Today's Liberal News

A Surprisingly Human Story About Aliens

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Among my friends and family, I am notorious for being a skeptic. I don’t believe in ghosts; I find all cryptozoological sightings unconvincing; I dismiss astrology out of hand. But (and this might surprise my inner circle) I am quite open to the possibility that some form of extraterrestrial life exists.

Jomboy on Robot Umpires and the Future of Baseball

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Baseball has never been synonymous with change. But in recent years, Major League Baseball has transformed radically, and this season it has embraced technology via the ABS pitch-tracking system (also known as “robot umpires”).

“Hell’s Army”: New Film Tracks Russia’s Wagner Group & Rise of Mercenary Armies

We speak with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Rowley about his new documentary, Hell’s Army. The film tracks the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian mercenary army that has fought in Ukraine and other parts of the world. The group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was a confidant to Putin until a failed 2023 mutiny against the government. He died in a suspicious plane crash two months later.

Palestinian Activist Mohsen Mahdawi: Trump Admin “Weaponizing Immigration Laws” to Deport Me

Palestinian activist and green card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, who was targeted by the Trump administration last year as part of a crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism, faces a new deportation threat. A federal immigration judge has sided with the administration and renewed removal proceedings against him, reviving a case that had been dismissed by an earlier immigration judge. Now he is taking his case directly to the U.S.

U.S. Attacks Iranian Water Reservoirs Amid “Normalization” of Targeting Civilian Infrastructure

We continue our conversation with acclaimed Iranian environmental scientist Kaveh Madani, who comments on U.S. strikes targeting Iranian water reservoirs, which have exacerbated the country’s water shortage. He criticizes the “normalization of targeting civil infrastructure as a part of a war.”
“Who suffers from the consequences of this? The poor community, the vulnerable communities,” says Madani.

“New Form of Imperialism”: Renowned U.N. Scientist on AI Boom’s Huge Water, Carbon & Land Footprint

The environmental toll of the artificial intelligence boom continues to mount as tech companies use ever more power to run their data centers and enormous amounts of water for cooling. A new investigation by U.N. scientists warns that AI’s water use in 2030 will match the needs of 1.3 billion people, while its power use will be triple that of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria combined — countries with a total population of 650 million.

The Kennedy Center Is a Metaphor for De-Trumpification

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No event at the Kennedy Center in recent months has drawn as much anticipation in Washington as the removal of President Trump’s name from the building’s facade.

Why 60 Minutes Should Take Critiques of Its Work Seriously

After Scott Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes, the longtime CBS News correspondent uttered a single sentence that captured both the greatest fears of the program’s fans and the core grievance of its detractors. Criticizing his new bosses—especially CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss—he said, “There’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at 60 Minutes before, or at CBS News before.

The Work That Goes Into ‘Effortless’ Style

Twice a year, every January and June, certain corners of the internet populate with photographs of extravagantly dressed men on the streets of Florence. These are the peacocks of Pitti Uomo, a Tuscan menswear trade show, flashing their plumage: fabrics in textures found nowhere in nature, jacket lapels large enough to verge on parody, ties knotted so elaborately that they would dazzle a longshoreman.

Three Ways to Think About AI and Jobs

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In 2016, the AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton declared that “people should stop training radiologists now” because “it’s just completely obvious that within five years, deep learning is going to do better than radiologists.” He was half right.

The Atlantic Festival Returns to New York City September 17–19; Initial Tickets on Sale

Today The Atlantic is opening the first set of tickets for its three-day flagship event, The Atlantic Festival, which will be back in New York City after moving to the city last year. The festival will take place from September 17 to 19: The first two days will be hosted across three stages at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, and on Saturday, The Atlantic will fan out across the city for a series of intimate events at a host of cultural venues as part of its Out and About programming.

Will Congress Renew Controversial Surveillance Law? Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Cindy Cohn

A key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to expire Friday unless it is reauthorized by Congress. Section 702 allows for the warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals believed to be outside of the U.S., yet, in practice, it also sweeps up and stores vast amounts of data from people inside the country, including their emails, texts and cellphone data. The FISA provision was enacted in 2008 to legalize George W.