Today's Liberal News

RBG’s Life, in Her Own Words

Just days ago, on Thursday evening, the National Constitution Center awarded the 2020 Liberty Medal to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At the justice’s request, we recorded her favorite opera singers and special friends offering personal tributes in words and music. The tribute video is a moving, inspiring, and now heartbreaking celebration of her achievements as one of the most influential figures for constitutional change in American history.

4 Reasons to Doubt Mitch McConnell’s Power

To use power, you must have it.On the night of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that a Trump nominee to replace Ginsburg would receive a vote on the floor of the Senate.That announcement promised a use of power without hesitation or compunction, an abrupt reversal of the supposed rule that blocked an Obama nomination nine months before the 2016 election. This supposed rule would seem much better justified in 2020 than 2016.

Howie Hawkins Is No Kanye West

Howie Hawkins may be the Green Party’s presidential nominee, but he isn’t Jill Stein—or at least, he can’t be, because he’s not on the ballot in as many swing states as Stein was in 2016. Courts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania decided this week to keep his party’s ticket off of the 2020 ballots. But Hawkins told me he’s not Kanye West either, even though Republican operatives have been helping both the Green Party and West’s “Birthday Party.

Antebellum Isn’t Just Bad—It’s Vile

This story contains spoilers for the film Antebellum.Antebellum is the kind of film that requires true storytelling daring to pull off. A horror movie that blurs history, fantasy, and darkest nightmare, it would only work with the cleverest calibration, striking a balance between thrills and social commentary that recalls the films of Jordan Peele or the best episodes of Black Mirror.

Daniel Ellsberg Warns U.S. Press Freedom Under Attack in WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Extradition Case

Legendary Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says Julian Assange’s extradition hearing in London could have far-reaching consequences for press freedoms. The WikiLeaks founder faces an ever-evolving array of espionage and hacking charges related to the release of diplomatic cables that revealed war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange faces almost certain conviction, if extradited, and 175 years in prison.

Friday Night Owls: Ruth Bader Ginsburg took the ‘justice’ of her title seriously

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

A 7-minute excerpt from a 2017 interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

YouTube Video

TOP COMMENTS 

QUOTATION

“Over the course of a lifetime in her pioneering work in behalf of the women of this country, she has compiled a truly historic record of achievement in the finest tradition of American law and citizenship.

If Senate Republicans steal another Supreme Court seat, Democrats absolutely must expand the court

At the very least, Senate Republicans stole one seat from the American people in 2016 when they refused to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February that year fully nine months before the November election.

Within hours, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged that his GOP caucus would refuse to replace Scalia until the presidential election took place.

The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fandom Was Never Frivolous

In 2014, Kate Livingston created a quirky Halloween costume for her 12-week-old son. It featured a black, sleeved onesie. And a white silken collar. And a pair of large, plastic-rimmed glasses. Livingston snapped a picture of the cosplaying infant—he provided the cool scowl—and then added a caption, in blunt all-caps, to the photo she took: “I DISSENT.” Ruth Baby Ginsburg was born.Justices of the Supreme Court have traditionally existed above the fray.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing brings an outpouring of mourning from Twitter

By now you have likely heard that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away. Appointed to the high court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg became only the second woman in the court’s history. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg was tough as nails and survived and thrived through bouts of cancer well into in her 80s. 

News of her passing has hit everyone hard.