Today's Liberal News

There Will Never Be Another Paul Farmer

When I found out this morning that Paul Farmer had died, I thought first of his wife, Didi, and their three children. I thought of his colleagues, and of everyone whose life was saved or changed for the better by him. And then I thought of all the people who know and care about global health because of Paul, far too many to count.Paul is a hero, and I was fortunate to call him a friend.

Putin Chooses a Forever War

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a long speech full of heavy sighs and dark grievances, made clear today that he has chosen war. He went to war against Ukraine in 2014; now he has declared war against the international order of the past 30 years.Putin’s slumped posture and deadened affect led me to suspect that he is not as stable as we would hope.

Vladimir Putin’s Hall of Mirrors

Vladimir Putin likes to associate today’s Russian Federation with the old Russian empire, and in one sense he is right. The Russian empire was the most repressive state of its era, with the most refined state police: the Okhrana. Russian revolutionaries, the men and women who would establish the Soviet state, were educated by its methods. It did not simply hunt them down; it ensnared them, often without their knowledge, in a complicated dance of incriminating their comrades.

“Who Killed Our Father?”: 57 Years After Malcolm X Assassination, Family Wants Fed Probe into Cover-Up

On the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, we speak with the civil rights leader’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz about her family’s call for a federal probe into his murder, following the exoneration of two men who were wrongfully convicted. “We want to know who killed our father, and we want to make sure that it is properly recorded in history,” says Shabazz.

Ben Crump on Fighting for Justice for Daunte Wright, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin & Z’Kye Husain

Former Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday for fatally shooting Black driver Daunte Wright after mistaking her gun for a Taser. We speak to Benjamin Crump, attorney for the Wright family, about Judge Regina Chu’s sympathy expressed for Potter during closing statements and how white criminals tend to receive lighter sentences. “Police officers, when it comes to Black people, they always do the most,” says Crump.

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Smart Diplomacy Can Still Resolve the Ukraine Crisis Without War

As President Biden warns of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, France has secured a commitment from both Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet at a summit in an effort to defuse the escalating tension. We speak to veteran journalist Katrina vanden Heuvel, whose latest article for The Washington Post, “A path out of the Ukraine crisis,” argues both leaders must work to avoid a catastrophic war.

What Love Meant in 4500 B.C.

What is love? Reader, don’t hurt me. Just etymologically. I’ll try.It may be the slipperiest word in the English language. We are constantly asserting its meaning and renegotiating its definition, especially in pop culture.

Saying Goodbye to My Childhood Friend Arthur

In the household where I was raised, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” often felt like the highest commandment. My grandmother, who worked as a nurse on Rikers Island at the peak of the AIDS crisis, fashioned our home in Queens as a place where everyone was welcome. Patriarchs played dominoes in the den and neighbors swung by to say hi. Reggae blasted from our dusty record player while church sermons competed from the kitchen radio.

Putin Has Made America Great Again

Donald Trump was supposed to have changed the world, robbing America not just of its luster but of its allies’ trust. Here was a president of such gauche ignorance and hostility, it seemed impossible that American power would ever be seen in the same light again. For Europe, in particular, Trump’s jingoistic belligerence was poised to be an adrenaline shot to the heart, Pulp Fiction–style, jolting the continent out of its American dependency.

Wave of Bomb Threats Terrorizing Historically Black Colleges Continues During Black History Month

The House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security heard testimony Thursday about a wave of bomb threats against historically Black colleges and universities, including more than a dozen this month alone. February is Black History Month. More than 60 educational groups called on Congress this week to take immediate steps to support and protect HBCUs.