Today's Liberal News

Republicans plot national abortion ban as Democrats fail to even run on expanding the Supreme Court

The forced birth movement is thinking big now, having secured the U.S. Supreme Court and set up at least a dozen states to completely ban abortion as soon as the court overturns 50 years of precedence in Roe v. Wade. That’s not nearly enough for them, because it would mean that dozens of other states would still allow the practice and pregnant people would be able to travel to them for the procedure.

Ukraine update: How could Russia make use of a general mobilization?

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I wrote an entire update earlier today on the possibility that Ukraine had taken a key city near Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast. Looks (indirectly) confirmed. 

This appears to be confirmation from official US Defence sources that Ukrainian troops have retaken the strategic town of Staryi Saltiv. That town is 40km NE of the centre of Kharkiv (a circle showing 40km is mapped below) and had been rumoured recaptured by Ukraine today. https://t.co/t6ntAn726m pic.twitter.

South Dakota teens say they received letter from beloved teacher filled with anti-trans rhetoric

Being a young person today is far from easy—students are navigating life amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, considering higher education at a time when it’s devastatingly expensive, and watching rents and the housing market skyrocket. While LGBTQ+ youth are certainly not the only students experiencing hardships, research shows they do face disproportionate levels of bullying and harassment from their peers and are more likely to leave high school without a diploma.

Shocking SCOTUS leak shows abortion rights overturned under draft opinion from Justice Alito

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A draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito shows that the Supreme Court could overturn abortion rights in the U.S., essentially nullifying the landmark Roe v. Wade, which Alito called “egregiously wrong from the start.” The document, obtained by Politico, spans 98 pages and was apparently drafted in February. It marks an unprecedented leak for the nation’s highest court.

Two Executions on a Thursday in America

On a recent Thursday night in America, April 21, two different states planned to preside over the execution of two different men—Oscar Franklin Smith, 72, in Tennessee; and Carl Wayne Buntion, 78, in Texas—and yet, for similar reasons, neither plan went off precisely as expected.

Ricardo Alarcón, Longtime Cuban Diplomat, Dies at Age 84

Longtime Cuban diplomat Ricardo Alarcón died on Sunday at the age of 84. He was a student leader during the Cuban revolution who eventually became Cuba’s foreign minister and president of the National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament. He played a key role in talks between the United States and Cuba for many years. Democracy Now! spoke to Alarcón in 2015 as the Cuban Embassy reopened in Washington for the first time in 54 years.

Climate Injustice: Those Who Face Record Heat Wave in India & Pakistan Did Not Create the Crisis

We speak with a leading Indian climate scientist about the punishing heat wave that produced the hottest weather ever recorded in April for India and Pakistan. Temperatures have climbed above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, causing power outages, school closures, crop damage and health warnings. Scientists link the early onset of the region’s intense summer to the climate crisis and say more than 1 billion people may be impacted by more frequent and longer heat waves.

What Historic Preservation Is Doing to American Cities

When news broke earlier this year that the modest but attractive house on Long Island known as Geller I was going to be demolished, the outcry was immediate. The home’s significance in architectural history was beyond question. Its designer, Marcel Breuer, was among the most acclaimed of the mid-20th-century modernists and one of the few whose name is familiar to those with only a passing interest in architecture. These facts ultimately meant little.

What Do Twitter’s Users Actually Want?

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Soon after, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Last week, I asked, “What should be forbidden on Twitter?” You responded with many recommendations for the social-media platform as Elon Musk attempts to purchase it and take it private.

Elon Musk Is Right That Twitter Should Follow the First Amendment

Elon Musk, in his effort to buy Twitter, signaled that under his ownership, the company would allow all speech that the First Amendment protects. “By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law,” he tweeted on April 26. “I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.”Many commentators were quick to point out that, as a private company, Twitter is not required to follow the First Amendment, which applies only to federal and state governments.

The Truth About Slushies Must Come Out

Recently, after a particularly invigorating car wash, I had a yen for a slushie. Maybe the warming weather inspired me. Perhaps the proud signage of the QuikTrip convenience store nearby activated an unconscious desire. No matter, a slushie I did get. At QuikTrip, it’s called a Freezoni, a curious, quasi-Italian aspiration that bears no relation to the dispensed product.

“We Created the Pandemicene”: Ed Yong on How the Climate Crisis Could Spark the Next Pandemic

Climate change is forcing animal migrations at an unprecedented scale, bringing many previously disconnected species into close contact and dramatically raising the likelihood of viruses leaping into new hosts and sparking future pandemics. That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature, which predicts that climate-driven disruptions to Earth’s ecosystems will create thousands of cross-species viral transmissions in the coming decades.

As Pentagon Chief Talks of “Weakening” Russia, Is U.S. Treating the Ukraine Conflict as a Proxy War?

The Biden administration has pledged billions in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week that the U.S. goal was “to see Russia weakened.” Author and analyst Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warns that unless there is a commitment to finding a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it could become a U.S.