Today's Liberal News

Biden picks two women with strong environmental credentials for Energy and domestic climate adviser

As widely reported earlier this week, President-elect Joe Biden has chosen former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to run the Department of Energy (DOE) and former Environmental Protection Administration Chief Gina McCarthy to run a new White House office on climate change. Both women have strong environmental records and can be expected to be assertive key figures in the Biden administration, which is making the climate crisis a top priority.

A (kind of) farewell to the best friend this community has ever had

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Neeta Lind, aka Navajo, is retiring at the the end of the year. 

She is our beloved Director of Community. I don’t know when she actually started working here and I can’t bother to look it up because to me, Neeta has been tirelessly organizing this community from the very beginning. There is no Daily Kos without her. And I don’t know how you bid farewell to a friend, coworker, and resident diva.

Grateful grandma delivers 800 tamales to hospital staff who saved her life during COVID-19 struggle

A grandmother of 12 contracted COVID-19 in April and spent 20 days in the hospital at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. KTLA reports that Margarita Montañez was unable to see her family during this time, which included almost two weeks spent on a ventilator. On Thursday, Montañez tried to give a little back to the many medical staff, because she says she “appreciated the doctors and the nurses that helped me.

The Ticket: Jim Clyburn

The Electoral College’s Monday vote to formally make Joe Biden the 46th president caps a weeks-long process of the former vice president having his victory affirmed again and again. But a Biden win, even in the primaries, didn’t always seem like a sure thing.After Biden came in fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire, his hopes rested on South Carolina. And key to his victory there—and to his ultimately successful candidacy—was an endorsement from Jim Clyburn.

The Atlantic Daily: 8 Ideas for a Socially Distant Holiday

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.This holiday season, there is reason for hope: The development of vaccines means the end of this pandemic is in sight. But in the meantime, travel and social gatherings remain ill-advised, and many Americans are spending the final days of 2020 without the comfort of loved ones.

Trump Failed to Protect America

As he accepted the Republican nomination for president in summer 2016, Donald Trump promised, “We will make America safe again.”“The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its citizens,” he said. “Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.

What Tom Cruise’s COVID-19 Rant Really Means

In the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder, Tom Cruise stole scenes by mocking Hollywood’s entitlement. As the cocksure, foulmouthed studio exec Les Grossman, Cruise put on a fat suit, wore heavy prosthetics, and peppered his lines with profanity. When a gang holding his cast hostage demands ransom, he doesn’t bother to listen to the specifics. Instead, he threatens the kidnappers by promising to “rain down an ungodly fucking firestorm.”Cruise’s outburst on the U.K.

The Books Briefing: The Novel Life of Jesus Christ

Countless writers, with varying degrees of success, have reimagined the life of Jesus Christ. As my colleague Cullen Murphy wrote in a 1986 essay, “It is hard to think of any other figure who, over the years, has been claimed by so many and in so many different ways and for so many different purposes, who yet has never been identified exclusively with any single cause, and who has remained perpetually available for use.

Winona LaDuke: Deb Haaland’s Nomination for Interior Sec. Is “Important Step” for Native Americans

President-elect Joe Biden has picked New Mexico Congressmember Deb Haaland to become secretary of the interior. If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American to serve in a Cabinet position. Haaland’s nomination was backed by progressives, as well as more than 120 tribal leaders, who sent a letter to Biden last month urging him to select her for the post.

Evictions Are Violence: Millions Could Lose Homes Amid COVID Pandemic If Federal Moratorium Expires

Millions across the U.S. could be forced from their homes in the middle of the pandemic if Congress does not extend the federal eviction moratorium that is due to expire at the end of December. Congress is expected to push the moratorium back by one month, to January 31, in the $900 billion stimulus bill being debated in Washington, but such an extension would only be a temporary fix to a much wider problem. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that one-third of U.S.