Today's Liberal News

Dept. of Homeland Security Ramps Up Efforts to Police Online Speech on Ukraine, COVID & Afghanistan

Documents obtained by The Intercept reveal the Department of Homeland Security is working with private tech companies to fight online speech that undermines support for the U.S. government. We speak to one of the co-authors of The Intercept’s report, investigative journalist Lee Fang, who says the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act signed into law in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump expanded the government’s power to reshape online discourse.

Ukraine update: Dystopian Russia preps its children for death

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UPDATE: Tuesday, Nov 8, 2022 · 12:51:05 AM +00:00

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kos

OMG: 

Russian children’s show teaches that children deserve to die for misbehaving This atmosphere of total violence shapes people who are ready to murder, people who think it’s the norm and people who are ready to be murdered. pic.twitter.com/2PB30nS2ox— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 6, 2022

OMG.

Oath Keeper leader throws everyone under the bus during testimony, denies planning Capitol attack

The founder of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, told jurors on Monday that when he learned on Jan. 6 that members of the extremist organization went inside of the Capitol, he told them it was “stupid.”

This. broadly speaking, was a common theme on Monday for Rhodes as he came under cross-examination by U.S. prosecutors at the federal courthouse in Washington.

MIA: Signs of the oft-promised red wave

If one looks to polling as a general guide to Election Day, the ‘red wave’ scenario sold to voters as inevitable isn’t exactly panning out. The last round of polls released over the weekend continues to suggest a highly competitive midterm election that will all come down to turnout in the end.

In that regard, Democrats got some good news with the final NBC News poll of the cycle showing Democrats and Republicans locked dead even on enthusiasm at 73%.

Ron DeSantis and his voter investigation unit are having a chilling effect on Black voters

When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in April to launch what had all the makings of being a dark election-fraud special police, it was difficult to imagine it actually coming to fruition. And yet it has. In August, deputies from the department arrested 20 Floridians for allegedly voting illegally—and 15 of them (unsurprisingly) were Black voters.

All of the accused were charged with voting illegally.

Elon. Trump. Resentment.

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.The former president and the new Twitter boss are role models for voters whose concerns are not about democracy, justice, or the cost of milk, but their own bitterness.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

Elon Musk Is Bad at This

Updated at 6:55 p.m. ET on November 7, 2022Elon Musk has spent the past 12 years tweeting whatever comes into his mind, often without major negative consequences. That was before he owned the place. Now, less than two weeks after his $44 billion purchase, the world’s richest man is finding that his actions—which recently included tweeting a baseless conspiracy theory to Hillary Clinton about the assault on Paul Pelosi—may actually have consequences.

What Should Colleges Care About?

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.

10 Things Elon Musk Should Do

Twitter is dying before our eyes, and not of natural causes. Its present owner, Elon Musk, is killing it. Ego, impulsiveness, and lack of self-discipline are the proximate causes of its decline. The company is alienating advertisers, shedding valuable users, and attracting the anonymous trolls that Musk supposedly wanted to discourage.Is it too late to change course? Here are a few steps that might help.1) Hire a proper CEO with relevant business experience.

Fear of Nuclear War Has Warped the West’s Ukraine Strategy

Most of the time, when heads of state talk about nuclear war, they speak in careful, measured tones, acknowledging the gravity of the nuclear taboo and the consequences of breaking it. The Russian president takes a different approach. Speaking at his annual foreign-policy conference a few years ago, Vladimir Putin reflected, without smiling, on the consequences of a nuclear war. “We will go to heaven as martyrs,” he said, “and they will just drop dead.

Musk Fires Half of Twitter’s Workforce; Rights Orgs Urge Boycott of “Superspreader of Misinformation”

Alarm is growing over how the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, is changing Twitter after he spent $44 billion to buy the influential social media platform. Musk fired nearly half of Twitter’s workforce in a mass layoff Friday that gutted teams dedicated to human rights, artificial intelligence ethics and combating election misinformation, just days before Tuesday’s midterm election.

Voters to Decide on Abortion, Marijuana, Ranked-Choice Voting & Prison Labor in 2022 Midterm Ballot Initiatives

Across the United States, local voters will decide critical ballot initiatives related to reproductive freedom, voting rights, marijuana and slavery in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center says the initiatives like abortion could surprise some people, and says the recent Kansas vote to protect abortion shows reproductive health can transcend party lines.

Why Is AIPAC Spending Millions to Beat Summer Lee, a Democratic Socialist Running for Congress in PA?

With Democrats at risk of losing both the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterms, we speak with Justice Democrats spokesperson Waleed Shahid about the progressives favored to win congressional seats. Texas city councilmember and former labor organizer Greg Casar, Illinois state Representative Delia Ramirez and Pennsylvania community organizer Summer Lee have all been endorsed by Justice Democrats, who are best known for helping catapult members of the Squad to victory in 2018.