Today's Liberal News

This Is Your Brain on Heartbreak

We all know that when love is good, it’s really good. Research shows that romantic attachments, when they’re healthy and supportive, can be immensely beneficial for our health. Married people tend to live longer than single people and seem to fare better when seriously sick. But as poets and pop singers have long told us, when love goes awry, it hurts like nothing else.

Should We Go All In on Omicron Vaccines?

Two years into the pandemic, and two months into Omicron’s globe-crushing surge, our COVID-19 vaccines are finally on the cusp of a federally sanctioned update. To counter the new variant’s uncanny knack for slipping past antibodies roused by our first-generation shots, Moderna and Pfizer have both kick-started clinical trials to see how Omicron-specific vaccines fare in people.

Read the Books That Schools Want to Ban

Book banning is back. Texas State Representative Matt Krause recently put more than 800 books on a watch list, many of them dealing with race and LGBTQ issues. Then an Oklahoma state senator filed a bill to ban books that address “sexual perversion,” among other things, from school libraries. The school board of McMinn County, Tennessee, just banned Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic memoir about the Holocaust.

Atlantic Brand Partners Releases “Forces of Influence”

Today Atlantic Brand Partners, The Atlantic’s business services group, is releasing Forces of Influence 2.0, a study into how ongoing cultural unpredictability is affecting consumer perspectives. Most surprising for business leaders: despite industry-wide emphasis to address individual consumer needs, there is still a vast gulf between what consumers expect from brands and their perceived realities.

“It’s Not About Security”: Belgian Peace Activist Says NATO Has Outlived Its Purpose

To speak about the key role NATO is playing in the Ukraine crisis, we speak with Ludo De Brabander, spokesperson of the peace organization Vrede vzw in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered. De Brabander says NATO has outlived its purpose, and touches on how activists in NATO countries like Belgium are pushing against narratives in the media that war with Russia is necessary.

Germany Refuses to Send Arms to Ukraine Despite Pressure from U.S. & NATO

Germany’s new coalition government is refusing to send lethal weapons to Ukraine but has offered to send over 5,000 combat helmets to protect Ukrainian soldiers in case of a Russian attack. The move has been ridiculed as the U.S. and other NATO countries continue to send military support to Ukraine. In response, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised his country will stay in tune with European Union and NATO policies toward Russia.

Ukrainians Doubt a Russian Invasion Is Imminent as U.S. Peace Groups Urge Biden to Halt Escalation

The United States and Russia sparred on Monday over the crisis in Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council. Meanwhile, U.S. senators are preparing to unveil a bill that would target Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian banks and other entities with sanctions. To discuss the Ukraine crisis, we’re joined by the co-founder of CodePink, Medea Benjamin, who says “we need the voice of the American people” to oppose U.S. escalation and also calls on U.S.

“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”: Director Rory Kennedy & Michael Stumo, Father of Crash Victim

Families of passengers who died in fatal crashes while aboard Boeing 737 MAX jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia are urging the Department of Justice to reopen a Trump-era settlement that allowed the company to evade criminal prosecution. We speak with the father of one of the victims, as well as the director of the new documentary, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” which details Boeing’s push for profit over safety and is set to air on Netflix February 18.

Home Demolition in Sheikh Jarrah Seen as Part of Broader Israeli Effort to Dispossess Palestinians

Israeli forces continue to expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that the United Nations has described as a possible war crime. We speak to Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd, whose own family is among those facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Sheikh Jarrah is also where the Salhiyeh family recently gained attention for threatening self-immolation while protesting their eviction and the demolition of their home.

Let’s call it exactly what it is: Enabling evil

No, this is not going to be a pointed news piece. Yes, this is going to be a rant. (Hey, give me a rant here and there, right?) We have years under our belts of watching Republicans under Donald J. Trump and Republicans out on their own governing their states. It is rare—very rare—that we get any sort of exception.

Amazing dissonance as QAnon crowd sings ‘Amazing Grace’ in pro-border wall demonstration

The song “Amazing Grace,” the hymn written by Anglican priest John Newton in 1772—put to music in 1835 by William Walker—has in modern times been closely connected with the American abolitionist movement and our subsequent civil rights movement. And rightly so. John Newton was a former enslaver of Africans, bringing them to England in the 18th century and spending later years repenting as a Christian.

DeSantis’ spokesperson responded to the Orlando Nazis in the way you would expect

In case you didn’t know, a violent group of Nazis demonstrated in my hometown of Orlando this weekend. They screamed antisemitic rants against Jews, Blacks, and Hispanics, waved swastikas, and even assaulted a driver during an argument. It was a shocking display for this diverse town and was widely reported all over Florida as well as in national publications like Newsweek:

Twitter users began posting videos of the neo-Nazi rally after they passed by on Saturday.