Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Haaland confirmed, Ron Johnson blunders again, and filibuster fights loom large

The Senate today confirmed, finally, Biden nominee Deb Haaland as the new Secretary of the Interior. Haaland becomes the first Native American to hold any Cabinet-level post in any administration. Sen. Ron Johnson continued to buffoonipate himself with further thoughts on why the racist things he says are not racist. And the Senate continues to plod towards a showdown that pits civil rights and urgent national needs against filibuster-based sabotage.

Conservative media calls on Gen X to save us from ‘cancel culture’ and Gen X responds, cancel that

With the Republican Party’s only identity at this point being white identity politics, and white people having all of the rights afforded them in the Constitution, they find themselves at a loss. Unable to muster up the vroom needed even to vote for the overwhelmingly popular American Rescue Plan, the conservative world has launched back into their tried and true culture war rhetoric.

‘He gonna be sore’: Louisiana troopers brag about ‘whoopin’ inflicted on Black man for running

A Louisiana State Patrol trooper, reportedly caught bragging in text messages about beating a suspect, was arrested with two other troopers on excessive force allegations. Troopers Dakota DeMoss, Randall Dickerson, and George Harper were arrested on February 8 on criminal charges associated with not only excessive force but allegedly trying to hide their actions, the media site Sound Off Louisiana reported.

An Asian American restaurant owner called Greg Abbott ‘selfish,’ his restaurant was vandalized

Despite the increasing awareness, hate crimes directed against Asian Americans have continued to rise amid the pandemic. Asian Americans have not only been physically assaulted and verbally abused, but businesses they own have been vandalized and destroyed by racist ill-informed individuals who blame them for the virus.

In a recent incident, a Texas ramen restaurant was covered in xenophobic graffiti after the owner spoke out against Texas Gov.

Watch out for Republicans trying to claim credit for American Rescue Plan’s state and local aid

State and local governments hemorrhaged jobs in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, and the damage remains: Employment in that area remained at 1.4 million jobs, or 7%, lower in February 2021 than it was in February 2020. Three states—New Hampshire, Nevada, and Maine—have seen state and local government jobs drop by 10% or more. In a majority of states, it’s 5% or more.

Why the Pandemic Experts Failed

A few minutes before midnight on March 4, 2020, the two of us emailed every U.S. state and the District of Columbia with a simple question: How many people have been tested in your state, total, for the coronavirus?By then, about 150 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States, and 11 had died of the disease. Yet the CDC had stopped publicly reporting the number of Americans tested for the virus.

Scenes From the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Earlier this morning, Dallas Seavey and his team crossed the finish line near Willow, Alaska, to win the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, claiming his fifth title. Seavey is now tied with Rick Swenson, the only other musher to have won five titles. This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, the race took place on a modified 832-mile course called the Gold Trail Loop, staying in the wilderness, avoiding villages, and forgoing the normal ceremonial start in Anchorage.

I Want to Look Damn Good When the World Sees Me Again

All pandemic long, I’ve been hunting for a way—please, literally any way—to bludgeon myself into exercising with some kind of regularity. The quarantine life has turned me into an Indian Gollum. My arms, never quite jacked but at least semi-toned, currently have about as much bulk as overcooked linguini. Whatever seedlings of abs I had last March are now buried deep beneath a permafrost of flab.

The Odd Pattern That Keeps Happening at the Grammys

One year into fussing with Zoom backgrounds, who can’t relate to Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B twerking in front of a digital wallpaper of purses, diamonds, big-rig trucks, and the rappers’ own faces? At last night’s Grammys, two of hip-hop’s top talents put on a digital-meets-physical hallucination that turned out to be the best entertainment of the night. A stiletto heel doubled as a stripper pole. Cardi and Megan cavorted in a bed as big as a house.

This Tiny Fish Can Withstand Almost Anything

Originating in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia, just south of the Chesapeake Bay, the Elizabeth River is turbid and brackish, its banks redolent with the nose-wrinkling stench of rotting vegetation. These muddy, pungent waters support an array of life—oak and maple trees, herons, otters, and oysters.