Today's Liberal News

Philadelphia Delays Unhoused Encampment Eviction as CDC Says “Let Them Remain” & Stop COVID Spread

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says unhoused people living in encampments should be allowed to remain where they are to help stop the spread of COVID-19, we go to Philadelphia, where the mayor has postponed the eviction of an encampment planned for this morning. “The Philadelphia Housing Authority has about 5,000 vacant properties,” notes Sterling Johnson, an organizer with Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, who joins us from the camp.

Sonia Shah: “It’s Time to Tell a New Story About Coronavirus — Our Lives Depend on It”

The United States hit an all-time high of 75,600 new COVID cases Thursday — the largest number recorded in a single day since the pandemic began. Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says the spike in cases resulted from states rushing to reopen their economies. We speak with investigative journalist Sonia Shah about the government’s failed response, the false idea that the virus is a “foreign incursion,” and “vaccine nationalism.

“This Is Trump’s War”: U.S.-Backed Saudi Bombing in Yemen Continues as Coronavirus Spreads

As the coronavirus spreads in Yemen, where the population already devastated by the world’s worst humanitarian crisis faces growing hunger and aid shortages, the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition continues to drop bombs in the country. We speak to Yemeni scholar Shireen Al-Adeimi, who calls the ongoing crisis “Trump’s war.” “We’re seeing death rates that are just astronomical,” Al-Adeimi says.

Neighbors decry racist letter after Black family reports getting anonymous note about birthday party

As the nation faces a global pandemic, sky-high unemployment, rising food insecurity, and a bumbling federal government, people are still finding time to leave horrifying, racist letters for their neighbors. One disturbing example comes from McCordsville, Indiana, where one family says they received an anonymous letter—which claimed it was written on behalf of the whole neighborhood—where the writer says a birthday party the family held last year was too loud.

Nuts & Bolts: Inside the Democratic Party—Convention platform and rules

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. Every week I try to tackle issues I’ve been asked about. With the help of other campaign workers and notes, we address how to improve and build better campaigns, or explain issues that impact our party.

Illinois: Images of the Prairie State

With the nation’s sixth-largest population, Illinois is home to more than 12.6 million residents—about 9.5 million of them living in the Chicago metropolitan area. Outside of Chicagoland, most of the state is dedicated to agricultural use, producing some of the largest crops of soybeans and corn in the U.S. Here are a few glimpses of the landscape of Illinois and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.

The 14th Amendment Was Meant to Be a Protection Against State Violence

On December 3, 1865, a group of Black Mississippians wrote to the state’s governor, demanding respect for their newly won freedom. “Now we are free,” they insisted, “we do not want to be hunted … All we ask is justice and to be treated like humane beings.” They recalled vividly “the yelping of bloodhounds and tareing of our fellow servants To pisces” by slave patrols, and called for an end to these violent abuses.

All My Mothers

live in an alley
at the back of a lawmaker’s mind.A mind with no imaginationfor our reality, they say. With teeth
rowed like cigarettes, factory still,my mothers sweat through a week
of soil on their skin,
unconcerned with grace.One has grace and a gold tooth,
a tiny heart etched in the middle.One knows a key ingredient of beauty
is sorrow.Oven burns cross their wrists.
Fingers calloused from hot plates.

America’s Innovation Engine Is Slowing

Earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that international students attending universities that switch to online-only courses in the fall would be required to leave the United States. By threatening student visas, the Trump administration, which has been pushing to reopen businesses and schools despite the continuing pandemic, was widely seen as pressuring colleges to resume in-person classes.