Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Republican attacks on schools continue; sex trafficker Gaetz preens for fascists

In the news this weekend: Far-right extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene jumps farther right, yet again, while fellow stain on the Republican and unindicted sex trafficker Rep. Matt Gaetz vamps for a fascist convention. But Republican extremism is having very real effects, especially in under-attack school systems. Dallas Republicans again respond to a mass murder in their state with new rules not on guns, but on schoolchildren.

‘You’re a Black man in America’: Judge asked to resign over warning to stay away from cops

A Black judge with jurisdiction over Clark County, and notably its Las Vegas strip, is being targeted by a local police union for advising a Black suspect before her for a probation hearing to use caution with police.

“You’re a Black man in America,” 8th Judicial District Court Judge Erika Ballou told the defendant. “You know you don’t want to be nowhere where cops are.

The Day I Saw the Emperor’s Clay Soldiers

Farmers were digging a well near Xi’an, China, in 1974 when they found fragments of clay that turned out to be terra-cotta soldiers. In the years since, excavators have turned up an army of 8,000, each with a unique, detailed face and a life-size body. Historians believe they were meant to accompany the nation’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, into the afterlife.

Don’t Blame Dostoyevsky

Culture, too, is a casualty of war. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some Ukrainian writers called for a boycott of Russian music, films, and books. Others have all but accused Russian literature of complicity in the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers. The entire culture, they say, is imperialist, and this military aggression reveals the moral bankruptcy of Russia’s so-called civilization. The road to Bucha, they argue, runs through Russian literature.

A Court Without Precedent

Just a few years ago, a clear majority of Americans trusted the Supreme Court. Now, a month after Roe v. Wade was overturned, poll after poll shows that a clear majority of Americans do not.To which many of the Court’s closest observers would say, “What took so long?”For more than a decade, the Court has issued narrow rulings, decided by slim majorities, that align with Republican political goals. Five Justices unleashed dark money in politics.

The Criminal Case Against Trump Is Getting Stronger

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.Federal and state prosecutors may soon need to decide whether to bring charges against a former president and current front-runner for the Republican nomination.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

“I Don’t Want to Say the Election Is Over”: Video Outtakes Show Trump Refused to Admit Loss on Jan. 7

The January 6 committee aired never-before-seen outtakes of President Trump’s speech on January 7, one day after the insurrection. He is seen initially reading a script that read “this election is now over. Congress has certified the results.” But Trump insisted on changing the script. “I don’t want to say the election is over,” Trump says in the video. “I just want to say Congress has certified the results, without saying the election is over.

Pence’s Secret Service Team Feared for Their Lives as Trump Egged On Mob to Target VP on Jan. 6

During their eighth and final hearing until the fall, the January 6 House select committee aired new testimony from an anonymous national security official detailing how Mike Pence’s Secret Service agents feared for their lives during the breach of the Capitol. “There were calls to say goodbye to family members,” said the anonymous official. Despite knowledge of the growing mob, Trump decided to publish a tweet at 2:24 p.m.

187 Minutes: Jan. 6 Hearing Examines Trump’s Refusal to Urge Mob to Stop Violent Attack on Capitol

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol held a primetime hearing on Thursday night focused on former President Donald Trump’s refusal to take action as his supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6. Lawmakers dissected the three-hour period on January 6 after Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.

“Morons”: George Monbiot Compares PM Race to Viral British TV News Clip Questioning Climate Science

Following the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss have advanced to a runoff to succeed Johnson as Conservative leader, which would also make them prime minister. Both candidates would be “utterly devastating” for the U.K., says Guardian columnist George Monbiot. “What these people have to do to become prime minister is really to appeal to the worst instincts of humanity.

Alan Dershowitz whines that he’s now a pariah on Martha’s Vineyard just because he enabled Trump

You defend one wannabe fascist dictator by saying his boundless lust for power means he should be able to do anything he wants, and all of a sudden progressives don’t like you anymore. It’s brutally unfair, and we shouldn’t stand for it. Every American has an inalienable right to be invited to exclusive dress-formal cotillions on Martha’s Vineyard, no matter how many absurd arguments they’ve trotted out on behalf of lawless autocrats.

Ukraine update: Russia asks for ‘green corridor’ to evacuate encircled troops north of Kherson

Back in early May, I wrote an update on Ukraine in which I insisted that that the tide had turned and that Ukraine was about to do big things in Kherson and Kharkiv. Which, yeah, that didn’t exactly pan out. Though to be fair, at the time Russia still occupied some areas right outside of Kharkiv, and Ukraine was just beginning the move that would net Staryi Saltiv and drive Russian forces back to the border in some areas, so … it wasn’t completely wrong.