Fed sees less severe recession this year but warns of tough winter
Officials said they expect the U.S. economy to shrink by 2.4 percent this year, a brighter forecast than they offered just three months ago.
Today's Liberal News
Biden faces a massive boom ahead — or maybe another recession first
Vaccine euphoria is giving economic forecasters hope for a blockbuster 2021 and stretching stock market valuations to historic highs. It’s a setup that leaves no room for error.
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.
Rights Groups Demand Biden Reverse Trump Immigration Changes as COVID Surges in ICE Jails
President-elect Joe Biden promised to reverse Donald Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies during his 2020 campaign, but since he was elected, Biden has not included immigration among his top four priorities. Hundreds of immigrant activists and their allies caravaned through Biden’s home city of Wilmington, Delaware, demanding he issue a moratorium on deportations and advance a path to citizenship for undocumented people within his first 100 days in office.
Photos of the Week: Patagonian Eclipse, Canal Skating, Sydney Surf
Images from the past two weeks, including a robot assistant in an Indian hospital, Santa in a snow globe in Seattle, an orangutan returned to Indonesia, Fashion Week in Senegal, a snowstorm in the northeastern U.S., a gingerbread town in Norway, a health-care worker in a nativity scene in Italy, and much more.
Thursday Night Owls: Climate hawks call on Biden-Harris to ‘build back fossil free’
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
34 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Julia Conley at Common Dreams writes—Not Just ‘Build Back Better’: Climate Groups Call on Biden to ‘Build Back Fossil Free’:
Demanding far-reaching policies to keep more fossil fuels in the ground and ramp up the renewable energy transition, a coalition of environmental, racial, and economic justice groups
Klobuchar hints she was on Myon Burrell’s side, but deemed him too scary to go to his mom’s funeral
A Black teen convicted of murder when Sen. Amy Klobuchar was a Minnesota prosecutor was released from prison Tuesday after spending 18 years in prison. A pardon board determined the sentence for Myon Burrell, 34, was inappropriate for a child, the Star Tribune reported. Dressed in an Islamic thobe, he told supporters who had gathered outside of Stillwater prison to celebrate his release that he can’t express his gratitude.
Ho ho holy superspreader: Santa and Mrs. Claus test positive for COVID-19 after Georgia event
Cases of the novel coronavirus are increasing at a rapid rate across the U.S. and health officials worry this trend will only increase as the holiday season continues. Despite recommendations that large gatherings should not take place amid the coronavirus pandemic, some continue to host public events.
The risk of spread as a result of these gatherings is not only high but extremely likely.
Now Streaming: Jamilah Lemieux With The Wire Alum Brandon Young
Tune in for a conversation about making music and not being afraid of self-promotion.
This Week in Statehouse Action: What Bill Is This? edition
THIS IS IT, PEOPLE
… the last edition of This Week in Statehouse Action of the year, I mean.
And yes, it’s been a year.
And no, it’s not over.
And no, 2021 isn’t necessarily going to be any better.
In some ways, it’s actually going to be worse.
Oh, you thought we were going out on a sunny, hopeful note?
I am so, so sorry.
But you come here for bad jokes honesty.
’43 times’: Anjanette Young told Chicago police they were in the wrong home as she stood naked
Of all people, I expect more from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the first Black woman to lead the city and the first LGBTQ person to do so as well. She, however, is being accused of actively trying to cover up the horrific injustice that left Anjanette Young, a Black social worker, naked with police body-cameras rolling in her own home, the wrong home in a horribly botched city raid on Feb. 21, 2019. “I was terrified.
Millions Of COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Stuck In Warehouses Until Federal Orders, Pfizer Says
Stunned states, meanwhile, have been told that their expected vaccine shipments over the next two weeks have been cut nearly in half.
HHS secretary tells staff: My wife is sick with Covid
Alex Azar said that he and his children have tested negative and have no symptoms.
Democrats ask of Biden’s health team: Who’s in charge?
The president-elect has put together a varied, talented unit that appears to lack cohesion.
Trump Gets History Lesson After Calling Out Democrats In Election Tweet
The president claimed the Democrats would never accept a stolen election, so many Twitter users pointed out that’s what happened in 2000 and 2016.
The Last Man Scheduled To Be Executed By Trump Admin Tests Positive For COVID-19
Since resuming federal executions, COVID-19 cases have exploded in the prison where federal death row is located.
Trump Cites Georgia To Raise Cash For Slush Fund, But Has Spent Nothing On Those Races
While more than 100 other groups have spent money on the Senate runoffs, Trump’s Save America PAC has not, despite having likely raised $150 million.
A Day of Deaths 25 Percent Higher Than Spring’s Worst
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection , Southern California has reached 711 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days—more than double the Bay Area’s number—and Los Angeles County alone has reported more than 91,000 new cases in the past week.
The Atlantic Daily: Four December Don’ts
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.JAN BUCHCZIKWith two weeks left in the year, the pull of home is especially strong for many Americans. But long before the first snowflakes fell, we knew this winter would be a difficult one. And now, with coronavirus cases setting records, gatherings are riskier than ever.
Kelly Loeffler Keeps Posing For Photos With White Supremacists And Other Extremists
The senator recently disavowed a photo of her with a former KKK leader, but she’s repeatedly aligned herself with racists and far-right supporters.
Upstart Moderna takes on outsized role in U.S. vaccine effort
The FDA is expected to authorize the vaccine on Friday.
U.S. inmate scheduled to be executed tests positive for virus
As of Thursday, there were more than 300 inmates with confirmed cases of Covid-19 among inmates at FCC Terre Haute.
The First Major Anti-MLM Platform
This week, when TikTok announced an updated version of its community guidelines, one small addition was more surprising than the others. Under a section of policy prohibiting various types of “Frauds and Scams”—which used to focus on outright Ponzi schemes, get-rich-quick hoaxes, and phishing attempts—the company became the first major social-media platform to declare that multilevel marketing was verboten as well.
‘Cautiously optimistic’ on Obamacare lawsuit, Becerra to focus on health disparities at HHS
“My sense is, if you keep your fingers crossed, the incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services will have a good law to work with to continue to expand health care to all Americans,” Becerra said.
When I Boarded My Cargo Ship Last Year, I Could Never Have Imagined What COVID Would Bring
First, we were trapped for six months off the American coast—and then it got even darker.
The Year of Ambitious TV Watching
My biggest accomplishment of the year was a bloody mess. The project started simply enough, but within weeks, I found myself regularly staring at contorted limbs and gaping wounds. Soon few things marked the end of my workday more clearly than a grisly episode of Dexter, the mid-aughts Showtime series about a forensic analyst who moonlights as a serial killer.
Congress’s COVID Relief Bill Includes Direct Checks. It’s Still Not Enough to Help Most Vulnerable
After months of inaction, Congress finally appears close to passing a second, $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package. The agreement is likely to include additional unemployment assistance of $300 a week and one-time direct cash payments of between $600 and $700 for people in the U.S. — a sharp reduction from the first COVID check of $1,200. The COVID-19 relief checks were put back in the bill after a major push from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.