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Spring is almost in full swing and summer is just around the corner. Millions of children in America can't wait for summer vacation, but for millions of poor children who rely on school meals it's a mixed blessing.

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The Brooklyn debate may not have changed any minds, but for either one of the candidates it was an excellent rehearsal for the general election debates that lie ahead. In its contentiousness the event felt more like a cross-party debate than a confrontation between ideological allies.

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It is quite clear whose privacy and very lives are really at risk if state legislatures continue to succumb to anti-trans fear and hatred and give it state sanction.

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If Cruz wants to call the Muslim American community radical, he needs to look in the mirror. We are not the ones pushing our religious beliefs into the political process.

Who is left? House Speaker Paul Ryan seems to mean it when he says he's not interested in the nomination. Jeb Bush has already been rejected by Republican voters in the primaries, notwithstanding his best known name and massive campaign funds. Kasich is the remaining, vetted default option.

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Breaking Barriers is a character education and literacy program that teaches students that we all face barriers in our lives, even Major League players. We help students understand the importance of character and how Jackie Robinson used his core values to overcome his barriers.

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With the growing tensions on the campaign trail hitting a near boiling point between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, everyone who follows politics closely saw this collision course on the horizon.

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Many Ukrainians expect America and Europe to save them. Suggest that they are living a fantasy gets you tarred as a blatant fool and Russian stooge. Yet Ukraine shouldn't waste time posing as a fairy tale maiden in distress waiting for rescue by the Western knight in shining armor. Kiev risks ending up as a failed state.

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Last night, I was asked to speak at a rally for Senator Bernie Sanders as a physician and healthcare activist who supports him for president. I did not clear my prepared words with anyone in the campaign, and a portion of my speech has since generated tremendous outrage. I want to apologize.

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"Your father had a dream where he saw you walking up a ladder to heaven. My hope is that I will see you here on earth again but if I do not, I know you are in heaven. Please serve God faithfully and I pray that God bring you back to me. I miss you, my daughter."

Vlad Stesin

But this time around the doctors made it clear that a cure is only possible by going through a bone marrow transplant, or as we affectionately call it, BMT. Just chemo wasn't going to cut it. That's when the real learning started.

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We adults can bewail the use of child soldiers by all those thuggish brigades around the world. But as in The Lord of the Flies, those young people are just enacting the savageries of their elders. They are both victims and perpetrators.

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Both cases involve nineteen year-olds. One is white. One is black. One comes from wealth. One comes from one of the most impoverished communities in America.

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This was never an attack on Julián Castro personally, or an attack on his broader record as a progressive. It is about the Department of Housing and Urban Development's track record of playing footsie with Wall Street in terms of distressed housing. And however great Secretary Castro is on other issues, this track record sure isn't great.

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Despite its positive mission, SSA has been engaging in a destructive practice that represents government not working for us, but against us. SSA has been sending, to hundreds of thousands of Social Security beneficiaries and SSI recipients, bills for what it concludes are overpayments.

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Two years on, and their parents still wake up each morning not knowing whether their daughters are alive or dead, married or single or violated as slaves. They surely deserve more than a forlorn hope.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was once at the front and center of the Arab world and a significant player on the global stage due to its oil riches, has been steadily losing its regional influence and prominent role.

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The completely absurd state-affair surrounding the barely significant poetic and verbal derailments of a thin, pale boy is perhaps the most bizarre, frightening and - in my opinion -- dangerous discussion regarding free speech we've encountered in a long time.

Because the United States is the most powerful country in the world -- and given the state of the region -- some have second-guessed the decisions that President Obama and his Administration have made on the Middle East.

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Connecticut lawmakers should adopt a budget for fiscal year 2017 that avoids short-term austerity and instead focuses on addressing Connecticut's long-term, structural challenges. Although the specifics of that budget will require significantly more discussion and compromise, we offer a few guiding principles to set the stage for that conversation.

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Rihanna was once the world's preeminent pop star. And yes, I use past tense. Despite having her hit "Work" firmly ensconced at number one for the past two months, a stat that ties her with the Beatles as second only to Mariah Carey for most weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Rihanna has recently transcended pop stardom.

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If you are considering becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor after death, don't let those myths stop you from signing up. Here are some important truths you need to know:

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I am a successful physicist -- ambitious, passionate about my work, with an excellent academic pedigree at top institutions. And yet because I am a woman, I have faced hurdles that no male with my credentials must face.

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Your life is dictated by a being with a less-developed brain, who just wants to feed. With a baby needing to be fed (at least at first) every 2.5-3 hours, you also have to make some adjustments to your routine.

As the Democratic candidates prepare to debate on the same day tens of thousands of low-wage workers walk off their jobs across the nation asking for "$15 and a union," Hillary Clinton needs to tell us whether she would use the power of the pen to help workers advance again.

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Al Jazeera America has closed, but I am proud that the station's exceptional staff made a powerful impression on the American media landscape through their impact journalism. The station drew strong praise in the United States and around the world.

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"Sunlight" is artist John Doe's latest music video and new track from The Westerner that drops April 29th on Cool Rock Records/Thirty Tigers. It features ten new tracks from Doe with guest appearances from Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Cindy Wasserman of Dead Rock West and Tom Brosseau.

The Conversation

What would it take to hide an entire planet? It sounds more like a question posed in an episode of "Star Trek" than in academic discourse, but sometimes the bleeding edge of science blurs with themes found in science fiction.

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A data revolution is underway at the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). We're using data in transformational ways to prevent more HIV infections and save more lives, ensuring our investments have the greatest impact by targeting lifesaving interventions to the populations and places with the highest HIV/AIDS burden.