Becerra in the hot seat, again, over monkeypox response
The HHS secretary faces renewed White House criticism over his ability to manage a public health crisis
Today's Liberal News
The One Social-Media Feature That People Still Love
Almost every social-media platform offers its users an option to privatize their account—a way for people to control who engages with their content, often to avoid the judgment, schadenfreude, bullying, and snark that are ubiquitous online. Many of these options aren’t terribly helpful, though. Facebook seems to constantly adjust its privacy settings, and it can be difficult to tell what information your friends have access to.
Boats, planes and automobiles: Projects aim to travel around restrictive state abortion laws
It’s not illegal to get an abortion off the Gulf coast or in a van in Colorado, critics and lawyers seem to agree. But other challenges remain.
Not Even the President Can Declassify Nuclear Secrets
The executive branch’s system of classification is among the weirdest aspects of the American government, and sometimes it seems as if those best equipped to understand it are people with a background in obscure religious practices—say, Roman Catholic sacramental theology—rather than journalists or lawyers.
Filipino Activist Walden Bello Speaks Out After Arrest Just Weeks After Marcos Jr. Inauguration
We speak to Walden Bello, the longtime Filipino activist and former vice-presidential candidate. He was arrested Monday on “cyber libel” charges, which he says was just a tactic by the new administration to suppress his vocal criticism of them. The arrest took place just weeks after the inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the former U.S.-backed dictator. Bello says people are “worried that this is a foretaste of things to come.
Saudi Spying Inside Twitter Led to Torture & Jailing of Saudi Man Who Ran Anonymous Satirical Account
A jury in California has convicted a former worker at Twitter of spying for Saudi Arabia by providing the kingdom private information about Saudi dissidents. The spying effort led to the arrest, torture and jailing of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who ran an anonymous satirical Twitter account. His sister, Areej al-Sadhan, and the lawyer for the family, Jim Walden, are calling on the Biden administration to push for his release.
Afghanistan: The Taliban Cracks Down on Women’s Rights as U.S. Sanctions Worsen Humanitarian Crisis
One year after the Taliban seized power again in Afghanistan, we look at the new government’s crackdown on women’s rights while millions of Afghans go hungry. We speak to journalist Matthieu Aikins, who visited the capital Kabul for the first time since the U.S. evacuation one year ago. He writes the country is being “kept on humanitarian life support” in his recent article for The New York Times Magazine.
A bittersweet health care win for Democrats
Democrats are widely expected to lose control of one or both chambers in November, and members are aware that today’s vote on the Inflation Reduction Act may be their last chance for some time to enact major reforms to the U.S. health system.
Bottling the monkeypox vaccine could take until early 2023
The Biden administration is amid negotiations with several companies to bottle millions of new monkeypox shots. But officials say it could take months for those doses to be ready.
Health care providers are shouldering rising costs. That could change soon.
While prices have been stable compared to other sectors, rising costs have squeezed health care providers’ balance sheets.
‘People will die waiting’: America’s system for the disabled is nearing collapse
Providers for intellectually and developmentally disabled struggle to recruit and retain staff amid soaring inflation, pandemic burnout.
DaVita helped craft new bill to fix “loophole” left by Supreme Court ruling, documents show
Lawmakers introduced a measure mirroring a proposal written by one of the nation’s largest dialysis providers.
Where the Fed’s inflation-crushing campaign may hurt the most
As the U.S. central banks raises interest rates, the rest of the world is feeling the squeeze.
Biden enters the Always Be Closing phase of his first term
Suddenly, overnight, real progress has been teed up for the White House.
Biden touts record jobs but faces new headwinds as GDP shrinks
Republicans are poised to cast aside all the economic technicalities and bash Democratic candidates up and down the midterm ballot over an economy that is already deeply unpopular with voters in both parties.
Trump Calls For ‘Immediate’ Release Of FBI Warrant To Search Mar-A-Lago
Trump posted the request hours after the Justice Department asked a court to unseal the warrant.
FBI Agents Blast Trump-Inspired Calls For Violence Against Law Enforcement
“This is not a partisan or political issue. It is a matter of public safety and basic decency,” said a statement by FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare.
Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act Expected To Do Little To Reduce Inflation
The bill was also touted as lowering the deficit, but by how much is uncertain.
Washington Post: Mar-a-Lago search was about ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons’
Since the search by FBI agents at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, Trump, the Republican Party, and its media allies—when not viciously demonizing the Department of Justice and the FBI—have insisted that it was a political fishing expedition, and there was nothing to be found beyond mementoes of Trump’s years in the White House. Darn near the makings of a future scrapbook.
News Roundup: Garland calls Trump’s bluff; FBI office attacked in apparent act of terrorism
After several days of relentless attacks on the FBI from Fox News hosts, Republican partisans, and countless Republican lawmakers, an attack on the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, today has all the hallmarks of domestic terrorism. Immediately after that attack, U.S.
Justice Department is seeking to unseal Trump warrant, Attorney General Merrick Garland announces
Attorney General Merrick Garland is making a statement at 2:30 PM ET on Thursday, following days of public silence since the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Monday. That search was reportedly for classified documents Trump had taken with him when he left White House, and it has given rise to huge amounts of Republican conspiracy theories, as well as broader public pressure for the Justice Department to offer up information.
Ukraine update: Belarus has another smoking accident; what’s Ukraine’s real plan at Kherson?
The big news yesterday remained Ukrainian’s massively successful attack on a Russian airbase in Crimea, but in the early evening hours an explosion at another airfield Russia’s been relying on for its campaign against Ukraine was reported, and this one’s also a doozy.
Cincinnati FBI breach suspect is killed in shootout and identified as possible Jan. 6 participant
At 9 AM Thursday morning, the FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, says that an armed man attempted to “breach the Visitor Screening Facility” at their headquarters. An alarm was set off and the suspect then fled the scene. He has reportedly engaged law enforcement personnel in a chase and there has been a lockdown of Clinton County.
As of the writing of this post, the man remains unidentified, as are his motives.
Mary Trump Explains How Her Uncle’s Been ‘Tripped Up’ By Merrick Garland
“Garland is playing chess. Donald can only play checkers,” Donald Trump’s niece said.
Biden Inspires Standing Ovation For Jon Stewart Over Help On Veterans Health Bill
“We owe you big, man. We owe you big,” Biden told the former “Daily Show” host.
The Real Problem With City Life Today
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.In a recent Atlantic article, Xochitl Gonzalez, the author of our Brooklyn, Everywhere newsletter, argues that the sound of gentrification is silence. I called Xochitl to talk about the article and the New York she once knew.
New CDC guidance for schools aims for normalcy
The agency has lifted guidance that led to quarantining of students exposed to, but not infected with, the coronavirus.
Stop Putting Lasers in Joe Biden’s Eyes
The president is terrifying! He has laser eyes, or he has laser eyes and he’s screaming, or he has laser eyes and he’s commanding bolts of lightning, like God. He is drinking Republican tears with a splash of lime. He is eating Mitch McConnell’s head?Although Joe Biden has often been the subject of memes related to his friendship with Barack Obama or his obsession with ice cream, he has lately become a different sort of internet figure, known as “Dark Brandon.
When Biden Went to China
On April 19, 1979, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was in Beijing, meeting with China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, when he put Washington’s nascent friendship with the Communists to the test.That Biden was sitting there at all was remarkable. The United States and China had been implacable foes for decades.
L.A. Activists Demand Real Solutions to Housing Crisis as City Cracks Down on Homeless Encampments
As cities nationwide crack down on unhoused populations and soaring rents force people out of their homes, the Los Angeles City Council faced major protests this week when it voted to ban encampments for unhoused people near schools and daycares. The vote expanded an anti-homeless ordinance to include nearly a quarter of the city.