Today's Liberal News

“There Are Many Others”: 215 Bodies Found at Canadian Residential School for Indigenous Children

The Canadian government is facing pressure to declare a national day of mourning after the bodies of 215 children were found in British Columbia on the grounds of a school for Indigenous children who were forcibly separated from their families by the government. The bodies were discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which opened in 1890 and closed in the late 1970s.

News Roundup: Scholars warn democracy is in danger; voting rights legislation remains stalled

In the news today: A Senate parliamentarian ruling appears to sharply limit new reconciliation options, giving Republicans a boost in their efforts to block new infrastructure spending. 100 scholars issue a public warning that Republican actions are putting the nation’s democracy at dire risk. And Joe Biden singles out two Democratic senators who continue to protect a Senate tradition long used to sabotage civil and voting rights.

One hundred scholars submit a dire warning about the future of American democracy

I wanted to write about this simply because I didn’t want it to be overlooked. You can make of it what you will. I know what I make of it, and it’s disturbing. As reported by Summer Concepcion, forTalkingPointsMemo:

More than 100 democracy scholars called on Congress to pass national level voting rights legislation as an increasing number of GOP-led state legislatures work to implement restrictive laws at the state level in a statement issued Tuesday.

Elementary school teacher on leave after rallying against trans-inclusive pronoun policy for kids

During a school board meeting on May 25, 2021, an elementary school physical education teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia, opposed a policy that would require teachers to use student’s correct pronouns. Some outlets—and people—may refer to these as “preferred pronouns,” in that they differ from the sex one was assigned at birth. However, they really are just pronouns, and the correct ones, at that.

90% of Americans believe they’re above average when it comes to spotting fake news

If I were to tell you that Donald Trump’s proposed “Garden of Heroes” was being resurrected by the Biden administration to form the basis of a new national theme park, one with blackjack and bumper cars, would you believe me? You might, because it is an objectively spectacular idea and it’d be a damn shame if nobody followed up on that.

The Ugly Side of NBA Fandom Can No Longer Be Ignored

Late Sunday night, after the fourth game of a playoff series between the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, the most talked-about video was not a high-definition highlight but a few frames of zoomed-in graininess. As Kyrie Irving—once a Celtic, now a Net, fresh off scoring 39 points in a Brooklyn rout—exited the court in Boston, a 21-year-old fan named Cole Buckley allegedly hurled a plastic water bottle at Irving’s head.

The Cowardice of Cruella

This article contains mild spoilers for Cruella. “It’s time to make some trouble. You in?” reads one of the posts promoting Cruella, Disney’s prequel-meets-reconsideration of the classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians villain. The line is in keeping with the film: It’s slick and witty and teasingly imprecise about what “trouble,” in this context, might entail.

A Truly Revolting Treatment Is Having a Renaissance

In its larval stage, Lucilia sericata looks unassuming enough. Beige and millimeters long, a bottle-fly grub may lack good looks, but it contains a sophisticated set of tools for eating dead and dying human flesh. The maggots ooze digestive enzymes and antimicrobials to dissolve decaying tissue and to kill off any unwanted bacteria or pathogens.

Does the U.S. Senate Resemble Ancient Rome?

Over the weekend, this space held the third installment in the “Lessons of Rome” chronicles by my friend Eric Schnurer. This one went into the comparison between the Roman Senate, in the era of Cicero and the Catiline conspiracy, and the current one in Washington.If you haven’t read it yet, please give it a try—among other reasons, for the speechwriter’s view of classic Latin rhetoric.

Naomi Osaka Is Part of a Larger War Within Sports

Congratulations, tennis. You’ve won neither the battle nor the war with Naomi Osaka, but you have just bullied one of the biggest stars in your sport into quitting a major tournament that could use the publicity she would have brought to it.Osaka, the second-ranked woman in international tennis and the highest-paid female athlete in the world, withdrew from the French Open after a power struggle with tournament officials over whether she would attend obligatory press conferences.