Trump EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Tapped For Virginia’s Top Environmental Post
Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will nominate the former EPA head and coal lobbyist to serve as Virginia’s next secretary of natural resources.
Today's Liberal News
Should I Just Get Omicron Over With?
For the past two years, Marie, a 30-something student in New York, had the right idea about COVID-19: She didn’t want to get it. Then, in the middle of December, as the antibody-dodging Omicron swept through her state, the coronavirus found her all the same. But Marie’s three vaccines helped keep her illness short and manageable.
Omicron and the Return to Normalcy
Sign up for Conor’s newsletter here.Question of the WeekThe holiday break is over for most. How should America’s colleges, high schools, and elementary schools handle the winter surge of COVID-19 cases associated with the Omicron variant? What do you like most or least about how your educational institution is handling the pandemic? What local details of interest can you share about how matters are being handled near you? As ever, my email address is conor@theatlantic.com.
Merrick Garland: ‘Committed’ DOJ Will Hold Jan. 6 Perpetrators ‘At Any Level’ Accountable
The attorney general said the Justice Department will “follow the facts wherever they lead.
Republicans Steer Clear Of Events Marking Capitol Riot Anniversary
As with everything in Congress these days, the question of whether to mark an attack on democracy itself is splitting along ideological lines.
The Movie That Understands the Secret Shame of Motherhood
Maggie Gyllenhaal has a theory that the mothers we see on-screen tend to fall into one of two categories. First, there’s the “fantasy mother,” who’s perfect in every way except when she has, say, some oatmeal on her sweater or runs a little late for a parent-teacher conference.
We Are Living Through a Democratic Emergency
Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET on January 5, 2022.Donald Trump could subvert the next election—and his second coup attempt has already begun, Barton Gellman warns in our latest cover story.Ahead of the anniversary of the insurrection at the Capitol, Gellman joined Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum and executive editor Adrienne LaFrance for a live virtual conversation about the threats to American democracy.
Columnist Will Bunch: Trump Came Much Closer to Pulling Off a January 6 Coup Than People Realize
The January 6 insurrection resulted in criminal charges for over 700 rioters, and the FBI has since called it an act of domestic terrorism. Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch says there is growing evidence that links Trump and his inner circle to the Capitol attack. He argues understanding what was happening behind the scenes at the Pentagon, which has operational control over the National Guard in D.C.
“American Insurrection”: How Far-Right Extremists Moved from Fringe to Mainstream After Jan. 6 Attack
Thursday marks one year since a violent mob of thousands of far-right and white supremacist Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries.
FDA authorizes Covid boosters for teens 12-15
The agency will also allow some immunocompromised children as young as age 5 to get an additional dose.
‘You can’t really manufacture doctors and nurses that don’t exist’
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said his state is trying everything it can to ensure it has enough health care workers.
Biden officials now fear booster programs will limit global vaccine supply
A looming shortage of doses for low- and moderate-income countries puts increased pressure on Novavax to obtain regulatory approvals for global manufacturing.
J&J’s booster shown effective against Covid hospitalization
The results mark the first evidence of the effectiveness of such a vaccine boost while Omicron is circulating.
U.S. unemployment claims drop to 198,000
The four-week average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, the lowest level since October 1969.
Despite supply issues and Omicron, holiday sales rise 8.5%
The results, which covered Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, were fueled by purchases of clothing and jewelry.
Health spending growth more than doubled in first year of pandemic
Nearly the entire increase came from the burst of federal spending as the government mobilized to contain the spread of the virus.
Fed clears path for multiple rate hikes during election year as prices surge
The Fed plans to cease its bond buys entirely by March, rather than its earlier target of June to give itself room to begin raising interest rates as early as the second quarter of next year.
Inflation accelerates at lightning pace in new setback for Biden
Costs for key goods and services soared 0.8 percent for the month and 6.8 percent for the year, the highest since 1982, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Climate Change-Fueled Blaze Destroys 1,000 Homes in Colorado in Rare Winter Wildfire
A devastating climate change-fueled wildfire destroyed nearly 1,000 homes outside of Boulder and Denver, Colorado, with little notice last Thursday. The fire was fanned by winds that gusted up to 110 miles per hour, and came after a year of drought across the western U.S. and amid an unusually warm December.
Will Britain Survive?
Photographs by Robbie LawrenceThe grim reality for Britain as it faces up to 2022 is that no other major power on Earth stands quite as close to its own dissolution. Given its recent record, perhaps this should not be a surprise.
Sen. Ron Johnson Draws Ridicule After Mind-Numbing Take On God And Vaccines
“So much for God creating us with brains,” a Jesuit priest wrote in response.
News Roundup: Omicron closing schools despite political vows; Republican support for violence rises
In the news today: Omicron. Omicron, omicron, omicron. While politicians posture and bicker over who can keep schools open longest or manage this new mega-surge with the least “disruption,” the virus at the center of the surge isn’t listening—and that means schools and other services are being shuttered not because any politician ordered it to happen or not happen, but there are simply too many people out sick to make things function.
The last bridge is burning: Emergency services and the omicron surge
It’s like clockwork—almost rote at this point. A patient comes into the ER. There are months of notes from their primary physician that they tried to get them vaccinated. The patient steadfastly refuses. The patient gets COVID. They try every home “treatment” available. Finally, the patients shows up in the ER, panicked. We stabilize them. But it’s too late.
Latest anti-vaxxer nonsense blames Betty White’s death and NFL player’s injury on COVID-19 booster
Ever since the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, disingenuous pundits have been using the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to “prove” that the vaccines are deadly. But in reality, VAERS is just a collection of raw reports from people who’ve been vaccinated.
A death reported on VAERS could be caused by just about anything, and is proof of exactly nothing.
Lowell Mayor Sokhary Chau makes history as first Cambodian American mayor in the nation
Going into the new year the trend of people of color making historic wins nationwide continues. Just two months ago, Aftab Pureval was elected as Cincinnati’s first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) mayor, his win was followed a month later by the election of Maine’s first Somali American mayor, Deqa Dhalac. Now, a new month brings us another first, Sokhary Chau as the first Cambodian American mayor in the United States.
Cops sic police dog on Egyptian immigrant within seconds of seeing him out of car
Ali Badr, an Uber driver and Egyptian immigrant, launched a federal lawsuit last month against a California police department, a police dog handler, and six other individual police officers after video showed a police dog being sent to bite into the driver’s arm as he asked repeatedly what he did. The answer to that question is more of a technicality—a late rental payment—than a crime, according to a lawsuit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mary Trump Guesses Why Donald Trump Ignored Ivanka’s Pleas To Stop Capitol Riot
The former president probably thought watching the destruction was “fun,” his niece said.
Trump Cancels Jan. 6 Press Conference
The former president said he’ll save his remarks on the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol for a Jan. 15 rally in Arizona.
House Committee Requests Cooperation From Sean Hannity In Inquiry On Capitol Riot
The select committee is asking for information from the Fox News host who sent texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and others on Jan. 6.
CDC recommits to isolation and quarantine guidelines without tests
The recent guidance, updated Dec. 29, said individuals who test positive for Covid-19 and whose symptoms are resolving need only isolate for five days as long as they continue to wear masks for an additional five days.