Today's Liberal News

The Court’s Liberals Still Have Power

To become law, a Supreme Court opinion needs the backing of five justices. That reality has forced progressive justices for almost 50 years to compromise with center-right justices, resulting in legal doctrine rife with contradictions and loopholes, which conservatives have ruthlessly exploited to pare back the rights of women, racial minorities, and the gay community. Progressive justices had to make these bargains in order to get the five votes needed to be in the majority.

John Nichols: “Standing Up to Donald Trump in the Republican Party … Leads to Your Defeat”

We look at the outcome of Tuesday’s primaries for opponents of former President Trump. In Wyoming, Liz Cheney, Trump’s chief House Republican foe, lost her primary to a Trump-backed challenger. In Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, another Republican Trump critic, will move forward to the general election alongside a Trump challenger who also advanced under the state’s ranked-choice voting system.

Inflation Reduction Act “Biggest Step Forward” on Climate, Says Biden Amid Calls for Renewable Energy

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law Tuesday, a sweeping $739 billion bill to address the climate crisis, reduce drug costs and establish a 15% minimum tax for large corporations. Biden has praised the IRA as one of the most significant measures in the history of the United States, though many climate groups and Indigenous land and water defenders have criticized the package for including major handouts to the fossil fuel industry and other corporate entities.

Medea Benjamin on U.S. Cuban Sanctions & Biden’s Embrace of Saudi Arabia Despite Horrid Rights Record

We speak with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin on the aftermath of the largest oil fire in Cuba’s history, the sentencing of Saudi women rights activist Salma al-Shehab and the ballooning of the Pentagon budget. Benjamin is calling on the Biden administration to remove Cuba off a state sponsor of terrorism list — which she says is holding up the transfer of humanitarian funds to the country’s people.

“Will We Become Our Enemy?”: After Salman Rushdie Assassination Attempt, See Rare Free Speech Address

Renowned Indian British novelist Salman Rushdie is in critical condition and faces a long road to recovery after he survived an assassination attempt Friday morning in western New York. Rushdie is one of the most highly acclaimed writers in the world today and has lived underground for many years after facing systematic threats of assassination for his writing.

Ukraine update: More explosions in Crimea as ‘secret weapon’ strikes again

On Tuesday, there were reports of at least two large explosions in occupied Crimea, well beyond the range of Ukrainian artillery or of any HIMARS ammunition known to be in Ukrainian hands. This time the primary target appears to have been a stockpile of ammunition and equipment near a railway, and if that description makes it seem less significant than previous strikes on warehouses and buildings, videos of the site indicate otherwise.

ICE prison in South Georgia should be shut down, not expanded

by Meredyth L. Yoon and Azadeh Shahshahani

This article was originally published at Prism.

Neal, a Jamaican citizen who owned and operated a yacht servicing company for 25 years in South Florida, has spent the last 17 months in a prison that’s been converted into a detention center for immigrants in Georgia.

Police arrest 70-year-old Asian American woman’s attackers. The youngest was 11

In an announcement Monday, police officials in San Francisco said they arrested four people in connection to the violent robbery of an elderly Asian American woman. While crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, especially those targeting the elderly, have been on the rise, the age of the suspects in this case is shocking.

Police identified the arrested suspects as children and teens, with the youngest being only 11 years old.

Georgia police accused of using racial slurs and tossing homeowner security camera

A state agency is investigating what it dubbed “alleged misconduct” from Georgia police officers after homeowner security footage captured police using racial slurs and throwing the Ring camera that captured it. Although audio from the footage is a bit unclear, it appears to show an officer using the N-word. West Point police officers Donald Bramblett, Dylan Harmon, Zachary Heyboer, Sgt.

Paul Manafort Is Back

The title of Paul Manafort’s memoir, Political Prisoner, is ridiculous, but at least he’s writing what he knows. For much of his professional life, Manafort served as a lobbyist and an image consultant for the world’s most prolific torturers. One of his clients, the Angolan revolutionary Jonas Savimbi, led an army that incinerated its enemies alive.

The Stakes in Ukraine Have Not Changed

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.As we’re fire-hosed by news of Donald Trump’s antics and stories of the GOP’s slide into antidemocratic madness, Americans must remember what’s at stake in an actual military confrontation between freedom and dictatorship in Europe.

The Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’ Put Ron DeSantis in a Box

That the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s Florida home has become a rallying point for Republicans—ever eager to demonstrate fealty to the former president and rage at government overreach—is not exactly a shock. What is noteworthy is how the news might shift political considerations in MAGA world.In another universe, last week’s FBI search could have provided a perfect opportunity for a wannabe party leader like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to set himself apart.

Does DNA Prove the Mythical Origins of These Wild Horses?

To tell the story of how a purported cow tooth dug up in the Caribbean might corroborate the mythical origin of wild horses off the coast of Maryland and Virginia, let us begin, naturally, with a children’s book, Misty of Chincoteague.If you know, you know—horse girls, I’m looking at you. For everyone else: This beloved 1947 children’s novel tells the story of Misty the pony, born on the beaches of an uninhabited barrier island.

The Man Onstage With Salman Rushdie

The man who was about to interview Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution last Friday when a would-be murderer ran onstage with a knife is a 73-year-old former telemarketing entrepreneur from Pittsburgh named Henry Reese. He wears bow ties and speaks with a low-key, husky voice and shuns attention. But Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, are two of the more remarkable ordinary people in America.

Free Mutulu Shakur: Calls Grow for Compassionate Release for Dying Black Liberation Activist

Dozens of civil rights groups have joined an urgent push for the compassionate release of longtime political prisoner Mutulu Shakur from prison. The 72-year-old Black liberation activist is said by prison doctors to have less than six months to live, after being diagnosed with stage 3 bone marrow cancer. Shakur was part of the Black nationalist group Republic of New Afrika that worked with the Black Panther Party and others, and is the stepfather of the late rapper icon Tupac Shakur.

Mike Pompeo & CIA Sued for Spying on Americans Who Visited Julian Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy in U.K.

Lawyers and journalists sued the CIA and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo Monday for spying on them while they met Julian Assange when he was living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had political asylum. The lawsuit is being filed as Britain prepares to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States, where he faces up to 175 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.