Today's Liberal News

What Going on Call Her Daddy Did for Kamala Harris

Very few podcasters would apologize to their fans for clogging up their feed by interviewing a presidential candidate. But Alex Cooper—the host of a podcast variously described as “raunchy, “sex-positive,” “mega-popular,” and “the most-listened-to podcast by women”—is an exception. “Daddy Gang,” she began her latest episode, “as you know, I do not usually discuss politics, or have politicians on this show, because I want Call Her Daddy to be a place where everyone feels comfortable tuning in.

What Went Wrong at Blizzard Entertainment

Over the past three years, as I worked on a book about the history of the video-game company Blizzard Entertainment, a disconcerting question kept popping into my head: Why does success seem so awful? Even typing that out feels almost anti-American, anathema to the ethos of hard work and ambition that has propelled so many of the great minds and ideas that have changed the world.
But Blizzard makes a good case for the modest achievement over the astronomical.

When a Friendship Changes Forever

This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.
In her new short story, “The Ghosts of Wannsee,” the author Lauren Groff captures the precise moment when a friendship changes forever. “Wannsee” follows two friends from high school who reunite one afternoon after many years apart; the encounter alters their understanding of each other in ways that neither anticipated.

Report from Beirut: Israel Intensifies Bombardment of Lebanon, Displacing 1.2 Million

Today marks both the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip and one week since Israel began its ground invasion of the neighboring country of Lebanon. Israel’s brutal military response to the Hamas-led October 7 incursion has shown no sign of slowing down as the United States, its primary supplier of military aid, continues to commit weapons, funding and rhetorical support to its deadly assault on Arab populations in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.

“The Path Forward”: Palestinian and Israeli Activists Working Toward Peace Featured in New Film

The Path Forward is a new documentary that weaves together the voices of Palestinians and Israelis in their efforts for peace and reconciliation. The short film features the stories of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists who have worked together before and after October 7 and Israel’s relentless war on Gaza. We play excerpts from The Path Forward and speak to one of the activists featured, Aziz Abu Sarah, as well as to co-director Julie Cohen.

Israeli Peace Activist Maoz Inon Lost His Parents on October 7. He’s Calling for an End to War & Occupation.

Today is the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel, when Hamas’s military wing broke out of Israeli-constructed barrier fencing in the Gaza Strip. In the ensuing firefight, an estimated 1,200 people died. About 250 people were taken hostage and brought back to Gaza in a bid to pressure Israel to release some of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners it holds in Israeli custody.

“Separated”: Film Shows How Trump Tore Immigrant Families Apart, 1,300 Kids Still Alone

We speak with Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris about his new documentary, Separated, based on NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff’s book of the same name. The film details the horrors of the Trump “zero tolerance” immigration policy, under which thousands of immigrant children were forcibly separated from their parents after they crossed the southern U.S. border, part of the administration’s broader crackdown on immigration.

War in Lebanon “Giving More Space” for Israel to Continue Slaughter in Gaza: Journalist Akram al-Satarri

As Israel’s military escalates its attacks on Lebanon, it has continued its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, where almost a year of war has now wiped 902 entire Palestinian families off the civil registry. There are another 1,300 families where only one family member has survived. The official death toll in Gaza has reached nearly 41,800, but that is believed to be a vast undercount.

What Is Israel’s Endgame in Lebanon? Airstrikes Intensify, Hospitals Overwhelmed, 1.2 Million Displaced

Israel is further escalating its war on Lebanon, carrying out its heaviest airstrikes so far on Beirut overnight in the densely populated southern suburbs. Lebanon’s health minister said Thursday at least 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including at least 127 children, most of them in the past two weeks. More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced.

Six Factory Workers Feared Dead in Tennessee After Being Swept Away During Hurricane Helene

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached 190 as fallout from the storm becomes clearer. Hundreds remain missing and presumed dead. President Biden has ordered the Pentagon to deploy 1,000 active-duty troops to help with flood relief efforts. Power outages and water shortages remain rampant across six southeastern states hit by one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history.

What Really Works About SNL

It seemed like just another sketch, fated to oblivion or niche fandom at best. When “Washington’s Dream” first aired on Saturday Night Live last October, it lacked the timely setup or spirited hijinks that typically go viral on the program. Then-host Nate Bargatze played General George Washington giving a pivotal pep talk to his weary Revolutionary War troops, inviting them closer to the campfire of his vision.

Elon Musk Bends the Knee to Donald Trump

Have you ever watched a crowd go wild for a PowerPoint slide? After a few introductory hellos yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump gestured to a screen showing the same graph on illegal immigration that he had been talking about when he was nearly assassinated in July and delivered his real opening line: “As I was saying …”
The audience loved that. The rallygoers had waited in line for hours in the hot sun to get into the field, and this was their reward.

The Climate Action We Need

On December 12, 2015, the 195 country parties to the United Nations’ climate body adopted the Paris Agreement on climate change. The accord was historic, sending a message to governments, boardrooms, clean-tech innovators, civil society, and citizens that the leaders of the world had finally come together to combat climate change.
The agreement was groundbreaking in many respects. It cast aside the old paradigm in which climate obligations applied only to developed countries.