Today's Liberal News
The Fantasy of a Nonprofit Dating App
Spending time on dating apps, I know from experience, can make you a little paranoid. When you swipe and swipe and nothing’s working out, it could be that you’ve had bad luck. It could be that you’re too picky. It could be—oh God—that you simply don’t pull like you thought you did.
The Trump Backers Who Have Buyer’s Remorse
Last June, the popular UFC fighter Sean Strickland surprised onlookers when, immediately following a victory, he ducked into the audience and took a photo with a bystander: Donald Trump. “President Trump, you’re the man, bro,” Strickland declared in his post-match interview with Joe Rogan. “It is a damn travesty what they’re doing to you. I’ll be donating to you, my man. Let’s get it done.
“Congolese Are Paying the Price” for Western Demand for Minerals & Support for Rwanda’s Paul Kagame
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 insurgents, who have already taken two key cities in the mineral-rich eastern part of the country, is triggering panic. Reports of the surge describe widespread looting, killings, attacks on aid and mass displacement. Thousands of people have fled to neighboring Burundi over the last few days as the U.N. accused M23 of killing children and attacking hospitals.
“Crack-Up Capitalism”: Historian Quinn Slobodian on Trump, Musk & the Movement to “Shatter” the State
Who are the minds behind DOGE, and what do they really believe?
“Grand Theft Government”: Federal Workers Send SOS over Musk-Led Mass Firings, Service Cuts
Amid the indiscriminate dismantling of the federal government by the Trump administration’s Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, federal workers, thousands of whom could lose their jobs, are fighting back. “All of us do something not only essential, but also mandated by Congress,” says union organizer and Army Corps of Engineers employee Chris Dols.
Money Talks: Government Data Is Going Missing
What Next: TBD’s Lizzie O’Leary unpacks the recent deletion of government data.
The Key to a Stronger Economy? It’s Housing, Stupid.
American families can’t afford a street fight when it comes to housing reform.
Influencers Taught Us How to Overconsume. Can They Also Help Us Break the Habit?
No matter how good their intentions, creators are still able to make money off of telling people to spend less.
Americans Are Actually in a Position to Make Elon Musk Feel Our Rage
His car company is in a precarious spot.
Is Aziz Ansari Sorry?
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
Your Opinions on Her Wardrobe Are Probably Unwelcome
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
What Role Does HR Play in the #MeToo Era?
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
Trump’s spending freeze spreads chaos across US
Supporters of climate, infrastructure, mortgage, tech, health, veterans’ and other projects expressed alarm as tens of thousands of programs appeared possibly at risk.
Lael Brainard’s ‘Crisis Management Agency’ — and Her Warning For Trump
Joe Biden’s top economic adviser opens up on harrowing moments from her time in the White House, and what makes her nervous about the Trump agenda.
Stephen Miran is Trump’s pick to lead Council of Economic Advisers
Miran has called for a sweeping overhaul of the Fed to ensure greater political control over the central bank, including giving the president the power to fire board members at will.
This Is What Happens When the DOGE Guys Take Over
They arrived casually dressed and extremely confident—a self-styled super force of bureaucratic disrupters, mostly young men with engineering backgrounds on a mission from the president of the United States, under the command of the world’s wealthiest online troll.
On February 7, five Department of Government Efficiency representatives made it to the fourth floor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters, where the executive suites are located.
A Terrible Milestone in the American Presidency
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This week, Donald Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting a war against a much larger neighbor, inviting invasion and mass death.
A Trump Cabinet Pick Gets a Rare GOP Grilling
Republican senators have confirmed a onetime Bernie Sanders supporter to lead the nation’s intelligence community and a member of America’s most famous Democratic family as its health secretary. This morning, however, they saved some of their sharpest questions for a Cabinet nominee who, until last month, served alongside them as a GOP member of Congress.
DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data
If you have tips about the remaking of the federal government, you can contact Charlie, Ian, and Matteo on Signal at @cwarzel.92, @ibogost.47, and @matteowong.52.
DOGE has achieved “God mode.
The NIH Memo That Undercut Universities Came Directly From Trump Officials
On the afternoon of Friday, February 7, as staff members were getting ready to leave the headquarters of the National Institutes of Health, just outside Washington, D.C., officials in the Office of Extramural Research received an unexpected memo. It came from the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, and arrived with clear instructions: Post this announcement on your website immediately.
Redfield backs Kennedy’s efforts on vaccines
The former CDC director calls for more vaccine research, and also warns that a bird flu pandemic “is coming” and could be worse than Covid.
RFK Jr. should handpick vaccine scientists, former adviser says
Del Bigtree, now a leader of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s grassroots movement, said he should seek proof of an autism link.
Biden CMS chief warns DOGE is moving too fast
Speaking at a POLITICO event, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure suggested that Elon Musk and his team don’t have sufficient expertise in Medicare.
To Fight the Trump/Musk Purge, Federal Workers Hold Nationwide Day of Action to “Save Our Services”
Today federal workers nationwide are calling for support for a “Save Our Services Day of Action” mobilizing nationwide in opposition to Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle government agencies through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Workers plan to protest outside of federal buildings and Tesla dealerships to show support for the work of federal agencies.
GOP Pushes Drastic Cuts to Medicaid & Food Aid While Proposing Tax Cuts for Rich
A new study projects as many as 20 million people could lose Medicaid coverage under a Republican congressional bill to cut the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion match rate. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found the bill includes tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses, paired with cuts on the programs that support low-income Americans.
Family Torn Apart as Mother & 2 Children Deported After Arizona Traffic Stop, 2 Other Kids Left Behind
An undocumented Venezuelan mother and two of her children were deported to Mexico earlier this month — just hours after a minor traffic stop, reports John Washington, who has covered the case for the Tucson-based independent outlet Arizona Luminaria. Arizona Public Safety troopers claimed the mother was driving under the speed limit. The mother, whom Democracy Now! is not identifying at the request of the family, described being handcuffed in front of her children, aged 6 and 9.