Today's Liberal News

A Grand Experiment in Parenthood and Friendship

In 2021, in a moment of morbid curiosity, Charlotte and Raffi Grinberg decided to calculate how much they would see their best friends for the rest of their lives if they continued visits at their current rate. The math was bleak: They’d spent more days with their friends in the years when they were ages 13 to 30 than they would spend from ages 30 to 100.
Charlotte and Raffi, who’d been married for six years, each had been inseparable from their respective best friends in adolescence.

Why I’m Leaving Pacific Palisades

Our home burned down in the January 7 Palisades Fire. After such a calamity, the grief and sense of displacement never really go away, but dealing with the aftermath is itself all-consuming. My wife and I have so much to do: meet with insurance companies, city agencies, and attorneys; visit our burned-out lot to oversee debris removal; hire engineers and architects to determine the condition of our foundation and the prospects of rebuilding.

Seven Weekend Reads

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.
Our editors compiled seven great reads. Spend time with stories about the risks of trying to raise successful kids, an alarming trend affecting the job market, the top goal of Project 2025, and more.
Stop Trying to Raise Successful Kids
And start raising kind ones.

“We Are Not Living. We Are Enduring.” Gaza Mother on Struggle for Food, Safety Under Israeli Blockade

Ahead of the Mother’s Day holiday in the Untied States, we speak to Duha Latif, a mother of two children in Gaza, about life for mothers living under Israeli occupation and assault. Democracy Now! last spoke to Latif over a year ago, when she was attempting to evacuate Rafah with her family. She now resides in a tent in Khan Younis and struggles to feed her family as Israel’s blockade has created widespread famine throughout the Gaza Strip. “We are not living. We are enduring,” says Latif.

Priest Sexual Abuse Survivors Demand Accountability from New Pope: “Open Up Those Archives”

Survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests are calling for Pope Leo XIV to institute a zero-tolerance policy and for the church to investigate his handling of prior sexual abuse allegations. “He needs to be transparent. He needs to be honest,” says Peter Isely, a survivor of sexual assault by a Catholic priest and a co-founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “Wait and see,” says James V. Grimaldi, executive editor of National Catholic Reporter.

Leo XIV: First U.S.-Born Pope Criticized Trump/Vance on Deportations, Lack of Compassion for Immigrants

The first U.S.-born pope has taken the name Pope Leo XIV. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost is also a naturalized citizen of Peru, where he served the church for two decades. He greeted 1.4 billion Roman Catholics and the world Thursday with a message of peace and has posted statements online in support of migrant rights and criticized the Trump administration. In the first part of our discussion, we go to Rome for an update from James V.

Nostalgia for the Early Days of Parenting

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
Older parents are constantly telling those in the early days to cherish it: It goes by in a flash. But that can be very hard advice to follow when you’re in the thick of it, as Stephanie H. Murray wrote in 2022.

Trump Travels to the Middle East

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DOGE Is Bringing Back a Deadly Disease

A person who has severe silicosis has to fight for every breath. A short walk that should take just 20 minutes can take an hour. Climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and normal recreational activities are distant memories.
Silicosis is typically caused by years of breathing in silica dust at work, and can worsen even after work exposures stop.

How Part-Time Jobs Became a Trap

Several years ago, to research the novel I was writing, I spent six months working in the warehouse of a big-box store. As a supporter of the Fight for $15, I expected my co-workers to be frustrated that starting pay at the store was just $12.25 an hour. In fact, I found them to be less concerned about the wage than about the irregular hours.