Today's Liberal News

Meghan Markle Racism Revelations Are “Shocking, But Not Surprising” to People of Color in U.K.

The British royal family is facing intense criticism over its treatment of Meghan Markle, who revealed shocking details about life as a royal in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, including mistreatment and bullying from other royals, relentless harassment by the British press, and racist comments about Markle, who was born in the United States to a Black mother and a white father. One member of the royal family, according to Markle, even speculated how dark her child’s skin would be.

“Hell on Earth”: Yemeni Children Starve to Death as U.S.-Backed Saudi Blockade Devastates Nation

The World Food Programme is warning Yemen is headed toward the biggest famine in modern history, with the U.N. agency projecting around 400,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 could die from acute malnutrition this year as the Saudi war and blockade continues. CNN senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir says Yemen is accurately described as “hell on Earth.

The End of Trickle-Down Economics? Joe Stiglitz on the “Transformational” $1.9T American Rescue Plan

President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, which Democrats are hailing as the largest anti-poverty bill in a generation. It includes stimulus checks to most adults, expanded unemployment benefits and an overhaul of the child tax credit. One study projects the law will lift almost 14 million Americans out of poverty, including 5.7 million children. “This is transformational,” says economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Community Spotlight: 13 years of Black Kos

In 2011, the Daily Kos Community began to organize Groups around shared interests, and Groups have helped define the Community ever since. Almost any interest you could have, there’s a Daily Kos Group for it. Our Groups have become the backbone of our shared community, a handy way to keep up on personal interests, a ground for making friendships, a channel to direct activism.

Wellness for Activists: Advanced weight loss techniques (or, finding your right diet)

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Welcome to my weekly feature covering ways us activists can lead healthier lives. For a full explanation, check out the inaugural edition here—in short, most of us do a terrible job of taking care of our minds and bodies. This is a science-based exploration of how to change that so we can be around for many years of fruitful activism. You can find other articles in this series here.

NASA is taking the Navajo language to Mars, with the help of a Diné engineer

For anyone who has ever visited the Navajo Nation—a sprawling 27,000 square mile territory that spreads across Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico—some of the pictures being sent back from Mars may look … a little familiar. That’s especially true of the area around Jezero Crater where the Perseverance rover made its astounding landing in February.

Tate’s Bake Shop threatens workers with deportation, this week in the war on workers

Workers attempting to unionize at Tate’s Bake Shop are getting hit with an all-too-common, and totally vile, union-busting message: They say they’re being threatened with deportation. 

Yes, Tate’s—now owned by Mondelez International—hired an anti-union consultant, who apparently looked at the company’s many undocumented workers and went for the threat that would scare them the most.

MyPillow Guy launching site to compete with YouTube and Twitter, because sure; why not?

You have to hand it to MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell. When life hands him lemons, he eats them so fast they become deadly choking hazards. His latest nonsense? He’s launching a new social media platform to compete with YouTube and Twitter, which for some reason no longer allow videos and tweets that could lead to the attempted violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

Lindell is already being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.

A Bug’s Life

Photographs by Tine PoppeThis article was published online on March 13, 2021.When you are an ant, the stakes are always high. There are those who would eat you—birds, snakes, bigger bugs—and those who could trample you and your environment in a single sneakered step. These enormous beings may not mean you any harm, but it is impact, not intention, that matters most.

How an Epic and Violent Family History Fuels Fiction

Editor’s Note: Read Paul Yoon’s new short story, “Person of Korea.” “Person of Korea” is a new short story by Paul Yoon. To mark the story’s publication in The Atlantic, Yoon and Oliver Munday, the design director of the magazine, discussed the story over email. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

Person of Korea

Editor’s Note: Read an interview with Paul Yoon about his writing process. This story was published online on March 13, 2021.He waits three weeks for his father to respond. During that time, whenever he checks the mail, the dog follows him. She eyes the birds on the telephone wires. Then the migrant workers in the fields.One day, the payphone near the mailboxes rings. He hurries to the booth.

The Relentless Philip Roth

Illustration by Oliver Munday; Bernard Gotfryd / Hulton Archive; Bettman; Bob Peterson / The Life Images Collection / Getty
This article was published online on March 13, 2021.

Defend the Public Defenders

Public defense might be one of the rare professions in which doing one’s job too well can lead to being fired. The reasons for this are structural—public defenders are tasked with an obligation they cannot fulfill without upsetting those tasked with helping them fulfill it—and the system can be fixed structurally: by creating a state-level office whose job it is to defend public defenders.