Today's Liberal News

“A Troubling History”: Biden’s AG Pick Merrick Garland Has Record of Not Holding Cops Accountable

Joe Biden has formally nominated Merrick Garland for attorney general. Garland has served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for over two decades and previously worked at the Justice Department, where he prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombing case. President Obama nominated Garland in 2016 to serve on the Supreme Court, but the nomination stalled after Republican senators refused to put it up for a vote.

Saturday Night Owls: Black cops recount their day fighting ‘racist ass terrorists’ at Capitol

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

11 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Emmanuel Felton at Buzzfeed News writes—These Black Capitol Police Officers Describe Fighting Off “Racist Ass Terrorists”:

BuzzFeed News spoke to two Black officers who described a harrowing day in which they were forced to endure racist abuse — including repeatedly being called the n-word — as they tried

Saturday Night Owls: Black cops recount their day fighting ‘racist ass terrorists’ at Capitol

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

11 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Emmanuel Felton at Buzzfeed News writes—These Black Capitol Police Officers Describe Fighting Off “Racist Ass Terrorists”:

BuzzFeed News spoke to two Black officers who described a harrowing day in which they were forced to endure racist abuse — including repeatedly being called the n-word — as they tried

‘Loved’ terrorists get thrown under Trump bus, are now seriously groveling for mercy

It was all fun and games on Wednesday. In an extraordinary display of white privilege, a mob of fascists celebrated as they overran U.S. Capitol Police, smashed windows, terrorized staff, trashed the place, left pipe bombs outside of offices on Capitol grounds, and assaulted people with metal pipes while hunting for House representatives, senators, and most of all, Vice President Mike Pence.

‘Loved’ terrorists get thrown under Trump bus, are now seriously groveling for mercy

It was all fun and games on Wednesday. In an extraordinary display of white privilege, a mob of fascists celebrated as they overran U.S. Capitol Police, smashed windows, terrorized staff, trashed the place, left pipe bombs outside of offices on Capitol grounds, and assaulted people with metal pipes while hunting for House representatives, senators, and most of all, Vice President Mike Pence.

If you claim to value education, vaccinate teachers

Evidence on how safe in-person schooling is and how it contributes to the spread of COVID-19 has been mixed—a lot more mixed than the headlines would tell you (read to the 11th paragraph in that piece, for instance), though not as dire as many of us feared over the summer. But the safety question may now be irrelevant, Elliot Haspel argues in The Atlantic.

If you claim to value education, vaccinate teachers

Evidence on how safe in-person schooling is and how it contributes to the spread of COVID-19 has been mixed—a lot more mixed than the headlines would tell you (read to the 11th paragraph in that piece, for instance), though not as dire as many of us feared over the summer. But the safety question may now be irrelevant, Elliot Haspel argues in The Atlantic.

Anti-union consultants do creepy, scummy work, this week in the war on workers

When workers start to organize, one of the first things many companies do is hire an anti-union consultant. Those consultants provide game plans for intimidating or cajoling workers away from solidarity with their coworkers, talking points for managers, and more. A recent report from Motherboard’s Lauren Kaori Gurley shows some of the creepy things these union-busters do, like keeping dossiers on workers.

Anti-union consultants do creepy, scummy work, this week in the war on workers

When workers start to organize, one of the first things many companies do is hire an anti-union consultant. Those consultants provide game plans for intimidating or cajoling workers away from solidarity with their coworkers, talking points for managers, and more. A recent report from Motherboard’s Lauren Kaori Gurley shows some of the creepy things these union-busters do, like keeping dossiers on workers.

Trump Is Banned. Who Is Next?

It happened slowly, and then all at once. After years of sparring, the internet’s most powerful moderators deplatformed their most famous troll: the president of the United States. Facebook has blocked Donald Trump’s account indefinitely. So have Snapchat, Twitch, Shopify; even one of the Trump campaign’s email providers has cut it off. At the time of writing, Trump still has his YouTube channel, but the company says it is accelerating its enforcement action.

D.C. Statehood Is More Urgent Than Ever

Less than six months before a mob of the sitting president’s supporters would descend upon the United States Capitol, a more solemn crowd gathered at its steps. Among those who arrived to pay their final respects to the late Representative John Lewis were Washington, D.C., residents who appreciated his unwavering support of statehood for the district.

It Was Supposed to Be So Much Worse

On the West Lawn of the Capitol Wednesday, a man in a pom-pom beanie clamored for blood. “Execute the traitors!” he shouted into a megaphone. “I wanna see executions!”The man got the deaths he wanted, if not the executions. Four rioters died as a result of Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol. The mob beat a police officer with a fire extinguisher, law-enforcement sources reports.

Discovery

Editor’s Note: Read an interview with Lauren Oyler about her writing process. Consensus was the world was ending, or would begin to end soon, if not by exponential environmental catastrophe then by some combination of nuclear war, the American two-party system, patriarchy, white supremacy, gentrification, globalization, data breaches, and social media. People looked sad on the subway, in the bars; decisions were questioned, opinions rearranged.

Lauren Oyler on the Drama of Swiping and Scrolling

Editor’s Note: Read Lauren Oyler’s new fiction, “Discovery.” “Discovery” is taken from Lauren Oyler’s forthcoming novel, Fake Accounts (available on February 2). To mark the story’s publication in The Atlantic, Oyler and Oliver Munday, a senior art director of the magazine, discussed the story over email. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.Oliver Munday: “Discovery” is an excerpt from your debut novel, Fake Accounts.