Today's Liberal News

The Voyagers Found a Small Surprise in Interstellar Space

The missions that humankind has sent farthest into space, a pair of NASA spacecraft called the Voyagers, are billions of miles from Earth. The last time one of them took a picture of its surroundings was in 1990, after flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus on its way to interstellar space, the mysterious expanse between stars. This far beyond the planets, there’s not much to see.But there are some things to feel, in the sense that a spacefaring machine can feel something.

Colonization Fueled Ebola: Dr. Paul Farmer on “Fevers, Feuds & Diamonds” & Lessons from West Africa

We continue our conversation with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, whose new book, “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds,” tells the story of his efforts to fight Ebola in 2014 and how the history of slavery, colonialism and violence in West Africa exacerbated the outbreak. “Care for Ebola is not rocket science,” says Dr. Farmer, who notes that doctors know how to treat sick patients.

Dr. Paul Farmer: Centuries of Inequality in the U.S. Laid Groundwork for Pandemic Devastation

As the United States sets new records for COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, we speak with one of the world’s leading experts on infectious diseases, Dr. Paul Farmer, who says the devastating death toll in the U.S. reflects decades of underinvestment in public health and centuries of social inequality. “All the social pathologies of our nation come to the fore during epidemics,” says Dr.

“The Dead Are Arising”: New Biography on Malcolm X’s Childhood, Killing & Secret Meeting with KKK

We speak with the co-author of a major new biography of Malcolm X, “The Dead Are Arising,” which recently won the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction and offers a sweeping account of Malcolm X’s life by weaving together hundreds of interviews with Malcolm X’s family, friends, colleagues and enemies. The book is based on decades of research by Les Payne, who died in 2018, and finished by his daughter, Tamara Payne.

Photos of the Week: Taxi Ornament, Russky Bridge, Turning Torso

Aquarium dining in Singapore, the damaged Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, starlings over Rome, increasing COVID-19 cases worldwide, a drive-through Santa experience in Los Angeles, an aggressive woodpecker in New York, Christmas lights in in London, snow-making in Switzerland, and much more.

Thursday Night Owls. Salmon: ‘Prosecuting Trump is the only way to heal the nation’

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

At The American Prospect, Alexander Salmon writes—Prosecuting Trump Is the Only Way to Heal the Nation. Letting him off the hook for multiple crimes would reinforce Trump’s own contempt for the rule of law:

Going out as it came in, the Trump campaign’s last days were ablaze with misconduct, corruption, and illegal activity with no regard for the law and no fear of consequence.

Rep. Katie Porter serves Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin his pink slip during hearing

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared Wednesday in front of the House Financial Services Committee for a hearing on the handling of American taxpayer money during our current economic and public health crisis. Many Americans would like to know why Mnuchin is trying to sabotage the economy by cutting off the emergency lending programs and clawing back $455 billion into the General Fund.

‘Stay tuned to us’: California radio providing Indigenous farmworkers with vital pandemic knowledge

The solution to reaching Indigenous farm workers in the U.S. who are unable to fully access novel coronavirus pandemic information due to language barrier issues may start as simply as turning on the radio. 

CNN reports that a pair of radio hosts in California have used their show to help educate Indigenous migrants who make up part of the state’s farmworkers about the pandemic. Radio Indígena 94.