Today's Liberal News

Where Biden Goes From Here

As Air Force One flew home over the Atlantic on Election Night, the televisions scattered throughout the plane were showing a miserable scenario for Joe Biden’s party. No White House staffers ventured back to the press cabin, a fairly routine practice on long flights. The president’s aides appeared grim. A weary Biden returned to the White House close to 2 a.m. and ignored shouted questions from reporters about the early results.

America’s Most Destructive Habit

Although the United States was born of a revolution, one common view maintains that the Constitution tamed our rebellious impulse and launched a distinctly nonrevolutionary political experiment. But throughout American history, an important strand of conservatism has repeatedly championed rebellions—or what are better understood as counterrevolutions.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley: 2 Degrees of Global Warming Is “Death Sentence” for Millions

Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley addressed the audience at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow this week. “We must act in the interests of all our people,” she said. “If we don’t, we will allow the path of greed and selfishness to sow the seeds of our common destruction.” She implored global leaders to “try harder” to keep global temperatures at 1.

“Too Little, Too Late”: Global South Activists Decry 2050 “Net Zero” Goal by Wealthy Nations

After nearly a week of speeches, negotiations and protests at the COP26 U.N. climate summit, we speak with Meena Raman, head of programs at Third World Network, who says developing countries need more time and resources to adapt to the climate crisis and end the use of fossil fuels. Without a just transition that addresses inequality, she says, many countries will continue to suffer from both poverty and environmental devastation.

“Please Open Your Hearts”: Kenyan Activist Elizabeth Wathuti Urges Leaders to Act on Climate Crisis

Youth activists are taking to the streets outside the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow to demand world leaders do more to avert a climate catastrophe. The protest is being organized by Fridays for Future, an international movement of students which grew out of Greta Thunberg’s climate strike outside the Swedish parliament in 2018. We hear from Elizabeth Wathuti of Kenya.

Ben Crump on the Start of Trials for Kyle Rittenhouse & the Killers of Ahmaud Arbery

Only one Black juror, along with 11 white jurors, has been selected to hear the murder trial of three white men who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man who was jogging through the suburbs of Brunswick, Georgia. The defendants — Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, as well as their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan — claim they were attempting a citizen’s arrest when they chased and killed Arbery.

Community Spotlight: Making the political personal is more effective than you may think

Everyone is a storyteller. Every day, we relate different stories to different audiences with different objectives. How we frame the story, the voice we use, and what details we include all contribute greatly to how audiences respond. Commiserating with a neighbor about our street flooding due to a leaf-blocked storm drain, for example, or calling Comcast about an internet connection that drops randomly, both involve telling our stories in search of a particular outcome.

Yes, Aaron Rodgers, I’m canceling you

I grew up in northeast Wisconsin, about 40 miles outside of Green Bay. So, naturally, I’m a Packers fan.

You might say Packers fandom is part of my DNA. So, in a way, anti-vaxxers are right. The vaccine—or at least one gormless Green Bay goober’s decision to reject it—has changed my DNA, and not in a cool X-Men way or anything.

Louie Gohmert hints that climate action would force us all to brush our teeth with bark

How the hell did Republican Louie Gohmert of Texas ever become a member of the House of Representatives? Did he collect the most Froot Loops box tops in his district? Did our reptilian alien overlords take a sudden liking to him halfway through eating his brain? Did he run against a seagull crapping in a bag of Ruffles? 

I really want to know, because something here just isn’t right.

Populism Always Sounds Great in the Abstract

“I go on this great republican principle,” James Madison said in 1788, “that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation.”The notion that a virtuous people will select virtuous representatives to exercise their judgment is at the core of the American experiment.

Republicans Are Grabbing Power Because SCOTUS Said Go for It

This week, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly approved new maps for electing state legislators and U.S. representatives. The results are what you’d expect for a red state: Of the 14 U.S. House districts, including a new seat added after the latest census, Republicans can expect to win nine, 10, or perhaps 11; they can also expect strong and possibly veto-proof majorities in the state legislature.The problem is that North Carolina isn’t really a red state.

The Casteism I See in America

Indians and Indian Americans are often held up as a “model minority” in the United States. Members of this community are more likely to be highly educated and to have health insurance, make more money, work in more senior positions, and have lower rates of poverty than both the average immigrant and the average American.