Today's Liberal News

Columbia-Affiliated Union Theological Seminary Votes to Divest from Israel’s War on Gaza

As student protests around the world call for their educational institutions to divest from companies with ties to Israel, we speak to the Reverend Dr. Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary, an ecumenical seminary affiliated with Columbia University that is one of the first schools to begin divesting from companies that “profit from war in Palestine/Israel.

“Displacement Has Been Weaponized”: Gaza Reporter Akram al-Satarri on Israeli Attack & Fleeing Rafah

Over 450,000 Palestinians, many already internally displaced, have fled Rafah in the past week alone since Israel launched an offensive on the city. Another 100,000 have been forced to flee homes in the north of Gaza amid escalated bombing and ground attacks. Among the recently redisplaced is our guest, the Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri, who joins us from a crowded shelter outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

The Cicadas Are Here

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.
For the first time in 221 years, two different groups of cicadas are emerging simultaneously and screaming from the treetops. More after these three stories from The Atlantic:
This is the next smartphone evolution.
Russell Berman: Attack a Democrat charged with corruption? Republicans wouldn’t dare.

This Is the Next Smartphone Evolution

Earlier today, OpenAI announced its newest product: GPT-4o, a faster, cheaper, more powerful version of its most advanced large language model, and one that the company has deliberately positioned as the next step in “natural human-computer interaction.

The New York Trump Case Is Kind of Perfect

This is The Trump Trials by George T. Conway III, a newsletter that chronicles the former president’s legal troubles. Sign up here.
Not all that long ago, I thought that the trial currently being held in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump would be the last one I’d want to see as the first one tried against the former president. It seemed the least serious of the cases against him. Here’s a man who tried to overthrow American democracy by launching a coup to stay in power.

Attack a Democrat Charged With Corruption? Republicans Wouldn’t Dare.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors bestowed on Republicans what seemed like an election-year gift: charging a senior House Democrat in a competitive district with accepting $600,000 in bribes and acting as a foreign agent. For a party clinging to a threadbare majority in the House, the indictment offered an obvious opportunity for an America First attack.

Conan O’Brien Keeps It Old-School

It took Conan O’Brien less than 90 seconds to upend Hot Ones. The YouTube interview show’s gimmick is simple: Celebrities eat successively hotter chicken wings while the host, Sean Evans, asks them well-researched questions about their life and career. Most guests are happy to endure painful spice while answering never-before-asked questions. O’Brien, on the other hand, shamelessly infused his own zany sensibility into the show’s design by immediately introducing “Dr.

NYPD Kills Bangladeshi Teen Win Rozario After He Calls 911 for Help, as His Mom Pleads for His Life

The police fatal shooting of Win Rozario, a 19-year-old Bangladeshi teen who lived in Queens, New York, has set off protests and demands for justice from the family. Rozario had called 911 in late March asking for help as he experienced a mental health crisis, but two New York police officers who arrived at the family’s home shot him at least four times within minutes after entering the Rozario residence.

“The Plan Is Genocide”: Palestine’s U.K. Ambassador Decries Israel’s Attack on Gaza & U.S. Complicity

Israel is intensifying its war across the Gaza Strip, with the official death toll now over 35,000, including more than 14,500 children. More than 360,000 Palestinians have now been displaced from Rafah as Israeli forces ramp up their attacks there despite warnings from the United States and others against an escalation in the southern city, where more than a million Palestinians had sought shelter.

A Strange Week in Politics

Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here.  
This week, a range of political headlines continue to raise questions about the looming presidential election. The adult-film star Stormy Daniels took the stand in the third week of former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial.