Biden warns of challenges ahead as he rolls out new vaccine plan
Rollout also takes aim at vaccine skepticism and misinformation.
Today's Liberal News
Listen: Coronavirus Mutations
After a new variant of the coronavirus spread throughout the United Kingdom, daily cases hit record levels and the prime minister ordered a national lockdown. Now more mutations from South Africa and Brazil have made headlines.
The Coronavirus Is Evolving Before Our Eyes
In the final, darkest days of the deadliest year in U.S. history, the world received ominous news of a mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Scientists in the U.K. had identified a form of the virus that was spreading rapidly throughout the nation. Then, on January 4, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a lockdown that began almost immediately and will last until at least the middle of February.
The Magical Feature That Gives Candles an Upgrade
These wood wick candles are like a tiny fire in a jar.
Would You Patent the Sun? Polio Vaccine Inventor Jonas Salk’s Son Urges More Access to COVID Vaccine
The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. is set to top 400,000 before Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, but rollout of coronavirus vaccines has been slow, with many describing a vexing amount of red tape standing between them and the shot. We look at the development and distribution of another vaccine during the polio epidemic in the 1950s with Dr.
From Charlottesville to the Capitol: Trump Fueled Right-Wing Violence. It May Soon Get Even Worse
As security is ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the U.S., the FBI is warning of more potential violence in the lead-up to Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. Federal authorities have arrested over 100 people who took part in last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and The Washington Post reports that dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — including many white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection.
Biden taps D.C. veteran David Kessler for vaccination drive
David Kessler will replace Moncef Slaoui, who will take on a limited advisory role with the government’s vaccine accelerator.
Biden Needs to Avoid the First Big Mistake of the Obama Era
Or his ability to help Americans will be doomed from the start.
D.C. Residents Put Up With Overbearing Security for 20 Years. It Did Nothing.
What was the point of Fortress D.C.
The Country Lost Jobs in December, Which Was Totally Predictable
This is why so many of us spent the late summer and fall screaming our heads off for Congress to pass some sort of new coronavirus relief bill.
How Did Elon Musk Become the World’s Richest Person?
Wildly overvalued Tesla stock? Jeff Bezos’ divorce? Take your pick.
Biden’s Covid board in the dark on final vaccine plan
On the eve of Biden’s vaccine rollout, board members of his Covid-19 response team are largely in the dark about the plan’s details, according to three people familiar.
Officials: Trump’s promised $200 drug-discount cards won’t happen
“It would take days to get all the sign-offs we still need, plus the time to print the letters and make the cards,” said one official, who noted Inauguration Day is only three business days away.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine hits production snags
The company could seek emergency authorization from FDA this month, but supplies may be thin at first.
My Lover Is Bad-Mouthing My Sexual Ability to Friends (and Family!) for an Absurd Reason
I, uh, really cannot fix that.
How to Give a Good Shot
Certain health care workers are known in the medical world as rock stars of inoculation.
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.
Trump backs down, signs stimulus package
A government shutdown was averted after the president approved the Covid relief package and annual spending bill.
Congress sends Covid package and spending measure to Trump
The president has thrown the fate of the bill into jeopardy.
Fed enters Biden era with clipped wings and a warning from Republicans
Congress curbed the central bank’s emergency lending despite the economy’s continuing struggles.
As COVID Surges in L.A., Hard-Hit Indigenous Communities Fight to Preserve Life, Culture & Language
As Los Angeles County reports record COVID-19 infections, overflowing hospitals and record death tolls, we look at how Indigenous communities there are among the hardest hit in working-class neighborhoods, where many are essential workers.
Inside Trump’s Final Days: Aides Struggle To Contain An Angry, Isolated President
Trump’s last days in the White House have been marked by rage and turmoil, multiple sources said.
Thursday Night Owls: ‘How the United States chose to become a country of homelessness’
Night Owls is a themed open thread appearing at Daily Kos seven days a week.
6 days until JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Dale Maharidge at The Nation writes—How the United States Chose to Become a Country of Homelessness. For months, our leaders have known that the Covid-19 crisis could force millions of people from their homes.
Abortion plotlines on TV and film last year didn’t reflect reality, new report says
Content creators in Hollywood are known to bend the truth. When it comes to potraying abortion plotlines on the screen, things are no different. A new report by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco, looked into the ways abortion patients and topics are portrayed on TV and in movies. Researchers have been compiling annual data since 2012, and publicly releasing the reports since 2016.
Texas didn’t go as planned for Democrats, but the suburbs still moved sharply away from Republicans
Our project to calculate the 2020 presidential results for all 435 congressional districts nationwide goes to Texas, where the GOP gerrymander helped the party hold on to 23 of the state’s 36 U.S. House seats despite several Republican retirements. You can find our detailed calculations here, a large-size map of the results here, and our permanent, bookmarkable link for all 435 districts here.
Trump admin races to enact term limits for top health scientists
The regulation, which the Department of Health and Human Services could issue as a direct final rule within days, would mandate job reviews every five years for career federal scientists.
This Week in Statehouse Action: Sedition edition
By this time next week, we’ll have a new president! (… hopefully)
But with Donald Trump’s second impeachment (who says Congress can’t act with state legislature-like speed when it wants to?) because of his responsibility for last week’s violence in the U.S. Capitol, we’re very much not yet done with the old one.
FBI Arrests Retired Firefighter Accused Of Throwing Fire Extinguisher At Capitol Police
Robert Sanford, 55, of Pennsylvania, is accused of injuring three officers during the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Conditions on death row are horrible, but women have it especially hard
As the scheduled execution of Lisa Montgomery draws nearer, attorneys representing Montgomery are requesting that the federal government grant clemency in her case and reduce her sentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole.