Today's Liberal News

U.S. economic confidence hits positive territory for first time since the pandemic

A Gallup tracking poll found that consumer confidence in the nation’s economy was a net positive in April—+2 points to be exact—for the first time since Donald Trump declared a national emergency in early March 2020.

After the brief national lockdown, Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index dropped to -32 in early April 2020 and has been climbing out of a hole ever since. The latest survey was conducted April 1 to April 21.

Fresh round of Jan. 6 insurrection arrests range from comical to tragic, but they keep piling up

While Republican officeholders like Kevin McCarthy double down on their strategy of gaslighting the public about what transpired at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a reality check may be in order: As prosecutors themselves earlier suggested, it is now apparent that this event is becoming the largest and most complex prosecution in U.S. history, as the Justice Department made clear over the weekend that it expects to charge more than 500 people in the matter.

A Revolution Is Sweeping the Science of Ancient Diseases

When Johannes Krause was a graduate student working on the Neanderthal genome in the 2000s, so much of the DNA recovered from the ancient bone fragments came from everything else: the skin cells of excavators and scientists, the bacteria on those humans, the microbes in the soil. To get to Neanderthal DNA, you had to junk the rest.

One Vaccine to Rule Them All

The pandemic is at its worst, globally, and expert eyes are trained on the role of new variants. Catastrophic surges are tearing across places where some thought the darkest days were already over. In India, where hospitals are running out of oxygen and COVID-19 cases are increasing exponentially, officials are concerned about a “double mutant” version of SARS-CoV-2 called B.1.167.

The Atlantic Announces VP of Engineering Jefferson Rabb and Head of Information Security Kas Mayanga

The Atlantic is announcing two senior leaders who will be joining the company: Jefferson Rabb, who will become VP of engineering; and Kas Mayanga, who will be the publisher’s first VP of information security. Both will begin with The Atlantic next month.Mayanga and Rabb will join The Atlantic’s product, engineering, and growth team, working to support and amplify the journalism, revenue growth, and experiences of The Atlantic’s readers and subscribers.

The GOP Is a Grave Threat to American Democracy

The hope of many conservative critics of Donald Trump was that soon after his defeat, and especially in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, the Republican Party would snap back into its former shape. The Trump presidency would end up being no more than an ugly parenthesis. The GOP would distance itself from Trump and Trumpism, and become a normal party once again.But that dream soon died.

Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide of 1915, Despite Decades of Lobbying & Denialism by Turkey

As President Joe Biden makes history by explicitly describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a “genocide,” we speak with Peter Balakian, Pulitzer Prize-winning Armenian American poet and professor at Colgate University. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began a systematic, premeditated campaign targeting the Armenian people, an unarmed Christian minority living under Turkish rule.

“Open Season”: Heather Heyer’s Mother Slams New Laws Giving Immunity to Drivers Who Hit Protesters

Many of the anti-protest laws pushed by Republicans include measures that provide civil or criminal immunity to drivers who hit demonstrators with their vehicles. A pending Oklahoma measure would offer both. “It’s declaring open season,” says Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer was killed in 2017 when a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

“Our Demand Is for Him to Be Fired”: Outrage in Kenosha as Cop Who Shot Jacob Blake Returns to Work

Relatives and supporters of Jacob Blake staged a sit-in with arrests outside the Kenosha police headquarters in Wisconsin to protest the department’s decision to allow police officer Rusten Sheskey to return to work. Sheskey, who is white, fired seven shots at point-blank range into the back of Jacob Blake last August, leaving the 29-year-old African American father partially paralyzed and sparking massive protests.