Today's Liberal News

Biden’s State of the Union Did Something New

Listening to Joe Biden give his first official State of the Union address on Tuesday night, I thought: This is strong. It is clear; it’s the right message in the right language. It reflects the speaker in an honest way. And it also brings something new to this tired form.But each of those judgments rests on assumptions about speeches in general and State of the Union addresses in particular. So let me lay out my reasoning and then get to the details of the speech.

The Gen-Z Drama That Launched a Million Memes

This article contains spoilers through the Season 2 finale of Euphoria.Toward the end of Euphoria’s second-season finale, which aired Sunday, two former best friends, Cassie (played by Sydney Sweeney) and Maddy (Alexa Demie), take a breather after a vicious fight. Cassie’s nose is bleeding; Maddy’s foot needs ice. “Don’t worry,” Maddy says when Cassie breaks the silence with a self-deprecating comment. “This is just the beginning.

The New Republican Battle Cry

The right-wing media personality Candace Owens wants to warn the conservative movement about horny bears. In fact, she’s been waiting for five years to relay a factoid she promises will unlock everything.Strolling the stage at Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Owens finally has her chance to address the true believers who have come to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. And she’s going to seize that moment.

Russia’s War in Ukraine Could Spark Nuclear Catastrophe; Calls for Global Disarmament Grow

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that if a Third World War were to take place, it would be a nuclear war. His comments come just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert and after Russian nuclear submarines set sail for tests in waters near Norway. Meanwhile, voters in Belarus have approved a referendum opening the door for Russia to station nuclear weapons in Belarusian territory, and Russia has called on the U.S.

Sanders Adviser Matt Duss on Ending Ukraine Crisis & How U.S. Shock Therapy in Russia Enabled Putin

While President Biden has ruled out sending troops into Ukraine, the U.S. is directly aiding Ukraine militarily and has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia amounting to what some have called “economic warfare.” We look at Biden’s response with Senator Bernie Sanders’s foreign policy adviser Matt Duss, who is also Ukrainian American. He says the U.S. should continue to exhaust all diplomatic avenues in order to stop violence in Ukraine. Duss also details the U.S.

Report from Kyiv: Solidarity, Perseverance & “Full Mobilization” Against Russian Invasion

As the United Nations reports more than a million refugees have now fled the violence in Ukraine, the U.N. General Assembly voted 141 to 5 to denounce the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Russian troops have reportedly seized their first city: the strategically located southern port of Kherson. Heavy shelling continues to be reported in the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol, and a 40-mile-long Russian convoy approaching Kyiv has been stalled due in part to Ukrainian resistance.

Righteous keyboard warriors are using social media platforms to counter Russian war propaganda

Ukrainians are fighting for their fledgling democracy and independence, but this fight is bigger than just one country. In a very real sense, they’re fighting for us and for everyone on the planet who loves democracy and hates autocracy. Contrary to the traitorous whining of the Putin-appeasing GOP, President Biden has been a rock throughout this crisis, assembling a coalition that’s brought the hammer down on Putin’s economy and left his long-term plans in cinders.

‘I just want to get out of here’: Immigrants testify on abusive conditions at New York facilities

Immigrants and their advocates testified on detention facilities before a New York City council hearing this week, detailing inhumane and abusive conditions that people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody are frequently subjected to in New York-area facilities (and around the country).

Testimony included people currently in detention. They submitted their experiences in written statements.

What Happens When We Back Putin Into a Corner

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. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.What are your thoughts about the war in Ukraine? What questions do you have? What are your hopes or fears?Email your answers to conor@theatlantic.com. I’ll publish a selection in Friday’s newsletter.

What Russia Is Stirring Up at Chernobyl

The Russian military’s capture of the Chernobyl nuclear facility in northern Ukraine last week led to heightened levels of both radioactivity and confusion. Since the infamous 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, which sent nuclear materials as high as five miles into the atmosphere and likely condemned far more people than the United Nations’ projected long-term death toll of 4,000, the plant has been radioactive. It’s defunct.

The Show That Made Single Motherhood Into Art

Over five seasons of television, Pamela Adlon’s FX series, Better Things, has been a tribute to keeping on when you can’t anymore, and to all the people—many of them women—who carry their families because no one else will. The show is about, Adlon told me in her gravelly drawl over Zoom last month, “this woman who constantly almost gets her foot in the door, but then the door closes, and it’s funny, and it doesn’t kill her.