Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Infrastructure ‘bipartisanship’ still not a thing; DeSantis steals Trump’s crown?

In the news today: The Senate continues to plod its way towards a recognition that Republicans won’t be contributing to a “bipartisan” infrastructure plan or anything else. A new straw poll ranks Florida Man and Trump impersonator Ron DeSantis over Trump himself in Republican 2024 presidential preferences, so get ready for some truly blistering Trump attacks. In the meantime, Texas Gov.

Trump reportedly lamented that ‘the Blacks hate me’ in 2020

Republicans right now are wound up about critical race theory, arguing that teaching about racism, or that there are historical problems with racism are problematic and must be stopped. Why, with the passage of the Juneteenth federal holiday, Republicans would like to point to the fact that racism is clearly just a problem in the past.

How far in the past? In explosive revelations published by Politico, it appears not far at all.

How teens are using online platforms to call out racism in high school

This story was originally published at Prism.

By Umme Hoque

An open letter from AAPI high school students in Massachusetts begins with a simple statement: “We are high school students from Boston, Malden, and Quincy, members of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) Youth Center. We ask educators and superintendents to address the surge of anti-Asian racism that followed the COVID-19 outbreak.

Republicans run into early headwinds in two critical Senate races

Last year, Senate Republicans were already feeling so desperate about their upcoming midterm prospects that they rushed to wish Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa a speedy and full recovery from COVID-19 so that he could run for reelection in 2022. The power of incumbency is a huge advantage for any politician, and Republicans were clinging to the idea of sending Grassley—who will be 89 when the ’22 general election rolls around—back to the upper chamber for another six-year term.

The Atlantic’s Floodlines Wins 2021 Peabody Award

The Atlantic’s narrative podcast Floodlines has won a 2021 Peabody Award. The eight-part series, hosted by senior editor Vann R. Newkirk II and executive produced by Katherine Wells, reported on New Orleans after its 2005 flood, and examined how Hurricane Katrina has shaped the city and its residents’ lives in the years since it devastated the Gulf Coast. This is The Atlantic’s first Peabody Award.

Remember Who Tucker Carlson Is

In November 2018, The Washington Post published a disturbing headline: “‘They Were Threatening Me and My Family’: Tucker Carlson’s Home Targeted by Protesters.”The Post story quoted the prime-time Fox News host at length. “Someone started throwing himself against the front door and actually cracked the front door,” Carlson claimed. “It wasn’t a protest. It was a threat … They weren’t protesting anything specific that I had said.

A Slimy Calamity Is Creeping Across the Sea

Divers who have seen the phenomenon firsthand describe many types of underwater sea snot. There are the “stringers,” which most resemble the sticky goo that might actually come out of your nose. But there are also floating “clouds,” white and ethereal, so delicate that they break apart in your fingers.

I’m Scared of the Person TikTok Thinks I Am

Something is wrong with me, and TikTok knows it.I can tell because its recommendation algorithm keeps providing me with videos that only a horrible person would like. One morning last week, the app recommended a video of a girl in a red dress saying slowly, “I’m officially at the age where I can date you … or your dad.” In the next video, a “doctor” tried to sell me some kind of coffee-based weight-loss drink.

Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalist Nations Bailed Out Banks While Skimping on Funds to Vaccinate Humanity

More than 2.6 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, but many countries have yet to see a single shot amid mounting infections. Eighty-five percent of vaccines administered worldwide have been in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Only 0.3% of doses have been administered in low-income countries. Last week, G7 nations pledged to donate just 613 million new vaccine doses — far less than the 1 billion originally promised.

Socialist Pedro Castillo Won Peru’s Election, But Coup Fears Grow as Fujimori Falsely Claims Fraud

Fears are growing in Peru that supporters of right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former dictator Alberto Fujimori, will stage a coup to prevent her rival, the socialist teacher and union leader Pedro Castillo, from taking power. With 100% of votes counted from the June 6 election, Castillo has a 44,000-vote lead, but Fujimori is claiming fraud without offering any evidence.

Did U.S. Push Iran to Right? Hard-Line Cleric Wins Presidency; Nuclear Talks in Vienna Show Promise

Hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi won the Iranian presidential election with about 62% of the vote. Raisi has headed Iran’s judiciary since 2019 and is seen as a protégé and possible successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Turnout in the election was just 49% — the lowest since the 1979 Iranian revolution — and dozens of candidates were barred from running in the election, including former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.