Today's Liberal News
Powell’s warning on pandemic clashes with Trump’s upbeat tweets
“Significant uncertainty remains about the timing and strength of the recovery,” Powell said.
The Ice Cream Industry Is Having a Meltdown
Even a summer surge can’t make up for a season of empty parlors and depressed sales.
Why Good Economic News Is Now Bad Economic News
Republicans will use any positive sign about the recovery as an excuse to cut off essential aid to the jobless.
Cautious Reopenings Across Europe
Over the past few weeks, governments across Europe have been slowly easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions—some moving in phases, others more quickly. Nonessential businesses, churches, museums, and more public places are being allowed to host visitors once again, with new rules in place to enforce smaller crowd sizes and proper social distancing. Collected below are images from across Europe over the past two weeks, as different countries emerge from months of pandemic lockdown.
Trump Claims COVID-19 Will Go Away And That An AIDS Vaccine Exists. It Doesn’t.
In an address about an executive order on police reform, the president made erroneous claims about both the coronavirus and an “AIDS vaccine.
‘If You’re Still Comfortable, You’re Not Doing Enough’
Jumaane Williams is a progressive activist who’s worked to change policing for years. He’s also New York City’s public advocate, its highest elected official after Mayor Bill de Blasio. He’s been a fixture at New York protests for years—from Occupy Wall Street to Ferguson to Eric Garner—and he thinks this moment could be different, if Americans are willing to have an honest conversation.
Trump Could Still Break Democracy’s Biggest Norm
Say Joe Biden wins the presidential election in November. On the morning of January 20, Donald Trump will enter the Oval Office and leave a handwritten letter to Biden on the Resolute desk. Later, Trump and his wife, Melania, will stand in the White House’s North Portico to await a visit from the president-elect and his wife, Jill. After the armored limousine glides up the driveway, the couples will exchange pleasantries and maybe gifts before heading inside for coffee.
For Trans People, the Supreme Court’s Employment Discrimination Decision Brings a Sigh of Relief
Before Bostock v. Clayton County, getting and keeping a job was one of the central stressors of the trans experience. Now there’s hope.
LGBTQ Rights Won. But My Husband Still Won’t Support Our Nonbinary Child.
How do you talk about your nonbinary child in a conservative community? This mom came up with an ingenious solution.
Cheap steroid reduces Covid-19 deaths in large study
The drug would be the first known to reduce deaths in Covid-19 patients.
Goodbye, Columbus: Bree Newsome Bass on the Movement to Topple Racist Statues Across the Globe
As protesters worldwide continue to topple monuments to racists, colonizers and Confederates as part of the wave of demonstrations against racism and state violence, we speak to Bree Newsome Bass, artist and antiracist activist based in North Carolina, who five years ago was arrested at the state Capitol in South Carolina after scaling a 30-foot flagpole to remove the Confederate flag.
Black Trans Lives Matter: Movement Pushes for Justice & Visibility Amid “Epidemic” of Violence
At least 15,000 people marched through Brooklyn Sunday to protest violence against Black transgender people, particularly women, who face disproportionate levels of violence at the hands of police and on the streets. The protest came as two more Black trans women were killed last week, in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They are believed to be at least the 13th and 14th violent deaths of transgender people in the United States this year.
Supreme Court Bars Workplace Discrimination Against LGBTQ People; Ruling May Be Transformative
In a historic 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, forbidding workplace discrimination on the basis of sex, applies to gay and transgender people. The decision comes just days after the Trump administration reversed health protections for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act. “This truly is a historic ruling,” says Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project.
The Key to Fortnite’s Success
How Epic Games created its smash hit and shook up the video game industry.
Cole Escola Provides the Perfect Comedy for Quarantine
His work is funny and dark and very, very gay.
Why So Many Drivers Are Ramming Into Protesters
Extremists have celebrated attacks like these for years. But there’s even more to the story.
The Reason Starbucks Is Closing 400 Stores
The pandemic made it impossible for customers to hang out there—but they already weren’t.
FDA ends emergency use of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus
The agency now believes that the suggested dosing regimens “are unlikely to produce an antiviral effect,” FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton said in a letter.
White House pressure for a vaccine raises risk the U.S. will approve one that doesn’t work
Drugmakers and health agencies have already begun rewriting the rules of vaccine research.
Missing data veils coronavirus damage to minority communities
The Trump administration is leaving big gaps in race and ethnicity information.
Why virtual care will outlast the pandemic
With millions of people suddenly video chatting their doctors, there’s pressure on Washington to make telehealth a permanent option.
Listen: Can We Sing?
On the latest episode of Social Distance, staff writer James Hamblin and executive producer Katherine Wells answer questions from listeners.Listen to the episode here:Subscribe to Social Distance on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or another podcast platform to receive new episodes as soon as they’re published.What follows is an edited and condensed transcript of their conversation.James Hamblin: This question comes from Tyler Richter in Springfield, Missouri.
The Path to Autocracy
Over the past decade, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz Party have transformed a democracy into something close to an autocracy. Shortly after his first reelection in 2014, Orbán gave a speech outlining his political project.
Black Parents Know “The Talk” Too Well. It’s White Parents’ Turn.
I shouldn’t have to have this conversation anymore.