Meteor Blades

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

34 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Julia Conley at Common Dreams writes—Not Just ‘Build Back Better’: Climate Groups Call on Biden to ‘Build Back Fossil Free’:

Demanding far-reaching policies to keep more fossil fuels in the ground and ramp up the renewable energy transition, a coalition of environmental, racial, and economic justice groups

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

35 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

It’s time once again for excerpts from the Harper’s Index:

Portion of single Americans who have had sex since the coronavirus pandemic began: 3/10

Portion of those single Americans whose sexual partner was a roommate with whom they were not in a relationship: 1/4

Estimated value of loans taken o

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

35 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

It’s time once again for excerpts from the Harper’s Index:

Portion of single Americans who have had sex since the coronavirus pandemic began: 3/10

Portion of those single Americans whose sexual partner was a roommate with whom they were not in a relationship: 1/4

Estimated value of loans taken o

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

37 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Becca Andrews at Mother Jones writes—“This Process Was Not Designed for People Who Look Like Me.

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

38 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

At The Atlantic, Annie Lowrey writes—Stop Worrying About Budget Deficits. Red ink isn’t a problem as long as the country is spending on the right things:

Ten years ago, the United States was clawing its way out of a miserable recession. Washington was running an annual deficit of $1.

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

39 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

At Vice, Valerie Kipnis and Joe Hill write—The Next Pandemic Could Come From an American Factory Farm:

In the dead of night, four animal rights activists prepare to break into an industrial-scale pig farm in central California.

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

40 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Trita Parsi at Responsible Statecraft writes: House Dems unite to support the Iran nuclear deal:

Democratic congressional leaders are marshaling a message to President-elect Joe Biden “strongly endorsing” his promise to return to the Iran nuclear deal without preconditions, Gregory Meeks, (D-N.Y.

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

41 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Julia Conley at Common Dreams writes—Climate Action, Indigenous Rights Groups Among Those Championing Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary:

The national women’s rights organization UltraViolet on Wednesday became the latest group to call on President-elect Joe Biden to appoint Rep.

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

42 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Despite the Centers for Disease Control’s nationwide eviction moratorium, tens of thousands of Americans have been evicted and more are being served notices every day, perhaps 150,000 households. As the piece below notes, without an extension of that moratorium—which expires Dec.

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

43 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Markian Hawryluk at Kaiser Health News writes—Tracking COVID’s Spread Inside a Tight-Knit Latino Community:

Early in the pandemic, Ximena Rebolledo León, a registered nurse at Telluride Regional Medical Center in southwestern Colorado, needed to find everyone who’d been in contact with a sick Latino worker

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

43 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Markian Hawryluk at Kaiser Health News writes—Tracking COVID’s Spread Inside a Tight-Knit Latino Community:

Early in the pandemic, Ximena Rebolledo León, a registered nurse at Telluride Regional Medical Center in southwestern Colorado, needed to find everyone who’d been in contact with a sick Latino worker

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

44 days until Joe Biden is sworn into office.

Jessica Corbett at Common Dreams writes—Citing ‘Historic Abuse’ of Judicial Process, Over 1,500 Attorneys Call for Sanction of Trump Campaign’s Legal Team.

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

At The Baffler, Rafia Zakaria writes—Mad MAGA Men. Rage against the voting machines and floofy dresses on right-wing radio:

The conservative talk show game is like the Trump presidency, an entertainment enterprise. It follows, then, that the single swansong of a “stolen” election can only be played once every hour.

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

Anna Kim at The Washington Monthly writes—Reporters of Color Are Declaring Independence. A new crop of outlets is making journalism more diverse.

In 1968, a report issued by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders—better known as the Kerner Commission—excoriated the national press for its role in the racial unrest that rocked America in the summer of 1967.

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

Daniel Immerwahr at The Nation writes—Fort Everywhere. How did the United States become entangled in a cycle of endless war?

Shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the United States, a reporter asked Donald Trump if he now considered himself a wartime president. “I do. I actually do,” he replied. Swelling with purpose, he opened a press briefing by talking about it.

In yet another indication that the recovery from the Pandemic Recession has dramatically slowed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that nonfarm employment rose by a mere 245,000 jobs in November. There were 344,000 gained in the private sector, but in all levels of the public sector 99,000 jobs were lost. The headline unemployment rate fell to 6.7%, but that was mostly a product of 400,000 people leaving the labor force.

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

At The American Prospect, Alexander Salmon writes—Prosecuting Trump Is the Only Way to Heal the Nation. Letting him off the hook for multiple crimes would reinforce Trump’s own contempt for the rule of law:

Going out as it came in, the Trump campaign’s last days were ablaze with misconduct, corruption, and illegal activity with no regard for the law and no fear of consequence.

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

Jason Furman is professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration. At Foreign Affairs, he writes—The Crisis Opportunity.  What It Will Take to Build Back a Better Economy:

[…] The natural disaster is not over.

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

Timothy Noah at The Atlantic writes—The Trump You’ve Yet to Meet. Just because we know bad things about the 45th president, don’t assume that there’s nothing bad left to find out.

How well do we know Donald Trump? Pretty well, it would seem. Nobody has ever accused the outgoing president of possessing a complex personality.

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

Paul Buchheit is the author of “American Wars: Illusions and Realities” (2008) and “Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income” (2017).

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

Jonathan Chait at New York magazine writes—“Republicans Remain Opposed to Any Policies That Would Reduce Fossil-Fuel Use”:

For more than a decade, the GOP has stood alone among major right-of-center parties in industrialized democracies worldwide in its refusal to endorse climate science. But during the Trump era, the party’s rhetorical emphasis shifted.

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

Juan Cole at Informed Consent writes—Hyper-Patriarchal Saudi Arabia equates mild feminism with terrorism, as Sen.

In an August interview, Jake Sullivan—deputy chief of staff and director of policy planning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and an aide to then-Vice President Joe Biden who is now Biden’s pick for his national security adviser—hinted that rejoining the Iran Nuclear Agreement would be a priority for the new administration’s first 100 days in office.

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

Josh Bivens at the Economic Policy Institute writes in Principles for the relief and recovery phase of rebuilding the U.S. economy that “an overwhelmingly policy response” is need to address the shock of the coronavirus pandemic and recession.

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

Nick Martin at The New Republic writes—Kristi Noem’s War on Tribal Sovereignty Is Going to Get People Killed:

South Dakota currently ranks second in the nation for Covid-19 cases, and first in hospitalizations. On Saturday, the state reported its highest daily death total of the year.

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

Excerpts from the December edition of Harper’s Index:

Hypothetical median income of full-time U.S. workers if income were distributed as evenly as it was in 1975: $92,000
Actual [2020] median income of full-time U.S. workers: $50,000
Percentage change since last year in the number of U.S.

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

A couple of weeks ago, Night Owls excerpted David Dayen’s important September 2019 essay at The American Prospect titled The Day One Agenda: The Next Administration—Using Presidential Power for Good.

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

Caroline Chen at ProPublica writes—The Enraging Déjà Vu of a Third Coronavirus Wave. Health care workers don’t need patronizing praise. They need resources, federal support, and for us to stay healthy and out of their hospitals.

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

Rachel Ramirez at Vox writes—“A multi-year fight”: Activists say passing local ballot measures on policing is just the first step:

In the weeks after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, calls to defund the police could be seen on protesters’ signs, read in etchings on sidewalks, and heard in chants in America’s streets.

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

The Atlantic has published I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America, an updated excerpt from President Barack Obama’s memoir—A Promised Land—that ought to be read in its entirety.