As the year comes to a close, it’s time to take a look at some of the most memorable events and images of 2020. Events covered in this essay (the last of a three-part photo summary of the year) include the devastating wildfires in California, the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the U.S. presidential election, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and much more.
Republicans’ tolerance, if not active support, for President Donald Trump’s ongoing bid to overturn the 2020 election has crystallized a stark question: Does the GOP still qualify as a small-d democratic party—or is it morphing into something very different?
Congress should help Americans who really need it before helping those who don’t.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending the two-decade “state of war” between Ethiopia and Eritrea, with many hailing a new era of peace in the region. Just one year later, Ahmed’s military has displaced tens of thousands of civilians in an ongoing military campaign in the northern Tigray region.
Progressives and environmental and labor activists are objecting to President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Tom Vilsack to be his agriculture secretary, reprising the role he held in the Obama administration. Those opposed to Vilsack’s nomination say he has a record of supporting corporate interests over those of farmers, loosening regulations and backing genetically modified, herbicide-resistant crops.
As the World Food Programme accepts the Nobel Peace Prize, we look at the growing global hunger crisis amid the pandemic, the climate crisis and war. In the United States, as many as 50 million people could experience food insecurity before the end of the year — including one in four children.
The World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian organization dealing with hunger and food security, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today, with its executive director David Beasley warning that the combination of conflict, climate crisis and COVID-19 could push 270 million people to the brink of starvation.
He’s been emotionally abusive for most of our relationship, and he hasn’t always been nice about my cannabis use.
I’d love to offer her some COVID-friendly holiday cheer.
Louis DeJoy is likely to last well into the Biden administration.
The majority leader wants to send Americans a big lump of coal.
There’s a good-enough relief proposal with support from some Republicans. Dems should seize it.
Most Americans’ best hope of getting a shot by spring or early summer may rest on vaccines that have not yet been proven to work.
Pfizer is seeking authorization to use the vaccine in people 16 and older.
Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general and former House lawmaker, would enter Biden’s HHS without traditional health or management experience – but with immense power to undo Trump’s actions.
Governors will let providers sort out thorny questions over who should be first in line.
A former high-level employee at Heather Boushey’s think tank publicly aired the accusations on Tuesday night.
“That disqualifies almost every Republican senator and 90 percent of the administration,” the president-elect said of GOP criticism.
Taxpayers are backing more than a trillion dollars in home mortgages, but the agencies buying them are neglecting to consider climate risks.
Brian Deese is an executive at investment giant BlackRock.
The president-elect intends to name Cecilia Rouse, Neera Tanden and Wally Adeyemo to senior roles in his administration.
We look at how the House of Representative voted Friday to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and “address the devastating injustices caused by the War on Drugs,” as voters in Arizona and New Jersey approved ballot measures in November that legalize the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and up.
Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft scored a major victory with the passage of Proposition 22 in California, and worker rights advocates fear they will push similar measures in other states. Prop 22 will exempt companies in the so-called gig economy from having to classify their workers in the state as employees rather than as independent contractors.
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
42 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Despite the Centers for Disease Control’s nationwide eviction moratorium, tens of thousands of Americans have been evicted and more are being served notices every day, perhaps 150,000 households. As the piece below notes, without an extension of that moratorium—which expires Dec.
Twenty months and 800 pages later, the royal commission examining the deadly March 2019 attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, by a white supremacist has issued its completed report—and it largely confirms what most of us already suspected about the event that claimed 51 people’s lives.
Our project to calculate the 2020 presidential results for all 435 congressional districts nationwide goes on to Wisconsin. You can find our complete data set here, which we’re updating continuously as we crunch new numbers.
Four years after Wisconsin backed Donald Trump 47.2-46.5, the Badger State swung just enough to the left to deliver a 49.6-48.8 win for Joe Biden.
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. Today states reported 3,054 deaths from COVID-19—the highest single-day total yet, according to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic.The seven-day average of daily deaths was also at a record high, of 2,276 deaths. Since mid-October, the U.S.
As COVID-19 cases continue to increase nationwide, some state officials still refuse to wear masks and address the severity of the novel coronavirus pandemic. These individuals, alongside their followers, are pushing to end statewide mandates and other safety measures in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, failing to understand just how deadly the virus is.
Depending on who you ask, this holiday season will represent something markedly different. For some, it’s a breaking point after a difficult year, where people are loosening their own social distancing protocols out of a desire to visit with family. For others, it will be one of the first holiday seasons they’ve chosen to spend alone as COVID-19 cases continue to spike.
