Today's Liberal News

Lakota Historian Nick Estes on Thanksgiving, Settler Colonialism & Continuing Indigenous Resistance

Lakota historian Nick Estes talks about Thanksgiving and his book “Our History Is the Future,” and the historic fight against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock. “This history … is a continuing history of genocide, of settler colonialism and, basically, the founding myths of this country,” says Estes, who is a co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

Glass Onion Understands the Absurdity of Extreme Wealth

Glass Onion begins with a puzzle—or rather, a series of puzzles. Each of the new characters in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel receives an intricate box packed with gears and motors that crank out riddles and codes. Once they’re deciphered, the package unveils an invitation to a weekend getaway on a remote island owned by a wealthy acquaintance. It’s a classic murder-mystery setup.

Is Food Getting Better?

Congrats! You are probably about to eat the very best Thanksgiving meal of your life.Maybe your turkey is drier than a World Cup fan in Qatar, or maybe you overcommitted and nothing is ready by 8 p.m. Maybe you’re making the same exact menu as last year. But if you round up every single Thanksgiving dinner in the United States—all the birds and pies and mac and cheeses and green-bean casseroles—on average the meal will be just marginally, imperceptibly tastier than last year.

Why Saudi Arabia Is So Quiet About Iran’s Protests

Expressions of support for Iranian protesters have been pouring in from around the world—from leaders such as President Joe Biden, the former first lady Michelle Obama, French President Emmanuel Macron, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern—as the protests, well into their second month, remain defiant and have even gained in intensity. But aside from some media coverage, those nations closest to Iran, its Gulf neighbors, have remained conspicuously silent.

Ukraine update: E.U. Parliament designates Russia as terrorist sponsor, Russia responds with terror

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There’s no way to consider Russia anything but a terrorist nation. More than its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, its indiscriminate targeting of civilians is textbook terrorism. Russia doesn’t even hide it—Russia is demanding negotiations to freeze the conflict in exchange for stopping its terror campaign against civilian targets. 

The European Union has finally responded.

Alaska’s Mary Peltola wins reelection, defeating Sarah Palin again

Rep. Mary Peltola’s August special election win to be Alaska’s lone member of the House of Representatives made history: She was the first Alaska Native in the House, and the first Democrat in 50 years to represent Alaska in the House. It was also one of the special elections that hinted, correctly, that November wasn’t going to be the red wave Republicans were crowing about.

Boise officials scramble to repair damage caused by revelation of white nationalist police captain

We’ve known for some time now that the presence of far-right extremists within the ranks of our police forces is a serious problem, one that was amplified by the Jan. 6 insurrection, where a number of officers were participants. Despite that, there’s been little effort among either police authorities themselves or their civic and federal overseers to confront the issue and begin rooting white supremacists out of our policing system.

Thanksgiving After Fleeing the Taliban

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.In August of last year, the Afghan journalist Bushra Seddique, now a 23-year-old editorial fellow at The Atlantic, fled Kabul, smuggling her laptop past the Taliban and leaving members of her family behind. I called Bushra, now living in the Washington D.C.

The Greatest Day in Arab Soccer?

This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.I was in a gym in Beirut the summer of 2010, a few weeks before the World Cup was to start. As was usual for Lebanese gyms in those days, everyone sat on benches and workout machines chatting and catching up. All looked good in their coordinated sporting outfits, and they all knew one another. Though I am Lebanese, I was clearly an outsider.

The Case for Building More Housing

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Question of the WeekFor whom or what are you thankful this year? Or, recount the best conversation you’ve ever had or the most interesting perspective you’ve ever learned about at a holiday dinner.

What Were Elon Musk’s Lenders Thinking?

When, earlier this year, Elon Musk went looking for financing for his bid to take over Twitter, he had little trouble finding institutions willing to give him the money he needed. Morgan Stanley took the lead and organized a syndicate of banks—including Bank of America and Barclays—that committed to lending Musk $13 billion. The whole thing took less than a week.

The World Could Be Entering a New Era of Climate War

Back in 2015, when I started covering climate change, climate war meant one thing. At the time, if someone said that climate change posed a threat to the world order, you would assume they were talking about the direct impacts of warming, or its second-order consequences. Analysts and scholars worried over scenarios in which unprecedented droughts or city-destroying floods would prompt mass migrations, destabilizing the rich world or giving rise to far-right nationalism.

Filipino Climate Activist Yeb Saño on COP27, Climate Reparations & Philippines’ New President Marcos

This week U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines, where she said the U.S. would defend the Philippines “in the face of intimidation and coercion” from China and vowed to expand the U.S. military presence in the country even after former bases leaked toxic waste into the environment. We recently spoke about the environment and more with Filipino activist Yeb Saño at the U.N. climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.