For years now, Hakwan Lau has suffered from an inner torment. Lau is a neuroscientist who studies the sense of awareness that all of us experience during our every waking moment. How this awareness arises from ordinary matter is an ancient mystery. Several scientific theories purport to explain it, and Lau feels that one of them, called integrated information theory (IIT), has received a disproportionate amount of media attention.
This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.For many who were purged during Stalin’s reign in the Soviet Union, one erasure followed another. After being sent to the Gulag (if they weren’t shot in the basement of the Lubyanka building), the ousted person would suffer the further indignity of having their face crosshatched with frantic pen marks to make them disappear from family albums.
Cuba has released footage showing an individual throwing two Molotov cocktails inside the Cuban Embassy compound in Washington, D.C., last Sunday, condemning it as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made. Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío says the country is demanding a speedy investigation, adding that it is the latest in a series of attacks against Cuban diplomatic missions in recent years.
Poland says it’s preparing to seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi after he received a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons last week following a speech by visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka was invited by the speaker of the House, who has since resigned his post, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the episode on Wednesday.
The government of Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolving itself after decades of struggle for autonomy from Azerbaijan, just days after Azerbaijani forces carried out a military blitz to seize the breakaway region, which has a majority of ethnic Armenians. More than half the territory’s 120,000 people have reportedly fled to Armenia, while thousands more remain without food, shelter and clean drinking water.
Democrats are loving the Biden economy. They’re less certain about his economic message.
Key takeaways from POLITICO’s ‘Transforming Health Care: Site-Neutral Payments & Billing Transparency’ live event.
The United Auto Workers announced a strike at three plants — one each at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — overnight.
A super PAC affiliate is spending $13 million far ahead of the normal advertising timeline.
The president leaned into his achievements at a Labor Day event in Philadelphia, but a new poll reflects widespread disapproval.
“You would think you would bring your A-game,” said Neil Cavuto.
Far-right state school superintendent Ryan Walters gets a visit from a bird in the middle of a meeting.
“Why are they talking about education in this way?
The Fox News host had a baffling take on Thursday’s proceedings.
Some outlets reported that the drop is a sign that viewers are uninterested in learning about the candidates as former President Donald Trump leads in the polls.
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.The president was on the picket line, and the American public is paying attention to unions. This moment of renewed interest in organizing could energize labor activity in the U.S., but it also turns up the pressure on union leaders.
There’s an expression reporters use, that you’ve “reported yourself out of a story.” That is, you had a hunch or a tip about something, but when you checked the facts, the story didn’t pan out. Sometimes, though, reporters stick to the narrative they’ve decided on in advance, and they don’t let facts get in the way.The United Auto Workers union is striking for a better contract.
When news comes out that someone has suffered an email breach, my first instinct is to pity them and practice extreme charity. I don’t remember any emails I wrote a decade ago, but I’m sure there’s something in there appalling enough to sour my relationships with every friend, ex, or co-worker I ever had. Give me your email password, and I will ruin your career.
This past Sunday, Keila Shaheen woke up to find that, once again, she was the best-selling author across all of Amazon. To get there, she’d outsold every other book on the platform—including Walter Isaacson’s buzzy biography of Elon Musk and the Fox News host Mark Levin’s screed The Democrat Party Hates America. She’d even beat out Oprah.At just 24, she is a bona fide publishing juggernaut. And yet few outside of TikTok have even bothered to notice.
At POLITICO’s Cancer Moonshot Mission Update, administration officials said Biden’s goal of cutting the death rate in half is achievable.
Manchin and Republicans say the agency has overstepped its authority.
Senator Bob Menendez appeared in court Wednesday to face corruption charges yet refused to resign. A growing number of politicians have called for Menendez to step down, after federal agents discovered large amounts of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz in the Democrat’s New Jersey home.
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, but the details of the suit remain unclear as much of it is redacted to the public. We speak with David Dayen, author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power, about the significance of this lawsuit, which comes just two weeks after the opening of a landmark antitrust trial against Google.
Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader responds to Wednesday’s second Republican debate, saying, “It’s pretty embarrassing that this is what they put forward to become the president of the most powerful country in the world.” Nader discusses the debate’s topics of social media, former President Donald Trump and wealth inequality in America.
Donald Trump skipped the second Republican presidential debate of the 2024 race on Wednesday, declining once again to share a stage with competitors for the nomination whom he leads in the polls by double digits. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie criticized Trump for his absence, but most of the seven candidates avoided direct attacks on the front-runner. Instead, they largely aimed their fire at President Joe Biden — and each other.
Key takeaways from POLITICO’s ‘Transforming Health Care: Site-Neutral Payments & Billing Transparency’ live event.
Key takeaways from POLITICO’s “Confronting America’s Opioid Crisis” live event in Texas.
Most Americans with public and private health insurance can still get the shot for free, as long as they visit in-network providers.
CMS announcement comes as states review program eligibility for the first time in three years.
Health experts are sounding the alarm over the anti-vaccine movement’s rise.