Today's Liberal News

Ukraine update: Let’s take stock of the current front lines

  • by

As I noted yesterday, what was Russia’s five axes of attack at the start of the war has been gradually whittled down to a single front in The Donbas. Still, it’s a long front line, across two different oblasts (which collective make up the Donbas), with several directions of action. So let’s take a look at what should be the front lines for the foreseeable future (unless Ukraine surprises everyone with a new push into southern Kherson oblast or even Crimea).

Writer Sarah Fawn Montgomery talks ableism, COVID-19, and the reality of teaching at a state college

Years into the COVID-19 pandemic, people are understandably eager to try and get back into “normal” life again. But the hard reality is that the public health crisis is far from over, and we are still learning how COVID-19 impacts us in both the short and long term. While some folks are eager to move away from masking—including in indoor spaces, like restaurants and classrooms—we know that masks actually do work pretty darn well at reducing the spread of the virus.

The Federation, The Culture, and Elon Musk

The very first episode of the latest Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, does something extremely clever. In the midst of one of those bog-standard Star Trek speeches, as the captain of this particular Enterprise is talking down an alien culture from the brink of disaster, he explains to them why the Federation is the way that it is.

Hey, Republicans, I want my country back, too!

It was nice last week to see those Mastriano signs stuffed in a trash can at the Bowmansville Service Plaza on the Pennsylvania turnpike, a little more than halfway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of that, but I didn’t.

At Last, the Americans Have Arrived

The worst American soccer chant goes, “I … I believe … I believe that we will win.” It betrays the anxieties of those who bellow it; far from arrogantly assuming victory, it seems to argue that the success of the United States men’s soccer team is a matter of prayerful thinking. Beating England is not a dream, if you will it.But the chant, for many years, was also an honest assessment of the quality of the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Empires of Soccer

This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.Day six of the World Cup and it’s the United States versus England, big Satan versus little Satan in the great battle of the evil imperialists. At stake, a place in the next round of a competition that would likely never have existed without the soccer-spreading British empire, taking place in a country that is unlikely to have existed without it either.

Black Friday Special: Howard Zinn & Voices of a People’s History of the United States

This year marks 100 years since the birth of the historian Howard Zinn. In 1980, Zinn published his classic work, “A People’s History of the United States.” The book would go on to sell over a million copies and change the way many look at history in America. We begin today’s special with highlights from a production of Howard Zinn’s “Voices of a People’s History of the United States,” where Zinn introduced dramatic readings from history.

When Black Friday Is Your Super Bowl

After the turkey comes the pumpkin pie; after the pumpkin pie, the sales.Black Friday is America’s biggest shopping day, with some consumers lining up in the wee hours of the morning to get first grabs at the discounts. But an equally chaotic celebration takes place online.

A #MeToo Movie Devoid of Sensationalism

Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize–winning exposé of the producer Harvey Weinstein was undeniably consequential. Their investigative reporting for The New York Times helped kick-start a cultural reckoning over sexual harassment and abuse across a wide range of industries. In 2019, the duo chronicled their work in the book She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.

New York’s Grand Dame of Dog Poisoning

In a ritzy Park Avenue apartment, Juliet Tuttle posed in front of a birdcage, staring into the eyes of a parrot. She wore an elegant silk robe and a cloche hat. A photographer snapped a picture, and soon Tuttle appeared in newspapers around the country under the headline “Not Afraid of Parrot Disease.”  The year was 1930 and a panic had erupted over an illness spread by birds.

Filipino Climate Activist Yeb Saño on COP27, Climate Reparations & Philippines’ New President Marcos

This week U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines, where she said the U.S. would defend the Philippines “in the face of intimidation and coercion” from China and vowed to expand the U.S. military presence in the country even after former bases leaked toxic waste into the environment. We recently spoke about the environment and more with Filipino activist Yeb Saño at the U.N. climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Noam Chomsky on Legacy of Radical Historian Staughton Lynd, Who Protested Korea, Vietnam & Iraq Wars

Noam Chomsky remembers the life and legacy of longtime peace and civil rights activist, lawyer and author Staughton Lynd, who has died at the age of 92. Lynd faced professional blowback after he was a conscientious objector during the Korean War and an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, and later supported U.S. soldiers who refused to fight in Iraq. We feature an extended interview excerpt from when he appeared on Democracy Now! in 2006 to discuss the U.S.

Defiance in Iran: Despite Crackdown, Anti-Government Protests May Grow into “Nationwide Revolution”

The situation in Iran is “critical” as authorities tighten their crackdown on the continuing anti-government protests after the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the so-called morality police. United Nations human rights officials report Iranian security forces in Kurdish cities killed dozens of protesters this week alone, with each funeral turning into a mass rally against the central government.

Ukraine Update: What was five Russian axes of attack is down to one: the Donbas

  • by

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Today is also the nine-month anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion. Mostly going to do some bullet-point updates today. I’m cranking this out as quickly as I can, and am skipping self-editing. Everyone else is out today. So please forgive the raw prose and whatever grammar, spelling, and clarity mistakes might exist. 

Awkward. 

Nobody wants to stand next to stinky 🇷🇺💩 pic.twitter.

Let us thank Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces: ‘Never was so much owed by so many to so few’

During the Battle of Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the Royal Air Force pilots who, though heavily outnumbered, managed to thwart Adolf Hitler’s invasion plans. In an Aug. 20, 1940, speech to the House of Commons, Churchill delivered one of his most famous quotes: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

How do your Thanksgiving meal preferences stack up against the rest of America’s?

As we know, polls do not always get it right. But on Thanksgiving, we’re looking at a poll with lower stakes than who’s going to win the Georgia Senate runoff: a food poll.

Thanks to YouGov for these extremely important results on this most food-oriented of days.

Seriously, though. The Georgia runoff is coming up fast. Donate now to help Sen. Raphael Warnock bring the Democratic Senate majority to 51.

On Thanksgiving, Warnock offers ‘my prayer for you and for us all’ in powerful new ad

There may be no elected official better at speaking directly to the camera and conveying decency and warmth and intelligence and humor than Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, as he reminds us in a brilliant new Thanksgiving ad.

This ad is such a powerful reminder of why we need Raphael Warnock in the Senate. Can you donate $1, $5, or $10 to help him win this runoff?

YouTube Video

Politics these days is often used to divide us.