Today's Liberal News

The Avatar Sequel’s Worst Character Actually Does the Film a Service

This story contains major spoilers for the film Avatar: The Way of Water.Avatar: The Way of Water, like any good world-building sequel, introduces a deluge of new elements to its extraterrestrial setting of Pandora. There are different locations to visit, such as the home of the Metkayina, a reef-dwelling clan. There are strange species to meet, such as the whalelike tulkun.

How Long Until Alaska’s Next Oil Disaster?

Photographs by Acacia JohnsonStephen Payton has spent a lot of time planning for disaster. The environmental program coordinator for the Seldovia Village Tribe in Southcentral Alaska and a board member of the Seldovia Oil Spill Response Team, he’s helped organize countless drills with volunteers, preparing to respond to an oil spill in nearby Cook Inlet. Over and over, he’s practiced setting out containment booms, floating barriers designed to slow the spread of slicks.

“The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb”: Meet the Environmental Lawyer Taking On ExxonMobil

We speak with Guyanese environmental lawyer Melinda Janki about how she’s taking on the oil giant ExxonMobil to stop the company from developing an offshore oil field that would turn Guyana into a “carbon bomb.” Guyana is currently a carbon sink, but Exxon plans to produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, which could transform the South American country into one of the world’s top oil producers by 2030.

“This Is a Racial Backlash”: Stanford Prof. Hakeem Jefferson on Role of White Supremacy in Capitol Attack

The House select committee on the January 6 attack released its final 845-page report Thursday, and the word “racism” appears only once throughout the entire document — despite the central role white supremacist groups played in the insurrection. “Those who stormed the Capitol … didn’t merely come in defense of Donald Trump,” says Stanford professor Hakeem Jefferson, an expert on issues of race and identity in American politics.

“The Central Cause of January 6th Was One Man”: House Panel Urges Trump Be Banned from Public Office

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released its final 845-page report on the insurrection at the Capitol and Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The report names former President Trump as the central cause of the insurrection and calls for expanded efforts by the government to combat far-right and white supremacist groups.

“We Are at a Precipice as a Nation”: Cornel West & Christina Greer on Jan. 6 Insurrection & More

We speak with Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer and theologian Cornel West about the January 6 committee’s recommendation that former President Donald Trump and his allies be criminally charged for their role in the insurrection and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “Just because it’s unprecedented doesn’t mean that we can’t have prosecutions,” says Greer.

Ukraine Update: Ukrainian forces rumored at Kreminna’s gate

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UPDATE: Monday, Dec 26, 2022 · 12:37:36 AM +00:00

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kos

Rumors of Ukraine entering Kreminna are for sure wrong. Russia has been evacuating its civilians from the town (like they did from Svatove over the last few days), and that seems to have been interpreted by some as “all Russians are retreating.” The reports of looting are real, as well. And Ukraine is pushing ever closer.

Texas Gov. Abbott abandons over 100 asylum seekers on D.C. street on a subfreezing Christmas Eve

Republican elected officials continue to compete with each other with stunts of premeditated evil. On Christmas Eve, three busloads of asylum-seeking adult and child refugees were unloaded on the street outside the Naval Observatory, the vice presidential residence in Washington, D.C.

It was 18 degrees, on Christmas Eve, and many of the migrants were not dressed for winter weather. After the migrants boarded the buses two days ago in Texas, they were abandoned on a D.C.

Finding joy amid the trauma of that Christmas I spent at a homeless shelter

This story first appeared on Daily Kos on Dec. 24, 2020, and its reception has cemented it as an annual holiday tradition. I was so touched this spring when first this tale of my seventh-grade Christmas was nominated, then won an honorable mention in the 20th Anniversary Koscars Personal Essay category.

This story is true, and it’s important to me, as it offers a glimpse into the extremes of life and how rapidly we can veer between them.

Ukraine Extra: The one television series that best explains the march into authoritarianism

UPDATE: Sunday, Dec 25, 2022 · 10:28:08 PM +00:00

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kos

Christmas Eve on the front line pic.twitter.com/n6OtITz2dy— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas, everyone.

This might not seen at first to have much to do with Ukraine. There’s not a tank or APC in sight and though there are drones, they’re of a very different sort. Still, hang with me for a moment.

A Black Birch in Winter

Illustrations by Miki LoweNot everyone appreciated Richard Wilbur. The second poet laureate of the United States, he was the recipient of multiple Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award. Still, plenty of readers thought he was … a little meh. One New York Times reviewer said that reading Wilbur’s collection The Mind-Reader was like conversing with “an old friend whose talk is genial but familiar—and occasionally dull.

Ukraine Unplugged

Every morning my brown terrier, Hans, comes to wake me in the dark. As he jumps around impatiently, hurrying me up for a morning walk, I glance at my light switch’s electricity indicator. If it shines blue, I am lucky: The electricity is back. I can brush my teeth using tap water before the walk. But if the blue indicator is off, that means no water, no light, and no central heating. On those days, I launch into a new routine that involves cold bottled water and flashlights.