Today's Liberal News

In Defense of Academic Freedom

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Why defend academic freedom even when the ideas in question are wrongheaded or harmful? “It is precisely because any kind of purge opens the gate to all kinds of purge, that freedom of thought necessarily means the freedom to think bad thoughts as well as good.

A Dangerous Disguise for Anti-Semitism

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Updated at 5:44 p.m. ET on May 22, 2025.
When Hamas stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, it knew exactly what it was doing. The group had detailed maps of nearby Israeli military bases and forces, and quickly overran them. But the terrorist group did not stop there.

Time for Scary Movies to Make Us Laugh Again

Final Destination, as a horror franchise, is known for its reliable results. Each of its first five movies begins with someone having a premonition of a terrible disaster (a plane crash, a highway pileup, a roller-coaster accident), persuading a group to avoid it, and then spending the rest of the movie dodging the Grim Reaper, who seeks to collect the souls he lost. Death exists in these films as an amorphous concept; there’s no cloaked villain carrying a scythe.

Google’s New AI Puts Breasts on Minors—And J. D. Vance

Sorry to tell you this, but Google’s new AI shopping tool appears eager to give J. D. Vance breasts. Allow us to explain.
This week, at its annual software conference, Google released an AI tool called Try It On, which acts as a virtual dressing room: Upload images of yourself while shopping for clothes online, and Google will show you what you might look like in a selected garment.

The Beauty That Moral Courage Creates

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Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest and Franciscan friar who was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941 for hiding Jews and publishing anti-Nazi tracts, then sent to Auschwitz. He might have survived the camp and the war had he looked out for himself. Instead, he volunteered to take the place of a man randomly selected to be starved to death in retribution for another prisoner’s escape.

Trump Repeats “White Genocide” Falsehoods in Meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

President Donald Trump staged an extraordinary confrontation in the Oval Office on Wednesday, repeating his false claims about a “white genocide” taking place in South Africa during a meeting with the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. At one point, Trump had the lights dimmed and ordered video clips played showing people calling for violence against white farmers in South Africa.

U.K. MP Jeremy Corbyn & EU MP Lynn Boylan on Europe Pressuring Israel to Halt Atrocities in Gaza

International criticism of Israel continues to grow as the country’s military expands its assault on Gaza, killing scores of Palestinians on a daily basis while blocking food, fuel, medicine and other supplies from reaching the starving population. The U.K. Labour government announced this week it is suspending free trade talks with Israel and imposing sanctions on some Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. The European Union says it will also review its trade ties with Israel.

“The Worst It’s Ever Been”: U.K. Surgeon in Gaza Warns Kids Are Bearing Brunt as Israel Widens Assault

We speak with Dr. Victoria Rose, a British plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has been on three medical missions to Gaza since the start of Israel’s war on the territory. She joins us from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where she’s been treating patients for over a week, and describes horrific injuries amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment, limited medical supplies and widespread malnutrition making it harder for people to heal. “Children are particularly taking the brunt of this,” she says.

“Nothing Can Justify It”: Journalist Gideon Levy Reacts to Killing of Israeli Embassy Staffers in D.C.

We speak with Israeli journalist Gideon Levy after a young Israeli couple was shot dead in Washington, D.C. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim both worked at the Israeli Embassy and were killed by a gunman after leaving the Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday night. The couple were dating and about to get engaged, the embassy said. Police identified Elias Rodriguez of Chicago as the suspect in custody.