Biden officials ask Congress for $5B in global Covid funds
USAID told lawmakers earlier this month, however, that they needed several times that amount.
Today's Liberal News
The Worst Parts of Love and Romance in 2022
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely, intriguing conversations and solicits reader responses to one question of the moment. Every Friday, he publishes some of your most thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Earlier this week I asked, “What’s the best or worst thing about love, marriage, sex, or romance as conceived in 2022?” Online dating loomed large in several responses.
The Meaning of San Francisco’s School-Board Recall
By large margins, San Francisco voters on Tuesday recalled three members of the city’s school board, including board president Gabriela López (with about 74 percent supporting recall), Alison Collins (78 percent), and Faauuga Moliga (71 percent). The recall effort was directed at the entire board: These three were targeted because they were the only members who had served long enough to be eligible for recall.
The New Texas Chainsaw Massacre Is All Blood, No Bite
The premise of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, even by the short yardstick of the horror genre, quite simple. Some youths traveling through rural Texas come across a ramshackle house where a family of cannibals live. Leatherface, a brutish, childlike member of the clan wearing a mask made of human skin, attacks them with a chainsaw (among other weapons). That’s pretty much it.
Omicron Revived a Heartbreaking Pandemic Measure in NICUs
Ryan McAdams, a neonatologist in Madison, Wisconsin, had a complex case to handle: A tiny newborn with a heart defect needed surgery. The baby had been struggling to feed, so doctors planned to insert a gastronomy tube directly into the stomach to assist in supplementary feeding. The baby’s mother was around all the time to care for the infant, until she tested positive for COVID-19 and wasn’t allowed to be in the hospital.
The Challenges of an Electric-Vehicle Revolution
Judging by the ads during last weekend’s Super Bowl, electric vehicles are poised to imminently dislodge gasoline-powered cars and trucks from their privileged place on America’s roadways.An escalating dispute among President Joe Biden’s administration, congressional Democrats, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over modernizing the Postal Service’s vehicle fleet shows why the transition may not come quite that quickly.
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson on Police Brutality, Black History & His First Oscar Nomination for “Attica”
Legendary filmmaker Stanley Nelson’s new documentary “Attica” has been nominated for the first Oscar in his three-decades-long career documenting the Black American experience. The film tells the story of the deadliest prison uprising in U.S.
Wave of Bomb Threats Terrorizing Historically Black Colleges Continues During Black History Month
The House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security heard testimony Thursday about a wave of bomb threats against historically Black colleges and universities, including more than a dozen this month alone. February is Black History Month. More than 60 educational groups called on Congress this week to take immediate steps to support and protect HBCUs.
A Call for Peace: Russian & U.S. Women Push for Diplomacy, Not Military Action, to Resolve Crisis
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have agreed to meet next week as tension remains high over Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia has announced plans to stage massive drills on Saturday of its nuclear forces, including multiple practice missile launches. We speak with Russian journalist Nadezhda Azhgikhina, one of a group of two dozen independent Russian and American women who released an open letter this week calling for peace.
Biden names 2 people to replace Eric Lander in top science roles
Alondra Nelson will become director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Francis Collins will serve as the president’s top science adviser.
Trump-era Medicare program under increased scrutiny
The program allows private companies to participate in Medicare as part of a broader health department effort to improve care while limiting the government’s costs.
Biden HHS estimates $30B needed in new Covid aid
The administration may have enough vaccines and therapeutics to ride out the Omicron surge, but it doesn’t currently have enough money to respond to another variant.
Biden takes victory lap with January jobs report
“America’s job machine is going stronger than ever,” Biden said at the White House.
U.S. employers shrug off Omicron, add 467,000 jobs in January
The burst of jobs came despite a wave of Omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed.
Opinion | Why Are Minority-Owned Banks Disappearing? Washington Holds the Smoking Gun
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Biden’s first year: A tale of 2 presidencies
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
Price spikes threaten to ground Biden’s big-spending plans
The government reported Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most widely watched gauge of inflation, hit a four-decade high in December compared to the previous year.
Ukrainian Pacifist’s Message to the World: U.S., NATO & Russia Share Responsibility to Avoid War
NATO officials have joined the U.S. and other Western nations in saying they have yet to see evidence that Russia is pulling back some troops near the shared border with Ukraine, as Russia claimed earlier this week. We speak with Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, who says, “Both great powers of the West and the East share equal responsibility to avoid escalation of war in Ukraine and beyond Ukraine.
Melania Trump Offering New NFT White House Collection After Last One Fizzled
“Official POTUS NFT Collection” will include digital artwork of “iconic moments,” like the Christmas decorations that no one gives “a f**k about,” as she once said.
‘He’s Just A Bad Guy’: Judge Slams Claim That Trump Is Unfairly Singled Out In AG Probe
Trump’s attorney argued the ex-president is a member of a “protected class” who should be safeguarded by law against New York’s attorney general.
Top ACLU Executive Is Out Following Years Of Complaints And An Outside Investigation
Ronald Newman has been the subject of complaints involving bullying, misogyny and strategic missteps.
Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter Announced As CPAC Speaker
The pizza magnate, who left his business after racist remarks and using a racial slur, is slated to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference next week.
Gov. Who Signed Anti-Trans Bill Stumped On Why LGBTQ+ People Are Depressed
“That makes me sad,” said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who recently signed a bill targeting transgender athletes.
Why Hollywood Can’t Quit Guns
For more than 30 years, Bill Davis’s job has been to help famous people look like they know what they’re doing with a gun. As an armorer working in Hollywood, Davis teaches movie stars how to properly handle firearms, and some are fast learners: He helped train Tom Cruise on the set of the film Collateral and walked away impressed with the actor’s form.
We’re Entering the Control Phase of the Pandemic
And just like that, the national attitude on COVID is flipping like a light switch. As the United States descends the bumpy back end of the Omicron wave, governors and mayors up and down the coasts are extinguishing indoor mask mandates and pulling back proof-of-vaccination protocols.
Biden wants billions more in Covid funding. Lawmakers aren’t eager to spend big — again.
Even Democrats who support the additional public health funds worry the effort could derail the fragile negotiations on the core bill to fund the government.
Death Is No Laughing Matter. But on DeathTok It Is.
Casual TikTok viewers might think of the app as just a feed of Gen Zers doing viral dances and lip-synch reenactments. But the social network has also provided a space for some unlikely influencers: hospice workers, morticians, and funeral directors. These content creators hope that their comedic takes on mortality will help people who find death hard to discuss, especially during the pandemic, in which more than 900,000 Americans have died.
Ethiopia: Amnesty Accuses Tigrayan Forces of Rape & Murder in Latest Probe of War Crimes in Conflict
Amnesty International is accusing Tigrayan forces of deliberately killing dozens of unarmed civilians and gang-raping dozens of women and girls in the northern Amhara region of Ethiopia. This comes as the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebel forces remain at war, and just last year Amnesty similarly accused the Ethiopian government of subjecting Tigrayan women and girls to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture.
Back to Normal? Many Immunocompromised People Feel Left Behind as U.S. Lifts Pandemic Measures
As U.S. health guidelines start to loosen as COVID-19 cases fall from record-high levels of infection, we look at how there there are still millions of immunocompromised people who face acute risk of illness and feel they have received little to no guidance on how to stay safe in a prolonged COVID-19 world.
Ex-U.S. Ambassador to USSR: Ukraine Crisis Stems Directly from Post-Cold War Push to Expand NATO
U.S. officials are accusing Russia of sending more forces to the Ukrainian border just days after Moscow announced it was pulling some troops back. This comes as Ukrainian authorities and Russian-backed separatists are both accusing the other side of violating a ceasefire in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. For more on the history behind the present crisis in Ukraine, we speak with one of the last U.S.