Today's Liberal News

The Profound Heroism of Chadwick Boseman

Almost as shocking as the news that Chadwick Boseman died yesterday at the age of 43 was the revelation that the actor had spent the past four years battling colon cancer. This timeline means that he was diagnosed in 2016—the year that he debuted as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.

Chadwick Boseman Was the Definition of a Hero

Almost as shocking as the news that Chadwick Boseman died yesterday at the age of 43 was the revelation that the actor had spent the last four years battling colon cancer. This timeline means he was diagnosed in 2016—the year that he debuted as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.

Together, we can destroy Republican trifectas in these two battleground states

 In a horrific display of the significance of down-ballot elections, the two states that lead the world (not just the nation) in coronavirus cases are both currently under complete Republican control: Arizona and Florida. In both states, the GOP controls both Houses of the state legislature and occupies the governor’s mansion.

As sparring continues between the FDA and HHS, the only people losing their jobs are the messengers

Ask Donald Trump about any issue, and he’ll tell you his TV ratings. Trump is far more concerned about the way something plays in the media than he is about the reality on the ground. Which is why, in the latest compound screw-up over the approval of the use of convalescent plasma over the unanimous advice of a panel of medical experts, the only two people to lose their jobs are a pair of PR experts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Trump makes his pitch to white working-class voters, but some who’ve felt his impact push back

Donald Trump needs white working-class voters. Much of the Republican National Convention (RNC) was aimed at white working-class people who may not have voted in recent elections but are seen as gettable for Trump this November—if he can turn them out. But the white working class isn’t monolithic, either, and there are warning signs for Trump among the younger members of the demographic.

McConnell brags about being ‘firewall,’ blocking assistance to tens of thousands of Kentuckians

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared proudly: “We are the firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda” in a pre-recorded video for Thursday night’s Republican National Convention (RNC). McConnell didn’t want to appear on Donald Trump’s stage, though he had no problem lying like Trump. Particularly with this line: “They want to tell you when you can go to work. When your kids can go to school.

The Atlantic Daily: The Post-Truth Convention

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.GETTY / THE ATLANTIC1. Events in Kenosha are “unfolding with the inevitable logic of a nightmare,” George Packer writes.

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.