Today's Liberal News

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.

‘You’re the only half-colored on the squad’: Maryland sergeant accused of disgusting remarks in suit

A Black police officer alleged the kind of racist vitriol happening inside of a Maryland police force that if taken out of context would read like a 1960s news article. Officer Mark Miles said in a federal suit filed on Monday that his former supervisor, Sgt. Stephanie Harvey, called him “colored” in front of his peers and “frequently talked about murdering Black Lives Matter protesters” with other officers in text threads, NBC News reported.

Ukraine update: Let’s look at the Donbas front, the only place Russia has had some success

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Last update, we looked at Ukrainian moves in northwest Kyiv. I was going to focus next on the Kherson area, but still too much fog of war to get an accurate read. So instead, let’s head over to the eastern front, where Russia has had some success. 

One of four major axes of attack (the others being Kyiv/north, Kharkiv/Sumy/northeast, and Kherson/south), the Donbas front has been continuously at war for eight years.

What We Can Learn From Our Political Adversaries

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

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When I visited Iraq during the 2007 surge, I discovered that the conventional wisdom in Washington usually lagged the view from the field by two to four weeks. Something similar applies today. Analysts and commentators have grudgingly declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been blocked, and that the war is stalemated. The more likely truth is that the Ukrainians are winning.

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Why Robert Pattinson’s Grim Batman Is Cause for Optimism

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