Today's Liberal News
Economy will return to pre-pandemic level this year, CBO predicts
Employment levels, however, will not fully recover until 2024.
Biden confronts the limits of his executive power
Without help from Congress, he has few options to turn the U.S. economy around.
Fed’s Powell warns U.S. economy ‘long way from a full recovery’
“There’s nothing more important to the economy now than people getting vaccinated,” Jerome Powell said.
Wall Street shrugs at Washington’s debt pileup
The debt poses no imminent danger to U.S. finances, economists say, so the more pressing concern should be jump-starting the economy.
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.
“Judas and the Black Messiah” Director Shaka King on Fred Hampton, the Black Panthers & COINTELPRO
A highly anticipated new feature film, “Judas and the Black Messiah,” tells the story of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and William O’Neal, the FBI informant who infiltrated the Illinois Black Panther Party to collect information that ultimately led to Hampton’s killing in 1969 by law enforcement officers.
McCarthy Meets With Rep. Greene While GOP Faces Cheney Decision
Republicans are wrestling over how to handle a bipartisan outcry against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and how to handle Rep. Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump.
Tuesday Night Owls: Rep. Sarbanes’ H.R. 1 bill would implement vote-by-mail and other voting reforms
Night Owls is a themed open thread appearing at Daily Kos seven days a week.
Eric Cortallessa at The Washington Monthly writes—How to Get Vote-by-Mail Reform to Biden’s Desk. A powerful House bill faces long odds in the Senate. Here’s what Democrats should fight for—and what they can compromise on:
After the 2020 election, America’s electoral infrastructure is in a weird place.
On World Hijab Day, here are 5 reasons Muslim women choose to wear the headscarf
Each year on Feb. 1, millions of Muslim women across the world share not only pictures of themselves in the hijab, but why they choose to wear it. The hijab, a headscarf worn by women who practice Islam, is often seen in the Western world as a symbol of oppression. In order to combat this narrative and highlight the resilience and strength behind the hijab, World Hijab Day was created in 2013 to foster religious tolerance.
Resist the urge to stereotype insurrectionists; they’re more likely to be your neighbors than not
In the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, it may be tempting to seek some sort of solace in the fact that the actual number of rioters was comparatively small. That those who participated included members of prominent far-right, neo-Nazis, and militia groups who had been well-primed in advance for such an event.
Kerry Eleveld on SiriusXM with John Fugelsang: Biden to help ‘equalize things for so many Americans’
Daily Kos senior political writer Kerry Eleveld recently joined John Fugelsang on his SiriusXM show “Tell Me Everything” to talk about Joe Biden’s priorities, what this new administration has already done for the LGBTQ community, and the future of the Republican Party.
Dolly Parton donated $1 million to vaccine development, but doesn’t want to ‘jump’ the line for shot
Does anyone bring joy to the general public like national treasure Dolly Parton? At the age of 75, Parton has a long history of using her massive music platform for good, and recently, donated $1 million toward developing the Moderna vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
The Dumb Obama-Era Law That Might Force Democrats to Slash Medicare, But Probably Won’t, Explained
All because they have to pass more COVID relief with just 50 votes.
Newsmax Host Walks Off Set After MyPillow CEO Interview Goes Off The Rails
Anchor Bob Sellers stopped interviewing Mike Lindell because the political pillow-maker wouldn’t stop spewing false election claims.
The Weekly Planet: A New Idea for Fighting Climate Change: Retirement Plans!
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.In January 2020, Boris Khentov attended a climate protest in Washington, D.C., led by Jane Fonda. (She was, at its climax, arrested.
Warren To Join Senate Finance Committee, Immediately Introduce Wealth Tax Bill
The progressive senator from Massachusetts wants to levy a two-cent tax on every dollar of individual wealth over $50 million.
Trump’s Impeachment Defense Keeps Pushing Dangerous Election Claims
Former President Donald Trump still denies that he lied when he riled up supporters by claiming the election was stolen.
Democrats Ditch $600 Unemployment Boost
Now that Republicans are less of an obstacle, Dems are negotiating with themselves.
The Only Thing I Will Miss About the Trumps: Melania’s Pleasingly Bizarre First Lady Fashion
Four years and two weeks later, I am ready to talk about this.
My Boyfriend’s Expectations for Sex Are Absurd—and I’m Not Sure How to Tell Him
I’ve started to see sex as a chore.
The Pandemic Is Heading Toward a Strange In-Between Time
Is the United States past the worst of the pandemic? Cases and hospitalizations have fallen in most states in the past few days, and vaccination news has brightened. Johnson & Johnson published trial data showing that its one-dose vaccine is safe and effective, and the Biden administration has bought 200 million additional vaccine doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which already have approved vaccines.
Biden administration to begin shipping vaccine doses directly to pharmacies
Many pharmacies are already administering vaccine doses that have been allocated to states.
Joe Biden’s Challenge Was Barack Obama’s Victory
When Myanmar was summoned to The Hague last year to face allegations that its armed forces had carried out a genocide against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority, no military officers attended. Instead, it was the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi lamenting that the horrific reports and photos seen by the world were “an incomplete and misleading factual picture of the situation.” Domestically, her speech was viewed as a defense of her country.
The Deadliest Month Yet
On January 21, 2020, the United States confirmed its first case of COVID-19. One year later, the country is still breaking grim records: January 2021 was the deadliest month of the pandemic yet, claiming more than 95,000 Americans, about one-fifth of the 433,751 deaths recorded to date, according to The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project.The U.S. hit this mark even as the pandemic seems to be letting up, at least for now.
How Sophie Showed the Humanity of Electronic Music
Electronic music is old—1800s-old, earlier-than-Elvis old, old-enough-to-forget-it-needed-to-be-invented old. But it still sports the halo of newness because it still offers the possibility of creating tomorrow. In 1910, the Manifesto of Futurist Musicians laid out the idealistic (though fascism-linked) hope of early machine musicians: “The liberation of individual musical sensibility from all imitation or influence of the past.
Alexei Navalny Faces “Kafkaesque” Charges in Russia for Breaking Parole While in Poison-Induced Coma
Russian authorities have arrested thousands of people during anti-government protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been held in jail since returning to Russia on January 17 after recovering in Germany from an attempt on his life in August using the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the poisoning that nearly killed him.
Russia’s Sputnik V Is Found to Be 91.6% Effective, Providing Boost for Global Vaccination Effort
Russia has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, recording about 73,000 deaths and over 3.8 million infections over the past year. Meanwhile, there is widespread skepticism over the domestically developed Sputnik V vaccine, with many Russians reluctant to get the shot. Now a peer-reviewed study published in the respected Lancet medical journal has confirmed the vaccine’s 91.6% efficacy, as developers of the shot have long maintained.
Latinx COVID Deaths Soar 1,000% in Los Angeles as Communities of Color Lag Behind in Vaccine Rollout
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Black and Latinx people in the United States have died at higher rates, and new data shows that they are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than white people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60% of those vaccinated were white, while just 11.5% were Latinx, 6% were Asian, and just over 5% were Black. The CDC data is based on details gathered during the first month of the U.S.
Help! My Husband Thinks It’s Pathetic That I’m Writing a Novel.
He says he wishes I wouldn’t waste my evenings over this “ridiculous project.