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North and South Korea meet for historic talks; on Capitol Hill, the House chaplain is mysteriously fired.
North and South Korean leaders sure do love photo ops
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- North and South Korean leaders met for a historic peace summit on Friday, but there are still a lot of questions about what exactly this means. [Vox / Alex Ward]
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed a declaration that has the goal of denuclearizing and formally ending the Korean War, which technically is ongoing. [CNN / James Griffiths]
- The meeting between Kim and Moon marked the first time a North Korean leader had entered the South, and included a 30-minute private conversation between the two. [NYT / Choe Sang-Hun]
- The meeting was heavy on photo ops, but with a regime as volatile and unpredictable as North Korea, it’s tough to tell exactly how much was accomplished. [CNBC / Harry J. Kazianis]
- A lot of what happens next depends on a country that wasn’t at the summit: the United States. For his party, President Donald Trump has sounded much more optimistic about the country of late, saying he has a “good working relationship of late” with Kim. [WSJ / Jonathan Cheng and Andrew Jeong]
- Trump is expected to meet with the North Korean leader at some point in either May or June. Trump will try to pressure the North to denuclearize very quickly or face stiff penalties. That could be a much trickier meeting to pull off. [Vox / Alex Ward]
“Padre, you just got to stay out of politics”
- What happened to the US House of Representatives chaplain, Father Patrick Conroy (who is no longer the House chaplain after Speaker Paul Ryan asked him to resign)? Well, it depends whom you ask. [Washington Post / Mike DeBonis, John Wagner, and Paul Kane]
- There’s been an uproar on Capitol Hill in the wake of Conroy’s departure, with some lawmakers of both parties questioning whether it was politically motivated. [Politico / Heather Caygle and Rachael Bade]
- Conroy has said he doesn’t know if his firing was politically motivated, although he did point to a prayer he recently gave that contained a reference to the GOP’s tax bill, and asked lawmakers to remember the poor. [NYT / Elizabeth Dias]
- Ryan, on the other hand, has said Conroy was asked to leave because some members had complained about the chaplain not meeting their religious needs. Some outraged lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the firing. [Vox / Tara Isabella Burton]
Miscellaneous
- Bars across America are legally allowed to refuse service to people wearing Make America Great Again hats, according to a Wednesday court ruling. [Eater / Chris Fuhrmeister]
- When it comes to prehistoric animals that aren’t dinosaurs, there’s a lot more ambiguity around what they used to look like. [Atlas Obscura / Natasha Frost]
- If you’ve ever wondered what the gene editing tool known as CRISPR is, this guide is for you. [Wired / Megan Molteni]
- In the era of Instagram, looking at the Mona Lisa takes on a new meaning. [NYT / Scott Reyburn]
Verbatim
“If a virus like the 1918 flu struck again, we wouldn’t be able to create a vaccine fast enough to make a big difference.” [Sarah Gilbert, a virologist at Oxford University, to NPR on why humanity probably isn’t prepared for the next global flu epidemic / Michaeleen Doucleff]
Watch this: Why you shouldn’t drive slowly in the left lane
Can we all agree that the left lane is for passing, please? [YouTube / Christophe Haubursin and Joseph Stromberg]
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