Liberal America

A poem titled "Liberal America, so lonely a progenitor" is being shared across online writing and poetry communities, including groups for disabled artists and the wider writing community. The piece reflects on American liberalism through a literary lens, and its circulation is drawing engagement from poets and readers discussing politics through creative writing.

Bill Harris, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in Berkeley in 1974, has died. His death has prompted retrospectives from outlets including The New York Times and Berkeleyside revisiting the abduction, Hearst's subsequent involvement with the SLA, and one of the most notorious episodes of 1970s America.

An essay argues that the United States owes its wealth to liberalism, pointing to the country's embrace of free markets, open institutions, and the rule of law as the foundation of its economic success. The claim is prompting debate over how much credit liberal economic principles deserve for American prosperity compared with other factors.

Interest in Patty Hearst has surged following the death of Bill Harris, a leader of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped the heiress in 1974. The New York Times revisited the case, recalling Hearst's abduction, her apparent conversion to her captors' cause, and the 1970s bank robbery saga that became one of America's most famous criminal trials and cultural touchstones.

Bill Harris, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who took part in the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, has died, according to a New York Times report. Harris and his wife Emily were central figures in the abduction that became one of the most notorious crimes of the 1970s, and Hearst later joined the group after her capture. The news is drawing renewed attention to the case's lingering questions about coercion and guilt.