Today's Liberal News

Ukraine update: Russia can’t maintain terrorist missile barrage, and their supporters are pissed

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Battlefields are loud, but in the sense of movement, the Ukrainian front lines have been stable. Russians are happy to dig new fortifications and weird WWII-style straight trenches, and Ukraine is happy to let HIMARS and Excalibur precision-guided artillery shells degrade Russian artillery, command and control, and logistics in the rear. Unseasonably wet weather and the return of the famous mud isn’t helping.

Breakthrough battery technology able to charge average EV battery in just 10 minutes

A project funded in part by the Defense Department, Energy Department, and other federal agencies sure looks like it was worth the money. Researchers were able to develop a charging device that can recharge a standard electric vehicle battery in just 10 minutes. Such swift charging helps alleviate what’s known as “range anxiety,” defined as the fear that an EV will run out of power before reaching a charging station.

Biden admin reportedly looking at humanitarian parole for some Venezuelan migrants

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s unprovoked invasion have been able to find safety in the U.S. under a successful Biden administration policy implemented this past spring. Under the Uniting for Ukraine policy, Americans can apply to sponsor a Ukrainian refugee (or refugees). The program has been immense, with nearly 125,000 Americans submitting an application as of last month.

The Anti-Abortion Movement’s New Distrust of Democracy

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.In a recent Atlantic essay, the professor and legal historian Mary Ziegler wrote about the anti-abortion movement’s erosion of faith in democracy. As Americans prepare to vote in the first major election since Roe v. Wade was overturned, I spoke with Ziegler about what happens next.

The Case Against the Death Penalty

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. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

There Are No ‘Five Stages’ of Grief

It was early springtime here in Australia when my son died. I took jasmine and dark-red sweet peas from my garden to his funeral and laid them carefully beside him, wondering how I could even keep breathing through the pain.His name was Adam. He was 38, and more than six feet tall, but he was still my baby. His birth, as my first child, brought me to the most joyous life turn I’ve ever gone through; his death, the most shattering.

Angela Lansbury Could Make the Silliest Movie a Work of Art

Angela Lansbury was a boundlessly versatile performer, with a decades-long career filled with roles that played to her many strengths. She was a chilling villain in The Manchurian Candidate, a flighty and flirty accomplice to the psychological torment of Gaslight, and a winsome tavern singer in The Picture of Dorian Gray, earning an Oscar nomination for each role.

Russia Just Showed Why It’s Floundering in Ukraine

On Saturday, Ukraine showed why it is winning its war against Russia. On Monday, Russia showed why it is losing. Those two days revealed sharp contrasts between the two militaries. One is clever, well prepared, willing to undertake complex operations, and focused on maximally damaging its enemy’s ability to fight. The other is prone to bursts of rage and is open to committing any crime possible, but its actions are ultimately self-defeating.

Massive Leak of Military Docs Reveals Mexico Armed Cartels, Surveilled Journalists & Zapatistas

A stunning leak of more than 4 million documents from inside the Mexican military has revealed collusion between high-level military officials and the country’s cartels. The leak, published by the hacking group Guacamaya, is one of the largest in Mexico’s history and shows how military officials sold weapons, technical equipment and key information about rival gangs to cartels.

Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is “Heist” by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Many of the nation’s largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by overbilling the U.S. government’s Medicare Advantage program. A New York Times investigation has revealed that under the Advantage program, health insurance companies are incentivized to make patients appear more ill than they actually are. Some estimates find it has cost the government between $12 billion and $25 billion in 2020 alone.

Medea Benjamin & Nicolas Davies: Negotiations “Still the Only Way Forward” to End Ukraine War

The Biden administration has ruled out the idea of pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia to end the war, even though many U.S. officials believe neither side is “capable of winning the war outright,” reports The Washington Post. This comes as the war in Ukraine appears to be escalating on a number of fronts, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Ukraine of committing a “terrorist act” and launching the largest strikes on Ukraine in months.