Today's Liberal News

U.S. Accused of Whitewashing Israel’s Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh Ahead of Biden’s Middle East Trip

The United States is facing accusations of whitewashing the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh after concluding the bullet that killed her likely came from Israeli military gunfire, but stopping short of reaching a “definitive conclusion” in her killing. Abu Akleh was wearing a press uniform while reporting on an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank when she was fatally shot in the head on May 11.

“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire”: Aziz Rana & Darryl Li on Building a New Foreign Policy

We host a conversation about “Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” which is the focus of an essay by Cornell University law professor Aziz Rana in Dissent magazine. Rana argues for the creation of a “transnational infrastructure of left forces across the world” and says movements of the left need “clear alternatives to the hardest questions” of foreign policy crises, such as the Russian war in Ukraine.

The same companies offering abortion travel benefits are donating to anti-abortion politicians

This article was originally published at Prism

Corporations began introducing plans to pay for abortion travel across state lines shortly after the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked from the Supreme Court of the United States in May. Since the official ruling was handed down on June 24, the number of companies offering the benefit has grown, with over 40 companies announcing similar abortion travel policies.

Putin ally believes Russia should reclaim Alaska if Russian assets are seized to rebuild Ukraine

If some Russian officials had their way, Sarah Palin could someday actually see Russia from her house. Why stop at restoring the Soviet Union? Why not restore the Russian Empire to its former glory? After all, Putin has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who expanded the Russian Empire.

In 1725, Peter ordered navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential colonization opportunities.

Could Trader Joe’s be the next Starbucks? This week in the war on workers

The first union representation election in Trader Joe’s history will happen this month, as workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, vote on July 27 and 28. There are 81 workers in the store eligible to vote, according to organizer Maeg Yosef.

“We’re just really thrilled to finally have an election date and we’re really excited to get the final vote total,” Yosef told the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Brian Steele. “We’re feeling good right now.

Connect! Unite! Act! Tributes for democracy

We all feel a bit grumpy lately. The Supreme Court. Donald Trump. State courts. Out-of-control state legislatures. Governors who want to take away rights and hold onto power however they can. It can seem a bit daunting, can’t it? 

This week on Connect! Unite! Act!, I thought maybe we could sit back and think about times when things looked bleak and the good guys managed to come through and get things done in the end.

Sports teams fly on the same private jets hired to deport immigrants

The planes reconfigure from “ultra-luxurious” aircraft for athletes to mass deportation machines for migrants.

By Angelika Albaladejo, for Capital & Main

The top private airlines hired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport immigrants also shuttle collegiate and professional sports teams, at times on the same jets tied to incidents of alleged abuse, a University of Washington Center for Human Rights report has found.

Make Birth Free

Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs came down, anti-abortion groups began distributing press releases celebrating their victory and vowing to get around to something the movement has politically neglected for the past several decades: helping mothers afford children. For so many millions already distraught by the ruling, the ready promises of help on the way came not so much as a comfort but as an insult.

In Praise of Pointless Goals

In July of last year, a grown man pulled on a giant bear costume and set out to walk across the country. Under the alias Bearsun, Jessy Larios, then 33, ambled from Los Angeles to New York, sweating and chafing and viewing the world through a mesh peephole. Larios told me that it was “kind of like carrying around your own prison,” and that despite the costume’s whimsical exterior, the interior experience was akin to “getting tortured.

“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire”: Aziz Rana & Darryl Li on Building a New Foreign Policy

We host a conversation about “Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” which is the focus of an essay by Cornell University law professor Aziz Rana in Dissent magazine. Rana argues for the creation of a “transnational infrastructure of left forces across the world” and says movements of the left need “clear alternatives to the hardest questions” of foreign policy crises, such as the Russian war in Ukraine.

Roy Moore sued Borat’s creator for using a fake ‘pedophile detector’ on him. He just lost that suit

Sacha Baron Cohen is a brilliant prankster and comedian, but perhaps his greatest talent is making Republicans look foolish. Or, rather, more foolish. If there’s an antediluvian sentiment or three sloshing about in a MAGA mite’s rancid paella of a brain, Baron Cohen will most likely dislodge it. And the results will be both uniquely hilarious and cringeworthy (aka, “unhingeworthy”).