Biden wants billions more in Covid funding. Lawmakers aren’t eager to spend big — again.
Even Democrats who support the additional public health funds worry the effort could derail the fragile negotiations on the core bill to fund the government.
Today's Liberal News
Death Is No Laughing Matter. But on DeathTok It Is.
Casual TikTok viewers might think of the app as just a feed of Gen Zers doing viral dances and lip-synch reenactments. But the social network has also provided a space for some unlikely influencers: hospice workers, morticians, and funeral directors. These content creators hope that their comedic takes on mortality will help people who find death hard to discuss, especially during the pandemic, in which more than 900,000 Americans have died.
Ethiopia: Amnesty Accuses Tigrayan Forces of Rape & Murder in Latest Probe of War Crimes in Conflict
Amnesty International is accusing Tigrayan forces of deliberately killing dozens of unarmed civilians and gang-raping dozens of women and girls in the northern Amhara region of Ethiopia. This comes as the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebel forces remain at war, and just last year Amnesty similarly accused the Ethiopian government of subjecting Tigrayan women and girls to rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture.
Back to Normal? Many Immunocompromised People Feel Left Behind as U.S. Lifts Pandemic Measures
As U.S. health guidelines start to loosen as COVID-19 cases fall from record-high levels of infection, we look at how there there are still millions of immunocompromised people who face acute risk of illness and feel they have received little to no guidance on how to stay safe in a prolonged COVID-19 world.
Ex-U.S. Ambassador to USSR: Ukraine Crisis Stems Directly from Post-Cold War Push to Expand NATO
U.S. officials are accusing Russia of sending more forces to the Ukrainian border just days after Moscow announced it was pulling some troops back. This comes as Ukrainian authorities and Russian-backed separatists are both accusing the other side of violating a ceasefire in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. For more on the history behind the present crisis in Ukraine, we speak with one of the last U.S.
Biden’s new global vaccine push is running out of funds
The president’s team is putting the world vaccination effort at the center of its Covid-19 strategy. But it lacks the money to pay for it.
Biden HHS estimates $30B needed in new Covid aid
The administration may have enough vaccines and therapeutics to ride out the Omicron surge, but it doesn’t currently have enough money to respond to another variant.
Califf confirmed: The 6 challenges that await the new FDA commissioner
Returning to the FDA early in President Joe Biden’s tenure gives Califf greater ability to place his stamp on the agency than the last time he led it.
Dems, despite their control, all but concede on federal abortion spending
After months of tense negotiations, the two parties joined together last week on a government spending framework they insist will swiftly lead to a massive deal to boost agency bottom lines into the fall.
Biden takes victory lap with January jobs report
“America’s job machine is going stronger than ever,” Biden said at the White House.
U.S. employers shrug off Omicron, add 467,000 jobs in January
The burst of jobs came despite a wave of Omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed.
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.
Backed by AOC & Bernie, House Candidate Greg Casar Says “Big Progressive Change” Is Possible in Texas
Two competitive congressional races are heating up in Texas. Former labor organizer Greg Casar and immigrant human rights lawyer Jessica Cisneros have both gained national endorsements from progressive lawmakers like New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who traveled to the state to campaign for them this past weekend.
Elizabeth Warren Wants Stock Trading Ban For State Lawmakers, Other Elected Officials, Too
“Public officials should remove all conflicts of interest — whether you’re at the federal or the state level,” the Democratic senator said of the ethics proposals.
Tucker Carlson Attacks Democrats As Sore Losers Over Elections (Yes, Seriously)
“When you lose, it is hardly proof that the system is broken,” the Fox News host said unironically.
Republicans Blame Crime On An Innocence Project Lawyer Tapped For A Judgeship
GOP senators accused Biden’s court pick Nina Morrison, who has freed dozens of innocent people from prison, of fueling violent crimes.
Officer Charged In George Floyd Killing Says He Deferred To Derek Chauvin
“[Chauvin] was my senior officer and I trusted his advice,” former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng testified on Wednesday.
Tom Cotton Blamed Democrats For A Trump Crime Bill & Twitter Users Had A Lot To Say
The senator apparently forgot that dozens of his GOP colleagues voted for the First Step Act.
Biden names 2 people to replace Eric Lander in top science roles
Alondra Nelson will become director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Francis Collins will serve as the president’s top science adviser.
Canadian Truckers Polarize American Commentators
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely, intriguing conversations and solicits reader responses to one question of the moment. Every Friday, he publishes some of your most thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
The Never-Ending Quest to Make a Great Video-Game Movie
Play just a few minutes of any Uncharted video game, and the basic concept becomes clear: What if you could be the main character in a blockbuster action-adventure film? Embodied by the dashing treasure hunter Nathan Drake, the player leaps from boulder to boulder, explores ancient ruins, and exchanges gunfire with evil mercenaries in a modern update on Indiana Jones.
The Dark Side of Saying Work Is ‘Like a Family’
When someone says that their workplace is “like a family,” they want you to be impressed. We share a special bond, they imply. We look out for one another and are effortlessly in sync. But as a journalist covering work and families, I can’t help but notice another, entirely unintended meaning in this common corporate metaphor: Work is like family—in many unhealthy, manipulative, and toxic ways.
Trump-era Medicare program under increased scrutiny
The program allows private companies to participate in Medicare as part of a broader health department effort to improve care while limiting the government’s costs.
The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo
When the coronavirus pandemic began, Emily Landon thought about her own risk only in rare quiet moments. An infectious-disease doctor at the University of Chicago Medicine, she was cramming months of work into days, preparing her institution for the virus’s arrival in the United States.
We Are All Realists Now
“Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs,” Chamath Palihapitiya, a billionaire part owner of the Golden State Warriors, said last month on a podcast. “I’m telling you a very hard, ugly truth, okay. Of all the things I care about, yes, it is below my line.” Supply chains are above this venture capitalist’s line, but any concern for human rights abroad is a “luxury belief.
Ukrainian Pacifist’s Message to the World: U.S., NATO & Russia Share Responsibility to Avoid War
NATO officials have joined the U.S. and other Western nations in saying they have yet to see evidence that Russia is pulling back some troops near the shared border with Ukraine, as Russia claimed earlier this week. We speak with Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, who says, “Both great powers of the West and the East share equal responsibility to avoid escalation of war in Ukraine and beyond Ukraine.
“45K People Died from Gun Violence on Your Watch”: Parkland Survivors Demand More Action from Biden
Survivors and families of the victims of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, have launched a new online tool called the “Shock Market” to track the occurrence of U.S. gun violence. This comes as Manuel Oliver, the father of 17-year-old victim Joaquin “Guac” Oliver, was arrested during a peaceful protest demanding the Biden administration take action to curb gun violence.
Ex-Honduran President Hernández Arrested on Drug Charges; U.S. Backed His Narco-State for 8 Years
Authorities in Honduras have arrested former President Juan Orlando Hernández for allegedly smuggling over 1 million pounds of cocaine into the United States since 2004. Hernández, who now faces extradition to the United States, was a longtime U.S. ally, in power from 2014 until January 27 of this year, when he was succeeded by Xiomara Castro, Honduras’s first female president.