Today's Liberal News

This neighborhood fireworks display went bad in a hurry

July Fourth is a holiday filled with cookouts, alcohol, BBQs, family, friends, and fireworks. Lots of fireworks. But fireworks are by nature explosives and parties get out of hand and explosives are … explosive. Every year, more and more Americans are injured or killed in firework-related mishaps. That number has increased over the years as more and cheaper fireworks become available to the public.

Tucker Carlson blames women and weed—but not guns—for mass shootings perpetrated by angry white men

The United States had more mass shootings over the holiday weekend—11, to be exact—making us the Joey Chestnut of mayhem, in that no one can even hope to challenge us. Republicans insist the reason we have so many more gun killings than any other country can’t possibly be the guns—because too many Fox News viewers enjoy doing white-knuckle drive-by hits on mule deer from their Rascal scooters.

Is Russian state TV souring on Trump? ‘We’ll have to think whether to reinstall him again’

The redoubtable, indefatigable, and gnarly rad Russian media monitor Julia Davis is back with another dispatch from the land of make-believe—otherwise known as Russian state TV. It’s a transcendently weird place where Vladimir Putin is doggedly de-Nazifying his Jewish-led neighbor and NATO somehow has reason to fear a Russian attack—even though Russia hasn’t been able to defeat its much-smaller non-NATO neighbor in four-plus months.

Bill O’Reilly throws racist fit over ‘minority gangs’ after white shooter kills 7 in Highland Park

A day following the mass shooting during a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, disgraced Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly went on an asinine and (even for him) deeply racist rant on his No Spin News and Analysis podcast in response to a recent press conference by Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker.

“There are no words for the kind of evil that turns a community celebration into a tragedy,” Pritzker said.

Are the Last Rational Republicans in Denial?

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.I wonder if the remaining sensible Republicans have accepted the irretrievable loss of the GOP they once knew.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
Let’s use Chicago rules to beat Russia.
Hybrid work is doomed.
Uber Pool is a zombie.

Stranger Things Isn’t TV. It’s Something Else.

This article contains light spoilers through the fourth season of Stranger Things.Somehow, even thousands of viewing minutes in, my synapses numbed by a cinematic universe so squelchy that it induces visceral anxiety, I still don’t really know how to feel about Stranger Things. It’s hard to even say exactly what it is. TV watchers today are accustomed to streaming works that coalesce, murkily, somewhere between film and television.

The Great Veterinary Shortage

When Michelle Stokes noticed a necrotic wound on her cat, Jellyfish, last July, she and her husband had to call about 50 vets before finding one that could squeeze them in.The local emergency animal hospital was so backed up that it said the wound—serious but not yet life-threatening—wasn’t really an emergency. Jellyfish didn’t have a regular vet, because Stokes and her husband had just moved to the Cleveland area.

College Football Is Cannibalizing Itself

College-sports traditionalists were appalled last week when the Big Ten athletic conference announced that it will add UCLA and the University of Southern California to its membership in 2024—creating a seismic shift in the college-sports landscape that will generate millions of dollars in revenue for the two California powerhouse programs.This reorganization is the strongest indicator yet that college sports is cannibalizing itself.

Judicial Coup? SCOTUS Gerrymandering Case May Let GOP State Legislatures Control Federal Elections

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday it will hear oral arguments in a case experts warn could be one of the greatest threats to U.S. democracy since the deadly January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In October, the court will hear Moore v. Harper — a case which seeks to reinstate gerrymandered congressional maps that were struck down by North Carolina’s highest court.

Highland Park Suspect Was in Online Communities Where People Are “Programming Themselves to Kill”

The death toll in Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, has risen to seven after another victim died from their injuries. The suspect has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder over the massacre that also left scores of people injured, including nine people who remain hospitalized. Police say he legally purchased five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite visiting his home in 2019 over threats of violence.

News Roundup: Sen. Lindsey Graham subpoenaed; still another mass shooting

Another holiday weekend is behind us, and with it another spate of mass shootings because that’s how America works now. A Georgia grand jury has now subpoenaed key allies of Donald Trump as part of an investigation into a potentially criminal effort by Trump and others to pressure state officials into altering vote totals on his behalf; one of those subpoenaed is Sen. Lindsey Graham, who made his own inquiries as to how vote totals might be changed.

Florida county slaps warning label on LGBTQ kids who join phys ed classes or overnight trips

It’s no wonder Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t release a Republican policy platform for the midterms. Everything they do is awful. Their platform might as well say, “Eat shit, America. You’re stuck with us now.” 

After Cronenberg-ing our country to the point where 10-year-old rape victims are now forced to travel out of state to end their pregnancies, conservatives are putting the screws to LGBTQ kids in new and creative ways.