Today's Liberal News

Star Wars Gets Political

This story contains spoilers for the entire Star Wars franchise, including the Disney+ series Andor.In the eighth episode of the Star Wars prequel series Andor, the mysterious art dealer turned Rebel leader Luthen implores the extremist fighter Saw Gerrera to unite with other factions against the evil Galactic Empire.“Aren’t you tired of fighting with people who agree with you?” Luthen pleads with Gerrera. “There’s no chance any of us can make it real on our own.

Tigray Peace Deal: Surprise Agreement Ends Two Years of Civil War in Ethiopia, Brings “Big Relief”

The Ethiopian government and forces in Tigray have reached a truce to end two years of brutal civil war. The new peace deal follows a week of peace talks mediated by the African Union in South Africa. The Ethiopian government wants a unified country and Tigrayans want minoritarian rights upheld, says Adebayo Olukoshi, distinguished research professor at the Wits School of Governance who formerly worked on peace efforts in Tigray with the International IDEA.

African Nations Reliant on Grain Imports Seek Ukraine Diplomacy as U.S. & Europe Align Against Russia

We look at the impact of the war in Ukraine on the continent of Africa with Adebayo Olukoshi, an international relations scholar based in Johannesburg, South Africa. African nations import much of their grain. With their significant dependency on Ukrainian wheat and fertilizer in the Global South, “there is a wish for much more investment in diplomacy” between Ukraine and Russia, says Olukoshi.

Egypt Arrests Hundreds in Crackdown Before COP27 Climate Summit; Pressured to Free Alaa Abd El-Fattah

Egyptian authorities have arrested hundreds in a crackdown on dissenting voices ahead of COP27, the U.N. climate conference which starts Sunday in Sharm El-Sheikh. Fifteen Nobel laureates have signed an open letter asking world leaders to pressure Egypt into releasing its many political prisoners, including human rights activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who plans to intensify his six-month hunger strike by forgoing water on the opening day of the climate summit.

Who Killed Malcolm X? New York to Pay $36 Million for Two Men Wrongfully Jailed For 1965 Murder

The city and state of New York have agreed to pay $36 million to settle lawsuits on behalf of two men wrongly convicted and imprisoned for decades for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam were exonerated last year for the murder after investigators found “serious miscarriages of justice” in the case. They each spent more than 20 years in prison for a crime they did not commit, and Islam died in 2009 before his record was cleared.

President Biden’s speech on the continuing assault on democracy

On Wednesday evening at 7PM ET, President Joe Biden is set to deliver a speech on the continuing threat to American democracy. Excerpts from the speech have already been released, showing that Biden will warn against candidates for office who have already committed to thwarting the outcomes of democratic elections. Biden will reportedly make the speech from the DNC, not the White House.

Ukraine update: Good news, unbelievable news, and puzzling news from Svatove

Overnight, the news out of the area around Svatove was decidedly … weird. While Russian sources appeared in a near panic about new Ukrainian advances and seemed ready to write off the whole area, one of the most trusted Ukrainian sources was reporting an advance by Russian forces that caused Ukrainian troops to withdraw from two key towns. All of that might have been easier to sort out if the reports had not been for the exact same area.

In other weird news: Julia Roberts is oddly connected to Martin Luther King Jr. and his family

Of all the people Academy Award-winning actor Julia Roberts might be connected to, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not be one you’d expect. But it’s true: The famed civil rights leader and the Pretty Woman star shared a unique connection.

In a bizarre turn of events, on Oct. 28, Roberts’ birthday, a fan shared a video compilation that prompted a comment stating that Martin Luther King Jr.

President Obama stumping in Nevada is something worth watching

As we approach the Nov. 8 midterm elections, races across the country seem to be heating up. Whether they’re truly heating up or the traditional media is making it sound like things are heating up is debatable. However, like most elections, the No. 1 thing either political party can do at this point is convince its registered members to vote. That’s the whole game, in a nutshell.

The Little-Known Roots of ‘Black Power’

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.A new documentary, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, looks at a pivotal chapter of the civil-rights movement that shaped how we think and talk about race in America to this day. The film, inspired by the work of the Atlantic senior editor Vann R.

Taylor Swift’s Best New Songs Aren’t Technically on Midnights

In the final track of Midnights, Taylor Swift confesses to being a “mastermind” who plans so carefully that she can’t possibly lose. The song is addressed to her lover, but she might as well be singing about the meticulous rollout of her new album. Over the course of nearly two months, she posted cryptic videos teasing the music without allowing anyone to hear a single note. She put together a “manifest” that looked like something out of the metaverse.

Now Do Amazon

One of the great literary hoaxes of our time is the book spine. A staggering number of logos stare out from dust jackets, celebrating names including Crown, Vintage, Ballantine, Knopf, and Dial. But the pluralism implied by this diversity of monikers is a sham. In the U.S., nearly 100 of them belong to a single company: Penguin Random House. The rest are owned by a small handful of competitors, one of which is Simon & Schuster.

“Working People Everywhere Have Had It”: SEIU Pres. Mary Kay Henry on Unions Mobilizing for Midterms

We look at the high stakes of the midterm elections for workers, including in key battleground states. Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, says they are campaigning to empower working people, especially infrequent voters of color and new immigrants, to vote in their best interests. “We have got to make our votes a demand, and not a show of support for candidates that are with us one day and against us the next,” says Henry.