Today's Liberal News

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Pick for National Intel Director, Refuses to Call Edward Snowden a Traitor

President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congressmember from Hawaii, is facing major qualms from her former colleagues. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Democrats grilled her over her refusal to label whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor.” We discuss Snowden’s case and what it revealed about government surveillance of the American public with Chip Gibbons.

“Extraordinarily Dangerous”: Chip Gibbons Warns Kash Patel Would Turn FBI’s Powers on Trump’s Enemies

President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who has promoted right-wing conspiracy theories, is “one of Donald Trump’s most disturbing picks” who seems poised to use the office to go after journalists and other Trump critics, says Chip Gibbons of the civil liberties organization Defending Rights & Dissent.

“The Dr. Who Fooled the World”: Author Slams RFK’s Embrace of Disgraced Anti-Vaxxer Andrew Wakefield

Author and investigative journalist Brian Deer, who debunked disgraced ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent claims that vaccines were linked to autism, says that Wakefield and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, are major leaders of the anti-vaccine movement. “They basically run this movement together,” he says.

“Nonsensical”: As Trump Blames Crash on DEI, Aviation Expert Says It’s Understaffing, Lax Regulation

Donald Trump is blaming DEI for the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades, when a regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided over a Washington, D.C. airport, killing 67 people. “We have a long list of problems that need to be addressed. … Instead, we’re talking about a nonsensical issue that is not based in fact,” says FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher Bill McGee, who says criticisms of DEI distract from and work against a critical staffing shortage at the FAA.

The Price America Will Pay for Trump’s Tariffs

To understand the harm Donald Trump has done with his tariffs on Canada and Mexico, here are four things you need to know:
First, every tax on imports is also a tax on exports.
The most popular beer in America is Modelo Especial, brewed in Mexico. Impose a 25 percent tariff on Modelo and sales will slide. So, too, will exports of the American barley that goes into Mexican beer. Mexico buys three-quarters of U.S. barley exports, almost all for brewing.

Trump’s First Test in Office

Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
The worst aviation disaster in almost a quarter century is one of the first tests of Donald Trump’s second administration. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss how the president responded to the crisis.

To Stay In or to Go Out

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
To stay in or to go out, that is the question. It’s the dance we do while checking the time before we’re supposed to meet up with friends after a long day at work.

If RFK Jr. Loses

From inside the room, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings felt at times more like an awards show than a job interview. While the health-secretary nominee testified, his fans in the audience hooted and hollered in support.

Democrats Wonder Where Their Leaders Are

Updated on February 1 at 10:06 ET
The Democrats are angry. Well, at least some of them.
For months, party activists have felt bitter about Kamala Harris’s election loss, and incensed at the leaders who first went along with Joe Biden’s decision to run again. They feel fresh outrage each time a new detail is revealed about the then-81-year-old’s enfeeblement and its concealment by the advisers in charge.