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.

Sunday Night Owls: Can we seize the moment and create a New Reconstruction?

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

At The Atlantic, Adam Serwer writes—The New Reconstruction. The United States has its best opportunity in 150 years to belatedly fulfill its promise as a multiracial democracy:

[…] In 1955, the images of a mutilated Emmett Till helped spark the civil-rights movement.

Watch Naomi Osaka flip the script when asked about the message she wants to send with her face masks

Since protests for justice and against police brutality have taken place across the nation (and in many places, continue), we have seen a number of individual athletes and sports teams take a stand. In fact, we’ve seen entire leagues take a stand. One powerhouse who hasn’t gotten nearly enough media coverage is tennis player Naomi Osaka. Osaka won the 2020 U.S. Open on Saturday and earned her third Grand Slam title.

Nuts & Bolts: Inside a Democratic campaign—voter contact under COVID-19

It’s another Sunday, so for those who tune in, welcome to a diary discussing the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. If you’ve missed out, you can catch up any time: just visit our group or follow the Nuts & Bolts Guide. For years I’ve built this guide around questions that get submitted, hoping to help small candidates field questions.

Watch as North Dakota councilwoman shuts down a room of whining anti-LGBTQ bigots

During the first week of September, Magic City Equality temporarily flew the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning community beneath the U.S. flag in front of Minot City Hall, in North Dakota. The action was accompanied by Mayor Shaun Sipma signing a proclamation that June would henceforth be considered Pride Month in Minot.

In Trump’s Virtual World, Real Catastrophes Do Not Compute

Oregon is on fire. Throughout the state, tens of thousands of people have been forced to take refuge. They are sleeping in their cars, in a convention center, on the floors of packed prisons. Several towns have been destroyed. Cities have been evacuated. Hundreds of homes have burned. The suburbs of Portland are threatened, and the situation might get worse: Unusually strong, dry winds and very high temperatures make the wildfires hard to fight.