Today's Liberal News

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“How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. Click here to listen to his new podcast series on all things happiness, How to Build a Happy Life.The end of the year isn’t just the holiday season; it’s also charity season. Estimates of charitable giving indicate that at least 20 percent of all gifts are made in December, when our holiday love for humankind conveniently converges with the end of the tax year.

“His Spirit Reflected a Giant”: Mumia Abu-Jamal Remembers Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Visit on Death Row

Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday at the age of 90. Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting to end apartheid in South Africa. In 2007, Tutu visited Mumia when he was still on death row. “His spirit reflected a giant,” says Abu-Jamal. “He struggled for change with his prophetic voice, his sweet humor, his deep love and his boundless sense of compassion.

Angela Davis on Imagining New Worlds, the Campaign to Free Mumia and the Biden Presidency

World-renowned author, activist and professor Angela Davis talks about navigating the pandemic and an inadequate two-party political system during a time of racial uprising in the United States. She also talks about imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Biden presidential campaign and the protests that erupted from the police killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

News Roundup: U.S. hits new pandemic record; master Senate tactician Harry Reid dead at 82

In the news today: Former Sen. Harry Reid, a giant of progressive politics, died last night at age 82. The nation’s COVID-19 pandemic has now reached yet another all-time high, with a 7-day average now topping a quarter-million new cases per day. And the mass shooter responsible for five deaths in Denver has been identified as a white supremacist who repeatedly advocated for political violence on social media—and wrote a “book” that reveled in such violence.

Anti-vaxxers take over a Burger King, and yes, it’s even more ridiculous than it sounds

What could be possibly more American than a group of cranky a-holes fighting for their God-given right to spread deadly diseases at fast-food restaurants? That’s peak 2021, folks; MAGA mites always save the best for last.

As much as I’d like to dump most Burger King food into Boston Harbor (still a far better choice, I’d argue, than eating it), I don’t think this protest will have the historic impact these anti-vaxxers hope it will.

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.

Our Relationship With COVID Vaccines Is Just Getting Started

Walter Barker has, since the fall of 2020, had five doses of COVID-19 vaccine. He’s already starting to ponder when he might need a sixth.Barker, a 38-year-old office worker in New York, received his first two doses a year ago, as part of an AstraZeneca vaccine trial. But the shots, which haven’t been authorized by the FDA, couldn’t get him into some venues. Sick of having to test every time he went to a Yankees game, Barker nabbed a pair of Moderna injections in the spring.

A Very Radical, Very Delicious Take on Risk Management

You know that moment, just after you get a batch of cookies in the oven, when you take off your apron, place the mixing bowl neatly in the sink, fill it with water, and wash your hands to celebrate a job well done? Well, congratulations if you do. I’ve certainly never experienced it.As soon as I’ve formed the last reasonably sized cookie, my grubby little paws go straight for the dough that’s sticking to the side of the bowl.

How to Go After Rogue Prosecutors

When the world saw Los Angeles police officers beat Rodney King on camera in 1991, conversations about how the police engage with communities of color were destined to change. Congress heard the general public’s cries for accountability.