J&J vaccine the ’accelerant’ to reopening schools in New Jersey, Murphy says
It’s been nearly a year since New Jersey’s 1.4 million K-12 students have been in classrooms full-time.
Today's Liberal News
Insurrectionist Photographed In Nancy Pelosi’s Office Says It’s Unfair He Remains Jailed
“They’re dragging this out. They’re letting everyone else out,” Richard Barnett yelled during a court hearing.
The Atlantic Daily: The Future of American Voting Rights Is on the Line
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 future of voting rights in America is on the line. “It’s no exaggeration to say that future Americans could view the resolution of this struggle as a turning point in the history of U.S. democracy,” my colleague Ronald Brownstein explains.
How Female Frogs Tune Out Useless, Noisy Males
Before frat parties, there were frog ponds.Literal breeding grounds for some of the world’s noisiest bachelors, these lusty pools are where amphibians gather to woo mates. And as any frog researcher will tell you, they’re “super, super, super loud,” says Valentina Caorsi, a bioacoustician at the University of Trento in Italy.
This Black Hole Probably Shouldn’t Exist
There’s a spot in space, thousands of light-years from here, that might best be described as a cosmic amusement park. A supergiant star, so hot that it glows electric blue, and a black hole spin around each other at extraordinary speeds, orbiting so closely that some of the star’s material is pulled toward the black hole. The stellar particles swirl around the invisible object in a tilt-a-whirl of luminous reds and oranges.
America’s Legalistic Culture Is About to Become a Problem
As vaccine production and distribution accelerate, a new set of challenges around what Americans can and should demand of one another is emerging. And we’re not ready for them. The public has been told for the past year that we need to mask up, physically distance, and lock down for the greater good.
Abbott: Texas mask mandate rollback ‘isn’t going to make that big of a change’
The Republican governor also criticized President Joe Biden for accusing him of “neanderthal thinking.
Mumia Abu-Jamal Tests Positive for COVID, Prompting Urgent Call to Release Elder Political Prisoners
Renowned political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawyers confirmed Wednesday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and also has congestive heart disease. Abu-Jamal also suffers from the preexisting conditions of liver disease, which advocates say is directly related to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ failure to treat his hepatitis C in a timely fashion. Mumia’s doctor, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, says the only appropriate treatment is freedom.
Marc Lamont Hill & Mitchell Plitnick on ICC Probe & the “Palestine Exception” in Progressive Politics
Israel and the United States blasted the International Criminal Court’s decision to open a probe into Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories, as well as crimes committed by Palestinian militant groups. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that the Biden administration “firmly opposes” an investigation.
Vaccine Apartheid: Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick on Israel’s “Indifference to Palestinian Health”
Israel has had the fastest vaccination rollout in the entire world, with 40% of Israelis already fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have received almost no doses — a situation critics call “vaccine apartheid.” By one count, just 34,000 vaccine doses have been administered to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, which has a population of over 4.5 million.
COVID Deaths Soar in Brazil as Bolsonaro Blasts Lockdowns. Experts Warn It Will “Get Worse.”
Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll has now topped nearly 260,000, the world’s second worst after the United States, as hospitals are overwhelmed with new cases. International concern is also growing about the P1 variant of the virus, which overwhelmed the Amazonian city of Manaus and caused its hospitals to run out of oxygen. Less than 4% of Brazil’s population has been vaccinated.
Help! My In-Laws Are Holocaust Deniers.
I don’t want my kids to have a relationship with them. My husband disagrees.
Ask a Teacher: My Child Reads Better Than Her Teacher Thinks She Can
Is it OK to ask for my daughter to be put in a different group?
The Absurd Nike Scandal That Has Sneakerheads Losing Their Minds
A tale of “insider trading,” but sneakers.
Key Senate Democrats Want to Keep Sending Americans Money As Long As the Economy Remains Bad
Congress is figuring out it can’t always count on itself to help Americans in an economic crisis.
Who Put Pantone in Charge of Color?
The company best known for its Color of the Year is a governing body in the world of design.
13 Things New York City Could Do if It Took a Quarter of Its Roads Away From Cars
Imagining a city where people no longer move at the pleasure of drivers.
Texas, Mississippi to lift mask mandates, let all businesses reopen at full capacity
The executive orders announced by the two Republican governors come as health officials warn against loosening restrictions too quickly.
Biden’s bubble risk: A reckoning in markets as the economy recovers
“I mean, Shaq has a SPAC. What could go wrong?” one economist says of the euphoria rippling through Wall Street and raising a new round of worries.
Biden targets smallest businesses with exclusive aid window
Only businesses with fewer than 20 employees will be able to apply for aid through the massive Paycheck Protection Program.
Biden’s economic point man draws praise — and pushback
Allies laud Brian Deese’s leadership on the stimulus negotiations, but he’s rubbed some the wrong way.
Biden aims to isolate China on coal — but it could blow back on the U.S.
The U.S. wants to stop new coal projects, but risks losing poor countries to Beijing’s “Belt and Road” agenda.
‘Clearly not healthy’: Markets are giddy about reopening — and that’s the problem
Investors are pumping up bubbles across markets, with excitement growing about more stimulus and widespread vaccinations.
Anti-Choice Forces Use Pandemic to Slash Abortion Access in Preview of Post-Roe v. Wade World
We look at how people across the U.S. have struggled to access abortions during the pandemic with reporter Amy Littlefield, who says that even before the COVID-19 outbreak, many states had restrictions, including three-day waiting periods and counseling sessions filled with misinformation. Then, many tried to use the pandemic as a pretext for banning abortion as a nonessential service.
House Passes Landmark Voting Rights Bill, Setting Up First Major Filibuster Fight
The sweeping reform bill would nullify the new wave of voter restrictions that Republicans are pushing at the state level.
House Democrats just passed the most important democracy reforms since the 1965 Voting Rights Act
On Wednesday, House Democrats voted 220-210 to pass H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” which is the most important set of voting and election reforms since the historic Voting Rights Act was adopted in 1965.
Republicans plot their poison pills to delay critical COVID-19 relief from reaching Americans
Senate Republicans are openly plotting how to make passing vital COVID-19 relief—which is still supported by 77% of all voters, including 59% of Republicans—complete hell for Democrats. That includes Sen. Ron Genius Johnson of Wisconsin proposing they extend the voting for “days on end.
Forceful testimony from commander of D.C. National Guard highlights unexplained delays on Jan. 6
At a joint Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, an array of intelligence and defense officials—including the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard—gave testimony concerning events leading up to and during the Jan. 6 insurgency. Much of the focus of the questions and answers remained around the timing of events, including when the National Guard was authorized, and on the clear failures of intelligence to anticipate the violent events of that day.
Under Biden, early polling shows Americans’ confidence in U.S. pandemic response is increasing
For the first time in nearly nine months, a national Harris tracking poll found that Americans’ fears of contracting the coronavirus and dying have dipped below a majority share of the public.
When given a binary choice between “I fear I could die as a result of contracting coronavirus” and “I do not fear I could die as a result of contracting coronavirus,” 48% said they harbor that fear while 52% said they did not fear such a death.