Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
27 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Scott Simon at NPR writes—’Twas The Night Before Christmas in 2020:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all o’er the house
Stirred the clicking — most frantic — of every mouse
All the stockings were hung by the TV with flair
But children played on apps in their rooms without care
Sneaking smart-pho
It’s that time. Time to settle down in front of the virtual fire and enjoy the quiet. Here it is, the granddaddy of the televised Yule logs from 1966, on a continuous loop to keep you mesmerized for hours. Well, minutes.
YouTube Video
In case you’re wondering, it was cooked up in 1966 by Fred M. Thrower, president and chief executive officer of WPIX, Inc. who wanted New Yorkers who lived without fireplaces to be able to enjoy the spectacle.
Recycling is a good thing … as long as it’s done right. Done wrong, you’re contaminating what your local trash system is trying to send for recycling and potentially getting a lot more than your stuff rejected. Christmas is a big time for some recycling problems, since gift wrap can generate a lot that we want to recycle, a lot of which, it turns out, we just need to throw out.
You cannot recycle glittery, metallic, or flocked wrapping paper. Do not do it.
My Christmases have not always been good ones; they also haven’t always been bad ones. Strangely, the Christmas I recall most fondly is a bit of both, from the holiday season I lived at the Salvation Army shelter in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, when I was 12.
My mom and I had moved to the shelter after we got kicked out of a nasty freeway motel at the very fringes of the suburbs where I’d spent my entire life.
“Doesn’t Congress know that communism starts when a private corporation flags my s**ty tweets?” one Twitter user joked.
In The New York Times, Neil Irwin points out that there’s a straightforward way a new Biden administration could begin clawing back some of the outrageous gains made by the wealthy even if Republicans remain bent on keeping taxes on the wealthy at budget-busting new lows: enforce the existing tax laws. Identify the wealthy tax cheats who, like a certain orange-hued someone, have been abusing tax laws for years and end their cheating.
The holiday takes on a surreal feel in some places.
“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.
President Donald Trump’s pardons include military contractors who killed children, law enforcement officers who violated civil rights and, of course, his allies.
President Donald Trump uses his pardon power as an instrument of personal ambition. He pardons people who have lied to protect him, and people who have expressed loyalty to him. Yesterday, he pardoned Charles Kushner, whose son is married to one of Trump’s daughters. More Trump-family pardons may soon be coming.Public-spirited citizens are understandably angry about these abuses.
The president has thrown the fate of the bill into jeopardy.
Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. We’ll begin with the good news: In every midwestern state—and in several others—COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are declining. Elsewhere, however, the picture is mixed.
No, of course the past few weeks—like the past few months, and the past few years—of Brexit drama have not made much sense. In economic terms, not a lot about Brexit ever has.Britain and the European Union have in recent days been locked in talks to conclude one of the most important trade agreements ever negotiated.
Trump demanded Congress increase direct payments in the COVID-19 relief bill from $600 to $2,000. Speaker Pelosi happily obliged. Republicans blocked it.
“The pardons from this President are what you would expect to get if you gave the pardon power to a mob boss…”
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.
So much is still unknown about pregnancy and COVID-19. We do know that contracting the disease comes with increased risk of severe illness, and a higher risk of preterm birth. But how an infection affects a person at different stages of pregnancy? Or a developing fetus? No one knows for sure. Would vaccination help mitigate these risks? The vaccines were never tested on pregnant people.
We make compromises, then she moves the goal posts.
The only way my son does his schoolwork is if I sit by his side.
“It’s not as easy as the census,” said one CEO of a Chicago nonprofit. “It’s a deeper conversation.
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 White House coronavirus response coordinator says she will stay on as long as needed and will then step back.
European officials have said the variant could be up to 70 percent more transmissible than other varieties.
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.
