On Wednesday, Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano “abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus.” This, according to a new Associated Press report, uncovers what seems to be another example of the White House and its literal unhealthy interactions with the world writ large.
“We’ve got plenty of time” to overturn the election, said Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law.
While killer whales are somewhat naturally feared by humans—they are, after all, huge, tremendously powerful, and merciless predators—the mythology around them has always been exaggerated, since no orca on record has ever harmed a human being in the wild. This is why when sailors near Galicia off the coast of Spain began reporting that their boats were being attacked by orcas this summer, scientists and observers alike were perplexed.
Twist: This one’s normal.
Maybe it’s because the pandemic has warped my sense of time, but it feels like just yesterday that BTS got their first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. The South Korean pop septet’s first all-English single, “Dynamite,” was everywhere—in commercials, at the MTV Video Music Awards, on the radio. In September, the song made them the first all–South Korean group to top the chart.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says there is “no reason, none” for Congress not to deliver the exact pandemic relief bill he wants.
Hospital officials condemned the nurse’s “cavalier disregard” for wearing masks and other social distance protocols after her “Grinch”-themed video went viral.
A delay of even three weeks would mean the Census Bureau would be turning in the numbers to a new president.
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 inboxKATIE MARTIN / THE ATLANTICThis, but not that. Bars open, but not schools. Hygiene theater abounds.With coronavirus cases at the highest levels they’ve ever been, Americans are caught playing a life-or-death game of safety hopscotch. The rules may vary by household or region.
Our mutual friend let the secret slip when she was a little tipsy.
By 1979, Elvis Costello had established himself as an acerbic songwriter with a penchant for pungent turns of phrase, a sort of New Wave Bob Dylan. Critics adored his wordplay, and audiences made his first two records big hits. But when Costello delivered his third album, in January of that year, it was a reproach to anyone who thought they had figured out his shtick. Armed Forces represented a leap for the English singer and his band, the Attractions—a harmonic and sonic transformation.
From chocolate tastings to drive-in movies, workplaces are getting creative.
We look at the unprecedented five federal executions President Trump’s Department of Justice has scheduled before Inauguration Day, starting with Brandon Bernard on International Human Rights Day, and ending with Dustin Higgs on January 15, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Four of the people set to die are Black men, and the other is Lisa Montgomery, a severely mentally ill white woman who faced a lifetime of sexual abuse and would be the first woman executed in nearly 70 years.
We look at one of the most shocking cases in the slew of federal executions the Trump administration has scheduled in its final months: Lisa Montgomery, who was convicted in 2007 for a gruesome murder of a pregnant woman, is set be the first woman to be executed by the federal government in 70 years if her January 12 execution goes forward. Advocates say Montgomery suffers from mental illnesses caused by a life of abuse and sexual assault, and that she deserves clemency.
Sister Helen Prejean, one of the world’s best known anti-death-penalty activists, says the spate of federal executions carried out by the Trump administration reflect a “fundamental flaw” in the law, which does not set limits on use of the death penalty. “When you give absolute power over life and death to government officials, they can really do what they want,” she says.
Donald Trump will not serve a second term. The litigation launched by his campaign and the Republican Party to overturn the election results has no chance of preventing Joe Biden from swearing the oath of office on January 20—as Trump himself seemed to haltingly recognize last week after his administration finally allowed the presidential transition to begin.
Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated Friday while driving on a highway outside Tehran. Iran accuses Israel of orchestrating the killing, which is the latest in a string of assassinations targeting scientists involved with Iran’s nuclear program.
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. Americans’ social lifelines are beginning to fray. As the temperature drops and the gray twilight arrives earlier each day, comfortably mingling outside during the pandemic is getting more difficult across much of the country. For many people, it’s already impossible.
Taxpayers are backing more than a trillion dollars in home mortgages, but the agencies buying them are neglecting to consider climate risks.
In just a few years, the bank squandered 160 years of consumer goodwill.
Slate Money talks Janet Yellen, Simon & Schuster, and United Way Worldwide.
“If you have a kitchen and cook and live by yourself … this cookbook is for you.
“What I want to do with this space is to bring joy to people.
What to expect, and what risks you’ll take, from the moment you enter the airport.
Joe Biden will emphasize treatment and prevention, not law enforcement, in addressing a drug epidemic that’s only grown more dire during the pandemic.
Different countries are coming up with different answers to that question.
The focus of the initial meeting was on Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and distribution, said one person familiar with the agenda.
He and other top government officials have said that about 40 million doses of the vaccine will likely be available next month.
