Biden’s mounting midterm threat: Inflation angst outweighing historic job growth
White House officials deny any sense of panic over the economy or their midterm chances.
Today's Liberal News
Democrats want to crack down on Wall Street. Guess who’s getting in the way.
The administration’s difficulties in getting bank cop nominees through a Democratic-controlled Senate underscore the fault lines within the party over how to approach financial regulation.
Opinion | When It Comes to Inflation, Our Focus Should Be On the Cost of Housing
The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates — but Congress has a chance to bring real relief.
Ukraine update: Spring rains arrive; Ukrainian defenders prepare for potentially ‘decisive’ battles
Today has seen little evident movement in Ukraine—literally—as spring rains fall on much of the region, kicking off “mud season” in the flat farmlands of eastern Ukraine. Behind those frontlines, both Russian attackers and Ukrainian defense forces are continuing to frantically rush whatever equipment they can to the Donbas in preparation for what may be the decisive campaign of the war.
Mass shooting during rush hour at Brooklyn subway station, suspect still at-large
Multiple people were shot this morning at the 36th Street stop in Sunset Park.
Preliminary reports indicated that five people were shot, a law enforcement official said. The police were seeking a man with a gas mask and an orange construction vest, the official said.
Initial reports say several undetonated devices were found inside the subway station.
Ukraine update: Russia has issues with logistics and command, but there’s one more factor
We seem to be having Russian History Month. There has been the head of the Russian orthodox church reaching back 900 years to claim that neither Ukraine nor the Ukrainian church is “real.” Vladimir Putin has insisted that Ukraine is not a country because it “illegally left” the USSR. And on Tuesday, Russian diplomats insisted that Japan pay them back for gold supposedly stolen in 1920.
Pastor and founder of Christian school arrested for taping kids’ mouths shut as form of ‘discipline’
Pastor John Raymond, a one-time Survivor contestant and former Republican candidate for the Louisiana House, was arrested last week and charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after taping children’s mouths shut for talking too much in class, The Washington Post reported. The incident took place on March 17, but Raymond was not arrested until Thursday after police investigated the issue and he turned himself in.
Ex-Roger Stone Aide Caught On Tape Making Shady Plea To Trump Fans Before Jan. 6
Jason Sullivan reportedly encouraged extremists to “descend on the Capitol” on the day Congress convened to certify the election.
Pro-Trump pastor threatens to use ‘Second Amendment right’ against ‘Democrat games’
Back in 2016, when Donald Trump was campaigning to be governor of Vladimir Putin’s new vassal state, the Democratic People’s Republic of Ivankaland (fka the United States), he made a truly shocking statement suggesting that America’s “Second Amendment people” could stop a future President Hillary Clinton from picking Supreme Court justices.
Democratic Super PAC’s Investment In Oregon Race Stirs Controversy
Carrick Flynn, a political newcomer running against a diverse set of candidates, already has the support of a cryptocurrency billionaire.
Joe Biden Calls Russia’s Deadly Attack On Ukraine ‘Genocide’
The president had previously condemned Russia for committing war crimes in its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
DOJ Denies Jan. 6 Panel Details In Trump Records Probe
The Justice Department’s decision is part of an effort to protect confidential information that may compromise an ongoing investigation, a source told the Associated Press.
GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn Gets Schooled On U.S. Geography After Border Wall Plea
The Tennessee Republican appeared confused about the location of her home state while alluding to former President Donald Trump’s now-defunct project.
Happy Tax Season, Crypto Bros
Ever since the NFT boom began last year, non-fungible tokens—the blockchain-linked digital files that can contain, well, anything—have escaped easy definition. After an artist working under the name Beeple sold a piece of NFT artwork for $69 million at auction last March, pieces as varied as concert tickets and pictures of ape heads started trading for sums that would fetch houses.
Nine Books That Came to Fame Slowly
Haruki Murakami’s fifth book, Norwegian Wood, was a sensation in Japan when it was first released in 1987. Despite its success, it wasn’t widely available in English until 2000. The gap between its publication and its popular translation is surprising in hindsight, but few people outside the author’s home country had heard of him until the later English releases of some of his other works.
These Dreadful Days
Sign up for Molly’s newsletter, Wait, What?, here.“We probably didn’t get COVID in there,” I said to my two doctor friends, grimacing as we put on our masks to board the elevator after a party for parents of kids attending my daughter’s school, where we’d been maskless. Most people I know are vaccinated, and many of them had Omicron in December when seemingly everyone in New York City got Omicron.
Among Europe’s Ex-Royals
Photographs by Jelka von LangenOne peculiarity of European aristocrats is that their names pile up, like snowdrifts. It’s lunchtime in Tirana, the capital of Albania, and I am about to meet Leka Anwar Zog Reza Baudouin Msiziwe Zogu, crown prince of the Albanians.The Albanian royal residence is easy to miss, tucked away on a quiet side street behind the national art museum.
This Is the War’s Decisive Moment
The relatively brief but bloody war in Ukraine is entering its fourth phase.
STDs are surging. The funding to fight them is not.
The latest figures follow Congress’ decision last month to provide far less funding to sexual health clinics that provide free and subsidized testing.
U.S. inflation jumped 8.5 percent in past year, highest since 1981
Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Pandemic, Inc.”: J. David McSwane on Chasing Capitalists & Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick
In “Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick,” ProPublica investigative reporter J. David McSwane tracks pandemic federal relief funds and finds many contracts to acquire critical supplies were wrapped up in unprecedented fraud schemes that left the U.S. government with subpar and unusable equipment.
Yemen Peace Deal “Positive Development” as Port Reopens, But Houthis Excluded from Talks
A U.N.-brokered two-month truce in Yemen is now in its second week. The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels both agreed to halt all offensive operations inside Yemen and across its borders. Fuel ships are now being allowed to enter into Hodeidah ports, and the airport in Sana’a is reopening. Over the past six years, the U.N. estimates the war in Yemen has killed nearly 400,000 people — many from hunger.
Saudis Give $2 Billion to Jared Kushner; Turkey Suspends Trial of Saudis Accused of Killing Khashoggi
We speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), about Turkey’s recent decision to suspend the trial of 26 Saudi men accused of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. DAWN sued Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his alleged conspirators in the murder.
Lev Golinkin on Russia’s New Offensive & War Crimes in the Donbas by Both Sides over Past 8 Years
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he fears Russian President Vladimir Putin will intensify the brutality of the war, as Russia prepares to launch a major offensive in eastern Ukraine, after the two leaders met on Monday. This comes as thousands of Ukrainians continue to flee the eastern region, though many are afraid to leave by train after a missile attack on a train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed at least 57 people on Saturday.
Fauci: No particular reason to fear for Biden’s health
“The protocols to protect the president are pretty strong,” he said.
Republicans see CDC’s policy change as ‘massive political loser for Democrats’
The GOP is openly discussing tying Biden administration’s scrapping of Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic border policy, to a range of other voter concerns.
Narrow Aduhelm coverage sparks debate over viability of future treatments
Experts are divided over the impact of Medicare’s decision for Alzheimer’s drugs and other difficult diseases.
Psaki: Student loan borrowers likely to have to pay debt ‘sometime’
The Biden administration recently extended a Covid-related pause on repayments.
Biden’s mounting midterm threat: Inflation angst outweighing historic job growth
White House officials deny any sense of panic over the economy or their midterm chances.
Democrats want to crack down on Wall Street. Guess who’s getting in the way.
The administration’s difficulties in getting bank cop nominees through a Democratic-controlled Senate underscore the fault lines within the party over how to approach financial regulation.