Today's Liberal News

Government grapples with results of dumb COVID-19 relief decisions and the billions lost to fraud

More than two years into society and the economy being upended by a global pandemic, there are a lot of lessons to be learned if our government and specifically Congress is willing to pay attention. Just about every other economically advantaged country in the world gave everybody money to live off of, to keep people from falling through the cracks. Business owners got money to live on. Their employees got money to live on. Their landlords got money to live on. Basic needs were covered.

14 Reader Views on Guns

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 readers for their thoughts on guns.

The Ideology of the Bicycle

Back in the late 2000s, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was the world’s coolest neighborhood. And if lifestyle blogs were to be believed, everyone in Williamsburg rode a bike. But not everyone in New York did, and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to change that. He installed hundreds of miles of bike lanes throughout the city, which had the potential to cut both pollution and traffic deaths.

America’s Need for Speed Never Ends Well

Last month, I was savagely attacked by The Onion: “Package That Arrived in 24 Hours Sits Unopened on Table for Week,” read the headline. The reality was even worse than the satire. A package delivered in just two days had been sitting on the desk in front of me since January. I still haven’t opened it.With more than half of U.S. adults wielding Amazon Prime memberships, I’m clearly not alone in getting deliveries faster than I probably need them.

Colombia Election Runoff: Leftist Gustavo Petro Leads Presidential Vote But Faces Trump-Like Tycoon

Colombia’s highly anticipated presidential elections on Sunday resulted in victory for two anti-establishment candidates: leftist Gustavo Petro and Trump-like right-wing millionaire Rodolfo Hernández. The two will face off in a runoff election on June 19, the outcome of which will determine whether Colombia addresses worsening inequality under Petro or ushers in a new era of populist conservatism under Hernández.

Pulse Nightclub Massacre Survivor: Delayed Police Response in Uvalde Shows Pattern in Mass Shootings

The incompetence of the local police response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary has drawn attention to the inadequacy of police for stopping gun violence. We speak with Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where police took three hours to respond after an emergency call, and 13 people may have bled to death during that time.

Students Should Refuse to Go Back to School

It’s baffling. How can there be so much consensus among Americans about the need for stricter gun laws—63 percent want an outright ban on assault weapons—while we seem locked in this house of horrors, a schoolroom of slaughtered children around every turn, with no way out?Yet moments of such misalignment, when the ideals of a critical mass clash with the rules that govern our collective lives, can also give rise to effective social movements.

Report from the Donbas: Shelling Intensifies in Severodonetsk as Russia Moves to Capture Key City

Heavy fighting is continuing in eastern Ukraine as Russia attempts to seize the entire Donbas region, where fighting began in 2014. We speak to independent journalist Billy Nessen, who just left the city of Severodonetsk, where Russian shelling has exponentially increased. He says a possible Russian capture of Severodonetsk would be a “big propaganda victory for Russia,” but predicts that Ukrainians are not yet at the point where they are willing to concede.

The Memorial Day history forgot: The Martyrs of the Race Course

It has become a Daily Kos tradition for me to republish this Memorial Day story I first wrote in 2014. I have ancestors, Black and white, who fought for the Union during the Civil War. This is posted in their honor. —DOV

A pencil drawing and a grainy photo in the Library of Congress are all that is left of the cemetery where 257 Union soldiers were buried after the Civil War, on what had been a race course in Charleston, South Carolina.

Ukraine Update: Ukraine launches legit three-pronged Kherson counter-offensive

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My war coverage is anchored by one simple tenet: don’t expect Russia to do something it has never proven able to accomplish. Some day, Russia might get its shit together, but in three months of war, betting against Russia has always paid off. 

We may soon be able to add the Popasna salient to that list of Russian failures.

After Roe is gone, even your prenatal care will depend on what state you live in

Most people who’ve had kids know the routine (some of us know it several times over): At certain points during pregnancy, tests are administered at various intervals to determine the existence of any abnormalities or unusual conditions. Tests for Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome, Patau’s syndrome, and spina bifida are typical.

Teachers and students go to school every day planning what they’d do in a mass shooting

Following the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, teachers and school staff around the country started speaking up on social media about their experiences preparing for a mass shooter to come to their school. Because this is the United States of America in 2022: Teachers and students alike have had to think about what they will do if someone bent on mass murder comes to their school with assault weapons and body armor.

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 .