Today's Liberal News

Final note: Musicians who passed in 2021, Part Two

Below I will list some of the names of musicians who passed away in 2021. It will be a solid list, and I’ll link to larger and more robust obituaries throughout, but it’s almost entirely made up of American artists and people who found success in America. I ask your forgiveness in advance for the people I miss. I mean no disrespect and would appreciate their mentions in the comments, or stories you may have related to any of the music-makers listed below.

A Pandemic Guide to Anime: Zombie Land Saga

Welcome back to our impromptu and sporadically scheduled pandemic guide to anime. If you’ve missed any of our earlier entries, you can find them all here; for our introductory post you can go here, yada yada yada, introduction done.

All right, recent entries have ranged from the perils of high school life to the perils of the afterlife.

Prism’s top stories of 2021

by Ashton Lattimore

This article was originally published at Prism

This year has been marked by political and public health turmoil, environmental disasters, and widespread social injustice, and it’s strained our communities and inspired us to imagine and demand better futures.

We held a panel on ableism, and we listened. Your turn

When people talk about their experiences, listen. Truly listen. Take in what they’re saying and not just how what they’re saying affects you. It’s a simple means of education, but the good news is, it’s completely free—no tuition, no registration. Someone else does all the work, and you get all the benefits.

Those benefits with regards to a virtual panel we hosted with our Daily Kos staff in December simply cannot be quantified.

The Atlantic Daily: What Covid Could Look Like One Year From Now

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.The United States is logging record-setting numbers of coronavirus cases in the final week of 2021. The country is now averaging more than 300,000 new cases per day as it prepares to enter a third calendar year spent battling the pandemic.

The Books Briefing: 5 Short Stories to Read This Weekend

Editor’s note: This week’s newsletter is a rerun.
We’ll be back with a fresh newsletter next week.
I often think of fiction as fact’s partner in the pursuit of truth. At its best, the genre is capable of rendering the worlds we’re unable to imagine, and also of revealing the ones hidden around us. Last year, The Atlantic recommitted itself to publishing fiction with greater frequency.

These Long-Distance Friends Reunite Every New Year’s Like No Time Has Passed

Each installment of “The Friendship Files” features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.This week she talks with three men whose international group of friends has been having an annual New Year’s Eve reunion party for the past 10 years (except for 2020, when the pandemic prevented it).

Our Highways Are an Ever-Expanding Museum of America’s Wars

South of downtown Columbus, Ohio, lost on the way to a tailgate, I saw the road sign bearing his name. The brown aluminum placard flashed between passing cars. I’d been holding my phone, listening to directions, and I dropped it. I could hardly make out the words on the sign, and then it disappeared behind semis, but I knew what they said: Army Specialist Nicholaus E. Zimmer Memorial Highway.

The NBA and NFL Surrendered to Their Vaccine Refusers

The Brooklyn Nets have officially ended their tug-of-war with Kyrie Irving over the star point guard’s vaccination status. And Irving, who has refused to get a COVID-19 shot, is unquestionably the winner.The rapid spread of the coronavirus’s Omicron variant has left gaps on rosters across the NBA.

The Atlantic Daily: Three Reasons to Be Optimistic About the 2020s

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.This year was … a lot. Delta, Omicron, inflation, threats to democracy. I get why most people are feeling exhausted.I still believe that better times are coming.

Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine Is Backfiring

Western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is contemplating an invasion of Ukraine, perhaps involving some 175,000 troops. Vladimir Putin’s government has already moved more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders, including into Belarus. Russian officials have been making outrageously paranoid and false accusations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for example, recently blamed NATO for the return of the “nightmare scenario of military confrontation.

Arundhati Roy on the Media, Vaccine Inequity, Authoritarianism in India & Challenging U.S. Wars

We go to New Delhi, India, to speak with acclaimed Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy about the pandemic, U.S. militarism and the state of journalism. Roy first appeared on Democracy Now! after receiving widespread backlash for speaking out against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. At the time, her emphatic antiwar stance clashed with the rising tides of patriotism and calls for war after 9/11. “Now the same media is saying what we were saying 20 years ago,” says Roy.

Poet Martín Espada on “Floaters,” the Dehumanization of Refugees, Puerto Rico & His Father

Acclaimed poet Martín Espada recently won the National Book Award for Poetry for his anthology “Floaters.” He became just the third Latinx poet to win the award. “Floaters” is titled after the photo of the Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande in June 2019 trying to cross into the United States, one that sparked outrage at the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border. Espada discusses U.S.

News Roundup: Insurrection probe wants to hear from McCarthy; Florida’s governor goes missing

In the news today: The House committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection wants to hear from yet another House Republican who was in contact with Donald Trump that day: Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose pleas to Trump for assistance during the violence were rebuffed. The new year is bringing at least some good news, as new government rules take effect curtailing surprise medical bills.