Today's Liberal News

What Did You Expect?

The whiplash is jarring.
President Trump exulted over every bomb that dropped on Iran, every naval interdiction, and every joint U.S.-Israeli operation. Before that, he spent years preaching a policy of “maximum pressure” sanctions on the Islamic Republic. And before that, he harshly disparaged the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Iran nuclear deal reached by Barack Obama, from which Trump withdrew the United States in 2018.

A Robin Hood You May Not Want to Root for

What if you took a folk figure or a popular comic-book character—someone beloved enough to be the star of, say, a Disney cartoon—and made a film that cast them in a dark, even antiheroic light? Call it the “grim and gritty” take, or perhaps the “untold true story”; it’s the kind of reimagining that has befallen several storybook figures on-screen, such as Peter Pan and Hansel and Gretel.

Netanyahu Finally Learns the Truth About Trump

In 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu draped buildings with giant banners that depicted him shaking hands with a grinning Donald Trump. Captioned with the words Another League, the posters presented Netanyahu’s ties with the American president as an argument for the Israeli prime minister’s reelection. No one else, Netanyahu’s campaign implied, could deliver the mercurial man in the White House.
That was then.

What Color Is the Reflecting Pool? An Investigation.

Workers on the National Mall, desperate to turn the Reflecting Pool to President Trump’s preferred shade of blue, poured jug after jug of hydrogen peroxide into the water yesterday morning. As they did so, members of the National Guard, deployed to clean up crime, looked on. The water, at that moment, matched their mossy-green fatigues.
The Reflecting Pool now evokes the joy of a Green Bay Packers victory. Or a high-school prank. Or St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.

All the Sad Hawks

An irony of the Iran war is that Donald Trump, whose patience for written texts and policy details is famously negligible, came to grasp the reality of the situation more quickly and clearly than his neoconservative supporters who spent years obsessing over the issue.

“Journacide: The War on Truth.” New Film Investigates Israel’s Killing of Reporters in Lebanon

Israel has killed over 260 journalists and media workers in Gaza and 28 in Lebanon since October 7, 2023. Irish filmmaker Seán Murray investigates Israel’s killings of journalists in his new feature documentary Journacide: The War on Truth. He says the term “journacide” applies to Israel’s military actions because of the “explicit nature of the targeting and killing of journalists” as a way to silence the truth. Murray calls it “the Gaza doctrine that is now being applied in Lebanon.

Has Trump Had Enough of Netanyahu? Israel Defies U.S., Vows to Continue War in Lebanon

The United States and Iran are set to formally sign an agreement Friday to end military hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin negotiations on a long-term peace accord between the two countries.
According to terms of the memorandum of understanding obtained by CNN and other media outlets, there is to be “an immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.

“The Point Is to Spread Fear”: DOJ Charges 15 with Conspiracy for Anti-ICE Protests in Minnesota

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have announced criminal charges against 15 people in connection with anti-ICE protests in the Twin Cities. The defendants are accused of “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” and of allegedly “violently” impeding immigration enforcement in Minneapolis during Trump’s so-called Operation Metro Surge, during which thousands of federal immigration agents were deployed and fatally shot two U.S. citizens.

DOJ Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media

The Trump administration has approved media conglomerate Paramount’s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros., one year after Paramount and Skydance Media signed a similar merger that placed Paramount’s movie studio, streaming service and broadcast network CBS under the control of the multibillionaire Ellison family, founders of Skydance and close allies of Donald Trump. The Warner Bros.

Trump Does Not Understand the War He Lost

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Donald Trump arrived in France yesterday for this morning’s G7 summit and promptly confirmed America’s capitulation to Iran.

The Doha Connection

Several countries can claim some credit for the tentative memorandum of understanding to end the war between Iran and the United States, which officials from both countries plan to sign later this week. Pakistan had for some time led negotiations. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Oman were involved in elements of the talks. But to hear Donald Trump tell the story, the whole deal might not have materialized without the intervention of a crucial friend in the neighborhood.

Oil Prices Might Not Go Back to Normal Anytime Soon

“Ships of the World, start your engines,” Donald Trump declared on Truth Social on Sunday. “Let the oil flow!”
This was the president’s way of announcing that the United States and Iran had reached an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Although the exact details have not been released, the deal reportedly includes a 60-day cease-fire during which the two sides will negotiate a more permanent settlement.

Assume You Will Be Hacked

Late last month, I began to consider withdrawing some money from my savings account to buy gold. It’s the first time I’ve ever thought about panic-buying. For all of the firewalls and two-factor-authentication codes, the safety of the internet is starting to falter. Hackers are gaining the upper hand over organizations around the world—hospitals, energy grids, government agencies, and, yes, banks.

Why July 4 Turned Into a Trump Rally

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The president of the United States announced last month that, in place of performances by Martina McBride, Young MC, the surviving members of the Commodores, one member of Poison, and other sought-after musicians who had dropped out after being recruited on apparently false pretenses, he would personally provide the entertainment for a 250th-anniversary celebration of American independence.