Today's Liberal News

“Not Doing This Is a Choice”: Biden Drags His Feet on Canceling Student Debt Despite Campaign Pledge

Students, campaigners and top Democrats have been pushing President Joe Biden to use executive authority to cancel at least $50,000 in student loan debt per person. Student loan debt in the U.S. stands at $1.7 trillion, with some 45 million people owing money. Filmmaker and organizer Astra Taylor, an author, documentary director and organizer with the Debt Collective, says Biden has clear legal authority to cancel student debt. “Not doing this is a choice,” she says.

How to Wear a Mask & When to Wear Two to Reduce COVID Transmission & Increase Vaccine Effectiveness

While COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations appear to be waning, the United States has a long way to go before people can safely return to everyday life without masks. Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, says it’s vital to stay vigilant even as vaccinations ramp up. “If we can get our transmission down as low as possible, that is actually going to make the vaccines more effective.

Night Owls is a themed open thread appearing at Daily Kos seven days a week

Jessica Corbett at Common Dreams  writes—’Congress Must End This National Embarrassment,’ Says Sanders After CBO Reveals High Drug Prices for Medicare Part D:

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Listen: ‘A Disaster for Feminism’

Nearly a year ago, Atlantic staff writer Helen Lewis predicted the pandemic would be “a disaster for feminism,” and far too many of her predictions have proven true. With women leaving the workforce at unprecedented rates, why has the pandemic’s burden fallen so much harder on them? And what can we, as a society, do about it?Lewis joins staff writer James Hamblin and comedian Maeve Higgins on the podcast Social Distance.

The Window for D.C. Statehood Won’t Be Open Forever

With one move, Democrats could reshape government and potentially lock in their majority in the Senate for years to come. Four of their own stand in the way.The party may have just a few months to make it happen—but leaders in the House and Senate are taking their time and arguing about the details.Advocates see statehood for Washington, D.C.

The Books Briefing: The Works That Changed Our Understanding of America

A government of the people, by the people, and for the people: That was the idea behind the American experiment. But there has always been tension between the idea and the reality.Inspired by great works of American inquiry, The Atlantic and WNYC Studios earlier this month launched a new podcast, The Experiment: stories from an unfinished country.

The Double Meaning of the American Dream

Having moved from the teeming cityscape of Taipei to the rural American South in the 1970s as a preteen, I know something of the shock, at once awe-inspiring and estranging, of that first sight of the great American landscape—just sheer land—that seems to stretch on forever.

Hiking Is an Ideal Structure for Friendship

Each installment of The Friendship Files features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.This week she talks with a group of friends who have been going on monthly hikes for 25 years. They discuss why the hike organizer has absolute authority, how they’ve shown up for one another through tragedies, and why hiking together has bonded them more deeply than other ways of keeping in touch.