Let’s get this out of the way first: Joe Manchin, surprising no one, is the worst.

Free pre-K, Medicare expansion: What won’t happen with Build Back Better likely dead

Sen. Joe Manchin’s announcement Sunday that he won’t support President Joe Biden’s ambitious package to expand the nation’s social safety net and fight climate change could doom a series of initiatives that would benefit millions of Americans.

USA Today

Does Joe Manchin Know That Build Back Better Would Extend Vital Aid for Sick Coal Miners?

Tucked away in the version of the Build Back Better Act passed by the House—Section 138502, to be precise—there is a small paragraph extending an excise tax that funds a trust providing benefits to certain coal miners with black lung disease. The current rate for the tax, the primary revenue source for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, is set to expire at the end of the year; the Build Back Better Act includes an extension through the end of 2025.

New Republic

Senate confirms 40 judges during Biden’s first year in office, the most since Reagan

“This morning Senate Democrats confirmed the 40th judge nominated by President Biden to serve lifetime appointments on the federal bench, the most in a president’s first year in the last forty years,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. 

The Hill

How a reboot of Trump’s Remain in Mexico plan isn’t the solution migrants are hoping for

Advocates are critical of the immigration policy’s reinstatement, while asylum seekers see the plan as better than nothing from the US

The Guardian

Rep. Phil Lyman has a Democratic challenger for 2022: Diné woman and land protection advocate Davina Smith

Smith is the first Navajo woman to run for the Utah Legislature.

The Salt Lake Tribune

Russia feels threatened by NATO. There’s history behind that

Thirty years ago this month, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Ukraine broke away from Moscow’s control.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has never gotten over it.

Los Angeles Times

Trudeau on deficit concerns, his 2021 regrets, and what he thinks will define 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with Evan Solomon, host of CTV’s Power Play and Question Period, for a year-end interview, reflecting on the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging concerns over inflation. The prime minister discussed deficit concerns, the timeline for getting boosters into Canada, why he went to Tofino, the state of Canada’s international relationships, and what he thinks will define 2022.

CTV News

2021 Was a Chaotic, Somewhat Productive Time for Fandom Discourse

As we look to 2022 and the discussions that will inevitably arise next year, it’s worth taking a look back at the year in fandom discourse — the things you may have missed that were integral to shaping fandom as a whole.

Teen Vogue

Don’t Panic About Omicron. But Don’t Be Indifferent, Either.

The next wave of the pandemic requires charting a middle course between dismay and dismissal.

The Atlantic

Biden Drops The Hammer And Will Penalize Employers Who Violate Vaccine Mandate On 1/10

The mandate will cover 84 million indoor workers and is estimated to save 6,500 lives over six months. It is also estimated that the mandate will prevent 250,000 hospitalizations.

PoliticsUSA

Michigan city gets ready to inaugurate all-Muslim government

Hamtramck will become the first known city in the US with a government made up entirely of Muslims, according to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which says it has no record of any other such administration.

CNN

‘Black skin was a death warrant’: how the East St Louis race massacre was an omen for racial violence to come

Four years before the Tulsa race massacre, white mobs firebombed homes and decimated a Black community in Illinois

The Guardian

bell hooks Shaped a Generation of Black Feminists

Speak On It is a Teen Vogue column by Jenn M. Jackson, whose queer Black feminist perspective explores how today’s social and political life is influenced by generations of racial and gender (dis)order. In this column, they explain what lessons they have learned from bell hooks’ legacy and what they will be taking with them in the future.

Teen Vogue

The young are at the forefront of a perilous global migration surge

This is the ninth in a series of occasional stories about the challenges young people face in an increasingly perilous world. Reporting was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.

Los Angeles Times

The US vastly undercounted civilian deaths caused by airstrikes in the Middle East, NYT investigation finds

While the official military count says 1,417 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Syria, the investigation found many more civilian deaths, citing multiple examples, though it did not provide an exact count.

Insider

Marine Corps discharges 103 service members for refusing Covid-19 vaccine

The Marine Corps has discharged 103 service members for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine, as the military begins carrying out enforcement actions for its vaccine mandate.

As of this week, 95% of active duty Marines are vaccinated, according to the latest data from the Marine Corps released Thursday, but the service is still processing exemption requests.

CNN

Kamala Harris: Most powerful vice president since Richard Nixon. Yes, really

Harris has already cast a record number of tie-breaking votes — can she turn the pointless job to her advantage?

Salon

Afghan refugees are finding a warm welcome in small-town America

An Amish refuge, a college town, and the “Ellis Island of the South” are resettling more refugees per-capita than any other U.S. cities.

National Geographic

Leftist Boric wins Chile presidential election after far-right rival Kast concedes defeat

Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric won the country’s presidential runoff election on Sunday, as far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast conceded defeat with results showing a nearly 10-point gap between the deeply polarized candidates.

France24

Hong Kong votes for legislature with only loyalists approved

About a third of voters in Hong Kong cast their ballots Sunday in the first election since Beijing amended the laws to reduce the number of directly elected lawmakers and vet candidates to ensure that only those loyal to China can run.

CTV News

Wonder Woman Herself Is Fed Up with Transphobia

Iconic TV actress Lynda Carter sent a powerful message of support to trans people.

them.

Cuba Protests Are Driven by Young Dissidents, Artists

“[My parents] are silent because of fear, but I don’t have to be.”

Teen Vogue

Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe Is the 1st Black Recipient of Medal of Honor Since 9/11

Cashe suffered fatal injuries after rescuing fellow soldiers and an interpreter from a vehicle engulfed in flames.

The Root

Robert Garcia, 1st Latino and 1st openly gay mayor of Long Beach, running for Congress

“I’ve always said that I’ll always give back to this country that has given me and my family so much,” Mayor Robert Garcia said.

ABC7

UK Brexit minister David Frost resigns ‘with immediate effect’

Conservative cites concerns over ‘direction of travel’ of negotiations in letter to Johnson

The Irish Times

Iraq: After tragedy, new freedoms, opportunities for Yazidi women

Historically Iraq’s Yazidi community was isolated, under-resourced and very conservative. Seven years after the “Islamic State” tragedy, the community is more open to the world — and Yazidi women are benefiting.

Deutsche Welle

Sarawak state polls boost Malaysia’s ruling coalition, expose opposition weakness: analysts

A landslide victory in a crucial state election for a coalition of parties allied to Malaysia’s federal government has strengthened Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ruling alliance and exposed the opposition’s weaknesses, analysts said.

South China Morning Post

One farmer’s seaweed discovery could help slow methane emissions — and change the world

Dorgan knew instinctively that seaweed would be healthy for cows, but research revealed an unintended consequence: seaweed made cows less gassy.

CBS News

Stories of migration: What 2021 looked like for migrants across the Americas

For the past year, our photographers followed Guatemalan farmers, LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, and Afghan evacuees as they sought new homes and new lives.

National Geographic

So, as a closing mention, I will say that I definitely enjoy doing the Monday thread. But I also know that I am constricted in my news by what’s on the news app I use, so there may be stories (especially international) ones that I miss. So, if any of you have specific articles you think are really important (especially for overseas Avocados), feel free to email them to me at my username at gmail.com. (I believe you can hover over my username currently to see what it is normally, since I have it set to a holiday thing at the moment.)