Today's Liberal News
Fauci predicts normal life won’t return in U.S. before fall 2021
The assessment comes as the Trump administration appears poised to miss its year-end target to vaccinate 20 million Americans.
Police investigate deliberate spoiling of 500 vaccine doses
Police said they were notified of the alleged tampering Wednesday night.
How Trump warped HHS long before Covid-19
Political interference and tensions with scientists preceded — and set the stage for — the disaster of 2020.
The Pandemic Metric to Trust Right Now
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. On weekends, some of the people in labs, health departments, hospitals, and medical examiner’s offices who do the work of translating individual illnesses and deaths into data points get to go home.
The Atlantic Daily: Our New Year’s Eve Playlist
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.Crowds are a no-no this New Year’s Eve, but there are no restrictions on dancing by yourself.
The Mutated Virus Is a Ticking Time Bomb
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. A new variant of the coronavirus is spreading across the globe. It was first identified in the United Kingdom, where it is rapidly spreading, and has been found in multiple countries. Viruses mutate all the time, often with no impact, but this one appears to be more transmissible than other variants—meaning it spreads more easily.
Ask a Teacher: How Can I Get My Son to Stop Making Careless Errors?
He knows the math but works too quickly.
Trump backs down, signs stimulus package
A government shutdown was averted after the president approved the Covid relief package and annual spending bill.
Congress sends Covid package and spending measure to Trump
The president has thrown the fate of the bill into jeopardy.
Fed enters Biden era with clipped wings and a warning from Republicans
Congress curbed the central bank’s emergency lending despite the economy’s continuing struggles.
Biden adds former Obama budget official, onetime Warren aide to economic team
Biden added that the appointees have “broad viewpoints on how to build a stronger and more inclusive middle class.
Fed sees less severe recession this year but warns of tough winter
Officials said they expect the U.S. economy to shrink by 2.4 percent this year, a brighter forecast than they offered just three months ago.
Bree Newsome & Prof. Eddie Glaude: The Black Lives Matter Movement Helped the Democrats Defeat Trump
As President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris prepare to take power, we continue to look at the growing debate over the direction of the Democratic Party. House Majority Whip James Clyburn recently criticized calls to “defund the police” and argued the phrase hurt Democratic congressional candidates.
“America’s Moment of Reckoning”: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Cornel West on Uprising Against Racism
Scholars Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor respond to the global uprising against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “We’re seeing the convergence of a class rebellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it,” said Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. “And in many ways, we are in uncharted territory in the United States.
Trump Trouble For The GOP: President Declares Georgia Senate Races ‘Illegal And Invalid’
The president’s declaration is not exactly the get-out-the-vote message some republicans were looking for.
A Pandemic Guide to Anime: New hits (and a few misses)
Welcome back, happy holidays, and so forth. Still bored and stuck at home? Good, keep doing that. Until there’s enough vaccine for everybody, everybody needs to plant themselves at home as much as possible. Read a book. Play some games. Watch television.
If you’ve gone through everything your television has to offer and come up empty, you’re welcome to join us for our quick tour of the best of anime. (See: Part 1, Part 2.
GOP Fissures Over Trump’s Electoral College Challenge Of Biden
The effort to subvert the will of voters is forcing Republicans to make choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era and an evolving GOP.
Diet culture loves New Year’s Day, but you can opt-out of faux food morality at any time
While it can feel like thinking back to March is like thinking back about 100 years, it was, in fact, less than a year ago. If you were in the United States, we probably all experienced something relatively similar—debates on whether or not to buy or make our own masks (or wear them at all), how much food to stock up on, if you’d be working from home for a long time (if at all), and, somehow, how not to gain weight. Yes.
Ex-Defense Secretary Slams Trump’s Hold On GOP: ‘Maybe It’s Time For A New Party’
William Cohen, who worked as secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, described fellow Republicans eager to please Trump as “diabolical.
Strangest of All: A podcast of true fiction, and false facts
Over the Christmas holiday, I decided to try my hand at the podcasting game. Thanks to a microphone delivered by Santa and the ease with which all the little tools can be acquired these days, I sat down for a day and got something that sounds like … an amateur who sat down for a day. Still, I enjoyed the process and it gave me a chance to talk about something that has obsessed me for more than half a century: the books of former radio host Frank Edwards.
Pro-Trump Lawyer Mocked For Claiming Mike Pence Guilty Of Treason
L. Lin Wood falsely said that the vice president, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Chief Justice John Roberts conspired to deny Trump a second term.
Biden’s Secret Service detail to include trusted agents as allies express ‘concerns’ about others
The Washington Post is reporting that there are going to be some changes to the Secret Service’s presidential security detail in the Joe Biden administration. This is not unusual in itself, but the Post says the changes come “amid concerns from Biden allies that some current members were politically aligned with President Trump.”
This is an unpleasant story in every direction. It may be unfairly maligning professionals in a deadly dangerous job.
Senate Overrides Trump’s Veto Of Defense Bill
It’s the first time Congress has voted to override a veto during Donald Trump’s presidency.
U.S. coronavirus cases eclipse 20 million
The 20 millionth case comes less than two months after the country tallied its 10 millionth.
Colonization Fueled Ebola: Dr. Paul Farmer on “Fevers, Feuds & Diamonds” & Lessons from West Africa
We continue our conversation with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, whose new book, “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds,” tells the story of his efforts to fight Ebola in 2014 and how the history of slavery, colonialism and violence in West Africa exacerbated the outbreak. “Care for Ebola is not rocket science,” says Dr. Farmer, who notes that doctors know how to treat sick patients.