Today's Liberal News

Hummingbirds Have an Easy Way to Fool Harassers

Jay Falk has some choice words for white-necked jacobins, the iridescent, blue-tinged hummingbirds he spent much of graduate school chasing through the Central American tropics. They’re “the show-off jerks of the hummingbird community,” he told me.Falk, a biologist at the University of Washington, is deeply fond of the birds, who are gorgeous and clever and sassy. Sometimes, they’re brave enough to flit right up to him and inspect what he’s holding in his hand.

Trumpism Has Entered Its Final Form

Something happened last Saturday that was significant because it was unprecedented: Donald Trump spoke at a rally in the heart of Trump country—Cullman, Alabama, which gave the incumbent president more than 88 percent of the vote in 2020—and he was booed. The jeers were scattered but noticeable, enough so that Trump responded to them.Trump had encouraged those in the audience to get vaccinated. “I believe totally in your freedoms. I do.

Sarah Chayes: Afghanistan Was an “Afterthought” for U.S. as Bush Was “Hellbent” on Invading Iraq

As the U.S. proceeds with evacuating people from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country, we speak with author and former NPR reporter Sarah Chayes, who covered the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then lived in Kandahar until 2009, where she ran a soap factory, and went on to become a special adviser to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mike Mullen in Kabul. She says it was apparent shortly after the U.S.

Grandson of Notorious Warlord: My Family Is Celebrating the Taliban, But I Fear for My Friends’ Lives

As the United States has begun the final phase of evacuations of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from the Kabul airport, we speak with Obaidullah Baheer, an Afghan academic who has decided to stay in Kabul despite the risks. Baheer’s grandfather, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is a former mujahideen fighter once nicknamed the “Butcher of Kabul,” now among the senior political figures in the country attempting to shape a post-U.S. government with the Taliban.

News Roundup: Supreme Court saves racist Trump policy; an Afghanistan stunt; schools ignore DeSantis

In the news today: The new Supreme Court finally broke its pattern of “shadow docket” decisions declaring that the Trump administration could do whatever it wanted. What broke it? A new president not wanting to do what Trump wanted. Two congressmen aren’t getting the rave reviews they expected after they snuck into Afghanistan to film the evacuation for themselves—a move that could have endangered themselves and others. And Florida’s Gov.

Anti-vaxxer attorney who represents numerous Jan. 6 defendants is hospitalized with COVID-19

I’ve seen chipmunks with their heads stuck in Mountain Dew cans that were better adapted to their environment than today’s lumpish throng of anti-vaxxers. Their reasons for eschewing the COVID-19 vaccines are as varied as they are stupid: Jesus will protect them, God gave them an immune system, the vaccine will kill half the population by October, the vaccine is the mark of the Beast.

High schoolers demand accountability after video of white students abusing Black doll goes viral

As students, teachers, and other school employees return to the classroom for in-person learning, many are worried about the novel coronavirus. Unfortunately (and frankly, unsurprisingly), COVID-19 is not the only horror people have to worry about. Racism is still alive and well in America’s school systems, with one recent example coming out of Salinas High School in Salinas, California.

Rep. Matt Gaetz finally discloses book profits and laughter ensues

After making headlines for allegedly being part of a sex trafficking investigation, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is making headlines again and not just for his marriage. Days after reports of Gaetz eloping with Ginger Luckey, the congressman who confirmed he was under investigation in April on allegations of trafficking a minor for sex made headlines this week for failing to report his book sales—a minor federal violation.

The Candyman Lives On

The 1992 original Candyman film, my favorite piece of horror cinema from that decade, is about an interloper. Helen Lyle (played by Virginia Madsen), a plucky, white graduate student researching urban legends in Chicago, is drawn to the city’s dilapidated Cabrini-Green projects, where she learns of a monster named the Candyman: a vengeful Black ghost who appears if you say his name five times while looking in a mirror. The movie becomes a tale of seduction and fascination.

‘We Were Going and I Am Not at All Sorry’

America’s hot vax summer began exactly how it was billed—less pandemic, more vacci-cations. Over the past few months, Americans have gone nuts with travel. Airbnbs are booked months in advance. Good luck finding a rental car. Even cruises are back … unfortunately. For a couple of days in July, airports were busier than they were at the same point in 2019.But you know what happened next.