Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: New Trump scandals; Supreme Court delusions; a press in ‘crisis’

In the news today: More fallout from the Trump administration, this time with revelations that Trump’s Department of Justice sought to expose the identity of a satirist who had earned the ire of Trump ally Rep. Devin Nunes. That administration’s attempts to sabotage immigrant rights also appears worse than we had guessed. Attempts to defend the current hard-right Supreme Court as nonpartisan are looking increasingly “deluded.

Fired for promoting white nationalist hoax, Space Force commander becomes a far-right hero

Donald Trump’s Space Force idea always seemed like a grade-school concept fueled by prepubescent boys’ fantasies featuring Buzz Lightyear and coloring book ideas about both space travel and the military. No doubt that’s why it’s been the source of so much unintentional hilarity since Trump signed off on creating it, including its painfully obvious Star Trek-derived logo.

Republican governor signs anti-trans bathroom bill into law amid pandemic

As the pandemic continues, Republicans across the country are eager to keep distracting the public from the party’s failures over the past year and a half. As Daily Kos has covered, we know state-level Republicans have pushed anti-trans legislation that rests on hysteria and misinformation, ranging from banning trans girls from participating on girls’ sports teams to making it a felony for physicians to prescribe gender-affirming health care to transgender youth.

The Never-Aging Ants With a Terrible Secret

Deep in the forests of Germany, nestled neatly into the hollowed-out shells of acorns, live a smattering of ants who have stumbled upon a fountain of youth. They are born workers, but do not do much work. Their days are spent lollygagging about the nest, where their siblings shower them with gifts of food. They seem to elude the ravages of old age, retaining a durably adolescent physique, their outer shells soft and their hue distinctively tawny.

The Body’s Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel

Arne Svenson, Stray #55
To peer into the soul of a sea cucumber, don’t look to its face; it doesn’t have one. Gently turn that blobby body around, and gaze deep into its marvelous, multifunctional anus.The sea cucumber’s posterior is so much more than an exit hole for digestive waste.

What Hacks Proves About Jean Smart

As gratifying as it can be to see an actor disappear into a role, there’s something soul-restoring about an underappreciated star finally twinkling their way front and center in the Hollywood firmament. At 69, Jean Smart has almost five decades of ancillary and co-lead roles to her name—the rapacious Lana in Frasier, the ditsy helpmeet Charlene in Designing Women—but the new HBO Max series Hacks marks the rare time the actor has anchored a show.

The Pro-Trump Culture War on American Scientists

Two questions have dominated politics throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats and public-health experts have asked: What should we do? Former President Donald Trump, for his part, minimized the need to act. He instead spoke incessantly about a very different question: Whom should we blame?“In recent months, our nation and the world has been hit by the once-in-a-century pandemic that China allowed to spread around the globe.

Palestinians Stage Historic General Strike from “the River to the Sea” for the First Time Since 1936

As the Israeli bombing of Gaza enters its ninth day, Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel are staging a historic general strike. This comes as violence is also spreading across Israel, with Jewish mobs attacking Palestinians in mixed Jewish and Arab communities. Last week, extremist Israeli settlers were filmed attacking Palestinian-owned shops in a Tel Aviv suburb.

Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza

As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 200, the leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is accusing Israel of committing war crimes by killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale. Executive director Hagai El-Ad says Israel has not done enough to distinguish between military and civilian targets or to act with proportionality. “We’ve seen war crimes in previous military assaults on Gaza,” he says.

“Genocide”: Palestinian Lawmaker Condemns Netanyahu for Bombing Gaza to Stay in Power, Avoid Charges

The ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza, which has now killed at least 213 people, “really is an act of genocide,” says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian parliament and head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society who has been leading efforts to manage the pandemic in the West Bank and Gaza. He says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces multiple corruption charges, is using the latest violence to save his political future.

Gaza Physician: Israel Is Targeting Doctors & Health Facilities to Overwhelm Our Crumbling System

The death toll in Gaza has reached 213, including at least 61 children, as Israel continues to attack the besieged area by air, land and sea using U.S.-made warplanes and bombs. The death toll in Israel stands at 11 from rockets fired from Gaza. Israel is facing increasing criticism for targeting doctors in its attack, and its airstrikes have reportedly damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics, according to the World Health Organization.

Can the News Be Fixed?

One morning a few years ago, Amanda Patten, 26, invited five strangers into her home in Cincinnati. She cleared the toys off of the couch and offered everyone a seat. For three hours, she answered questions about her childhood, her hopes and fears for her own kids, and her news-consumption habits.The visitors were from E.W. Scripps, a broadcasting corporation that owns 60 TV stations in 42 markets, and they were doing something unheard-of for a news-media company.