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Retailer removes kid’s clown costume after people said it resembled a racist caricature used in minstrel shows

Target, the US retail corporation, said it pulled a controversial Halloween costume off its shelves after criticism across social media that it resembled a racist caricature.

The ad image for the costume, sold as the “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume,” depicted a Black child in a bright orange and black top with solid black gloves and a mask with a wide, toothy smile. Both the child’s pose and the costume’s gloves and mask were likened to caricatures of Black people used in minstrel shows.

Analysis finds ‘high certainty evidence’ of their effectiveness for the 1.7bn people worldwide with musculoskeletal conditions

Traditional Chinese exercises such as tai chi can offer wide-ranging benefits for people with musculoskeletal disorders, improving physical function, pain, mental health, sleep quality and bone mineral density, according to the largest review of its kind.

More than 1.7bn people have musculoskeletal conditions worldwide. While prevalence varies by age and diagnosis, people of all ages in every country and every continent are affected.

A drug bust involving an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State has drawn attention to drug use on college campuses, but research shows the big risk to students is alcohol.

When the U.S.-Iran war began, more than 1,000 dependents of U.S. Navy personnel in Bahrain were ordered to evacuate. After six months in temporary conditions, they want to know what the plan is.

(Image credit: U.S. Navy)

Companies have received tariff refunds. What about consumers? Some companies are providing refunds while others decline.

California officials stressed that the court's ruling does not allow final implementation of the new rules requested by Trump.

About 40% of £10bn from Affordable Homes Programme will now go on types of housing such as sheltered and shared ownership

Andy Burnham has backtracked on his proposal to rip up the government’s housing plans and boost social home building.

Ministers laid out plans on Monday to spend an initial £10bn from the 10-year Affordable Homes Programme on a mix of subsidised housing types in England, in line with the Starmer government’s policy.

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada is back in full force. 

What’s happening? Remember last week, when Trump said that the US and Canada had a trade deal in place? It turns out they do not. After negotiations fell through on Friday, Trump responded with a 50 percent tariff on some $20 billion in Canadian goods, plus threats of higher tariffs on cars, car parts, and steel to come in 2027. 

Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other administration officials are also leaning into ever more inflammatory rhetoric, with Vance taunting Canada on Monday as “a state” that “quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country were it not for the umbrella of protection provided by the United States of America.” 

How is Canada responding? With outrage, as my colleague Caitlin Dewey explains, and with tariffs of their own: On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that his country would match US tariffs “dollar for dollar,” starting early next month. 

“We cannot accept what the U.S. has offered,” he wrote, “and we will not give what they have asked.”

In addition to trade terms, the US allegedly made requests to weaken Canada’s French-language protections, which Carney said would have infringed on Canadian “sovereignty.”

Why does this matter? Immediately speaking, tariffs make things more expensive at a time when voters are already incensed over prices and the Iran war is making inflation worse; their impact could be especially felt in border states like Maine and Michigan, which also happen to have high-stakes, closely contested Senate races coming up in 72 days. 

On a longer timeline, the Trump administration is doing damage to the US-Canada relationship that goes far deeper than specific tariffs and will be far harder to reverse. Already, in January, Carney delivered a speech charting a plan to move past relying on the US as a global partner; Trump’s latest trade war will only accelerate that rupture.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

Violent crime rates in the US are falling across the board, according to new 2025 statistics released by the FBI, including the murder rate, which just hit a 70-year low — tied for the lowest ever recorded. That’s good news in any context, but if you want to learn more, my colleague Bryan Walsh took a crack at explaining how it happened. You can read his article here with a gift link. 

Thanks for reading, have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Retailer removes kid’s clown costume after people said it resembled a racist caricature used in minstrel shows

Target, the US retail corporation, said it pulled a controversial Halloween costume off its shelves after criticism across social media that it resembled a racist caricature.

The ad image for the costume, sold as the “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume,” depicted a Black child in a bright orange and black top with solid black gloves and a mask with a wide, toothy smile. Both the child’s pose and the costume’s gloves and mask were likened to caricatures of Black people used in minstrel shows.