Trump Pardons Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner In Another Pardoning Spree
The president granted 26 more pardons, some of them to close allies, a day after granting clemency to 20 others.
Today's Liberal News
Trump’s Pardon of Manafort Is the Realization of the Founders’ Fears
Nostradamus had nothing on George Mason. The French seer earned a reputation for prophecy that was grounded, for the most part, in vague and ambiguous predictions of future events whose malleability allowed supporters to claim he was prescient. As with the Delphic oracle who came before him, Nostradamus’s reputation for foresight was unearned.George Mason, however, deserves his reputation for the precision of his predictions.
December Is Now the Deadliest Month of the Pandemic
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. December is now the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.Since the spring, month by month, the country had held the death toll below the terrible peak of the early pandemic, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. April began with 4,332 dead and ended with 59,599 dead—an increase of 55,267.
Robert E. Lee statue removed from Capitol, but another nine Rebels there should be ditched in 2021
Educator Barbara Johns in an undated photo.
A statue of Barbara Johns, a civil rights activist who played a major role in desegregating Virginia’s public schools, will soon stand in the U.S. Capitol, replacing the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has stood in the National Statuary Hall Collection for 111 years. That will make her the only Black person and one of the few women to represent a state in the Capitol.
Trump Back At Mar-A-Lago, Raising Taxpayer Golf Tab To $151.5 Million
This marks Trump’s 31st golf trip to his Palm Beach resort, which in total account for just over two-thirds of his golf-related travel and security costs.
Locked-down California runs out of reasons for surprising surge
America’s most populous state has become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the coronavirus.
Why you should care about the thousands of farmers protesting in India
2020 has been a year of ongoing protests and demonstrations for change across the globe. It has also been the year the world saw not only the largest but longest single protest to date. For almost a month now, tens of thousands of farmers in India have marched and protested against three bills passed in India’s parliament in September.
CDC: More than 1 million Americans got Covid shots
States last week were blindsided by lower-than-expected allocations of a Covid vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
GOP Voters Say They’d Back Trump Over Congressional Republicans
Republican Trump voters are more likely to identify with the president than their political party, a new survey finds.
The Mink Pandemic Is No Joke
Since early this summer, Keith Poulsen, the director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, was worried about mink. Poulsen’s lab is part of a national network of veterinary labs that work on animal diseases, and they had “been watching COVID-19 very carefully,” Poulsen told me. In Europe, mink on fur farms were catching COVID-19. And they seemed to be able to pass it back to people.
Trump Vetoes Defense Bill
Congress has enough votes to override a veto on the National Defense Authorization Act.
If Trump Really Wants to Kill the Relief Bill, Congress Can’t Stop Him
If he’s willing to do a coup, he’s probably willing to do this.
My Husband Can’t Stop Telling Everyone a Strange, Paranoid Lie About Me
Even his therapist believes him!
Help! My Grandma Found Out I’m Gay and Banned Me From Christmas
I am getting depressed at the thought of being alone for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
California Is 40% Latinx. In Alex Padilla, It Will Finally Have Its First Latinx Senator
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has been named by Governor Gavin Newsom to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate, making history as the first Latinx senator to represent the state. Padilla was first elected to public office at 26, when he joined the Los Angeles City Council, and went on to serve two terms in the state Senate, followed by two terms as the state’s secretary of state.
Diane Ravitch: Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary Must Overturn DeVos’s Attack on Public Schools
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Connecticut public schools commissioner Miguel Cardona for secretary of education, tapping a third Latinx person to join his Cabinet. Cardona is a former teacher who represents a sharp break from outgoing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who urged career employees at the Education Department earlier this month to “be the resistance” to the incoming administration.
My Father’s Desperate Calls About His Unemployment
The problems of this system go a lot deeper than a new stimulus bill.
U.S. buys another 100M doses of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine
The $1.95 billion agreement doubles the overall U.S. order for the vaccine to 200 million doses.
“Worse Than Being in Iraq”: Veteran & ER Doctor Says Pandemic Is Pushing Hospitals to Breaking Point
As the U.S. averages more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, we speak with Dr. Cleavon Gilman, an emergency physician who has been treating patients since the beginning of the U.S. outbreak, first in New York City and now in Yuma, Arizona. Dr. Gilman is also an Iraq War veteran who served as a Marine combat medic, and has kept a public diary of his experiences treating COVID-19 patients.
Dear Care and Feeding: My Daughter Still Believes in Santa. Is She Really Ready to Learn About Sex?
Parenting advice on sex talks, relationship stress, and yelling.
The COVID Relief Bill Makes One Big, Risky Bet
It’ll only be enough if the vaccination effort doesn’t blow it.
Why Congress Is Suddenly Fighting About the Federal Reserve
GOP Senators are holding a relief deal hostage in order to kneecap the Fed—and the Biden administration—in a crisis.
How powerful health providers tamed a ‘surprise’ billing threat
Hospitals and doctors watered down a solution to payment feuds backed by employers groups and insurers.
Biden adds former Obama budget official, onetime Warren aide to economic team
Biden added that the appointees have “broad viewpoints on how to build a stronger and more inclusive middle class.
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.
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.
Longtime Head of EPA’s Environmental Justice Program: Biden’s Climate Picks Show Power of Movements
As President-elect Joe Biden unveils key members of his team who will tackle what he called the “existential” threat of the climate crisis, we speak to former Environmental Protection Agency official Mustafa Ali, who led the agency’s environmental justice program until resigning in 2017 in protest of the Trump administration’s policies.
Tuesday Night Owls: Senators Warren, Wyden and Merkley push Biden to ‘padlock the revolving door’
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
29 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Kenny Stancil at Common Dreams writes—After Four Years of ‘Outright Grift’ Under Trump, Trio of Democratic Senators Urges Biden to ‘Padlock the Revolving Door’
In the wake of the Trump administration’s pervasive corruption and flagrant law-breaking, a trio of Democratic lawmakers is urging President-