Today's Liberal News
Trump is under water on some of his top issues — including immigration, poll shows
The president’s approval rating had been ticking upward since its biggest drop in April.
Trump’s contract-cutting blitz rattles a once-flourishing DC industry
The General Services Administration, which oversees government contracting, is leading a review of more than 20,000 consulting agreements for what is “non-essential.
Trump’s chaotic economy is causing headaches for Democrats in New Jersey’s governor race
The crowded contest in the Garden State shows how hard it is to address pocketbook issues.
Elon Musk’s Grok Is Calling for a New Holocaust
The year is 2025, and an AI model belonging to the richest man in the world has turned into a neo-Nazi. Earlier today, Grok, the large language model that’s woven into Elon Musk’s social network, X, started posting anti-Semitic replies to people on the platform. Grok praised Hitler for his ability to “deal with” anti-white hate.
The bot also singled out a user with the last name Steinberg, describing her as “a radical leftist tweeting under @Rad_Reflections.
The Texas-Flood Blame Game Is a Distraction
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In the early hours of July 4, the Guadalupe River flooded. Heavy rainfall, enhanced by atmospheric moisture leftover from a recent tropical storm, dumped water across parts of central Texas. By 6:10 a.m., a gauge in Hunt, a community in Kerr County, measured that the river had become a 37.
The Problem With ‘Move to Higher Ground’
Before the waters of Texas’s Guadalupe River rose more than 33 feet over the course of five hours, the National Weather Service sent out a series of alerts. The first one that included Kerr County, where most of the fatalities would ultimately take place, warned of “considerable” flood threat and went out just after 1 a.m. on July 4. It triggered push alerts on people’s phones. It set off alarms on any weather radio tuned to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s frequency.
What’s Brilliant About the New Superman Movie
In most Superman movies (and there’ve been a fair few of them over the decades), no one else like Superman exists. The blue-and-red-costumed Kryptonian is typically unique in our world—an alien god plopped into an unfamiliar society, inspiring both reverence and fear. Not so in this latest iteration, the character’s first solo movie in 12 years.
The AI Industry Is Radicalizing
The story unfolds so rapidly that it can all seem, at a glance, preordained. After transferring to Columbia last fall, as Chungin “Roy” Lee tells it, he used AI to cheat his way through school, used AI to cheat his way through internship interviews at Amazon and Meta—he received offers from both—and in the winter broadcasted his tool on social media. He was placed on probation, suspended, and, more keen on AI than education, dropped out this spring to found a start-up.
What Is the Trump Doctrine? John Bellamy Foster on U.S. Foreign Policy & the “New MAGA Imperialism”
What is MAGA imperialism? Monthly Review editor John Bellamy Foster says that, despite its feints toward anti-imperialist isolationism, President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has coalesced into a “hyper-nationalist” form of populism that rejects the U.S.’s post-WWII adherence to liberal internationalism and promotes dominance over other countries via military power rather than through economic globalization.
Peter Beinart on Zohran Mamdani & Why Democratic Voters Are Increasingly Skeptical of Israel
We speak to Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, about changing popular opinion in the U.S. toward Israel and Palestine. “I’m not sure there’s any political issue in the United States, perhaps other than gay marriage, over the last couple of decades where public opinion has shifted as fast,” he says, citing the surprise victory of pro-Palestinian mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic primary as evidence of a shifting political landscape.
“Freedom to Choose”?: Peter Beinart Slams Trump-Netanyahu Plan for Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump this week in Washington, D.C. Trump and Netanyahu are discussing Israel’s war in Gaza, with Netanyahu suggesting that new plans for the forced relocation of refugees to other countries would give Palestinians the “freedom” to choose.
Hold GOP Accountable: Youngest Dem. Congresswoman on Medicaid, Climate Cuts & Her Visit to ICE Jail
“The most important thing that we have to do right now is hold the Republicans that voted for this bill accountable for the devastation that they are causing and the lives that will be impacted.” Democratic Congressmember Yassamin Ansari of Arizona explains how Trump’s new federal budget, which introduces major cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, housing and education, will worsen wealth inequality and the health disparities, while actually increasing the U.S.
Zohran Mamdani Has Some Good Ideas for NYC Transit. His Biggest Promise Isn’t One of Them.
Riders don’t want buses to be free. They want something else.
Money Talks: The Hidden Homeless
Brian Goldstone on the unrecognized population of full-time workers in America without stable housing.
The Bull is Back
After the tariff turmoil of months ago, what do we make of the big upswings we’re seeing in the markets?
Your Travel Credit Card Is About to Get a Lot More Expensive
Chase and Amex are about to spike their annual fees. It’ll drive away customers. That’s the point.
California Just Did Something That Could Reshape Its Cities
For decades, the state’s landmark environmental law made it easy to block home construction. A new law changes that.
Can Trump Lie His Way out of Economic Disaster? We’re Already Finding Out.
The president’s attempts to undermine the Fed’s authority are not to be taken lightly.
Megabill hits health care for immigrants, including legal ones, hard
President Donald Trump has targeted undocumented immigrants, but the GOP bill will bar those who played by the rules from subsidized care, too.
Three reasons why Republicans cut Medicaid
The politics of the party have shifted, with more of the GOP base reliant on welfare programs. But policy hasn’t followed.
Medicaid moderates face a politically perilous vote
Six Republicans said big cuts to the low-income health insurance program were unacceptable. Now they have to vote.
Is Aziz Ansari Sorry?
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
Your Opinions on Her Wardrobe Are Probably Unwelcome
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
What Role Does HR Play in the #MeToo Era?
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
Trump is under water on some of his top issues — including immigration, poll shows
The president’s approval rating had been ticking upward since its biggest drop in April.
Trump’s contract-cutting blitz rattles a once-flourishing DC industry
The General Services Administration, which oversees government contracting, is leading a review of more than 20,000 consulting agreements for what is “non-essential.



























