James Baldwin was an activist, an orator, a style icon, but on NPR's Book of the Day,

we'll dissect the thing he was most known for his writing.

That last clause kind of reads like a horror story.

Right?

There's something deeply, deeply ominous about the way that that opening paragraph closes.

Celebrate Black History Month with us as we examine some of

his best works on NPR's Book of the Day podcast. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump

administration is instructing federal agencies on how to carry out mass layoffs. The Office of Management and

Budget and the Office of Personnel Management

have issued a new memo that directs agency heads to initiate large-scale reductions in force.

The agencies are also being given until March 13th to develop reorganization plans.

At President Trump's cabinet meeting today, TechMogul Elon Musk, addressed the room and defense

of the government-wide cost-cutting measures.

He's spearheading.

And taking a lot of plaque, and getting a lot of death threats, by the way.

I mean, I'd like to spec them up, you know.

But if we don't do this, America will go bankrupt.

That's why it has to be done. In his quest to get Russia and Ukraine to end their three-year-old war, President Trump says,

Ukraine can forget about joining NATO.

Today, he confirmed plans to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday,

apparently to sign a deal that gives the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.

Here's NPRS. Mahalid.

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