Today's Liberal News

Texas Gov. Abbott abandons over 100 asylum seekers on D.C. street on a subfreezing Christmas Eve

Republican elected officials continue to compete with each other with stunts of premeditated evil. On Christmas Eve, three busloads of asylum-seeking adult and child refugees were unloaded on the street outside the Naval Observatory, the vice presidential residence in Washington, D.C.

It was 18 degrees, on Christmas Eve, and many of the migrants were not dressed for winter weather. After the migrants boarded the buses two days ago in Texas, they were abandoned on a D.C.

Finding joy amid the trauma of that Christmas I spent at a homeless shelter

This story first appeared on Daily Kos on Dec. 24, 2020, and its reception has cemented it as an annual holiday tradition. I was so touched this spring when first this tale of my seventh-grade Christmas was nominated, then won an honorable mention in the 20th Anniversary Koscars Personal Essay category.

This story is true, and it’s important to me, as it offers a glimpse into the extremes of life and how rapidly we can veer between them.

Ukraine Extra: The one television series that best explains the march into authoritarianism

UPDATE: Sunday, Dec 25, 2022 · 10:28:08 PM +00:00

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kos

Christmas Eve on the front line pic.twitter.com/n6OtITz2dy— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas, everyone.

This might not seen at first to have much to do with Ukraine. There’s not a tank or APC in sight and though there are drones, they’re of a very different sort. Still, hang with me for a moment.

A Black Birch in Winter

Illustrations by Miki LoweNot everyone appreciated Richard Wilbur. The second poet laureate of the United States, he was the recipient of multiple Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award. Still, plenty of readers thought he was … a little meh. One New York Times reviewer said that reading Wilbur’s collection The Mind-Reader was like conversing with “an old friend whose talk is genial but familiar—and occasionally dull.

Ukraine Unplugged

Every morning my brown terrier, Hans, comes to wake me in the dark. As he jumps around impatiently, hurrying me up for a morning walk, I glance at my light switch’s electricity indicator. If it shines blue, I am lucky: The electricity is back. I can brush my teeth using tap water before the walk. But if the blue indicator is off, that means no water, no light, and no central heating. On those days, I launch into a new routine that involves cold bottled water and flashlights.

The Cynic’s Dilemma

Hopefully this isn’t horribly apparent, but this piece was a slog to write. It required overcoming my professional disposition, resisting my cognitive wiring, and drying out from a certain website that I used to fiendishly inhale.For a long moment in global politics, the planet seemed to be hurtling toward authoritarianism. It was terrifying, but I found myself strangely suited for apocalyptic times.

A Year of Botched Executions

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.This year, the state of Alabama botched three consecutive executions by lethal injection: One man died after three hours of apparent torture, while two others lived. “The state’s incompetence,” Elizabeth Bruenig wrote last month, is “a civil-rights crisis.

“The Quest to Defuse Guyana’s Carbon Bomb”: Meet the Environmental Lawyer Taking On ExxonMobil

We speak with Guyanese environmental lawyer Melinda Janki about how she’s taking on the oil giant ExxonMobil to stop the company from developing an offshore oil field that would turn Guyana into a “carbon bomb.” Guyana is currently a carbon sink, but Exxon plans to produce more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, which could transform the South American country into one of the world’s top oil producers by 2030.

“This Is a Racial Backlash”: Stanford Prof. Hakeem Jefferson on Role of White Supremacy in Capitol Attack

The House select committee on the January 6 attack released its final 845-page report Thursday, and the word “racism” appears only once throughout the entire document — despite the central role white supremacist groups played in the insurrection. “Those who stormed the Capitol … didn’t merely come in defense of Donald Trump,” says Stanford professor Hakeem Jefferson, an expert on issues of race and identity in American politics.

“The Central Cause of January 6th Was One Man”: House Panel Urges Trump Be Banned from Public Office

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol released its final 845-page report on the insurrection at the Capitol and Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The report names former President Trump as the central cause of the insurrection and calls for expanded efforts by the government to combat far-right and white supremacist groups.

“We Are at a Precipice as a Nation”: Cornel West & Christina Greer on Jan. 6 Insurrection & More

We speak with Fordham University political science professor Christina Greer and theologian Cornel West about the January 6 committee’s recommendation that former President Donald Trump and his allies be criminally charged for their role in the insurrection and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “Just because it’s unprecedented doesn’t mean that we can’t have prosecutions,” says Greer.

Ukraine update: Revisiting my pre-war look at the looming Russian invasion. Let’s see how it held up

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Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Six days prior, I wrote a preview of the coming war. Now, at the end of 2022, it’s as good a time as any to see how well it has held up. I’m reading it fresh right now as I write, and I will make bracketed editorial notes in italics as I react to my predictions. Theoretically this should be fun, so let’s have at it!

Putin has backed himself into a lose-lose corner.

A reader poll chose two Hallmark holiday movies to watch. Here are my reactions

Two winners emerged from the recent poll on a piece I wrote about made-for-TV holiday movies in the Hallmark-Lifetime vein. The question was which movies I, or we, should watch, and the answers were Hanukkah on Rye by a landslide, followed by Christmas at the Golden Dragon.

Notably, both of these—though actual Hallmark productions—were big departures from the formula.

Ukraine update: The battle for Svatove approaches as Ukraine reportedly liberates four more villages

UPDATE: Saturday, Dec 24, 2022 · 9:45:52 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

#NewsMap Great news from #Opytne, just south of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces regained around 80% of the settlement. pic.twitter.com/FDsbTIjoJG— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) December 24, 2022

The latest advances show that Ukraine has reportedly liberated a series of four villages just west of Svatove.

The real reason for the attack on libraries

 I have an unshaken conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of utilizing them.

–Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a letter to publisher Herbert Putnam

When people list the worst jobs to have, few would probably have picked being a librarian in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Merry Christmas

It’s that time again, Christmas Eve, with everyone gathered round the fire with their liquid warmer of choice and visions of sugar plums. Here’s your slightly more eco-friendly hearth. May your holiday and your new year be full of warmth, love, and happiness.

YouTube Video

(P.S. If you want a little more action in your evening’s background, head below the fold.)

Here’s what the Oklahoma Humane Society presented for Giving Tuesday this year.