Today's Liberal News

“Free Speech Issue”: Meet the Arkansas Publisher & ACLU Lawyer Asking SCOTUS to Overturn Anti-BDS Law

The ACLU is asking the Supreme Court to overturn an Arkansas anti-BDS law that penalizes state contractors unless they pledge not to boycott the state of Israel. Arkansas is one of more than 30 U.S. states to have passed “copycat” legislation to criminalize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to boycott Israel and Israeli goods to protest its violation of Palestinian rights.

Intentional Disinvestment: EPA Launches Civil Rights Probe of Water Crisis in Mostly-Black Jackson, Mississippi

The Environmental Protection Agency is launching a civil rights investigation into whether the state of Mississippi discriminated against the majority-Black capital of Jackson when it refused to use federal funds to address the city’s dangerous water crisis. Mississippi has received federal funds to address drinking water needs since 1996 but distributed funds to Jackson just three times over this 26-year span.

The Fetterman-Oz Debate Was a Rorschach Test

Why did John Fetterman’s team agree to tonight’s debate? Because declining it likely seemed a worse option. For all of Mehmet Oz’s carpetbaggery, medical quackery, and general charlatanism, he got that much right near the end of the first and only Pennsylvania debate for U.S. Senate: Voters really do want to see both candidates face off.Fetterman used to talk one way, he had a stroke, and now he talks another way.

John Fetterman summarizes Mehmet Oz’s entire existence with a simple phrase

Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz faced off in their one and only debate Tuesday night. After a rough start where Fetterman’s lack of experience in being a fast-talking fraud doctor was in contrast to his fast-talking hack doctor opponent, he began righting the ship. In a nice exchange where Mehmet Oz side-stepped a question about how most doctors consider Dr.

Ukraine update: Russia’s leverage over Europe has disintegrated even faster than its army

Back in August, Bloomberg carried a piece titled “welcome to Europe’s dark, cold winter.” It warned that even if countries were able to find gas to fill their storage facilities, it might not prevent a winter filled with blackouts, business closures,  and an economy in freefall. That’s because prices were soaring and “replenishing storage and reducing demand still may not be enough.

Oath Keeper defense laden with conspiracy theory; plus witness testimony from Capitol Police

Day 15 of the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial featured defense attorneys making repeated implications that it was U.S. Capitol Police who invited rioters inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. 

This is a conspiracy theory long-debunked and easily disproven with the viewing of less than 20 minutes of closed-circuit security footage from the eastern rotunda door, for one. That footage is embedded below, courtesy of NBC News.

‘Pollsters are holding their breath’ as Beltway journalists declare victory for Republicans

Beltway journalists seem pretty convinced at this point that Republicans are resurgent in the closing weeks of the midterms while Democrats are in for a “shellacking.”

Much of that certainty seems to have been cemented by the New York Times/Siena college survey released early last week, which found Republicans leading Democrats by 3 points among likely voters in the generic ballot.

Hurting Democracy Won’t Help the Economy

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 races in the midterm are tightening up, but everyone who cares about democracy should resist the urge to turn the election into a referendum on inflation.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

It’s a Bad Time to Be a Booster Slacker

And just like that, with the passing of Labor Day, fall was upon us. Seemingly overnight, six-packs of pumpkin beer materialized on grocery shelves, hordes of city dwellers descended upon apple orchards—and America rolled out new COVID boosters. The timing wasn’t a coincidence. Since the beginning of the pandemic, cases in North America and Europe have risen during the fall and winter, and there was no reason to expect anything different this year.

One Store’s Decision to Leave San Francisco Over Crime

Hayes Valley is an aspirational neighborhood located in central San Francisco, the main strip of which is lined with trendy stores and restaurants. It’s also a neighborhood where, according to Davis Smith, the CEO of the outdoor-gear brand Cotopaxi, retailers have begun to lock their doors during the day for fear of being robbed in broad daylight.

Ralph Nader Throws Support to Democrats Ahead of Midterms But Warns the Party’s Message Is Failing

With U.S. midterm elections less than two weeks away, Democrats hoping to keep control of Congress and make gains in state governments are facing significant political headwinds — even in supposedly safe blue states like New York, where the race for governor has tightened ahead of the November 8 vote. For more, we speak with political organizer Mark Green and four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader, co-authors of a new report titled “Crushing the GOP, 2022.

“Democracy Demands We Participate”: Black Voters Mobilize for Midterms Amid GOP-Led Voter Suppression

We speak to law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw and civil rights attorney Barbara Arnwine, who are on an Arc of Voter Justice bus tour of 26 cities across the country to increase Black voter turnout at critical midterm elections in November. They discuss fighting voter suppression and racial gerrymandering, and the high stakes in states where Republicans have instated bans on what they describe as critical race theory.

House progressives join the crazy #MAGA cult on Ukraine

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UPDATE: Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022 · 12:49:38 AM +00:00 · kos

Good points: 

And lastly – it’s really fucking depressing that some people have learnt nothing from history, nothing at all.— Anastasiia Lapatina (@lapatina_) October 24, 2022

She also notes:

These democrats want “a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties that will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine”. This is the problem.