Today's Liberal News

McConnell scrapes together enough votes to avoid blowing up economy, debt ceiling filibuster stopped

Republicans were in total disarray Thursday after leader Mitch McConnell blinked and decided to allow a floor vote on saving the country from economic disaster by raising the debt limit. McConnell made that decision but apparently didn’t do a vote count beforehand. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scheduled the vote for 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday. Within an hour of the vote, it’s not at all clear that McConnell can pull it off.

Texas senator tries to pin debt debacle on Democrats, gets Lone Star-sized helping of humble pie

The best thing you can say about  John Cornyn is that he’s the least—or rather less—revolting U.S. senator from Texas. That’s not saying much, of course. After all, even if the senior senator from the Lone Star State were an intestinal fluke who emerged fortnightly to sing Captain & Tennille B-sides during official state dinners, he still wouldn’t be as revolting as Ted “Probably Not the Zodiac Killer” Cruz.

Tell-all book paints Sen. Lindsey Graham as a ‘freeloader’ who would ‘stuff his face’ with food

On Tuesday, former White House press secretary and top Trump aide Stephanie Grisham released her tell-all book, something something something blah blah blah. Early leaks from the book gave a very believable account of the insecurities, the arrogance, the pettiness, and the incompetence that emanated from the Trump administration. Grisham is an unreliable narrator but so is every single person she talks about.

A Mars Rover Explored a Wasteland and Found an Oasis

Millions of miles away, on the surface of Mars, inside an enormous crater, a little NASA rover is taking some pictures. The view is quite stunning there—miles of undisturbed cinnamon terrain scattered with pebbles and boulders, with silky dunes where the craggy bedrock doesn’t peek through. But when the rover, named Perseverance, sent the photos back home from the crater, known as Jezero, scientists saw something more.

A Movie That Makes You Sympathize With a Monster

Julia Ducournau does not make movies that audiences are likely to see themselves in. Her knockout debut feature, Raw, follows a veterinary student who develops a craving for uncooked flesh, mostly of the human variety. Like so many horror films, the work is suffused with metaphors about hard-to-discuss topics—in this case, sexual maturity and peer pressure.

Elite Firefighters Have a Secret Skill

During fire season at the National Interagency Fire Center, a complex of buildings housing the top level of support for U.S. wildfire response, the coordination center looks about how you might expect. It features, most prominently, a massive digital clock and a projector screen filled with maps of fire risk and weather forecasts. But unless you’re well versed in wildfire suppression, a sight in the nearby loft might come as something of a surprise.

Ethiopia: New Reports Expose Ethnic Cleansing & Illegal Arms Shipments on Commercial Flights

Amid the mounting humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has been using the commercial airline Ethiopia Airlines to shuttle weapons and military vehicles from neighboring country Eritrea since the beginning of their civil war, according to a new CNN investigation. This comes as the United Nations estimates more than 5 million people in the country’s Tigray region are now in need of humanitarian assistance in order to survive, but U.N.

Federal Judge Blocks Texas Abortion Ban, Blasts “Offensive Deprivation of Such an Important Right”

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Texas’s near-total ban on abortions, granting the Justice Department’s emergency request to halt the law while courts consider its legality. In his ruling, Judge Robert Pitman slammed the Texas ban’s unconstitutionality, writing, “This Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.

Pandora Papers: Massive Leak Exposes How Elite Shield Their Wealth & Avoid Taxes in Colonial Legacy

The Pandora Papers, described as “the world’s largest-ever journalistic collaboration,” have revealed the secret financial dealings of the world’s richest and most powerful people. “We’ve uncovered a system that benefits the few at the expense of the many,” says Ben Hallman, senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, who details some of the project’s main revelations so far.

What’s new at Daily Kos? Here’s what we were up to in September

In years past, we’ve usually expected news and engagement to pick up after Labor Day when Congress is back in session. But this year, news picked up even earlier due to the Supreme Court ruling over abortion, which allowed Texas’ outrageous SB 8 law to stand—and then let’s not forget the ongoing pandemic. After a drop in engagement in the spring and early summer, September marked the third month of increased engagement on the site.