Today's Liberal News

An Electrifying Adaptation of a Murakami Short Story

Drive My Car involves a lot of driving, but in one of its best scenes its main character is simply describing driving. Yusuke Kafuku (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) is an actor and director who, because of his developing glaucoma, has been assigned a chauffeur, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), by the theater festival he’s working for. Asked how her driving is, he says, “I think it’s great. When she speeds up or slows down, it’s very smooth and doesn’t feel heavy at all.

Angela Davis on Reissue of Her 1974 Autobiography, Her Editor Toni Morrison, Internationalism & More

Activist and scholar Angela Davis has released a new edition of her 1974 autobiography, first published and edited by Toni Morrison nearly 50 years ago. The book details Davis’s remarkable early life, from growing up in a section of Birmingham, Alabama, known as Dynamite Hill due to the frequency of bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, to her work with the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Communist Party.

Judge Approves Puerto Rico Debt Restructuring, But Unelected “Junta” Could Remain for Years Longer

In a major development, a federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan to restructure Puerto Rico’s massive debt. The proposal was presented by the territory’s U.S.-imposed Fiscal Control Board, and it reduces the biggest portion of the island’s debt, about $33 billion, by some 80%. Last year, union leaders pressured the board to remove cuts to pension plans from the current version of the debt restructuring deal.

MLK Day Special: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War.

Louisiana Senate candidate points out hypocrisy of marijuana laws in very blunt campaign launch

We’ve come a long way from the days of Bill “I Didn’t Inhale” Clinton and our overwrought collective freakout over ordinary and decidedly normal cannabis use. Not that long ago, video of a U.S. Senate candidate smoking weed in a field would be considered lurid oppo research. But now, at least one candidate, Gary Chambers, is featuring it in his campaign advertising. 

Now, I doubt Chambers will win.

Jim Langevin, a longtime Rhode Island Democratic congressman, announces his retirement

Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin, a Democrat whose 2000 win made him the first quadriplegic to ever serve in Congress, said Tuesday that he would retire from the 2nd District.

The current version of this seat, which includes part of Providence and western Rhode Island, backed Joe Biden by a 56-43 spread four years after it favored Hillary Clinton by a smaller 51-44 margin.

Famous People, by Kaitlyn Tiffany and Lizzie Plaugic, a Newsletter Starring Nobody Famous, Comes to The Atlantic

The Atlantic is launching Famous People, a newsletter by staff writer Kaitlyn Tiffany and writer and creative strategist Lizzie Plaugic. Kaitlyn and Lizzie recap the small parties, dinners, and events they attend with each other and their friends––and nobody famous.Starting today, readers can sign up and read the first edition, where Kaitlyn follows Martha Stewart’s instructions to create a “Russian Buffet for Twenty-Four” from her 1982 book, Entertaining.

Martha Stewart Must Know Something We Don’t

Sign up for Kaitlyn and Lizzie’s newsletter here. Kaitlyn: A few months ago, my friend Stephanie found a copy of Martha Stewart’s 1982 book, Entertaining, on a stoop in Brooklyn and gave it to me at my birthday breakfast. This book is amazing.