The views of Nikki Haley Republicans—pro-Ukraine, pro-Israel, pro-market—reflect all those things that Republicans used to think in that bygone era when Reagans and Bushes and Romneys roamed the earth. But few feel any emotional bond to Haley. If she gives a Ted Kennedy style “dream shall never die” speech at the Republican convention in Milwaukee this summer, they won’t tear up. They’ll wonder what the hell she imagines she’s talking about.
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Last week, OpenAI demonstrated new voice options for its AI assistant. One of them, called Sky, sounded strikingly similar to Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of a robot companion in the 2013 movie Her.
Public health experts say the virus’ move from birds into mammals is worrisome due to the risk that the virus evolves to be capable of spreading among humans.
Please read this as classic British understatement: Today was not, on the face of it, an ideal time for Rishi Sunak to call an election.
One of the perks of being Britain’s prime minister is getting to choose the date when voters deliver their verdict on your government. Most push their advantage by selecting a time when their party is ahead in the polls, the economic mood is buoyant, and their supporters are optimistic about success.
Since the New York State judge Juan Merchan fined and scolded Donald Trump earlier this month for violating a gag order in his criminal trial, the former president has been on … well, maybe not his best behavior, but certainly better behavior. For a couple of weeks, he avoided statements that might be construed as violating the order, before he started to test the boundaries again.
You may think you know stories like this one, but it’s important not to become numb to their evil and horror. Hersh Goldberg-Polin was attending the Nova music festival on October 7 when the Hamas terrorists descended. He and three others rushed to their car and tried to escape by heading north. But the terrorists were shooting drivers on the road, so Hersh and his friends instead sought refuge in a nearby bomb shelter.
More than 25 young people were crammed into a 5-by-8-foot enclosure.
We speak with The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff about how President Biden has unveiled steep tariff increases on various Chinese imports, including electric vehicles, which will quadruple from the current tariff rate of 25% to 100%. “What you see … is Biden really looking to lean into a really quite hawkish position on China,” says Aronoff. She explains why Biden is caught between insulating the American auto industry from competition and allowing affordable EVs to enter U.S.
The Intercept columnist Natasha Lennard details how the combination of anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic repression and very few worker protections across the U.S. has created a “very dangerous constellation” for academic laborers that is “overwhelmingly only facing pro-Palestinian speakers, not speakers who are supporting Israel’s genocide.” She calls it “the New McCarthyism” on college campuses.
Students and faculty at The New School, home to the first faculty Gaza solidarity encampment, have announced they reached a deal with the university to hold a vote on divesting from Israel by June 14. The agreement comes after months of campus protests, encampments and the occupation of a university building to demand The New School divest its endowment from companies arming and supporting Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
We speak with Palestinian American University of Michigan student Salma Hamamy, who was pepper-sprayed and beaten at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor when the Gaza solidarity encampment there became the latest to be violently dismantled Tuesday morning in the nationwide crackdown on student-led protests in solidarity with Palestine.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the northern city of Jenin early Tuesday morning, killing at least eight Palestinians, including a doctor shot dead on his way to work and a teenager riding his bicycle. About a dozen others were injured, including a journalist. Motasem Abu Hasan, an actor at The Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp who escaped the invasion, describes the ongoing attack on the camp. “They are shooting everything,” says Abu Hasan.
Democrats’ efforts to ride the coattails of abortion ballot measures put passage at risk.
Health systems are trying to move more of the work they do to your house.
Federal health officials estimate that roughly 100,000 people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will sign up for subsidized plans through the health insurance marketplace over the next year under the rule.
Anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups fear the Kennedy scion will peel off voters disillusioned with Trump and Biden.
The president is getting more micro in his economic sales pitch as the landscape loses its luster.
Friday’s government report showed that last month’s hiring gain was down sharply from the blockbuster increase of 315,000 in March.
Biden and Trump are both campaigning on warped economic statistics, cherry-picking weird data from the Covid crisis.
By any measure, it amounted to a strong month of hiring.
The concern is that higher rates are putting pressure on households and businesses looking to borrow, weighing on hiring, investment and the housing market.
At Morehouse College, students and faculty were divided over inviting President Joe Biden to receive an honorary degree and give a speech at the school’s commencement ceremony. Morehouse valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher, who had a Palestinian flag affixed to his graduation cap, called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza during his speech, and assistant professor of sociology Taura Taylor stood with her fist raised, facing away from Biden as he addressed the crowd.
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.
Michael Cohen is an admitted liar and a convicted felon who is openly fueled by a thirst for revenge against Donald Trump. That he is so frank about his motives and past may actually make his testimony seem more credible to jurors.
If you’re looking to understand the philosophy that underpins Silicon Valley’s latest gold rush, look no further than OpenAI’s Scarlett Johansson debacle. The story, according to Johansson’s lawyers, goes like this: Nine months ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman approached the actor with a request to license her voice for a new digital assistant; Johansson declined.
Tennis is an elegant and simple sport. Players stand on opposite sides of a rectangle, divided by a net that can’t be crossed. The gameplay is full of invisible geometry: Viewers might trace parabolas, angles, and lines depending on how the players move and where they hit the ball. It’s an ideal representation of conflict, a perfect stage for pitting one competitor against another, so it’s no wonder that the game comes to stand in for all sorts of different things off the court.
The social media post came after Trump said in a TV interview that he plans to share a policy on contraception “very shortly,” without providing details.
Updated at 4:38 p.m. ET on May 21, 2024
In the Martian lowlands, one rocky crater is dotted with small holes, winding from the floor to the rim like breadcrumbs. Their clean and cylindrical appearance is distinctly unnatural, suggesting the work of aliens—which it is. For three years, a robot from Earth has been collecting samples of rock and soil into six-inch-long tubes, whirring and crackling on the otherwise quiet planet.
We speak with renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappé about his recent trip to the United States, when he was interrogated for two hours by federal agents upon arrival at Detroit airport about his political views on Gaza, Hamas and Israel, as well as demanding to know whom he knew in U.S. Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities. Pappé was only allowed to enter the country after agents copied the contents of his phone. “They refused to tell me why they stopped me,” he says.
Israel and the United States have both strongly condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, calling it “outrageous” and seeking support from other allies in opposing the court’s moves.
We speak with Lily Greenberg Call, the first known Jewish appointee to resign from the Biden administration over the war in Gaza. Greenberg Call was a special assistant to the chief of staff at the Interior Department after being named to the post by President Joe Biden in early 2023, but she quit on May 15 in a four-page letter that slammed Biden’s “disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Democrats’ efforts to ride the coattails of abortion ballot measures put passage at risk.