Joe Biden is an unlikely stoner hero. Three of his four Baby Boomer predecessors in the Oval Office had explored marijuana in their youth, but by the time they became president, they all disdained the stuff. But Biden, like Donald Trump, was a straight-edge who says he never touched marijuana and was skeptical of any liberalization of drug laws throughout his long career in politics.
President Joe Biden recently visited Puerto Rico and Florida in an effort to reassure the people there that the U.S. government would help them in the aftermath of Hurricanes Fiona and Ian. But a key difference between those two places—Puerto Rico is a “commonwealth” and Florida is a state—means each faces a very different path to recovery.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a phone call on Tuesday that he will help peace efforts with Russia, just days after India abstained from a United Nations vote condemning the Russian annexation of four regions in Ukraine.
Protesters in Iran are continuing to demand justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in the hands of the so-called morality police, as well as envisioning a political future beyond the Islamic Republic. The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights estimates at least 154 people have been killed since the protests began.
As of Wednesday, abortions are almost entirely unavailable in 14 states and significantly limited in a 15th, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute.
The move comes as President Joe Biden meets with officials, doctors and advocates to mark 100 days since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
It’s the biggest single donation to the ACLU’s political work on abortion rights in the group’s history.
In the two months since President Joe Biden signed an executive order encouraging states to use the health insurance program to expand abortion access, no state has applied to do so.
The push to heed warning from public health experts faces buzzsaw of end-of-year budgeting.
It’s a rare moment for a Fed chair to toss aside all political considerations and ignore frantic investors.
The Fed’s interest rate hikes have fueled market turmoil by boosting the value of the dollar and feeding higher borrowing costs.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has pledged to do whatever it takes to curb inflation.
Despite the signs of moderating price increases, inflation remains far higher than many Americans have ever experienced and is keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve.
The plan touted by the U.S. Treasury secretary aims to diminish the Kremlin’s revenue while preserving the global oil supply.
Not many people are buying this one.
The Wyoming lawmaker highlighted the dangers posed by the election-denying Republican candidates for Arizona governor and secretary of state.
A new report reveals how many clinics have closed their doors or pivoted to other services after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate claimed to have no idea who the woman could be. But apparently she’s the mother of one of his kids.
“As everyone knows, I had a real battle with mental health, even wrote a book about it. And by the grace of God, I’ve overcome it,” Walker said.
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Todd Field’s new film, Tár, opens with a scene that should feel inherently uncinematic: an onstage Q&A. The conversation, between Lydia Tár (played by Cate Blanchett) and Adam Gopnik (gamely playing himself), is the kind of hoity-toity event that’d be a coveted ticket for a certain highbrow milieu. Tár is the preeminent conductor of her generation.
Of all the nicknames I have for my cat Calvin—Fluffernutter, Chonk-a-Donk, Fuzzy Lumpkin, Jerky McJerkface—Bumpus Maximus may be the most apt. Every night, when I crawl into bed, Calvin hops onto my pillow, purrs, and bonks his head affectionately against mine. It’s adorable, and a little bit gross. Tiny tufts of fur jet into my nose; flecks of spittle smear onto my cheeks.Just shy of a decade ago, cuddling a cat this aggressively would have left me in dire straits.
On a recent weeknight in Punta Gorda, Florida, a bird thief cut the power at a strip mall. It was roughly 2 a.m., a time when cockatoos and cockatiels are asleep; and also when, with its security cameras knocked offline, one might slip inside the coral-stucco storefront of the Parrot Outreach Society, a local rescue-and-adoption group with close to 100 animals on-site.
The administration’s plans to create a new accelerator for Covid vaccines and treatments has hit a wall.
On Tuesday evening, Russia was trying to establish a defensive line across their holdings in the Kherson area that stretches between the town of Bruskynske on the west and Mylove on the east. This is designed to halt the rapid Ukrainian advance in northern Kherson. It’s unclear if this effort has been in any sense successful, but it does seem to have temporarily halted the “take a village as fast as you can reach it” parade that has gone on for the last three days.
Young people shouldn’t have to worry about their basic rights, dignities, and protections from harassment and abuse, but of course, thanks to Republicans, they do. Conservatives haven’t been shy about demonizing and isolating LGBTQ+ youth—and especially trans youth—from their peers if they think it’ll get them more votes in the midterm elections.
Again: There is no underlying Republican philosophy. None at all, aside from an insistence that anything a Republican does is good and anyone who criticizes a Republican is bad. Republican voters don’t care if you have sex with minors (Matt Gaetz), help cover up the sexual abuse of student-athletes (Jim Jordan), troll local malls looking for teen girls to sexually assault (Roy Moore), or commit actual treason against the republic (Donald What’s-His-Name).
In the Republican race to put forward the most repulsive agenda possible, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is definitely outpacing his GOP counterparts.
Sure, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina sent his colleagues running when he introduced a national 15-week abortion ban and pledged that a GOP-controlled Congress would give it a vote.
The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Daniel Donner, and Cara Zelaya, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.