Today's Liberal News

India Unleashes “Massive Crackdown” on Youth-Led Cockroach Movement After Education Minister’s Ouster

We go to New Delhi for an update on India’s youth-led, anti-government “Cockroach” movement. After weeks of street protests against Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the ruling BJP party, Pradhan tendered his resignation on Saturday. Now, however, protest leaders are accusing right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of reneging on his promise to not take punitive action against demonstrators.

The Coming Food-Stamp Crisis

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Back in April, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, wrote an op-ed celebrating the Trump administration’s efforts to get Americans off food stamps.

Zelensky Asked Trump for a Favor From Elon Musk

During closed-door talks at the White House on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laid out a plan for his country to survive another winter of war with Russia. For it to work, President Trump would need to call in a big favor from his ally Elon Musk. But according to two officials familiar with the conversation, Trump was noncommittal, leaving the future of the plan in doubt.

Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter the Mar-a-Lago in Heaven

Lindsey, Mr. President, I would argue in my mind, probably has a heavenly version of Mar-a-Lago. It may even be a little bigger. He may have a little more gold in the Oval Office in his mansion in heaven, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he added one big, beautiful ballroom and an arch somewhere on the property because he would want to obviously duplicate his dearest friend in life, you, Mr. President.

The Return of ‘Move Fast and Break Things’

The AI giants talk a big game about the future they’re building. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has previously written that AI could usher in a world so perfect that “many will be literally moved to tears”—a world pruned of disease, poverty, and illiberalism. “We’re now in the singularity,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said over the weekend on a podcast, and it will be “awesome for the world.

The White-Collar Myth

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
A New York City ferry terminal in the late 1860s: Commuters issue forth into Lower Manhattan’s maze of streets. They move in distinct waves through the morning. First come the working-class employees in their flannel shirts, off to jobs in factories and shops for little pay. Then around 7 a.m., the crowd shifts, and the clothing with it.

Report from Springfield, Ohio: Haitians Brace for ICE Crackdown After TPS Protections End

The Haitian community is bracing for mass deportations after the Supreme Court last month sided with the Trump administration to end TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, for over 300,000 Haitians as well as thousands of Syrians who fled violence in their home countries. According to an internal government document, the plans to round up and deport Haitian immigrants could start this week. President Trump has long expressed animus toward Haitians in the United States.

Citizens Bank Cuts Ties to ICE Prison Companies GEO Group & CoreCivic After Grassroots De-ICE Campaign

A coalition of social justice organizations is celebrating a recent decision by Citizens Bank to divest from private prison companies that operate immigration jails for the federal government. The financial institution has faced significant pressure from protesters for providing more than $2.5 billion in financing to CoreCivic and the GEO Group, which work directly with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Less Regulated Than Sandwiches”: MIT Prof. Calls for Oversight as OpenAI Agent Hacks Other Firms

Artificial intelligence tools are quickly advancing in sophistication and capabilities, raising alarm among researchers and industry figures who say the technology needs to be more tightly regulated. This comes as OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, recently disclosed that one of its experimental AI agents went rogue and secretly hacked into the infrastructure of several other companies in what was supposed to be a controlled test.

Berlin’s Queer Commissioner on Fatal Car Ramming Attack on LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration

A man drove a minivan into a crowd of people near Berlin’s Pride celebrations on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 29 others. Authorities shot and killed the man during an operation on Sunday. The alleged suspect was identified as Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen. According to authorities, Ballout tried to join the Islamic State in 2025 and was released from prison in May after being jailed for preparing an attack.

The New iPhone Underclass

Buying a new smartphone comes with lots of decisions. iPhone Pro or iPhone Air? “Cosmic Orange” or “Deep Blue”? Now there’s a new consideration to add to the list: buy or rent? Yesterday, Apple announced a new monthly lease program, which will allow prospective buyers to rent new electronics such as iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and Apple Watches via an agreement with Klarna, the same company that facilitates monthly payments for $4 polyester underthings on Shein.

The Revelatory Cringe of Anthony Fauci

My teenage daughter has a diary. It’s pink and, most important, has an elaborate lock on it. And if I could go back in time to 2020, I might send this exact sort of journal to Anthony Fauci. Every night, when he was finished sharing his thoughts about battling COVID, he could have locked it, scrambled the combination, and then buried it in his sock drawer, as I think my daughter does.

What Anthony Fauci Didn’t Say

Sitting in front of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today, Anthony Fauci twirled his pen. He huffed and straightened his shoulders. He glanced down at a set of papers. He muted and unmuted his microphone.