Today's Liberal News

Ahead of Juneteenth, Maryland Pardons 175K Pot Convictions, Seeking to Remedy Harms of War on Drugs

We host a roundtable conversation on Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s historic pardons of 175,000 marijuana-related convictions in the state, including drug paraphernalia-related convictions. Jheanelle Wilkins is the chair of Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus; Maritza Perez Medina is the director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance; and Jason Ortiz, who was himself arrested at the age of 16 for cannabis possession, is director of strategic initiatives at the Last Prisoner Project.

“Another Wasted Life”: Rhiannon Giddens on How Death of Kalief Browder Inspired New Song

“Another Wasted Life.” That’s the name of a remarkable new song by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. She released a video of the song on October 2 to mark International Wrongful Conviction Day. The song was inspired by Kalief Browder, a Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after being detained at Rikers Island jail for nearly three years, after being falsely accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack.

Juneteenth Special: Historian Clint Smith on Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

We feature a special broadcast marking the Juneteenth federal holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. We begin with our 2021 interview with historian Clint Smith, originally aired a day after President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth the first new federal holiday since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Americans With Food Allergies Are Getting a Bad Deal

This article was originally published by Undark Magazine.
When Ina Chung, a Colorado mother, first fed packaged foods to her infant, she was careful to read the labels. Her daughter was allergic to peanuts, dairy, and eggs, so products containing those ingredients were out. So were foods with labels that said they “may contain” the allergens.
Chung felt like this last category suggested a clear risk that wasn’t worth taking. “I had heard that the ingredient labels were regulated.

The Schools That Are No Longer Teaching Kids to Read Books

Recently, an old friend of mine from elementary school ran a hand over my bookshelf, stopped, and said, “You stole this.”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did. You totally stole it from school.”
She pulled out my copy of The Once and Future King, and showed me the inside of the front cover. It was stamped: Board of Education, City of New York.
Okay, so I stole it. But I had a good reason. I loved that book so much; I couldn’t bear to return it to the school library.

Risking Everything to Lose Money

Professional athletes are now playing sports in a gamblers’ world, and it isn’t going well for them. In April, the NBA banned Jontay Porter, a 24-year-old role player for the Toronto Raptors and a younger brother of the Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., for allegedly wagering on NBA games, including his team’s, and throwing his own performances to influence prop bets.

Has the DEI Backlash Come for Publishing?

In July 2020, Lisa Lucas was hired as the publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books, prestigious imprints of Penguin Random House. She was the first person of color to hold the post. Black Lives Matter was resurgent after the murder of George Floyd. Demand for books by Black authors had spiked. Publishing employees had organized a day of action to protest the industry’s ongoing “role in systemic racism.

What to Watch, Read, and Listen To Today

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 Juneteenth, three Atlantic writers and editors share their recommendations for what to listen to, read, and watch.

Rep. Jamie Raskin: Only a Two-State Solution Can End “Nightmare” of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin of Maryland says he may not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July, as some other Democrats have already vowed to boycott the speech. “My main commitment at this point is to see a ceasefire to end the bloodshed, to get the hostages returned and to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza,” says Raskin.

America the Air-Conditioned

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.
As a heat wave spreads across America, the whirring of air conditioners follows close behind. AC has become an American necessity—but at what cost?
First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:
The rise of a new, dangerous cynicism
David Frum: The most dangerous bias in today’s America
J. D.

J. D. Vance Makes His VP Pitch

Updated at 2:18 p.m. ET on June 18, 2024
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here.
A lot can change in eight years. In the summer of 2016, J. D. Vance, writing in this magazine, characterized Donald Trump as “cultural heroin.” On Sunday morning in Michigan, Vance made his pitch to be Trump’s next vice president—by showing his fealty to the former president and sounding as much like him as possible.