Today's Liberal News

Hunger-Striking Teachers Say Oakland Plan to Close Schools Will Hurt Black & Brown Communities

We go to Oakland, where a group of teachers are on a hunger strike to protest a plan to close and merge over a dozen schools due to under-enrollment. This comes ahead of a critical school board vote Tuesday that will decide whether to proceed with the plan. Activists argue the move threatens to divert resources to charter schools and displace hundreds of Black and Brown children from their neighborhood schools.

News Roundup: Giuliani tried to seize Michigan voting machines; Cawthorn gets a reality check

In the news today: It’s a day of the week, which means yet another revelation as to just how serious, and how encompassing, the Trump-Giuliani efforts to erase a presidential election really were. A state elections board has informed Rep. Madison Cawthorn that actually, they do have the power to throw him off the ballot if it is determined that Cawthorn aided and abetted an insurrection.

Trump Social stock plummets following app delay, Melania signs with Parler

Eventually Donald Trump has to run out of marks, right? This feels like if Mussolini had escaped at the end of World War II and started selling knockoff Avon products out of the back of his van. Hey, Wall Street investors! Donald Trump is a grifter! If you want to invest in social media, you’d be better off using your savings to buy more MySpace friends. At least that platform actually exists, unlike the ocher oaf’s newest scam, Truth Social.

Groups urge California leaders to act as virus again sweeps though immigration detention facilities

Dozens of immigrant rights groups and legal service providers have issued a letter urging California leaders to use their available authority to protect immigrants in federal custody against the exploding COVID-19 numbers seen in detention facilities across the state and nation. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has claimed that if detained immigrants want a booster, all they have to do is ask. But a recent lawsuit has shown that’s a complete lie.

Rep. Matt Gaetz gives speech against sexual harassment. Yes, that Matt Gaetz

On Monday, Republican Florida man Rep. Matt Gaetz was one of 113 Republicans willing to join the Democrats in the House in support of HR 4445. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 seeks to end the big business practice that forces employees to arbitrate disputes involving claims of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.

A Raid by Nancy Pelosi’s Gazpacho Police

Today, speaking about investigations into the January 6 insurrection, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, referred to “Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police.”The knock at the door caught me with the spoon still in my mouth, and I felt a chill run down my spine—though I couldn’t quite tell whether that was my nerves or the tart slurp I’d just taken.“Who is it?” I called, swallowing hard.

How Much Does Ukraine Really Matter to the U.S.?

Sign up for Conor’s newsletter here.Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries have passed or invoked laws against misinformation. In the United States, content distributors like Spotify and social-media platforms like Twitter are under pressure from one faction to take action against medical misinformation and from another faction to stay viewpoint-neutral and allow all perspectives to be aired.

Technology Is Terrifying in Steven Soderbergh’s Kimi

Since his return from self-proclaimed retirement five years ago, Steven Soderbergh has been working at a breathtaking pace, directing a stream of robust thrillers and talky dramas. At a time when Hollywood pundits are wringing their hands about the death of mid-budget grown-up movies, Soderbergh has become a leading creator of frugal filmmaking, doing some of the most wide-ranging work of his career.

Vaccine Hesitancy Has Seeped Into Home Health Care

There was the home health attendant who sucked her thumb before touching household items. And the one who brought her unvaccinated 4-year-old into the apartment where Mary and her immunocompromised husband live, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And the one who came by after her day shift at a nursing home.Many of the aides who circulated through Mary’s household were vaccine-hesitant or outright anti-vax; many wore their mask improperly while in the apartment, she told me.

Elaina Plott Rejoining The Atlantic as a Staff Writer

National political reporter Elaina Plott, who covered the Trump presidency for The Atlantic in 2018 and 2019, is rejoining The Atlantic. Elaina will become a staff writer this summer; she currently covers politics in Washington for The New York Times.“Elaina is one of the finest young magazine journalists in America. We are delighted to welcome her back to The Atlantic,” said Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief.

Workers at Largest GM Plant in Mexico Win Historic Vote for New Independent Union After 2019 Reforms

In Mexico, thousands of workers at the country’s largest General Motors plant have won a historic vote to form an independent union, breaking from a tradition of corrupt unions tied to elites who cut deals with corporations to keep wages and benefits low. We go to Guanajuato, Mexico, to speak with historian Javier Bravo about the victory and the passage of critical labor reforms in 2019, which ensure workers can create new unions independent of the will of their employers, says Bravo.

“Don’t Look Up”: David Sirota on His Oscar Nod for Writing Blockbuster Climate Crisis & Media Satire

We speak to longtime progressive journalist and 2020 Bernie Sanders adviser David Sirota, who was just nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay of the hit Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up” along with the film’s director, Adam McKay. The satire of the fight to have climate change acknowledged, let alone acted upon by global leaders, follows the plight of astronomy professor Dr.