Today's Liberal News
How California Got to the Point Where the Wealthy Can Hire Private Firefighters
An executive went viral when he said he’d pay “any amount.
Buy Nothing Groups Seem to Offer Everything—Except a Chance to Get to Know Your Neighbors
The local online parent group, where I’d hoped to find new friends, was basically a random yard sale.
Trump transition puts up guardrails around RFK Jr.
The transition team hired trusted conservatives to key HHS positions.
SCOTUS agrees to hear challenge to Obamacare’s preventive care coverage
The court will decide the fate of the insurance mandate later this year.
Surgeon general’s call for alcohol warning label likely to fall flat in Congress
Vivek Murthy says alcohol causes cancer, but the industry still has many friends on Capitol Hill.
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.
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.
Biden: Trump’s tax and tariffs plans are a ‘major mistake’
Five weeks after the election, the president took his sharpest swing at Trump’s policy plans.
Trump voters feel very differently about things now that he’s won, our new poll shows
A pair of POLITICO|Morning Consult polls, one conducted in the final days of the election and the other conducted after Trump won, show how public opinion has changed.
Queer and HIV+ in Gaza: A Young Man’s “Race Against Time” as Israel Blocks Medication
We speak with journalists Steven Thrasher and Afeef Nessouli about their new report for The Intercept, which examines how queer, HIV-positive Palestinians are struggling to survive in Gaza with limited access to medication due to Israel’s siege and ongoing attacks on the territory. The report centers on E.S., a young Palestinian man who is HIV-positive and who has been in “a race against time,” says Nessouli. “The genocide is making it impossible to get medication to people like E.S.
The End of the DEI Era
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It’s often hard to discern, definitively, when one societal trend ends and a new one begins. But right now across the United States, one change couldn’t be clearer: Many DEI programs are sputtering or dying, and the anti-DEI movement is ascendant.
‘I Won’t Touch Instagram’
What’s going on with TikTok right now? The app was expected to be banned in the United States this coming Sunday, when the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is set to go into effect. But several possible turns of events could save it—a last-minute sale, a surprise judgment from the Supreme Court, or intervention from the Biden administration.
The Internet Is TikTok Now
There are times when, deep into a scroll through my phone, I tilt my head and realize that I’m not even sure what app I’m on. A video takes up my entire screen. If I slide my finger down, another appears. The feeling is disorienting, so I search for small design cues at the margins of my screen. The thing I’m staring at could be TikTok, or it could be one of any number of other social apps that look exactly like it.
L.A. Is Suddenly an Indoor City. I Know Too Well What’s Coming Next.
The flames may be dying out, but for many people in L.A. the burn is only just beginning.
Brace for Foreign-Policy Chaos
When Donald Trump completes his once-unthinkable return to the White House, he’ll face a world far more violent and unsettled than when he unwillingly gave up power four years ago.
And his very presence behind the Resolute desk feels destined to destabilize it further.
Trump has offered mysterious plans to bring quick ends to the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Place Where I Grew Up Is Gone
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When my family woke up last Thursday, we learned that our friend Arthur Simoneau was missing.
The day before, when the Palisades Fire was heading toward the neighborhood where I grew up and where he still lived, my mom had texted his ex-wife, Jill, to ask if she knew where he was—he’d stayed behind to defend our road from fire before. Jill thought he was out of town, at a hot spring.
Top Senate Republican says PEPFAR program in jeopardy
Foreign Affairs Relations Chair Jim Risch said money from the AIDS relief program paid for abortions.
Restaurants Are Charging Top-Shelf Prices for Nonalcoholic Drinks. That’s Not a Bad Thing.
Because “Let’s grab a drink” is about more than the alcohol.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General Pick, Has History of Corporate Lobbying and Election Denial
In her confirmation hearing Wednesday, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, refused to answer Democrats’ questions about maintaining the Department of Justice’s independence from the president and pursuing his personal vendettas. Bondi also avoided directly answering questions about Trump’s vow to pardon January 6 defendants and refused to say Trump definitively lost the 2020 election.
Daniel Levy, Muhammad Shehada, Jeremy Scahill on Ceasefire Deal, Trump’s Role & Palestine’s Future
We host a roundtable on the planned Gaza ceasefire with former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy of the U.S./Middle East Project, Gazan analyst Muhammad Shehada of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News. We discuss how incoming President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff pressured Israel to accept the deal and what it reveals about the outgoing Biden administration’s refusal to use its own leverage for the same end.
Report from Gaza: Ceasefire Announcement Raises Hopes, But Israel Kills 81 in New Attacks
We go first to Gaza for reaction from Palestinians to the long-awaited ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas announced Wednesday. When implemented, the deal would mark the first pause in Israel’s relentless attack on the Gaza Strip in over a year. The ceasefire is expected to go into effect Sunday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed a Cabinet vote required to approve it. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to strike civilian-dense areas in Gaza.
How California Got to the Point Where the Wealthy Can Hire Private Firefighters
An executive went viral when he said he’d pay “any amount.
Buy Nothing Groups Seem to Offer Everything—Except a Chance to Get to Know Your Neighbors
The local online parent group, where I’d hoped to find new friends, was basically a random yard sale.
The Complications Are Spreading Like Wildfire
It’s not just their reputations at stake; it’s their livelihoods.