| |  | | Brought to you by USATODAY.com | | Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, now starring in 'Flubber' | | Imagine if Warren Beatty hadn't walked out with the wrong envelope and Moonlight had been announced from the get-go as the best picture winner with (only) the usual fanfare surrounding the Oscars culmination? PricewaterhouseCoopers wouldn't be "investigating." Warren Beatty wouldn't be compared to Steve Harvey. And last night wouldn't have felt like "a heart attack ." The epic mix-up dominated conversation today, but some hefty criticism would have wormed its way in regardless. Perhaps over Dakota Johnson or Ryan Gosling on the red carpet. Or the "In Memoriam" including a producer who's not dead and failing to include Alexis Arquette, a " Hidden Fences" gaffe (again!). Or the backlash over Casey Affleck winning best actor after having been accused of sexual harassment (he settled two suits). But let's take a minute to focus on the good that was overshadowed: How, despite being teased by Jimmy Kimmel for his name and his daughter's, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar and thanked his wife who'd just given birth for "carrying" him and the baby throughout awards season. How, despite being hit in the head by a ribbon twirler, Moana star Auli'i Carvalho sang on unfazed. How freakin' adorable Sunny Pawar is. And how these speeches by Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, Emma Stone and Viola Davis are truly worth a listen. | | Democrats see a yuge opportunity in Trump's big Tuesday speech: Those 'forgotten' voters | | During his campaign, President Trump hammered on a message of economic populism, like reopening coal mines and steel mills and advancing a major infrastructure spending bill. Yet, while his first month in office has brought an effort to decrease regulations, divisive cultural issues have dominated (travel ban, deportations, transgender bathroom rules, labeling the media the enemy, etc.). While many Trump supporters remain ardently so, Democratic lawmakers smell an opportunity to start wooing working-class voters. USA TODAY's Heidi Pryzbyla looks at the movements afoot in at least 30 states as part of a nationwide, coordinated rebuttal to Trump's agenda. Trump will lay out his priorities, including possible tax cut details. Here's a little preview budget-wise (RIP, EPA). Catch it live on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. | | Another Warren is in the news, too | | Warren Buffet's advice : Don't mix political decisions with investing ones. Everyone knows the billionaire investor supported Hillary Clinton for president over Donald Trump, but Buffett says he will judge Trump's presidency on results. In particular, he will judge how safe he has kept the country, how the economy is doing and on how many people are sharing in the wealth. But even if he passes all three of those tests, it is still highly unlikely Buffett would turn around and support him in four years: "Well, it depends on who he is running against. I would say it would be unlikely," Buffett told CNBC on Monday. "Probably half the time (in) my adult life, I've had a president other than the one I voted for. But that's never taken me out of stocks." The Oracle of Omaha's annual letter to shareholders this year has boosted Apple. | | Rachel Dolezal notes 'trans-black' identity, and it has nothing to do with gender | | Things have been rough for Rachel Dolezal lately. The former NAACP leader, who resigned after it came to light she was presenting herself as black, says she is currently on food stamps and may soon be homeless, according to The Guardian. Dolezal told The Guardian she's applied for dozens of jobs, but the only positions she's been offered are in pornography and reality TV. She doesn't want to do either. Today, Dolezal continues to identify as black and says she isn't going to "apologize" and "feel bad about it." "I feel like the idea of being trans-black would be much more accurate than 'I'm white,'" she said. In Dolezal's upcoming memoir, she sheds light on the abuse she says she faced growing up and when she began to "see the world through black eyes." | | This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY. | |
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