Today's Liberal News

Decriminalize & Deschedule: Advocates Welcome Biden Pardons But Demand Deeper Reform of Cannabis Laws

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is pardoning everyone convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law, and said the classification of the drug would undergo review. The move will remove many legal barriers for thousands of people to gain jobs, housing, college admission and federal benefits, and fulfills a campaign pledge made by Biden.

McCarthy lied to the police officers who protected him on Jan. 6, trying to absolve Trump

Kevin McCarthy, would-be House speaker, lied to two of the police officers who helped save his skin on Jan. 6. He lied to the mother of an officer who died after the attack, telling them last year that the person who commanded Trump’s violent followers to march to the U.S. Capitol had no idea at all what they were doing. He also took credit for Trump’s eventual public statement asking rioters to “go home.” One of the attendees, then-D.C.

GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville might as well have been wearing the hood in a recent Trump rally

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville held nothing back at a recent rally for former President Donald Trump. He was talking about crime, but that was simply code for Black Americans as criminals.

With just a week to go before early elections in the midterms, the GOP has pulled out all the stops. Nothing seems to be off limits, and crime appears to be the hot-button issue to rally their base.

House GOP promises vengeance on Democrats for doing good stuff while in power

House Republican candidates are ostensibly running on issues this fall. Odious chair of the House Republican Conference and Rep. Elise Stefanik insisted as much in a Fox interview this weekend. “Republicans are going to fight on behalf of the American people to help save America, to focus on economic issues, to rein in the spending that’s driving our inflation, to unleash American energy independence to lower the price of gas, energy, home heating bills.

‘My daughter’s gone. I have to fix it for others’: Mom of Uvalde shooting victim Lexi Rubio

Kimberly Mata-Rubio started her job as associate editor at the local newspaper in Uvalde, Texas, less than a week before the news of a shooting near her daughter and son’s elementary school broke. Within hours, Mata-Rubio would learn that on May 24, her 10-year-old daughter, Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, had been killed, along with 18 other children and two teachers, by a teenager with a violent history who was easily able to get his hands on an assault weapon.

Remembering Indigenous Actress Sacheen Littlefeather, Who Was Mocked & Threatened at Oscars in 1973

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we remember the Indigenous actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who died last week at the age of 75, not long after she received an apology 50 years after she spoke at the Oscars in protest of Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans. In 1973, she accepted an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, who boycotted the ceremony, only to face boos from the crowd, threats of physical violence from the actor John Wayne and mocking by Clint Eastwood.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Legendary Singer Buffy Sainte-Marie Calls for Repeal of Doctrine of Discovery

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we speak with legendary Indigenous musician and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie, who has written and sung about the struggles of Native American and First Nations peoples for decades. “My take on Indigenous Peoples’ Day is that there’s an awful lot of work yet to be done,” says Sainte-Marie. She discusses the violent legacy of the U.S. Doctrine of Discovery, the derogatory appropriation of Indigenous peoples as mascots in U.S.

Noam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad: U.S. Must Stop Undermining Negotiations with Russia to End Ukraine War

Russia has launched its largest strikes on Ukraine in months, attacking civilian areas in Kyiv and nine other cities just two days after President Vladimir Putin had accused Ukraine of blowing up a key bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. As the war continues to escalate in Ukraine, we feature an interview recorded earlier this month with world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky in Brazil and political writer Vijay Prashad. Chomsky discusses why he thinks there is no major U.S.

I Tried to Keep My Pregnancy Secret

When I became pregnant, my partner and I, like many expectant individuals, opted not to tell our friends until after the first trimester. But I had an additional goal: for my friends to learn of my pregnancy before advertisers did. I’m a health-privacy scholar, so I know that pregnant individuals are of particular interest to retailers because their purchasing habits change during pregnancy and after birth. Companies are eager to send targeted ads and capture a new customer base.

When Virtues Become Vices

Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google | Pocket CastsWhen the behaviors we thought would make us happy don’t, we’re forced to bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. But our happiness goals are often stifled by the disease of addiction—and its complex neurochemical influence on our desires.A conversation with psychiatrist Anna Lembke helps us understand the gap between the cravings that drive us and the happiness we seek.

The War That Russia Already Lost

The war in Ukraine isn’t only over territory. And as Ukrainian soldiers beat back Russian invaders far to the south and the east, a different kind of fight has been raging on one of central Kyiv’s most picturesque streets.Located at 13 Andriivsky Descent, the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum celebrates a 20th-century author who lived much of his life in my country’s capital but wrote in Russian—and consistently portrayed Ukraine and its people in a negative light.

Decriminalize & Deschedule: Advocates Welcome Biden Pardons But Demand Deeper Reform of Cannabis Laws

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is pardoning everyone convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law, and said the classification of the drug would undergo review. The move will remove many legal barriers for thousands of people to gain jobs, housing, college admission and federal benefits, and fulfills a campaign pledge made by Biden.