Today's Liberal News

CA Gov. Newsom Threatens to Veto Farmworker Union Bill as He Buys $14.5M Vineyard in Napa Valley

Hundreds of farmworkers concluded a 24-day march to Sacramento spanning 335 miles to demand California Governor Gavin Newsom support legislation that would make it easier for farmworkers to cast their ballots in union elections by mail. Newsom has threatened to veto the bill, which would keep farmworkers safe from employer retaliation, explains Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, the labor union that helped organize the march.

Ukraine update: Kherson counteroffensive off to a flying start, and Russian city boils over in panic

What’s happening in Kherson isn’t exactly clear, and it’s likely to remain that way for some days. While so far Ukraine doesn’t seem to have taken any of what might be regarded as the most strategic targets—Vysokopillya in the north, Snihurivka guarding the routes east of Mykolaiv, or the city of Kherson itself—the territory that has reportedly changed hands does have considerable significance.

Republicans are getting what they asked for on abortion, and regretting it

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end federal abortion protections secured half a century ago under Roe v. Wade continues to flummox Republicans who finally got what they wished for. After decades of running for elections promising precisely this—an end to legal abortion—Republicans are desperately trying to rewrite that history, pretend like the Supreme Court didn’t do what it just did, or simply change the subject. It’s not working.

The right threatens violence, the left points out those threats, and the media blames both

“Bothsiderism,” in which media outlets bend over backwards (and beyond) in order to find something they can slap Democrats over before daring to point out Republican actions, is one of the most corrosive tendencies plaguing the press. Also known as “false balance,” it happens when journalists attempt to make everything “equal” between the two parties, no matter how unequal  statements or actions may actually be.

Biracial man charged with murder; he says truck tried to run him and white girlfriend off road

A Georgia jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the case of a biracial college student charged with felony murder in what his defense has maintained was an act of self defense prompted when a pickup truck tried to run Marc Wilson and his white girlfriend off the road. 

Emma Rigdon, who was in the vehicle with Wilson, confirmed the claim in testimony covered by the Statesboro Herald on Monday.

Fear of Fascism

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.I’ve long resisted using the word fascism to describe Donald Trump and his Republican followers, but we have to overcome our reluctance to use strong language and admit that America is now beset by a dangerous antidemocratic movement masquerading as a party.

Why Is NASA’s Hold Music So Catchy?

Astronauts haven’t visited the moon in 50 years, but the United States is intent on taking them back. Hundreds of reporters from around the world traveled to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week to cover the launch of the first mission of an ambitious effort known as Artemis, Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology. The launch was called off yesterday when one of the rocket’s main engines refused to cooperate.

This Is How the Hollywood Comeback Cycle Works

When Johnny Depp showed up at Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, the audience seemed shocked. The actor wasn’t there to present a trophy or perform a tune. His mini monologue, in which he joked about how he “needed the work,” was hard to hear. His face, superimposed onto a life-size version of a Moonman, was hard to see.

First Gen Z Congressmember? Maxwell Frost on Guns, Palestine, Cuba & Reaching Trump Voters in Florida

We go to Florida to speak with 25-year-old gun control activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who made history last week when he won the Democratic primary for an open U.S. House seat in Orlando. Frost is set to become the first Afro-Cuban and first member of Generation Z elected to Congress if he goes on to win November’s general election for Florida’s heavily Democratic 10th Congressional District.

Jeffrey Sachs: “Dangerous” U.S. Policy & “West’s False Narrative” Stoking Tensions with Russia, China

We discuss Western hegemony and U.S. policy in Russia, Ukraine and China with Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, whose new article is headlined “The West’s False Narrative About Russia and China.” Sachs says the bipartisan U.S. approach to foreign policy is “unaccountably dangerous and wrongheaded,” and warns the U.S. is creating “a recipe for yet another war” in East Asia.

Scenes From Ukrainian Summer Camp

Summer camp, at its purest, is like Never-Never-Land—a place that exists only in childhood or in memories of it: lake swimming, tree climbing, secret telling, frog catching, and youth everlasting. When I found myself recently on a train platform in Lviv, Ukraine, surrounded by teenagers heading to summer camp in the Carpathian Mountains, such wholesome pleasures seemed almost ridiculously out of reach.The train was running late, for one thing.

What I Learned From the World’s Last Smallpox Patient

Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, after World Health Organization epidemiologists learned of her infection, health workers vaccinated those around her, putting an end to variola major transmission around the world. The WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, and it remains the only human infectious disease ever to have been eradicated.