How Omicron ruined new mayors’ honeymoons
The Omicron surge didn’t just upend mayors’ inaugural fetes. It’s overtaken their first days and weeks in office, jeopardizing their approval ratings before they get a chance to push their agendas.
Today's Liberal News
Abortion pill fight could ensnare Biden’s FDA pick
Dozens of influential anti-abortion rights organizations are mobilizing against Califf, sending letters to senators arguing he has “a track record of rubber-stamping abortion industry demands.
Biden administration’s rapid testing website hits speed bumps for some apartment residents
The administration said last week that Americans would be able to order up to four tests per residential address through the website and see tests ship within 7 to 12 days of ordering via the U.S. Postal Service.
Opinion | Why Are Minority-Owned Banks Disappearing? Washington Holds the Smoking Gun
Congress needs to create a new safety net for such lenders — not let regulators squeeze them out of business.
Biden’s first year: A tale of 2 presidencies
Inside the White House, there is still optimism: “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.
Price spikes threaten to ground Biden’s big-spending plans
The government reported Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most widely watched gauge of inflation, hit a four-decade high in December compared to the previous year.
U.S. consumer prices soared 7 percent in past year, most since 1982
The jump is the latest evidence that rising costs for food, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households.
Powell’s warning to Congress: Inflation a ‘severe threat’ to jobs
The potential clash over the Fed’s plans to tighten monetary policy could be a harbinger of conflicts to come with Democrats and even some Republicans.
Angela Davis on Reissue of Her 1974 Autobiography, Her Editor Toni Morrison, Internationalism & More
Activist and scholar Angela Davis has released a new edition of her 1974 autobiography, first published and edited by Toni Morrison nearly 50 years ago. The book details Davis’s remarkable early life, from growing up in a section of Birmingham, Alabama, known as Dynamite Hill due to the frequency of bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, to her work with the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Communist Party.
News Roundup: Senators block voting protections; Georgia grand jury to probe Trump, allies
In the news today: As expected, two Democratic senators joined all Republican senators to filibuster a vote on voting rights protections that would stop the unconscionable new state laws intended to make voting more difficult and time-consuming.
Georgia has been one of the states most egregious in inventing new obstacles to the vote, citing conspiracists’ claims of “fraud” as justification.
Indigenous woman charged after protesting wall construction wins case on religious grounds
An Indigenous woman who faced up to six months in prison after blocking border wall construction on sacred lands back in 2020 won her case on religious grounds this week.
Amber Ortega, a member of the Hia C-ed O’odham tribe, had been arrested and slapped with misdemeanor charges after trying to block construction near Quitobaquito Springs, located in Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
This Week in Statehouse Action: Happy Bidenversary! edition
On the first anniversary of Joe Biden’s inauguration, I can’t help but think …
So?
And it has absolutely nothing to do with Pres. Biden himself. Seems like a nice guy, he’s done a lot of really good things already, and hopefully a few jackwagons in the U.S. Senate don’t hamstring him for the rest of his term.
But presidents come, presidents go. Like … the tide or whatever.
Yawn.
GOP has its eye on keeping poor people imprisoned while allowing the rich get-out-of-jail-free cards
Republican state legislators in Kentucky are trying to push through the legislature a bill that would make crowdfunding bail and nonprofit donations to pay bail illegal.
Biden nominates first Muslim woman and first Bangladeshi-American to serve as federal judge
In some exciting news to start off your weekend, President Joe Biden announced his latest round of judicial nominees on Wednesday. What’s so exciting about this? Well, the eight nominees Biden chose in his 13th round were not only majority women, but included a Muslim American woman who if confirmed would be the first Muslim American woman to serve as a federal judge.
Executive Privilege Ruling Lands Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows In ‘Deep Doo-Doo’: Legal Expert
The decision blocking Trump’s use of executive privilege in the Capitol riot investigation is also a “nail in the coffin” for the two former aides, said Neal Katyal.
Rep. Lauren Boebert Asked Jews Touring Capitol If They Were Doing ‘Reconnaissance’
She told BuzzFeed News it was a joke, adding that she’s “too short to see anyone’s yarmulke.
Sotomayor Denounces Supreme Court For Looking ‘The Other Way’ On Texas Abortion Law
“This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women,” the justice wrote in a scathing dissent.
Trump Says His Georgia Election Coercion Was ‘Even More’ Perfect Than His Ukraine Extortion
The former president is under criminal investigation in Georgia for trying to coerce officials into overturning his election loss there
Families Are Going Rogue With Rapid Tests
“It started as a joke, actually,” Elena Korngold told me. But late last month, the 40-something radiologist from Portland, Oregon, and her family decided that their unsanctioned scheme couldn’t hurt. Elena began the proceedings by unwrapping the sterile swab from a BinaxNOW rapid test for SARS-CoV-2, part of the family’s dwindling supply. She swirled the swab around the insides of each of her nostrils.
COVID Parenting Has Passed the Point of Absurdity
Last Thursday, a group of 20 mothers in Boston met up outside a local high school. Their goal wasn’t to socialize, drink wine, or even share COVID-related tips. They were there for one reason and one reason only: to stand in a circle—socially distanced, of course—and scream.“I knew that we all needed to come together and support each other in our rage, resistance and disappointment,” Sarah Harmon, the group’s organizer, wrote on Instagram before the gathering.
Executive Privilege Is Lawless
In a decision late yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump had no power to assert executive privilege to prevent the National Archives from turning over hundreds of pages of documents to the House committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021. The Court was right to do so; executive privilege permits a president to withhold information only when disclosure would harm the public interest.
Inertia, Rabid Opposition And A Broken System Doomed Democrats’ Democracy Legislation
The GOP is radicalizing against democracy, and Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema bucked their own party. U.S. democracy ultimately may not be able to fix itself.
Ralph Nader: Biden’s First Year Proves He Is Still a “Corporate Socialist” Beholden to Big Business
As President Biden marks one year in office, we speak with former four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader and The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel, who say Biden has failed so far to sell his agenda to the American people and bring about the transformative policy he campaigned on — from quelling the pandemic to passing his landmark Build Back Better legislation. The two also critique the U.S.
Setback for Democracy: Manchin & Sinema Join Senate Republicans to Block Voting Rights Legislation
As President Biden marked one year in office this week, conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined with Republican senators to block a proposed change to filibuster rules that would have allowed two voting rights bills to move forward, foreclosing the chance to stop hundreds of anti-voting laws passed after the 2020 election.
As U.S.-Russia Tensions Escalate over Ukraine, U.S. May Stumble into War, Warns Katrina vanden Heuvel
President Biden said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a “serious and dear price” if he orders his reported 100,000 troops stationed along the Russian-Ukraine border to invade Ukraine, a scenario Biden says is increasingly likely. This comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukraine’s president on Wednesday, similarly warning Russia could attack Ukraine on “very short notice.
Biden administration’s rapid testing website hits speed bumps for some apartment residents
The administration said last week that Americans would be able to order up to four tests per residential address through the website and see tests ship within 7 to 12 days of ordering via the U.S. Postal Service.
Price spikes threaten to ground Biden’s big-spending plans
The government reported Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most widely watched gauge of inflation, hit a four-decade high in December compared to the previous year.
U.S. consumer prices soared 7 percent in past year, most since 1982
The jump is the latest evidence that rising costs for food, rent and other necessities are heightening the financial pressures on America’s households.
Powell’s warning to Congress: Inflation a ‘severe threat’ to jobs
The potential clash over the Fed’s plans to tighten monetary policy could be a harbinger of conflicts to come with Democrats and even some Republicans.
Who Is Aafia Siddiqui? Synagogue Attack Renews Focus on Pakistani Neuroscientist Imprisoned in Texas
During Saturday’s synagogue attack in Colleyville, Texas, the gunman Malik Faisal Akram repeatedly called for the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison located just miles from the synagogue. Siddiqui was convicted in 2010 on charges that she intended to kill U.S. military officers while being detained in Afghanistan two years earlier. However, many questions remain unanswered about her time in U.S.