Today's Liberal News

Students stage walk-out in support of openly gay senior who says bullying has turned violent

Being a teenager is hard for everyone, at one point or another (or many points), no matter what. Even today, however, it’s still difficult for LGBTQ+ (or questioning) youth in a way that is unique from their cisgender, heterosexual peers. These difficulties can be even worse, of course, for LGBTQ+ youth who live with multiple marginalized identities; a bisexual teen of color, for example, or an openly trans high schooler who uses a wheelchair, and so on.

Police interest in joining Oath Keepers actually surged after Jan. 6, hacked data release exposes

A hacker’s release last week of data from the Oath Keepers organization—which played a key role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection—revealed the breadth and depth of the penetration into the ranks of law-enforcement authorities by such far-right extremists. It also revealed the importance of weeding them out from the ranks of police officers—and the urgency of acting quickly.

Not only was there a surge in interest in joining the group after the Jan.

Ted Lasso and the Limits of American Optimism

Listen & subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket CastsIn the first episode of The Review, our Culture staff writers David Sims, Megan Garber, and Sophie Gilbert discuss the unlikely hit that is Ted Lasso. Its Emmy-winning first season—and its smart writing and heartwarming positivity—connected with pandemic audiences.

Timing Is Everything for Merck’s COVID Pill

Two years into the pandemic, we’ve gotten a lot better at tackling the coronavirus at the extremes of infection. We have preventives—including masks, distancing, ventilation, and our MVP vaccines—that can be deployed in advance of a viral encounter. We have regimens of last resort: drugs, such as dexamethasone, that do their best, lifesaving work in hospitals with trained health-care workers, in patients whose disease has already turned severe.

The Gender Researcher’s Guide to an Equal Marriage

Over the years, as I’ve interviewed many sociologists about gender divisions in how couples handle chores and child care, I’ve often wondered what happened after we got off the phone. When these researchers returned to their life, how were they splitting up the tasks in their own home? Because gender scholars—they’re just like us: They too have floors to sweep, kids to feed, toilets to clean.But, I learned, they are also decidedly not like us.

In One Place, for One Fish, Climate Change May Be a Boon

This story was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, a nonprofit investigative-news organization.On a mid-July afternoon, when the tide was starting to come in on the Naknek River, the Bandle family’s commercial fishing nets lay stretched across the beach, waiting for the water to rise.

The Rot of Democracies

Sitting on a shelf in my sunlit study are two massive works of history by the late, great scholar Zara Steiner, each dealing with the international politics of the 1920s and ’30s. The first volume is The Lights That Failed; the second is The Triumph of the Dark.

“Becoming Abolitionists”: Derecka Purnell on Why Police Reform Is Not Enough to Protect Black Lives

Derecka Purnell draws from her experience as a human rights lawyer in her new book, published this month, “Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom,” to argue that police reform is an inadequate compromise to calls for abolition. Since the murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville in 2020, many states have passed laws aimed at reforming police, but congressional talks at the federal level have broken down.

Facebook Whistleblower to Congress: Regulate Big Tech. Silicon Valley Can’t Be Trusted to Police Itself

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress Tuesday, denouncing the company for prioritizing “astronomical profits” over the safety of billions of users, and urging lawmakers to enact strict oversight over Facebook. Haugen’s testimony gave a rare glimpse into the secretive tech company, which she accused of harming children, sowing division by boosting hateful content, and undermining democracy.

“Blah, Blah, Blah”: Youth Climate Activists Slam Political Inaction at U.N. Summit Ahead of COP26

Thousands of youth climate activists marched through the streets of Milan last week demanding world leaders meet their pledges to the Paris Climate Agreement and keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. The protest came at the end of a three-day youth climate conference, ahead of the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Bans Off Our Bodies: Planned Parenthood Pres. on Abortion Bans, Bills in Congress & the Supreme Court

After thousands of people marched in hundreds of rallies across the United States to protest against tightening abortion restrictions, we speak with Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson, who says the weekend actions represent “a movement moment” for reproductive rights. “More than 80% of Americans believe that Roe should be the law of the land,” she says.

News Roundup: Facebook makes money sowing discord; debt limit stalemate

In the news today: There’s still no plan for keeping the United States from defaulting on its debts by mid-October in the face of unanimous Senate Republican opposition to allowing an alternative. A whistleblower confirms that Facebook knows it’s sowing social discord and violence, and that those are the posts that make it the most money.