Today's Liberal News
In Blow to Drug War, House Backs Decriminalizing Pot as Voters OK Legalization Ballot Initiatives
We look at how the House of Representative voted Friday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and “address the devastating injustices caused by the War on Drugs,” as voters in Arizona and New Jersey approved ballot measures in November that legalize the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and up.
After Prop 22 Win for Uber & Lyft, Advocates Fear New Wave of Anti-Worker Laws Pushed by Big Tech
Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft scored a major victory with the passage of Proposition 22 in California, and worker rights advocates fear they will push similar measures in other states. Prop 22 will exempt companies in the so-called gig economy from having to classify their workers in the state as employees rather than as independent contractors.
Black Mom Swarmed & Beaten by Philly Riot Police with Toddler in Car Demands Officers Be Fired
A Black mother who was attacked by a horde of Philadelphia police officers is speaking out about the harrowing experience. Rickia Young was driving an SUV with her 2-year-old son and teenage nephew on October 27 as the city was engulfed in protest over the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. earlier that day. Officers descended on the vehicle, broke its windows, assaulted and arrested her and separated her from her child.
I’m a Comedy Writer Who Can’t Stop Imagining My Own Death
How to live your life without always worrying about the end.
Why Writer Ayad Akhtar Reads Shakespeare Every Day
“If I don’t do that, it’s like not having had my cup of coffee.
We’ll Be Stuck With Trump’s Postmaster General for a While
Louis DeJoy is likely to last well into the Biden administration.
GoFundMe’s “Fast Food Philanthropy”
GoFundMe turned charitable giving into another form of social media.
States defer to health providers on who gets first vaccines
Governors will let providers sort out thorny questions over who should be first in line.
Fauci: U.K. ‘really rushed through that approval’ of Pfizer vaccine
The British government “kind of ran around the corner of the marathon and joined it in the last mile,” he said.
Zients, Murthy tapped to head up Biden’s Covid-19 response
Marcella Nunez-Smith has been selected for a top role focused on health disparities
Raimondo emerges as frontrunner for HHS secretary
New Mexico’s governor is no longer the favorite to lead the department at the center of Biden’s pandemic response.
Biden top economic adviser facing accusations of mismanagement, verbal abuse
A former high-level employee at Heather Boushey’s think tank publicly aired the accusations on Tuesday night.
Biden backs up Tanden as Republicans attack her tweets
“That disqualifies almost every Republican senator and 90 percent of the administration,” the president-elect said of GOP criticism.
How climate change could spark the next home mortgage disaster
Taxpayers are backing more than a trillion dollars in home mortgages, but the agencies buying them are neglecting to consider climate risks.
Deese to be Biden’s top White House economic adviser
Brian Deese is an executive at investment giant BlackRock.
Biden unveils diverse economic team as challenges to economy grow
The president-elect intends to name Cecilia Rouse, Neera Tanden and Wally Adeyemo to senior roles in his administration.
Colonization Fueled Ebola: Dr. Paul Farmer on “Fevers, Feuds & Diamonds” & Lessons from West Africa
We continue our conversation with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, whose new book, “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds,” tells the story of his efforts to fight Ebola in 2014 and how the history of slavery, colonialism and violence in West Africa exacerbated the outbreak. “Care for Ebola is not rocket science,” says Dr. Farmer, who notes that doctors know how to treat sick patients.
Monday Night Owls: More than 1,500 attorneys seek sanction of Trump legal team for ‘historic abuse’
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
44 days until Joe Biden is sworn into office.
Jessica Corbett at Common Dreams writes—Citing ‘Historic Abuse’ of Judicial Process, Over 1,500 Attorneys Call for Sanction of Trump Campaign’s Legal Team.
Pfizer Declines Invitation To White House ‘Vaccine Summit’
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has vowed to keep the company’s COVID-19 vaccine development “out of politics.
Biden’s Michigan win was buoyed by improvements in almost every congressional district
Our project to calculate the 2020 presidential results for all 435 congressional districts nationwide heads to Michigan, which returned to the Democratic column after another competitive race. 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.
After supporting Donald Trump 47.6-47.
‘He told Black boys you can be somebody’: Popular Baltimore math teacher dies of COVID-19
Antwion “Busta” Ball, 43, was the kind of teacher who altered the course of his students’ lives. “He told Black boys you can be somebody,” his sister, Shavone Ball, told The Baltimore Sun. “He told them, once you have an education, it can’t be taken away.
‘We do not confirm or discuss confidential sources’: BuzzFeed News slams ICE intimidation attempt
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency isn’t spending its final weeks under the Trump administration releasing detained people—including children and their families—as an emergency health measure amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, but instead issuing a subpoena attempting to force BuzzFeed News to reveal its confidential sources. Priorities.
A Black man was shot three times for carrying a Subway sandwich outside of his home in Ohio
After a 23-year-old Black man was killed outside of his home in Ohio by a veteran SWAT deputy, local activists are questioning what really happened that led to the incident. The man killed, identified as Casey Goodson Jr., was neither a suspect nor the focus of any investigation, according to Buzzfeed News.
Officers were said to be looking for a suspect nearby when Goodson drove by, said Peter Tobin, the U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, on Friday at a press conference.
The Marines And The Racist Porn Actor Who Tried To Start A ‘Modern Day SS’
Four neo-Nazis arrested on gun charges wanted to spark a race war, prosecutors said, and their potential targets included Black Lives Matter protesters.
Trump’s health nemesis gets a new starring role: Reversing Trump’s policies
Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general and former House lawmaker, would enter Biden’s HHS without traditional health or management experience – but with immense power to undo Trump’s actions.
Florida Police Raid House Of COVID-19 Whistleblower Rebekah Jones
The ousted data scientist has accused the state of asking her to censor and alter public-facing coronavirus data.