South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccine drive
“The AstraZeneca vaccine appeared effective against the original strain, but not against the variant,” an official said.
Today's Liberal News
Kevin McCarthy Pushed Liz Cheney To Apologize For Impeachment Vote: Reports
Cheney reportedly refused the request from McCarthy, the top Republican in the House.
Fauci looking ahead to more vaccines in March, April
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says the current supply shortage will be overcome.
A Super Bowl Ad That the Biden Presidency Made Possible
1. Here is what happens in the ad that General Motors will air during the Super Bowl: Standing in a garage inspired half by the storage unit in True Detective and half by the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia conspiracy meme, Will Ferrell announces that the United States has not adopted electric cars as quickly as Norway. He punches a globe. He fetches his friends Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina (he is on a first-name basis with both, as celebrities always are); they set off for Norway.
SNL Is Breaking With Its Old Patterns
Saturday Night Live wants you to know that it’s still fun. “Trust me when I say this: It has only been good here at SNL,” the host, Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy, said in his monologue, without a hint of irony. Given the state of the world, that’s a dangerous statement to make: The show has been through a turbulent year of struggling to find humor in definitively not-good times, Dan Levy.
Superb Owl Sunday V
A special Sunday event: our fifth annual photographic essay celebrating these magnificent birds of prey. These nocturnal hunters hail from Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, and are captured here in photos from recent years. If you have some time today before the big game (or are skipping the event entirely), I invite you to take a look; as always, it was a hoot to put this together.
Deciduous
Speak plainly, said November to the maples, say
what you mean now, nowthat summer’s lush declensions lie like the lies
they were at your feet. Haven’twe praised you? Haven’t we summer after summer
put our faith in augmentation.
Tom Stoppard’s Double Life
This article was published online on February 7, 2021.In a short book about biography, Hermione Lee, literary life-writer par excellence, offered two metaphors for the art at which she excels. One was an autopsy. The other was a portrait. “Whereas autopsy suggests clinical investigation and, even, violation,” she wrote, “portrait suggests empathy, bringing to life, capturing the character.” She argued that these contrasting approaches had something in common.
Help! My Wife No Longer Likes Sex After Her Mastectomy. So I Cheated. With a Man.
Advice about marriage, parenting, and relationships.
Dear Care and Feeding: My Cousin’s Wife Has Inexplicably Cut Him Off From Our Family
Parenting advice on estrangement, transphobia, and dating after a spouse’s death.
Biden’s vaccine ad campaign hits roadblock: Not enough doses
Administration officials are wary of launching a promised campaign promoting vaccination while doses are still in limited supply.
‘The Democratic version of John McCain’
As the critical swing vote in a 50-50 Senate, Joe Manchin has emerged as the most powerful man in Washington.
Larry Summers Has Some Weird Fears About the Biden Relief Plan
He doesn’t fully spell out why he thinks Congress shouldn’t spend too much, because that would undermine his weird point.
Is Biden’s Relief Plan Too Big? Maybe. Is the Republican Plan Too Small? Definitely.
But if you’re still not convinced, look at these charts.
Everything Is Gambling Now
The GameStop surge was just one of the ways Americans have renewed their love of betting.
So, When Are the New Stimulus Checks Coming?
There are a lot of bizarre, self-imposed congressional limits that may delay final passage until March.
Somehow WeWork—WeWork!—Is on the Cusp of Thriving
The troubled startup was primed to fail in a pandemic. Here’s how it survived.
Biden administration deploys more than 1,000 active-duty troops to aid vaccination efforts
Some of the military members will arrive for deployment in California within the next 10 days.
Johnson & Johnson files for emergency use of Covid-19 shot
The vaccine is a single dose shot that experts say is key to vaccinating vulnerable, hard-to-reach and even skeptical people.
Biden health team hatches new vaccine strategy as variant threat builds
The FDA’s acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, said in a statement Thursday that the agency would release updates soon.
Frontrunner emerges for Biden’s Medicare and Medicaid chief
The next CMS administrator will oversee Biden’s efforts to expand Obamacare and erase much of Trump’s health care legacy.
Dear Care and Feeding: Our In-Home Therapists Are Refusing Vaccination. What Should We Do?
Parenting advice on vaccine refusal, college funds, and Beetlejuice.
When I Got Laid Off at 62, I Knew I Would Never Work in Journalism Again
I spent more than two decades at my newspaper. Now it’s gone.
San Quentin Prison Built a Hospital On Top of a Dungeon To Celebrate Progress. Then COVID Hit.
While incarcerated at San Quentin, I saw firsthand how the promise of progress was empty.
The COVID Economy Is Probably Even Worse for Women Than It Looks
Unemployment statistics don’t tell the whole story.
U.S. backs Okonjo-Iweala, first woman and African, to head WTO
The decision breaks with the Trump administration’s opposition to Okonjo-Iweala and brings the U.S. in line with much of the rest of the world.
Economy will return to pre-pandemic level this year, CBO predicts
Employment levels, however, will not fully recover until 2024.
Biden confronts the limits of his executive power
Without help from Congress, he has few options to turn the U.S. economy around.
Fed’s Powell warns U.S. economy ‘long way from a full recovery’
“There’s nothing more important to the economy now than people getting vaccinated,” Jerome Powell said.
Wall Street shrugs at Washington’s debt pileup
The debt poses no imminent danger to U.S. finances, economists say, so the more pressing concern should be jump-starting the economy.