Today's Liberal News
What Miami Can Give Techies That San Francisco Can’t
Warm weather, low taxes, and a mayor ready to nurse their grievances about Bay Area liberalism.
States taking back Covid shots unused by nursing homes
Under pressure to speed up vaccinations, states are holding back or redirecting doses earmarked for long-term care facilities.
New virus variants threaten Biden’s pandemic plans
The government is already collaborating with Moderna to develop vaccine booster shots aimed at strains first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Biden sets sights on 1.5 million vaccinations a day
The president said he was hopeful about ramping up capacity, as parts of the country start to bump up against limitations on how many shots they can administer.
Fauci: U.K. coronavirus variant leads to worse infections
The CDC has predicted the U.K. variant could become the dominant strain of the disease in the U.S. as early as March.
U.S. jobless claims decline to a still-high 900,000
The government said that 5.1 million Americans are continuing to receive state jobless benefits, down from 5.2 million in the previous week.
30 Things Donald Trump Did as President You Might Have Missed
Trump’s presidency may be best remembered for its cataclysmic end. But his four years as president also changed real American policy in lasting ways, just more quietly. We asked POLITICO’s best-in-class policy reporters to recap some of the ways Trump changed the country while in office, for better or worse.
U.S. loses 140,000 jobs in first monthly loss since spring
At the same time, the unemployment rate stayed at 6.7%, the first time it hasn’t fallen since April.
How Biden’s dream of fighting income inequality runs through Georgia
The share of wealth controlled by the top 1 percent sits at levels not seen since the 1920s. Biden’s hopes for changing it rests on Senate control.
“They Came Away with Their Dignity”: Striking NYC Workers Win Wage Hike After Surge of Solidarity
Workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in New York City have overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract, ending a week-long strike that captured national attention and galvanized the community behind the essential workers at the Bronx-based business.
Tuesday Night Owls: Billionaires’ gain$ since March could fund Biden’s relief for working families
Night Owls is a themed open thread appearing at Daily Kos seven days a week.
Chuck Collins at the Institute for Policy Studies reports—U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surpasses $1.1 Trillion Gain Since Mid-March:
The $1.1 trillion wealth gain by 660 U.S. billionaires since March 2020 could pay for:
All of the relief for working families contained in President Biden’s proposed $1.
If there were any Jews still wondering which party is on their side, Jan. 6 answered the question
Late on the afternoon of Jan. 6, the Associated Press called the Georgia Senate race for documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff. Just a few hours earlier, Donald Trump had incited an insurrection that saw his followers—a number of whom openly and proudly displayed vile anti-Semitic signs and language—violently take over the Capitol in an attempted coup that would have spelled the end of our democracy.
‘I can’t have you guys walking around’: Innocent Black teens handcuffed, accused of theft in Target
A Black teen who did little more than observe an alleged crime at a California Target store was pushed against a counter and thrown into a police car, with a sheriff’s deputy closing the door on his feet, the child’s mother told The Los Angeles Times.
Surprise! Georgia Republican refuses COVID-19 test and faces major consequences
As of the publishing of this story, Georgia has 722,062 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Georgia is passing 12,000 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19, with more than 48,498 Georgians being admitted to the hospital because of the virus. Over 8,000 people have ended up in intensive care units across the Peach State. Like most places throughout the United States, the pandemic is very much not under control.
After Democrats retake Senate, expected Republican sabotage of Biden’s Cabinet loses momentum
After Senate Republicans suggested they would delay consideration of even Joe Biden’s most essential Cabinet-level nominations, a move that only fell apart after a deadly assault on the U.S.
Everything You Need to Know About Reconciliation, the Tool Democrats Need to Govern
There’s something called the “Byrd Bath.
Hospitalizations Are Down
Today marks two weeks of declining COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S., 14 straight days without a blip upward, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. Case numbers, too, are declining, and today the seven-day case average is down a third since its peak, on January 12.That day, the count of current hospitalizations was 131,326; it’s now down to 108,957.
Fauci Puts A Stop To Rehashing Trump History As Fox News Host Presses Questions
Bill Hemmer told the infectious disease expert “it just seems like there’s this aggressiveness toward the Trump administration.
Sen. Patrick Leahy Hospitalized Ahead Of Presiding Over Impeachment Trial
The 80-year-old Democrat, who has since been released, “was not feeling well” and was taken to a local hospital “out of an abundance of caution,” his office said.
Palm Beach Conducting ‘Legal Review’ Of Trump’s Use Of Mar-A-Lago As A Residence
On Wednesday, the former president will again violate the seven-consecutive-day limit he agreed to as a condition of turning the residence into a club.
You Can Help Claudia Conway Most by Leaving Her Alone
The disturbing abuse allegations do not deputize strangers online.
The Weekly Planet: Why Biden is Buying 645,000 New Cars
Every Tuesday, our lead climate reporter brings you the big ideas, expert analysis, and vital guidance that will help you flourish on a changing planet. Sign up to get The Weekly Planet, our guide to living through climate change, in your inbox.The U.S. federal government owns 645,047 motor vehicles, according to its most recent report on the matter.
Biden administration to buy 200 million more doses of Covid vaccine
The administration will ship out at least 10 million doses a week under the new strategy.
Amanda Gorman Overheard The Obamas Having A Feisty Inauguration Chat
The 22-year-old National Youth Poet Laureate says she wants Americans to take her presidential plans seriously, too.
45 Senate Republicans Vote To Dismiss Trump’s Impeachment Trial
Only five Republicans broke with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and voted with every Democrat to let the trial go forward.
Photos From the 2021 Dakar Rally
On January 3, a group of more than 300 competitors departed from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to begin the 43rd annual Dakar Rally: a 14-day, 4,751-mile off-roading adventure held entirely in Saudi Arabia once again. The race used to be held in Africa, until 2008, when unrest in Mauritania forced organizers to move to South America, where it was hosted until last year.
How Michael Jones Changed Our Daily Lives
Last week, at his home in Sunnyvale, California, a man named Michael T. Jones died of cancer, at age 60. This past weekend the local San Jose Mercury-News ran an appreciation of him and summary of his career, which you can read here. He is mourned by the many friends he made over the decades, of course most of all by his wife, June, with whom he recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.