Thousands line up for ‘jingle jabs’ on Christmas in England
Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged people to “make the booster a part of your Christmas this year.
Today's Liberal News
El Salvador Frees Three Women Convicted Of Abortions
The three are among at least 17 Salvadoran women activists consider unjustly convicted and imprisoned following obstetric emergencies.
Joe Biden Supporters Turn ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Prank Into Christmas Cheer
A caller on the phone with the president and first lady ended the chat by uttering the veiled expletive used by conservatives.
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry! No, Really.
Christmas, they say, is the most wonderful time of the year. We take time off of work, gather with friends, and indulge in eating, drinking, music, and merriment. For a brief period, the pleasures we ration through the rest of the year take center stage.And then, each January, the newspapers fill up with advice on dieting, teetotalism, and the return to work.
The Wait Was Worth It
KOUROU, French Guiana—More than 25 years ago, the Next Generation Space Telescope was mostly a dream, an idea for a complex instrument meant to see farther than Hubble ever could, which no one had ever attempted to build. A few years ago, the dream was ready to be assembled into a real observatory—gold-covered mirrors, sensitive instruments, a sophisticated sun shield.
Idea of national patient IDs revives privacy fight
Its ultimate fate is still tied to uncertainties surrounding the appropriations process and an overdue report on the benefits and risks from HHS’ health information tech office.
CDC sets shorter Covid isolation rules for health workers
Isolation time can be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages, according to the new CDC guidance.
FDA authorizes Merck’s Covid-19 pill
Clinical trials showed that Merck’s pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death from the virus by 30 percent.
Gaps remain in safety data on State Veterans Homes
As Omicron strikes, families lack a full picture of how well homes for elderly veterans have adapted to Covid risks.
Supreme Court to hold special session on vaccine requirements
The high court announced late Wednesday that it would hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7.
De Blasio tells Biden: New York needs help now
The mayor said the White House should invoke the Defense Production Act.
Georgia Election Workers Sue Rudy Giuliani, OAN Over Election Fraud Claims
The woman accuse the right-wing cable news channel and the former New York City Mayor defaming them by falsely claiming they engaged in ballot fraud during the 2020 election.
Trump Takes Personal Credit For COVID-19 Vaccines In Interview With Candace Owens
The former president touted the shots as “one of the greatest achievements of mankind” in a chat with the right-wing media host, who said she is unvaccinated.
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.
Opinion | How the Return to Office Work Is Impoverishing the Middle Class
The middle class is facing serious economic hardship with little of the workplace flexibility now afforded to the well-off. Here’s how employers — and government — can help.
Powell: Fed may pull back economic support more quickly as prices spike
Powell’s comment came after the Fed already announced earlier this month that it would slow the pace at which it buys U.S. government debt and mortgage-backed securities.
Pentagon Clamps Down on Extremism & White Supremacy After Dozens of Jan. 6 Rioters Had Military Ties
The Pentagon has announced new rules to slow the spread of extremism in the military, one of which will discipline soldiers for liking or resharing white nationalist and other extremist content on social media. The Pentagon announcement comes just two weeks before the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, where more than 80 of the 700 individuals charged with the attack had ties to the U.S. military.
“It’s a Win for Us”: Striking Kellogg’s Workers Get Raises, Improved Benefits & Avoid Two-Tier System
In a major victory for labor rights, 1,400 unionized Kellogg’s workers have ended their nearly three-month strike across four states after approving a new contract that provides a wage increase and enhanced benefits for all. The prior agreement that Kellogg’s tried to bargain only offered wage increases and improved benefits to longtime workers, whereas the new agreement ensures newer workers have a guaranteed option to receive the same improvements.
Tea Party Redux: How the Koch Network Funds and Fuels the Anti-Lockdown Movement
A new report titled “How The Koch Network Hijacked The War On COVID” reveals how a right-wing network linked to billionaire Charles Koch has played a key role in fighting public health measures during the pandemic, including mask and vaccine mandates, contact tracing and lockdowns. The groups include the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), Donors Trust, the Hoover Institution and Hillsdale College.
No One Is Safe Until Everyone Is Safe: Oxfam on Vaccine Equity & Taking On Moderna
Oxfam America has accused Moderna of misleading its investors about an ongoing dispute over whether it needs to share vaccine patent rights with the U.S. government. Oxfam filed a shareholders complaint against Moderna with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the company’s resistance to recognizing the role played by three scientists with the National Institutes of Health in developing the vaccine.
Settle down by the fire, and have yourself a merry little Christmas
It’s that time again: time to snuggle up in front of your virtual fire, listening to the crackle and pop or maybe your favorite holiday standards, and maybe sip on your favorite holiday libation (this one’s mine).
YouTube Video
If you want to know why watching a fire burn on an electric screen is a thing, here you go. And if you want to see the original, or a bunch of creative spinoffs, you can find them here.
Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, the last surviving captive Southern Resident orca, has a shot at returning home
First of two parts:
Her Lummi name is Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (pronounced SKA-li CHUKH-teNOT). It references the cove on Whidbey Island where she was captured as a calf in August 1970. She has other names, including Tokitae, taken from Chinook jargon, bestowed by Jesse White, the veterinarian who took charge of her that day when she was ripped away from her L Pod family.
Movies to watch over the holiday break if you want to see Black people thriving
The Black experience is so diverse culturally, socioeconomically, and ethnically that it’s difficult to summarize with one descriptive phrase. It is no one thing, but media culture can depict it as such. So it’s refreshing and much appreciated when films centering Black people show Blackness as something more than what it means to be Black to white people.
Cheers and Jeers: Xmas Eve Baked Beans and Conspiracy Theory Liveblogging
Maine Folklife Center:
Across New England, and certainly throughout Maine, a tradition of baked bean suppers takes place in community institutions such as churches, granges, and firehouses…
While Boston is known as bean-town, only in Maine can you ever really get to know beans. B&M (Burnham and Morrill) baked beans of Portland still bakes beans in huge iron pots in brick ovens before they can them for distribution around the country.
A Pandemic Guide To Anime: Non Non Biyori; Azumanga Daioh
Welcome back to our impromptu and sporadically scheduled pandemic guide to anime. If you’ve missed any of our earlier entries, you can find them all here; for our introductory post you can go here.
Having run through many of the most famous choices and most popular genres, it’s now time to switch things up.
Biden Joins First Lady For Christmas Eve Visit To Children’s Hospital
The trip marked the first time that a sitting president joined a first lady in visiting kids at the D.C. Children’s National Hospital.
‘I Am a Writer Because of bell hooks’
listen little sister
angels make their hope here
in these hills
follow me
I will guide you
(From Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place, by bell hooks)
For all the things that bell hooks was—one of the foremost Black intellectuals in the world, renowned feminist, author of more than 40 books, revolutionary cultural critic—and all the places she lived, she was still Gloria Jean Watkins from Hopkinsville, daughter of Rosa Bell and Veotis.
Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald & Chris Hedges on NSA Leaks, Assange & Protecting a Free Internet
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hedges discuss mass surveillance, government secrecy, internet freedom and U.S. attempts to extradite and prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. They spoke together on a panel moderated by Amy Goodman at the virtual War on Terror Film Festival after a screening of “Citizenfour” — the Oscar-winning documentary about Snowden by Laura Poitras.