Today's Liberal News

What Recourse Does the Supreme Court Actually Have?

Since early February, when Vice President J. D. Vance posted on X that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” the United States has been inching nearer and nearer to the moment when the White House directly defies an order of the court. So far, that moment doesn’t appear to have arrived—in part because the Trump administration can’t quite commit to its own authoritarian posturing.

What Does the Literature of the Working Class Look Like?

The idioms of a language—its jokes, expressions, and well-worn wordplay—are windows into its speakers’ values and points of view. In both French and English, certain phrases—métro, boulot, dodo (“commute, work, sleep”), for instance, or nose to the grindstone—reflect a shared assumption about labor: that work is drudgery, eating up time and hindering happiness.

The Key to Critical Self-Awareness

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Know thyself is the most famous maxim of Greek philosophy, carved into stone on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Why? you might ask. The greatest philosophers and writers throughout history are more likely to tell you why not, so foundational is the idea of self-knowledge to a meaningful existence.

“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”: Omar El Akkad on Gaza & Western Complicity

We speak with the award-winning author and journalist Omar El Akkad, whose new book about the war on Gaza is titled One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. The book expands on a viral tweet El Akkad sent in October 2023, just weeks into Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian territory, decrying the muted response to the carnage and destruction unfolding on the ground.

Trump Eyes Congo’s “Incredible Mineral Riches” as Armed Conflict Devastates Region

President Trump’s Africa envoy Massad Boulos has finished a tour of several East African nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he discussed a peace deal that could involve the U.S. tapping the country’s rich mineral resources, including cobalt and lithium. Several Western mining companies are already reportedly lined up to take part in the U.S.-backed mineral resources partnership.

“The Dark Money Game”: Director Alex Gibney on How Citizens United Ushered in “Legalized Corruption”

A new set of documentaries directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney premieres April 15 and April 16 on HBO. The films in The Dark Money Game series investigate the origins and impacts of campaign finance in the U.S. “Our country is being run by a small group of people who have an enormous amount of money, and they dominate our politics,” says Gibney. “It’s almost as if bribery has become utterly legalized. It’s pay to play. It’s quid pro quo.

Emergency Food for 3 Million Children Is Stuck in DOGE Limbo

After Elon Musk made a public show of remedying an apparent error in DOGE’s massive cuts to foreign aid, the Trump administration has quietly doubled down on its decision to stop sending emergency food to millions of children who are starving in Bangladesh, Somalia, and other countries. Without urgent intervention, many of these children are likely to die within months, experts told me.

The Pardon-to-Prison Pipeline

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Late last month, Jonathan Braun was arrested on allegations of shoving a 3-year-old, “causing a red mark on his back and substantial pain.” This is only his latest brush with the law over the past four years.