Today's Liberal News

From Ranked-Choice Voting to Dumping Electoral College: Rob Richie on Election Reform Movement

Alaska is the only Senate race yet to be called. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan with about 86% of votes counted. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a system where voters choose not only their top candidate, but can also indicate an order of preference for remaining candidates on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority as the top choice, then second-choice votes are added to the totals and so on until there is a winner.

How to Land 4,000 Planes During a Ground Stop

For four and a half hours, the sky above the United States emptied out.
Normally, throughout the day and the night, thousands of planes are taking off, crisscrossing the country, and landing. When the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all U.S. flights around 4:00 p.m. today, because of “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” some 4,000 airplanes were in the sky, headed for U.S. airports, according to Flightradar24, an aviation-tracking website.

Scenes From the Nationwide Ground Stop

On Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a rare ground stop at all U.S. airports, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Across the country, departing flights were held for hours before the stop—attributed to a telecommunications outage—was lifted, disrupting travel plans for some 1.5 million people. As planes start to take off again, thousands of passengers are still stuck on the ground.

The Next Major Grounding Will Be Worse

Call me Dumb Nostradamus.
Two days ago, I was on my friend Pablo Torre’s podcast to discuss some of my recent reporting on artificial intelligence. A lot of accomplished cybersecurity people I’ve spoken with are convinced that the combination of rapidly advancing AI systems, the diffusion of those systems via open-source models, and the rickety state of the world’s software will lead to something like rolling waves of chaos.

Of Course Americans Blamed the Ground Stop on AI

For many hours, the Federal Aviation Administration did not explain why it issued a national ground stop in the United States this afternoon. The agency described the cause only as a “telecommunications outage” and cited “extraordinary circumstances,” but failed to say more.

Airport Chaos Began Long Before the Ground Stop

Every civilian airplane in the United States has been told not to fly, owing to a nationwide FAA ground stop. As I write this, very little is known about the nature of the safety risk or the issue underlying it.
According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers” necessitated the action, which was undertaken for reasons of safety. The stop could keep planes on the ground for hours, or much longer.

The Rule of Law Project: New Effort Launched to Probe Corruption & State Violence in U.S.

As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress in January, party leaders say they intend to hold Trump officials accountable with stepped-up hearings and investigations. The administration, however, has responded with threats to launch its own investigations into lawmakers for carrying out their oversight responsibilities.
“The oversight function of Congress is well established by the founders. It’s a normal part of government.

“It’s Just Barbarism”: Dr. Feroze Sidhwa Mourns Friend Killed in Israeli Hospital Strike in Gaza

Israel’s latest bombing of Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Thursday killed six Palestinians, including surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira. He was featured in the recent documentary American Doctor, which follows international medical volunteers in Gaza’s battered hospitals as they work alongside Palestinian colleagues.
Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that it targeted a senior Hamas militant in the hospital strike.