Today's Liberal News

The Billionaire’s Dilemma

Usually when rich people rage against the possibility that someone less wealthy might become their neighbor, nobody bats an eye. Why would they? NIMBYism is the dominant fact of American urban geography. But in recent years, a number of very rich people, including the billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, have positioned themselves on the other side of the debate, arguing against supply restrictions and deriding purportedly progressive places for failing to address the rising cost of housing.

Border agents seize turbans from dozens of Sikh migrants: ‘Serious religious-freedom violations’

Border Patrol agents have violated the religious freedom of dozens of asylum-seekers throughout the past two months alone, confiscating and refusing to return turbans belonging to almost 50 Sikh individuals who have crossed the southern border into Arizona.

Advocates have noted border agents seizing turbans and other sacred items from Sikh migrants as far back as 2019, and rising sharply this past June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona said.

Caribbean Matters: EPA’s Michael Regan takes ‘Journey to Justice Tour’ to Puerto Rico

Back in November 2021, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan embarked on a Journey to Justice tour of historically marginalized communities in the southern United States. In July of this year, he took the latest leg of the tour to Puerto Rico. There, he met with community groups and environmental activists and visited areas of the island still struggling to recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria.

What Should Worry Most Americans About Our Monkeypox Response

Seventy-eight days and more than 7,000 documented cases into the United States’s 2022 outbreak of monkeypox, federal officials have declared the disease a nationwide public-health emergency. With COVID-19 (you know, the other ongoing viral public-health emergency) still very much raging, the U.S. is officially in the midst of two infectious-disease crises, and must now, with limited funds, wrangle both at once.

The Right’s Rising Authoritarian Ally

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.I’m sorry to say it: We really must talk about CPAC.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
Alex Jones can’t pretend his way out of this reality.
To Putin, Brittney Griner is a pawn. To the U.S., she’s a person.

Whither Batgirl?

In the world of moviemaking, it’s generally considered good business to release the movies you make. After all, they can cost tens of millions of dollars to produce, and (pardon me for getting overly technical here) selling tickets for the general public to view them can help recoup that cost. Streaming TV has changed that calculation a little. Now films are sometimes made not to sell tickets but just to beef up entertainment libraries for monthly subscribers.

Hungary PM Viktor Orbán Addresses CPAC as American Right Embraces His Authoritarian Rule

We speak with international affairs scholar Kim Lane Scheppele on the rise and fall of Hungary’s constitutional democracy and how Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gained popularity among the American right ahead of his speech today at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Orbán presents, especially for the American right, a kind of irresistible combination of culture war issues,” says Scheppele.

Warnings Grow over Nuclear Annihilation as Tensions Escalate Between U.S., Russia & China

The U.N. warned this week that humanity is “one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation” as tensions escalate globally. We speak with Ira Helfand, former president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, who says the U.N. Security Council permanent members, comprising Russia, China, the U.S., the U.K. and France, are pursuing nuclear policies that are “going to lead to the end of the world that we know.

“The Viral Underclass”: Steven Thrasher on Monkeypox, Biden Failures & How Class Impacts Viral Spread

As New York City declares monkeypox a public health emergency, and California and Illinois have also declared states of emergency over the rapid spread of monkeypox, we speak with LGBTQ+ scholar Steven Thrasher, author of the new book, “The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide,” which explores how social determinants impact the health outcomes of different communities.

News Roundup: Kansas voters crush anti-abortion amendment; Alex Jones lies in court, gets caught

Tuesday’s elections resulted in one big surprise, as Kansas voters overwhelmingly crushed an attempt by state Republicans to curtail abortion rights. Even in the hard-right state, voters weren’t having it, and that suggests Republicans aren’t going to be able to dodge their new anti-abortion bans in November’s elections either. But will it make Republican lawmakers back down from their efforts to criminalize abortion nationally? Don’t bet on it.

About that national abortion ban congressional Republicans have been planning …

Republicans greeted the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade with talk of going still further, not just allowing states to ban abortion but passing legislation in Congress to ban abortion nationwide. Can someone ask them about that again in the wake of the overwhelming Kansas vote to protect abortion rights?

House Republicans have been talking about a 15-week ban—and that isn’t all.

Alex Jones sideswiped by exposure of his own texts in Sandy Hook trial

Conspiracy theory peddler Alex Jones admitted in court Wednesday that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was real, citing his newfound belief after a day of brutal testimony offered in court by the parents of one of the children who was murdered. 

Jones is trying to fend off a $150 million defamation lawsuit from the parents of Jesse Lewis, a 6-year-old boy who was shot and killed in the 2012 attack at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.

We may not know Sen. Sinema’s vote on the Democrats’ new climate bill until it hits the floor

Based on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s past behavior (her infamous thumbs-down curtsy in the weary faces of America’s working poor immediately comes to mind), I’ve never been sold on the notion that she’ll allow any substantive portion of President Joe Biden’s progressive Build Back Better agenda to pass.

Well, we’re about to find out for sure. Since Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and climate action holdout Sen.

Having trouble keeping up with Florida Power & Light’s scandals? Here’s their latest misdeeds

Forgive me for being unserious at a time when companies like Florida Power & Light (FPL)—the nation’s largest utility—keep racking up scandals, but it’s kind of hard to keep track of the latest outrageous episode because the next one immediately overshadows it. Surely, FPL could take part of its 2022 Q2 net income of $989 million and just put out a greatest hits record of its standout incidents.