Today's Liberal News

A tornado has struck New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, leaving a path of devastation

A large wedge tornado, likely a class 4 or 5 storm, cut a path through New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward on Tuesday evening. It was part of a line of storms that cut across the South. The tornado in the Lower Ninth was just one of several tornadoes in the New Orleans area.

Details are still coming in.

@MargaretOrr here is a video of the tornado my husband matthew burke took in chalmette on chinchilla st. you all have permission to use it! pic.twitter.

Call For Koscar Nominations #3: Outstanding Story by a Downballot Candidate

Daily Kos was born on May 26, 2002. That makes 2022 our 20th anniversary year, and just one of the ways we’re celebrating is by bringing back the Koscars! One of the things that makes Daily Kos special is our open platform, where community members can publish stories alongside staff. The Koscars seek to acknowledge and honor outstanding writing contributions from everyone. The entire Daily Kos membership is “the Academy,” so your votes decide the winners.

Five Books in Which Romance Sneaks Up on You

Good love stories are irresistible: They appear in almost every genre and culture, and are the subject of centuries of lore. Love in Color, the British Nigerian writer Bolu Babalola’s collection retelling myths from around the world, demonstrated just this last year. These stories persist because they carry healing and hope. Everyone can use the vicarious drama and swooping emotion a truly great romance brings, especially in these dark days.

We’ve Found 5,000 Exoplanets and We’re Still Alone

Our universe is full of other worlds, orbiting their own suns. For most of human history, this was just an assumption, not a fact; astronomers could only peer through telescopes at distant stars and daydream about the planets that might be hiding in their glow. But then, about 30 years ago—quite recently, when you consider how long humans have been gazing at the skies—the cold, hard data appeared.

What the Anti-work Discourse Gets Wrong

Lately, we’ve seen a proliferation of discussions about the end of work as we know it. In this third year of the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are burned out, quitting their jobs in record numbers, and reconsidering the place of work in their lives. According to pundits, the “Great Resignation” signals a new era: the end of ambition, the rise of anti-work sentiment, and the possibility that we’re entering a time when a job might just be a job.

The Comedies That Understand What Peak Scammer TV Does Not

At the height of her powers, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the fraudulent blood-testing start-up Theranos, basked in the kind of adulation typically reserved for cult leaders. In one upcoming episode from Hulu’s The Dropout, which dramatizes her saga, Elizabeth (played by Amanda Seyfried) perches on yet another stage, at yet another event about being a female CEO. Her every word scores cheers from the audience of college students, most of them young women.

Marilyn Manson Told Us What He Was

One of the visual conceits of Phoenix Rising—a new two-part HBO documentary about the actor Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations of abuse at the hands of the rock musician Marilyn Manson—is a series of animated sequences that portray Wood as a cherubic, Alice-like doll and Manson as a macabre monster whose darkness infects and imprisons her. It’s a curiously heavy-handed choice, as though Wood’s raw testimony weren’t enough.

Ukrainian Pacifist in Kyiv: All Sides Have Fueled the War. Only Comprehensive Peace Talks Can End It

Hundreds of nonviolent antiwar protesters gathered in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Monday to oppose Russian occupation of the city and object to involuntary military service. Russian forces used stun grenades and machine gun fire to disperse the crowd. Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to travel to a NATO summit this week in Brussels, where Western allies are preparing to discuss the response if Russia turns to using nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

“Absolute Hellscape”: Human Rights Watch Decries Russian Bombing & Siege of Mariupol

As Russian forces continue to besiege Ukrainian cities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused them of reducing the southern city of Mariupol to ashes. All foreign journalists have fled the city as heavy shelling has driven most remaining civilians into hiding in their basements. We speak to Belkis Wille, who just left Ukraine after spending over three weeks documenting the effects of the war and describes “an absolute hellscape” in Mariupol.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Vows to Uphold Equal Justice Under Law at Historic SCOTUS Confirmation Hearing

Historic confirmation hearings are underway for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. If confirmed, she will not only be the first Black woman but also the first former federal public defender to serve on the nation’s highest court. The first day of her hearings began Monday and was at times undercut by Republicans who attempted to mischaracterize her record, says Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.

Ukraine update: New Ukrainian counterattacks continue to deal major damage to Russian forces

Today saw news of significant new Ukrainian counterattacks against Russian forces. Northwest of Kyiv, a Ukrainian offensive appears to have retaken Makariv, with additional Ukrainian attacks northward potentially endangering the long Russian supply lines that feed the Russian artillery lines threatening Kyiv. Ukraine also appears to be having some success dislodging Russian forces around Kherson in the south.

This doesn’t necessarily mean those successes will continue.

Kentucky Democrat makes impassioned plea in defense of reproductive rights. You need to see this

Let’s see: In the past few years, Republicans have hitched themselves to Vladimir Putin, violent insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States, a sore-loser campaign to undermine democracy, a former president who stole boxes of classified information from the White House and called a murderous tyrant a savvy genius, and a cruel campaign to gut  (particularly poor and vulnerable) people’s reproductive freedoms.