Today's Liberal News

I’m Optimistic That We Will Have a COVID-19 Vaccine Soon

On January 11, a Chinese team reported online the RNA genome sequence of a novel coronavirus causing a strange new pneumonia-like disease in Wuhan, China. Within 48 hours, scientists at Moderna, a Massachusetts biotechnology company, had the entire genome synthesized. Remarkably, about 60 days later, the company, in collaboration with the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health, began a human Phase 1 clinical trial of an RNA vaccine.

The Red State That Isn’t Worried About a Mail-In Election

President Donald Trump has spent months trying to convince Americans that universal mail-in voting would be a disaster for democracy. It is “dangerous,” he says, potentially “catastrophic”—an “embarrassment” that would “make our country the laughingstock of the world.” Just this week, in his speech kicking off the Republican National Convention, Trump called voting by mail “the greatest scam in the history of politics.

The Profound Heroism of Chadwick Boseman

Almost as shocking as the news that Chadwick Boseman died yesterday at the age of 43 was the revelation that the actor had spent the past four years battling colon cancer. This timeline means that he was diagnosed in 2016—the year that he debuted as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.

Chadwick Boseman Was the Definition of a Hero

Almost as shocking as the news that Chadwick Boseman died yesterday at the age of 43 was the revelation that the actor had spent the last four years battling colon cancer. This timeline means he was diagnosed in 2016—the year that he debuted as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.

Together, we can destroy Republican trifectas in these two battleground states

 In a horrific display of the significance of down-ballot elections, the two states that lead the world (not just the nation) in coronavirus cases are both currently under complete Republican control: Arizona and Florida. In both states, the GOP controls both Houses of the state legislature and occupies the governor’s mansion.

As sparring continues between the FDA and HHS, the only people losing their jobs are the messengers

Ask Donald Trump about any issue, and he’ll tell you his TV ratings. Trump is far more concerned about the way something plays in the media than he is about the reality on the ground. Which is why, in the latest compound screw-up over the approval of the use of convalescent plasma over the unanimous advice of a panel of medical experts, the only two people to lose their jobs are a pair of PR experts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Trump makes his pitch to white working-class voters, but some who’ve felt his impact push back

Donald Trump needs white working-class voters. Much of the Republican National Convention (RNC) was aimed at white working-class people who may not have voted in recent elections but are seen as gettable for Trump this November—if he can turn them out. But the white working class isn’t monolithic, either, and there are warning signs for Trump among the younger members of the demographic.

McConnell brags about being ‘firewall,’ blocking assistance to tens of thousands of Kentuckians

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared proudly: “We are the firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda” in a pre-recorded video for Thursday night’s Republican National Convention (RNC). McConnell didn’t want to appear on Donald Trump’s stage, though he had no problem lying like Trump. Particularly with this line: “They want to tell you when you can go to work. When your kids can go to school.

The Atlantic Daily: The Post-Truth Convention

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.GETTY / THE ATLANTIC1. Events in Kenosha are “unfolding with the inevitable logic of a nightmare,” George Packer writes.