In the past few years, a historic shift has occurred in American public opinion: For the first time ever, and across a variety of polling outlets, a majority of Americans say that they want to see the government take serious action on climate change. This shift has accompanied an eruption of climate-related disasters. Wildfires now paralyze the West Coast. Heat waves have killed elderly people in their homes.
Throughout the pandemic, media outlets and online dashboards have provided constant updates on the number of people who have died from COVID-19. Far less prominent—but just as striking—are the tallies of those left behind.
Part of the backlash now facing Baby Boomers—seen in all those memes and essays blaming grandma for the state of capitalism—may simply stem from overexposure. The flower children’s children grew up in a world in which their elders’ revolutionary artworks had become wallpaper, trinkets, and ad fodder. Everyone who wasn’t at Woodstock is all too aware that they’ll never go to Woodstock.
In the spring of 2020, as Boston’s first COVID-19 wave raged, I was the gastroenterologist on call responding to a patient hospitalized with a stomach ulcer. Wearing a layer of yellow personal protective equipment over a pair of baggy scrubs, I spent 30 minutes explaining to him that he needed an endoscopic procedure. We built a rapport, and by the end of our conversation about the pros and cons, he seemed to agree with my recommendation.
From the moment when scores of Afghans were filmed clinging to an American aircraft in a desperate bid to escape Taliban rule to the day of the departure of the last American soldier, international attention was trained almost exclusively on Afghanistan—until it wasn’t. By mid-September, just weeks after the Taliban took control of Kabul, the sense of crisis that had galvanized the world’s focus began to wane. Today, Afghanistan has all but disappeared from daily headlines.
The new decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extends a previous order that for now keeps in place the Texas law known as Senate Bill 8.
The panel recommended giving the shots at least six months after initial immunization. Its vote is not binding, but the FDA normally follows the recommendations of its advisory committees.
E-cig manufacturers and anti-vaping groups alike are puzzled by the agency’s course so far.
If nominated and confirmed, Califf would take over an agency poised to make key decisions on coronavirus vaccines and treatments.
Progressives are closing ranks behind Medicare expansion because it represents the best chance of getting a sliver of their “Medicare for All” vision into law.
Politicians like to argue in favor of more infrastructure — and more spending on it. But we can use the capacity we already have in much smarter ways.
The central bank plans to begin yanking back assistance to the economy as early as next month, and many Fed officials are open to increasing interest rates next year.
Key aspects of the economy are doing better than before the pandemic, which supporters say shows how government spending can help.
As the House committee probing the January 6 attack on the Capitol ramps up its investigation, new details continue to emerge about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to stay in the White House despite losing the 2020 election. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently revealed Trump directly asked the Justice Department nine times for help overturning the election.
Before and after photos of the course reveal dramatic change.
The Biden administration took a step forward in combatting climate change while taking two steps back in humanizing our immigration policies. Tucker Carlson remains a homophobic hack, with jokes that would have embarrassed a stand-up comedian in the 1980s. Texas continues attacking children, this time focusing on trans youth. John Deere workers are going on strike—10,000 strong. And Andrew McCabe gets his retirement back now that Trump is gone.
Ken Kurson allegedly hacked into his estranged wife’s online accounts during a bitter divorce.
If you’ve been anywhere near social media—and especially Twitter—recently, you’ve probably come across the discourse surrounding comedian Dave Chappelle’s recent comedy special, The Closer. The special streamed on Netflix as of Oct. 5 and almost immediately met criticism from folks regarding Chappelle’s transphobic and homophobic jokes.
Retired Kansas City, Kansas, cop Roger Golubski is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation after multiple reports of his exploitation and terrorizing of Black residents of Kansas City have finally received attention. According to CNN, while Golubski has been accused of multiple things, he has not faced charges in any incidents.
In another addition to the surreal era of the last five years, Ron Watkins, the man many believe to be the Q mastermind behind the voodoo conspiracy theory of QAnon, is throwing his hat into the ring as a Congressman representing the 1st District in Arizona.
“I guess he just doesn’t understand the concept of bottle feeding,” the transportation secretary said.
Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich must be under a lot of stress. He is considered the Republican Party’s best chance at turning Sen. Mark Kelly’s seat red this coming election. He’s the front-runner for the nomination to run against Sen. Kelly.
“This report is a disappointment to anyone who’d hoped for a hard-hitting effort to address the Supreme Court’s deep troubles,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
Damian Adams grew up knowing that his parents had used an anonymous sperm donor to conceive him, and as a teen, he was even proud of this identity. He considered donating to help other families have children. Becoming a father himself, however, changed everything. When his daughter was born 18 years ago, he cradled her in his arms, and he instantly saw himself in her and her in himself. He felt a biological connection so powerful that it made him reconsider his entire life up until then.
Officer Michael Riley told a Jan. 6 rioter that he agreed with his “political stance” but suggested he remove photos taken inside the Capitol building.
The 1978 film Halloween, for all its notoriety, seems almost quaint compared with the countless slasher movies that have followed it. In John Carpenter’s singular masterpiece, we watch a masked serial killer named Michael Myers murder four people in the fictional town of Haddonfield. In the opening scene of Halloween Kills, the latest edition in this indestructible franchise, a group of plucky firefighters rescues Myers from a burning building. He promptly annihilates 11 of them.
After the Capitol riot, Matt Hawn, a teacher from Tennessee, brought an Atlantic essay to class for his students to analyze: “The First White President,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Earlier the class had discussed a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin; later in the year, they watched a performance of Kyla Jenée Lacey’s poem “White Privilege.
Each installment of “The Friendship Files” features a conversation between The Atlantic’s Julie Beck and two or more friends, exploring the history and significance of their relationship.This week she talks with two mother-daughter pairs whose families have been friends for three generations. It started with the grandfathers, who were best friends growing up in India, and raised their children together.
We get an update from New Jersey, where the People’s Organization for Progress is leading a 67-mile march to demand the state Legislature pass legislation to hold police accountable. The nine-day march wraps up Saturday, and activists are demanding passage of a state policy that would give police review boards subpoena power, ban and criminalize chokeholds, establish requirements for use of deadly force and end qualified immunity in New Jersey.
We take an in-depth look at the growing humanitarian crisis at the world’s largest jail complex, Rikers Island in New York City. After touring the jail, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams describes it as “a disaster.” In response to mounting public pressure, most of the women and transgender people at Rikers are being transferred to two prisons, including a maximum-security facility, even as most are still awaiting trial.