Today's Liberal News

Israel on the Brink

Israeli friends report an eerie calm: The hospitals are preparing for mass casualties, while citizens go about their more or less normal lives—and in the evening drag into place the steel plates that shut the windows to their safe rooms. For the residents of southern Lebanon, the atmosphere is no doubt considerably more fearful and uncertain, living as they do in a failed state dominated by Hezbollah that may soon feel the full weight of Israeli fury.

Tim Walz Joins the Anti-weirdness Ticket

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be the Democratic nominee for vice president. He’s likely been tapped not for his liberal policies but for his amiability and optimism, in a bid to attract voters tiring of the gloom and doom pushed by Donald Trump and J. D. Vance.

Progressives Are Excited About Tim Walz. Should They Be?

In the realm of presidential politics, progressives have become accustomed to disappointment. Joe Biden wasn’t their first (or second) choice in 2020. Nor, for that matter, was Kamala Harris. And Democratic nominees typically pick moderates for their running mates. So when Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her choice for vice president this morning, progressives experienced an unusual feeling: elation.

Olympics Photo of the Day: Facing Forward, Looking Back

Oli Scarff / AFP / Getty
In the artistic swimming events, team members can bring a level of intense theatricality to both their performances and their swimwear. Here, members of Team France pose just before entering the pool, facing away from the camera and displaying the faces on the backs of their swim caps, creating a bit of a mind-bending illusion. Photographed during the team free routine at the Olympics Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

Google Already Won

A federal judge has declared Google a monopolist. In a 277-page decision released yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta concluded that the online-search company abused its dominance and suffocated competitors—in part by paying Apple and Samsung tens of billions of dollars a year to make Google the default search engine on mobile devices.
Does this mean curtains for Googling? Hardly.

“Historic”: Black Farmers Celebrate $2 Billion Payout for USDA Discrimination, Still Seek Debt Relief

We look at the historic $2 billion payout by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to farmers who experienced systemic discrimination when applying to the USDA’s farm loan programs. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has documented how USDA administrators routinely denied loans to Black farmers and other farmers of color for many decades, contributing to a massive decline in the amount of Black-owned farms in the United States.

Cori Bush vs. AIPAC: Squad Member in Tough Primary Race as Pro-Israel Lobby Spends $8M to Defeat Her

As voters in several states cast their ballots in primary elections Tuesday, we look at one of the most high-profile races between Missouri Congressmember Cori Bush and St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell, who is challenging her for the Democratic nomination. Bush, a member of the progressive “Squad,” is one of the most outspoken advocates for Palestine in Congress, and the powerful pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC has poured over $8 million into the race in an effort to defeat her.

Update from Dhaka: As Bangladesh Overturns Authoritarian Rule, Protesters Demand Democratic Gov’t

We get an update from Dhaka, where Bangladesh’s president dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, a day after the long-ruling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country amid a wave of student protests. The military says an interim government will be formed to lead the country to new elections, but its makeup remains unclear, with many students demanding the installation of Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus as interim prime minister.