Today's Liberal News

The Perverse Consequences of Tuition-Free Medical School

Six years ago, the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, in Manhattan, announced that it would become tuition-free for all students. The change was made possible in part thanks to a $100 million donation from Kenneth Langone, a Home Depot co-founder, and his wife, Elaine.

A Moon-Size Hole in Cat Research

Like many pet owners, my partner and I have a long list of nonsensical nicknames for our 10-year-old tabby, Ace: sugarplum, booboo, Angela Merkel, sharp claw, clompers, night fury, poof ball. But we reserve one nickname for a very specific time each month, when Ace is more restless than usual in the daytime hours, skulking around from room to room instead of snoozing on a blanket.

Facing Numerous Federal Probes, Elon Musk Spends Millions to Help Elect Trump & Gut Gov’t Regulations

We take a look at the richest man in the world, multibillionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, and his support for Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election. During a campaign town hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Musk pledged to give away $1 million to random voters in battleground states every day until November 5 if they sign an online petition in support of the First and Second Amendments.

“I Could Be the Next Sha’ban”: 21-Year-Old Journalist from Gaza Reports on Teenager Burned Alive

Tributes have poured in from across the globe for 19-year-old Sha’ban al-Dalou, a software engineering student who burned to death after Israel bombed Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir al-Balah on Monday. Photographs and footage of his final moments shocked millions around the world as Sha’ban laid in a hospital bed with an IV attached to his arm as the flames engulfed him.

Gideon Levy: Death of Sinwar Won’t End Israel’s War While U.S. Gives Netanyahu Free Rein in Gaza

Israel announced Thursday it had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, releasing a video allegedly showing Sinwar’s final moments before his death after Israeli forces in Rafah attacked the building he was in. After the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “this is not the end of the war in Gaza.” In Tel Aviv, Israeli families called for Netanyahu to refocus efforts on negotiating a deal to free the hostages.

Tareq Baconi on Death of Hamas Chief Sinwar & Why Killing Palestinian Leaders Won’t Pacify Resistance

Hamas has confirmed Israel killed the organization’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, marking what could be a turning point in its yearlong war. Sinwar was apparently not killed as part of a targeted strike, but in the course of Israel’s indiscriminate assault on the Gaza Strip. “It’s not a war that’s happening against Hamas … This is an Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people,” says Palestinian analyst Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance.

“Itching for a War”: Biden Deploys U.S. Troops to Israel as Netanyahu Threatens Escalation with Iran

We look at Israel’s threats to launch retaliatory strikes against Iran as fears grow of a broader regional war. We speak to analyst Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, about the Biden administration sending U.S. troops and the top-of-the-line THAAD missile defense system to Israel. “There are no direct and clear U.S. interests at stake here,” says Parsi.

The Case Against Pessimism

This year, the Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum was awarded the German Book Trade’s Peace Prize for her “indispensable contribution to the preservation of democracy.” Applebaum is the author of Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World; Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine; Gulag: A History; and other books about dictatorship and democracy. This article is adapted from the acceptance lecture that she delivered today in Frankfurt.

Michael Keaton’s Simple Trick on SNL

Michael Keaton is a movie star who has the air of just a regular dude.
That much was evident during his Saturday Night Live monologue last night, where he played the straight man to Mikey Day and Andy Samberg. The comedians were dressed as Beetlejuice, the beloved bio-exorcist character that Keaton reprised in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earlier this year.

Tripping on Nothing

Ibogaine, a psychedelic compound found in plants native to central Africa, is notorious for the intensity of the trips it induces. Those who consume it are plunged into vivid hallucinations, often preceded by a loud buzzing noise, that last between 24 and 48 hours. In one case report, a 29-year-old woman from Gabon met her dead relatives, and later looked into a mirror and saw a woman crying and holding a baby.

Sunday Morning

Before we’d even started she’d begun
to clear, the whitefish salad bought special
for those among us still unschmeared.
So good to see you, and so good you’ll come again,
and so wonderful to think of you next year.
When will I see you? I’ll be there. I’ll be here.
Her holiday the selling season, the store she’d had long dead.
The stories anchored her and us to her.
October is Thanksgiving is the New Year.