Today's Liberal News

ICE blocked from re-detaining immigrants freed from two California facilities due to pandemic

Detained immigrants and their advocates scored a major court victory this week, reaching a “groundbreaking” settlement in a lawsuit filed nearly two years ago over unsafe pandemic conditions.

Under an agreement reached Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is barred from re-detaining immigrants previously released from two California facilities due to COVID-19. This could affect up to 250 people.

Liberation or Folly? Your Takes on Artificial Wombs

Earlier this week I asked readers, “What do you think about artificial wombs? Are they ethical? Desirable? Should they be a priority for scientists? If they become advanced enough to be viable, would you ever use one? How would a world in which they were available differ from ours?

The Visual Histrionics of Cyrano

Every Joe Wright movie, for better or worse, is brimming with theatricality. The British director has tackled literary adaptations (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Anna Karenina), true-story dramas (The Soloist, Darkest Hour), and action-adventure (Pan, Hanna) in his surprising and varied career. Regardless of genre, he’s not a filmmaker who strives for grounded realism.

Omicron’s Blow to Live Music

My iPhone note “Guster tour, Pros & Cons” was becoming more and more lopsided.Our impending club tour, booked nine months ago after a COVID-halted March 2020 run, was in peril. We assumed then—it seems like a lifetime ago—that winter of 2022 would allow us plenty of time to present a tour that was safe for both us and our fans. Other bands made similar plans as our industry attempted, once again, to regain a foothold after the crushing Delta wave.

A Netflix Movie Echoing the Strain of Pandemic Parenting

We’re nearly two years into the pandemic and parents are not okay. Variants have upended schooling. Tests are in short supply. And a work-life balance that disappeared in 2020 feels no closer to returning. It’s enough to make some mothers get together to just scream.Few works of entertainment express the strains and contradictions of parenthood today like Netflix’s The Lost Daughter.

The Religious Leaders Caught in the Vaccine Wars

Religious texts such as the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran don’t say anything about vaccines—of course, all three texts predate them by hundreds of years. So when faith leaders face questions about immunizations, they generally offer their own interpretations of the scriptures. Such questions, particularly about the applicability of religious exemptions, have become more urgent during the pandemic, forcing clergy to take hard stances for or against excusals.

“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”: Director Rory Kennedy & Michael Stumo, Father of Crash Victim

Families of passengers who died in fatal crashes while aboard Boeing 737 MAX jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia are urging the Department of Justice to reopen a Trump-era settlement that allowed the company to evade criminal prosecution. We speak with the father of one of the victims, as well as the director of the new documentary, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” which details Boeing’s push for profit over safety and is set to air on Netflix February 18.

Home Demolition in Sheikh Jarrah Seen as Part of Broader Israeli Effort to Dispossess Palestinians

Israeli forces continue to expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that the United Nations has described as a possible war crime. We speak to Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd, whose own family is among those facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Sheikh Jarrah is also where the Salhiyeh family recently gained attention for threatening self-immolation while protesting their eviction and the demolition of their home.

‘Camp Auschwitz Guy’ pleads guilty to Jan. 6 charges

On Wednesday, 57-year-old Robert Keith Packer, known as the long-bearded prick wearing the “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt during the insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty to “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.” This guilty plea is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of six months in prison. His sentencing date is April 7.

CBP commissioner defends Border Patrol’s cover-up units as ‘vitally important’

The head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is defending the department’s use of secretive, shadow police units that have been under mounting criticisms from both lawmakers and human rights advocates in recent months.

Commissioner Chris Magnus called Border Patrol’s Critical Incident Teams (BPCITs) “vitally important,” citing their role in evidence collection, Bloomberg Government reports.

Caribbean Matters: Statue of Puerto Rico exploiter Ponce de León toppled, even as gentrifiers invade

Puerto Rico has recently made headlines for stories that may seem unconnected; they are related, however. The common factor? Puerto Rico’s status as a colony—first under Spanish rule, and now as a “territory” of the United States. 

King Felipe VI of Spain arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the founding of San Juan.