Today's Liberal News

Rep. Ro Khanna, Grandson of Activist Jailed with Gandhi Movement, Decries Facebook’s Role in India

A consortium of 17 news outlets is examining the “Facebook Papers,” a trove of internal documents turned over to federal regulators by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen that sheds new light on the social media giant’s role in spreading misinformation and polarizing content. The documents reveal most of Facebook’s efforts to combat online hate are focused on the United States, even though 90% of users are outside the country.

Rep. Ro Khanna Slams Conservative Democrats for Holding Back Build Back Better Plan

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said over the weekend that Democrats are close to reaching a deal on a pair of major budget bills that form the backbone of President Biden’s domestic agenda. Progressives in Congress have spent months defending provisions such as Medicare benefits, paid family leave and free community college, but conservative Democrats such as Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have slashed them from the budget.

How Facebook Fails 90 Percent of Its Users

In the fall of 2019, Facebook launched a massive effort to combat the use of its platforms for human trafficking. Working around the clock, its employees searched Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram for keywords and hashtags that promoted domestic servitude in the Middle East and elsewhere. Over the course of a few weeks, the company took down 129,191 pieces of content, disabled more than 1,000 accounts, tightened its policies, and added new ways to detect this kind of behavior.

‘History Will Not Judge Us Kindly’

Before I tell you what happened at exactly 2:28 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the White House—and how it elicited a very specific reaction, some 2,400 miles away, in Menlo Park, California—you need to remember the mayhem of that day, the exuberance of the mob as it gave itself over to violence, and how several things seemed to happen all at once.At 2:10 p.m.

The Truth About White America

If you paid attention to the news this summer about the release of 2020 census data, you probably heard that America’s white population is in free fall. Big, if true.The statistic that launched a thousand hot takes and breathless voice-overs about racial change was a supposed 8.6 percent, or 19 million, drop in the number of white Americans since 2010.

Public Citizen Blasts Pfizer for Putting Corporate Profit Over Increasing Access to COVID Vaccines

A damning new report shows that one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine makers appears to have played a role in restricting access to those very vaccines. The report, “Pfizer’s Power,” published this week by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, examines Pfizer’s contracts with the United States, United Kingdom, European Commission, Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic and Peru.

Sen. Joe Manchin’s Opposition to Biden Agenda Backed by History of Putting Corporations Over People

As President Biden negotiates the final size and scope of the Build Back Better Act with fellow Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has emerged as a major hurdle to his agenda. The conservative Democrat and his family would potentially profit from his opposition to the key planks of the bill, including green energy investment and raising corporate taxes to pay for the package.

How Kyrsten Sinema, Once a Socialist, Is Now Obstructing the Democrats’ Progressive Platform

President Biden acknowledged Thursday his Build Back Better agenda is in jeopardy due to two Senate Democrats: Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Both senators have pushed Biden to slash in half his $3.5 trillion proposal that would be spent over 10 years to vastly expand the safety net and combat the climate crisis. We take an in-depth look at the two lawmakers, starting with Sinema.

As Murder Trial Begins in Ahmaud Arbery’s Killing, Family Worries About Impartiality of Jurors

We go to Brunswick, Georgia, for an update as jury selection began this week in the trial of three white men who fatally shot 25-year-old unarmed man Ahmaud Arbery while he was out for a jog last year. Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael claim they were attempting a “citizen’s arrest” of Arbery last February when they pursued him in their pickup truck.

News Roundup: AT&T reeling, but still pro-hoax; Obama singles out Ciattarelli

In the news today: Barack Obama went on a candidate-boosting tour this weekend, and his words for New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is attempting to unseat Gov. Phil Murphy, were especially pointed. (Ciattarelli attended a post-election rally last November premised on overturning the results of the presidential election on Donald Trump’s behalf, labeled “Stop the Steal,” but is now claiming he didn’t know why he was there or what the theme of the rally was.

How a Show as Cynical as Succession Stays Entertaining

This story contains spoilers for the second episode of Succession Season 3. Before he joined Succession, the actor James Cromwell insisted that his character have some scruples. In a recent interview, Cromwell said that the show’s original scripts portrayed the stone-faced Ewan Roy as holding a personal grudge against his brother, the right-wing-media baron Logan Roy.

California synagogue shooter gets life sentence; you might be surprised by why he hates Jews

On the last day of September, the antisemitic terrorist who in 2019 shot and killed Lori Gilbert Kaye and wounded three others in a Poway, California, synagogue was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. One of the wounded was Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, whose life Gilbert Kaye saved when she jumped in front of him and took the fatal bullet. After that, the terrorist turned his fire on the congregation, and 8-year-old Noya Dahan was also wounded.

The Most Poetic Marvel Film Yet

The 10 members of the Eternals are the most powerful protagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. They are neither humans nor gods, but immortal attendants of humanity. And during the 7,000 years they’ve spent living on Earth, they haven’t interfered with civilization’s affairs unless Arishem—a colossal cosmic entity who manipulates seemingly all energy in the universe—told them to. (So, no, they didn’t do anything about Thanos.

The Unfunny Transformation of Joe Biden

President Joe Biden’s long career can be measured in decades, in legislative achievements, and in Saturday Night Live impersonations: Seven different actors have played him over the years. His first send-up on the show happened in 1991, when Kevin Nealon portrayed him as a straight-faced inquisitor of Anita Hill’s sexual-harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas during the the judge’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings.