Today's Liberal News

What Hacks Proves About Jean Smart

As gratifying as it can be to see an actor disappear into a role, there’s something soul-restoring about an underappreciated star finally twinkling their way front and center in the Hollywood firmament. At 69, Jean Smart has almost five decades of ancillary and co-lead roles to her name—the rapacious Lana in Frasier, the ditsy helpmeet Charlene in Designing Women—but the new HBO Max series Hacks marks the rare time the actor has anchored a show.

The Pro-Trump Culture War on American Scientists

Two questions have dominated politics throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats and public-health experts have asked: What should we do? Former President Donald Trump, for his part, minimized the need to act. He instead spoke incessantly about a very different question: Whom should we blame?“In recent months, our nation and the world has been hit by the once-in-a-century pandemic that China allowed to spread around the globe.

Palestinians Stage Historic General Strike from “the River to the Sea” for the First Time Since 1936

As the Israeli bombing of Gaza enters its ninth day, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel are staging a historic general strike. This comes as violence is also spreading across Israel, with Jewish mobs attacking Palestinians in mixed Jewish and Arab communities. Last week, extremist Israeli settlers were filmed attacking Palestinian-owned shops in a Tel Aviv suburb.

Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza

As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 200, the leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is accusing Israel of committing war crimes by killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale. Executive director Hagai El-Ad says Israel has not done enough to distinguish between military and civilian targets or to act with proportionality. “We’ve seen war crimes in previous military assaults on Gaza,” he says.

“Genocide”: Palestinian Lawmaker Condemns Netanyahu for Bombing Gaza to Stay in Power, Avoid Charges

The ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza, which has now killed at least 213 people, “really is an act of genocide,” says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian parliament and head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society who has been leading efforts to manage the pandemic in the West Bank and Gaza. He says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces multiple corruption charges, is using the latest violence to save his political future.

Gaza Physician: Israel Is Targeting Doctors & Health Facilities to Overwhelm Our Crumbling System

The death toll in Gaza has reached 213, including at least 61 children, as Israel continues to attack the besieged area by air, land and sea using U.S.-made warplanes and bombs. The death toll in Israel stands at 11 from rockets fired from Gaza. Israel is facing increasing criticism for targeting doctors in its attack, and its airstrikes have reportedly damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics, according to the World Health Organization.

Can the News Be Fixed?

One morning a few years ago, Amanda Patten, 26, invited five strangers into her home in Cincinnati. She cleared the toys off of the couch and offered everyone a seat. For three hours, she answered questions about her childhood, her hopes and fears for her own kids, and her news-consumption habits.The visitors were from E.W. Scripps, a broadcasting corporation that owns 60 TV stations in 42 markets, and they were doing something unheard-of for a news-media company.

The New ‘Right Stuff’ Is Money and Luck

In a strip mall just off Houston’s NASA Parkway is a restaurant called Frenchie’s Italian Cuisine. You wouldn’t know it from the unassuming beige storefront, but inside, Frenchie’s looks like a museum. The walls are covered in framed pictures of smiling astronauts, in their blue jumpsuits and puffy spacesuits, holding up bubble helmets and model spaceships.

Republicans Oppose Kristen Clarke for Top Civil Rights Job at DOJ in Latest Attack on Voting Rights

Republican senators in Washington are attempting to block Kristen Clarke, a prominent voting rights advocate, from a top Justice Department position. The Senate Judiciary Committee has deadlocked on an 11-11 vote on whether to move Clarke’s nomination for assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to the Senate floor for a full vote.

News Roundup: Supreme Court again threatens abortion rights; new program for parents begins in July

In the news today: The Supreme Court takes up a case that it may use to sharply curtail abortion rights. The Biden administration announces monthly relief checks to American parents will begin in July. After losing the November election, Trump lashed out by demanding large-scale withdrawals of U.S. troops abroad.

Here’s some of what you may have missed:

• Supreme Court takes up Mississippi abortion law, setting the stage to overturn Roe v. Wade

• Rep.

LGBTQ students harassed in their own home in ‘horrific’ incident at Bucknell University

A university in Pennsylvania announced an investigation into a “horrific” incident in which LGBTQ students were harassed after at least 15 to 20 male students tried to storm into the Tower House, a Fran’s House affinity house for the LGBTQ community at Bucknell University, university officials said. Students were left traumatized with their “sense of place and security” threatened and little to no support from public safety officials.