Today's Liberal News

Cone Snails Are Liars and Murderers

The aptly named cone snail wears a house that resembles a Ben & Jerry’s receptacle, filled not with ice cream but with a squishy mollusk that sports an extendable, trunklike proboscis. The snails are superficially docile creatures, and can be painfully shy; sometimes they go weeks in a lab without taking a single bite of food, cringing at the slightest change in temperature, lighting, or human supervision.

The Books Briefing: Meghan Markle’s Story Is Devastating and Familiar

In an interview with Oprah on Sunday, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry described the experiences that led them to leave their official roles in the British Royal Family. Specifically, Markle said, a barrage of attacks from the British press, racist attitudes within the Royal Family, a lack of support, and other factors drove her to have suicidal thoughts.

What Your T-Shirt Says About You

This article was published online on March 12, 2021.Last May, when Connor Hitchcock decided to start a fundraiser for some out-of-work friends, he had modest expectations. Hitchcock and his wife, Christa, run Homefield Apparel, which licenses old collegiate sports logos to make vintage-inspired T-shirts and sweatshirts. They wanted to help out a handful of writers who had recently been furloughed from Vox Media’s college-football website, Banner Society.

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.

Only Your Boss Can Cure Your Burnout

In the early 1970s, a psychoanalyst named Herbert J. Freudenberger opened a free clinic to treat poor patients in New York City. It was a bit of a passion project: Freudenberger would work 10 to 12 hours during the day in his private practice, then head over to the free clinic to work until midnight or later. He seemed to realize that he was overcommitting. “You start your second job when most people go home,” Freudenberger wrote at one point.

American Special Ops Forces Are Everywhere

Illustrations by Mike McQuadeImage above, clockwise from top left: A U.S. Army Special Forces sniper, 1991; the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw, the failed U.S. rescue operation in Iran, 1980; a marine during the invasion of Grenada, 1983; Captain Vernon Gillespie Jr. in Vietnam, 1964; soldiers on patrol at Camp Victory, in Somalia, 10 days after 18 Americans were killed during the Delta-led Battle of Mogadishu, 1993.*This article was published online on March 12, 2021.Updated at 7:17 p.m.

Photos of the Week: Orchard Sermon, Arctic Fox, Longhorn Rider

Rust on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, spring blossoms in China, International Women’s Day demonstrations in Mexico, a memorial for the 2011 earthquake in Japan, a moonrise over New York City, ski jumping in Germany, a sinkhole in Croatia, pet laser therapy in China, and much more.