Today's Liberal News

“From Protesters … to Insurrectionists”: Jan. 6 Witness Describes Proud Boys’ Violence at the Capitol

The white supremacist Proud Boys group and the far-right, anti-government Oath Keepers militia played an instrumental role in planning for a violent insurrection on the Capitol, according to the January 6 House committee, which aired new testimony from witnesses and the groups’ leaders in its first public hearing Thursday night. British filmmaker Nick Quested was embedded with the Proud Boys and shared his footage with the committee.

How Did They Get Inflation So Wrong?

Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did something unusual for a Washington policy maker: She admitted that she’d made a mistake. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about the U.S.’s persistently high inflation rate, Yellen said, of her predictions last year that prices would stay under control, “I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take.”That she was.

“Attempted Coup”: First Public Jan. 6 Hearing Puts Trump at Center of Plan to Overturn 2020 Election

The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection held its first public hearing Thursday night, televised in primetime by all major networks except Fox News. We spend the hour featuring excerpts from the hearing, starting with Committee Chair Bennie Thompson’s opening statement, in which he argued January 6 was the “culmination of an attempted coup” by Donald Trump, comparing the insurrection to the ransacking of Washington, D.C.

“Intensify the Search”: Journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous Expert Bruno Pereira Missing in Brazil

British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira have still not been found, after being reported missing Sunday in one of Brazil’s most remote areas of the Amazon. The pair were traveling across the region to interview Indigenous leaders patrolling the area for illegal miners and fishers for Phillips’s upcoming book. “We know that they had been receiving threats.

The Third Impeachment of Donald J. Trump

Tonight Congress began its second prosecution of former President Donald Trump for his role in the events of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The first occurred barely a month after the Capitol siege, when the Senate held an abbreviated impeachment trial that resulted in his acquittal. Last year, the Democrats leading the prosecution chose not to call witnesses.

The One Witness at the January 6 Hearing Who Matters Most

The congressional hearing into the events of January 6 on Thursday night focused attention on a single decisive person. Not the hearing’s powerful chair or the meticulous vice chair. Not the former U.S. president who tried to overthrow the government. Not the former vice president whom the former president said deserved hanging. Not the lawless insurrectionists, not the heroic police officers, not the documentarian who caught history on a camera. The single decisive person is: you.

News Roundup: Jan. 6 hearings (and another arrest); Republican House candidate praises Hitler

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection held its first public hearings tonight; see our guide to the players and our live coverage for what you might have missed.

Outside the Capitol, it’s been a hectic news day. A (Fox News-commenting) Republican House candidate in New York opined that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today.

Must watch: Jan. 6 committee airs never-before-seen footage

The Jan. 6 committee promised never-before-seen footage in its first public hearing Thursday night, and it delivered. In addition to interviews with members of Donald Trump’s inner circle (Hi, Ivanka!), the committee showed a powerful video that included not just footage of the mob breaking into the U.S. Capitol, but stitched together a narrative of the day that shows cause and effect.

Three Big Lies about Jan. 6: A quick fact check

This week, opponents of the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation into the attack at the U.S. Capitol will form a united front.

In itself, this is not news. This has been the standard for the past 11 months, where right-wing talking points continue unabated even as investigators rack up more and more evidence, according to a federal judge, that former President Donald Trump was very likely part of a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 election.

The Delightful Pretentiousness of Irma Vep

HBO’s Irma Vep, perhaps the most meta show currently on TV, has the kind of high-concept premise that would confuse even its own characters. They’re members of a TV production themselves, but they can’t agree on the nature of what they’re making. One character suggests that they’re creating a long movie broken up into parts—like the way novels used to be published.

“Act Now”: House Hears from Uvalde & Buffalo Gun Violence Victims, Passes Reforms Doomed in Senate

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved new gun control measures, including raising the minimum age for the purchase of most semiautomatic rifles to 21 and banning high-capacity magazines. The new rules passed the House in a 223-204 vote, but are doomed in the Senate, where a bipartisan group is working on passing a much more limited set of reforms.

Sexual Violence by Russian Troops in Ukraine “Chronically Underreported,” U.N. & Amnesty Int’l Find

The United Nations is demanding an independent investigation into charges of rape and sexual assault committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine since the start of the invasion. We speak with Pramila Patten, the U.N.’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, who is just back from Ukraine and told the Security Council Monday about multiple shocking reports of rape and assault — all of which Russia has since denied.