Today's Liberal News

Judge orders Betsy DeVos to sit for three-hour deposition to explain rejecting loan forgiveness

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been ordered to sit for a three-hour deposition for lawyers handling a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of around 160,000 student loan borrowers, came from the students defrauded by numerous for-profit colleges across the country. These were organizations like Trump University, where Trump settled a civil lawsuit for $25 million in November 2016.

This Week in Statehouse Action: Sign o’ the Crimes edition

While Biden was driving a cool truck and congressional Republicans decided they’re against a commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, GOP lawmakers in GOP-controlled legislatures were partying like it’s 1999 … by which I mean they were busy passing a slew of retrogressive bills that have no place in the 21st century.

Podcast: Dealing With Post-Pandemic Trauma

We’ve all been suffering during the coronavirus pandemic in one way or another, and as the U.S. starts to emerge, we’ll need to reckon with that. The Atlantic’s Ed Yong discusses his piece on pandemic trauma, how to think about it, and what he’s learned through talking to psychiatrists and other experts.

The Atlantic Daily: How Obama Really Feels About Trump

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.Donald Trump’s 2016 win caught many Americans off guard—including then-President Barack Obama and his second-in-command, current President Joe Biden.

When Social-Justice Horror Goes Wrong

This story contains spoilers for the film Spiral: From the Book of Saw.Saw, that undying paean to torture porn, finally started running out of stamina when its eighth—eighth!—entry hit theaters in 2017. The once-popular Lionsgate series had gotten predictable; the death traps were rusty, the box-office returns waning. Even B-listers hadn’t joined the cast in years. It needed a new star and a new purpose.As it turned out, the studio could kill two birds with one Chris Rock.

Don’t Sleep on Asian American Voters

When Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and other prominent Democrats appeared online at a major fundraiser last night, they spotlighted one of the least discussed lessons of the 2020 election: Asian Americans are poised for a major leap in electoral influence.In Democratic circles, the bloc’s impact on the 2020 election has been largely obscured by the intense focus on understanding how Donald Trump improved his performance among another rapidly growing minority group, Latinos.

“It Is Apartheid”: Rights Group B’Tselem on How Israel Advances Jewish Supremacy Over Palestinians

As Israel faces international condemnation for its assault on Gaza, we look at growing accusations that Israel is an apartheid state. Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the human rights group B’Tselem, describes the findings of their report that details how Israel is committing “apartheid.” Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is “not complicated,” El-Ad says. “Believe your eyes. Follow your conscience.

Gideon Levy & Noura Erakat on Israel’s Gaza Assault, U.S. Complicity and Ending the Occupation

A Palestinian man in a wheelchair, his pregnant wife and 3-year-old daughter are among the latest victims in Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign in Gaza, which is now in its 11th day. Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed at least 231 Palestinians, including 65 children, and health officials say 1,700 Palestinians have been wounded. Over 1,300 housing units have been completely demolished or severely damaged.