Today's Liberal News

Kanye West’s bizarre ‘presidential campaign’ seems little more than a Republican sabotage scheme

Most of us have never wasted a moment of our lives worrying about what Kanye West might be thinking, and are not about to start now. Suffice it to say West announced at one point he was running for president, is making few if any serious attempts to follow up on that announcement, and we’ll leave it at that.

What does exist of an actual West campaign, however, seems to be near-entirely a Republican ratfucking operation.

Another State Department inspector general falls victim to Pompeo’s scandal-ridden tenure

Yet another inspector general has abruptly left the State Department just two and a half months after the last one was ousted at the urging of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo himself. 

Stephen Akard, who took over the agency watchdog position in May after Steve Linick’s ouster, is “returning to the private sector,” according to a statement from the State Department. Deputy Inspector General Diana Shaw will now face down Pompeo’s buzz saw.

The National Night Out when no one came out

We must recognize that our safety is tied to each other

By Zach Norris, executive director of the Ella Baker Center and author of We Keep Us Safe

On the first Tuesday in August every year since 1984, neighbors have gathered with other neighbors, with the police, and with elected officials to reclaim neighborhood safety. According to the National Night Out website, 38 million people have been affiliated with these events through the years.

The personal economy is the one in need of rescue

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a proposal mislabeled as a COVID-19 relief bill. I say “mislabeled” because the $1 trillion proposal includes little that will relieve people harmed by the pandemic. Full disclosure: I am not an economist.

The Atlantic Daily: How Trump Forced an Anti-Racist Reckoning

The AtlanticWhen Donald Trump became the president of the United States, Americans could no longer deny the racism in their country, argues Ibram X. Kendi, a contributing writer and a preeminent thinker on anti-racism.“Just as the 1850s paved the way for the revolution against slavery, Trump’s presidency has paved the way for a revolution against racism,” he writes in our latest cover story, which is worth reading in full.

The Groundbreaking Female Artist Who Shaped Manga History

Drawn & QuarterlyIn 1962, when she was still in middle school in a coastal town of Japan, the cartoonist Kuniko Tsurita sent a despairing letter to The City, a popular comics magazine. Manga was her life. The 14-year-old loved reading a variety of genres, including shōjo, which was aimed at adolescent girls, and the more male-targeted kashi-hon, which often featured grit, gore, and gunfights. Tsurita had dreamed for years of becoming a mangaka, or manga artist.

The Aftermath of the Beirut Explosion

Lebanese officials have now said that the August 4 explosion that devastated much of Beirut’s port area was caused by a fire in a warehouse that had been storing explosive materials, reportedly including 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate. As of today, more than 100 deaths and over 4,000 injuries have been reported. Gathered below are images of the widespread damage in Beirut, a day after the devastating blast.

The Winter Will Be Worse

Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. Throughout the pandemic, one lodestar of public-health advice has come down to three words: Do things outside. For nearly five months now, the outdoors has served as a vital social release valve—a space where people can still eat, drink, relax, exercise, and worship together in relative safety.

The End of Big Tech? Calls Grow to Break Up Facebook, Amazon for “Mob-Like” Behavior, Monopoly Power

Calls are growing to break up the Big Tech giants, with a handful of companies controlling more and more of the technology industry, crowding out or acquiring would-be competitors and exercising vast power over the U.S. economy. Lawmakers grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook during a hearing last week on whether their companies are guilty of stifling competition, in a scene reminiscent of the 1994 hearing of tobacco executives who claimed cigarettes were not addictive.

Journalist Rami Khouri: Beirut Explosion Follows Years of Lebanese Gov’t Incompetence & Corruption

The explosion in the port of Beirut, which killed at least 100 people and injured about 4,000 others, is the latest blow to Lebanon, which already faces an economic, political and public health crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. The blast is believed to have been triggered by 2,700 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate inexplicably left unattended in a warehouse for six years.

“Despair and Destruction”: Doctor in Beirut Describes Harrowing Scenes After Massive Port Explosion

As Beirut reels from a massive explosion that killed at least 100 people and injured thousands, we get an on-the-ground update from pediatrician and writer Dr. Seema Jilani, who treated her own daughter for injuries after the blast. “It was extremely packed because we’re just coming out of a four-day lockdown,” says Jilani. “Everybody was out.” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab called the explosion a “national catastrophe.

Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die

Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. Updated at 10:36 a.m. ET on August 5, 2020.There’s a joke about immunology, which Jessica Metcalf of Princeton recently told me. An immunologist and a cardiologist are kidnapped. The kidnappers threaten to shoot one of them, but promise to spare whoever has made the greater contribution to humanity.