Today's Liberal News

Kumi Naidoo at COP26: Will Rich Countries Deliver Pledged Billions for South Africa to Get Off Coal?

On day three of the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, we look at the fight against Big Coal, starting with leading South African climate activist Kumi Naidoo. South Africa is one of the world’s largest coal producers, and the United States has joined the European Union and other wealthy nations to announce a new deal to provide $8.5 billion to the country to help it decommission its coal plants and invest in renewable energy.

What the Republican Win in Virginia Means for the Country

Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Tuesday’s Virginia gubernatorial election was about schools. It wasn’t about Donald Trump, or inflation, or defunding the police, or Medicare for All, or President Biden’s infrastructure agenda. It wasn’t really about critical race theory or transgender rights—though those issues shaded the situation a bit by highlighting anxieties surrounding the education system.

If Democrats Can Lose in Virginia, They Can Lose Almost Anywhere

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va.—The beer was flowing, the handmade potato chips were self-serve, and hope was in the air. Early in the night, the Loudoun County Democrats who gathered at the Döner Bistro in Leesburg were cautiously—anxiously—optimistic: Sure, it had been a rough year. A global pandemic, regular protests at the local school-board meetings, and the contentious governor’s race, rife with misinformation, had pitted neighbor against neighbor.

Tucker Carlson Is Stirring Up Hatred of America

All around you are swirling scenes of violence—explosions in Baghdad, ISIS operatives slitting the throat of an infidel, the chaos around the U.S. Capitol on January 6. You see jarring images of blood and brutality; you hear the grating sound of screaming; you feel the rush of fear and rage.But then a calm, sympathetic man steps forward, dressed in a button-down shirt. He explains all of it.

A Movie That Reimagines What Sequels Are For

Sequels are clogging theaters this fall—just look at the new entries in the James Bond, Venom, Halloween, and Marvel franchises. Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II is yet another retread, following up on her 2019 movie about a young filmmaker coming of age and navigating a doomed relationship. But this is not a typical sequel, and in a cinematic landscape often dominated by lazy, cash-grab blockbusters, Hogg’s work stands out.

As SCOTUS Reviews Texas Abortion Ban, Activists Look to New Strategies to Save Reproductive Freedom

We look at Monday’s Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of Texas’s near-total ban on abortions with legendary lawyer Kathryn “Kitty” Kolbert, who argued the 1992 landmark Supreme Court case credited with saving Roe v. Wade. “’Save Roe’ has been our mantra for so many years, and it no longer works because of the ultraconservatie nature of this Supreme Court,” Kolbert says.

Samoan Climate Activist Brianna Fruean: If Pacific Islands Drown, the Rest of the World Is Doomed

We speak with Brianna Fruean, an activist from Samoa, who implored global leaders at the U.N. climate summit to consider how small islands like Samoa, Tutuila and Tonga might drown without urgent action against rising sea levels. She told the audience, “If you’re looking for inspiration on climate leadership, take a look at young Pacific people.” Many Pacific islands are in danger of vanishing in the next decade if sea levels and global temperatures continue to rise.

Tom Goldtooth at COP26: Absolute Carbon Reduction Is “Issue of Life and Death” for Indigenous Peoples

Countries attending the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow have made new pledges to cut their emissions, but activists say it’s not enough to avert the worst of the climate crisis. India has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2070. Over 100 leaders have agreed to end deforestation by 2030. The United States is announcing a new plan to reduce methane emissions, among other measures.

Bill McKibben: “Manchin’s Latest Hissy Fit” Threatens to Curb Biden Agenda at U.N. Climate Summit

As President Biden addressed the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow on Monday, warning that “climate change is already ravaging the world,” back home his climate agenda was dealt a major setback when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia criticized the slimmed-down $1.85 trillion Build Back Plan. “The air went out of this conference” when Biden showed up with no major climate legislation passed, says Bill McKibben of 350.org in Glasgow.