Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Republicans to punish Cheney for opposing election hoax; Arizona ‘audit’ continues

In the news today: House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy sets Wednesday vote to remove Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership due to Cheney’s “relitigating” of whether or not Republicans should continue to promote election hoaxes claiming the last presidential election to have been “stolen.” Not considered “relitigating” the election: the ongoing Arizona Republican election “audit” examining ballots for Asian “bamboo fibers.

Corporate PAC webinar gives advice on defending donations to hoax-promoting lawmakers

At Popular Information, Judd Legum obtained a copy of a webinar hosted by NABPAC (the trade association for corporate PACs) in which a Republican consultant described listening to member companies’ strategies for restarting cash donations to the Republicans, who voted on Jan. 6 to nullify state electoral votes recognizing Joe Biden as winner of the U.S. presidential election.

Ransomware and cybercrime are critical infrastructure issues

Last week it was revealed that Colonial Pipeline had been struck by a massive ransomware attack. Ransomware has one goal: to shut down the end user and demand money, often in the form of bitcoin, to pay for decryption codes. As cryptocurrency values rise and the ease of access to encryption tools grows on the dark web, ransomware has become a blight on American infrastructure.

Biden’s ‘Historic’ Funding of Black Colleges

The rich have grown richer and the poor poorer during the pandemic, and institutions of higher education have been no exception. Colleges that primarily serve students who are an unexpected expense away from leaving school bore the brunt of the crisis. Community-college enrollments were down 9.5 percent last fall; historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) saw a decline of 5 percent. Despite a year of record philanthropic giving, 2020 was financially devastating for many of them.

The Texas Republican Asking His Party To Just Stop

Will Hurd is the kind of politician who loves to find the middle ground. He spent six years as a Republican congressman from one of the most competitive districts in the country, a sprawling expanse that traces the southwest border of Texas along the Rio Grande. He’s got the jocular manner of a student-body president—which he was, at Texas A&M—and styles himself as a wonkish policy guy. “You said the magic word,” he told me cheerfully when I called him up recently.