Today's Liberal News

President Biden addresses joint session of Congress

President Joe Biden is addressing a joint session of Congress—the traditional replacement for a State of the Union address in a president’s first year. This year, of course, the format of the speech is also shaped by COVID-19. There will be a limited audience.

Biden has serious legislative priorities to advocate for, including the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which he unveiled Wednesday morning, along with the American Jobs Plan and immigration reform.

Workers shouldn’t have to go hungry to gain COVID-19 relief

This story was originally published at Prism.

New York recently passed a historic $2.1 billion fund for workers who were excluded from previous federal and state coronavirus aid. Roughly 300,000 New Yorkers—including undocumented community members and people with “nontraditional” jobs—stand to benefit from the additional aid.

Elon Musk’s SNL Hosting Gig Is a Trap

Elon Musk is an eyebrow-raising choice of host for Saturday Night Live. He’s a controversy-courting tech CEO with a tenuous connection to the entertainment industry. He’s never seemed interested in performing sketch comedy. And his Twitter following of more than 50 million accounts eclipses SNL’s audience—this season, the series’ highest-rated episode drew about 9 million viewers. Musk, in short, doesn’t need SNL.

The CDC Is Still Repeating Its Mistakes

Yesterday, the CDC released more relaxed mask guidelines for outdoor activities, as well as new charts for indoor and outdoor recommendations. The more permissive guidelines were a welcome step forward, but they’re still frustrating. By issuing recommendations that are simultaneously too timid and too complicated, the CDC is repeating a mistake that’s hounded America’s pandemic response.

The World’s Richest Men Are Brawling Over the Moon

The full moon looked stunning this week. The lunar phase coincided with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, making the object look bigger and brighter than usual. It glowed orangey-pink low in the sky—a trick of the atmosphere—and then blanched brilliant white as it rose into the darkness.Meanwhile, down here, a couple of space billionaires are sparring over how to reach it.

Jeremy Scahill: Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Record Shows Evolution of U.S. Empire Since Vietnam War

An investigation into President Joe Biden’s foreign policy record reveals “the history of the evolution of the American empire, from the Vietnam War to the present,” says Jeremy Scahill, award-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept, which recently published a project titled “Empire Politician” that examines Biden’s stances on war and militarism.

“Empire Politician”: Joe Biden’s Half-Century Record on Foreign Policy, War, Militarism & the CIA

As President Joe Biden nears his 100th day in the White House, we look at his foreign policy record, both as president and over the past five decades. A new project created by Jeremy Scahill, award-winning journalist and senior correspondent at The Intercept, examines Biden’s stances on war, militarism and the CIA going back to the early 1970s, when he was first elected as a senator in Delaware.

Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide of 1915, Despite Decades of Lobbying & Denialism by Turkey

As President Joe Biden makes history by explicitly describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a “genocide,” we speak with Peter Balakian, Pulitzer Prize-winning Armenian American poet and professor at Colgate University. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire began a systematic, premeditated campaign targeting the Armenian people, an unarmed Christian minority living under Turkish rule.

“Open Season”: Heather Heyer’s Mother Slams New Laws Giving Immunity to Drivers Who Hit Protesters

Many of the anti-protest laws pushed by Republicans include measures that provide civil or criminal immunity to drivers who hit demonstrators with their vehicles. A pending Oklahoma measure would offer both. “It’s declaring open season,” says Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer was killed in 2017 when a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

More evidence that the former guy is fading away, even among Republicans

Donald Trump said some stupid shit about the Oscars today, because he’s gone from being the worst pr*sident in U.S. history to writing the worst blog on the internet. (I can’t even find an archive of his “statements.” That’s how far off the grid he is these days.)

You may have noticed you can now go as long as a few hours without his clammy tumescent melon head interrupting your sublime, weed-infused reveries.