FDA stays the course on abortion pills, rejecting demands from the left and right
“Your petition does not provide any new data or evidence,” wrote FDA’s Patrizia Cavazzoni.
Today's Liberal News
South Carolina Supreme Court rules abortion protected under state constitution
The state’s high court is the first to find a right to abortion in a constitution since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
How Worried Should We Be About XBB.1.5?
After months and months of SARS-CoV-2 subvariant soup, one ingredient has emerged in the United States with a flavor pungent enough to overwhelm the rest: XBB.1.5, an Omicron offshoot that now accounts for an estimated 75 percent of cases in the Northeast. A crafty dodger of antibodies that is able to grip extra tightly onto the surface of our cells, XBB.1.5 is now officially the country’s fastest-spreading coronavirus subvariant.
A Civil War Over Semicolons
The partnership of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb is beautifully anachronistic. As writer and editor, respectively, they have together produced 4,888 pages over the course of 50 years, including the multivolume, still unfinished saga that is Caro’s biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. A lasting collaboration of this sort is impossible to imagine in today’s publishing world of constant churn.
Chaos in the House: Is This Just the Beginning of a Far-Right Attempt to Make Congress Dysfunctional?
The U.S House of Representatives still has no speaker after Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to get the full backing of his party over the course of two days and six rounds of voting. A contingent of about 20 far-right lawmakers opposes McCarthy’s elevation to the top job, but no other candidate has emerged so far who can garner the 218 votes necessary to claim the speaker’s gavel.
Diana Buttu & Gideon Levy: Israel’s New Far-Right Gov’t Entrenches Apartheid System with U.S. Support
Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Tuesday visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem is being roundly condemned across the Middle East. Ben-Gvir is a key part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government, which includes ultranationalist and ultraorthodox parties that are calling openly for the annexation of the West Bank.
Justice Department clears Postal Service to carry abortion drugs into red states
The opinion offers limited assurances for activists seeking to work around abortion bans.
Retail pharmacies can now offer abortion pill, FDA says
Pregnant people would be able to fill prescriptions for the drug at pharmacies.
‘Not business as usual’: Health lobbyists brace for Bernie Sanders
Sanders’ well-chronicled antagonism toward lobbyists has some concerned they’ll be unable to blunt criticism of their clients’ profits or corporate executive salaries.
Once-favored Covid drugs ineffective on Omicron may be putting millions at risk
While antiviral pills are plentiful and remain an option for some with weak immune systems, they won’t work for everyone — Pfizer’s Paxlovid interacts with many widely prescribed drugs.
U.S. inflation slowed sharply to 7.1 percent over past 12 months
Even with last month’s further easing of inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates.
“Brazen” Fraud: David Cay Johnston on How Trump’s Tax Returns Show He Fleeced U.S. & Enriched Himself
Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns were released by a House committee on Friday after a years-long legal battle by the former president to keep them sealed. Early revelations include the finding that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax during his first year in office in 2017, and he paid no tax in 2020.
Sean Hannity, Lauren Boebert Let Interruptions Fly In Out-Of-Control Interview
“Is this a game show?” the Fox News host asked after he interrupted Boebert.
Arizona Election Loser Kari Lake Unduly Crowns Herself With A New Title
The Trump-backed Republican recently filed two appeals after losing a lawsuit over her gubernatorial election loss.
McCarthy gets reprieve, wins adjournment vote. Humiliation to resume tomorrow
The House is coming back in to resume voting for the speaker’s job. Or not. It’s not entirely clear right now if they are ready to keep voting or if Kevin McCarthy is done groveling to the maniacs. He gave in on one thing in the break they took this after: his Super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund has agreed to the Club for Growth’s demand that it stop getting involved in safe open-seat primaries.
Ukraine update: Russia is losing, it knows it’s losing, and it plans to keep losing. Forever
UPDATE: Wednesday, Jan 4, 2023 · 7:51:24 PM +00:00
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Mark Sumner
Nice, the first T-90S loss. The T-90S is the export version of the T-90A without Shtora-1 (the eyes), but with additional Kontakt-5 reactive armour. https://t.co/iiqMsZMlmZ pic.twitter.
It’s a great day for America (or Dems, anyway): McCarthy squashed again, while Fox News implodes
As the House of Representatives reconvened today, excited and hopeful that a new round of balloting would get Rep. Kevin McCarthy his gavel. But it was not to be. Another round of voting closed without meeting the threshold required to elect a speaker. The only winners thus far are Democrats, who look like a formidable force together, and C-SPAN ratings.
What happens if Republicans never pick a speaker? It’d be good news, actually
After a never-ending string of humiliating votes for speaker that have failed to yield anything other than severe embarrassment for Kevin McCarthy, it’s worth asking what would happen if House Republicans never manage to settle on a leader. My answer: It would be good for the country.
Right now, we don’t actually need a House of Representatives—at least, not one under Republican control.
We don’t know how this will end, but nobody can claim this Republican chaos was ‘unexpected’
“What was expected to be a day of triumph for House Republicans coming into the majority turned into chaos,” says Wednesday’s AP explainer, and it’s not immediately clear whether the nation’s political press was genuinely caught off guard by the current Republican shitshow or are just pretending at it.
First Lady Jill Biden To Have Lesion Removed Above Eye
“In an abundance of caution, doctors have recommended that it be removed,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor said.
The GOP-Speaker-Vote Burlesque
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.If you think the crisis of American democracy is over, the circus in the House should remind you that a significant portion of the Republican Party has no interest in governing, policy, or democracy itself. But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
For Incoming Freshman Rep. Robert Garcia, Vaccine Denial Hits Close To Home
After losing his parents to COVID-19, the California Democrat has little patience for those who downplay it.
After 234 Years Of Men, Patty Murray Is The Senate’s First Female President Pro Tempore
The veteran Democratic senator is now third in line to the presidency. “Well, today I’m second because Kevin McCarthy’s not speaker.
Kevin McCarthy’s Predicament Is a Warning
Kevin McCarthy’s humiliation, and that of Donald Trump alongside him, offers a tall draft of schadenfreude. At the end of that, though, the nation is left with an empty glass and a bitter taste.For many reasons, McCarthy is unfit for the speakership: He undermined the 2020 election, he is dishonest, he is (as we see) unable to marshal his caucus. But his defectors aren’t really interested in a speaker who is able to keep the House organized or functional.
The Inflated Risk of Vaccine-Induced Cardiac Arrest
During this week’s Monday Night Football game, the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed moments after making a routine defensive play. Hamlin seemed to have suffered a blow to his chest shortly before losing consciousness from cardiac arrest, and his condition is grave. The source of his illness remains unclear. A study of sudden cardiac events in U.S.
13 Feel-Good TV Shows to Watch This Winter
Call it the First Law of Winter Viewing: The colder the weather, the stronger the urge to watch something warm.
Are Sports Worth the Risks?
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
New Covid strain is the most transmissible yet, WHO says
The global health body is now trying to figure out how severe the sub-variant is.
Should Football Be Banned? Former NFL Player Donté Stallworth & Sports Reporter Bill Rhoden Weigh In
Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday during an NFL game. He remains in critical condition. After making a routine tackle against an opposing Cincinnati Bengals player, the 24-year-old safety collapsed on the field. Stunned players from both teams cried, prayed and hugged as Hamlin received CPR from medical personnel before being taken to the hospital.
David Dayen: Biden Will Need to Use Executive Action for Democrats to Get Things Done in 2023
With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives and vowing to fight President Biden’s agenda, journalist David Dayen says Democrats will need to get comfortable using executive action, as a raft of major legislation passed in the previous Congress will need to be put into action by the executive branch. “The next year, the next two years, isn’t going to be about legislative action,” says Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.