Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: A moment of true history worth being alive for

Hello, Friday folks! It was a week that continued to stress us out, but also one filled with the kinds of moments that remind us all of how far we have come toward achieving a greater union. It is a reminder of what can be achieved in our country, and why we must all continue to be dedicated to the unfinished work.

Will Donald Trump ever go away? Probably not as soon as most of us would like, which would have been about seven decades ago.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, the ex-White House doc who praised Trump’s ‘good genes,’ is under investigation

The GOP’s crack team of doctors (sorry, “quack” team—damn you, autocorrect!) includes such luminaries as Mehmet Oz, Ben Carson, Scott Atlas, and Ronny Jackson, the dude who turned a slovenly heap of fly-pocked Crisco into a Greek Adonis through the magic of barmy bullsh*t.

Now Jackson, who leveraged his unique proximity to Donald Trump’s eminently unkissable bum into a congressional seat, is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

‘Surely we are better than this’: Famed civil rights activist Ruby Bridges speaks out on book bans

Famed civil rights activist and author Ruby Bridges testified before Congress in a hearing Thursday titled “Free Speech Under Attack: Book Bans and Academic Censorship.”

The panel included Bridges along with three high school students, a parent, a teacher, a librarian, and vice president of academic affairs at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Dr. Jonathan W. Pidluzny.

Pop Music’s Nostalgia Obsession

The Grammys have always been more than a bit old-fashioned. The ceremony typically consists of exciting new artists covering the songs of yesteryear, interspersed with awards going to established acts over those same exciting new artists. But though reforms at the Recording Academy, which hands out the awards, have led to better representation in recent years, this past week’s Grammys renewed debate about whether they’re still too stuck in the past.

Is It Time to Start Masking Again?

Well, here we are again. After our fleeting brush with normalcy during Omicron’s retreat, another very transmissible new version of the coronavirus is on the rise—and with it, a fresh wave of vacillation between mask-donning and mask-doffing.The Omicron offshoot BA.2 is now the dominant variant around the world and in the United States. Case counts are rising in a number of states. It’s too early to tell whether BA.

The Friendship Researchers Who Are Also Friends

Each installment of “The Friendship Files” features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.This week she talks with two friends who also happen to study friendship. They met at a conference back when very few relationship scholars were focusing on the topic, and became both friends and professional collaborators.

The Books Briefing: The Fight Over What Kids Can Read

Editor’s note: This week’s newsletter is a rerun.
We’ll be back with a fresh newsletter next week.After the Capitol riot, Matt Hawn, a teacher from Tennessee, brought an Atlantic essay to class for his students to analyze: “The First White President,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Earlier the class had discussed a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin; later in the year, they watched a performance of Kyla Jenée Lacey’s poem “White Privilege.

Trita Parsi: War Could Be on Horizon If Iran Nuclear Deal Is Not Restored Soon

Will the U.S. and Iran revive the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by the Trump administration? President Biden is facing heat from lawmakers in both parties who oppose the deal, which would relax U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. At the crux of the debate is the Iranian request for Biden to lift the designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, which would have a high political cost for the administration.

End the Double Standard: U.S. Accuses Russia of War Crimes While Continuing to Oppose the ICC

The United Nations General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday, a resolution that accused Russia of committing human rights abuses in Ukraine. We speak with human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck about the apparent double standards and weaknesses in the current international criminal justice system in light of the U.S. committing similar crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nations like the U.S.

Law Professor Michele Goodwin Condemns Wave of “Unprecedented & Unfathomable” Anti-Abortion Laws

Anti-abortion legislation is sweeping the U.S., including in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We speak with Michele Goodwin, author of “Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood,” about the links between current conflicts between state and federal law and their historic precedents, such as Brown v. Board of Education and the Fugitive Slave Acts.

Justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes “Herstory” as First Black Woman Confirmed to Supreme Court

The U.S. Senate voted 53-47 on Thursday to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She will be the first Black woman and first former public defender to serve on the country’s top court. While Jackson’s confirmation was a “monumental moment in United States history,” it was undercut by the “shameful spectacle” of Republican senators behaving disrespectfully toward Jackson, says law professor Michele Goodwin.

Why Ukraine Is Winning

Battles reveal more than they decide. Battles in which the outcome is truly up for grabs are rare, and battles that prove decisive in achieving a political goal are rarer still. Instead, battles demonstrate how effectively combatants planned, prepared, and executed before the fighting began. The result of a battle exposes not only how well matched the sides are but also how the war might unfold in the future. In that sense, the outcome of the Battle of Kyiv was never in doubt.

Call her Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

In a historic 53-47 vote, the Senate has confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 51-year old Jackson will take the seat of the justice she once clerked for, Stephen Breyer, when he retires before the October term. Vice President Kamala Harris—who represents two firsts as a woman and person of color to serve in that office—presided, making the moment doubly historic.

Jackson’s impeccable qualifications have been well-documented.