Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
The Atlantic has published I’m Not Yet Ready to Abandon the Possibility of America, an updated excerpt from President Barack Obama’s memoir—A Promised Land—that ought to be read in its entirety.
I distinctly remember my mother reading to me author Robert Coles’ The Story of Ruby Bridges, a classic about a 6-year-old girl’s work to integrate a New Orleans school in 1960. The story shows the hateful stares and anger-induced racial slurs Ruby faced on her walk to William Frantz Elementary School, and I’ll never forget wondering how so much contempt could be directed toward someone so young and innocent.
The good news is that we at least have a president-elect now (it’s Joe Biden, in case you haven’t heard).
The bad news is that pretty much everything else still sucks.
Take, for instance, the pandemic.
Which is raging harder than ever, thanks to the fact that Donald Trump would rather tweet election lies and hold superspreader events and, well, do pretty much anything else other than take meaningful steps to combat the coronavirus.
A joint statement released Thursday evening by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee confirms what nearly 80% of Americans already know to be true: President-elect Joe Biden won, fair and square, because over 150 million voters just participated in an election that was the “most secure in American history.
Vice President Mike Pence, who may or may not be the actual Antichrist, has played a long, patient game these last four years. He has embraced Donald Trump’s every white nationalist act. He has slathered Trump with praise at every possible opportunity, and has aggressively declared himself to have never seen any of Trump’s buffooneries, incompetence, or crimes. He protected Trump through impeachable acts.
The nation’s testing capacity has increased, but not fast enough to keep pace with the swarm of new cases.
We can save lives—and businesses. Let’s get it right this time.
Congressional Republicans didn’t want to talk about the idea of state legislatures overruling the will of the people, but they also didn’t shoot it down outright.
First, Joe Biden has to pick his Cabinet and his White House staff. But after that, there’s only one name on leading Democrats’ list for Democratic National Committee chair: Jaime Harrison, who lost a race for U.S. Senate in South Carolina last week.If he’s named as chair, Harrison will inherit an organization in significantly better shape than it was when Tom Perez took over in 2017.
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. THE ATLANTICJoe Biden accrued a record-setting number of votes, proving that the Democratic Party’s coalition is the largest in the country. But that alignment could be tricky to maintain, writers on our politics team warn.
The party’s truce is over.
All eyes are on the courts to see whether they will interfere with the election results under the guise of rectifying voter fraud, or delay things sufficiently such that multiple state legislatures find a way to step in and hand new Electoral College slates to President Donald Trump by December 8, the statutory deadline. Both options are extremely unlikely, which is very good news. In the meantime, however, the Trump administration is blocking the official transition process from proceeding.
“So a vote count is insufficient proof?” one Twitter user wondered.
It’s called “forced family fun” for a reason.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been one of President Trump’s closest international allies. How will he adapt to working with a Biden administration? Cambridge professor Priya Gopal says Johnson was clearly betting on a Trump reelection, especially amid Britain’s exit from the European Union. “I think they were certainly hoping that there would be a Trump victory,” says Gopal. “Brexit and Trump, as Trump quite correctly recognized, are very deeply in sync.
We look at how Joe Biden’s presidency will affect the U.S. footprint in the Middle East with Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who says Biden’s win is being viewed with “anxiety” by many Iraqis who are eager to avoid war between the U.S. and Iran. “Any conflict will take place on Iraqi soil,” says Abdul-Ahad. “There is not much optimism. There is anxiety towards Biden and his team in the way they deal with Iraq.
We continue to look at the world’s response to the U.S. election with South African activist Kumi Naidoo, a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity, former secretary general of Amnesty International and former head of Greenpeace. Naidoo says President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden is good news, but notes that the world lost four crucial years to tackle the climate crisis and other issues because of the Trump administration.
The White House has ordered agencies not to cooperate with Biden’s presidential transition team, and President Donald Trump continues to refuse to accept defeat in the 2020 election, which means Biden cannot receive security briefings or access government funds for the transition. But while the standoff continues in the U.S., other countries are already preparing for a new administration. For more on how the historic U.S.
The name appeared in a relative’s obituary, of all places.
And other reading and writing questions, answered.
“The personal goal is just to be seen.
Even where they don’t elect Democrats, voters love minimum-wage hikes, marijuana, and Medicaid expansions.
UPPAbaby cornered the U.S. market with the safe, affordable luxury you might look for when shopping for a car. But now a target may be on its back.
“They need a lifeline and they need it now,” he said.
The drug, known as a monoclonal antibody, mimics the body’s natural defenses against the virus.
Biden will inherit an economy similar to one he and Obama did 12 years ago. But unlike last time, he’ll have few tools to deal with it.
The latest episode of POLITICO’s Global Translations podcast explores the new industrial policy emerging in America to counter China’s ascent.
The economy weighs heavily on voters’ minds.
