After 10 months of witnessing the coronavirus’s destructive capacity, on December 16 I joined thousands of health-care workers across the country and received my initial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I felt hope for the first time since March, when COVID-19 patients started streaming into my emergency room. My colleagues and I would now have one more layer of protection in our fight against the virus.My relief was short-lived.
Jonathan TwingleyIf 2020 were a person, what sort of punishment would they deserve? And given the sensible prohibitions against torture in human-rights law, what would be the next best option?The conceit of personifying a year dates back to at least the ancient Greeks and, in American newspaper culture, to the early 20th century, when the cartoonist J. C. Leyendecker established a tradition of drawing New Year’s babies on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
If he’s willing to do a coup, he’s probably willing to do this.
Boosted unemployment insurance? Check. A continued eviction moratorium? Check. Checks? Check. But there’s still much more that we need.
It’ll only be enough if the vaccination effort doesn’t blow it.
The holiday takes on a surreal feel in some places.
“It’s not as easy as the census,” said one CEO of a Chicago nonprofit. “It’s a deeper conversation.
America’s most populous state has become one of the nation’s worst epicenters for the coronavirus.
“Doesn’t Congress know that communism starts when a private corporation flags my s**ty tweets?” one Twitter user joked.
“If you want to make something happen, go to Jared,” a source told Yahoo! News about how the Trump administration managed an avalanche of clemency requests.
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.In a slog of a year, new releases brought structure to the calendar. (Remember the Tiger King phase of quarantine? Or the Folklore one?)But what projects stood out the most? The critics on our Culture team are busy recapping 2020’s best works.
We make compromises, then she moves the goal posts.
The only way my son does his schoolwork is if I sit by his side.
Even his therapist believes him!
I am getting depressed at the thought of being alone for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The president has thrown the fate of the bill into jeopardy.
Congress curbed the central bank’s emergency lending despite the economy’s continuing struggles.
Biden added that the appointees have “broad viewpoints on how to build a stronger and more inclusive middle class.
Officials said they expect the U.S. economy to shrink by 2.4 percent this year, a brighter forecast than they offered just three months ago.
Vaccine euphoria is giving economic forecasters hope for a blockbuster 2021 and stretching stock market valuations to historic highs. It’s a setup that leaves no room for error.
The United States has become the first nation in the world to recognize Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara. The Trump administration announced the major policy shift on December 10 — International Human Rights Day — as part of a deal that saw Morocco become the fourth Arab nation to normalize ties to Israel in recent months.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has been named by Governor Gavin Newsom to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate, making history as the first Latinx senator to represent the state. Padilla was first elected to public office at 26, when he joined the Los Angeles City Council, and went on to serve two terms in the state Senate, followed by two terms as the state’s secretary of state.
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Connecticut public schools commissioner Miguel Cardona for secretary of education, tapping a third Latinx person to join his Cabinet. Cardona is a former teacher who represents a sharp break from outgoing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who urged career employees at the Education Department earlier this month to “be the resistance” to the incoming administration.
Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
26 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Caleb Brennan at The New Republic writes—Operation Santa Is a Horror Story About American Poverty:
On a cloudy Christmas Eve in 1907, Mary McGann, a 10-year-old Irish girl living in Hell’s Kitchen with her younger brother and mother, wrote a letter to Santa Claus.
There’s no education like the kind that children receive in the outdoors, particularly when they get to experience up-close some of the wonders that nature has to offer.
Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman has been accused by North Dakota’s attorney general of assuming false identities to “deceive people,” says lawsuit.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has spoken movingly of her family in India—from her memories of walking on the beach with her grandfather during visits to Chennai to her statement, in her Democratic National Convention speech, that “Family is my uncles, my aunts and my chittis.” It’s a reminder of her immigrant parents—in particular of her mother’s courage in coming to the U.S.
My home state of Idaho has been distinguishing itself with awfulness of late, once again making national news for deplorability, well-documented here by fellow Idaho native (and escapee) David Neiwert.
