Today's Liberal News

My Community Refuses to Get Vaccinated. Now Delta Is Here.

At a county health department near my hometown in rural Arkansas, almost everyone who comes in for a COVID-19 test is congested and short of breath, with a sore throat and muscle aches. They might have the flu, except for the added telltale symptom of this coronavirus: the loss of taste and smell. Many of the patients now are younger than those in previous months; a nurse who works there told me she saw two cases of young children in one day.

“It Is Offensive”: Haitian Activist Says It’s Not Up to U.S. to Determine Haiti’s PM or Future

Two weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Ariel Henry has been sworn in as Haiti’s new prime minister, after acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced he was relinquishing power. Henry is a neurosurgeon who was appointed by President Jovenel Moïse shortly before he was assassinated, but not formally sworn in. Both Joseph and Henry had claimed power following Moïse’s death.

Colombia Erupts in Protest Again over Right-Wing Gov’t Tax Plans Even as “Solidarity Is Criminalized”

We go to Colombia for an update on anti-government protests in several cities on the country’s Independence Day, when right-wing President Iván Duque presented a new tax reform bill to Congress. The last tax proposal failed in April after it prompted a general strike and massive demonstrations that focused on deepening economic inequality and human rights abuses.

The Pandemic Is Not Over: Science Writer Ed Yong on Delta’s Devastation in Low-Vaccination States

COVID-19 cases in the United States have tripled over the past month as the highly contagious Delta variant rapidly spreads across the country, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. Deaths from COVID-19 have increased by nearly 50% over the past week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the Delta variant is now responsible for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

Are Wind Turbines a Danger to Wildlife? Ask the Dogs.

Kayla Fratt began preparing for her summer job in March, when a package of frozen bat carcasses arrived for her in the mail. Well, actually, the bats were for her border collies, Barley and Niffler, and it is really their summer job too. They needed to learn the scent of a dead bat, because they would be spending three months on wind farms, looking for bats killed by spinning turbines.

DHS watchdog: ICE failed to provide proper medical attention to immigrant who then died in custody

The official version of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) watchdog report obtained by BuzzFeed News last month confirms that officials at a privately operated prison failed to provide sufficient medical attention to an immigrant experiencing chest and arm pain. While 51-year-old Anthony Jones was given medication (reportedly aspirin) and an electrocardiogram, he was not sent to a hospital.

Marmots Are Cannibals, Wallabies Are Killers

Humans run the animal kingdom’s only criminal courts. We alone bicker over the difference between murder and manslaughter, and plumb the ethical depths of intent. Other animals still kill their own kind, but whether they do so deliberately, with any semblance of malevolence or premeditation, is up for debate—mostly because we don’t have any real way to tell.

Suddenly, Conservatives Care About Vaccines

Updated at 8:06 p.m. ET on July 20, 2021Conservatives are not necessarily vaccine-hesitant, to paraphrase John Stuart Mill, but most vaccine-hesitant Americans people are conservatives. Resistance to vaccines has been concentrated among Republican voters, and led by GOP politicians and various leading lights in conservative media.And that makes the past day or so one of the stranger stretches in recent pandemic politics.“Just like we’ve been saying, please take COVID seriously.