FDA authorizes Covid boosters for teens 12-15
The agency will also allow some immunocompromised children as young as age 5 to get an additional dose.
Today's Liberal News
‘You can’t really manufacture doctors and nurses that don’t exist’
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said his state is trying everything it can to ensure it has enough health care workers.
Biden officials now fear booster programs will limit global vaccine supply
A looming shortage of doses for low- and moderate-income countries puts increased pressure on Novavax to obtain regulatory approvals for global manufacturing.
U.S. unemployment claims drop to 198,000
The four-week average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, the lowest level since October 1969.
Despite supply issues and Omicron, holiday sales rise 8.5%
The results, which covered Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, were fueled by purchases of clothing and jewelry.
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.
France and U.K. Sued for Manslaughter After 27 Migrants Seeking Help Drowned in English Channel
The French humanitarian group Utopia 56 has filed a manslaughter lawsuit against British and French officials for failing to help 27 migrants who drowned to death in the English Channel in November. The only two survivors say they were ignored when they made distress calls and told their location to French and English rescue services after their boat capsized and started sinking in the freezing waters off the French port city of Calais.
“There’s No Social Distancing”: Immigrants Held in ICE Jails at Risk Amid New Omicron Surge
As the Omicron variant sets record-high COVID-19 infection rates across the United States, we look at the conditions in the sprawling network of jails run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement where the Biden administration is holding more than 22,000 people. “There’s still a lot of people detained. There’s no social distancing.
Tennessee GOP Lawmaker Loses Temper And Attempts To Pants Basketball Referee
The top state Republican apologized after he was ejected from the high school game.
News roundup: The one-year anniversary of the insurrection nears
In the news today: Thursday is the one-year anniversary of the Donald Trump cultists’ attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, and the news of the day reflects that. Another right-wing paramilitary group’s potential involvement was revealed; three more lawsuits were filed against Trump for his role in inciting the insurrection; the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S.
Racist caller says Asian American news anchor ‘can keep her Korean to herself,’ Twitter claps back
A news anchor from Missouri has gone viral after sharing a voicemail she received from a viewer in response to a segment in which she mentioned eating dumpling soup to celebrate New Year’s Day. In a video posted to her Twitter and Instagram accounts, Michelle Li of NBC News affiliate KSDK played a call from a viewer who felt Li was being “very Asian.
New York City announces fund to connect Haitian asylum-seekers with legal help, social services
New York City says it’s directing $1.5 million in funds to help Haitian asylum-seekers and other migrants access vital services including legal representation. The funds will be distributed to a number of Haitian-led community-based organizations and comes as recent arrivals have settled in the region, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) said in a Dec. 22 release.
Immigrant leader targeted by ICE for his activism returns to U.S., wins three years of relief
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is on the record as intentionally targeting immigrants and advocates alike for their criticism of the agency’s frequently deplorable actions. That includes its targeting of Jean Montrevil, a permanent resident and New Sanctuary Coalition cofounder who was deported to Haiti by the previous administration in 2018.
The federal government used a conviction from 1990 as its excuse to deport him.
Penn Law professor Amy Wax condemned after saying that the U.S. is ‘better off with fewer Asians’
As big of an institution it is, you’d think the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) would take immediate action against someone who has consistently brought shame on their school. For not the first time, a law professor from UPenn has come under fire for sharing her racist and xenophobic ideology.
On Eve Of Jan. 6 Anniversary, Trump Urges Followers To ‘Rise Up’ Against Vaccine Rules
The former president released the inflammatory statement about mandates a year after inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
CDC recommends all teens get Pfizer Covid booster
The advisory panel signed off on the recommendation following presentations by doctors suggesting boosters are likely to increase antibodies in young teens.
Trump EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Tapped For Virginia’s Top Environmental Post
Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will nominate the former EPA head and coal lobbyist to serve as Virginia’s next secretary of natural resources.
Should I Just Get Omicron Over With?
For the past two years, Marie, a 30-something student in New York, had the right idea about COVID-19: She didn’t want to get it. Then, in the middle of December, as the antibody-dodging Omicron swept through her state, the coronavirus found her all the same. But Marie’s three vaccines helped keep her illness short and manageable.
Omicron and the Return to Normalcy
Sign up for Conor’s newsletter here.Question of the WeekThe holiday break is over for most. How should America’s colleges, high schools, and elementary schools handle the winter surge of COVID-19 cases associated with the Omicron variant? What do you like most or least about how your educational institution is handling the pandemic? What local details of interest can you share about how matters are being handled near you? As ever, my email address is conor@theatlantic.com.
Merrick Garland: ‘Committed’ DOJ Will Hold Jan. 6 Perpetrators ‘At Any Level’ Accountable
The attorney general said the Justice Department will “follow the facts wherever they lead.
Republicans Steer Clear Of Events Marking Capitol Riot Anniversary
As with everything in Congress these days, the question of whether to mark an attack on democracy itself is splitting along ideological lines.
The Movie That Understands the Secret Shame of Motherhood
Maggie Gyllenhaal has a theory that the mothers we see on-screen tend to fall into one of two categories. First, there’s the “fantasy mother,” who’s perfect in every way except when she has, say, some oatmeal on her sweater or runs a little late for a parent-teacher conference.
We Are Living Through a Democratic Emergency
Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET on January 5, 2022.Donald Trump could subvert the next election—and his second coup attempt has already begun, Barton Gellman warns in our latest cover story.Ahead of the anniversary of the insurrection at the Capitol, Gellman joined Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum and executive editor Adrienne LaFrance for a live virtual conversation about the threats to American democracy.
Columnist Will Bunch: Trump Came Much Closer to Pulling Off a January 6 Coup Than People Realize
The January 6 insurrection resulted in criminal charges for over 700 rioters, and the FBI has since called it an act of domestic terrorism. Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch says there is growing evidence that links Trump and his inner circle to the Capitol attack. He argues understanding what was happening behind the scenes at the Pentagon, which has operational control over the National Guard in D.C.
“American Insurrection”: How Far-Right Extremists Moved from Fringe to Mainstream After Jan. 6 Attack
Thursday marks one year since a violent mob of thousands of far-right and white supremacist Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries.
FDA authorizes Covid boosters for teens 12-15
The agency will also allow some immunocompromised children as young as age 5 to get an additional dose.
‘You can’t really manufacture doctors and nurses that don’t exist’
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said his state is trying everything it can to ensure it has enough health care workers.
Biden officials now fear booster programs will limit global vaccine supply
A looming shortage of doses for low- and moderate-income countries puts increased pressure on Novavax to obtain regulatory approvals for global manufacturing.