Robert McFarlane, Former National Security Advisor, Dead At 84
A top aide to President Ronald Reagan, McFarlane pleaded guilty to charges for his role in an illegal arms-for-hostages deal known as the Iran-Contra affair.
Today's Liberal News
Is a Common Virus Suddenly Causing Liver Failure in Kids?
Last October, a young girl with severe and unusual liver failure was admitted to a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. Her symptoms were typical: skin and eyes yellow with jaundice, markers of liver damage off the charts. But she tested negative for all the usual suspects behind liver disease. Her only positive test was, surprisingly, for adenovirus—a common virus best known for causing mild colds, pink eye, or stomach flu.
Open Now: A Forest for the Trees
A forest grows in downtown Los Angeles. Opening today with a limited run through summer 2022, A Forest for the Trees is an immersive art show created and directed by visionary artist Glenn Kaino, together with The Atlantic and Superblue, that is designed to inspire audiences to reimagine their relationship with the natural world.A Forest for the Trees is open to all ages, and tickets are on sale now. Press should inquire about opportunities to tour the show.
The Crypto Crash Is Just the Start
Sign up for Derek’s newsletter here.The American economy isn’t looking great right now. U.S. GDP shrank last quarter, despite a hearty showing from American consumers. Inflation is high; markets are down; both wages and personal-savings rates show some troubling statistical signals. Is the U.S. destined to have a recession in 2022? I don’t know for sure. But here are nine signs that worry me.1. Everybody’s stock portfolio is disgusting right now.
The Allure of the Campus Novel
Why are so many writers drawn to campus novels? In a 2006 article, Megan Marshall writes that the genre is “escape reading.” Citing older works such as The Harrad Experiment and 3 in the Attic, Marshall sees many college novels as “fumbling and sophomoric confessionals.” That’s certainly changed. Campus novels today have expanded beyond the confines of the Ivy League and deal with some of our society’s most pressing questions.
German Peace Activist Warns Finland Joining NATO Could Be Step Toward Nuclear War with Russia
Finland’s president and prime minister say they plan to end decades of neutrality and join NATO. Sweden is also expected to seek NATO membership. The Kremlin says Russia sees the expansion of NATO on its borders as a threat. “People on both sides will suffer,” says Reiner Braun, executive director of the International Peace Bureau, who warns Russia will escalate in response and move more nuclear weapons near the 830-mile-long Finland-Russia border.
Mexican Journalists Protest “Staggering” Toll of Journalists Murdered with Impunity; 11 Slain in 2022
Three journalists were killed within a three-day span this week in Mexico, bringing the toll to 11 so far this year and making Mexico the deadliest country in the world for journalists, behind Ukraine. Most of the murders have gone unsolved. This week journalists across Mexico took to the streets protesting the murder of their colleagues and called for accountability.
Nick Estes: Leonard Peltier’s Continued Imprisonment Is an “Open Wound for Indian Country”
Calls are growing for President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, the 77-year-old imprisoned Native American activist who has spent 46 years behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit. Amnesty International considers Peltier a political prisoner, and numerous legal observers say his 1977 conviction for alleged involvement in killing two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct.
Nick Estes: Indian Boarding Schools Were Part of “Horrific Genocidal Process” Carried Out by the U.S.
The Interior Department has documented the deaths of more than 500 Indigenous children at Indian boarding schools run or supported by the federal government in the United States which operated from 1819 to 1969. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher, and the report located 53 burial sites at former schools. The report was ordered by the first Indigenous cabinet member, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents were forced to attend boarding school at the age of 8.
U.S. drug overdose deaths surpass 107,000 last year, another record
More than 1 million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 2001.
Blue states want to become abortion safe havens. It will cost them.
Groups that operate clinics and run abortion access funds warn that they’ll need more money, more providers and more space to help care for the influx of people who will cross state lines to seek abortions.
Emergent’s Covid vaccine problems more extensive than previously known
Lawmakers detail how 400 million Covid-19 doses were destroyed at the company’s Baltimore facility after it failed to heed internal warnings about quality standards.
U.S. inflation hit 8.3% last month but slows from 40-year high
On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months.
Fed set to launch fresh assault on inflation in new era for economy
Rates this year could reach their highest levels since before the 2008 Wall Street crash if surging prices continue.
Surprise GDP slump undercuts White House recovery story
The government said gross domestic product shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first quarter.
U.S. economy shrank by 1.4 percent in Q1 but consumers kept spending
The steady spending suggested the economy could keep expanding this year even though the Federal Reserve plans to raise rates aggressively to fight the inflation surge.
IMF warns of ‘severe’ global economic risk from war in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine will “severely” set back the global recovery from Covid-19, according to the IMF.
“They Just Fired Me”: Meet the 2 Terminated Amazon Warehouse Workers Fighting Attempt to Crush Union
Amazon has fired two workers who helped organize the first successful U.S. union at Amazon’s Staten Island JFK8 warehouse. This comes as the National Labor Relations Board on Monday upheld a complaint that Amazon violated labor law in the Staten Island union vote by holding mandatory worker meetings to dissuade employees from voting to unionize.
Escape From Hong Kong
To avoid drawing unwanted attention, Tommy and the four others dressed as if they were heading out for a leisurely day. It was July 2020, and the weather was perfect for some time on the water. The young men acted as though they knew one another well, and were excited to reconnect. But inside, Tommy felt panicked and desperate. He was about to attempt an escape from Hong Kong, where he faced a near-certain jail sentence for his role in the prodemocracy protests there.
Alex Jones Screams At Viewers To Buy His Products, Tells Them It’s ‘Life And Death’
The Infowars host, who has lined his pockets by spreading fear and lies, said, “If you don’t support us, you’re helping the enemy.
Ukraine update: Severodonetsk faces the storm
According to statements that Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have made on state-run media, there are three goals for the “special military action” in Ukraine.
One is to secure all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblast and bring them into Russia. The idea that either will be an independent “people’s republic,” or that there might be some kind of referendum to determine their fate is now old hat. They’ll just be part of Russia. And like it.
News Roundup: Republicans finally get their Jan. 6 subpoenas; Grassroots groups focus efforts
Welcome to Thursday. The GOP continues moving forward with its only policy platform: taking away Americans’ rights. In the case of LGBTQ+ Americans, they are doing this by way of attacking children. Because the only “life” they are “pro” is contained to just the gestation period of fetuses, they are also proceeding with their policy of taking away more than 50% of our population’s rights to bodily autonomy.
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas five GOP members of Congress, including Kevin McCarthy
Remember last year when House GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly turned against the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission he had deputized one of his own members to negotiate?
Right. Now McCarthy is among five sitting Republican House members who have been subpoenaed by the select committee investigating Jan.
Republicans hate George M. Johnson’s memoir ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue.’ Johnson saw the book bans coming
Republicans at all levels of government have made book bans a recent rallying cry. Under the guise of fighting critical race theory (CRT), conservatives have lit hysteria under their voting base by convincing them that “inappropriate” books are going to invade their child’s brain. In reality, these books are more often than not by or about LGBTQ+ and/or people of color, with a handful of white, cisgender, heterosexual writers thrown in too.
Angry at the assault on abortion rights? Help us win state legislatures
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overrule Roe v. Wade, things are about to get very brutal for abortion rights at the state level.
Twenty-two states already have laws on their books to ban abortion after a ruling becomes final, and this week Louisiana legislators are considering a bill to make abortion a crime, charging those who have one with murder.
Trump Frets Over Underdog Surge In Dr. Oz Senate Race
Conservative commentator Kathy Barnette is nipping at the heels of Trump’s pick in the Pennsylvania race for a Senate seat.
U.S. Civil Rights Enforcers Warn Employers About Using Biased AI
“The use of AI is compounding the longstanding discrimination that jobseekers with disabilities face,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke told reporters Thursday.
Joe Biden Announces Steps To Address Baby Formula Shortage
The president held a meeting with retailers as lawmakers clamor for Biden to do something about the formula crisis.
Republicans Criticize Biden For Not Starving Undocumented Immigrant Babies
GOP lawmakers blasted the Biden administration for providing baby formula to detained undocumented immigrants during a shortage.
Knocked Up and the American Impulse to Edit Out Abortion
Early in Knocked Up, Ben Stone (played by Seth Rogen) tells his friends that a one-night stand has ended in pregnancy. Ben’s friend Jonah (Jonah Hill) offers him advice on the matter. “It rhymes with shma-shmortion,” Jonah says. “I’m just saying … you should get a shma-shmortion at the shma-shmortion clinic.”Knocked Up is now 15 years old. It premiered in 2007, a product of raunch culture and one of its bards, the director Judd Apatow.