‘The White House isn’t supporting him’: Biden’s FDA pick left in limbo
Robert Califf’s supporters fear his candidacy is on the brink — raising the threat of a setback for Biden and the health agency at the center of his pandemic response.
Today's Liberal News
Trump plan favored giving vaccines to Israel, Taiwan over poorer countries
As the U.S. prepared for authorization of the first Covid-19 vaccines, the administration prepared a secret list of which nations would get the doses first.
Government watchdog says HHS at ‘high risk’ of bungling public health crises
The deficiencies include failures to outline roles and responsibilities for other entities involved in a response.
POLITICO-Harvard poll: Big domestic spending bills seen as stoking inflation
At a time when inflation is a growing concern, the survey found more than four in 10 people believe that both the BBB and the infrastructure bill will increase inflation.
Republicans see political gold in Democrats’ race-sensitive Covid drug guidance
While Democratic strategists say these attacks are baseless, arguing that no one is being denied pills based on their race, they warn they may prove effective.
Opinion | Why Are Minority-Owned Banks Disappearing? Washington Holds the Smoking Gun
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Biden’s first year: A tale of 2 presidencies
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
Price spikes threaten to ground Biden’s big-spending plans
The government reported Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most widely watched gauge of inflation, hit a four-decade high in December compared to the previous year.
U.S. consumer prices soared 7 percent in past year, most since 1982
The jump is the latest evidence that rising costs for food, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households.
Powell’s warning to Congress: Inflation a ‘severe threat’ to jobs
The potential clash over the Fed’s plans to tighten monetary policy could be a harbinger of conflicts to come with Democrats and even some Republicans.
“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”: Director Rory Kennedy & Michael Stumo, Father of Crash Victim
Families of passengers who died in fatal crashes while aboard Boeing 737 MAX jets in Ethiopia and Indonesia are urging the Department of Justice to reopen a Trump-era settlement that allowed the company to evade criminal prosecution. We speak with the father of one of the victims, as well as the director of the new documentary, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” which details Boeing’s push for profit over safety and is set to air on Netflix February 18.
Home Demolition in Sheikh Jarrah Seen as Part of Broader Israeli Effort to Dispossess Palestinians
Israeli forces continue to expel Palestinians from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that the United Nations has described as a possible war crime. We speak to Palestinian poet and activist Mohammed El-Kurd, whose own family is among those facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Sheikh Jarrah is also where the Salhiyeh family recently gained attention for threatening self-immolation while protesting their eviction and the demolition of their home.
U.S.-Backed Drug War Fuels Murders of Journalists in Mexico, Most Dangerous Country for Media Workers
We go to Tijuana, Mexico, where a wave of murdered journalists has raised international alarm and prompted nationwide protests. The three most recently murdered are José Luis Gamboa Arenas, Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel and Lourdes Maldonado López.
“The Lords of Easy Money”: How the Federal Reserve Enriched Wall Street & Broke the U.S. Economy
As the Federal Reserve signals it will raise interest rates in March, we talk to Christopher Leonard, author of the new book “The Lords of Easy Money,” about how the Federal Reserve broke the American economy. He details the issues with quantitative easing, a radical intervention instituted by the federal government in 2010 to encourage banks and investors to lend more risky debt to combat the recession.
Trump Calls On Massive Protests If Prosecutors Go After Him And Offers Pardons To Jan. 6ers
At a Texas rally, Trump focused on multiple investigations into him in New York, Washington and Atlanta, claiming: “They want to put me in jail.
Daily Kos Week in Action: Commemorating Black history month
Hello, Daily Kos Community! Welcome back to Daily Kos Week in Action. This series from the Daily Kos Activism team shares the issues we’re working on each week and gets your feedback on where we might focus our future efforts.
This week, we geared up for Black History Month by focusing on Republican attempts to ban the teaching of Black history in schools. We also are promoting progressive candidates primarying Blue Dog Democrats from the conservative wing of the party.
Miami landlords are raising rents and evicting vulnerable tenants as omicron surges
This story was originally published at Prism.
Two days before Christmas last year, Rachel Rubí and her mother, Maria Rubí, learned their rent would increase by 65% beginning February 2022. The two tenants have lived in a decades-old, two-story apartment building in Hialeah, a blue-collar and predominantly immigrant city within Miami-Dade County, for 25 years. Maria, who emigrated from Nicaragua, earns $14 an hour as a cashier at a store in the city.
Cincinnati Rally With Marjorie Taylor Greene Booted After Reported Flood Of Complaints
Senate candidate J.D. Vance had to scramble to find another venue after Ohioans erupted over Greene, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Cities across the country are giving employees paid leave after abortions
This article was originally published at Prism
In 2017, Beth Vial needed to have an abortion. She was 26 weeks into her pregnancy, and there was no legal cutoff in her resident city of Portland, Oregon, but she needed a simple majority vote from the department board at the hospital to approve her procedure. She was short one vote, and she was running out of time.
REI launches anti-union campaign as Manhattan workers organize, this week in the war on workers
Last week, workers at a Manhattan REI store filed for a union representation election, seeking what would be the first union at the outdoor equipment retailer. It didn’t take REI management long to start churning out anti-union messaging, including anti-union statements read by managers at captive audience meetings and workers being pulled into one-on-one meetings with managers.
Pennsylvania Democrats Decline To Endorse In Senate Primary
Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) nonetheless won a majority of the endorsement votes.
Connect! Unite! Act! What makes for vulnerability and courage?
Connect! Unite! Act! is a weekly series that seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups meet regularly to socialize, get out the vote, support candidates, and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers that be.
GOP Senator Dismisses Black Woman SCOTUS Nominee As Affirmative Action Pick
Sen. Roger Wicker lamented the departure of the “nice, stately” justice Stephen Breyer, who is white.
Spotify Isn’t Really About the Music Anymore
The questions that arise in the face of any boycott effort—whether against an unethical retailer, a disgraced performer, or an exploitative employer—can be paralyzing. We live in a world of compromise and wickedness, built of systems guided not by virtue but by profit. So why, the boycotter must be asked, draw the line here? We also live in a world in which individuals rarely ever wield more power than institutions.
Supreme Court Conservatives Plot A Liberal Apocalypse In 2022
A grim year of judicial rulings awaits liberals on abortion, affirmative action, guns, the administrative state and more.
The Coronavirus Will Surprise Us Again
To understand how the coronavirus keeps evolving into surprising new variants with new mutations, it helps to have some context: The virus’s genome is 30,000 letters long, which means that the number of possible mutation combinations is mind-bogglingly huge. As Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, told me, that number far, far exceeds the number of atoms in the known universe.
I Figured Out Wordle’s Secret
Wordle! It’s a word game people are playing online. Each day, the game offers one new puzzle: Guess a five-letter English word correctly in six or fewer tries. After each guess, the game tells you which letters are correct, which are wrong, and which are the right letters in the wrong place. It’s fun! But why?Games seem like trifles, and many are, which can make them difficult to take seriously as art or culture.
The Enduring Lessons of the ‘Axis of Evil’ Speech
Twenty years ago today, President George W. Bush delivered a State of the Union address that would instantly become one of the most bitterly controversial in U.S. history. At its core were short indictments of the aggressions and human-rights abuses of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq.Then the kicker:“States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.
Biden Undermined Faith in Elections
Joe Biden, who ran for president promising to restore trust in American democracy, recently undermined it. It’s not what he was elected to do, and he needs to repair the damage.During his marathon press conference last week, Biden was asked whether the failure of voting-rights legislation in Congress would render this year’s elections illegitimate.
Trump plan favored giving vaccines to Israel, Taiwan over poorer countries
As the U.S. prepared for authorization of the first Covid-19 vaccines, the administration prepared a secret list of which nations would get the doses first.