Today's Liberal News

11 Reader Views on Class Prejudice in America

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Last week, I asked, “Is there class prejudice in the United States? If so, describe how it works.”Our first response is from J, an educator who grew up in Texas in a family that was poor at times and middle class at others.

His Mother’s Life Was a Mystery He Needed to Solve

Writing about the dead is difficult business. Whenever I write about my mother, I spend a lot of time struggling to recall: How did she take her coffee? What music made her dance? When she laughed, did she throw her head back, like I do? My ability to answer these questions—to try to create an honest portrait of her on the page—is constrained by the five and a half years we spent together before she died.

“Mother Country Radicals”: Weather Underground’s Bernardine Dohrn & Bill Ayers’s Son Makes New Podcast

We spend the hour with an activist who replaced Angela Davis on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List: Bernardine Dohrn, a leader in the radical 1960s organization called the Weather Underground. When Dohrn and her activist husband Bill Ayers literally went underground to avoid arrest, they then raised a family as they continued to fight for revolution. Now a new podcast that was created, written and hosted by their son, Zayd Ayers Dohrn, explores their family history.

Prison Health Expert Warns Monkeypox Could “Dramatically Increase” Behind Bars, Calls for CDC Action

The first case of monkeypox behind bars was reported in Chicago this week, and health experts are warning that jails could accelerate the spread as they are dangerously unprepared to combat against a virus that spreads through close physical contact. We speak with Dr. Homer Venters, the former chief medical officer for New York City’s Correctional Health Services, whose new op-ed for The Hill is headlined ”CDC must act to prevent monkeypox explosion in prisons.

“Hellholes”: Heat Waves Worsen Conditions in Prisons with No Air Conditioning, Understaffing

As tens of millions of people in the United States live under heat alerts this summer, we look at conditions faced by those in prisons and jails with poor cooling systems and lack of access to running water. “Although heat has been an ongoing issue in Texas, this year it’s exacerbated by a staffing crisis that’s been years in the making,” says Keri Blakinger, the first formerly incarcerated reporter for The Marshall Project.

“Our Lives Depend on Passing Climate Policy”: Meet Congressional Staffer Arrested in Senate Protest

Before a deal emerged this week on a bill to address the climate emergency, six congressional staffers were arrested Monday on Capitol Hill as they held a nonviolent civil disobedience protest inside the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging him to reopen negotiations on the bill. We speak with Saul Levin, one of the staffers who was arrested, and discuss the role the action had in pushing the bill forward.

Why Is AIPAC Spending Millions in Primary to Defeat Rep. Andy Levin, a Former Synagogue President?

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) invests millions in Democratic primaries to defeat progressives who support Palestine, we speak to one of the candidates: Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, whose primary is on Tuesday. He is a self-described Zionist who supports a two-state solution, but earlier this year a former president of AIPAC described him as “arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the U.S.-Israel relationship.

What Made Bill Russell a Hero

Not many people can make Charles Barkley, the former NBA MVP and legendarily outspoken broadcaster, pipe down. But the NBA icon Bill Russell, who died on Sunday aged 88, once called Barkley and did just that.“He called me. ‘Charles Barkley, this is Bill Russell.’ I said, ‘Oh hey, Mr. Russell,’” Barkley told me. “He said, ‘I need you to shut the fuck up.’ I said, ‘Okay.

News Roundup: Trump uses Ivana for one last real estate scam; an interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin

You may, in your life, make a lot of poor choices. You may have regrets. But no matter who you are or what your circumstances, remember this advice: If you die and your ex-husband commandeers your corpse as part of a real estate tax-dodging scheme, you’re allowed to haunt them. This was decided back during the 1600s and is considered a “deeply rooted” freedom, one that not even the Supreme Court has been able to find fault with so, by all means, go nuts with that.

Ukraine update: Russia reportedly pulls forces from occupied towns to rush troops to Kherson

Right now, Ukraine seems to be involved in a combination counteroffensive giant trap in the Kherson oblast. By simultaneously attacking Russia’s points of access in the bridges at Kherson and Nova Kakhovka, as well as a series of bridges over the Inhulets River in the middle of the oblast, Ukraine seems to be forcing Russia to scramble to come up with ways to maintain supply lines, while simultaneously encouraging Russia to reinforce their westernmost flank.

Pulling back from the ‘appalling descent’: An interview with Jan. 6 investigator Jamie Raskin

Jan. 6, 2021, was madness. Without a proper account of that day, the stain of its violence and betrayal, already indelibly etched into the national history, could continue to spread, shading and infiltrating every institution low and high until finally, this ‘great experiment’ collapses in on itself in a heap of dingy authoritarianism. 

For the last several weeks, the Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S.

Bring the OJ

Josh, when living
your best life you are a floodgate,
the last restraint between
us open mouths and feelings
we had never had or have had since.
Until you, we didn’t know the sky
could turn purple, or that our
bruised bodies could be targets
for a kiss—from beneath a mustache,
yes, or from a needle. Thank you
for teaching me to suffer
with company. Thank you
for showing us that together
we can weather even weeks
of rattling at death’s door.