Today's Liberal News

News Roundup: Pandemic surge; Pelosi blocks GOP move to sabotage Jan. 6 probe; plea bargains mount

In the news today: Not only is the pandemic not over, the nation is in the middle of a new pandemic surge. Wear your masks, and get vaccinated as soon as possible. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today rejected the appointment of two Republicans to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection after signals that both of them were appointed to obstruct, rather than assist, the probe.

The pandemic made it even harder than usual for this marginalized group to get affirming care

Safe, age-appropriate, and affordable gender-affirming medical care is crucial for transgender and nonbinary folks. Affirming care can be a number of things, ranging from a medical professional supporting the use of pronouns to prescribing hormonal treatments to surgery. Sometimes trial and error are involved to find the best fit, and sometimes people pause and restart treatment over the course of a lifetime. All of that is normal and valid.

The Republicans Have Already Given Biden What He Needs

The much-ballyhooed bipartisan infrastructure agreement was always a shaky proposition. When President Joe Biden announced the accord last month—“We have a deal,” the beaming president proclaimed outside the White House, flanked by 10 beaming senators—all the negotiators had agreed to was an outline, a three-page sketch of how to spend $1.2 trillion on roads, bridges, rail, and broadband, and a list of “options” of how to pay for it.

Two Ways to Think About the New Mask Debate

We are a nation of under-doers and over-doers. Every time the government has issued COVID-19 guidance throughout the pandemic, one slice of America has ignored it, while another slice has followed it to the letter, and then some. The government says stay six feet apart? Some Americans scoffed, while others didn’t set foot inside a restaurant for a year. The CDC’s decision to let vaccinated people go unmasked is shaping up to be another such cleavage.

What Cat People Can Teach Us

In the cats-versus-dogs debate, pop culture tends to skew in one direction. Many animated movies portray cats as manipulative and nefarious, and dogs as the (less canny) embodiments of loyalty and love. Cats also have a long association with the witchy and supernatural, underscoring their folkloric legacy as otherworldly beings. While some recent works have broadened depictions of felines, a new series from Netflix does the same for the humans who love them.

My Community Refuses to Get Vaccinated. Now Delta Is Here.

At a county health department near my hometown in rural Arkansas, almost everyone who comes in for a COVID-19 test is congested and short of breath, with a sore throat and muscle aches. They might have the flu, except for the added telltale symptom of this coronavirus: the loss of taste and smell. Many of the patients now are younger than those in previous months; a nurse who works there told me she saw two cases of young children in one day.

“It Is Offensive”: Haitian Activist Says It’s Not Up to U.S. to Determine Haiti’s PM or Future

Two weeks after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Ariel Henry has been sworn in as Haiti’s new prime minister, after acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced he was relinquishing power. Henry is a neurosurgeon who was appointed by President Jovenel Moïse shortly before he was assassinated, but not formally sworn in. Both Joseph and Henry had claimed power following Moïse’s death.

Colombia Erupts in Protest Again over Right-Wing Gov’t Tax Plans Even as “Solidarity Is Criminalized”

We go to Colombia for an update on anti-government protests in several cities on the country’s Independence Day, when right-wing President Iván Duque presented a new tax reform bill to Congress. The last tax proposal failed in April after it prompted a general strike and massive demonstrations that focused on deepening economic inequality and human rights abuses.

The Pandemic Is Not Over: Science Writer Ed Yong on Delta’s Devastation in Low-Vaccination States

COVID-19 cases in the United States have tripled over the past month as the highly contagious Delta variant rapidly spreads across the country, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. Deaths from COVID-19 have increased by nearly 50% over the past week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the Delta variant is now responsible for 83% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

Are Wind Turbines a Danger to Wildlife? Ask the Dogs.

Kayla Fratt began preparing for her summer job in March, when a package of frozen bat carcasses arrived for her in the mail. Well, actually, the bats were for her border collies, Barley and Niffler, and it is really their summer job too. They needed to learn the scent of a dead bat, because they would be spending three months on wind farms, looking for bats killed by spinning turbines.