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Today's Liberal News
The Darker Design Behind Trump’s $400 Million Plane
Donald Trump wants everyone to know that under no circumstances will he give up his special new plane. “Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social just before 3 a.m. local time yesterday in Saudi Arabia, insisting that the luxury jet given to him by Qatar would serve as a “temporary” Air Force One.
The Day Grok Told Everyone About ‘White Genocide’
Updated at 10:22 p.m. ET on May 15, 2025
Yesterday, a user on X saw a viral post of Timothée Chalamet celebrating courtside at a Knicks game and had a simple question: Who was sitting next to him? The user tapped in Grok, X’s proprietary chatbot, as people often do when they want help answering questions on the platform—the software functions like ChatGPT, except it can be summoned via reply to a post. And for the most part, Grok has performed reasonably well at providing responses.
“Surveillance Humanitarianism”: As Gaza Starves, U.S.-Israeli Plan Would Further Weaponize Food
Israel has imposed a complete block on humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2, with hundreds of trucks with lifesaving aid waiting at the border. Now many of Gaza’s kitchens have closed, and Palestinians face mass starvation as rations run low. We speak with Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine.
Israel’s “Crime of Apartheid”: New Report by U.S. Professors as Palestinians Mark Nakba Day
A major new report by U.S. academics analyzes Israel’s occupation of Palestine under the legal framework of the crime of apartheid. The report was intentionally released on Nakba Day — the day that marks the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes during Israel’s violent founding in 1948. Citing dozens of experts, human rights organizations and judicial decisions, it concludes that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “meets the legal threshold of apartheid.
“Trump’s Fake Refugees”: As U.S. Welcomes White South Africans, Trump Falsely Charges “Genocide”
The Trump administration has suspended refugee resettlement for most of the world, but welcomed 59 white South African Afrikaners Monday who were granted refugee status. President Trump claims Afrikaners face racial discrimination — even though South Africa’s white minority still own the vast majority of farmland decades after the end of apartheid — and claims they are escaping “genocide.
Universal Tariffs Go from Bonkers to Blanket
The UK has struck a deal with the US to avoid bigger tariffs but keeps the 10% blanket tariff in place.
One New York Times Opinion Column Soared Above the Rest in Getting the Trump Era Wrong. It Just Died.
It had been around since Trump’s first term. Maybe the paper finally had enough.
You Can Still Get on a Plane Without a Real ID
There’s a simple reason why this deadline never sticks.
American Cities Are Experiencing Something We Haven’t Seen Since the 1960s
“If you’re under 55, this is probably the safest moment you’ve ever lived in.
Why the 1 senator who can rein in RFK Jr. isn’t calling him out
Bill Cassidy, the senator who secured Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promise to protect vaccines, will question the health secretary at a hearing Wednesday.
Trump admin cancels layoffs for some health workers ahead of Kennedy hearing
The move reinstates some employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — which lost more than 90 percent of its workforce.
This Republican has long wanted to overhaul Medicaid. Now he has to sell members on a compromise
The Energy and Commerce Committee chair is about to be put to the test.
Wellness CEO files ethics complaint against top RFK Jr. adviser
An internal MAHA battle is breaking out between an HHS employee who co-founded a health care payments company and a CEO of a rival company.
Is Aziz Ansari Sorry?
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
Your Opinions on Her Wardrobe Are Probably Unwelcome
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
What Role Does HR Play in the #MeToo Era?
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year
Earlier, Buffett warned Saturday about the dire global consequences of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
‘Anything can happen’: Trump doesn’t seem fazed by recession worries
Trump has blamed shaky economic numbers on his predecessor.
Democrats look to Trump’s poor economic numbers with anxious optimism
Following its latest round of focus groups, Navigator Research is urging Democrats to proactively push their own economic policies.
Warning signs for Trump as pessimistic outlook on the economy grows among Americans
Trump’s winning issue is becoming one of his biggest liabilities as multiple polls this week reveal growing disapproval numbers on the economy.
If I Stayed, I Would’ve Died: Journalist Abubaker Abed on “Agonizing” Decision to Leave Gaza
We speak with 22-year-old Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed in Ireland after he evacuated Gaza last month suffering from malnutrition and under threat for his reporting on Israel’s genocide. Abed describes himself as an “accidental war correspondent” and hoped to become a sports journalist and commentator before the start of the war, but spent much of the last two years reporting on daily death and destruction.
The MAGA-World Rift Over Trump’s Qatari Jet
As Air Force One glided into Doha today, it was easy to imagine President Donald Trump having a case of jet envy.
Hamad International Airport, in Qatar’s capital, is sometimes home to the $400 million “palace in the sky,” a luxury liner that Trump is eyeing. Qatar’s royal family plans to give the plane to Trump as a temporary replacement for the aging Air Force One and then to his future presidential library after he leaves office.
The Mess at Airports Is Part of a Larger Pattern
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On this much, there is bipartisan agreement: The Federal Aviation Administration is in a bad mess. After years of exceptional safety, the U.S. air-travel system has recently been beset with near misses and, in one horrifying case, a collision.
The ‘Amateur Diplomat’
Steve Witkoff emptied his backpack on the conference table in his second-floor office, in the West Wing. He wanted to show me a pager given to him by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials of the Mossad. The pager commemorates the intricate operation in which Israel detonated handheld devices used by Hezbollah, the Iranian-sponsored Lebanese militant group, killing or maiming thousands of its operatives.
Trump’s Tactical Burger Unit Is Beyond Parody
The first months of Donald Trump’s second presidency have included a systematic attempt to dismantle government agencies and pillage their data; state-sponsored renditions of immigrants; flagrant corruption; and brazen flouting of laws and the courts. The New York Times editorial board summed it up well: “The first 100 days of President Trump’s second term have done more damage to American democracy than anything else since the demise of Reconstruction.
The Cynical Republican Plan to Cut Medicaid
A generation ago, the Republican Party’s preferred symbol of government-funded indolence was the “welfare queen,” a quasi-mythical figure who collected checks to sit at home watching television. Today’s GOP has fixated on an even stranger target: unemployed adults who take advantage of the taxpayer by collecting free … health insurance.
The fiscal centerpiece of the “big, beautiful bill” now making its way through Congress is to take Medicaid away from jobless adults.