Surgeon general defends integrity of Covid-19 numbers
Jerome Adams was responding to a presidential tweet saying the numbers are phony.
Today's Liberal News
Dear Care and Feeding: I’m Thinking About Getting a Vasectomy Against My Wife’s Wishes
Parenting advice on vasectomies, teenage stress, and imaginary play.
Denver Riggleman Has Seen the Future of the Republican Party
Updated 11:56 a.m. on January 3, 2020.Denver Riggleman had a rough December. For one thing, he’s about to lose his job: Over the summer, members of the Virginia GOP voted to kick the freshman Republican out of Congress, largely because he publicly officiated a same-sex wedding. Riggleman’s cousin died of COVID-19 the week before Christmas, and his grandmother had to be hospitalized with the virus.
The 1996 Law That Ruined the Internet
In the United States, you are free to speak, but you are not free of responsibility for what you say. If your speech is defamatory, you can be sued. If you are a publisher, you can be sued for the speech you pass along. But online services such as Facebook and Twitter can pass along almost anything, with almost no legal accountability, thanks to a law known as Section 230.
A Warning From a Democrat in a Red State
A demonstration in Berea, Kentucky. (Meg Wilson)As a novelist, I often travel the country to talk about my books. During those events, almost invariably someone will ask me why my home state of Kentucky is so conservative. Many of these people ask why we’ve kept Mitch McConnell in office for almost 36 years. They take their anger at him out on me.
The Year of the Neighborhood—if You Were Lucky
Cities splintered in the pandemic, but only some Americans got to enjoy a hyperlocal utopia.
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.
What the New Stimulus Bill Provides—and What’s Still Missing
Boosted unemployment insurance? Check. A continued eviction moratorium? Check. Checks? Check. But there’s still much more that we need.
U.S. coronavirus cases eclipse 20 million
The 20 millionth case comes less than two months after the country tallied its 10 millionth.
How 100,000 Pacific Islanders got their health care back
For two decades, victims of U.S. nuclear bomb tests fought to obtain the Medicaid eligibility that was promised them. In the waning days of 2020, they won.
Fauci predicts normal life won’t return in U.S. before fall 2021
The assessment comes as the Trump administration appears poised to miss its year-end target to vaccinate 20 million Americans.
Police investigate deliberate spoiling of 500 vaccine doses
Police said they were notified of the alleged tampering Wednesday night.
How Trump warped HHS long before Covid-19
Political interference and tensions with scientists preceded — and set the stage for — the disaster of 2020.
The Dark Reality of Betting Against QAnon
QAnon—the conspiracy theory that elite Democrats, government officials, and celebrities are part of a cannibalistic, child-sex-trafficking cult, and Donald Trump is the hero destined to stop them—has allegedly inspired kidnappings, car chases, and a murder. It has also made 28-year-old Patrick Cage a lot of money.In 2018, Cage, a Californian who works in international environmental policy, discovered a gambling platform called PredictIt.
Is America Still the ‘Shining City on a Hill’?
A shining city on a hill. Ronald Reagan loved the phrase. He used it over and over again, perhaps most notably in his 1989 presidential farewell address.
I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.
The Pandemic Metric to Trust Right Now
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. On weekends, some of the people in labs, health departments, hospitals, and medical examiner’s offices who do the work of translating individual illnesses and deaths into data points get to go home.
Dear Care and Feeding: How Do I Show My Biracial 5-Year-Old That Black Is Beautiful?
Parenting advice on biracial parenting, changing name spellings, and cutting off family.
Trump backs down, signs stimulus package
A government shutdown was averted after the president approved the Covid relief package and annual spending bill.
Congress sends Covid package and spending measure to Trump
The president has thrown the fate of the bill into jeopardy.
Fed enters Biden era with clipped wings and a warning from Republicans
Congress curbed the central bank’s emergency lending despite the economy’s continuing struggles.
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.
Colonization Fueled Ebola: Dr. Paul Farmer on “Fevers, Feuds & Diamonds” & Lessons from West Africa
We continue our conversation with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, whose new book, “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds,” tells the story of his efforts to fight Ebola in 2014 and how the history of slavery, colonialism and violence in West Africa exacerbated the outbreak. “Care for Ebola is not rocket science,” says Dr. Farmer, who notes that doctors know how to treat sick patients.
Dr. Paul Farmer: Centuries of Inequality in the U.S. Laid Groundwork for Pandemic Devastation
As the United States sets records for COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, we speak with one of the world’s leading experts on infectious diseases, Dr. Paul Farmer, who says the devastating death toll in the U.S. reflects decades of underinvestment in public health and centuries of social inequality. “All the social pathologies of our nation come to the fore during epidemics,” says Dr.