Today's Liberal News

World AIDS Day Is Grim Reminder of an Ongoing Epidemic, with 700,000 Dead from HIV/AIDS in 2019

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and as the world waits on an effective vaccine for COVID-19, we look at the ongoing AIDS epidemic and how the coronavirus has threatened treatment for those living with HIV. Author and journalism professor Steven Thrasher says the coronavirus has amplified racial, class and other disparities, just as AIDS has done for decades, and that treatments must have an antiracist and anti-capitalist foundation in order to be successful.

Britain’s Vaccine Nationalism

“This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain,” read the tweet, posted by Boris Johnson. Underneath, the prime minister was pictured staring resolutely into the camera, both thumbs up in the air. The date was January 2, 2020—11 months ago, but seemingly from a different world.

Wednesday Night Owls. Jason Furman: What it will take to build back a better economy?

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

Jason Furman is professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. He served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration. At Foreign Affairs, he writes—The Crisis Opportunity.  What It Will Take to Build Back a Better Economy:

[…] The natural disaster is not over.

Betsy DeVos’ family keeps a $40M yacht all over America but dodges taxes by flying Cayman flag

One of the many good things about a new president is that most, if not all, of the people one associates with the last president leave office. That includes the secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. DeVos came into her position, like most of the Trump Cabinet, based on either being a billionaire or having close relationships with billionaires. Like most billionaires, DeVos has been successful at one thing: Making a billion dollars.

The Darkest Stretch of the Pandemic Is Here

Today the United States blew by two grim pandemic milestones. The country recorded a record 195,695 coronavirus cases and reported 100,226 hospitalizations, passing the 100,000 mark for the first time, according to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. While the 2,733 deaths today did not break the all-time record, this was the first day since May with more than 2,500 deaths, as well as the day with the second-most deaths so far.

Once a Democratic bastion, West Virginia is now one of the GOP’s best states up and down the ballot

Our project to calculate the 2020 presidential results for all 435 congressional districts nationwide hits West Virginia, a once solidly blue state that has become one of the most Republican areas in the country. You can find our complete data set here, which we’re updating continuously as the precinct-level election returns we need for our calculations become available.

‘They were wearing rhinestones’: Trump’s witnesses in Michigan fraud hearing make ridiculous claims

On Tuesday, Michigan lawmakers dedicated more than six hours to allowing evidence-free testimony on the unproven and, frankly, unprovable election fraud claims of Trump supporters. A good summary of these kinds of events came from a man named Bill Schmidt, who according to The Detroit News, had considered himself a lifelong Republican before this year’s election.

“Evil can be seen by evil people,” he said.

The Atlantic Daily: Trump Might Fade Away

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 inboxCHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTYThe Trumpian vortex isn’t what it used to be. Weeks after Donald Trump’s defeat, the current is slowing: The president is commanding far less attention in his last weeks of office.That’s not, as my colleague David A.

The Dangerous Blind Spot of The Undoing

Updated at 9:46 p.m. ET on December 2, 2020.This article contains spoilers through the series finale of The Undoing.The Sunday finale of The Undoing was the most-watched episode of any HBO show since the last episode of Big Little Lies. The Undoing is a whodunit about the murder of a woman found, by her fourth-grade son, with her décolletage displayed and her face in pieces. Sex sells, according to the old advertising adage. Clearly violence does too.

Photos: The Reality of the Current Coronavirus Surge

As the number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide nears 65 million, and the number of deaths attributed to the disease approaches 1.5 million, many countries are enduring a crushing surge in numbers. The toll on health-care workers, families, and the victims of the disease has been enormous. Gathered below are photographs from around the world of the current battle against COVID-19, taken over the past few weeks.

“The Dead Are Arising”: New Biography on Malcolm X’s Childhood, Killing & Secret Meeting with KKK

We speak with the co-author of a major new biography of Malcolm X, “The Dead Are Arising,” which recently won the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction and offers a sweeping account of Malcolm X’s life by weaving together hundreds of interviews with Malcolm X’s family, friends, colleagues and enemies. The book is based on decades of research by Les Payne, who died in 2018, and finished by his daughter, Tamara Payne.

The New Goldman Sachs? BlackRock Sees Clout Growing as Biden Taps Two Execs to Top Economic Posts

For his incoming economic team, President-elect Joe Biden has picked several people associated with the investment giant BlackRock, which has been called “the fourth branch of government.” This includes his choice of Brian Deese, a former adviser to Barack Obama, to be his director of the National Economic Council. Deese was the global head of sustainable investing for BlackRock, which is the world’s largest asset manager, with over $7 trillion in its portfolio.