Today's Liberal News

Comfort TV Is Overrated

The Bear didn’t wait long to stress out its viewers. “Review,” the seventh episode of the dramedy’s first season, is one of the most anxiety-inducing viewing experiences in recent TV history. In it, the employees at the sandwich shop in which the show originally takes place lose their cool after a food critic’s praise directs a deluge of customers their way. But the crew’s panic quickly permeates off-screen too.

First Came Tea. Then Came the Male Rage.

Until last Thursday, the team behind the app Tea Dating Advice was having an extraordinary week. They claimed to have amassed more than 2 million new users, making Tea the most popular free app in Apple’s App Store, after it stirred discussion on TikTok and Reddit.

Sally Jenkins to Join The Atlantic as a Staff Writer in September

The renowned sportswriter Sally Jenkins is joining The Atlantic as a staff writer this September, where she will continue her exceptional and deeply sourced reporting. Jenkins has been the lead sports columnist at The Washington Post for the past 25 years.
In a staff announcement, shared below, editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg writes: “Sally is quite possibly America’s greatest living sportswriter—and more generally one of the best feature writers working today.

What’s Holding Trump Back From Firing Powell

President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to an unexpected place last week, touring the Federal Reserve’s headquarters, where two buildings are currently under renovation. Trump then staged a bizarre photo op with the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, and criticized Powell over the cost of the renovation before telling him to lower interest rates, which the Fed could do—but almost certainly won’t—at its meeting today.
This presidential conduct was all but unimaginable before Trump.

“The Most Peaceful Man”: West Bank Mourns Odeh Hadalin, Palestinian Activist Killed by Israeli Settler

Family and friends are reeling after an Israeli settler shot and killed Palestinian activist Odeh Muhammad Hadalin, an athlete, teacher and father of three young children. Hadalin helped produce the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which follows Palestinians in the occupied West Bank community of Masafer Yatta as they struggle to stay on their land amid violent attacks by Jewish settlers.

“Beyond Atrocious”: Arwa Damon on Desperation & Hunger in Gaza as Israel Continues Blocking Most Aid

In Gaza, “the situation is beyond atrocious.” Aid worker Arwa Damon, a former CNN journalist and the founder of INARA, a nonprofit currently providing medical and mental healthcare to children in Gaza, describes the deadly lack of access to food, water and medicine in the besieged territory. The situation on the ground conflicts with the claims of Israeli officials, who are denying the existence of starvation conditions.

The Discourse Is Broken

Sydney Sweeney is inexplicably reclining and also buttoning up her jeans. She’s wearing a jacket with nothing underneath. She’s attempting to sell some denim to women, and appears to be writhing while doing so. In a breathy voice, the actor recites the following ad copy as the camera pans up her body: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color.

Americans Are Starting to Sour on Tax Cuts

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 theory, the proposition seems foolproof: Everyone hates the taxman and loves to keep their money, so a tax cut must be politically popular.
But Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act has tested the theory and found it wanting.

The Dangerous Logic of CTE Self-Diagnosis

Police are still investigating what exactly prompted a gunman to kill four people in a Manhattan office building yesterday evening, but perhaps the clearest aspect of his motive is the condition that he evokes in a note found on his body: chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The 27-year-old gunman, Shane Tamura, was a former high-school football player.

Let’s Ban More Nonexistent Things

Oh, good! Congressional Republicans have introduced the Clear Skies Act, a bill “to prohibit weather modification within the United States, and for other purposes.” I cannot stress enough that this is not what is causing any of the extreme weather we are seeing. Maybe that’s the point. As Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee (who sponsored the bill alongside Marjorie Taylor Greene) put it, “If it doesn’t exist, then you don’t have anything to worry about.