Today's Liberal News

The Books Briefing: Poetry of the Past, in the Present

Writers have already begun responding to the uncertainty of this pandemic era in their work, but sometimes we need to turn to the past to help make sense of the present. Recently, we’ve been publishing poetry from archival issues of The Atlantic, short pieces that can serve as lyrical salves on a lazy Sunday morning or as miniature escapes from the steady pace of weekday caretaking, work, stress, and worry.

Trump Is a Secessionist From the Top

President Trump read a boring speech badly last night. The long recitation was punctuated by odd comprehension errors. At one point, “walled-off cities and communities” came out sounding like “Waldorf cities and communities.”Through most of the long recitation, the members of the partisan crowd seemed quiet, even listless. But there were rare sparks of enthusiasm, moments when Trump excited them.

The Empty Space Where Normal Once Lived

On the first day of summer, Siberia and I were the same temperature. In Verkhoyansk, roughly 3,000 miles northeast of Moscow, a searing week ended in an afternoon hotter than any before recorded north of the Arctic Circle. Half a planet away in New England, a thermometer under my tongue gave the same reading: 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. In a human, this is the clinical threshold for a fever.We had also been too hot for too long, Siberia and I.

Hurricane Laura Devastates Gulf Coast, Laying Bare Climate Crisis, Environmental Racism

Hurricane Laura has slammed ashore as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing sustained winds of 150 miles per hour to the Gulf Coast. The strongest storm to hit Louisiana in over a century, Laura made landfall near the border of Louisiana and Texas. At least six people have been killed. Residents near Lake Charles were told to stay indoors with windows and doors shut when a chemical fire broke out at a Biolab plant.

Historian Rick Perlstein on the RNC & Trump’s Dangerous Propaganda Driving People to Violence

President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

Jacob Blake Shooting Shines New Light on Death of Michael Bell, Killed by Kenosha Cops in 2004

In light of the police shooting of unarmed African American father Jacob Blake, we look at the past misconduct of the Kenosha police department. In 2004, Kenosha police killed white 21-year-old Michael Bell in front of his mother and sister. The Kenosha Police Department conducted its own review of the incident, and within two days completely exonerated the officers. Bell’s father, Michael Bell Sr.

ACLU Demands Resignation of Top Cops in Kenosha for Racism & Brutal Response to Jacob Blake Protests

The ACLU of Wisconsin is calling for top Kenosha law enforcement officials to resign in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was left paralyzed below the waist after a white officer shot him in the back seven times. The shooting has sparked mass protests in Kenosha and around the U.S., bringing renewed attention to racism and violence in the Kenosha police force.

Photos of the Week: Buffalo Dip, Giraffe Calf, Winter Wallaby

A socially-distanced Santa School in London, gold panning in France, heavy metal music in China, gondoliers in Mexico, Hurricane Laura damage in Louisiana, protests in Kenosha, Red Rocks yoga in Colorado, an acrobatic fairy tale in Prague, Senegal’s first female professional surfer, and much more.

Trump’s convention speech make you feel crazy? Rachel Maddow’s fact-check will restore your sanity

Donald Trump just delivered the second-longest presidential acceptance speech in history—shorter only than his first acceptance speech in 2016. If you didn’t have the patience to watch it, or if you did suffer through it and desperately need a corrective, just watch Rachel Maddow’s lightning-fast fact-check of Trump’s worst lies. It may not make you feel better, but it will make you feel saner.

Why the Only Black Chairman of the RNC Turned His Back on Trump

Night after night, the Republican National Convention invited Black speakers to the stage to testify that President Donald Trump is not a bigot. “It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald,” said the former NFL player Herschel Walker, who once worked for a team owned by Trump. “The worst one is ‘racist.’ I take it as a personal insult that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist.