Today's Liberal News

A Terrible New Era of Political Violence in America

Updated at 9:35 p.m. ET on July 13, 2024.
Former President Donald Trump was rushed offstage at a rally in Pennsylvania tonight after a shooting.
Trump posted on his Truth Social site that he was struck in the ear by a bullet, and the Secret Service said in a statement that a shooter had fired several times from an elevated position toward Trump. The former president raised a fist to the crowd as he was ushered away.

Biden Digs In

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here.
On the eve of the Republican National Convention, President Joe Biden appears more determined than ever to continue his bid for reelection.

The Possibilities of Personality Change

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.
A few years ago, my colleague Olga Khazan conducted an experiment—“sample size: 1”—to see whether she could change her personality. “I’ve never really liked my personality, and other people don’t like it either,” she wrote.

The Democrats’ Prisoner’s-Dilemma Moment

It’s time for some game theory.
The Democratic Party is now in the third week of a nightmare, and the reason it can’t seem to wake up is explained by the classic concept of the prisoner’s dilemma: The most influential figures in the party can’t know what their best course of action is, because they don’t know what everyone else will do.

Fmr. Israeli Peace Negotiator Daniel Levy: Netanyahu Is “Trying to Do Everything to Prevent a Deal”

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy discusses ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the ruling party in the Gaza Strip, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued hostility to compromise and the Biden administration’s ineffectual mediation. Contrary to its claims of brokering peace, the U.S. “will continue to send the weapons” Israel uses to devastate Gaza, unremittingly fueling an increasingly unpopular war, says Levy, who is now president of the U.S.

Should Biden Step Aside? Wajahat Ali & Norman Solomon Debate Democratic Options for 2024 Race

As calls mount for President Joe Biden to step down as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee over concerns surrounding his mental and physical capacity to lead, we host a debate between two longtime members of the Democratic Party: Wajahat Ali, who recently authored a column subtitled “Biden Is Very Old and Out of Touch, and Here’s Why You Should Vote for Him,” and Norman Solomon of RootsAction.org, which sponsors the Step Aside Joe campaign.

Would You Put Your Health in AI’s Hands?

This is Atlantic Intelligence, a limited-run series in which our writers help you wrap your mind around artificial intelligence and a new machine age. Sign up here.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the entrepreneur Arianna Huffington spoke with my colleague Charlie Warzel earlier this week about their ambitions to remake the American health-care system with generative AI.

The “Song of the Summer” Is a Myth

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.
Summer is in full swing, and everywhere I go, I hear Sabrina Carpenter’s catchy, somewhat nonsensical “Espresso.

Houston Is on a Path to an All-Out Power Crisis

For the 2.2 million people in Houston who lost power Monday after Hurricane Beryl swept through the city, the first question they had was When will the electricity be back on? The city’s utility, CenterPoint Energy, didn’t yet have an online outage map to monitor. There was, however, a work-around. “The Whataburger app works as a power outage tracker,” tweeted a user who goes by the name BBQ Bryan, alongside a screenshot of the beloved local fast-food chain’s location map on its app.

AI Has Become a Technology of Faith

An important thing to realize about the grandest conversations surrounding AI is that, most of the time, everyone is making things up. This isn’t to say that people have no idea what they’re talking about or that leaders are lying. But the bulk of the conversation about AI’s greatest capabilities is premised on a vision of a theoretical future.

If the Moon Landing Were a Romantic Comedy

Near the end of The Truman Show, Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey) flees his home in the middle of the night. He’s come to believe that his surroundings are fake, that the people around him are actors, and that everything he does is being broadcast as “authentic” entertainment to an audience. He’s right, of course: Watching over him is the godlike Christof (Ed Harris), the program’s mastermind. “Cue the sun,” orders Christof.

“I’m Bored, So I Shoot”: How Israeli Troops Are Authorized to Shoot Palestinians Virtually at Will

We speak with reporter Oren Ziv of +972 Magazine, whose latest investigation details how Israeli forces in Gaza have been authorized to open fire on Palestinians virtually at will. Six soldiers who fought in Gaza describe a near-total absence of firing regulations, with soldiers shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, leaving corpses to rot on the streets and more.

In Rare News Conf., Biden Vows to Stay in Race, Defending Record on Ukraine, NATO & More: A Roundtable

As the world watched Thursday night, President Biden held his first solo press conference this year, after hosting a NATO conference in which he accidentally referred to Ukrainian President Zelensky as Russian President Putin before quickly correcting himself. While speaking with reporters, Biden defended his record and vowed to “finish the job,” but at one point referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.