A 19-Year Veteran of the Butterball Turkey Talk Line on How Callers Have Changed This Year
When you work the phones for 10 hours every Thanksgiving, you know how to celebrate virtually.
Today's Liberal News
Trump Pardons Former Adviser Michael Flynn, Who Pleaded Guilty In Russia Probe
The onetime national security adviser later tried to withdraw his plea to lying to the FBI.
The Flynn Pardon Is a Despicable Use of an Awesome Power
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he has pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, is infuriating—and not merely because of the gross favoritism on display. What Trump has done once again is corrupt something that ought to be beyond corruption: the mercy that the most powerful person in the world can bestow upon those who are in chains.I know the beauty of this power. I’ve seen it at work myself.
In Praise of Phoebe Bridgers, a Thoroughly Good Celebrity
She deserves a Grammy nomination on the strength of her tweets alone.
U.S. Billionaires Grow Wealth By Over $1 Trillion Since Pandemic Began: Report
Meanwhile, millions of Americans are unemployed and struggling to pay mortgages or rents amid the coronavirus crisis.
Trump Administration Denies Permit For Alaska’s Pebble Mine
The open-pit gold and copper mine is “contrary to the public interest,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.
The Monster Publishing Merger Is About Amazon
In 1960, Dwight Eisenhower’s attorney general, William Rogers, read the paper with alarm. He learned that Random House intended to purchase the venerable publisher Alfred A. Knopf. Rogers began making calls to prod his antitrust division into blocking the sale. In those days, monopoly loomed as a central concern of government—and a competitive book business was widely seen as essential to preserving both intellectual life and democracy.
Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Defends Truth Using Fake Teddy Roosevelt Quote
The campaign’s legal adviser posted a tweet using a quote falsely attributed to the 26th president defending truth.
Trump officials hold first ‘Operation Warp Speed’ briefing for Biden
The focus of the initial meeting was on Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and distribution, said one person familiar with the agenda.
A Marching Band’s ‘Mountaintop’
Photographs by Dina LitovskyThe Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps, one of the first queer marching bands in the United States, was founded in 1979 in New York City, a decade after the Stonewall uprising. This year, the Big Apple Corps reached what Marita Begley, the group’s director, called “the mountaintop”: Tomorrow, it will become the first openly LGBTQ group to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Your Favorite Slate Podcasters Pick Their Favorite Episodes of the Year
Your holidays might look different this year. These podcasts will keep you company.
Can This Chicago Shop Survive—and What’s Lost if It Can’t?
“What I want to do with this space is to bring joy to people.
Eliminate Some Holiday Stress. Just Buy These Gifts for Your Kids.
These recommendations are unique, fun, and sure to be a hit.
Indigenous Groups Vow to Keep Resisting as Construction Is Approved for Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline
A massive fight is brewing in Minnesota against the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit for the project this week. After years of resistance, pipeline construction is now set to begin by the end of the month despite the concerns of Indigenous communities, who say it would violate tribal sovereignty and contaminate the land and water.
Barbara Ransby & David Sirota Warn of Close Links Between Biden’s Cabinet Picks & Corporate Power
President-elect Joe Biden declared “America is back” this week as he revealed some of the people who will staff his administration in key national security posts, vowing to roll back Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and embrace multilateralism.
Feminism Not Militarism: Medea Benjamin on the Movement to Oppose Michèle Flournoy as Pentagon Chief
President-elect Joe Biden has introduced key members of his national security team this week, including his picks for secretary of state, national intelligence director, national security adviser, homeland security chief and ambassador to the United Nations. Biden has yet to announce his defense secretary, but progressives are already raising alarm over reports that he intends to nominate Michèle Flournoy, a hawkish Pentagon veteran with close ties to the defense industry.
So You’re Flying This Thanksgiving? Here’s Which Parts Are the Riskiest.
What to expect, and what risks you’ll take, from the moment you enter the airport.
The Steve Mnuchin and Jay Powell Breakup
Slate Money talks Steve Mnuchin, Affirm, DoorDash and Airbnb.
Steve Mnuchin Is Doing His Part to Sabotage the Biden Administration on His Way out the Door
The Treasury secretary is kicking the crutches out from under the economy before it’s ready.
How Wells Fargo Used Its Western Stagecoaches as a Shield
When scandal surfaced, the historic American bank’s preoccupation with its past helped keep it in denial about its present.
AstraZeneca to seek FDA authorization for vaccine based on foreign trial data
It’s the third Covid-19 vaccine maker to report results from a late-stage trial.
Biden to spotlight CDC officials shunned by Trump
Nancy Messonnier, who enraged the president with her public warning of “severe” Covid-19 consequences, is slated to reemerge as a key adviser.
Fauci: Vaccines are an incentive to ‘double down’ on precautions
“We are in a very serious situation, but we can do something about it,” said Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.
How thousands of scarce Covid shots could go to waste
The requirements of Pfizer’s shots create a “use it or lose it” situation.
Trump strips Biden’s options to boost the economy
The most direct way the Fed could increase its aid to the economy is through two temporary lending programs.
What the Yellen choice means for Biden and the economy
Biden’s pick for Treasury will give him a close partner, steeped in knowledge of the Fed, who can navigate the wishes of progressive Democrats and the sensitivities of financial markets.
Biden’s big challenge: A growing racial wealth gap
Black voters had Joe Biden’s back. Now he must prove he’s got theirs.
The hangover awaiting Biden: Deep wounds from Covid-19
Biden will inherit an economy similar to one he and Obama did 12 years ago. But unlike last time, he’ll have few tools to deal with it.