A Genius Plan to Improve Amtrak
What the beleaguered operator should do with $66 billion from Congress.
Today's Liberal News
The Architect of Japan’s Olympic Stadium Thinks It Looks Just as Good Empty
It resembles a giant planter plopped in the middle of Tokyo. That’s on purpose.
You Don’t Care About the Infrastructure Bill, Which Is Why It Might Pass
The boring-Congress theory of getting things done.
My Parents Disowned My Brother After He Came Out. Do I Have to Split My Inheritance With Him?
He could use the money. But so could I.
Biden’s new mask guidance too little, too late for parts of the country, officials say
Health experts and local leaders in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Washington state told POLITICO they expect the latest recommendations will be brushed off by a crisis-weary public.
CDC under fire for decision to limit tracking of Covid-19 cases in vaccinated people
The agency’s decision to limit its reporting of breakthrough cases has prompted wide variation in how states keep tabs on them.
CDC releases data behind latest mask guidelines
The hotly anticipated study helped convince the agency to revise its guidance on mask-wearing earlier this week.
‘Sellout’: Anti-vax conservatives come for DeSantis
The GOP governor is urging people to get vaccinated as Florida’s Covid infections spike. But some in DeSantis’ base are openly questioning him.
Help! My Neighbor Has Let a Year’s Worth of Dog Poop Pile Up on His Lawn.
The smell is so bad my child can’t play outside.
Biden’s economic gains come with newer worries about the future
Some economists have already begun to ease back on forecasts for the rest of this year.
U.S. economy surpasses prepandemic size with 6.5% Q2 growth
The growth is another sign that the nation has achieved a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession.
Virus resurgence menaces economy just as rescue programs unravel
A new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists.
The pandemic drove women out of the workforce. Will they come back?
Their absence could hurt the broader U.S. economy, so policymakers are weighing ways to help them return to work.
Fed’s Powell feels heat from all sides as inflation spikes
Both the Fed and the Biden administration have said rapid price increases are being stoked by temporary factors.
“People Are Outraged”: General Strike in Guatemala Denounces Corruption & Mishandling of Pandemic
We go to Guatemala to speak with an opposition lawmaker and a Maya K’iche’ leader who joined Thursday’s major national strike demanding the resignation of right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei and other government officials facing allegations of corruption.
Anti-BDS Jewish Orgs Back Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Sales Ban in Settlements Despite Israeli Pressure
Israel has launched what has been described as a maximum pressure campaign against Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company Unilever, after the iconic ice cream brand announced it would halt sales in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel has asked 35 U.S. governors to enforce state laws which make it a crime to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS.
Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of Apparent War Crimes in Gaza Assault; Urges ICC Probe
Human Rights Watch is calling on the International Criminal Court to open a probe into apparent Israeli war crimes committed during its recent 11-day assault on Gaza that killed 260 Palestinians, including 66 children. We discuss a major report HRW released this week that closely examines three Israeli strikes that killed 62 Palestinians civilians in May. U.S.-made weapons were used in at least two of the attacks investigated.
“This Is Not a Climate Bill”: Leah Stokes on Why Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Senate Democrats have announced that they have joined with 17 Republicans to vote in favor of taking up a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal. The plan includes new spending on climate and environment measures, but critics say it falls far short of what is needed. Democrats say they hope to include additional climate measures in a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package that could advance without being blocked by a Republican filibuster if it is backed by all 50 Democrats.
Rudy Giuliani Is Reportedly Almost Broke And Trump’s Shutting Him Out
Trump’s former personal attorney is currently embroiled in a massive $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him by Dominion Voting Systems.
News Roundup: DeSantis presides over massive pandemic surge; Trump sought Justice help for coup
In the news today: COVID-19 cases in Florida are spiking to record levels, and you can pin the blame squarely on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ relentless efforts to sabotage public safety for the sake of politics. Newly released Department of Justice notes once again prove that the Trump White House’s attempts to nullify an American election were pre-plotted, broad in scope, and deadly serious.
Ex-Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, a Democrat who later sought Reform Party nod for president, dies at 85
Former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, who led the state as a Democrat from 1975 to 1987 and unsuccessfully sought the 1996 Reform Party nomination for president, died Thursday at the age of 85. Lamm supported abortion rights and environmental protection legislation during his time in politics, but he infuriated much of the party base in 1981 by supporting the repeal of the state’s Bilingual Bicultural Education Act.
Miami Beach Mayor Rips Ron DeSantis As ‘Pied Piper’ Of COVID-19, Leading State ‘Off A Cliff’
Mayor Dan Gelber went after the GOP governor as his state tallies the highest daily number of cases of the entire pandemic.
Nuts & Bolts: Inside a Democratic campaign: What if the government actually encouraged voting?
Welcome back to the weekly Nuts & Bolts Guide to small campaigns. Every week I try to tackle issues I’ve been asked about. With the help of other campaign workers and notes, we address how to improve and build better campaigns, or explain issues that impact our party.
While Democrats find themselves stalled by their own in the U.S.
GOP Rep. Paul Gosar’s Siblings Tell Him To Resign: ‘Have You No Sense Of Decency?’
The far-right lawmaker’s brothers and sister said in a blistering op-ed that he betrayed his family and his country.
Kevin McCarthy Makes Sick Joke About Hitting Pelosi If He’s Ever Speaker Of The House
“I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down,” he told laughing GOP donors.
This immigrant police officer has proven to be more of an American than any of the Jan. 6 terrorists
It’s hard to overstate the body blow delivered to the entire right-wing project in the form of the four battle-scarred police officers who testified about their brutal experiences combating the mob of insurrectionists who Donald Trump unleashed against this country’s institutions on Jan. 6, 2021.
What I Heard in the White House Basement
One phone call changed my life.On Thursday, July 25, 2019, I was seated at the table in one of the two Situation Rooms in the basement of the West Wing. The bigger room is famous from movies and TV shows, but this room is smaller, more typically businesslike: a long wooden table with 10 chairs, maybe a dozen more chairs against wood-paneled walls, and a massive TV screen. This was the room where President Barack Obama and his team watched a feed of the Osama bin Laden raid.
Utility companies want everyone to believe the climate crisis caught them completely by surprise
There needs to be a word. A word that combines frustrating, terrifying, and infuriating. A word for a story that contains information that lets you know that the people who are not just riding on the bus, but steering it toward a cliff, have absolutely no plans for what comes next even as the front wheels leave the ground.
This article from The New York Times starts off describing a specific incident that’s frightening enough, but also strangely heartening.
In 2001, a Mysterious Invention Became a Viral Sensation—Then Went Down in Flames. I’ve Always Wondered: Was It All My Fault?
This was an entirely new kind of media frenzy—the birth of virality as we now know it.