A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
Today's Liberal News
The “Explosive” News Story That We All Couldn’t Stop Talking About.
Cyclosporiasis’ rebranding as “explosive diarrhea” has brought our collective attention to food safety concerns and the MAGA-cultivated Taylor Farms.
Trump’s Trigger Warnings
Incensed by the Smithsonian but lacking immediate power to do anything about it, Donald Trump has resorted to trolling the world’s largest museum complex from the sidewalk. In an executive order posted this afternoon, the president directed the Department of the Interior to place signs outside the National Museum of American History warning passersby about “ideological capture” and detailing the findings of his administration’s recent, quickly contested report on the museum.
The Saudis Learn the Truth About Trump
Faithless, chaotic, and corrupt: Donald Trump’s character also shapes his foreign policy. The latest victim is Saudi Arabia—not a sympathetic victim, maybe, but a victim all the same.
On July 22, United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart signed an agreement for a Saudi-U.S. civilian nuclear partnership.
Five Theories of the Jon Ossoff Moment
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.
Everyone should be as lucky in their adversaries as Jon Ossoff. On Wednesday, President Trump held a rally in Marietta, Georgia, where he attacked the Democratic senator—or rather, he tried.
“Jon Ossoff, he’s terrible,” Trump said. “He reminds me of Pinky Herman.
The U.S. Is Subtly Shifting Its Iran Strategy
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy” is a military dictum usually credited to Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, and more recently to the boxer Mike Tyson in the form “Everyone has a plan until he gets punched in the mouth.” The United States, in its war with Iran, is an unusual counterexample, insofar as it appears that the Trump administration did not have a plan.
Why Would Meta Download So Much Porn?
Editor’s note: This work is part of AI Watchdog, The Atlantic’s ongoing investigation into the generative-AI industry.
Amid tech companies’ ongoing efforts to vacuum up as much data as possible to train AI models, Meta has taken public posts from its own platforms, scraped massive amounts of content from the rest of the internet, and pirated millions of books to train its AI models.
RFK Jr. promised to stop the ‘aggressive suppression’ of these controversial drugs. He’s making progress.
A panel of FDA advisers voted this week to broaden access to peptides.
“Farmers of the Sea”: PBS Film Profiles Puerto Rican Fishermen on the “Frontlines of Climate Change”
Filmmaker Juan Carlos Dávila’s new film for PBS, Farmers of the Sea, documents climate change’s threats to the fishing industry and food security in Vieques, Puerto Rico. For islands in the Caribbean, explains Dávila, “we are situated geographically in one of the frontlines of climate change. [We’re] not only facing stronger hurricanes now, [but] we could face food shortages, especially the islands that depend so much on the food that comes from the sea.
Report from San Juan: New Bill Targets Citizenship Rights as Puerto Rico Marks 10 Years of PROMESA
After failing to overturn birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, Republican legislators are turning to new tactics to disenfranchise people born on U.S. soil. Their latest targets are those born to noncitizen or permanent resident parents in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, where the Supreme Court has said citizenship is granted by statute and full constitutional protections do not apply.
“Cockroach Democracy”: Arundhati Roy on India’s Youth-Led Protest Movement & Modi’s Collapsing Support
A youth-led protest movement in India is demanding an end to the country’s status quo. Sparked by the leak of national exam questions, tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets. They are protesting under the banner of the Cockroach Janta (People’s) Party — a new party named to reflect the words of India’s chief justice, who compared unemployed youth to cockroaches and parasites. The movement has only swelled in response to a violent crackdown on protesters.
“America First or Israel First?” Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy on Saudi Nuclear Deal, Iran & More
The status of a newly signed U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal is in question after President Trump made the surprise announcement that the deal is off unless Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel. The deal paves the way for Saudi civil nuclear development, although critics warn that it could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the politically volatile Middle East.
Money Talks: Your Plastic Guilt Is by Design
Beth Gardiner explains how we ended up holding the (plastic) bag for Big Oil’s wastefulness.
A.I. Is Growing. So Is Your Electricity Bill.
The rush to build more data centers is driving up electricity costs.
The Hottest Lunch Trend in America Just Ran Into a Very Unpleasant Problem
From Chipotle to Chopt, the cyclosporiasis outbreak is causing an implosion of sales—and an explosion of problems elsewhere.
Evernote Forever
It looks like Bending Spoons’ bet on nostalgia brands like AOL, Vimeo, and Evernote is playing off after its big IPO this week.
Money Talks: The Morality Market
Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth explains what we learn when markets are shaped by big ethical questions.
CMS suspends more than $1 billion in Medicaid dollars to Minnesota and California over suspected fraud
The deferrals are part of a nationwide crackdown on health fraud in government programs.
Red states reject Trump’s shift on overdose prevention
With drug deaths plummeting, state officials are wary of halting harm reduction initiatives.
Americans who responded to Ebola outbreak are quarantined in Kenya, despite court order
The Trump administration said Monday Americans in Congo, where Ebola is spreading, must spend three weeks in a third country before coming home.
The GOP senators Trump disrespected are now interrogating his nominees
John Cornyn, Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis are leaving the Senate after warring with Trump, but they still can block the president’s appointees.
Fraud investigations are crumbling this state’s Medicaid system
The Trump administration’s crackdown on Medicaid fraud in Minnesota has upended finances and disrupted access to care.
When Church Was a Queer Space
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
Remembering, with the People of MCC San Francisco, AIDS Still Isn’t Over.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
What Happens When You Organize Church Around AIDS – and AIDS Changes?
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The Church’s Pastor Gets Diagnosed with AIDS. And the Church Wonders How Much They Might Lose.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
Trump Says Images of Bombed Iran School Could Be “AI” But Study Confirms U.S. Killed 140+ in Strike
On February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, missiles landed on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the Iranian city of Minab, in a civilian area near the Strait of Hormuz. At least 121 schoolchildren were killed along with 26 teachers. Forensic Architecture and Sky News analyzed the attack, finding that the neighborhood was bombed a second time while families and rescuers were still on the ground.
The Art of the Giveaway
What kind of negotiator gives the other side everything that it wants with the hope of eventually getting something in return?
It’s a question that even some of President Trump’s own allies are asking after his administration signed a landmark deal to develop a civilian nuclear program in Saudi Arabia using American technology.
North Carolina’s Threat to Legal Assistance for the Poor
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.
When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, it left behind it a trail of death and destruction—and a huge number of legal headaches.