Today's Liberal News

Kevin McCarthy’s Predicament Is a Warning

Kevin McCarthy’s humiliation, and that of Donald Trump alongside him, offers a tall draft of schadenfreude. At the end of that, though, the nation is left with an empty glass and a bitter taste.For many reasons, McCarthy is unfit for the speakership: He undermined the 2020 election, he is dishonest, he is (as we see) unable to marshal his caucus. But his defectors aren’t really interested in a speaker who is able to keep the House organized or functional.

The Inflated Risk of Vaccine-Induced Cardiac Arrest

During this week’s Monday Night Football game, the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed moments after making a routine defensive play. Hamlin seemed to have suffered a blow to his chest shortly before losing consciousness from cardiac arrest, and his condition is grave. The source of his illness remains unclear. A study of sudden cardiac events in U.S.

Are Sports Worth the Risks?

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.

Should Football Be Banned? Former NFL Player Donté Stallworth & Sports Reporter Bill Rhoden Weigh In

Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday during an NFL game. He remains in critical condition. After making a routine tackle against an opposing Cincinnati Bengals player, the 24-year-old safety collapsed on the field. Stunned players from both teams cried, prayed and hugged as Hamlin received CPR from medical personnel before being taken to the hospital.

David Dayen: Biden Will Need to Use Executive Action for Democrats to Get Things Done in 2023

With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives and vowing to fight President Biden’s agenda, journalist David Dayen says Democrats will need to get comfortable using executive action, as a raft of major legislation passed in the previous Congress will need to be put into action by the executive branch. “The next year, the next two years, isn’t going to be about legislative action,” says Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.

Kevin’s big day: Ongoing humiliation. House adjourns with no speaker elected

The vote for House Speaker continues, moving to round three in with Kevin McCarthy’s hapless bid to lead the tiny minority in the new Congress. This is the first time in 100 years that the Speaker was not elected on the first ballot, something that’s only happened 14 times in history.

Stick with us for as long as this goes, and watch all the fun on C-SPAN. We could be here for days.

Heartless QAnon conspirators show they don’t care about the truth or Damar Hamlin’s family

If you’ve watched sports for years, you’ve unfortunately seen some truly tough moments where everyone in the stadium paused, held hands, and hoped for the best for an injured player. The player could be from the home or away team, but in the end, they are human beings with family members watching, and we all gathered our support to keep our thoughts and/or prayers with them.

Immigration roundup: SCOTUS blocks Title 42 end, migrants dumped on Christmas, Yemen TPS extension

The biggest news today is undoubtedly whether Kevin “Corrupt Bargain” McCarthy will be able to secure enough votes from the feral pack of politicians known as the Republican House caucus to fulfill his years-long quest for the House speakership. But there have also been big developments in the immigration world you have missed due to the holidays (I hope they were peaceful ones for you).

Watch prolific liar George Santos slink into the Capitol as reporters pepper him with questions

So far New York Rep.-elect George Santos, who may be a bona fide member of the House of Representatives by the time you read this, has made a series of outlandish claims: He was the original Gerber baby. He invented hummus. He spent several weeks in Valdez, Alaska, vigorously scrubbing otters—but only in the months prior to the oil spill. He resorbed five identical twins in the womb, which is why he has so many contradictory life stories.

Ukraine update: Once again, Ukraine demonstrates that intelligence is the most important weapon

UPDATE: Tuesday, Jan 3, 2023 · 8:43:05 PM +00:00

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Mark Sumner

Just a quick look at the area around Kupyansk, where nothing much seems to have changed in the last week. 

Kupyansk Area. Open in another tab for a larger view.

I’ve added red explosions to this map to note the locations that the Ukrainian Army reported as either being shelled, or repelling an attack, on Jan 2.

Russia’s Depraved Decadence

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.Over the holiday weekend, the Russians fired a wave of missiles at Ukraine—all of which Ukraine claims to have stopped in the first complete defeat of such an attack in this war. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian strike killed scores of Russians at a makeshift military headquarters.

Kevin McCarthy’s Loyalty to Trump Got Him Nothing

High-level politics is fundamentally about dealmaking. You can’t succeed as anything more than a back-bencher if you aren’t willing to make a deal with almost anyone on almost anything. In Faust, a deal with the devil is fatal; on Capitol Hill, it’s how you survive.But those “almosts” are essential, a lesson Kevin McCarthy is demonstrating this week.

Is This the Start of an AI Takeover?

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.Last week, I asked OpenAI’s GPT-3 AI chatbot what I should ask all of you about AI.

The Universe Is More in Our Hands Than Ever Before

Pity the poor astronomer. Biologists can hold examples of life in their hands. Geologists can fill specimen cabinets with rocks. Even physicists get to probe subatomic particles in laboratories built here on Earth. But across its millennia-long history, astronomy has always been a science of separation. No astronomer has stood on the shores of an alien exoplanet orbiting a distant star or viewed an interstellar nebula up close.

You’ll Miss Gerontocracy When It’s Gone

For the past two years, Washington has been under the unified control of the Democratic Party. It has also been under the control of a narrow demographic: longtime recipients of Social Security. The ruling troika of Nancy Pelosi (age 82), Chuck Schumer (72), and Joe Biden (80) has participated in politics for about a combined 140 years. The last time one of them had a job that wasn’t based on Pennsylvania Avenue was 1987.