Today's Liberal News

The Atlantic Daily: What’s Next for the Democratic Party

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. THE ATLANTICJoe Biden accrued a record-setting number of votes, proving that the Democratic Party’s coalition is the largest in the country. But that alignment could be tricky to maintain, writers on our politics team warn.
The party’s truce is over.

Congress Needs to End This, Now

All eyes are on the courts to see whether they will interfere with the election results under the guise of rectifying voter fraud, or delay things sufficiently such that multiple state legislatures find a way to step in and hand new Electoral College slates to President Donald Trump by December 8, the statutory deadline. Both options are extremely unlikely, which is very good news. In the meantime, however, the Trump administration is blocking the official transition process from proceeding.

“More of an Exorcism Than an Election”: Priya Gopal on What Biden Win Means for Britain & Ireland

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been one of President Trump’s closest international allies. How will he adapt to working with a Biden administration? Cambridge professor Priya Gopal says Johnson was clearly betting on a Trump reelection, especially amid Britain’s exit from the European Union. “I think they were certainly hoping that there would be a Trump victory,” says Gopal. “Brexit and Trump, as Trump quite correctly recognized, are very deeply in sync.

Trump Loss Decreases Chance of Iran War, But Many Iraqis Fear U.S. Policy Under Biden, Too

We look at how Joe Biden’s presidency will affect the U.S. footprint in the Middle East with Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who says Biden’s win is being viewed with “anxiety” by many Iraqis who are eager to avoid war between the U.S. and Iran. “Any conflict will take place on Iraqi soil,” says Abdul-Ahad. “There is not much optimism. There is anxiety towards Biden and his team in the way they deal with Iraq.

South African Activist Kumi Naidoo: Trump is Attempting a Coup to Install Minority Rule

We continue to look at the world’s response to the U.S. election with South African activist Kumi Naidoo, a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity, former secretary general of Amnesty International and former head of Greenpeace. Naidoo says President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden is good news, but notes that the world lost four crucial years to tackle the climate crisis and other issues because of the Trump administration.

Brazil: Trump Ally Bolsonaro Refuses to Acknowledge Biden Win & Downplays COVID as Death Toll Mounts

The White House has ordered agencies not to cooperate with Biden’s presidential transition team, and President Donald Trump continues to refuse to accept defeat in the 2020 election, which means Biden cannot receive security briefings or access government funds for the transition. But while the standoff continues in the U.S., other countries are already preparing for a new administration. For more on how the historic U.S.

Ron Klain will be Joe Biden’s chief of staff

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President-elect Joe Biden’s first staffing choice is perhaps his most obvious one—Ron Klain will be his chief of staff, considered to be perhaps the toughest job in D.C. And it’s a great choice. 

Klain is perfectly suited for the role. He has been chief of staff to both vice-presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, as well as Bill Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno at just 31 years of age.

Wednesday Night Owls: Biden should choose new disarmament agenda—starting with the Mine Ban Treaty

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

At Defense News, Arms Control Association senior fellow Jeff Abramson writes—Biden should embrace the humanitarian disarmament agenda:

In his first speech upon being declared the president-elect, Joe Biden flagged making “America respected around the world again” among top-line priorities.

Republican state senator on getting COVID-19 amid pandemic: ‘I finally got my wish’

With most eyes on the presidential election and a growing national interest in the Georgia Senate runoffs this January, it sometimes feels that the novel coronavirus pandemic is not getting as much national media attention as it should. And given the rising case numbers across the nation, the pandemic certainly should be getting a lot of coverage. After all, we’ve now surpassed 10 million coronavirus cases in the United States, with more than 60,000 related hospitalizations.

Rand Paul owns self once again over election security

Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican probably voted most punchable by his colleagues in the Senate, had another embarrassing self-own on Twitter this week. “One way of determining fraud in mail-in ballots would be to examine a random sample of a few thousand to find the rate of fraud,” he wrote. “If fraud rate is low, voters may be convinced of the elections legitimacy. If the fraud rate is high, then every mail-in ballot should be examined.

Evangelical said COVID-19 might be a ‘wake-up call’ from God for female ‘fornication’ dies of …

On Nov. 3, long-time evangelical pastor and big-time Trump supporter Rev. Irvin Baxter Jr. died of complications from COVID-19. Based in Plano, Texas, his ministry announced his death at the age of 75. Baxter, a televangelist who appeared on End of the Age syndicated television and radio program and founded Endtime Ministries, preached an apocalyptic-brand of Pentecostal Christianity that has been practiced in the United States since the early 1900s.