian.” The president shared that Benedict had asked him for advice when they met.

“‘Well, one piece of advice,’ I said, ‘I’d go easy on the nuns. They’re more popular than you are,’” Biden recounted to laughter.

CNN
 — 

Three children are dead following a Saturday morning fire in Buffalo, New York, that also left three other children, including a baby, and their grandmother hospitalized.

The fire was reported in the 200 block of Darmouth Ave. around 7:30 a.m., Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said during a press conference Saturday.

Three girls aged 7, 8, and 10, died as a result of the fire, according to Renaldo.

Two other children, one girl and one boy, were taken to Children’s Hospital and are currently in critical condition, he said. A seven-month-old girl was also taken to the same hospital and is currently in stable condition.

A 63-year-old grandmother was taken to Erie County Medical Center and is currently in critical condition.

The children were being raised by their grandparents. The grandfather wasn’t home at the time of the fire, according to Renaldo.

“It’s been a very challenging year at the fire department. There’s been a number of fatalities. A number of high-profile fires. Obviously, we had the mass shooting at Topps on 5/14 and we’re coming off the challenge of a worldwide pandemic as well,” Renaldo said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. No firefighters were injured in the incident.

Buffalo is still recovering from a deadly and historic blizzard that barreled through last weekend, burying the city in nearly 52 inches of snow and killing at least 39 people. Most of the victims were found dead either outside or in their homes, while others died in their cars, as the result of delayed emergency medical service, and while removing snow or from cardiac arrest, officials have said.

CNN
 — 

US Highway 101, one of California’s most famous routes, closed in both directions in south San Francisco Saturday as heavy precipitation and snow melt are flooding roads, especially in the northern half of the state.

The California Department of Transportation also advised of a partial closure of Interstate 80 near the Nevada line midday Saturday “due to multiple spinouts over Donner Summit.” Driving through the mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada range has required tire chains for much of this month due to heavy snowfall.

A strong storm began to bring widespread heavy rain Friday through Saturday, creating a flood threat for much of Northern and Central California. An active jet stream pattern also continued to bring a parade of storms fueled by an atmospheric river of Pacific moisture.

An atmospheric river is a long, narrow region in the atmosphere which can transport moisture thousands of miles, like a fire hose in the sky. This heavy rainfall will slide southward to Southern California on Saturday and Sunday, accompanied by gusty winds of 30 to 50 mph.

Several small communities in northern California were put under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday due to flooding. Three communities near the city of Watsonville were told to evacuate by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office due to creek flooding, while officials ordered the communities of Paradise Park and Felton to evacuate due to rising levels of the San Lorenzo River.

Neighborhoods near the Santa Rita Creek in Monterey County were put under a warning Saturday afternoon because of concerns the creek “will spill over its banks,” according to the sheriff’s office.

A flood watch for more than 16 million is in effect including the entire Bay Area and Central Valley though Saturday night. Rain could ease Saturday evening before the calendar turns to 2023.

Earlier weather predictions said widespread rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected in northern and central California, but locally higher amounts of 5 to 7 inches are also possible for the foothills.

Northern California and the central California coast have already received 2 to 4 inches of rain in the last week. The cumulative effect of multiple Pacific storm systems laden with moisture from a potent atmospheric river will make impacts such as flash floods and landslides more likely.

Videos and photos shared by the National Weather Service in San Francisco show fallen trees blocking roadways, and multiple landslides.

“Downtown SF rain gauge now reporting 5.33 inches for today,” the National Weather Service office in San Francisco said. “Making a run for wettest calendar day ever… (records go back to 1849).”

CNN
 — 

When Indonesia passed controversial amendments to its criminal code earlier this month, one aspect above all others dominated the headlines: the criminalization of sex outside marriage.

Tourism figures warned it would put foreigners off visiting and hurt Indonesia’s global reputation – no small matters in a country that welcomed up to 15 million international travelers annually before the pandemic and recently held the G20 presidency for the first time in its history.

Officials have since played down the likelihood of tourists being charged, but hundreds of millions of Indonesians still face the prospect of up to a year in jail for the same offense – and rights activists warn that this is only the start of the new code’s potential to threaten Indonesians’ personal freedoms and civil liberties. Indonesian officials, on the other hand, defend the move as a necessary compromise in a democracy that is home to the world’s largest Muslim population.

The new code also criminalizes cohabitation between unmarried couples and promoting contraception to minors, and enshrines laws against abortion (except in cases of rape and medical emergencies when the fetus is less than 12 weeks) and blasphemy.

It also limits Indonesians’ right to protest and criminalizes insulting the president, members of his cabinet or the state ideology.

Offenders face the prospect of prison terms ranging from months to years.

Rights groups have been scathing in their assessments.

“In one fell swoop, Indonesia’s human rights situation has taken a drastic turn for the worse,” said Andreas Harsono, senior Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“Potentially, millions of people will be subject to criminal prosecution under this deeply flawed law. Its passage is the beginning of an unmitigated disaster for human rights in Indonesia.”

The creation of the new code is in part a reflection of the growing influence conservative Islam plays in the politics of what is the world’s third-largest democracy.

About 230 million of the 270 million people who call this vast and diverse archipelago nation home are Muslim, though there are also sizable Christian and Hindu minorities and the country prides itself on a state ideology known as “Pancasila,” which stresses inclusivity.

The constitution guarantees a secular government and freedom of religion, and criminal law is largely based on a secular code inherited from the former Dutch colonial power – though the province of Aceh adopts and implements sharia law – and Islamic principles influence some civil matters and local level by-laws.

However, more conservative forms of Islam that were once repressed under the former dictator Suharto have in recent years emerged as increasingly powerful forces at the ballot box.

In the most recent general election, in 2019, President Joko Widodo controversially picked an elderly Islamic cleric – Ma’ruf Amin – as his running mate in a move that was widely seen as a move to secure more Muslim votes.

The appointment of Ma’ruf raised eyebrows among Widodo’s more moderate supporters, but it helped see off the challenge from the former military general Prabowo Subianto who had forged an alliance with hardline Islamist groups. Some of those groups had already demonstrated their clout by leading mass protests that led to the toppling of the Jakarta governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, on a blasphemy charge.

The new criminal code – which updates the code inherited from the Dutch and was passed unanimously by lawmakers belonging to multiple parties – also reflects this growing influence of conservative Islam. Some conservative parties had been calling for an even stricter code, but previous proposals sparked mass street protests and were shelved after Widodo intervened.

Describing the new code as a “compromise”, Indonesian officials have said it needed to reflect a spread of interests in a multicultural and multi-ethnic country.

Still, while the new code clearly has the backing of many conservative voters, critics paint it as a step backwards for civil liberties in what is still a fledgling democracy.

Indonesia spent decades under strong-man rule after declaring its independence from the Dutch in the 1940s, under its first president Sukarno and later under the military dictator Suharto. It was not until after Suharto’s downfall in 1998 that it entered a period of reformation in which civilian rule, freedom of speech and a more liberal political environment were embraced.

Rights groups fear the new code risks undoing some of that progress by pandering to the conservative religious vote at the expense of the country’s secular ideals and reinforcing discrimination against women and the LGBTQ community. They also fear its longer-term effects could be corrosive to the democratic system itself and see uncomfortable parallels to the country’s authoritarian past.

Aspects of the code relating to insulting the president or the state ideology could, they say, be abused by officials to extort bribes, harass political opponents and even jail journalists and anyone deemed critical of the government.

“It is never a good thing when a state tries to legislate morality,” said Zachary Abuza, a professor specializing in Southeast Asian politics and security issues at the National War College in Washington, DC. “The new code puts civil liberties at risk and gives the state powerful tools to punish ideological, moral and political offenses.”

One political blogger, who asked not to be identified for fear of persecution under the new laws, told CNN that he expected online surveillance and censorship by the authorities to increase.

“The terms are not clear – that’s what makes the code especially scary and dangerous,” he said. “It’s all left to interpretation by the government.”

He gave the example of someone liking a critical tweet about the president, asking if that would be enough to land the person in jail.

“It will boil down to whoever the government wants to prosecute,” the blogger said.

It will be at least three years until the revised code comes into effect, according to officials, so it is still early to predict how the new laws will be implemented and enforced.

Much may depend on how satisfied more conservative voters are with the “compromise” code – or how angry those who protested on the streets against its earlier formulation remain.

At the same time, there are those who question whether lawmakers have made the mistake of listening only to the loudest voices in an attempt to pick up votes.

Norshahril Saat, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said there was a “complex relationship between Islam, politics, and society in Indonesia.”

He pointed to a 2022 national survey commissioned by the institute that found most respondents considered themselves moderate and supported the idea of a secular state – even though more than half of them also felt it was important to elect a Muslim leader.

Norshahril cautioned against concluding that support for the new criminal code was evidence of “a conservative Islamic tide.”

“It may mean that the current slate of elected politicians are conservative but more likely that they are responding to pressure from some powerful conservative lobby groups,” he said.

Of more concern, he said, is that “in today’s Indonesia, all of the political parties unanimously agreed on criminalizing these ‘sins’.”

CNN
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The Federal Election Commission has levied a $30,000 fine on incoming Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and a private border wall organization he was once affiliated with due to campaign finance violations committed during his unsuccessful 2020 Senate bid.

In an agreement approved by the FEC last month, about a week after Kobach was elected, he admitted to illegally accepting an in-kind contribution from We Build the Wall, a Steve Bannon-linked group which ran a fundraising campaign to build a private border wall but became ensnarled in allegations of fraud.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Kobach and We Build the Wall for comment.

In 2019, Kobach’s campaign rented We Build the Wall’s 295,000-person email list for just $2,000, a price significantly below the normal rate.

The campaign was also accused of additional campaign finance violations in connection with We Build the Wall, but the FEC, which is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans, either dismissed those allegations or was equally divided.

Kobach is an immigration hardliner and a longtime spreader of false election claims who served as Kansas’ secretary of state from 2011 to 2019 and has close ties to former President Donald Trump.

Kobach was narrowly elected Kansas attorney general in November, defeating Democrat Chris Mann 51% to 49% in the reliably red state. His victory came after two consecutive defeats in recent election cycles – losing bids for the governorship in 2018 and for the GOP nomination for US Senate in 2020.

He previously served on We Build the Wall’s board and as the organization’s general counsel.

Two men have pleaded guilty in federal court, and another was convicted of defrauding donors in connection with We Build The Wall. Bannon and the organization itself are now facing charges in New York state. Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to state charges, had previously been indicted in federal court but was pardoned by then-President Trump at the end of his term.

Global leaders are paying homage to Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus, who died Saturday in Vatican City at the age of 95.

Benedict, who was the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, passed away on Saturday, according to a statement from the Vatican.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday that the former pope “sent a strong signal through his resignation.” 

“Pope Benedict’s passing saddens me. My sympathy goes out to all Catholics,” von der Leyen said in a tweet, adding, “He had set a strong signal through his resignation. He saw himself first as a servant for God and his Church.” 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also paid tribute. “I am saddened to learn of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” Sunak tweeted Saturday.

“My thoughts are with Catholic people in the UK and around the world today,” Sunak added.

Britain’s King Charles III sent a message of condolence to Pope Francis after Benedict’s death. “His visit to the United Kingdom in 2010 was important in strengthening the relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom,” the king said in the message published on the Royal Family’s official website.

“I also recall his constant efforts to promote peace and goodwill to all people, and to strengthen the relationship between the global Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church,” he said.   

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni voiced her admiration for the former pope.

“Benedict XVI was a giant of faith and reason. He put his life at the service of the universal Church and spoke, and will continue to speak, to the hearts and minds of men with the spiritual, cultural and intellectual depth of his Magisterium,” she tweeted Saturday. 

Italian President Sergio Mattarella described Pope Benedict XVI as an “unforgettable figure for the Italian people,” saying that Italy is in “bereavement” over his death.

His gentleness and wisdom were a blessing “for our community and the entire international community,” Mattarella said Saturday in a statement.   

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the former pope “was a special church leader for many.”

“As a ‘German’ Pope, Benedict XVI was a special church leader for many, not only in this country. The world loses a formative figure of the Catholic Church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian. My thoughts are with Pope Francis,” Scholz tweeted.  

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer tweeted: “Together we Catholics mourn the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.  

“He was a remarkable historical figure, a great scholar even at a young age. Benedict XVI was one of the few German-speaking heads of the Church and the first Pope of modern times, who resigned from office of his own accord. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said his “thoughts” were with Catholics around the world after the former pope’s death.

“My thoughts are with the Catholics of France and the world, mourning the departure of His Holiness Benedict XVI, who worked with soul and intelligence for a more fraternal world,” Macron tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to the pope emeritus in a message on Twitter.

“I express my sincere condolences to Pope Francis, the hierarchy and the faithful of the Catholic Church all over the world on the death of Pope Benedict XVI – an outstanding theologian, intellectual and promoter of universal values,” Zelensky wrote.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the former Pope will be remembered for his “rich service to society.” 

“Saddened by the passing away of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who devoted his entire life to the Church and the teachings of Lord Christ. He will be remembered for his rich service to society. My thoughts are with the millions around the world who grieve his passing,” Modi said in a tweet. 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was “saddened” by the former pope’s death.

“Saddened to hear of the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, this evening. May he rest in eternal peace,” Albanese tweeted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is leading Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, called the former pope “a staunch defender of traditional Christian values.”  

“I had the opportunity to communicate with this outstanding person, and I will forever keep the brightest memories of him. I would like to convey to you the words of sincere sympathy in this mournful hour,” he added.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres honored the former pope as “a humble man of prayer and study” who was “principled in his faith, tireless in his pursuit of peace, and determined in his defence of human rights.”

CNN’s Stephanie Halasz and Richard Roth and Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting.

CNN International will air an inside look at the Yayoi Kusama show as part of its New Year’s Eve Live special on December 31.

Advanced age and the pandemic have done little to deter Japan’s Yayoi Kusama. At 93, the world’s best-selling living female artist is still painting daily at the psychiatric hospital she voluntarily checked into and has lived in since the 1970s.

Some of her latest creations feature alongside early drawings in a new exhibition at Hong Kong’s M+ museum. Bringing together more than 200 works, “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to now” spans seven decades as the largest retrospective of her art in Asia outside her home country.

Best known for her signature pumpkin sculptures and polka-dot paintings, which can command millions of dollars at auction, Kusama’s success has skyrocketed in the past decade. The most photogenic parts of her oeuvre — including her immersive “Infinity Mirror Room” installations, tickets for which sell out at museums the world over — have achieved mainstream appeal in the era of social media.

Needless to say, her new Hong Kong exhibition is filled with Instagram-friendly moments. But the museum’s deputy director Doryun Chong, who co-curated the show, says he hopes visitors take the opportunity to dive deeper.

“Kusama is so much more than pumpkin sculptures and polka-dot patterns,” he explained. “She is a thinker of deep philosophy — a ground-breaking figure who has really revealed so much about herself, her vulnerability (and) her struggles as the source of inspiration for her art.”

The artist’s self-portraits on show. Credit: Noemi Cassanelli/CNN

Infinity and beyond

Arranged chronologically and thematically, the show explores concepts that Kusama has revisited across multiple mediums over the course of her career. The notion of infinity, for example, appears in the form of repetitious motifs inspired by the vivid hallucinations experienced in childhood, when she would see everything around her consumed by seemingly endless patterns.

Visitors are given a sense of how these forms have evolved, beginning in a room filled with her “Infinity Net” paintings — including a breakthrough work she created after seeing the Pacific Ocean for the very first time from a plane window when she moved to the US from Japan in 1957.

The motif later re-emerges to bold, vibrant effect, filling the bodies of amoeba-like forms in selected works from “My Eternal Soul,” a hundreds-strong series of acrylic paintings that she began in 2009 and completed last year. They appear in the retrospective’s colorful “Force of Life” section, which immediately follows one titled “Death,” a contrast that speaks both to the dichotomies of Kusama’s work and the internal struggles underpinning it.

“Nowadays we’re very used to (people) talking about their mental health challenges, but this was 60 to 70 years ago that she started doing this,” said Chong. “It really runs throughout her life and career, but it never really stays in a dark place. She always proves that, by talking about death and even her suicidal thoughts and illness, she reaffirms and regenerates her will to live.”

Elsewhere, the exhibition features lesser-known pieces from the artist’s repertoire, shining a light on what she created mid-career, when she returned to Japan depressed and disillusioned. Among them is a black and white stuffed fabric sculpture from 1976 called “Death of a Nerve.”

While lesser known, the exhibition’s curators consider “Death of a Nerve” to be a key piece. It was made in 1976, the year before she voluntarily checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. Credit: Noemi Cassanelli/CNN

A 2022 version of the artwork, created for M+ and slightly renamed “Death of Nerves,” is also on display. Realized to a much grander scale and rendered in color, it embodies a sense of resilience and even optimism in contrast to the original. An accompanying poem acknowledges that, after a suicide attempt, her nerves were left “dead and shredded.” After some time, however, a “universal love” began “coursing through my entire body,” she wrote; the revived nerves “burst into beautifully vibrant colors… stretching to the infinitude of eternity.”

“Death of Nerves” can been seen from multiple levels of the museum. Credit: Noemi Cassanelli/CNN

“It’s an unusual piece for Kusama because most people associate her with the pumpkins, or the mirror rooms, or with more Pop forms, but this is a very soft sculpture that she has always been working on, since the beginning,” explained Mika Yoshitake, an independent curator who worked on the M+ show with Chong, as well as previous Kusama shows at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and the New York Botanical Garden.

“I think she’s incredible to be able to sustain her strength through art,” added Yoshitake, who last saw Kusama in 2018, before the pandemic. “She’s determined to have her story told.”

Small by comparison is a group of 11 paintings the artist began in 2021 and completed this summer, called “Every Day I Pray for Love.”

“She has always said ‘love forever,’ said Yoshitake. She wants people to be at peace, and have this warmth and to care for each other. There’s so much strife and war, terrorism, a lot of things she sees in the world, especially through this pandemic.”

An image of Kusama wearing a signature red wig, featured in exhibition materials. Credit: Noemi Cassanelli/CNN

In a short email interview with CNN, Kusama explained her dedication to her art.

“I paint every day,” she said. “I am going to continue creating a world in awe of life, embracing all the messages of love, peace and universe.”

Since her teens, Kusama has read Chinese poems and literature “with deep respect,” she said. As such, she added, she is “happy” to have her work on show in Hong Kong.

According to M+, the exhibition has now been described as “the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work to date,” by curator and critic Akira Tatehata, who serves as director of the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo. Tatehata, who visited the museum in November, has long supported the artist, and was the commissioner of her solo representation of Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1993.

Art’s healing power

The retrospective also carries special meaning for M+, which used the show to mark its one-year anniversary.

Since its conception over a decade ago, the museum has been touted as Asia’s answer to the London’s Tate Modern or New York’s Museum of Modern Art. When it finally opened last year, it faced unique challenges, from Hong Kong’s changing political environment, which continues to raise censorship concerns across sectors including the arts, to pandemic restrictions that closed the museum for three months and, until recently, barred most international visitors from the city. But Chong sees the latter, at least, as “a blessing in disguise.”

“For a global museum to have opened and be embraced by our local audiences, first and foremost, in its first year couldn’t have been a better way to start the museum,” he said.

Polka dot pumpkins located at the museum entrance. Credit: Noemi Cassanelli/CNN

“(Kusama is) living proof that art is indeed therapy and has a powerful healing power,” said Chong. “And that’s such an important lesson, especially for us during this period of post-pandemic.”