In Trans People, GOP Candidates Find Latest ‘Wedge Issue’
Political observers say Republican candidates are using transgender people as a classic “wedge issue” as 2022 campaigns heat up.
Today's Liberal News
NIMBYism Reaches Its Apotheosis
Phil Bokovoy, a former investment banker and ardent community activist, is giving me a tour of his neighborhood, Elmwood, in Berkeley, California. It is some kind of paradise.
‘Netwar’ Could Be Even Worse Than Cyberwar
The Russia-Ukraine conflict could trigger a massive cyberwar, New Scientist surmised. An unprecedented cyberwar is likely, Senator Marco Rubio warned. The hacker group Anonymous has allegedly launched a cyberwar against the Russian government.Cyberwar sounds bad—and it is. Broadly, it names the global threat of combat mixed with computer stuff.
Trayvon Martin’s Death Launched A Generation Of Activists. 10 Years Later, They’re Still Fighting.
Martin’s death and George Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal were among the first outrages that spurred a new movement against police and vigilante violence.
CDC relaunching Covid tracker with an eye on eased mandates
The shift comes weeks after state and local officials began forging ahead with their own plans to drop mask measures and vaccination requirements.
Russia oil shock looms over Fed inflation fight
The Fed is already expected to begin a campaign of interest rate increases next month in a bid to remove its support for economic growth amid a blistering job market and rapidly rising prices.
Biden takes victory lap with January jobs report
“America’s job machine is going stronger than ever,” Biden said at the White House.
U.S. employers shrug off Omicron, add 467,000 jobs in January
The burst of jobs came despite a wave of Omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed.
Opinion | Why Are Minority-Owned Banks Disappearing? Washington Holds the Smoking Gun
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Biden’s first year: A tale of 2 presidencies
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Speaks At White Nationalist Conference
The congresswoman from Georgia spoke at the America First Political Action Conference, organized by white nationalist “groyper” leader Nick Fuentes.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Insists 2020 Election Was Rigged, But ‘No, I Don’t Know How’
“I know for a fact there was so much wrong in that election, and I believe it was stolen,” Greene said at CPAC, but added: “Do I know how? No, I don’t know how.
CPAC Is Not Registered As A Foreign Agent, But Is Taking Money From Foreign Interests Anyway
CPAC and its chairman, Matt Schlapp, have drawn a complaint for taking money from a South Korean partner that is lobbying against a U.S. bill at the conference.
Biden’s Offshore Wind Sale Brings In Record $4.3 Billion
This week’s auction grossed more than any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history, according to the Interior Department.
19 States Have Zero Black Female State Senators
Black women are sorely underrepresented in state legislatures. There are also currently zero Black women in the U.S. Senate.
How Inflation Hits Home
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely, intriguing conversations and solicits reader responses to one question of the moment. Every Friday, he publishes some of your most thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Earlier this week, I quoted criticism of Canada’s use of emergency powers to end the trucker protests.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for more ‘political will’ on Covid, future pandemics
For more than a year, WTO members have discussed a possible agreement on a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver.
CDC says most Americans can now take off masks as Covid cases plummet
The announcement comes after weeks of deliberation about what metrics officials should use in deciding when and how to ease public health restrictions.
Eight Books That Reevaluate American History
Zora Neale Hurston once observed that America’s most prominent historical narratives prioritize “all these words from the seller, but not one word from the sold.” Much of American life is built on the knowledge and labor of Black people, especially those who were once enslaved.
FTC’s top economist resigned amid dispute over pharma study
Marta Wosinska, the FTC’s Bureau of Economics director, resigned on Feb. 16, a day before the FTC planned to vote on a study into pharmacy benefit managers.
Russia Probably Won’t Cut Off Europe’s Gas, Because It’s ‘Essentially an Act of War’
No fossil fuel is more important to understanding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than natural gas. Russia sells gas to Europe via pipelines; Europe relies on it to heat its buildings, power its industry, and generate electricity.
Abortion pill use spikes in Texas as thousands of patients circumvent state’s ban
Orders for the drugs from an international nonprofit spiked 1,180 percent in the first week after the Texas law took effect in September.
Our Millennial Space Telescope Hasn’t Burned Out Yet
At this moment, about a million miles from Earth, the world’s most powerful space telescope is making tiny adjustments to its mirrors, aligning the shiny tiles just so. Soon, the starlight will come into focus for the James Webb Space Telescope, and the observatory will begin to make sense of it. Thousands of astronomers are simply buzzing, eager to see the marvels that Webb might pick out of the darkness.
When Work Is a Terrifying Dystopia
Many people’s experience of work over the past two years, amid a global pandemic, has been one of invasion: Their job has infiltrated the personal sphere, colonizing space that used to be distinct. Apple TV+’s new series Severance jarringly reverses this impression. The show’s setup imagines a complete split between work and life, a “severance” between one’s professional and private selves.
As Russia Seizes Chernobyl Site, Ukraine’s 15 Nuclear Reactors Pose Unprecedented Risk in War Zone
Russian military activity near Ukraine’s nuclear sites have raised alarm, as triggering any of the volatile reactors around the country could cause nuclear catastrophe for the entire European continent. Russian troops have seized the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and have reportedly taken staff hostage, raising fear that any disturbance could rerelease deadly radiation that has been sealed off for years.
Katrina vanden Heuvel on Putin’s “Indefensible” Invasion & Why NATO Is at the Root of Ukraine Crisis
The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, who has reported on Russia for decades, says many observers were “shocked” that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, calling it an “indefensible” decision. President Biden ordered strong sanctions on Russia in response, but he has also heeded critics’ warnings not to send troops to Ukraine in order to avoid a world war.
Ukrainian Peace Activist: My Country Has Become a Battlefield for Major Powers. End the War Now
As officials in Moscow threaten to replace the democratically elected Ukrainian government and Russian forces appear set to overpower Ukrainian defenses, is this the end of an independent Ukraine? We speak with Ukrainian peace activist Nina Potarska, who fled the country after Russian troops entered Ukraine on Thursday, even as her 11-year-old daughter with COVID-19 had to stay behind.
A City Under Siege: Ukrainian Journalist in Kyiv Speaks Out as Russian Troops Move In on Capital
As the Russian army advances on Kyiv and threatens to topple the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian officials have banned men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country to potentially be drafted into defense forces and have directed residents to use Molotov cocktails against the approaching Russian troops. We get an update from Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk in Kyiv, who says Ukrainians are showing great resilience against a much greater force invading their country.
More GOP states now wagering on vaccine ‘passports’ technology
The technology had been touted by supporters as a way to facilitate safer reopening after pandemic-related shutdowns.
States push 15-week abortion bans as the right argues over a post-Roe strategy
Legislators say they’re taking what they see as a politically and legally safer approach, even if it means the vast majority of abortions in their states could still take place.