Fired CDC head defends her reputation and vaccine science at Senate hearing
Susan Monarez’s testimony came on the eve of a pivotal meeting of Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine panel.
Today's Liberal News
Robert Redford the Activist: Hollywood Icon Was Lifelong Champion of Environment & Independent Film
Robert Redford, the legendary Oscar-winning director, actor and activist, died at the age of 89 on Tuesday. Redford was a longtime environmental activist who served for five decades as a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He was also the creator of the Sundance Film Festival, which he helped grow into one of the largest independent film festivals in the world.
Trump Uses “Black Criminality” Myth to Take Over Black-Led Cities: Memphis Rep. Justin J. Pearson
President Trump signed an order authorizing the deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday. The order also creates a so-called safe task force, which Trump claims will address violent crime in the city. Law enforcement officers from several federal agencies will also be dispatched to Memphis, including the FBI, DEA, ICE and Homeland Security.
“This is nothing more than a power play for more authoritarianism from this administration,” says Justin J.
How Video Games, Discord & Deep Web Influenced Alleged Kirk Killer
The alleged shooter of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was formally charged Tuesday by Utah prosecutors. The top charge is aggravated murder, along with six other counts. The accused, 22-year old Tyler Robinson, also made his first court appearance to hear the charges read. Prosecutors say they will be seeking the death penalty in the case.
“Perish or Leave”: Hundreds of Thousands Flee as Israeli Military Invades Gaza City
Israeli forces are pushing deeper into Gaza City as the full-fledged military ground invasion continues despite mounting international condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee Gaza City, where nearly 1 million Palestinians have been living among rubble and ruins ahead of Israel’s ground offensive. “Just open your eyes and look at what’s unfolding there,” says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza.
“Single Shots to the Head”: U.S. Veteran, Volunteer Surgeon Sees “Extermination of a People” in Gaza
As Israel continues its full-fledged military ground invasion of Gaza City, Democracy Now! speaks with Kathleen Gallagher, a U.S. military veteran and general surgeon currently volunteering in Gaza, who describes the scene on the ground from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Gallagher says she sees up to 400 patients a day, about 40% of whom are under the age of 20. This week she reports seeing six children killed with gunshot wounds to the head.
Will ICE Raids Freeze Foreign Investment?
ICE raided a new Hyundai plant in Georgia detaining hundreds of workers from South Korea.
Trump’s Economy Is Finally Here—and It’s Even Worse Than You Imagined
Layoffs are spreading and unemployment is rising—and one kind of worker is being hit the hardest.
This Company Is Building Apartments in a Week
It’s called modular construction, and it could allow apartments to be constructed within a week.
What Do You Pay the Man Who Has Everything?
A trillion dollars will come in handy if you want to colonize Mars.
The rural health ‘Hunger Games’ are underway
States are scrambling for a piece of a $50 billion fund. It’s unclear where the money will go.
Fear over RFK Jr. vaccine panel’s looming decisions on childhood shots
The panel will discuss the Covid-19, hepatitis B and the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccines, as well as the RSV shot.
States counter RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves, but many people could be left without access
Tens of millions of people could find themselves having to pay hundreds of dollars for shots that were previously covered.
Is Aziz Ansari Sorry?
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
Your Opinions on Her Wardrobe Are Probably Unwelcome
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
What Role Does HR Play in the #MeToo Era?
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
New poll reveals warning signs for Trump with Latino voters
A survey from the liberal-leaning group Somos Votantes shows Latino voters are souring on the president.
Trump is selling a strong economy. Voters aren’t buying it.
Privately, aides concede voters remain uneasy about prices but argue their policies are beginning to turn things around.
Former Trump statistics chief slams Friday firing of Erika McEntarfer
Bill Beach said the president’s suggestions that the jobs report was rigged betrayed a misunderstanding in how those numbers are assembled.
Trump fires statistics chief after soft jobs report
The monthly jobs report showed just 73,000 jobs in July, with big reductions to May’s and June’s numbers
The Irony of Using Charlie Kirk’s Murder to Silence Debate
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.
A strange thing happens when a notable public figure is killed: Their rough edges are sanded down, and a multidimensional person is flattened into the simplicity of a myth.
This has happened with jarring speed to Charlie Kirk, the conservative influencer murdered last week in Utah.
The Atlantic Announces Free Digital Subscriptions for All U.S. Public High Schools
Starting today, The Atlantic is offering every public high school in the United States free digital access to its journalism and 168-year archive. All public high schools and districts can register with The Atlantic to give their students, teachers, and administrators unlimited access to TheAtlantic.com while on campus at no cost: all articles, full magazine issues, podcasts and audio articles, Atlantic Games, and the complete archive.
RFK Jr. Is Neglecting an Autism Concern Backed by Science
Pesticides once appeared to be a clear target for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s desire to “make America healthy again.” Before becoming the health secretary, he described Monsanto, the maker of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, as “enemy of every admirable American value,” and vowed to “ban the worst agricultural chemicals already banned in other countries.” Since he came to power, many of Kennedy’s fans have waited eagerly for him to do just that.
The New War on Weed
When Connecticut legalized recreational marijuana in 2021, the state’s lieutenant governor, Susan Bysiewicz, boasted that the new law was “crafted to repair the wounds left by the War on Drugs.” The move followed the same rationale that had motivated legalization in 18 other states: fewer resources exhausted on policing a drug that legalization advocates view as largely unharmful, fewer lives derailed by what they argue to be excessive lockups.
The Attorney General’s Attack on Free Speech
Attorney General Pam Bondi, America’s highest-ranking law-enforcement official, declared in an interview posted to YouTube yesterday that federal law enforcement will “go after” Americans for hate speech. “There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech,” she said. In fact, there is no hate-speech exception to the First Amendment.
In a post on X this morning, Bondi tried to qualify her comments.
Ousted CDC director expected to push back against RFK Jr.’s version of her firing
A copy of Susan Monarez’s testimony obtained by POLITICO contrasts sharply with Health Secretary Kennedy’s remarks before the Senate Finance Committee.
U.S. Acts as “Judge, Jury & Executioner” in Venezuelan Boat Strikes, Killing at Least 14
On Monday, President Trump announced the U.S. bombed a boat in international waters, killing three people. The attack was the second to target what the Trump administration claims are drug smugglers from Venezuela. A previous strike on another boat killed 11 people. In a third incident, the U.S. Navy raided a fishing boat in Venezuelan waters, detaining nine fishermen for eight hours. This escalating U.S.
Bishop William Barber Condemns Charlie Kirk Murder and the Right’s Religious Nationalism
We speak to Bishop William J. Barber II about conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk’s killing and the right-wing weaponization of his death. Barber says outrage over political violence should also extend beyond Kirk’s assassination, to what he refers to as the political violence of policy, including the hundreds around the world who die of poverty, war and disease every day.