Today's Liberal News

Boris Johnson’s Watergate

In Boris Johnson’s office at 10 Downing Street, a vista of London hangs above the fireplace. The work was painted by his mother, Charlotte Wahl, who died four months ago at the age of 79, having lived long enough to see her son become prime minister and then win an election by such a margin that it seemed to have ushered in a new era in British politics: the Johnson era.

The Duo Fighting to Preserve Dynastic Rule in the Philippines

The wedding ceremony held in November on a verdant farm in the Philippines was for the daughter of a senator. Most of the guests’ attention, though, was paid not to the bride and the groom but to another duo in attendance.Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the country’s late dictator, escorted Sara Duterte-Carpio, the daughter of the current president, Rodrigo Duterte, past guests sitting in white trellis-backed chairs.

News Roundup: Senate voting rights fight gears up; Trump team gets another round of subpoenas

In the news today: The battle to protect voting rights is coming to a head in the Senate, where Democrats appear to be going forward with a plan to put filibuster proponents on record with their claims that a Senate rule that is, in current form, younger than the movie Jaws is more important than protecting Americans from new rules designed to keep voters from ballot boxes. Yet more subpoenas for those around Trump.

Bad doctors, big problems, Part II: A path forward

Editor’s note: This is Part II of a two-part story. Read Part I, which was originally published on January 10, here.

In 2004, Florida voters passed a three-strikes medical malpractice law. The law as passed would have revoked the medical license of any practitioner hit with three judgments of malpractice by a court in a lawsuit, or those who received an adverse finding by a medical board or an arbitrator.

GOP congressman who relocated from Tennessee to run in Indiana retires after three terms

Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth announced Thursday that he would not seek a fourth term in Indiana’s safely red 9th District in a very unexpected move that bookends what has been a short but surprising congressional career. The revised version of this southeastern Indiana seat, which includes Bloomington, backed Donald Trump 63-35, and Republicans should have no trouble holding onto it.

Calling Omicron ‘Mild’ Is Wishful Thinking

For weeks, the watchword on Omicron in much of America has been some form of phew. A flurry of reports has encouraged a relatively rosy view of the variant, compared with some of its predecessors. Omicron appears to somewhat spare the lungs. Infected laboratory mice and hamsters seem to handily fight it off. Proportionally, fewer of the people who catch it wind up hospitalized or dead. All of this has allowed a deceptively reassuring narrative to take root and grow: Omicron is mild.

The Contested Significance of January 6

Sign up for Conor’s newsletter here.Greetings! Before tackling today’s main subject, a prompt for an issue I hope to air later this week.What are the proper roles of parents and teachers, respectively, in the education of children? What conflict between a parent and a teacher would leave you most torn about how to resolve it? If you’ve experienced a parent-teacher conflict, describe it, how you approached it, and how things ended. My email address is conor@theatlantic.com.

Environmental Justice Activists Want NJ Gov. to Vote No New Gas-Fired Power Plant in Newark

In Newark, New Jersey, residents of the largely Black and Latinx community of Ironbound are calling on Governor Phil Murphy to stop plans to build a $180 million gas-fired power plant that could worsen the poor local air quality and exacerbate the climate crisis. As the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission holds a vote to begin construction on Thursday, activists are urging the governor to enforce the environmental justice law that he passed last year.

As Officials Blame Tenants After 17 Die in Bronx Fire, Activists Say Greed & Neglect Are to Blame

A massive fire in an apartment building in the Bronx, New York, killed 17 people, including eight children, on Sunday. The city is blaming the fire on a malfunctioning space heater. Housing advocates say the real issue is the lack of safe, affordable public housing, citing lack of heat provided by the building during subzero winter temperatures and poor fire safety systems.

Biden Backs Filibuster Reform to Pass Voting Rights Bills After Sustained Grassroots Pressure

We go to Atlanta, Georgia, where President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke on Tuesday to pressure Congress to pass critical voting rights legislation. Biden endorsed changing the Senate rules to prevent a minority of senators from filibustering the bills. We speak to two leaders in the voting rights movement about the importance of passing the bills, particularly for people of color.