Today's Liberal News
There’s Just One Problem With Ford’s Electric F-150
Joe Biden says the pickup truck is fast. It’s heavy, too.
The Only Mayor in America Having Fun Right Now
He rode a roller coaster! He ate a burger for breakfast! His rival is under investigation!
My Partner Was Scammed for Thousands—and I’m Questioning Our Future Together
I tried to warn him, but his desire to get out of debt overrode his judgment.
Death-certificate omissions stymie FEMA funeral assistance program
More than 200,000 people have sought reimbursement of up to $9,000 per family for Covid-19-related funeral expenses.
Push for vaccines reduced drug options for Covid patients
Researchers say the lack of enough drugs for mildly ill patients means that the world may never completely stamp out the virus.
Vaccines’ success could undercut Biden’s multibillion-dollar school testing plans
With vaccination slowing the virus’s spread, some schools are reopening without the kind of widespread Covid-19 screening that Biden once envisioned as crucial.
Help! My Co-Worker Insists There Is Something Wrong With My Baby.
He practically barraged me with links for support and resources “in case things turn out poorly.
A Biden-friendly economist is creating a big headache for president’s spending plans
The study adds fuel to an intense national debate about what is behind a suspected worker shortage and what policy changes are needed to accelerate Americans’ return to work as the pandemic subsides.
Tax the rich? Executives predict Biden’s big plans will flop
Corporate executives and lobbyists say they are confident they can kill almost all of these tax hikes by pressuring moderate Democrats in the House and Senate.
Biden pressed to send clear message on economy as warning signs flash
The White House’s reaction to unexpected jobs and price data has opened the administration up to GOP attacks.
Lockdown mentality still holding the economy back, banking official says
Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Fed says things should get better as people overcome fears related to the pandemic.
Mark Carney on Canada’s economic growth: ‘It’s going to take more than one budget’
“There were elements of growth in the balance from what I can see and understand,” Carney said in a long response that didn’t directly answer the question.
After Record Deportations, Biden Grants 100K Haitians Chance for Temporary Protected Status
The Biden administration is granting more than 100,000 Haitians in the United States the chance to gain temporary protected status, or TPS, which includes work permits and protection from deportation while Haiti suffers a political crisis.
George Floyd Week of Action Marks Anniversary of His Murder as Police Reform Bill Stalls in Congress
As the world marks the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, attorney Lee Merritt says there is still a long way to go in reforming “the deadliest police culture in the modern world.” Merritt, who has represented the Floyd family and other victims of police brutality, says Republicans and Democrats should come together to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Robert Kennedy Jr. cavorts with Nazis, and suing Daily Kos won’t make that any less true
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pretty much the worst. The prominent anti-vaxxer (see here, here, and here, and also here and here as his family runs away from him), anti-masker, and anti-sound health policy scion of the famous family has done incredible damage to our ability to weather and emerge from this global pandemic, making common cause with Republicans like Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to spread their anti-science, pro-COVID-19 message.
News Roundup: Giuliani probe appears extensive; Barr’s manipulation; DeSantis sucks up
In the news today: New revelations suggest an even broader scope for the investigation into Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies. William Barr’s manipulation of the Mueller report’s release looks, if possible, even sketchier. And the nation is awash, yet again, with Republican elected officials behaving badly. Really badly.
Judges now rely on secret AI algorithms to guide their sentencing of criminal defendants
Imagine for a moment that you’ve been convicted of a crime, and are awaiting sentencing. The prosecutor hands a computer-generated analysis to the judge that declares, based on a secret analysis performed by a complex algorithm, that you should receive the harshest possible sentence, since according to the algorithm you are highly likely to commit future crimes.
Trump’s cult of personality is like nothing else in our country’s history
Donald Trump really likes Andrew Jackson. “I’m a fan. I’m a big fan,” he declared about the seventh president at a 2017 event commemorating Jackson’s 250th birthday. Trump added that Jackson’s portrait “hangs proudly” up on the wall in the Oval Office—a place it had not been seen for quite some time until he put it there.
In Seattle’s wide-open mayoral race, which flavor of progressive will win out?
Filing closed on Friday for the Seattle mayoral race, which is an open seat after incumbent Jenny Durkan’s surprising retirement after just one term. Fifteen different candidates are seeking the Emerald City’s highest office despite the job’s long track record of being a destroyer of dreams: No Seattle mayor has managed to get reelected since Greg Nickels in 2005, and before that, Norm Rice in 1993.
Republicans Quiet During Trump’s Praise Of China Demand Answers On Virus Now
The former president spent months thanking China’s dictator for his transparency and cooperation on COVID-19 before changing tacks to vilify him and his country.
The Unlikely, Lifesaving Queerness of Bob Dylan
The bard of the ’60s wasn’t gay, but his art made a huge difference for those who were.
Prosecutors Convene Grand Jury That Could Weigh Potential Trump Charges: Reports
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has not brought any official charges.
Kansas Republican Accused Of Kicking Teen In Testicles Says It Was God’s Plan
State Rep. Mark Samsel allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old student while substitute teaching at a public school in his hometown last month.
Top Scientist Cuts Ties With National Lab After It Invited A Climate Denier To Speak
A federal research facility’s prioritizing a politically connected darling of right-wing media over its own star scientist shows climate denialism’s lasting power.
Dan Frank Was a Gifted and Generous Editor
I don’t know how many people in the reading public would recognize the name Dan Frank. Millions of them should. He was a gifted editor, mentor, leader, and friend, who within the publishing world was renowned. His untimely death of cancer yesterday, at age 67, is a terrible loss especially for his family and colleagues, but also to a vast community of writers and to the reading public.Minute by minute, and page by page, writers gripe about editors.
Joe Manchin And Kyrsten Sinema Beg GOP To Support Bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission
The two filibuster defenders issued a statement pleading with Republicans to establish a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
George Floyd’s Murder Changed Americans’ Views on Policing
President Joe Biden likes to recall a conversation he had with Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s daughter, at Floyd’s funeral last summer. “Daddy changed the world,” she told Biden. If the first step to changing the world is changing people’s minds, Floyd’s murder one year ago did that—though just how much, and with what long-term effects, remain unclear.
America’s Entire Understanding of the Pandemic Was Shaped by Messy Data
To understand any data set, you have to understand the way its information is compiled. That’s especially true for a patchwork data set such as the one composed of U.S. COVID-19 data, which is the product of 56 smaller systems belonging to each state and territory in the country.In our year of working with COVID-19 data, we harnessed our attention on these systems and found that much of the information they produced reflected their individual structures.