Today's Liberal News

Did the Army Ignore a Soldier’s Murder? Questions Mount over Vanessa Guillén Disappearance

The U.S. Army says it has a suspect in custody in connection with the disappearance of Vanessa Guillén, a missing 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier whose family says her remains were likely found in a shallow grave near the Texas Army base. A second suspect in the case — a soldier who the Guillén family lawyer named as Aaron Robinson — killed himself in Killeen, Texas, as officers approached.

Barbara Ransby on the Biden Problem: Social Movements Must Defeat Trump & Also Hold Dems Accountable

Amid a mass uprising against racism and state violence, social movements are not just fighting hostility and backlash from President Trump, but also dealing with a “Biden problem,” according to historian, author and activist Barbara Ransby. “I think it’s fair to say that Joe Biden is not our dream candidate, by any means,” she says. “We should be critical of Joe Biden. We should be ready to hold Joe Biden accountable come January.

The Untold History of Mount Rushmore: A KKK Sympathizer Built Monument on Sacred Lakota Land

As tribal governments call on President Trump to cancel his Mount Rushmore Independence Day celebration, we look at why Native Americans have long pushed for the removal of the monument carved into the sacred Black Hills and designed by a sculptor with ties to the Ku Klux Klan. “This place is very, very sacred to our people,” says Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective.

#OccupyCityHall: Mayor’s “Tone Deaf” Pledge to Move $1B from NYPD Budget Fails to Satisfy Protesters

New York police have closed in on peaceful protesters camped outside City Hall who are demanding $1 billion be cut from the police department’s $6 billion budget, as the city approaches its July 1 budget deadline. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a budget deal that would move $1 billion in NYPD funding in an apparent nod to protesters’ demands, but organizers say they’re not satisfied.

NJ Latinx Parents & Students Fight Robert Wood Johnson Plan to Demolish Public School

In a story Democracy Now! has followed closely, Juan González shares an update on efforts to prevent the demolition of the Lincoln Annex public school in New Brunswick, New Jersey. City officials are trying to proceed with demolishing the public school this summer, in a move that would force 760 students to be bused to other schools for years, and parents and local activists are holding a rally in front of the Lincoln Annex School.

Study says March through April U.S. COVID-19 death toll may be ‘underestimated’ by as much as 30,000

Whether or not the final tallies of how deadly the 2019 novel coronavirus is will be higher, lower, or the same as the seasonal flu is something we will not know for a long time. We do know that there are well over 10 million confirmed cases around the world (more than a quarter of those cases in the United States) and over 500,000 deaths attributed worldwide to COVID-19.

Supreme Court affirms constitutionality of consumer bureau, but opens executive power can of worms

In addition to announcing what is basically a “stay” on abortion rights on Monday, the Supreme Court also released a mixed opinion on the constitutionality of one of the key post-Great Recession reforms included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. The constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was at issue, and the court decided to split the difference in a decision that is both good and bad for the agency. In short, it still exists.

‘Permit Karen’ calls cops on Black law professor and family for building patio on their own property

On June 30, Montclair, New Jersey, resident Fareed Nassor Hayat, a law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, took to his Facebook page to post a video of a woman in his neighborhood reportedly harassing him and his family. Hayat wrote that a woman named Susan had called the police and filed a “false report of assault against me when told to leave our property.

Senate passes COVID-19 loan program extension, gives House leverage on housing, unemployment

In an extremely rare and impromptu deal, the Senate passed an extension of the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses Tuesday night, just hours before its expiration at midnight. There’s $130 billion left in the program that’s been unspent, and this agreement would allow the Small Business Administration to keep paying it out through Aug. 8. (Disclosure: Kos Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan.

‘Denigrating this luxury Avenue’: Trump calls proposed Black Lives Matter sign ‘symbol of hate’

President Donald Trump makes very clear his allegiance to the almighty dollar, so it should hardly be shocking that he’s willing to throw Black people under the bus when it comes to his beloved Trump Tower. The president made his position even clearer Wednesday when he vehemently opposed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to have a Black Lives Matter sign painted on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower.