Today's Liberal News

What the Nazis Learned from Jim Crow: Author Isabel Wilkerson on the U.S. Racial Caste System

In her extensively researched new book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson argues the United States’ racial hierarchy should be thought of as a caste system, similar to that in India. In a wide-ranging interview, she describes how she also looks at the ways Nazi Germany borrowed from U.S. Jim Crow laws. “The Nazis needed no one to teach them how to hate,” Wilkerson says.

Photos of the Week: Antarctic Sunrise, Suspended Cabin, Shanghai Lightning

Heavy fog in India, the announcement of a Vice Presidential candidate in Delaware, protests and anger in Beirut, coronavirus precautions in a Thai kindergarten, a Latvian folk/pagan metal band in concert, a funicular in Austria, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, derecho damage in Iowa, guests at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the return of the Mayflower II, and much more.

‘Ms. Jacobs! Is that you?!’ AOC’s Twitter reunion with her second-grade teacher is whole tear-fest

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez learned Wednesday she would only be given one minute to speak at next week’s virtual Democratic National Convention, she tweeted the poem “I have only just a minute,” written by late civil rights leader Dr. Benjamin E. Mays. That tweet attracted a bit of unexpected attention.  

The attention was paid by her second-grade teacher, who goes by @mjacobs324 on Twitter.

This Week in Statehouse Action: The New Abnormal edition

Oh hey there!

Extremely grateful to you for taking some time from [INSERT CORONAVIRUS-ALTERED ACTIVITY HERE] to join me for the latest in statehouse action.

Me, I’m taking a little time out from attending my first full-fledged virtual conference.

It’s … weird. But it’s good! The content is amazing, and large swaths of the event translate well to the online platform.

Sorting machines being taken from post offices! Sabotage continues …

NPR’s Noel King interviewed the Iowa Postal Workers Union President, Kimberly Karol. I urge you to read the entire transcript. (It’s not long.) She has been at the USPS for over 30 years, yet she has never seen anything like this. Louis DeJoy, a Trump flunky, was appointed as postmaster general. He has numerous conflicts of interests and no experience whatsoever—but he was a large Trump donor.

His changes have drawn widespread criticism.

Go thank a llama: Teams develop synthetic ‘nanobodies’ to fight COVID-19

There are a number of organisms that have come up with some genuinely unique adaptations over the 4+ billion years that life has been a going concern on planet Earth, and several of those relate to how organisms fight off diseases. When it comes to immune systems, human beings are actually blessed with a robust and active system with a multitiered approach to fighting off parasites, bacteria, and viruses.

College Football’s Great Unraveling

This week, the bottom fell out of college football. The future of the fall season had been wavering for more than a month as the coronavirus continued to burn through much of the United States, and on Tuesday, the Big 10, the conference that comprises the Midwest’s major football programs, was the first to topple. It canceled its fall season, and a few hours later, the Pac-12, which represents major programs on the West Coast, made the same call.

Don’t you dare question Kamala’s blackness

I’m about to go all Brooklyn on some folks on the internet—take off my earrings and throw down. Verbally of course. Y’all wanna play games to score dubious political points, and dare to question who vice presidential candidate and Sen. Kamala Harris is, or isn’t, regarding her identity as a Black woman who is also of South Asian Tamil heritage, and who was born in Oakland, California?

I’m not having it.

The Atlantic Daily: The President’s Most Dangerous Enabler

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.Christopher Lee / VII / ReduxJared Kushner is the second-most-powerful man in the White House. He’s also the president’s most dangerous enabler, Franklin Foer writes.

Why the UAE Made Peace With Israel

This morning, Donald Trump announced the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Israel is also committing to not annexing the West Bank. The agreement will shock those who thought the portion of the Jared Kushner portfolio devoted to peace in the Middle East consisted of a single briefing folder filled with printouts of Wikipedia articles.

General Strike & Blockade in Bolivia Enter Day 11 as Protesters Condemn Delayed Vote by Coup Gov’t

We go to Bolivia, where opponents of the coup government have entered day 11 of a general strike and nationwide highway blockade to protest the repeated postponement of Bolivia’s first presidential election since last year’s ouster of Evo Morales by the right-wing coup government of Jeanine Áñez, which was followed by an economic collapse and oppression.

Was Kamala Harris a Progressive Prosecutor? A Look at Her Time as a DA & California Attorney General

As Senator Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket, we host a debate on her record as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, when she proudly billed herself as “top cop” and called for more cops on the street. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis says Harris was the state’s most progressive DA and advocated for “so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration.

The Case Against Trump Is “Open and Shut”: Kamala Harris Slams President’s Handling of Pandemic

As Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major presidential ticket, hits the campaign trail with Joe Biden for the first time, we play an extended excerpt of her address, in which she blasts President Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration, racial justice and the coronavirus pandemic. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut,” Harris says.