Today's Liberal News

Journalist Karen Hao on Sam Altman, OpenAI & the “Quasi-Religious” Push for Artificial Intelligence

As part of our July Fourth special broadcast, we continue our extended interview with Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. The book documents the rise of OpenAI and how the AI industry is leading to a new form of colonialism. “One of the things that you really have to understand about AI development today is that there are what I call quasi-religious movements that have developed within Silicon Valley,” says Hao.

“Empire of AI”: Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World

In our July Fourth special broadcast, we revisit our interview with longtime technology reporter Karen Hao, author of the new book Empire of AI, which unveils the accruing political and economic power of AI companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the exploitation of workers in Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment.

“What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”: James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic Speech

We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society.

GOP Budget Bill Slashes Medicaid for Millions, Cuts Taxes for the Rich, Funds ICE at Historic Levels

As we broadcast, the House was soon set to vote on the so-called big, beautiful bill before the July 4 deadline imposed by President Trump. Should the House pass the legislation, the bill would be sent to Trump’s desk to be signed into law. The bill massively increases funding for ICE, cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid over a decade and adds $3.3 trillion to the nation’s debt.

EXCLUSIVE: Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian Activist Jailed by ICE for 104 Days, in First Live Interview

In his first live broadcast interview since being released from ICE detention, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil tells Democracy Now! about his experience behind bars, the ongoing threat of deportation that hangs over him and why he continues to speak out against the U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza. The Columbia University graduate was the first pro-Palestinian campus protester to be jailed by the Trump administration.

Lamentations

Illustrations by Holly Stapleton
It was March when I received the news that Harold had died in one of his caves. I hadn’t expected him to still be doing fieldwork himself; having watched him make a nest of his laurels, I admit that I saw him as one of those shrewd birds that thieves other’s eggs. The last time we’d met was three years before, in Paris.

Seven Summers

The summer I was twelve I don’t remember
Thirteen we drive the Continent, hit Chamonix
The summer I’m fourteen go back alone to Čechy
and miss a connection and send her
weeping through the night, I just couldn’t work the door
Summer jobs the summer I’m fifteen and up and down
the back roads on our bikes with Trisha Brown
Sixteen a family that knows how to live in Strasbourg
remodels my French, a month sans meaningful exchange
The summer I am seventeen Eurailing hostel to hostel
with Magda called

Christian Kids Deserve Better Than The King of Kings

Growing up in an evangelical household, I watched films and TV shows meant to teach me about Jesus and the Bible’s larger narrative—works such as McGee and Me!, VeggieTales, and various productions involving Psalty, an anthropomorphic book of worship songs. Not all of them hold up, but the ones that do benefit from sharp writing, laugh-out-loud comedy, and an entertainment value that transcends ideology.

Trump’s Only-Okay Economy

If you’ve been listening to Donald Trump and his critics over the past six months, they have found one thing they can agree on: Trump’s presidency would have a dramatic impact on the U.S. economy. Elected in part because of voters’ anger over high prices, Trump promised that he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.