Today's Liberal News

December Is Now the Deadliest Month of the Pandemic

Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here. December is now the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.Since the spring, month by month, the country had held the death toll below the terrible peak of the early pandemic, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. April began with 4,332 dead and ended with 59,599 dead—an increase of 55,267.

Robert E. Lee statue removed from Capitol, but another nine Rebels there should be ditched in 2021

Educator Barbara Johns in an undated photo.

A statue of Barbara Johns, a civil rights activist who played a major role in desegregating Virginia’s public schools, will soon stand in the U.S. Capitol, replacing the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has stood in the National Statuary Hall Collection for 111 years. That will make her the only Black person and one of the few women to represent a state in the Capitol.

Why you should care about the thousands of farmers protesting in India

2020 has been a year of ongoing protests and demonstrations for change across the globe. It has also been the year the world saw not only the largest but longest single protest to date. For almost a month now, tens of thousands of farmers in India have marched and protested against three bills passed in India’s parliament in September.

The Mink Pandemic Is No Joke

Since early this summer, Keith Poulsen, the director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, was worried about mink. Poulsen’s lab is part of a national network of veterinary labs that work on animal diseases, and they had “been watching COVID-19 very carefully,” Poulsen told me. In Europe, mink on fur farms were catching COVID-19. And they seemed to be able to pass it back to people.

California Is 40% Latinx. In Alex Padilla, It Will Finally Have Its First Latinx Senator

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.

Diane Ravitch: Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary Must Overturn DeVos’s Attack on Public Schools

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.

“Worse Than Being in Iraq”: Veteran & ER Doctor Says Pandemic Is Pushing Hospitals to Breaking Point

As the U.S. averages more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, we speak with Dr. Cleavon Gilman, an emergency physician who has been treating patients since the beginning of the U.S. outbreak, first in New York City and now in Yuma, Arizona. Dr. Gilman is also an Iraq War veteran who served as a Marine combat medic, and has kept a public diary of his experiences treating COVID-19 patients.

Tuesday Night Owls: Senators Warren, Wyden and Merkley push Biden to ‘padlock the revolving door’

Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week

29 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE

Kenny Stancil at Common Dreams writes—After Four Years of ‘Outright Grift’ Under Trump, Trio of Democratic Senators Urges Biden to ‘Padlock the Revolving Door’

In the wake of the Trump administration’s pervasive corruption and flagrant law-breaking, a trio of Democratic lawmakers is urging President-

This suburban Denver district is the best illustration of Colorado’s sharp leftward trend

The Centennial State supported Joe Biden 55-42 four years after it backed Hillary Clinton 48-43, making it the most lopsided presidential contest in Colorado since 1984, when Ronald Reagan won 63-35. It was also the first time Democrats carried the state by double digits since Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide, though Biden’s improvement on Clinton numbers was due at least in part to the reduced appeal of third-party candidates.