Today's Liberal News

Why Germany’s Apology for Its 1904-1908 Genocide in Namibia Does Not Go Far Enough

Germany has apologized for its role in the first genocide of the 20th century, which took place in Namibia, a former colony then known as German South West Africa. Between 1904 and 1908, German colonizers killed tens of thousands of Ovaherero and Nama people in Namibia. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas officially described the massacre as genocide and outlined an offer of more than $1.34 billion in development aid to the Namibian government.

“Julian Is Suffering”: Family of WikiLeaks Founder Assange in U.S. to Demand His Release from Prison

The U.S. State Department is pushing to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain, where Biden is now meeting with leaders during the G7 summit. A U.K. judge blocked Assange’s extradition in January, citing serious mental health concerns. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the U.S., where he was indicted for violations of the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes.

News Roundup: Senate still stalled; G7 promises; ICE propaganda office scrapped

In the news today: The G7 nations agree to steep cuts in carbon emissions, but offer few details on how to reach that goal. The Senate continues to vigorously and self-importantly do nothing. And the Biden administration scraps both a white nationalism-themed Trump propaganda project and the redirection of $2 billion in military construction funds towards Trump’s Big Border Erection.

Video shows Maryland cop shock Black tourist with Taser after accusing him of vaping on boardwalk

Viral videos showed Maryland police tackling a teen, kneeing him in the stomach, and shocking another man with a Taser because of their response to allegations they were vaping on the Ocean City boardwalk Saturday evening, according to The Washington Post. A city ordinance prohibits “smoking and vaping outside of the designated areas on the Boardwalk,” city officials said in a news release.

Video of Black woman being dragged by her hair in sports bar ignites protests in Washington, D.C.

On Sunday evening, people gathered to protest outside of Nellie’s Sports Bar, a gay bar in Washington, D.C., after a disturbing video went viral that appeared to show a Black woman being dragged by her hair down the stairs. Dragged by whom? Allegedly, a member of the bar’s security team. It’s unknown what precisely led to the incident, but it’s deeply, inarguably unacceptable for someone to be removed from an establishment in this violent, demeaning fashion.

G7 makes big climate pledges, but the details are lacking

While many hoped the return of United States competence would swiftly translate into bold international climate action, the results of the G7 summit are mixed. On one hand, the G7 nations made a new promise to cut carbon emissions in half before the end of this decade—an aggressive move towards cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, an international climate pledge and two dollars will get you a cup of coffee, and not much else.

Notes From the Editor in Chief: The Capitol Riot Was Prologue

Every month, our editor in chief will bring readers inside The Atlantic for a taste of how our journalism gets made, and the issues that concern us the most. Expect interviews with our writers, trips into our archives, stories you shouldn’t miss, and more. Sign up to get this newsletter, Notes From the Editor in Chief, delivered to your inbox.

A Strangely Comforting Finding About Alien Rain

On rainy days, Kaitlyn Loftus likes to imagine herself somewhere else. Not on a sun-soaked beach, but on another world in the middle of its own rainstorm. Beneath the swirling storms of Jupiter or Saturn’s hazy cloud tops, where helium drops from the sky. On Neptune, where it might drizzle diamonds. Maybe Titan, a moon of Saturn, where methane rain can fill entire lakes.Loftus is a planetary scientist at Harvard, and for her, otherworldly rain is more than a daydream.

What Ilhan Omar Actually Said

By the time Republicans and centrist Democrats had united late last week to scold Representative Ilhan Omar for a tweet—one of the few pastimes that still draw the two parties together, and something those selfsame chiders would doubtlessly decry, under different circumstances, as cancel culture or censorship—it no longer mattered what, exactly, Omar had said. They had already managed to make a news cycle out of it: mission accomplished.