Today's Liberal News

Fasting for Her Son’s Freedom, Mother of Jailed British Egyptian Activist Demands U.K. Pressure Egypt

Laila Soueif is on the 75th day of a hunger strike calling for the U.K. government to push for the release of her son, jailed Egyptian British author and activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Charged with spreading false news, Alaa remains imprisoned in Egypt despite having completed his sentence in September. Human rights group say he has been subjected to torture, beatings and horrific treatment while in prison.

When a Shooting Spurs a Social-Media Cycle

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 the hours and days that followed the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, even before any information was known about the suspect, social media was flooded with speculation and opinion.

Luigi Mangione Has to Mean Something

For more than a week now, a 26-year-old software engineer has been America’s main character. Luigi Mangione has been charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the middle of Midtown Manhattan. The killing was caught on video, leading to a nationwide manhunt and, five days later, Mangione’s arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. You probably know this, because the fatal shooting, the reaction, and Mangione himself have dominated our national attention.

Lina Khan Goes Out With a Bang

On Tuesday, the federal government succeeded in doing something that it hasn’t done, or even seriously tried to do, in decades: It persuaded a court to block one large supermarket chain from acquiring another. In a major victory for the Federal Trade Commission, Judge Adrienne Nelson of the U.S.

Shopping Shouldn’t Be Instantaneous

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here.
In 1931, an Atlantic contributor named Frances Taylor begged stores to take her money.

RFK Jr.’s Testosterone Regimen Is Almost Reasonable

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal health-care routine is perplexing in its inconsistencies. He decries seed oils, despite near scientific consensus that they’re harmless; drinks raw milk, which has been proved to get people sick; and takes testosterone as part of his anti-aging routine while insisting he’s not on anabolic steroids.
Some of his routines, such as downing raw milk for its purported health benefits, are based on bunk science.

The #MeToo Cabinet: Law Prof. Deborah Tuerkheimer on Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Trump & Nominees

President-elect Trump, himself found liable in court for sexual abuse, has picked a striking number of suspected sexual predators for key positions in his incoming administration. Trump’s early pick of former Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz for attorney general was shot down amid a firestorm over sexual misconduct allegations. Now Trump is pushing hard to keep the rest of his picks on track, including Fox host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Another Winter of War: NRC Head Jan Egeland on Visiting Ukraine & Latest on Sudan, Gaza and Syria

International humanitarian leader Jan Egeland joins Democracy Now! to discuss aiding civilians in war-torn areas of Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Gaza. In Ukraine, residents are bracing for another winter of war as a Russian offensive reaches within two miles of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. “The population is exhausted, so imagine how it is in the trenches with those soldiers.

After Fall of Assad, “Struggle from Below” Needed to Build a Free & Democratic Syria

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria continues to reshape the country and the greater Middle East. In Damascus, leaders of the armed group HTS have retained most services of the civilian government but vowed to dissolve Assad’s security forces and shut down Assad’s notorious prisons. “People have this sense of regained freedom,” says Syrian architect and writer Marwa al-Sabouni in Homs. Still, she warns oppression in the country has left the populace weakened and vulnerable.