Today's Liberal News

The ‘Meta-emptiness’ of Emily in Paris

When the first season of Netflix’s Emily in Paris debuted in October 2020, it was met with both delight and ridicule: delight at its escapism into sunny France and from away the election and pandemic, but also ridicule at Lily Collins’s bubbly American abroad blithely Instagramming her croissants by the Seine. (“The whole city looks like Ratatouille!”)These reactions are not mutually exclusive though, as Emily in Paris’s many conflicted fans can attest.

The Books 20 Years in the Making

In 1999, Gayl Jones published a book that reads the way jazz sounds. Her fourth novel, Mosquito, is an ambitious, experimental riff that blends historical and philosophical beats and finds connections between U.S.-Mexico border tensions and the Underground Railroad. Mosquito displayed the wide-ranging talents of a writer heralded by Toni Morrison and fresh off a National Book Award nomination. It was also the last novel Jones would publish for more than two decades.

Sudan Protests Demand End to Military Rule: “No Negotiation, No Partnership, No Legitimacy”

We get an update from Sudan, where at least three pro-democracy protesters were killed by security forces on Thursday, bringing the death toll to at least 60 since the military coup on October 25. Thursday’s protest came four days following Abdalla Hamdok’s resignation as Sudan’s prime minister, after he was deposed in the October coup and then shortly restored to power by the military in November.

WHO Says Omicron Variant Is Not “Mild” as ER Doctor Describes New COVID Wave Overwhelming Hospitals

We look at the skyrocketing number of COVID infections. Coronavirus cases hit record highs this week, with global cases climbing 70% from last week to 9.5 million and the U.S. reporting a single-day record of 1 million new cases on Monday. In the U.S., the extraordinary volume of cases is filling up emergency rooms nationwide and exhausting healthcare workers, says emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer, who has been treating coronavirus patients since the pandemic began.

Hospitals Are in Serious Trouble

When a health-care system crumbles, this is what it looks like. Much of what’s wrong happens invisibly. At first, there’s just a lot of waiting. Emergency rooms get so full that “you’ll wait hours and hours, and you may not be able to get surgery when you need it,” Megan Ranney, an emergency physician in Rhode Island, told me. When patients are seen, they might not get the tests they need, because technicians or necessary chemicals are in short supply.

News Roundup: One year from the Jan. 6 insurrection, Republican extremism has only grown

In the news today: The anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, a day when Donald Trump, his allies, a majority of Republican lawmakers, and a violent mob attempted to nullify the results of a United States election rather than abide an election loss.

Here’s some of what you may have missed:

• ‘He lost’: Biden delivers stinging rebuke of Trump, GOP on one-year anniversary of Capitol siege

• In the year since Jan.

Caribbean Matters: COVID-19 surges as a coup anniversary tarnishes Three Kings Day

While Jan. 6 is now known as the date of the failed coup attempt in the United States, throughout the Caribbean, in both Spanish- and French-speaking nations, it is the feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, Dia de los Reyes, or Le Jour des Rois. Here in the U.S., communities of the Caribbean diaspora celebrate, too. For example, Epiphany kicks off the beginning of Carnival in New Orleans, which ends on Mardi Gras, when folks will be eating king cake.

Capitol rioter accused of stealing sign arrested for deadly drunk driving accident while out on bond

Emily Hernandez is a 22-year-old Missouri woman who has been out on bond while she awaits a trial and resolution for her part in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Hernandez has been charged with five misdemeanors, “including knowingly entering a restricted building without authority, demonstrating in the Capitol, stealing, and knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct in a restricted building with intent to impede the government.

‘Remain in jeopardy’: Markey, Warren call for probe into immigration abuses at Plymouth jail

The Plymouth County, Massachusetts, sheriff’s office announced last fall that it would be ending its agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is a major step forward: The 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to act as federal immigration agents, is a discriminatory and flawed policy that the Justice Department said has resulted in racial profiling.

This Week in Statehouse Action: Remember the Capitol edition

It’s a new year, and the Alamo is SO 19th century … remembering the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is just SO now. Really, it’s the hottest thing to do during this cold, cold month.

Oh, except for trying to keep up with the myriad legislatures (the vast majority, actually) convening in January. That’s also very hot, but that warmth is probably at least partly due to the friction generated by frantically trying to keep up with all of it.

America’s COVID Rules Are a Dumpster Fire

On Tuesday, the CDC officially dropped the detailed, 1,800-word version of its new isolation guidance for people who have been infected by the coronavirus. So far, the best way I’ve got to sum it up is this: Hunker down for five days instead of the typical 10, then do what you want. ¯_(ツ)_/¯Okay, sorry, that’s overly simplistic.

Why Star Wars Keeps Telling the Same Stories

Boba Fett, the most legendary bounty hunter in the galaxy, was the product of budget constraints. Planning for the 1980 Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, the artists Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie crafted a prototype of knightlike armor for a legion of upgraded stormtroopers, the expendable soldiers of the evil Galactic Empire.