Today's Liberal News

Ukrainians Are Using the Quiet Resistance Tools They Need

Not long after tanks rolled into Ukraine, Vladimir Putin started to block social media at home. Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok were curtailed. The move was straight out of the contemporary dictator’s playbook: Take away the potential to go viral, and people can’t spread a narrative that might undermine the leader’s legitimacy. It was also a sign that Putin is wary of the loud, public criticisms that have fueled many global protest movements over the past decade.

The World Has One Big Chance to Fix Plastics

Plastics have always been global—even before science began tracking the peregrinations of microplastics across meridians, into rain, through the human pla​​centa. At the industry’s outset, Civil War–era rubber goods were fashioned with latex extracted from the Amazon and later through Belgium’s brutal regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo. England imported gutta-percha from Southeast Asia for undersea telegraphy wires.

“Shocking Act of Bloodletting”: Saudi Arabia Executes 81 as West Asks Kingdom to Increase Oil Output

The U.S. is refusing to directly condemn Saudi Arabia after the kingdom announced on Saturday it executed 81 people, including seven Yemeni men and one Syrian man. Rights groups say many of those executed were people arrested for participating in human rights demonstrations and that many of the defendants were denied access to a lawyer, held incommunicado and tortured. This comes as the U.S.

Report from Kyiv: Facing Military Setbacks, Russia Is Increasingly Targeting Ukrainian Civilians

The mayor of Kyiv has declared a 36-hour curfew after a series of Russian missile strikes hit residential areas of the capital of Ukraine on Tuesday. Meanwhile, talks are resuming today between Ukraine and Russia, and the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia are traveling to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. We get an update from outside of Kyiv from Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, on the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian Resident of Besieged Mykolaiv Describes Lack of Food, Water As Russian Troops Attack City

We get an update from a Ukrainian volunteer on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has besieged the strategic southern city of Mykolaiv, where Russian troops have targeted civilian areas for shelling. Many Ukrainians are asking European nations and the U.S. to establish a no-fly zone. We speak to Igor Yudenkov in Mykolaiv, a former IT professional who is now helping other residents find shelter, feeding pets left behind, and defending the city.

Crocodile tears: Jan. 6 insurrectionists asks for lenient sentencing following divorce, job loss

Next week, a 44-year-old Pittsburgh woman, Jennifer Heinl, will be sentenced for her part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Back in November, Heinl pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of demonstrating in a Capitol building. The Federal government is asking that Heinl spend two weeks in jail, spend three years under probation, and pay $500 in restitution.

The Freeloading Boyfriends That Just Won’t Let Go

For male Santa Marta harlequin toads, sex is an exercise in patience.The ping-pong-ball-size frogs, which are native to a mountainous strip in northern Colombia, spend most of their days milling about the region’s burbling brooks, hoping to chance upon a mate. They don’t often get lucky: Only rarely, for a few days a year around the start of the rainy season, will the species’ much-larger females venture down from the trees to flit through these loose froggy frats.

Lizzie and Kaitlyn Go to Williamsburg

Sign up for Kaitlyn and Lizzie’s newsletter here.Lizzie: For some reason Google Maps was telling us to take the C all the way to Broadway Junction, then get on the L and go back the other way to get to Grand Street. It seemed inefficient. Plus we had to carry a big cake and a nearly life-size cardboard cutout of the San Antonio Spurs mascot, known only as Coyote.

The Western World Is in Denial

KYIV, Ukraine—It’s been 19 days since Russia started the unprovoked war in Ukraine. I have changed my location three times, but I am staying in Kyiv to take care of my elderly parents. Every day I see Russians getting closer to my city from the northwest. I have been sleeping on the floor since February 24, when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade my country. I am lucky. Others have lost their homes, or have no water, food, or heating.