Today's Liberal News

Charles Jay

Freedom Caucus in disarray while GOP gives new meaning to swearing-in ceremony

Asked about the Friday night chaos on the GOP side of the House floor, Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois recalled something his son once asked him.

“My son a few years ago asked me, ‘what’s a swearing-in?’ He said ‘what swear words are you gonna be using at this event,’” Krishnamoorthi, said with a smile during an interview on MSNBC Saturday afternoon.

How Zelenskyy conquered Moscow (as Napoleon), only to fall for a Russian general’s cunning plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin could only sit and watch as Volodymyr Zelenskyy led an army that invaded Russia and captured Moscow. Only a cunning plan by a Russian general was able to save Russia from being conquered.

But it was only a movie—a raunchy historic comedy, Rzhevsky vs. Napoleon, released on the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia. And Zelenskyy starred in this totally weird, over-the-top farce as Napoleon.

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.

Sacheen Littlefeather, Native American actor who famously refused Brando’s Oscar in 1973, has died

Nearly 50 years ago, Sacheen Littlefeather took to the stage at the Oscars and stunned the global audience when she revealed that Marlon Brando would not accept his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather in protest of how Native Americans were depicted on the screen.

Littlefeather, a 75-year-old Native American actor and civil rights activist born Marie Louise Cruz, died Sunday at her home in Novato, California.

At school in central Russia, a Swastika-wearing gunman kills at least 17 before ending own life

A gunman with a swastika on his shirt killed 17 people—including 11 children and six adults—and wounded more than 20 others before killing himself at a school in a city in central Russia that he once attended, according to Russia’s national Investigative Committee.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the gunman was wearing a black T-shirt bearing “Nazi symbols,” The Washington Post reported.

Ukraine, Russia agree to UN-backed deal to restart grain exports; global food crisis may be averted

A catastrophic global food crisis may just have been averted, even though Russia continues to wage war throughout Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia separately signed a U.N.-backed treaty in Istanbul on Friday that would allow Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain from blockaded Black Sea ports. Russia will also be able to export fertilizer products through the Black Sea, even though sanctions remain in place.

“Today, there is a beacon on the Black Sea,” U.N.

Florida parents angry over DeSantis’ failure to order COVID vaccines for infants and young children

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is fully engaged when it comes to combating imaginary threats to children such as “critical race theory” and “LGBTQ indoctrination.” But the so-called pro-life governor is AWOL when it comes to protecting children against a life-threatening disease like COVID-19.

Last month, DeSantis distanced his state from the Biden administration’s efforts to vaccinate infants and young children against COVID-19.

Putin ally believes Russia should reclaim Alaska if Russian assets are seized to rebuild Ukraine

If some Russian officials had their way, Sarah Palin could someday actually see Russia from her house. Why stop at restoring the Soviet Union? Why not restore the Russian Empire to its former glory? After all, Putin has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who expanded the Russian Empire.

In 1725, Peter ordered navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential colonization opportunities.

A primary lesson: How Ted Cruz helped Glenn Youngkin pull the fleece over Virginia voters’ eyes

As we move from primary season to the general election, Democrats would do well to remember what happened in last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election and not get fleeced again. All the warning signs were there during the contest for the Republican nomination that Glenn Youngkin would go full MAGA once he became governor, even though he posed as a moderate, fleece-wearing suburban dad during the general election campaign .

Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO calls a politically divided America ‘very good for our business’

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is looking forward to taking in a massive haul in TV ad spending in the run up to November’s midterm elections. The conservative-slanted broadcasting company—the second-largest owner of local TV stations in the U.S.—has already seen a surge in TV ad spending, thanks to competitive primary races in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other key states.

U2’s Bono and The Edge ‘Stand By Ukraine’ in surprise concert in Kyiv subway station shelter

U2’s frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday to perform a 40-minute concert at a subway station converted into a shelter from Russian attacks. After the two members of the Irish rock band listed some of the many cities where U2 has performed, Bono said, “We’d like you to know … there is nowhere in the whole world that we would rather be than in the great city of Kyiv.

Fulton County DA to begin selecting special grand jury in Trump election tampering case on May 2

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis will begin selection of a special grand jury on May 2 to hear testimony about whether former President Donald Trump tried to illegally overturn the election results in Georgia in 2020, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported.

Willis told the newspaper that the special grand jury won’t hear testimony from witnesses until June 1.

Ukrainian officials say satellite images show mass grave near Mariupol with up to 9,000 bodies

Ukrainian officials say satellite images show a 300-meter mass grave in a Russian-occupied village near Mariupol where up to 9,000 people may be buried. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, in a report by the Mariupol City Council on Telegram, likened the site of the mass grave in the village of Manhush—about 20 kilometers from Mariupol—to Babi Yar, the ravine in Kyiv where 33,000 Jews were killed by Nazi occupiers in 1941, Ukrainskaya Pravda said.

Russian journalist to auction off his Nobel Peace Prize medal to help Ukrainian refugees

Independent Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov says he will have his Nobel Peace Prize medal auctioned off to raise money to help Ukrainian refugees. Muratov made the announcement on Wednesday in Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper that he helped found in 1993. He has been its editor-in-chief since 1995.

“Novaya Gazeta and I have decided to donate the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Medal to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund. There are already over 10 million refugees.

Putin’s propaganda show: U.S. neo-Nazis may idolize Vlad, but the feeling isn’t mutual

U.S. neo-Nazis and white supremacists may idolize Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but he just revealed that he really considers them to be “morons” even though they serve his interests as “useful idiots” by sowing disinformation, discord, and hatred in the U.S.

And that’s not all Putin had to say Saturday at a bizarre “Beauties and the Beast” propaganda event at an Aeroflot training center near Moscow.

Trump’s picture book memoir shows he really meant it when he said he was ‘writing like crazy’

Well, Donald Trump’s picture book memoir has finally come out. The Washington Post book critic Ron Charles begins his review as follows: “Last June, in a moment of unintentional honesty, Donald Trump said, ’I’m writing like crazy.’” And really that’s all you need to say about Trump’s 319-page “coffee table” monstrosity, Our Journey Together, available for the not-cheap price of $74.99 plus shipping; $229.

Calgary Cruz declares support for anti-vaxx truckers’ insurrection in capital of his native country

A year later there’s another insurrection for Sen. Ted Cruz to support. This time it’s not Washington, D.C., but Ottawa, the capital of the country where the Texas senator was actually born. A mob of anti-vaxx Canadian truckers has occupied downtown Ottawa for more than a week in a protest over COVID-19 mandates, clogging the streets and honking their horns late into the night.

Fani Willis: ‘I am conducting a criminal investigation of former President Donald J. Trump’

In case anyone had any doubts, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has made her most explicit statement to date regarding the target of her investigation into alleged attempts at improperly influencing the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Willis’ letter sent Sunday to the FBI requesting a “risk assessment” of the county courthouse and the surrounding area has been covered by Daily Kos and other news outlets.

Conservatives want to ban abortion, while Build Back Better addresses the reasons people have them

Democrats are not necessarily pro-abortion: they are pro-choice and believe that abortion should be safe and legal. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill supports that by including provisions that could help reduce unwanted pregnancies by expanding health care coverage for poor women and demand for abortions by expanding the social safety net to lower the cost of raising children.

Hold him accountable: Coup plotter Jeffrey Clark shouldn’t just be disbarred; he belongs behind bars

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s recently released interim report on Donald Trump’s efforts to take over the Department of Justice to help overturn the 2020 election results contains damning new details about a stormy Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting. There, the former president considered replacing acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with a lackey loyal to Trump: Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark.

The women of jazz who fought racism and sexism to open doors for their sisters

This story was written in celebration of International Jazz Day on April 30, the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month, which this year was dedicated to “Women’s Impact and Contributions in Jazz.”

Five years ago, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hosted the International Jazz Day All-Star Gala Concert in a pavilion on the South Lawn of the White House. The IJD program also included events all over Washington, D.C.