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.
Today's Liberal News
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.
“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.
News Roundup: Supreme Court seat needs filling fast; Republican war on children; it’s crunch time
Hello Friday! As if on cue, our infrastructure continues to literally crumble, and the pittance put forward to fix the myriad issues BBB would have helped to ameliorate remain critical to our country’s future. The Biden administration is being pressured to make the moves that the majority of Americans support, come hell or high water—and the latter is coming, thanks to climate change.
San Jose passes landmark law requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance. Cue the outrage
The San Jose, California, City Council is requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance and pay a fee in what the city says is the first ordinance of its kind in the U.S. The city council passed the law on Tuesday, and it will likely take effect in August.
Sixth-grader who wrote to Tennessee governor opposing ‘permitless’ gun law is killed by stray bullet
By all accounts, Artemis Rayford was a happy, vibrant 12-year-old. He loved playing football and wearing his Tennessee Titans jersey. As a sixth-grader at Memphis, Tennessee’s Sherwood Middle School, Rayford had participated, just before the last year’s winter break, in a program his school coordinated with the Memphis Police Department—intended to discourage violence and gang activity. He and his fellow students learned about a new law passed in Jul.
ICE blocked from re-detaining immigrants freed from two California facilities due to pandemic
Detained immigrants and their advocates scored a major court victory this week, reaching a “groundbreaking” settlement in a lawsuit filed nearly two years ago over unsafe pandemic conditions.
Under an agreement reached Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is barred from re-detaining immigrants previously released from two California facilities due to COVID-19. This could affect up to 250 people.
TikTok’s latest rising star is a 98-year-old Holocaust survivor
The social media platform TikTok continues to prove itself to be more than just a platform for viral dance videos and pranks. It now has one of its oldest users sharing the reality of the Holocaust through her story of surviving it.
Candace Owens Pitches A Fit Over Minnie Mouse Wearing Pants
The character’s temporary makeover threatens to destroy “fabrics of our society,” the right-wing media mouth said.
Liberation or Folly? Your Takes on Artificial Wombs
Earlier this week I asked readers, “What do you think about artificial wombs? Are they ethical? Desirable? Should they be a priority for scientists? If they become advanced enough to be viable, would you ever use one? How would a world in which they were available differ from ours?
Texas Butterfly Sanctuary Closes Due To ‘Credible Threats’ From Pro-Trump Event
A congressional candidate also recently accused the National Butterfly Center’s staff of being “OK with children being trafficked and raped.
Why Democrats Might Want To Hurry Their Supreme Court Confirmation
Their majority is fragile and could falter at any moment.
The Visual Histrionics of Cyrano
Every Joe Wright movie, for better or worse, is brimming with theatricality. The British director has tackled literary adaptations (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Anna Karenina), true-story dramas (The Soloist, Darkest Hour), and action-adventure (Pan, Hanna) in his surprising and varied career. Regardless of genre, he’s not a filmmaker who strives for grounded realism.
Omicron’s Blow to Live Music
My iPhone note “Guster tour, Pros & Cons” was becoming more and more lopsided.Our impending club tour, booked nine months ago after a COVID-halted March 2020 run, was in peril. We assumed then—it seems like a lifetime ago—that winter of 2022 would allow us plenty of time to present a tour that was safe for both us and our fans. Other bands made similar plans as our industry attempted, once again, to regain a foothold after the crushing Delta wave.
‘Quick Reaction Forces’ And The Lingering Mysteries Of The Plot Against The Capitol
The Oath Keeper “QRFs” show how things could have been a lot worse, and how much more there is to learn.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice Tells Bette Midler To Kiss His Dog’s ‘Hiney’
The 70-year-old Republican governor ended his televised State of the State address Thursday night by flashing his English bulldog’s rear end to the cameras and crowd.
A Netflix Movie Echoing the Strain of Pandemic Parenting
We’re nearly two years into the pandemic and parents are not okay. Variants have upended schooling. Tests are in short supply. And a work-life balance that disappeared in 2020 feels no closer to returning. It’s enough to make some mothers get together to just scream.Few works of entertainment express the strains and contradictions of parenthood today like Netflix’s The Lost Daughter.
The Religious Leaders Caught in the Vaccine Wars
Religious texts such as the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran don’t say anything about vaccines—of course, all three texts predate them by hundreds of years. So when faith leaders face questions about immunizations, they generally offer their own interpretations of the scriptures. Such questions, particularly about the applicability of religious exemptions, have become more urgent during the pandemic, forcing clergy to take hard stances for or against excusals.
“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 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.
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.