Surprise GDP slump undercuts White House recovery story
The government said gross domestic product shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first quarter.
Today's Liberal News
U.S. economy shrank by 1.4 percent in Q1 but consumers kept spending
The steady spending suggested the economy could keep expanding this year even though the Federal Reserve plans to raise rates aggressively to fight the inflation surge.
After Which Failed Pregnancy Should I Have Been Imprisoned? Rep. Lucy McBath on Reproductive Rights
During a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Democratic Congressmember Lucy McBath of Georgia shared her personal story about accessing reproductive care after experiencing a stillbirth. In doing so, she pointed out how anti-abortion politicians and legislators fail to see the medical necessity of abortion in instances such as hers. “We can be the nation that rolls back the clock, that rolls back the rights of women, and that strips them of their very liberty.
Amy Littlefield on Oklahoma’s New Total Abortion Ban & the Long Fight Ahead After Roe Falls
After a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion revealed the intention to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion has increasingly become a state issue, with conservative states criminalizing the procedure. Oklahoma approved a bill on Thursday that outlaws almost all abortions beginning at fertilization. The measure is modeled after a Texas ban that encourages private citizens to sue abortion providers and people who assist in abortions.
2022 Midterms: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota And Texas Primaries Held Tuesday
Georgia takes center stage as Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger try to fight back challengers endorsed by Trump.
Harris, Surgeon General Warn Health Care Workers Are Burned Out From COVID-19 Pandemic
“After two years of COVID-19 and more than 1 million precious lives lost, the people we all turn to to keep us safe, to comfort us and help us heal, they have been pushed to their limits.
Trump Had A Phase Where He Was Perpetually Paranoid About Getting Pied: Report
“For some reason that upset Mr. Trump terribly,” Trump’s ex-attorney, Michael Cohen, reportedly said of Trump’s obsession with projectile pie.
Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Candidate David McCormick Sues Over Mail Ballots
David McCormick’s campaign is suing in a Pennsylvania court over his neck-and-neck Republican primary contest for the U.S. Senate against celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Ukraine Update: Danish anti-ship Harpoon missiles on their way to Ukraine
After two days of futility, Russia finally picked up some new ground today.
Updates: 🇷🇺 advanced further South of Popasna and captured Myronivs’kyi. There is fighting ongoing in Lyman after 🇷🇺 forces entered the city’s outskirts. pic.twitter.com/AiS5Ys7cqT— Ukraine War Map (@War_Mapper) May 24, 2022
Lyman’s fate is sealed, on the wrong side of the Donets. Hopefully civilians have fully evacuated.
News Roundup: Sen. Bill Cassidy’s racism; Texas GOP barrels towards anti-capitalist theocracy
It’s been a day of Republican politicians being just gawdawful, even compared to the normal gawdawful. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s defense of his state’s horrific maternal death rates—with a claim that the rate wouldn’t be as bad if you just excluded his state’s Black residents—might be one for the record books.
David Perdue Attacks Stacey Abrams As ‘Demeaning Her Own Race’ In Racist Remarks
The GOP candidate for Georgia governor said Abrams should “go back to where she came from,” while campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
So when are the RNC and Fox News going to apologize to Pete Davidson?
Pete Davidson bid an emotional farewell to Saturday Night Live this past weekend. He was the youngest cast member ever hired, arriving in 2014 at age 20. He joked, “Back then, I was just, like, a skinny kid and no one knew what race I was. And now everyone knows I’m white because I became hugely successful while barely showing up to work.
Pennsylvania is revealing Republicans to be nothing but opportunistic, seditious liars
So we’re knee deep in potential recount territory in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On one side we have a TV huckster named Mehmet Oz; on the other, a former hedge fund CEO named Dave McCormick. It seems that Republican voters despised both of these clowns about equally (even in spite of Trump’s endorsement of Oz, a fellow erstwhile Hollywood It-Boy) so much that both of them bled support to a right-wing, apparent bigot named Kathy Barnette.
Cinemark theaters to host a propaganda film aimed at undermining U.S. democracy
Far-right conspiracy crank Dinesh D’Souza is back with yet another conspiracy theory to promote, and if you haven’t heard much about the Republican propagandist’s newest film, it’s because it is extremely, unfathomably stupid. 2000 Mules achieved a level of stupidity so stupid that D’Souza can’t even get Fox News to jump in with the usual publicity boost. It’s a train wreck.
Letter: Free Speech for All Is Still Our Mission
The ACLU Has Lost Its Way“The ACLU now seems largely unable or unwilling to uphold its core values,” wrote Lara Bazelon earlier this month, arguing that the civil-liberties organization has neglected its central purpose of defending freedom of speech without partisanship in favor of a broad embrace of progressive causes.Lara Bazelon accuses the American Civil Liberties Union of having lost its way. We have not.
We Take Ourselves Out to the Ball Game
Kaitlyn: I need to be careful so you don’t think I’m speaking hyperbolically. These are my real feelings: Coney Island is heaven on earth. I think if “they” ever touched it—if they ever tore things down and put boring things in their place—that would be it for me. My heart would be broken.
What Travel Can, and Cannot, Teach Us
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. Every Monday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Last week, I asked readers what they’ve learned while traveling away from home. I was surprised so few of you responded, because there’s such a rich history of answers to this question.
What Is Life Like When We Subtract Work From It?
If you’ve ever wondered whether a life without work would be blissful, well, Lorie Kloda can confirm that it pretty much is.Kloda really likes her job as a university librarian in Montreal, but she still really liked not doing it for a year. During a paid sabbatical that ended this spring, she deleted the work-communication apps from her phone and regularly forgot what day of the week it was; she read, went to museums, picked up tennis. She stopped getting the Sunday scaries.
“His Name Is George Floyd”: Two Years After Police Murder, His Life & the Struggle for Racial Justice
This week marks the second anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd. We speak with Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, who have just published an in-depth new book, “His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” that tells the story of structural racism in the U.S. through Floyd’s own story. “This is an American story.
Greenslide: Climate Crisis Spurs Green-Labor Win in Australian Election Over Pro-Coal, Right-Wing PM
In what is being described as a “greenslide,” voters in Australia topple the prime minister, ending nearly a decade of conservative rule. The main issue? Climate change. Voters elected Anthony Albanese of the center-left Labor Party as their new prime minister on Saturday, ousting the right-wing, pro-coal Scott Morrison, who had served as Australia’s prime minister since 2018.
Pfizer, BioNTech report 80 percent efficacy of Covid-19 vaccine for youngest children
The companies plan to finish submitting data to the Food and Drug Administration this week.
State Democrats, abortion-rights activists ‘incredibly frustrated’ with federal inaction
Democratic inaction at the federal level could complicate the party’s efforts to run this fall as champions of reproductive rights.
‘Uterus surveillance’: The scramble to keep abortion data from prying eyes
Telemedicine groups are looking to bolster privacy protections ahead of Roe decision.
An Obamacare fiasco could blow up on Democrats right before the midterms
It could all come down to … Joe Manchin.
CDC recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 booster for kids 5-11
The committee found that the vaccine has largely been safe for that population of children, with incidents of myocarditis and other rare adverse events lower compared to older kids.
U.S. inflation hit 8.3% last month but slows from 40-year high
On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months.
Fed set to launch fresh assault on inflation in new era for economy
Rates this year could reach their highest levels since before the 2008 Wall Street crash if surging prices continue.
Surprise GDP slump undercuts White House recovery story
The government said gross domestic product shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first quarter.
U.S. economy shrank by 1.4 percent in Q1 but consumers kept spending
The steady spending suggested the economy could keep expanding this year even though the Federal Reserve plans to raise rates aggressively to fight the inflation surge.
After Which Failed Pregnancy Should I Have Been Imprisoned? Rep. Lucy McBath on Reproductive Rights
During a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Democratic Congressmember Lucy McBath of Georgia shared her personal story about accessing reproductive care after experiencing a stillbirth. In doing so, she pointed out how anti-abortion politicians and legislators fail to see the medical necessity of abortion in instances such as hers. “We can be the nation that rolls back the clock, that rolls back the rights of women, and that strips them of their very liberty.