Today's Liberal News

Large-Scale Political Unrest Is Unlikely, But Not Impossible

When a reporter recently asked Donald Trump if he would accept a peaceful transition of power, the president wouldn’t commit. “We’ll see what happens,” he said. In an apparent reference to mail-in ballots, he went on, “We’ll want to have—get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very—we’ll have a very peaceful—there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.

Hong Kongers, Don’t Idolize the U.K.

During this uncertain and unstable year, I’ve learned not to take Hong Kong’s freedom for granted. Prodemocracy protests consumed the city for months starting in early 2019, but the political climate changed abruptly in the spring, when Beijing passed a wide-ranging security law that many see as a crackdown on dissent. At the end of June, a few hours before the law went into effect, I walked outside to catch the last glimpses of protest around my neighborhood in Hong Kong.

I’m Leaving the West Coast

Portland, Oregon, has its share of gloomy days, so waking up to darkness wasn’t that strange. When I looked outside, however, the sky wasn’t overcast. It was filled with smoke the color of pumpkin spice, the result of nearby fires. A soupy miasma. The most noxious air in the world. I’d had enough. I told my husband, “We need to move.”Having grown up in California’s Sonoma County, I’ve been spoiled by natural beauty and perfect weather.

“Two Systems of Justice”: Jacob Blake’s Father on Son’s Case, Breonna Taylor & Black Lives Matter

As outrage mounts over the grand jury ruling in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, we look at the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where an investigation is in its final stages. The case sparked renewed national protests in August after viral video showed Kenosha police shooting the Black father in the back seven times, paralyzing him. We speak with Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr.

Friday Night Owls: Researchers in a Montana town find serious lasting effects from breathing smoke

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

At UnDark magazine, Katheryn Houghton writes—In Montana, Tracking Long-Term Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke:

[…] Forest fires had funneled hazardous air into Seeley Lake, a [Montana] town of fewer than 2,000 people, for 49 days. The air quality was so bad that on some days the monitoring stations couldn’t measure the extent of the pollution.

If Adams and Jefferson could change the number of justices, so can Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi

The Supreme Court didn’t always have nine justices, and that number is not set in the Constitution. The number of justices has been changed on multiple occasions throughout our nation’s history, each time for a similarly partisan reason—namely to give one party more influence over the court’s membership. And the first back and forth over the number of justices was a struggle between two of our most prominent Founding Father presidents.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is the logical next step for a Republican Party that elevates its fringe

QAnon is a grotesque conspiracy theory, bizarre and creepy even by the standards of conspiracy theories. Witness this single line from a Georgia woman, who said QAnon is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out.”

But there’s the thing: That Georgia woman is Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is on track to be a member of the House of Representatives.

Trump loses in court again, and the House lawsuit against his border wall money grab advances

While Donald Trump and his Republican minions in the Senate are rushing to pack the Supreme Court with dangerous ideologues, the second-highest court in the land delivered Trump a severe blow on his most cherished symbol: the border wall. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously backed the House of Representatives and Congress’ power of the purse.

The True Victors of Trump’s Supreme Court Nomination

When President Donald Trump announces tomorrow that Amy Coney Barrett is his nominee for the Supreme Court, he will be effectively declaring victory. In 2016, Trump offered a horse trade to American conservatives: In exchange for their votes, he promised to appoint judges who would champion their interests. This nomination will be yet another chance for Trump to remind his supporters that their bet paid off, conveniently timed just a few weeks before Election Day.