Today's Liberal News

“Defending the Sacred”: Indigenous Water Protectors Continue Resistance to Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota

Resistance to construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline continues in northern Minnesota, where more than a dozen water protectors this week locked themselves to construction vehicles at two worksites, and to the pipeline itself. Just last month, 179 people were arrested when thousands shut down an Enbridge pumping station for two days as part of the Treaty People Gathering.

Trump Organization and Top Company Exec Charged with Tax Fraud. Is Donald Trump Next?

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has charged former President Donald Trump’s family business with operating a 15-year tax fraud scheme, accusing the Trump Organization of helping executives evade taxes by giving them compensation off the books. Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer, who has worked with Trump for decades, was also charged with grand larceny for avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that he did not report as income.

Supreme Court “Hijacking” Democracy with Rulings That Gut Voting Rights & Allow More Dark Money

In a pair of major rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has gutted more of the Voting Rights Act while making it easier for billionaires to secretly bankroll political campaigns. In a 6-3 vote, the conservative justices upheld two Arizona election laws that have been widely criticized for their impact on minority voters, sending a signal that other voting restrictions in Republican-led states are also likely to be ruled constitutional if challenges are brought to the high court.

Community Spotlight: The SMGB has always been a convocation of those with grimy fingernails

For 10 years, Frankenoid (“Frankie” to her friends) shepherded the Saturday Morning Garden Blog (SMGB). Under her care it became, as Merry Light put it, “my lifeline sometimes, and I think it is for lots of us. I first stumbled across Frankie’s Saturday Morning Garden Blog one winter morning. I recall it was during the Obama/Clinton upheaval, and I was looking for something to read that wasn’t a pie fight.

Former Guy clocks in at dismal 41st in latest presidential rankings; Obama finally cracks top 10

Oh, my, my, my. Grampa Shouty-Pants is not gonna like this.

You’d think the guy who made America great again—just look around you—would be ranked higher than 41st out of 44 former U.S. presidents in the latest survey of presidential historians. And he would be, of course, if the voting panel consisted exclusively of multibillionaire bloodsuckers and the hapless corona-fodder who remain enthralled by Ocher Shrek’s every splenetic utterance.

The right-wing network is committed to giving a ‘voice’ to Steve Bannon, no matter what he says

In recent months, we Americans have found ourselves in an odd position: rooting for faceless corporations. Specifically, rooting for voting technology companies Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, which have filed billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against a number of right-wing figures who promoted Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen from him through massive fraud.

The First Glimmer of Accountability

The indictment unsealed on Thursday in New York does not charge Donald Trump personally. It addresses only a small slice of alleged wrongdoing by the organization named after him and which, for most of his life, he ran. It doesn’t speak to any of the numerous instances of misconduct and potential criminality that took place during Trump’s presidency, nor should it be understood as a referendum on that misconduct. But it offers the first glimmer of accountability, all the same.

America’s Vaccine Future Is Fragmenting

Last winter, when vaccines were still incredibly scarce in the United States, Ashish Jha told The Atlantic that he was feeling optimistic about summer: By July 4, Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, expected enough people to be vaccinated that he could host a backyard barbecue. Indeed, Jha confirmed to me this week, he will be grilling burgers and hot dogs for friends this Fourth of July.

Give Reggie Bush His Heisman Back

College sports changed forever this week. Giving in to intense pressure from state lawmakers, the NCAA freed student athletes to profit off of their own name, image, and likeness for the first time. The next step in the NCAA’s forced evolution should be to restore the reputation of athletes whom the organization has demonized for capitalizing on their own fame.

What I’m Teaching My Daughter About Living in Extreme Heat

I moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to Portland, Oregon, in 2000, partly to get away from the heat. Last week, it found me.Heat radiated through the upstairs ceiling and walls of our home, turning our bedrooms into ovens. Even briefly fetching clothes from closets upstairs felt painful. Our house has had only a few updates since 1955, so along with an original pink toilet, it has no air conditioning and an uninsulated attic.