Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Trump’s Jan. 6 speech edits released; grand jury hears coup evidence

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 coup attempt has released yet more evidence of Trump’s intent on that day, this time with Trump’s own edits to the statement he begrudgingly released after the violence. There’s also apparent movement in the Department of Justice’s Jan. 6 probe; Mike Pence’s chief of staff appeared last week to answer questions before a federal grand jury.

‘Go back to your country’: Immigrants allege physical and racist abuse at Florida detention facility

The federal government has been slapped with another civil rights complaint alleging abuses against immigrants in U.S. custody, this time at a facility in Florida. More than a dozen people either currently or formerly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Baker County Detention Center (Baker) say in the complaint that they were subject to “frequent” physical and verbal abuse, including arbitrary punishment and racist harassment.

2020 Colonial Pipeline spill revealed to be largest gasoline spill in U.S. history

New estimates of the damage caused by a crack 5 feet long in a section of Colonial Pipeline Co.’s 5,500-mile pipeline shows its 2020 spill was the worst in U.S. history, sending nearly 2 million gallons of gas into the Oehlet Nature Preserve near Hunterville, North Carolina. It took 18 days before teenagers discovered the rupture on Aug. 14, 2020, and to this day, Colonial Pipeline still hasn’t completely cleaned up its mess.

The U.S. Has No Plan to Prevent the Next Pandemic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Our institutions are poised to repeat the mistakes of COVID-19.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
The gun industry created a new consumer. Now it’s killing us.
Could genetics be the key to never getting the coronavirus?
Mike Pence is trying to send a message.

An Ode to Trump’s Outtakes

If, as Carl von Clausewitz once observed, the mark of a historic moment is that no one knows what the fuck is going on, then what we have here is a historic moment. (Pretty sure it was von Clausewitz who said that.) What we have here is President Donald Trump, the day after his people sacked the Capitol, trying to strike a tone. Which tone? He doesn’t know. And it’s making him very uncomfortable.

Trees Are Overrated

Once upon a time, not a blade of grass could be found on this planet we call home. There were no verdant meadows, no golden prairies, no sunbaked savannas, and certainly no lawns. Only in the past 80 million years—long after the appearance of mosses, trees, and flowers—did the first shoots of grass emerge. We know this in part because a dinosaur ate some, and its fossilized poop forever memorialized the plant’s arrival.

The Horrors of No-News Facebook

In February 2021, Facebook abruptly wiped all of the news from its platform in Australia. The country’s lawmakers were trying to force the company to share its profits with media outlets, and this was the dramatic response. The gambit worked: After a nearly week-long blackout, which extended to pages from Australian nonprofits and government services, the new regulations were scaled back.

“Aftershock”: Film Explores Disproportionate Black Maternal Mortality in U.S., Could Worsen After Roe

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the battleground for abortion access now shifts to the states, even as the U.S. faces the worst rates of maternal mortality among all rich nations, with Black maternal mortality three to four times higher than the national average. Now a new documentary examines the crisis of Black maternal mortality through the families of two young Black women who died after giving birth.

Rep. Ro Khanna: It’s Not Enough to Charge Jan. 6 Rioters. Accountability Must “Go Up the Food Chain”

The January 6 hearings have provided jaw-dropping revelations about former President Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and his role in unleashing a deadly mob on the Capitol, but the House committee has not yet recommended criminal charges against Trump. Congressmember Ro Khanna says whether to charge the former president is ultimately the Justice Department’s call, but he stresses the need for accountability.

Baby Formula Crisis Requires Urgent Action to Address Shortage of Vital Nutrition & Price Gouging

Four corporations control 90% of the baby formula market in the United States, and as a national baby formula shortage drags on, it has impacted working-class families of color the most. We get an update from Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna of California, who just wrote an open letter urging leaders of federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration to take bolder action to address the shortage.

“Immense Frustration”: Monkeypox Spreads Amid Slow U.S. Response, Few Vaccines; WHO Declares Emergency

Nearly 17,000 monkeypox infections have now been reported across 75 countries, and the World Health Organization declared the spread of monkeypox a global emergency. Meanwhile, the U.S. has stopped short of declaring a public health emergency even with nearly 3,000 cases reported in 44 states. New York alone has reported 900 cases of monkeypox, with rollout of the vaccine inhibited by short supply.