Today's Liberal News

How America Dropped to No. 36

In April, when I received my second Moderna shot, America was on a roll. Adjusted for population, the United States had distributed more COVID-19 vaccines per capita than any country but Israel, Chile, the United Kingdom, and a smattering of small nations and islands. With a surge of doses, we could have been No. 1 in the world.Five months later, the U.S. is no longer in the top five in national vaccine rates. We’re not in the top 10, or the top 20, or top 30.

Playing Defense Is Totally Fine

If you’ve turned on any cable-news channel or opened any newspaper or magazine since most of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban last month, you can see a clear narrative emerging: The terrorists are returning, and they will attack us.

The Progressives Have Already Won

In an Oval Office meeting with House progressives last week, Joe Biden made a joke about how much had changed in his long career: “I used to be called a moderate,” the president mused. He was, at that moment, trying to mediate a Democratic Party struggle between the left-wing lawmakers sitting before him and the moderates he had hosted a few hours earlier. When the meeting ended, Biden pulled aside Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State.

Rep. Maxine Waters: Biden Admin Must End “Inhumane” Deportation & Whipping of Haitian Asylum Seekers

Longtime diplomat Daniel Foote, the U.S. special envoy to Haiti, has resigned in protest over the Biden administration’s mass deportation of Haitian asylum seekers and meddling in Haiti’s political affairs. The resignation comes days after U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback were filmed chasing, grabbing and whipping Haitian asylum seekers who had gathered in a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas.

“Our Health or Our Homes”: Tenants Facing Eviction Help Introduce New “Keeping Renters Safe Act”

As the Delta variant continues to surge across the United States, so too has the housing and eviction crisis, with more than 11 million households now behind on rent. Most of those evicted are Black or Latinx, and the majority are single women with children. We speak with a single mother and a high school student who have faced eviction and went to Washington, D.C.

United States of War: How AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Deal Could Inflame Tension, Provoke War with China

Criticism is growing of AUKUS, a new trilateral military partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States that the countries say is needed to counter China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific region. As part of the agreement, the U.S. has agreed to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, replacing a previous deal Australia had with France.

Community Spotlight: Story rescues and venerable Open Threads

Long long ago, when we were all much younger and had better hair, Daily Kos ended the staff-written Morning Open Thread. They were Greatly Missed, leading to a Lamentation upon the Land of Kos. Volunteers stepped up, and the feature continued in fits and starts. Then, on a bright morning in June 2011, Kossacks JaxDem and eeff took it upon themselves to rectify the lack, and so began the daily publication of the Morning Open Thread (MOT), which to this day persists.

What’s the main reason millennials give for not yet buying a home? You need just one guess

As someone with student debt—in spite of being lucky enough to work full-time, including during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic—I know firsthand how many barriers come when you’re paying back not only a loan but a loan with a considerably high interest rate. Even on income-based repayment plans, student loan payments can seriously cut into the money you have to live in the day-to-day world, like when it comes to rent, groceries, or transportation.