Today's Liberal News

Midterms go to the party out of power, but as Roe decision shows, Democrats aren’t actually in power

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It doesn’t matter what state you live in: Our federal protections to the right abortion care, and the underpinning right to privacy that ensures access to contraception, marriage equality, and other civil rights—and even interracial marriage—is now gone.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy already said he’ll be pushing for a national abortion ban. (Well, he says 15-week ban today, but we know they all lie, and what their true intentions are.

Ukraine Update: The inevitable happens, as Ukraine quits Severodonetsk

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Military historians will someday debate the wisdom of defending Severodonetsk. I debated the pros and cons with myself. Regardless of that final judgement, the battle is over. Ukraine withdrew the last of its forces across the river overnight, ceding yet another worthless pile of rubble to the Russian invaders. Hopefully, the cost to defend it was worth it.

News Roundup: Supreme Court takes away a majority of Americans’ reproductive rights

It is Friday. We knew it would be bad. We all hoped for a miracle. There are no miracles, just work to be done. The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—most likely leaked by a conservative clerk hoping to secure the votes of theocratic members on the Court—was made official today in a ruling that undoes 50 years of established law protecting reproductive rights in our country. The decision, a 6-3 ruling to overturn Roe v.

Dear Pelosi and Schumer: Cancel recess. Expand the court. Nuke the filibuster

Democratic lawmakers’ response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s destruction of reproductive rights for the nation has been, let’s say less than urgent. Less than cognizant of the absolute earthquake that just rocked us. Less than aware that we are all looking to them to DO. SOMETHING.

Start with canceling recess. Start with acknowledging that the nation is on fire and that it is their job to start putting the fire out.

They Really Did It

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.I remember the days when my fellow conservatives hated activist judges and fulminated against attempts to gain in the courts what could not be won at the ballot box; today, a new kind of “conservative” is cheering a radical unraveling of women’s rights.

The Pro-Life Movement’s Work Is Just Beginning

The entire legal and cultural ethos of the pro-life movement can be summed up in two sentences: A just society protects all life. A moral society values all life.Justice is thus necessary but not sufficient for a culture of life. The pro-life movement should greet the reversal of Roe v. Wade with a spirit of gratitude. The people of this country have, for the first time in almost 50 years, an opportunity to enact laws that truly protect the lives of unborn children.

Elvis Is Utterly Disorienting. That’s the Point.

Baz Luhrmann is a filmmaker who picks subjects as extravagant as the genre allows. When he made a teen romance, it was William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. His musical Moulin Rouge was scored with love songs from nearly every pop era. For a literary adaptation, he went with the totemic, supposedly unadaptable The Great Gatsby. He’s an Australian director who made a movie about Australia and literally called it Australia.

If the Supreme Court Can Reverse Roe, It Can Reverse Anything

For months and even years I have seen this coming, and yet the reality of the Supreme Court’s decision is still a shock. How can it be that people had a constitutional right for nearly half a century, and now no more? How can it not matter that Americans consistently signaled that they did not want this to happen, and even so this has happened?The Court’s answer is that Roe is different.

Without Choice

This poem is a cento, consisting entirely of lines from other poems, compiled here in chorus. Some punctuation and tenses have been changed. I’m grateful to these poets for their lines, each attributed at the bottom of the page.Soon enough, the whole small
city of my being will demolish—
Without choice, no politics,
          no ethics lives.
I hold my grief like two limp
tulips.

Guess Which Republican Congressmembers Sought Pardons After Trying to Help Trump Subvert Vote

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol revealed Thursday that six Republican members of Congress who supported Donald Trump’s lies sought broad presidential pardons for their involvement in the campaign to discredit the election results: Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona.

“Pure Insanity”: Trump Pushed DOJ to Chase Absurd Conspiracy Theories to Overturn 2020 Election

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has revealed new details about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to help him stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. In the committee’s fifth televised public hearing Thursday, former top DOJ officials testified about how Trump urged the department to seize voting machines and declare the election results corrupt.