Today's Liberal News
Biden Seizes the Center
If it’s not quite morning in America, President Joe Biden tried to persuade Americans during his first State of the Union address, we might be starting to see glimmers of the dawn.“There’s something happening in America,” Biden said tonight. “Just look around and you’ll see an amazing story.” That message is a tough sell. Polls show that Americans are not happy about what they see around them—or how the president is governing.
Ukraine update: Russia begins new, more brutal phase of their assault
Russia’s attack on Ukraine is now in a new phase, and it is the one observers feared Putin would turn to after the humiliating performance of Russian forces in the first days of the war. After surrounding Ukrainian cities, Russia is shifting to artillery attacks on civilian areas, attacks on television broadcasting towers, and the apparent use of large-scale thermobaric weapons.
Live coverage: President Biden delivers the State of the Union, #2
President Joe Biden is delivering his first State of the Union address. You can watch it on every broadcast news station, and on cable where it is televised and streamed widely across news networks.
Live coverage: March 1, 2022 Texas primaries
Tonight is the first primary night of the 2022 election cycle! Polls close at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT throughout most of Texas, while the small portion of the state located in the Mountain time zone around El Paso will be voting until 9 PM ET. We have plenty of exciting races to watch, and our guide to the key contests can be found here.
Note that if no candidate clears 50% in any given race, the top two vote-getters will advance to a May 24 runoff.
Republicans Are Trying to Send a Message
Tonight was probably the first time that many Americans had ever heard of Kim Reynolds. It almost certainly won’t be the last.The 62-year-old governor of Iowa delivered the official Republican response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address from outside the Capitol in Des Moines. Reynolds has been involved in Iowa politics for more than a decade.
Putin waited to invade Ukraine because a second-term Trump would have handed it to him
As Russian forces mounted their military invasion of Ukraine, it took exactly zero hours for pro-Trump (and sometimes pro-Putin) Republicans to claim that none of this would be happening if Donald Dear Leader Trump was in charge. That argument has faded a bit in the last few days, likely because Trump himself showed up to bloviate about it and there are few Republican arguments that can withstand 10 minutes of Donald Trump saying things.
Hillary joins Rachel Maddow to discuss Ukraine and make us wish she’d been president
Sometimes I wonder what might have happened had Jim Comey kept his mouth shut prior to the 2016 election, and if Hillary Clinton were now in the second year of her second term. The House hearings on Mr. Potato Head would have been something, I’m sure. That said, it’s hard to believe we’d be in the position we’re in now, after four years of nearly unrestrained GOP Putin-enabling led by the li’l Russian marionette himself.
The Impossible Suddenly Became Possible
History has accelerated; the impossible has become possible. Shifts that no one imagined two weeks ago are unfolding with incredible speed.As it turns out, nations are not pieces in a game of Risk. They do not, as some academics have long imagined, have eternal interests or permanent geopolitical orientations, fixed motivations or predictable goals. Nor do human beings always react the way they are supposed to react.
Biden’s State of the Union Audience of One
Tonight, at his State of the Union address, Joe Biden plans to pivot to deficit reduction. The move seems designed to persuade just one guy—Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia—to sign on to parts of the president’s Build Back Better proposal.This new emphasis might give wonks and Hill staffers flashbacks.
Vladimir Putin United America
At some point during tonight’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden will likely denounce Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, voice support for the Ukrainian people, and tout the significant sanctions that he and U.S. allies in NATO have placed on Russia in response. When he finishes that sentence, most if not all members of the bitterly divided Congress will erupt in applause.
Journalist Andrew Cockburn & Historian Timothy Snyder on Ukraine, Russia, NATO Expansion & Sanctions
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, veteran journalist Andrew Cockburn and Yale historian Timothy Snyder discuss the history of the region and what role NATO’s expansion played in the current crisis. Cockburn says the United States and its allies broke promises made in the 1990s not to expand the military alliance into Eastern Europe, setting the stage for an eventual confrontation.
Ukrainian Pacifist in Kyiv: Reckless Militarization Led to This War. All Sides Must Recommit to Peace
Russia has escalated attacks against Ukraine, launching a missile strike hitting a government building and shelling civilian areas in Kharkiv, reportedly targeting civilians with cluster and thermobaric bombs, and killing more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in Okhtyrka. Meanwhile, the U.S. rejected Ukrainian President Zelensky’s demand for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying it could lead to a war between the U.S. and Russia.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for more ‘political will’ on Covid, future pandemics
For more than a year, WTO members have discussed a possible agreement on a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver.
CDC says most Americans can now take off masks as Covid cases plummet
The announcement comes after weeks of deliberation about what metrics officials should use in deciding when and how to ease public health restrictions.
Russia oil shock looms over Fed inflation fight
The Fed is already expected to begin a campaign of interest rate increases next month in a bid to remove its support for economic growth amid a blistering job market and rapidly rising prices.
Biden takes victory lap with January jobs report
“America’s job machine is going stronger than ever,” Biden said at the White House.
U.S. employers shrug off Omicron, add 467,000 jobs in January
The burst of jobs came despite a wave of Omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed.
Opinion | Why Are Minority-Owned Banks Disappearing? Washington Holds the Smoking Gun
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Biden’s first year: A tale of 2 presidencies
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
Tucker Carlson Openly Gaslights Viewers About Pro-Russia Stuff He Said Days Ago
“It’s such an awful thing to say,” the Fox News host complained after people accused him of rooting for Russia.
Chris Christie Says What We’re All Thinking Of Trump Calling Putin ‘Savvy’
“How can anyone with any understanding of the world call Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine ‘genius’ and ‘very savvy,’” the former Republican governor asked.
U.S. officials: Russian escalation in Ukraine could lead to humanitarian crisis
Over the last several days, as many as 520,000 people have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations.
The Future of Ukraine
Listen and subscribe to Radio Atlantic: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher After years of threats, Russian forces invaded Ukraine—culminating in the largest attack against one European state by another since the Second World War. Global leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, widely condemned Russia’s actions and announced unprecedented sanctions aimed at a number of the country’s financial institutions and the Russian elite.
NBC Journalist Appears To Wonder Why U.S. Wouldn’t Just Attack Russian Convoy
Foreign correspondent Richard Engel came under fire after questioning if West would “watch in silence” rather than hit Russia — even with nuclear war as a risk.
Arizona Republicans File Lawsuit To Throw Out Absentee Voting
The Arizona Republican Party is asking the state Supreme Court to rule that vote by mail is unconstitutional.
Democrats’ signature abortion rights bill falls short as SCOTUS ruling looms
The 46-48 vote comes just a few months before the Supreme Court is to rule on half-century old protections for the procedure and before the midterm elections.
GOP Filibusters Bill That Would Protect Abortion Rights If Roe v. Wade Falls
The Women’s Health Protection Act would have outlawed hundreds of state-level anti-abortion laws.
The Ukraine War Is Testing the Myth of Elon Musk
On Saturday, Ukraine’s vice prime minister made a plea for help directly to Elon Musk. “While you try to colonize Mars—Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space—Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people!” Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted. “We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations.
Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy: Announcing Summit From the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and The Atlantic
With democracies across the globe under assault, and as the world turns its attention to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and The Atlantic announced today that they will jointly host Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy, a three-day conference exploring the organized spread of disinformation and strategies to respond to it.