Today's Liberal News

As their union vote looms, these Amazon distribution center workers are looking to make history

by Lakshmi Gandhi

This story was originally published at Prism.

Last week, activists and organizers from Amazon’s Staten Island distribution center traveled to their regional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) office to deliver the signatures needed to formally request a vote to form a union. Shortly after the signatures were delivered, Natalie Monarrez noticed an instant change in the moods of her coworkers.

This Week in Statehouse Action: Whiplash edition

Hey, how are you?

I know Tuesday night might have been kinda rough.

To say that Election Day 2021 didn’t turn out the way Democrats and progressives hoped is … a bit of an understatement.

Are you confused? Bummed? Scared? Ambivalent? Numb? Apathetic? In a glass case of emotion?

Well, no matter where you are right now, I’ve got something for you.

Floating Wind Farms Are About to Transform the Oceans

Photographs by Paccarik OrueAlla Weinstein did not invent the floating wind turbine. This is something she wanted to make clear early in our Zoom call, as if she were worried I’d give her too much credit. “I don’t need to invent. There are plenty of inventions,” she said. “But a lot of inventions die on the grapevine if they aren’t carried through.” What Weinstein does is carry them through.For that, she does want credit.

We’re Gonna Need Another Space Telescope

For most of us, today is just Thursday. For astronomers, it’s practically a holy day. Today is an event that comes only once a decade, and it’s of cosmic importance—literally. Today, a special committee has revealed the priorities for the next decade of American astronomy, like a synod giving word from on high.

The Atlantic Promotes Krystle Champagne-Norwood to Executive Producer of Events Division AtlanticLIVE

The Atlantic is announcing the promotion of Krystle Champagne-Norwood to executive producer of AtlanticLIVE. As the editorial leader of the LIVE team, Champagne-Norwood will develop the editorial vision for The Atlantic’s events and will find new avenues for journalistic expression through this work. She has been with The Atlantic since 2019 and in that time has shaped dozens of its most high-profile events, including the recently completed Atlantic Festival.

How a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Can Guide a Global Just Transition & Emission Cuts

We speak with Harjeet Singh, senior adviser with the Climate Action Network, who is at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow. Activists like Singh are pressuring world leaders to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would supplement the Paris Agreement by directly targeting the fossil fuel industry and outlining clear actions that every country could take to drastically decrease carbon emissions.

Meet the Climate Lawyer Who Helped Write 2015 Paris Agreement & Superglued Herself at Shell’s U.K. HQ

We speak to Farhana Yamin, one of the most prominent climate lawyers in Britain, who has been deeply involved in international climate negotiations for decades, including the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, and has also engaged in direct action to effect change. Yamin is currently working with the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group that represents 48 of the countries most threatened by the climate crisis, at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on Climate Risk & Surviving Assassination Attempt

We speak to Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the low-lying island nation of the Maldives, at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow. Nasheed is one of the world’s leading climate advocates, who once held a cabinet meeting underwater to bring attention to the threat of global warming, pledged to make the Maldives the first carbon-neutral country and installed solar panels on the roof of his presidential residence.

FEC rules foreign companies can fund whatever state ballot measures they like

You may have noticed, what with the Texas attorney general being under indictment for over half a decade and counting, sitting senators dabbling in insider trading as a side gig, and a certain pumpkin-headed Dear Leader being able to incite a crowd into violent insurrection with not a single resulting consequence, that “laws” in the United States generally no longer apply to rich people, powerful people, or anyone who has the personal phone numbers of either.

‘He didn’t grow up with a silver spoon’: Pittsburgh to get its first Black mayor, and he’s homegrown

We won! OK, so I’m not from Pittsburgh and have never even been to the city, but when I learned the news, albeit expected, that voters had elected State Rep. Ed Gainey as the first Black mayor to lead the city, it felt deeply personal.

As a child, Gainey lived in a Pittsburgh housing project. After his political ascension to the state Senate, his sister, a mother of three, was murdered in her own city.

Supply chain problems likely to persist into 2022. The best solution? ‘Put the pandemic behind us’

The Biden administration and the state of California are working on a medium- to long-term solution to the supply chain problems affecting the nation, but in the short term—extending well into 2022—problems will persist. 

President Joe Biden announced 24/7 operations at the Port of Los Angeles last month in an effort to ease backups there by moving an addition 3,500 containers a week.

‘We made history’: Aftab Pureval elected as Cincinnati’s first Asian mayor

The trend of firsts from the last election continues: People of color are making historic wins nationwide, and by a significant margin. Securing more than 66% of the vote, Aftab Pureval was elected as Cincinnati’s mayor Tuesday. His win makes history as the first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) to be elected the city’s mayor. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, he is also the only AAPI mayor in the midwest.