Today's Liberal News

Hurricane Ian hitting harder, faster, sooner than expected with catastrophic wind and storm surge

Hurricane Ian is turning east sooner than earlier projections expected, and will hit the western coast of Florida this afternoon, striking near Ft. Myers and Port Charlotte, carrying winds on the borderline of a devastating Category 5. Worse, storm surge as great as 16’ is now being projected in the entire Charlotte Harbor area. This is a catastrophic storm. If you are in a solid location above the level of projected storm surge, stay put.

Mastriano launches ’40 days of fasting’ to save campaign, doesn’t say who’ll be doing the fasting

Pro-sedition traitorous sleazebag Doug Mastriano’s campaign for the Pennsylvania governorship hasn’t been going well. He’s been battling with the House committee investigating his own involvement in the Jan. 6 coup attempt; he’s been receiving heat for hanging out with antisemites, seditionists, and other denizens of the far-right sewer; new videos are constantly appearing of Mastriano making horrific remarks or advocating for horrific things.

‘I Think the Women Are Winning’

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.“No one can predict how a revolution starts,” the Iranian American poet and author Roya Hakakian writes this week in The Atlantic. And make no mistake, she told me in an interview yesterday: The wave of protests now sweeping Iran is a revolution.

Something Strange Happens When You Tear These Creatures Apart

When people die, our whole body dies with us. The heart stops pumping; the gut stops digesting; every cell that carries a person’s genetic blueprint eventually extinguishes, until their molecular signature is extinct. This is the curse of humans’—really, most animals’—multicellular makeup: The cells within our bodies are so specialized, so interdependent, that their fates are lashed together even in death.Multicellularity does not have to manifest this way, however.

The Climate Movement Wanted More Than the IRA. Now What?

Since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August, the first major climate legislation in U.S. history has been smothered with praise: Journalists and climate experts have suggested that the IRA will “save civilization” and herald “an unstoppable transition.

American Family Policy Is Holding Schools Back

Many American schools are failing to provide all students with a quality education, and policy makers don’t seem to know what to do about it. Even before schools closed during the pandemic, 30 percent of graduating seniors failed to reach a basic level of competency in reading, and 40 percent failed to do so in math, according to national data. Performance gaps across race and socioeconomic status in both subjects have persisted to some degree for decades.

“Lady Justice”: Dahlia Lithwick on Women Who Used the Law to Fight Racism, Sexism Under Trump & Won

We speak with Dahlia Lithwick, who covers the courts and the law for Slate, about women who fought the racism, sexism and xenophobia of Trump’s presidency. She profiles many of them in her new book, “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.” “Law is slow and takes a long time, but at its best, it really can make us all freer and safer and restore dignity to those that have been harmed,” says Lithwick.

Bill McKibben: Victory Over Big Oil as Sen. Manchin Forced to Drop “Hideous Deal” on Energy

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin abandoned his own energy permitting proposal Tuesday that would have fast-tracked the federal review of energy projects, including the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline. Following intense pressure from a range of climate justice and Appalachian organizers, Manchin asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to drop the permitting reforms from a funding bill after it became clear he did not have the votes to pass the proposal. 350.

Tampa Update on Hurricane Ian: Millions Prepare for Cat. 5 Storm Fueled by the Climate Crisis

As Hurricane Ian is set to strengthen into a Category 4 or 5 storm and make landfall Wednesday afternoon south of Tampa Bay, the storm already knocked out power in Cuba and killed at least two people Tuesday. Communities across Central Florida are preparing for a “very strong storm,” says Seán Kinane, news and public affairs director at Tampa community radio station WMNF, and many acknowledge the strength of the hurricane is “definitely impacted by climate disruption.

Ukraine update: A surprise move could change everything in the battle for Lyman

On Tuesday, buses began to arrive in Crimea carrying Russian conscripts called up during the mobilization. For some of these soldiers, training is apparently going to consist of a couple of days sleeping on cots, and whatever tips they could pick up in transit. Those troops immediately got a ceremony—a “departure ceremony”—as they were directed to the front lines. There are other reports of similar troops arriving in the Donetsk area.

A gutless Ken Paxton tries to preen after bravely fleeing from a court’s process server

At this point, we have probably all heard of “indicted for seven damn years now” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s brave efforts to dodge a process server trying to serve him with a subpoena. But hearing about it is not enough. It’s important to also make fun of him, because Jeebus, this dude is going all-in trying to portray himself as having barely dodged some of the rampant violence going on down in Texas these days.