Today's Liberal News

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.

In Belarus, Russia’s Partner in Ukraine Invasion, There Is “No Possibility” of Dissent on War

Ukraine says Belarus could become directly involved in the Russian invasion. This comes as Russia sent thousands of troops to Belarus to attack Ukraine from the north and NATO has accused the Russian Air Force of flying warplanes from airfields in Belarus last week. “We all know, see and understand that the territory of Belarus is used for conducting the war against Ukraine,” says Natallia Satsunkevich, an activist with the leading independent Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

Brent Renaud, First U.S. Reporter Killed in Ukraine, Praised for His Humanity & Exposing Horrors of War

On Sunday, the U.S. journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud was shot dead near Kyiv while working on a documentary about refugees. He is the first foreign journalist known to have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Ukrainian officials are accusing Russian forces of his death. We discuss Renaud’s remarkable documentary work and feature part of an interview he gave on Democracy Now! after he was embedded in Iraq with the National Guard from his home state of Arkansas.

The U.S. Subsidy That Empowers Putin

The United States is supporting Ukraine with aid and weapons and punishing Russian aggression with financial and economic sanctions. But the United States can do more to resolve the global crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine: It can end the ethanol program.For decades, the U.S. government has, at great expense, encouraged farmers to grow more corn so that it can be turned into ethanol, a gasoline additive. Ethanol makers receive all kinds of grants and subsidies.

The Crucial Difference Between Cheesy and Corny

Sign up for Caleb’s newsletter here.Language lets us taste the world around us all the time without ever opening our mouth. You don’t have to lick your smack-talking friend to know they’re salty, nor must you nibble on the Hollywood celebrity who took the lead role in a Broadway play to know their performance is hammy. Gym rats with no genetic relationship to cows are beefy, and fishy situations arise all the time in environments completely unsuitable for marine life.

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.

Defund Putin’s War Machine: Ukrainian Environmentalist Calls For Global Halt to Fossil Fuel Funding

We speak to Svitlana Romanko, a leading Ukrainian environmental lawyer, based in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, which was bombed Friday. She describes the situation there, and discusses her hopes that new sanctions to prevent American banks from investing in Russian fossil fuels signal a tipping point that will force the world to transition to clean energy.

Attack on Maternity Ward is a War Crime: David Miliband on Russia’s Bombing of Mariupol

Russian forces reportedly killed at least three people when they bombed a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Wednesday, shelling a humanitarian corridor and breaking a ceasefire deal that was was meant to allow residents to flee. The actions constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and, therefore, a potential war crime, says David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee.

Ukraine update: Russian advances stall again, even as air strikes broaden

What was predicted to be a swift Russian victory continues now as day-by-day slog as Russian forces continue to “shore up” or “regroup” for further incursions while Ukrainian defenders pick at supply lines and hold off Russian attempts to capture new ground.

The Russian “strategy” of shelling urban centers in an apparent attempt to level what they cannot militarily capture, however, continues. And the civilian death toll is rising rapidly.

Health care providers in North Carolina demand better patient support as they attempt to unionize

by Tina Vásquez

This article was originally published at Prism

Health care providers employed by North Carolina’s Piedmont Health Services (PHS) are awaiting the results of their union election, a pivotal step that is part of their larger push to address challenges that impact their ability to properly care for their patients. Their efforts are part of a larger trend.

Nuts & Bolts—Inside the Democratic Party: Are we at the end of the Iowa Caucus being first?

Welcome back to the weekly Nuts & Bolts Guide to small campaigns. Over the course of more than a decade, I’ve taken time to speak with campaign managers, field directors, communications directors, finance directors, and, of course, be a part of as many campaigns as I can. Through the feedback I receive, I try to build out Nuts & Bolts to better inform Democratic voters and donors how a campaign can and does work.

Ukraine update: China’s choice

In the days before Russia’s massive military assault on Ukraine, most analysts focused their attention on whether Ukraine’s much smaller military could offer any meaningful resistance to Russia’s near-certain victory. The Russian assault that actually took place, however, was not the one both Russia’s own leaders and outside military observers were suspecting.