Today's Liberal News

Only one presidential campaign is actually talking about the words and deeds of its opponent

The impeached president does and says so many absurdly horrific, devastatingly harmful things that even just addressing one each day feels impossible. But taking a step back and looking at the big picture every once in a while can help. Comparing the Trump campaign’s tactics to those of Joe Biden, one overarching difference stands out in the way each addresses the other.

Listen: Is Faster Better?

The federal government is telling states to prepare for a vaccine as early as November. But a major trial has been put on hold. On this episode of Social Distance, James Hamblin and Katherine Wells look to staff writer Sarah Zhang for answers—and updates on a vaccine.But before a vaccine arrives, is testing our best hope? Staff writer Alexis C. Madrigal joins to explain “rapid testing.

Trump Made a Bad Bargain With Woodward

A Bob Woodward book is a record of a sequence of transactions. In exchange for access and information, Woodward offers Washington power holders the opportunity to disparage their rivals and aggrandize themselves. But be warned that a Woodward proposition is never guaranteed. It comes hedged with dense, finely printed terms and conditions. And Woodward’s scoops have a way of turning out to be less new than they are first advertised.

The Dangerous Naïveté of Coastal Elites

Before any of its characters appear on-screen, HBO’s Coastal Elites introduces itself with a genteel red font that bears a striking resemblance to The New Yorker’s proprietary typeface. Within minutes, viewers are introduced to Miriam (played by a characteristically engaging Bette Midler).

The Commons

The CollaboratorsWhat causes people to abandon their principles in support of a corrupt regime?, Anne Applebaum asked in the July/August issue.

“Democratic Public Health”: Big Pharma Relies on Developing World While Limiting Access to Treatment

We look at the history of clinical vaccine trials and exploitation of vulnerable people in the U.S. and India, which recently surpassed Brazil as the country with the second most infections worldwide. Kaushik Sunder Rajan, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, says there is a documented history of “ethical lapses” and lack of accountability in vaccine studies in India.

Friday Night Owls: Progressive groups push House Dems to help Biden resurrect Iran nuclear agreement

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

At Responsible Statecraft, Matthew Petti writes—Progressives urge House Dems to help Biden save the Iran nuclear deal that Donald Trump has done everything he can to destroy:

Sixteen progressive groups have signed a letter urging the next House Foreign Affairs Committee chair to help a “potential Biden administration” save the nuclear deal with Iran.

Journalist reveals Trump official Katie Waldman tried to force her to retract factual border report

Further revelations from the whistleblower complaint alleging a top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official wanted to downplay white supremacy terror threats confirm there was also an active effort to lie about the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered at the southern border in order to back support for impeached president Donald Trump’s wall.

Meet one of the workers caring for children during the pandemic

It has been almost eight months since the first COVID-19 cases hit the United States and there has been a national shift in how essential workers are viewed. Once heroic headlines—uplifting the workers who kept the country running and fed—are now bleak. Essential workers are being treated as “sacrificial lambs,” New York Magazine recently reported, and thrust “into positions they were never meant to fill.

Revisiting Trump’s lies and Hurricane Maria’s death toll in Puerto Rico

As the number of deaths due to COVID-19 continue to grow on Donald Trump’s watch, and outrage over his culpability escalates, let us not forget that he showed us who he is back in 2017 when he attempted to ignore and minimize the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria’s devastation of the island. Remember that in 2018, Trump claimed Democrats made up death toll numbers to make him look bad. He even gave himself a “10,” for his response.