Today's Liberal News

A Note on Ted Halstead

Everyone who knew him has been shocked by the news that Ted Halstead, a founder of New America and pioneer of many other causes and organizations, has died in the past few days in a hiking accident in Spain. He had recently turned 52.Accidental deaths are by definition shocking, but intensely so in Ted’s case, because he has seemed to personify youth and promise.

Why Americans Really Go to the Gym

On Wednesday, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela got in a line near her home in New York City’s West Village that snaked down the sidewalk and wrapped around the corner of the block. New Yorkers will queue up for virtually anything; I was once velvet-roped outside a budget pasta joint, among other indignities. But at 5:45 in the morning, Petrzela and her neighbors weren’t anticipating a sample sale or a particularly good bagel. They just wanted to work out.

How I Mastered the Art of Ventilating My Home

My obsession with ventilation began long before the pandemic. Five years ago, when I moved from central Tokyo to the coast of Japan, a blanket of humidity seemed to levitate out from the sea and the surrounding mountains, wrapping everything I owned in a moist haze. Combined with crushing summer heat, it cultivated a perfect recipe for mold.That first summer, my ventilation game was weak. The tatami mats—traditional Japanese straw flooring—sprouted dark clumps.

‘Aging, Loneliness, Losing Your Mind, and Falling Apart’

Charlie Kaufman’s first new movie in five years is a horror film. In some ways, the same could be said of every feature he’s made. Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa were eerie tales of existential dread and loneliness. The earlier scripts that made his name as a writer—Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—all had touches of the macabre despite being ostensible comedies.

“Loss of the Entire Community”: 6 Months Later, Trauma of Breonna Taylor’s Killing Remains

Filmmaker Yoruba Richen, director of The New York Times documentary “The Killing of Breonna Taylor,” says the 26-year-old EMT’s killing was not just a devastating blow to her friends and family, but a “loss of the entire community.” Police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, fatally shot Taylor during a raid on her home in March, part of a botched drug investigation.

“We Are the 99%”: Occupy Wall Street Activist & Author David Graeber, Dead at 59, in His Own Words

Upon the death of acclaimed anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber, we feature his 2011 interview on Democracy Now!, two days after the Occupy encampment began. Graeber helped organize the initial Occupy Wall Street protest and was credited with helping to develop the slogan, “We are the 99%.” “The idea is the system is not going to save us; we’re going to have to save ourselves,” says Graeber.

“Death Is on the Ballot”: Lessons for the US, 50 Years After Allende’s Socialist Revolution in Chile

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the election of socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile, a significant moment in the history of political revolutions. We speak with Chilean American author, human rights defender and poet Ariel Dorfman, who was cultural and press adviser to Allende’s chief of staff in the last months of his presidency, about how the revolution used peaceful means to bring about radical change in Chile and beyond.

Therapy for the crazy season: The sound of orcas breathing

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington—The endangered Southern Resident orcas have been scarce in the San Juan Islands this summer, appearing for two weeks in July and then disappearing for the rest of the summer. Their appearance this year was full of hopeful signs, including several noteworthy pregnancies, and the fact that they largely appear to be well-fed.