Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: ‘Herd immunity’ slips out of reach; Republican ultimatums; judge reprimands police

In today’s news: Experts now believe high levels of vaccine hesitancy will make it impossible to reach COVID-19 “herd immunity” through vaccinations. That means the virus—and whatever new variants arise as the virus continues to mutate—will now pose a public health threat indefinitely. And yes: Republicans did that. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gives an ultimatum to Biden.

‘Science Guy’ Bill Nye would like a word with anti-vaxxers

With over 100 million American adults fully vaccinated, the possibility of our country’s public health situation returning to a baseline of normality felt like it was within reach. Key word: was. Unfortunately, the same crew of people thwarting our progress toward normalcy are the same people who botched the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, continued to promote anti-science sentiments, and amplified the anti-vaxxer movement.

Proud Boys mark their public return with a threatening Oregon rally, and no police presence

When the Proud Boys and their far-right cohorts led the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, they did so largely operating under their longstanding belief that the police were on their side. This weekend, breaking their weeks of quiet amid a stream of post-Jan. 6 arrests, they held an armed “Second Amendment” rally in Salem, Oregon—without a whiff of police presence.

Greenland’s Rare-Earth Election

Tunulliarfik Fjord has always played an outsize role in global history. One thousand years ago, the Viking Erik the Red settled there, the last outpost in the Norse expansion into North America. When the United States established a protectorate over Greenland during World War II, it built one of its first airports in what is now Narsarsuaq, a large town on the fjord. And now Tunulliarfik is the site of a mining project that has overturned politics on Greenland.

6 Questions for the Boss Who Wants You Back in Your Cubicle

Lidia Morawska has been working in her office for months. You might think that’s because she’s an aerosols expert, and her work is crucial for helping bring the pandemic to heel. But really, it’s because she’s an aerosols expert at Queensland University of Technology, in Australia. The country has recorded only three cases of community transmission of the coronavirus in the past week.

China Is a Paper Dragon

China was mentioned only four times in Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress, but it shadowed almost every line of the speech. “We’re in a competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century,” Biden said. His aides describe the president as preoccupied with the challenge from China.