Today's Liberal News

Michigan science professor on administrative leave following bizarre COVID-19 remarks

A science professor in Michigan is on administrative leave. Why is this newsworthy? Well, the student newspaper, The Torch, did a pretty deep dive and covered comments made on a Twitter account under his full name about the novel coronavirus pandemic, as well as a number of slurs that allegedly appeared on the same account. According to screenshots, Professor Thomas Brennan allegedly tweeted that COVID-19 was a “stunt” to form “a leftist new world order.

New York Democrats win supermajorities, but Cuomo remains a powerful obstacle to progressive reform

Democrats in New York’s Senate appeared to lock down their 42nd seat on Tuesday, giving them a two-thirds supermajority for at least the next two years that could have a major impact on how the state is governed, including how district lines are drawn for the next decade.

Democrats went into the election needing to net two seats in the Senate to achieve supermajority status, which they’ve long enjoyed in the Assembly.

The Weekly Planet: A Start-Up’s Unusual Plan to Suck Carbon Out of the Sky

Every Tuesday morning, our lead climate reporter brings you the big ideas, expert analysis, and vital guidance that will help you flourish on a changing planet. Sign up to get The Weekly Planet, our guide to living through climate change, in your inbox.Stripe is one of those technology companies that controls the internet’s plumbing. It makes payments-processing software that hustles money from your debit or credit card to someone else’s bank account.

The Atlantic Daily: Our Guide to Cooking in Isolation

Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.By now it’s a well-worn cliché to say that 2020 has been rough, and that the holiday season will be no different. Indeed, many Americans will likely (and should certainly) not be celebrating this Thanksgiving, that fraught annual feast, in the traditional manner.

How Will the Future Remember COVID-19?

Memorial designs by Rael San Fratello, Refik Anadol Studio, and Sekou CookeUnlike a war, a pandemic is invisible and diffuse. It’s everywhere and nowhere. Its death toll is ultimately unknowable. That makes a virus difficult to mark with physical tributes. Few memorials mark the 1918 Spanish flu; one is a modest granite bench built in Vermont two years ago, underwritten by a local restaurant also marking its own centennial.The coronavirus pandemic is not over, either. Not even close.

Republicans With Any Love of Country Must Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost

A democratic republic is a fragile thing. A large, diverse one such as ours is more fragile still.Conservatives, whose political philosophy is rooted in the importance of tradition and preserving institutions, should know this. Yet too many are ignoring the obvious damage that President Donald Trump has done—and continues to do—by denying his electoral loss.I write as a conservative, a lifelong Republican, and a committed member of the Federalist Society.

As 2020 Sets Grim Record for Trans Killings, Advocates Call for Holistic & Uplifting Media Coverage

At least 37 transgender and gender nonconforming people were violently killed in 2020, making it the deadliest year for trans and gender nonconforming people on record, according to a new Human Rights Campaign report. Of those killed, 22 were Black, and seven were Latinx. More than 200 trans and gender nonconforming people have lost their lives to violence since 2013, when HRC began recording and reporting violence toward trans people.

Betting Pool? Tyson Managers Bet on How Many Workers Would Get COVID. Advocates Call It Grim Pattern

The family of a former meatpacker who died from COVID-19 alleges in a lawsuit that managers at a Tyson Foods plant in Iowa knew working conditions would result in illness, and even placed bets on how many workers would be infected. The family of Isidro Fernandez, who died in April, says the plant manager set up a winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager on coronavirus infections.