Today's Liberal News

Community Spotlight: You never forget your first time

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Watch Denver journalist condemn Lauren Boebert for saying ‘cruel, false, and bigoted’ things

On Wednesday, Republican pooperstar Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of the more wretched politicians allowed onto the House floor, spewed out an Islamophobic, invective-filled rant. Specifically, she attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, saying she was part of the “Jihad squad” and also saying she had two husbands, one of whom is her brother. Boebert also accused Rep. Omar of funding Islamic terrorism. She literally said all of teose things.

Tom Morello and John Oliver give unions a big week on TV, this week in the war on workers

This week, 10,000 John Deere workers ended their strike after six weeks. It was also a really good week for unions on TV, between a typically sharp John Oliver segment explaining union-busting, and a Tonight Show performance by Tom Morello (featuring grandson) in which Morello highlighted workers on strike across the country, offering them high-profile solidarity.

Watch both videos. Share them with your friends and family.

Tick, Tick … Boom Is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Best Work Since Hamilton

Jonathan Larson is someone who writes like he is running out of time. That’s the underlying message of “30/90,” the first song in his original musical Tick, Tick … Boom and an energized ballad about the theatrical composer’s worries that he hasn’t accomplished enough—at the age of 30. As he hammers away at a piano, Larson notes that his idol, the composer Stephen Sondheim, contributed to his first Broadway show at the age of 27.

COVID Sure Looks Seasonal Now

The first part of what may be the first epidemiologic text ever written begins like so: “Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year.”The book is On Airs, Waters, and Places, written by Hippocrates around 400 B.C. Two and a half millennia later, the Northern Hemisphere is staring down its coming season of the year with growing apprehension.

Snowbirds

Photographs by Naomi HarrisIn December 1999, Naomi Harris turned down a job offer, left her apartment in New York, and checked into the Haddon Hall Hotel, in Miami Beach. She was 26. She wanted to be a photographer.The hotel was a year-round home for some and a seasonal residence for others—snowbirds, mostly in their 80s and 90s, who came down from New England or Canada and stayed all winter. They didn’t have a lot of money, and they didn’t go there for luxury.

Pope Francis Is Right About My Profession

Last weekend, Pope Francis gave my profession a gift: a thoughtful outsider’s perspective on the proper role of journalists. “Your mission is to explain the world, to make it less obscure, to make those who live in it less afraid of it and look at others with greater awareness, and also with more confidence,” he said, adding that, to succeed, journalists must first listen.By this, he meant far more than picking up a telephone or jumping onto Zoom.

The New Pandemic Division Tearing Europe Apart

For a while, during the worst of the pandemic last year, European governments largely seemed to reach a consensus. Barring a few exceptions (such as Sweden), countries in the region locked down their economies, keeping people at home in a bid to slow the pace of infection. In time, bolstered by plentiful vaccines, the continent has seen a resumption of near-normalcy: Public-health restrictions have loosened, and travel has restarted.

News Roundup: Rittenhouse and white supremacist get a win in court; BBB passes thru the House

It is Friday. Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges today after shooting dead two Kenosha, Wisconsin, protesters and injuring a third. While the decision was not surprising, as weeks of bizarre behavior by the judge made it clear how the scales of justice were being weighed, it is no less disheartening. But there are battles still being won and the long march toward justice for all continues.

Uh-oh. The RNC chair just admitted ‘Joe Biden won the election’

This won’t go over well with … uh … certain people. Donald Trump’s decades-long campaign to pretend he’s a winner who always wins—despite his conspicuous inability to make money running a casino, selling liquor, or sponsoring a fraudulent university—hit a bit of a snag last November when he lost the presidency to Joe Biden.

California attorney general seeks rehearing following ruling against state’s ban on private prisons

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking to return to court to defend a historic state law state banning private for-profit prisons after a three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last month ruled against it. Advocates said at the time that California had two options going forward: to appeal before a full panel, or appeal to the Supreme Court. The state has gone with the former choice.

Elijah McClain’s family may receive $15M settlement

The family of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after police restrained him with a carotid hold—a now banned maneuver—may receive a $15 million settlement from the city of Aurora, Colorado.

First reported by CBS News, the settlement figure was confirmed by several sources to a local CBS affiliate and described as a “tentative” agreement.

McClain was 23 years old when he was killed in August 2019.

Of Course Kyle Rittenhouse Was Acquitted

The United States is a nation awash in firearms, and gun owners are a powerful and politically active constituency. In state after state, they have helped elect politicians who, in turn, have created a permissive legal regime for the carry and use of firearms, rules that go far beyond how courts originally understood the concept of self-defense.

After decades, two men convicted of killing Malcolm X were exonerated—offering hope to another man

After a half-century of suspicion—at least in the Black community and certainly within the Nation of Islam—around whether those convicted of the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965 were, in fact, patsies, two men have been exonerated. 

Thursday, New York County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Ellen Biben granted a motion to vacate the convictions of Muhammad A. Aziz, 83, and the late Khalil Islam.