Pfizer delivers final blow to Trump’s hope for preelection vaccine
There won’t be a coronavirus vaccine ready before Election Day, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated promises and vaccine makers’ breakneck speed.
Today's Liberal News
Trump administration announces vaccine deal for long-term care facilities
Two national pharmacy chains will administer an eventual coronavirus vaccine to high-risk groups.
What Teacher Friends Talk About When Students Aren’t Listening
Each installment of The Friendship Files features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.This week she talks with two elementary-school teachers, both in their 16th year of teaching. They have been friends since the beginning of their careers, but they’ve never faced a school year like this one.
The Books Briefing: Can Democracy Survive Without Journalism?
Newsboy selling the Chicago Defender. (Jack Delano / Library of Congress)Throughout the summer of 1916, “tired of being kicked and cursed,” tens of thousands of African Americans migrated from the South to the North in hopes of a better life—inspired in no small part by the nation’s leading Black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.The paper printed accounts of horrific murders by lynching, and demanded federal military intervention to stop the killings.
Pfizer won’t seek coronavirus vaccine authorization until after election
The move by Pfizer continues the company’s push to publicly distance itself from the presidential race.
Dark Money & Barrett Nomination: The Link Between Big Polluters & the War on ACA, Roe & LGBT Rights
During confirmation hearings this week for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island opted not to ask the judge any questions. Instead, he gave a 30-minute presentation on how right-wing groups, including the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network, use dark money to shape the nation’s judiciary.
Chris Christie, out of hospital after battling Covid, urges Trump to go further on masks
“I think we should be even more affirmative about it,” the former New Jersey governor said.
Preserving Roe: West Virginia Mom Tells Abortion Story in Heartfelt Speech Against Amy Coney Barrett
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony this week from Crystal Good, who spoke about her experience of having an abortion and expressed concerns that Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court would limit access to safe, affordable care. During three days of hearings, Judge Barrett has repeatedly refused to answer questions about her views on abortion and the future of Roe v. Wade, despite her public record opposing reproductive rights.
Deeply Troubling: Kristen Clarke on How Rush to Confirm Barrett Endangers Voting & Civil Rights
The Senate confirmation hearing for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett ended Thursday with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee scheduling a vote on her nomination for October 22, with a full Senate vote to follow shortly thereafter — less than two weeks before the presidential election, in which the Supreme Court could play a decisive role.
Dear Care and Feeding: My 5-Year-Old Is Desperate for a Sibling, but I Can’t Have Any More Kids
Parenting advice on sibling sadness, gift overload, and neighborhood bullying.
The ‘nerdy virologists’ steering the U.S. vaccine race
The political backdrop could make the first coronavirus gathering of the advisory committee one of the most-watched in FDA history.
The Census Says It’s Counted 99.9 Percent of Households. Don’t Be Fooled.
The Trump administration’s logic for ending the count early obscures that it may be rife with inaccuracies.
Congress Has Another Chance to Pass a Stimulus. Democrats Need to Take It.
There’s no better time than now.
As the Nation Braces for a Wave of Evictions, Some Bronx Tenants Fight Back
Amid fears of eviction and not being able to pay for food, a group of Bronx tenants saw only one option: to go on rent strike.
Rumaan Alam’s New Novel Started With a Daydream
On a cold winter day, his thoughts turned to a summer on Long Island.
Pfizer trying to defuse critics amid push for vaccine before Election Day
The campaign by Pfizer comes amid growing scrutiny of the CEO’s predictions that the company will know this month whether it has a viable vaccine.
Health officials scrambling to produce Trump’s ‘last-minute’ drug cards by Election Day
As officials debate how to get Trump’s name on the cards, health officials warn of a taxpayer-funded boondoggle to bolster president’s flagging poll numbers.
Fauci: There could be 300,000 to 400,000 Covid deaths unless precautions taken
He added that a vaccine likely won’t be widely available until next summer or fall.
HHS whistleblower Rick Bright resigns from government
Bright alleges that he was demoted because he opposed political pressure linked to an unproven Covid-19 treatment.
Hard-hit small businesses face long winter without lifeline
Some 60 percent of all U.S. businesses that have closed during the pandemic have not reopened.
‘We need to step forward’: Fed leaders call for new focus on race in the economy
The comments from the leading Fed officials were the latest evidence of the central bank’s growing attention to persistent inequality in the economy.
‘Trump just kicked over the chess board’: GOP faces an election with more pain
The president’s approval rating on the economy remained his bright spot. But he darkened that outlook by shutting the door on a comprehensive economic aid package just as millions of Americans start voting.
Why Trump lost his battle against the trade deficit
The monthly deficit in U.S. goods trade with all other countries set a record high in August at more than $83 billion.
Making the Supreme Court Safe for Democracy: Samuel Moyn on Reforming an Undemocratic Institution
As Republicans race to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett prior to Election Day and cement a conservative majority on the top court for a generation or more, calls are growing for Joe Biden to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court if elected president.
Dahlia Lithwick: Amy Coney Barrett May Claim Neutrality, But Her Record Is “Extremely Conservative”
In the second day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, the federal judge’s refusal to answer basic questions on voter intimidation and whether a president can delay elections did her “no favors” and was part of an aim to “present herself as neutral; she’s an open book; whatever she was before, whatever she ruled on the bench before, is immaterial,” says Dahlia Lithwick, senior legal correspondent and Supreme Court reporter f
Photos of the Week: Puma Cub, Nord Boss, Mosque Moon
Spider-Man in Mexico City, the NBA Finals in Florida, a dragon boat race in China, BMX racing in the Netherlands, a graduation in Guinea, a bridal photoshoot in Ireland, pro-democracy protests in Thailand, a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and much more.
Thursday Night Owls. J.C. Pan: Poverty numbers leave out far too many economic strugglers
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
J.C. Pan at The New Republic writes—The Devastatingly Low Bar of “Official” Poverty.
We now have new numbers to confirm what everyone who received a $1,200 stimulus check or extra unemployment benefits over the summer likely already knows: Additional government money is a good thing during an economic collapse.
Trump has tried to woo Indian-American voters, but a new poll has bad news for him
Republicans have been hoping that the combination of Hindu nationalism and relatively high income levels would lure large numbers of Indian-American voters to their side despite an established record of Indian-Americans voting for Democrats. A new poll suggests Republicans are going to be disappointed.
YouGov finds 72% Indian-American support for Joe Biden and just 22% support for Donald Trump. The presence of Sen.