Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker Test Positive For COVID-19
Both Democratic senators were reportedly experiencing only mild symptoms.
Today's Liberal News
What Joe Manchin’s ‘No’ Means for Biden’s Agenda
The Build Back Better Act is dead. Long live the Build Back Better Act?With a few short sentences on Fox News, Senator Joe Manchin today dashed the dreams of Democrats by coming out firmly against President Joe Biden’s signature legislative proposal. “I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there,” Manchin said of the $1.75 trillion bill that the House passed last month.
Democrats Slam Manchin For Saying He Can’t Vote For Biden’s Build Back Better Plan
“If he doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing … let him vote no in front of the whole world,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Don’t Panic About Omicron. But Don’t Be Indifferent, Either.
The Omicron wave is upon us, and the national conversation is vacillating between panic and indifference. Those who are near panic point to rapidly rising case counts and lockdowns in several European nations. Those who are indifferent lean into reports of Omicron being a milder coronavirus variant; after nearly two years of COVID, that can feel like reason enough to put the pandemic in the rear-view mirror and get on with their life.Both perspectives are understandable, but neither is helpful.
Progressives React To Joe Manchin Killing Build Back Better Act: We Told You So
“Maybe they’ll believe us next time. Or maybe people will just keep calling us naïve,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Colorado governor supports redefining what it means to be fully vaccinated
Jared Polis also said the unvaccinated are “often victims of misinformation.
White House Accuses Joe Manchin Of Breaking His Word On Build Back Better
In an unusually sharp statement, the White House blasted Manchin for his “sudden and inexplicable reversal” on President Joe Biden’s top priority.
When Saturday Night Live Tried to Keep the Lights On
Saturday Night Live’s final episode before Christmas is usually a festive affair, and this year’s was supposed to be even more triumphant than usual. As the last show of 2021, it would’ve marked the end of a full year of uninterrupted programming, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 led to canceled episodes and remote sketches.
Fauci worried about increased hospitalizations but hopeful about schools
“I don’t foresee the kind of lockdowns that we’ve seen before,” he also said.
Fauci: Safe holiday travel is possible if people are ‘prudent’
He reiterated that those who are vaccinated and boosted are apt to be safest.
‘A lot of money on the table’: Fight brews over surprise medical bills
The outcome could swing billions of dollars in payments, influence how doctors and hospitals negotiate prices with insurers and possibly affect premiums for millions of Americans.
The Overlooked Factor in Biden’s Unpopularity
BROOKLYN—Outside the Park Slope Food Coop in one of America’s bluest bulwarks, masked shoppers still wait outside in socially distant lines. The 48-year-old co-op is perhaps the nation’s most political—and progressive—grocery store, but on a recent Friday afternoon, its members were not particularly eager to discuss the man nearly all of them voted for last year: President Joe Biden.
The Unspoken
If I’m honest, a foal pulled chest-level
close in the spring heat, his every-which-way
coat reverberating in the wind, feels
akin to what I imagine atonement might
feel like, or total absolution.
Pfizer and BioNTech ask FDA to approve their Covid-19 vaccine for kids as young as 12
The companies submitted Phase III clinical trial data to FDA as a supplemental application for their vaccine, which is already approved for adults and children as young as 16.
Biden admin asks Supreme Court to allow nationwide health worker vax mandate
Thursday’s move is expected to prompt justices to issue a final decision on whether the mandate can take effect.
FDA loosens rules for distributing abortion pills, opening new battle fronts
Heightening the stakes is the Supreme Court’s pending decision on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
CDC recommends mRNA Covid vaccines over J&J shot amid blood clot risks
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s decision came hours after the agency’s vaccine advisory committee voted unanimously to update the recommendation.
The Atlantic Daily: New Music to Stave Off the Omicron Blues
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.
(Maria Chimishkyan)
If we’re going to have to face another bout of pandemic uncertainty, then, hey: We at least deserve some good tunes.This week, our culture writer Spencer Kornhaber summarized the year in music, picking his top 10 albums.
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.
Opinion | How the Return to Office Work Is Impoverishing the Middle Class
The middle class is facing serious economic hardship with little of the workplace flexibility now afforded to the well-off. Here’s how employers — and government — can help.
Powell: Fed may pull back economic support more quickly as prices spike
Powell’s comment came after the Fed already announced earlier this month that it would slow the pace at which it buys U.S. government debt and mortgage-backed securities.
Bipartisanship at Whose Expense? Sen. Raphael Warnock Calls to End Filibuster, Pass Voting Rights Acts
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia implored conservative members of his party to stop obstructing voting rights legislation in a powerful speech on the floor of the Senate Tuesday. While Warnock did not name Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two have come out against doing away with the filibuster in order to allow Democrats to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Black Feminist bell hooks’s Trailblazing Critique of “Imperialist White Supremacist Heteropatriarchy”
We look at the life and legacy of trailblazing Black feminist scholar and activist bell hooks, who died at the age of 69 on Wednesday. We speak with her longtime colleague Beverly Guy-Sheftall, professor of women’s studies at Spelman College, who remembers her as “a person who would sit with young people and community people and students and help them understand this world in which we live, which is full of all kinds of domination.
“We Must See Action”: Police Killings Continue as George Floyd Justice in Policing Act Languishes
The county of Williamson, Texas, has announced a settlement of $5 million in the wrongful death of Javier Ambler II in 2019. The 40-year-old Black man died after being repeatedly tased by police during a traffic stop. Police bodycam footage showed Ambler telling officers, “I have congestive heart failure,” and “I can’t breathe,” as they continued to tase him.
“She Should Be Found Guilty”: Ben Crump on Trial of Ex-Cop Kim Potter for Killing Daunte Wright
The former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who faces manslaughter charges for fatally shooting 20-year-old Black man Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, is expected to take the stand in her own defense Friday. Potter claims she reached for her Taser and drew a pistol by mistake. “Black people should not be killed in America over misdemeanor, pretextual traffic stops,” says Benjamin Crump, attorney for Wright’s family.
Ben Crump: Derek Chauvin’s Guilty Plea of Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights Sends Strong Message
Former police officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights, marking the first time he publicly admitted to his role in Floyd’s death. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, killing him with the excessive use of force in 2019. Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for social justice protests and calls to defund the police across the country.
Washington State Sen. Doug Ericksen Dies After COVID Battle
He was also was a former leader of Trump’s campaign in Washington and an outspoken critic of Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 emergency orders.
Trump And Bill O’Reilly Tour Still Not The Hottest Ticket In Town
The former president showed up for his Houston event nearly two hours late.