Today's Liberal News

Ethiopia: New Reports Expose Ethnic Cleansing & Illegal Arms Shipments on Commercial Flights

Amid the mounting humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has been using the commercial airline Ethiopia Airlines to shuttle weapons and military vehicles from neighboring country Eritrea since the beginning of their civil war, according to a new CNN investigation. This comes as the United Nations estimates more than 5 million people in the country’s Tigray region are now in need of humanitarian assistance in order to survive, but U.N.

News Roundup: Senate pays credit card bill; Texas GOP attack trans youth; border ‘wall’ is a con

It is Friday! Republican Senate ogre Mitch McConnell was able to find nine other GOP senators willing to extend the payments for debt they created, at least for another couple of months. Texas continues to do whatever reactionary bigot Gov. Abbott (and his billionaire donor) wants do these days. And young alleged white supremacist murderer Kyle Rittenhouse has a new, grotesque defense.

While Republicans attack trans youth, Democrats offer trans students new protections at school

Given the relentless efforts from Republicans to stir hatred toward openly trans folks of all ages, it’s important to celebrate every bit of progress we can get when it comes to protection and equality for one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, for example, signed a bill into law on Wednesday that offers important protections and dignity to trans students at public colleges in the state, as reported by the Bay Area Reporter.

Unvaccinated insurrectionist asks for probation instead of jail time—for some wild reasons

These are seriously the whiniest, snow-flakiest insurrectionists ever. In 1776, as he faced the gallows, American patriot Nathan Hale famously said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” He didn’t say, “Oh, this ankle bracelet is too tight, and it embarrasses me during Friday night ale-quaffings at the publick house.” Then again, reality shows and Hot Pockets had yet to be invented, so he obviously had a lot less to live for.

Nine Pandemic Words That Almost No One Gets Right

One of the best and toughest parts of being a science writer is acting as a kind of jargon liaison. Weird, obscure, aggressively multisyllabic words appear in scientific discourse; I, wielding nothing but a Google Doc, a cellphone, and the Powers of the Internet™, wrest these terms from their academic hidey-holes and try to pin them down with some endearing yet accurate analogy.

The People Who Make Your Favorite Movies and Shows Are Fed Up

Eighteen-hour workdays with no lunch breaks. Car accidents caused by sleep deprivation. A crew member who returned to set the day after a miscarriage.For months, members of a union representing more than 150,000 behind-the-scenes workers in the entertainment industry have shared hundreds of these stories on social media—anonymous testimonies about the grueling conditions on TV and film sets.

Ted Lasso Is No Superhero

This article contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of Ted Lasso.In an episode halfway through the new season of Ted Lasso, Apple’s sweet and strange series about an optimistic American coach thrown into the cesspool of British soccer, the three AFC Richmond fans who compose the show’s dim-witted Greek chorus get ready to watch the FA Cup quarterfinal in a pub. “I swear, if we actually win this match, I will burn this pub to the ground,” one boasts.

The Atlantic Daily: The Big Wait

It’s not just toilet paper anymore. Pandemic pressure on the global supply chain is causing disruptions and shortages of a diverse assortment of items, such as books, furniture, wood, and COVID tests.“Americans are settling into a new phase of the pandemic economy,” my colleague Derek Thompson writes. “This is the Everything Shortage.”
The global supply chain is a disaster. And not just one part of it, either.

The Great Novel of the Internet Was Published in 1925

Adam Maida / The Atlantic
In September, The Wall Street Journal published a report, based on leaked documents, describing Facebook’s awareness of the harmful effects one of its platforms was having on young people. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” the company’s internal research revealed. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.

Family of Henrietta Lacks Files Lawsuit over Use of Stolen Cells, Lambasts Racist Medical System

The family of Henrietta Lacks has filed a lawsuit against biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific for making billions in profit from the “HeLa” cell line. Henrietta Lacks was an African American patient at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Doctors kept her tissue samples without her consent for experimental studies while treating her for cervical cancer in 1951.

Filipina Journalist Maria Ressa Wins Nobel Peace Prize After Facing Years of Threats & Arrests

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday morning to Filipina journalist Maria Ressa and Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov for their work to “safeguard freedom of expression.” Ressa has repeatedly been arrested by the government of Rodrigo Duterte for the groundbreaking work of her news site Rappler, which has exposed Duterte’s deadly war on drugs that has killed tens of thousands.