Today's Liberal News

The Man Onstage With Salman Rushdie

The man who was about to interview Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution last Friday when a would-be murderer ran onstage with a knife is a 73-year-old former telemarketing entrepreneur from Pittsburgh named Henry Reese. He wears bow ties and speaks with a low-key, husky voice and shuns attention. But Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, are two of the more remarkable ordinary people in America.

Free Mutulu Shakur: Calls Grow for Compassionate Release for Dying Black Liberation Activist

Dozens of civil rights groups have joined an urgent push for the compassionate release of longtime political prisoner Mutulu Shakur from prison. The 72-year-old Black liberation activist is said by prison doctors to have less than six months to live, after being diagnosed with stage 3 bone marrow cancer. Shakur was part of the Black nationalist group Republic of New Afrika that worked with the Black Panther Party and others, and is the stepfather of the late rapper icon Tupac Shakur.

Mike Pompeo & CIA Sued for Spying on Americans Who Visited Julian Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy in U.K.

Lawyers and journalists sued the CIA and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo Monday for spying on them while they met Julian Assange when he was living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had political asylum. The lawsuit is being filed as Britain prepares to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States, where he faces up to 175 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Filipino Activist Walden Bello Speaks Out After Arrest Just Weeks After Marcos Jr. Inauguration

We speak to Walden Bello, the longtime Filipino activist and former vice-presidential candidate. He was arrested Monday on “cyber libel” charges, which he says was just a tactic by the new administration to suppress his vocal criticism of them. The arrest took place just weeks after the inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the former U.S.-backed dictator. Bello says people are “worried that this is a foretaste of things to come.

News Roundup: Mar-a-Lago search part of ‘criminal’ probe; Giuliani ‘target’ of Georgia investigation

As pro-treason Republicans shift from demanding to see the warrant used to search Mar-a-Lago (which didn’t work out well for them), to demanding to see the affidavit the department presented to a judge detailing the evidence they had for believing materials relating to a federal crime would be found there, a new Justice Department filing opposing its public release notes that it would cause “irreparable damage” to an “ongoing criminal investigation.

Justice Department court filing notes Trump investigation involves ‘highly classified materials’

In a Monday court filing, the Justice Department asked a federal court not to unseal the affidavit showing probable cause for the warrant to search Mar-a-Lago, giving reasons that underscore the hot water Donald Trump appears to be in.

Disclosing the affidavit now would, according to the filing, “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.

Ukraine Update: Butcher Wagner mercenaries post their location, HIMARS make them pay

  • by

You expect rank incompetence from basic Russian troops, but Wagner mercenaries have proven some of the most valuable forces on the Russian side. They were instrumental in the conquest of along every single major Russian victory in the last several months—Popasna, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, and their (modest) advances around Bakhmut.

Trump offers to call off his violent thugs, but he has conditions

In a disturbing echo of his infamous exhortation to his Proud Boy supporters before the 2020 election to “stand back and stand by,” Donald Trump told Fox News Digital on Monday that he “will do whatever” he can “to help the country” following last week’s seizure of stolen documents from his Florida home. Trump said that the “temperature has to be brought down,” but stressed his conditions.

Giuliani confirmed as target of criminal investigation, will face the music in Georgia this week

Rudy Giuliani can slither away no more. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney has informed former President Donald Trump’s slimy private lawyer that he is the target of a criminal investigation into the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.

According to reporting from The New York Times, just last week Giuliani told prosecutors that he was too unhealthy to fly to Georgia to appear in front of the special grand jury.

The New Era of Political Violence Is Here

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.I’ve been thinking about the threats against law enforcement and Trump’s barely veiled warning to Attorney General Merrick Garland about a “country on fire.” We should no longer wonder if we can avert a new era of political violence in the United States. It’s already here.

The Odds of Getting COVID From Your Housemate Are ‘About a Coin Flip’

By this point, the pandemic saga has introduced us to a cast of recurring characters. Among them are the Chill Friend, who is totally over COVID precautions at this point, and the Unlucky Acquaintance, who has had COVID three times and brings it up whenever someone else falls sick. And then there is the Person Whose Roommate Has COVID.

Caitlin Dickerson on the Moral Catastrophe of Family Separations

Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, joined staff writer Caitlin Dickerson to discuss her cover story, a years-long investigation into the secret history of the Trump administration’s family-separation policy. Dickerson’s story argues that separating children was not an unintended side effect, as previously claimed, but its core intent.

“Will We Become Our Enemy?”: After Salman Rushdie Assassination Attempt, See Rare Free Speech Address

Renowned Indian British novelist Salman Rushdie is in critical condition and faces a long road to recovery after he survived an assassination attempt Friday morning in western New York. Rushdie is one of the most highly acclaimed writers in the world today and has lived underground for many years after facing systematic threats of assassination for his writing.

After One Year of Taliban Control, “Women and Girls of Afghanistan Have Lost Their Right to Be Human”

One year ago today, the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, promising to bring stability after two decades of war and U.S. occupation. But the country now faces a grave humanitarian crisis and a severe rollback of women’s rights. We speak with Afghan journalist Zahra Nader, editor-in-chief of Zan Times, a new women-led outlet documenting human rights issues in Afghanistan.

Trump’s “Call to Violence” Against FBI as He Faces Espionage Act Charges Is “Replay” of Jan. 6 Riot

A search warrant made public on Friday reveals the FBI is investigating former President Donald Trump for three federal crimes, including violating the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records, after removing top-secret documents when they raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week. Meanwhile, Trump is calling the investigation a hoax, and Republican threats are growing against the FBI.