Today's Liberal News

Costs of War: After 9/11 Attacks, U.S. Wars Displaced at Least 37 Million People Around the World

As the United States marks 19 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a new report finds at least 37 million people in eight countries have been displaced since the start of the so-called global war on terrorism since 2001. The Costs of War Project at Brown University also found more than 800,000 people have been killed since U.S. forces began fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen, at a cost of $6.4 trillion to U.S. taxpayers.

“Democratic Public Health”: Big Pharma Relies on Developing World While Limiting Access to Treatment

We look at the history of clinical vaccine trials and exploitation of vulnerable people in the U.S. and India, which recently surpassed Brazil as the country with the second most infections worldwide. Kaushik Sunder Rajan, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, says there is a documented history of “ethical lapses” and lack of accountability in vaccine studies in India.

When Women Lead Protest Movements

One of the most striking things about the prodemocracy protests in Belarus has been the outsize role of women. A woman, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has emerged as the unlikely political challenger to longtime Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Two of the country’s highest-profile opposition figures, who have been abducted or compelled to flee the country, are women.

Two more reasons Kamala Harris as VP will be a historic milestone for our nation

As you may have heard, Sen. Kamala Harris would be a historic vice president. Most attention has rightly been focused on the barriers she’ll break as the first woman, the first African American, and the first Indian American to hold that office. There is, however, another barrier of importance—one that before the Civil Rights era would have been just as unthinkable—relating to Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, who is the potential first Second Gentleman.

Win or lose, for Donald Trump the COVID-19 pandemic ends on November 4

As the November election approaches, the American media still haven’t wrapped their heads around an essential fact that maybe, just possibly, might inform their thinking a little; namely, that when the last polls close on the evening of November 3, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an abrupt halt, as far as Donald Trump is concerned.

Only one presidential campaign is actually talking about the words and deeds of its opponent

The impeached president does and says so many absurdly horrific, devastatingly harmful things that even just addressing one each day feels impossible. But taking a step back and looking at the big picture every once in a while can help. Comparing the Trump campaign’s tactics to those of Joe Biden, one overarching difference stands out in the way each addresses the other.

Listen: Is Faster Better?

The federal government is telling states to prepare for a vaccine as early as November. But a major trial has been put on hold. On this episode of Social Distance, James Hamblin and Katherine Wells look to staff writer Sarah Zhang for answers—and updates on a vaccine.But before a vaccine arrives, is testing our best hope? Staff writer Alexis C. Madrigal joins to explain “rapid testing.

Trump Made a Bad Bargain With Woodward

A Bob Woodward book is a record of a sequence of transactions. In exchange for access and information, Woodward offers Washington power holders the opportunity to disparage their rivals and aggrandize themselves. But be warned that a Woodward proposition is never guaranteed. It comes hedged with dense, finely printed terms and conditions. And Woodward’s scoops have a way of turning out to be less new than they are first advertised.

The Dangerous Naïveté of Coastal Elites

Before any of its characters appear on-screen, HBO’s Coastal Elites introduces itself with a genteel red font that bears a striking resemblance to The New Yorker’s proprietary typeface. Within minutes, viewers are introduced to Miriam (played by a characteristically engaging Bette Midler).

The Commons

The CollaboratorsWhat causes people to abandon their principles in support of a corrupt regime?, Anne Applebaum asked in the July/August issue.