Two years into the pandemic, and two months into Omicron’s globe-crushing surge, our COVID-19 vaccines are finally on the cusp of a federally sanctioned update. To counter the new variant’s uncanny knack for slipping past antibodies roused by our first-generation shots, Moderna and Pfizer have both kick-started clinical trials to see how Omicron-specific vaccines fare in people.
Book banning is back. Texas State Representative Matt Krause recently put more than 800 books on a watch list, many of them dealing with race and LGBTQ issues. Then an Oklahoma state senator filed a bill to ban books that address “sexual perversion,” among other things, from school libraries. The school board of McMinn County, Tennessee, just banned Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic memoir about the Holocaust.
Today Atlantic Brand Partners, The Atlantic’s business services group, is releasing Forces of Influence 2.0, a study into how ongoing cultural unpredictability is affecting consumer perspectives. Most surprising for business leaders: despite industry-wide emphasis to address individual consumer needs, there is still a vast gulf between what consumers expect from brands and their perceived realities.
To speak about the key role NATO is playing in the Ukraine crisis, we speak with Ludo De Brabander, spokesperson of the peace organization Vrede vzw in Belgium, where NATO is headquartered. De Brabander says NATO has outlived its purpose, and touches on how activists in NATO countries like Belgium are pushing against narratives in the media that war with Russia is necessary.
Germany’s new coalition government is refusing to send lethal weapons to Ukraine but has offered to send over 5,000 combat helmets to protect Ukrainian soldiers in case of a Russian attack. The move has been ridiculed as the U.S. and other NATO countries continue to send military support to Ukraine. In response, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised his country will stay in tune with European Union and NATO policies toward Russia.
The United States and Russia sparred on Monday over the crisis in Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council. Meanwhile, U.S. senators are preparing to unveil a bill that would target Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian banks and other entities with sanctions. To discuss the Ukraine crisis, we’re joined by the co-founder of CodePink, Medea Benjamin, who says “we need the voice of the American people” to oppose U.S. escalation and also calls on U.S.
Medical boards have sanctioned eight physicians since January 2021 for spreading coronavirus-related misinformation, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards.
China is on high alert as it prepares to host the Olympic Games opening Friday.
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.
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.
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
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.
The jump is the latest evidence that rising costs for food, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households.
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.
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.
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.
In the news today: Shortly after promising pardons against those who helped him mount an attempted insurrection and urging his supporters to take to the streets if any one of the (many) investigations against him turn out badly, Donald Trump issued a new statement that definitively acknowledged that his actions on Jan. 6 were intended to topple the U.S. government.
No, this is not going to be a pointed news piece. Yes, this is going to be a rant. (Hey, give me a rant here and there, right?) We have years under our belts of watching Republicans under Donald J. Trump and Republicans out on their own governing their states. It is rare—very rare—that we get any sort of exception.
The song “Amazing Grace,” the hymn written by Anglican priest John Newton in 1772—put to music in 1835 by William Walker—has in modern times been closely connected with the American abolitionist movement and our subsequent civil rights movement. And rightly so. John Newton was a former enslaver of Africans, bringing them to England in the 18th century and spending later years repenting as a Christian.
Nearly 37,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan as part of Operation Allies Rescue could qualify for permanent status through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, CBS News reports. But a similar number lack a pathway, and could become vulnerable should their humanitarian parole protections end in two years with no other relief.
In case you didn’t know, a violent group of Nazis demonstrated in my hometown of Orlando this weekend. They screamed antisemitic rants against Jews, Blacks, and Hispanics, waved swastikas, and even assaulted a driver during an argument. It was a shocking display for this diverse town and was widely reported all over Florida as well as in national publications like Newsweek:
Twitter users began posting videos of the neo-Nazi rally after they passed by on Saturday.
The National Archives received the papers at the end of the Trump administration and handed them over to lawmakers for their inquiry into the Capitol riot.
He “really doesn’t care anymore” and is going for broke, so far without major consequences, as usual, says Haberman.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump over his efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
The company is aiming to produce at least 2 billion doses of its vaccine in 2022, of which the U.S. has ordered 100 million.
A small pilot program will help layoff victims navigate the process of claiming benefits.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw, refused to join her fellow Florida officials in decrying a Nazi rally held in Orlando, and instead blamed Democrats.
The approval for people ages 18 and up will make it easier for schools and workplaces to require vaccination.
Sign up for Kaitlyn and Lizzie’s newsletter here.Lizzie: Have I ever been to the Hamptons? No, I don’t think so, although I do have a tendency to forget these things. For example, I have been to Staten Island, although I don’t remember driving over a bridge to get there, but it turns out I must have.