In a historic 53-47 vote, the Senate has confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 51-year old Jackson will take the seat of the justice she once clerked for, Stephen Breyer, when he retires before the October term. Vice President Kamala Harris—who represents two firsts as a woman and person of color to serve in that office—presided, making the moment doubly historic.
Jackson’s impeccable qualifications have been well-documented.
Russia continues to shift already-battered forces toward Eastern Ukraine and has made new moves around Kherson, but there’s still no clear picture of what Russia’s actual next plans might be.
A reporter asked the Senate Minority leader how he could support Donald Trump after holding him “morally responsible” for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
When it comes to news out of Ukraine, what the West hears about the progress of the war and what they hear in Ukraine is pretty similar. Or at least it is in places not actively engaged in conflict—people there have more immediate concerns.
In the U.S., the subset of information that we get through most media outlets is shorn of a lot of the detail on troop movements, small actions, and the triumphs—or loss—of individual soldiers.
The CoreCivic-operated Otay Mesa Detention Center in California is back in the news for the usual, but no less horrific, reason: it’s abusive treatment of people in its custody.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a number of immigrants have reported sexual misconduct by a staff worker, who they say walked into their cells unannounced and stared at their groins and buttocks while making inappropriate remarks.
Police officers in Alameda, California, last year knelt on Mario Gonzalez’s back for nearly four minutes, until he died. None will be charged.
As Daily Kos continues to cover, the heinous, hateful “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida is dangerous for LGBTQ+ students, plus those who are questioning and allies. Queer youth already face structural and systemic barriers and obstacles when it comes to mental health, in addition to being at higher risk for becoming homeless, leaving high school without a diploma, and facing verbal and physical harassment and abuse.
This social media battle between the congresswoman and the comedian just may be our new favorite non-contact sport.
The administration argued that the Constitution gives the president, as the head of the federal workforce, the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation.
Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s keynote at Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy, a conference hosted by The Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, Maria Ressa compared the impact of social media on our information ecosystem in recent years to that of an atom bomb: destructive, all-consuming, irreversible.
Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum, an expert on Eastern Europe, has long watched social media’s power with great concern. Yesterday, at Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy, a conference hosted by The Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, she spoke with David Axelrod, the founding director of the Institute of Politics, about the dangers these platforms pose to democracy.
The agency made a few tweaks, but mostly sticks to its proposed coverage plan despite outrage from drug companies and patient advocates.
If the governor signs the measure into law, Alabama would become the third state to block access to gender-affirming care for minors, and the first to mandate prison time.
Yesterday afternoon, President Joe Biden hosted a good old-fashioned bill-signing ceremony at the White House. Before an audience of several dozen in the State Dining Room, the president celebrated the long-awaited enactment of a postal-reform bill. After his brief remarks, a large, bipartisan group of lawmakers crowded around Biden as he put pen to paper on the legislation. They huddled in close, as politicians do, silently jostling for prime position in the photo.
When they last sat down for an interview, in November 2020, Barack Obama told Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg that disinformation is “the single biggest threat to our democracy.” The threat was not a new one, he said, but it was accelerating. It has continued to accelerate since. A month and a half after that conversation, a violent mob stormed the Capitol, driven by the false belief that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump and could be taken back by force.
The Supreme Court is expected to roll back or completely reverse Roe v. Wade this summer, kicking abortion policy to the states.
President Biden announced Tuesday he would extend the pandemic pause on federal student loan payments until August 31, but debtors are demanding total cancellation. We speak with Astra Taylor, co-director of the Debt Collective, who discusses the implications of the latest extension, economically and politically. Taylor says Biden should stop letting loan servicers profiteer from borrowers and cancel student loans, which would immediately narrow the racial wealth gap.
Far-right nationalist prime minister and longtime Putin-ally Viktor Orbán won his fourth consecutive election in Hungary, aided by biased media coverage and campaign regulations that favored the sitting prime minister. We speak to historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat about the future of Hungary under the Fidesz party, which, aside from passing anti-LGBTQ legislation and stoking xenophobia, has also been an important ally for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns the opportunity to mitigate the worst effects of global warming by maintaining global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius is quickly closing and that humanity has less than three years to slash greenhouse gas emissions. “Fossil fuel is at the root of our problems.
Over a month into Russia’s war in Ukraine and after multiple countries imposed sanctions on Russian fossil fuels, Ukraine’s pipelines are still carrying Russian gas into Europe. Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko says Ukraine cannot shut off the gas flow if EU governments refuse to implement an embargo on Russian imports. “There should be a collaboration on both sides of this supply chain,” says Romanko.
House Democrats grilled CEOs of Big Oil companies, like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, Wednesday about rising gas prices and profiteering from the Ukraine war. We get response from environmentalist Bill McKibben and speak with Ukrainian environmental lawyer Svitlana Romanko about how the war in Ukraine is impacting energy markets around the world.
It’s unclear when the White House will hold the meeting. The decision comes as the administration tries to shore up its global Covid work.
Public health leaders warn that short-term bursts of cash are creating gaps in preparedness, leaving millions vulnerable to a new Covid surge.
The move would target loophole that keeps about 5 million people from qualifying for subsidized health plans
Health officials from Alabama to Washington state say that congressional gridlock over providing billions in new money has undermined efforts to transition to a steady, long-term approach to Covid-19.
White House officials deny any sense of panic over the economy or their midterm chances.
The administration’s difficulties in getting bank cop nominees through a Democratic-controlled Senate underscore the fault lines within the party over how to approach financial regulation.
The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates — but Congress has a chance to bring real relief.
The increase reported by the Labor Department reflected the 12 months ending in February and didn’t include most of the oil and gas price increases that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb.
The Fed is already expected to begin a campaign of interest rate increases next month in a bid to remove its support for economic growth amid a blistering job market and rapidly rising prices.