Today's Liberal News

Scammers posing as ICE officials are defrauding U.S. families of asylum-seekers

With knowledge of personal details, ICE imposters have coaxed thousands of dollars from fearful relatives of detainees.

By Gabriel Thompson for Capital & Main

On April 5, Mariana was at her usual spot on a Miami sidewalk selling hot dogs and grilled corn when her phone rang.

She did not recognize the 1-800 number, and the caller said he was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official named Marcos Cruz.

Lucky

Lucky no one got hurt when I failed
To notice that another car had entered
The traffic circle before me, but not so lucky
When my car was declared not worth repairing.Lucky my car made no accusations
About the many more years of driving
We might have enjoyed together if only
I’d remembered to look where I was going.No way to explain to a car, which always waits
Just where you leave it, the human capacity
To drift in thought away from the body
Just when the body is in need of guidance.

Can You Cure Mental Illness? Two Centuries of Trying Says No.

Psychiatry, from its very inception, has been subject to raised eyebrows if not outright ridicule. Even before Freud came along with his batty theories about infantile sexuality and repressed wishes to kill one’s father, the discipline had struggled to define its methods and objectives.

America Endures

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.This is my last day writing The Atlantic Daily (for now!), and I’d like to thank you all for reading. I know it’s something of an ask to allow the same fellow into your inbox every evening to opine about the day’s news, and I appreciate it.

Astronomers Haven’t Been This Giddy in Years

About six months have elapsed since the most powerful space telescope in history bid farewell to Earth and took off into the darkness. In that time, the James Webb Space Telescope has deployed its gold-coated mirrors, turned on its instruments, and gotten the hang of operating 1 million miles from Earth.

Admit It, Squirrels Are Just Tree Rats

Ben Dantzer had spent several frustrating days trying to capture a single squirrel when the epiphany arrived. Dantzer, a rodent researcher at the University of Michigan, was standing in the Canadian Yukon, scrutinizing the uncooperative squirrel, which was perched high in a spruce tree. Then, all of a sudden, he felt as though he was looking at an optical illusion: When he viewed the squirrel one way, he saw a squirrel; when he viewed it another way, he saw a rat.

U.S. Accused of Whitewashing Israel’s Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh Ahead of Biden’s Middle East Trip

The United States is facing accusations of whitewashing the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh after concluding the bullet that killed her likely came from Israeli military gunfire, but stopping short of reaching a “definitive conclusion” in her killing. Abu Akleh was wearing a press uniform while reporting on an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank when she was fatally shot in the head on May 11.

“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire”: Aziz Rana & Darryl Li on Building a New Foreign Policy

We host a conversation about “Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” which is the focus of an essay by Cornell University law professor Aziz Rana in Dissent magazine. Rana argues for the creation of a “transnational infrastructure of left forces across the world” and says movements of the left need “clear alternatives to the hardest questions” of foreign policy crises, such as the Russian war in Ukraine.

The same companies offering abortion travel benefits are donating to anti-abortion politicians

This article was originally published at Prism

Corporations began introducing plans to pay for abortion travel across state lines shortly after the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked from the Supreme Court of the United States in May. Since the official ruling was handed down on June 24, the number of companies offering the benefit has grown, with over 40 companies announcing similar abortion travel policies.

Putin ally believes Russia should reclaim Alaska if Russian assets are seized to rebuild Ukraine

If some Russian officials had their way, Sarah Palin could someday actually see Russia from her house. Why stop at restoring the Soviet Union? Why not restore the Russian Empire to its former glory? After all, Putin has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who expanded the Russian Empire.

In 1725, Peter ordered navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential colonization opportunities.

Could Trader Joe’s be the next Starbucks? This week in the war on workers

The first union representation election in Trader Joe’s history will happen this month, as workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, vote on July 27 and 28. There are 81 workers in the store eligible to vote, according to organizer Maeg Yosef.

“We’re just really thrilled to finally have an election date and we’re really excited to get the final vote total,” Yosef told the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Brian Steele. “We’re feeling good right now.

Connect! Unite! Act! Tributes for democracy

We all feel a bit grumpy lately. The Supreme Court. Donald Trump. State courts. Out-of-control state legislatures. Governors who want to take away rights and hold onto power however they can. It can seem a bit daunting, can’t it? 

This week on Connect! Unite! Act!, I thought maybe we could sit back and think about times when things looked bleak and the good guys managed to come through and get things done in the end.