Today's Liberal News

The International Travel Restrictions Make Little Sense

If you’ve traveled internationally this summer and have had to navigate a labyrinth of COVID-19 tests, quarantines, health-authorization forms, and scarce flights to get there, you are one of the lucky ones. Many people have been unable to travel at all.Few would argue that governments ought to fully reopen travel now, especially with the threat of the Delta variant.

The Myth of the Golden Years

“You’ll want to read this,” my wife said, handing me the Sunday Boston Globe. The cover story that week in late September 2020 was about a 62-year-old woman who had colon cancer that had metastasized. She died in a local hospital; her husband was also in poor health and could not take care of her at home. After she died, he moved into an area facility. Reading of someone so close to my own age succumbing to a highly preventable disease was a bit unsettling.

The Surprising Benefits of Talking to Strangers

Nic spent most of her childhood avoiding people. She was raised by a volatile father and a mother who transferred much of the trauma she’d experienced onto her daughter. The combination left Nic fearful and isolated. “My primitive brain was programmed to be afraid of everybody, because everybody’s evil and they’re gonna hurt you,” she told me. (Nic asked to be referred to by only her first name to protect her privacy.

The Voters Who Could Turn California Red

At the end of the 2020 election, California’s Republicans had reason to feel hopeful. Although Joe Biden won the state by a landslide, Donald Trump won more votes (6 million) there than any other Republican candidate had ever. Increased Republican turnout led to victories in four competitive House races with large Latino populations. One of those districts even elected the state’s first Republican Latino congressman since 1873.

News Roundup: Cuomo probe documents years of sexual harassment; COVID again spreads in Senate

In the news today: New York and national Democrats are demanding the resignation of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after an independent investigation concluded that Cuomo engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, including abusive and retaliatory behavior. A watchdog group alleges that federal immigration officials have deported as many as 70 American citizens in recent years. Another senator is in self-quarantine for a COVID-19 infection.

Why is U.S. infrastructure such a mess? Economics, corruption, and racism are just a few reasons

There are over 4.1 million miles of public road in the United States. These paths of concrete and asphalt are the legacy of President Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the Interstate Highway System as well as being the impetus for other roads to support the expansion it caused.

This had massive economic and cultural reverberations, with estimates linking the highway system to significant direct and indirect job growth.

Laurel Hubbard makes history as first openly trans woman to compete in Olympics

If there’s one point of hysteria Republicans have gathered behind in 2021, it’s the hateful mission to keep trans girls out of sports. Lawmakers have used a number of thinly veiled arguments to cover up their transphobia, arguing that banning trans girls from competing in girls’ sports is about protecting [cisgender] girls and keeping things “fair.” In reality, of course, trans girls are girls and thus deserve to be on the girls’ team.

You’ve Never Seen Legs Like These

Let’s start with what harvestmen are not. They are not men, nor do they harvest; they probably get their name from the time of year they’re commonly spotted, in late summer or early fall. Though eight-legged, they are not spiders, but they are part of the broader arachnid group, which also includes ticks and mites. And despite some truly slanderous rumors, they are not venomous and pose absolutely no threat to us who walk upright.