Today's Liberal News

The Comedies That Understand What Peak Scammer TV Does Not

At the height of her powers, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the fraudulent blood-testing start-up Theranos, basked in the kind of adulation typically reserved for cult leaders. In one upcoming episode from Hulu’s The Dropout, which dramatizes her saga, Elizabeth (played by Amanda Seyfried) perches on yet another stage, at yet another event about being a female CEO. Her every word scores cheers from the audience of college students, most of them young women.

Marilyn Manson Told Us What He Was

One of the visual conceits of Phoenix Rising—a new two-part HBO documentary about the actor Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations of abuse at the hands of the rock musician Marilyn Manson—is a series of animated sequences that portray Wood as a cherubic, Alice-like doll and Manson as a macabre monster whose darkness infects and imprisons her. It’s a curiously heavy-handed choice, as though Wood’s raw testimony weren’t enough.

Ukrainian Pacifist in Kyiv: All Sides Have Fueled the War. Only Comprehensive Peace Talks Can End It

Hundreds of nonviolent antiwar protesters gathered in the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Monday to oppose Russian occupation of the city and object to involuntary military service. Russian forces used stun grenades and machine gun fire to disperse the crowd. Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to travel to a NATO summit this week in Brussels, where Western allies are preparing to discuss the response if Russia turns to using nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

“Absolute Hellscape”: Human Rights Watch Decries Russian Bombing & Siege of Mariupol

As Russian forces continue to besiege Ukrainian cities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused them of reducing the southern city of Mariupol to ashes. All foreign journalists have fled the city as heavy shelling has driven most remaining civilians into hiding in their basements. We speak to Belkis Wille, who just left Ukraine after spending over three weeks documenting the effects of the war and describes “an absolute hellscape” in Mariupol.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Vows to Uphold Equal Justice Under Law at Historic SCOTUS Confirmation Hearing

Historic confirmation hearings are underway for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. If confirmed, she will not only be the first Black woman but also the first former federal public defender to serve on the nation’s highest court. The first day of her hearings began Monday and was at times undercut by Republicans who attempted to mischaracterize her record, says Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.

Ukraine update: New Ukrainian counterattacks continue to deal major damage to Russian forces

Today saw news of significant new Ukrainian counterattacks against Russian forces. Northwest of Kyiv, a Ukrainian offensive appears to have retaken Makariv, with additional Ukrainian attacks northward potentially endangering the long Russian supply lines that feed the Russian artillery lines threatening Kyiv. Ukraine also appears to be having some success dislodging Russian forces around Kherson in the south.

This doesn’t necessarily mean those successes will continue.

Kentucky Democrat makes impassioned plea in defense of reproductive rights. You need to see this

Let’s see: In the past few years, Republicans have hitched themselves to Vladimir Putin, violent insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States, a sore-loser campaign to undermine democracy, a former president who stole boxes of classified information from the White House and called a murderous tyrant a savvy genius, and a cruel campaign to gut  (particularly poor and vulnerable) people’s reproductive freedoms.

‘You’re the only half-colored on the squad’: Maryland sergeant accused of disgusting remarks in suit

A Black police officer alleged the kind of racist vitriol happening inside of a Maryland police force that if taken out of context would read like a 1960s news article. Officer Mark Miles said in a federal suit filed on Monday that his former supervisor, Sgt. Stephanie Harvey, called him “colored” in front of his peers and “frequently talked about murdering Black Lives Matter protesters” with other officers in text threads, NBC News reported.

Ukraine update: Let’s look at the Donbas front, the only place Russia has had some success

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Last update, we looked at Ukrainian moves in northwest Kyiv. I was going to focus next on the Kherson area, but still too much fog of war to get an accurate read. So instead, let’s head over to the eastern front, where Russia has had some success. 

One of four major axes of attack (the others being Kyiv/north, Kharkiv/Sumy/northeast, and Kherson/south), the Donbas front has been continuously at war for eight years.

What We Can Learn From Our Political Adversaries

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Why Can’t the West Admit That Ukraine Is Winning?

When I visited Iraq during the 2007 surge, I discovered that the conventional wisdom in Washington usually lagged the view from the field by two to four weeks. Something similar applies today. Analysts and commentators have grudgingly declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been blocked, and that the war is stalemated. The more likely truth is that the Ukrainians are winning.

Stop Waiting for Trump to Get Convicted

Attorney General Merrick Garland is not going to save democracy. Nor is the attorney general of New York, Letitia James; the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg; nor the Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis. As the apparent collapse of the New York district attorney’s investigation makes clear, criminal cases are hard to make. Donald Trump, despite his many seemingly criminal acts, is unlikely to ever spend a day in jail.