Today's Liberal News

What Nikki Giovanni Wouldn’t Write About

Writing about the loss of public figures is something I rarely do, because my muddled thoughts typically take more time to process than the news cycle allows. But the death of Nikki Giovanni on Monday, at 81, felt different. That night, after putting my son to bed, I searched for her name in my Gmail account, looking for correspondence involving an essay I had once assigned to her.

The Health-Care System Isn’t Hopeless

Earlier this month, the chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare was assassinated during morning rush hour on a busy block in Midtown Manhattan; the alleged killer’s confession went viral, in particular the line “the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy.”
The murder led to a mass airing of grievances with American insurers and, among those who felt that the industry had it coming, a haunting moment of collective glee.

The #MeToo Cabinet: Law Prof. Deborah Tuerkheimer on Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Trump & Nominees

President-elect Trump, himself found liable in court for sexual abuse, has picked a striking number of suspected sexual predators for key positions in his incoming administration. Trump’s early pick of former Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz for attorney general was shot down amid a firestorm over sexual misconduct allegations. Now Trump is pushing hard to keep the rest of his picks on track, including Fox host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What’s Going On With Those Drones Over New Jersey?

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Recent mysterious sightings in our night sky cannot be written off as hallucinations, mass delusions, or hoaxes. Something is indeed happening.

Sora Is Finally Here

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Earlier this week, OpenAI launched the full version of its video-generating model, Sora. Hype has been building around this release since the startup teased the program nearly 10 months ago, but the final product doesn’t quite meet expectations.

Nickel Boys Is an Audacious Experiment

“No one believed them until someone else said it.” Readers encounter this sentiment early in The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead’s award-winning 2019 novel, not long after the unearthing of a bloody bit of history. A secret graveyard has been discovered on the grounds of a decaying former reform school—the Nickel of the book’s title—that had been earmarked for transformation into a corporate office park.

Environmental Internationalism Is in Its Flop Era

This year is set to break the record for the hottest year ever recorded. It was a banner year for climate devastation: Southern Africa and South America suffered under severe droughts; dangerous heat bore down on large parts of Asia, Europe, and Central America; and an alarming number of wildfires consumed more than 1 million hectares in Brazil. Hurricanes, intensified by abnormally hot seawater, pummeled the Caribbean and the American Southeast, and floods deluged parts of Africa and Europe.

A Cloud in the Deep Sky

NASA, ESA, CSA, and M. Zamani
Day 13 of the 2024 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: a cloud in the deep sky. This image, featuring the central region of the Chameleon I dark molecular cloud, about 630 light-years away, was taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Cold, wispy blue clouds are illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the young, outflowing protostar Ced 110 IRS 4 (orange, upper left).

Uhuru 3: Meet Black Liberation Leader Omali Yeshitela, 83. He Faces 5 Years in Prison on Dec. 16

Three activists with the Uhuru Movement will be sentenced by a Florida judge Monday as part of a legal saga that began when the FBI raided the group in 2022, accusing the antiwar Black liberation group of working as Russian agents. The “Uhuru 3” are Omali Yeshitela, chair of the African People’s Socialist Party, and white solidarity activists Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel.