Today's Liberal News

Angela Davis: “Forces of White Supremacy” Are Behind Attacks on Teaching Critical Race Theory

We speak to legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis about the latest war waged by ultraconservative lawmakers against teaching the racist history of the United States. North Dakota’s Republican Governor Doug Burgum signed legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory, defining it as any suggestion that racism is systemically embedded in American society. The law prohibits even discussion of the law in state schools.

Community Spotlight: You never forget your first time

Daily Kos allows its members to be as anonymous as we like. We choose our own usernames, and we’re not required to provide our given names. As for the rest of our identities, we can reveal or keep back as much as we like.

Even with that anonymity, when you publish a story on the site, it’s still your username below the headline, and your tip jar at the top of the comments.

Watch Denver journalist condemn Lauren Boebert for saying ‘cruel, false, and bigoted’ things

On Wednesday, Republican pooperstar Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of the more wretched politicians allowed onto the House floor, spewed out an Islamophobic, invective-filled rant. Specifically, she attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, saying she was part of the “Jihad squad” and also saying she had two husbands, one of whom is her brother. Boebert also accused Rep. Omar of funding Islamic terrorism. She literally said all of teose things.

Tom Morello and John Oliver give unions a big week on TV, this week in the war on workers

This week, 10,000 John Deere workers ended their strike after six weeks. It was also a really good week for unions on TV, between a typically sharp John Oliver segment explaining union-busting, and a Tonight Show performance by Tom Morello (featuring grandson) in which Morello highlighted workers on strike across the country, offering them high-profile solidarity.

Watch both videos. Share them with your friends and family.

Tick, Tick … Boom Is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Best Work Since Hamilton

Jonathan Larson is someone who writes like he is running out of time. That’s the underlying message of “30/90,” the first song in his original musical Tick, Tick … Boom and an energized ballad about the theatrical composer’s worries that he hasn’t accomplished enough—at the age of 30. As he hammers away at a piano, Larson notes that his idol, the composer Stephen Sondheim, contributed to his first Broadway show at the age of 27.

COVID Sure Looks Seasonal Now

The first part of what may be the first epidemiologic text ever written begins like so: “Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year.”The book is On Airs, Waters, and Places, written by Hippocrates around 400 B.C. Two and a half millennia later, the Northern Hemisphere is staring down its coming season of the year with growing apprehension.

Snowbirds

Photographs by Naomi HarrisIn December 1999, Naomi Harris turned down a job offer, left her apartment in New York, and checked into the Haddon Hall Hotel, in Miami Beach. She was 26. She wanted to be a photographer.The hotel was a year-round home for some and a seasonal residence for others—snowbirds, mostly in their 80s and 90s, who came down from New England or Canada and stayed all winter. They didn’t have a lot of money, and they didn’t go there for luxury.

Pope Francis Is Right About My Profession

Last weekend, Pope Francis gave my profession a gift: a thoughtful outsider’s perspective on the proper role of journalists. “Your mission is to explain the world, to make it less obscure, to make those who live in it less afraid of it and look at others with greater awareness, and also with more confidence,” he said, adding that, to succeed, journalists must first listen.By this, he meant far more than picking up a telephone or jumping onto Zoom.

The New Pandemic Division Tearing Europe Apart

For a while, during the worst of the pandemic last year, European governments largely seemed to reach a consensus. Barring a few exceptions (such as Sweden), countries in the region locked down their economies, keeping people at home in a bid to slow the pace of infection. In time, bolstered by plentiful vaccines, the continent has seen a resumption of near-normalcy: Public-health restrictions have loosened, and travel has restarted.

News Roundup: Rittenhouse and white supremacist get a win in court; BBB passes thru the House

It is Friday. Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges today after shooting dead two Kenosha, Wisconsin, protesters and injuring a third. While the decision was not surprising, as weeks of bizarre behavior by the judge made it clear how the scales of justice were being weighed, it is no less disheartening. But there are battles still being won and the long march toward justice for all continues.

Uh-oh. The RNC chair just admitted ‘Joe Biden won the election’

This won’t go over well with … uh … certain people. Donald Trump’s decades-long campaign to pretend he’s a winner who always wins—despite his conspicuous inability to make money running a casino, selling liquor, or sponsoring a fraudulent university—hit a bit of a snag last November when he lost the presidency to Joe Biden.