This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.There is a video from the World Cup that I can’t stop watching.It’s not of Christian Pulisic’s self-sacrificial goal against Iran that sent the United States into the round of 16, or Lionel Messi dancing past a Croatian defender before providing the assist that sealed Argentina’s place in the final.
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.Updated at 9:00 p.m. ET on December 16, 2022For the past few days, Elon Musk has been throwing a gigantic temper tantrum on his platform, Twitter.
Last night, several well-known journalists, including Ryan Mac of The New York Times and Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, were suspended from Twitter.The suspensions were ostensibly related to the journalists’ reporting on an account—@ElonJet, operated by the 20-year-old Jack Sweeney—which was dedicated to publishing the location of Elon Musk’s private jet based on public data.
Reading the early works of established, revered writers always reminds me of looking at a baby’s face: how it seems impossible to know the ways that visage will sharpen and emerge, how mushy it is, sometimes indistinguishable from others—but also, when looking back at photos once the baby is grown, how difficult it is to imagine that face turning into anything other than what it has become.
A new UNICEF report finds that over 11,000 children have been killed or injured in the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war in Yemen since 2015. A six-month ceasefire between warring parties expired in October. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders withdrew a Senate resolution Tuesday that would have ended U.S. support for the war, following pressure from the White House. Sanders said he would bring the resolution back if they could not reach an agreement.
President Biden has pledged $55 billion to Africa over the next three years, announced during a three-day summit in Washington with leaders from 49 African nations. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was held as the United States is trying to counter the growing influence of China and Russia across the continent.
Mass protests are intensifying in Peru following the ouster and jailing of President Pedro Castillo, who was impeached on December 7 after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. At least 17 protesters have been killed in the unrest as police have attacked crowds with tear gas and live ammunition.
The agency’s report comes as Congress is considering whether to fund research and treatment.
Nearly 30,000 people currently in the hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, up 30 percent since Thanksgiving.
Even with last month’s further easing of inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates.
Inflation has cooled only slightly and job growth remains strong.
A new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll suggests voters’ views of the economy are baked in.
Housing investment, though, plunged at a 26 percent annual pace, hammered by surging mortgage rates.
This Friday, Mumia Abu-Jamal faces what could be his last chance for a new trial to consider newly discovered evidence that casts doubt on his 1982 conviction for murder. The journalist and former Black Panther has spent 41 years in prison for the death of police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which he has always maintained his innocence.
As tension rises between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, we speak with Daniel Ellsberg, the famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower, who worked for years during the Cold War on nuclear war strategy within the U.S. national security establishment. He says the threat of a catastrophic nuclear war is intolerable, with intercontinental ballistic missiles posing the highest risk.
The outgoing House Speaker also suggested there was “a need for an intervention” with the former president.
“Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us 1,438 times, and it may finally be too much,” wrote the editorial board of the previously pro-Trump tabloid.
The Constitution already bans any official who has violated their oath to defend the government or given aid to “enemies” from holding federal office again.
“He’s done his time, he’s done his service, we’re moving on,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
The departing Republican lawmaker criticized the Republican National Committee’s vote to censure him over his participation in the Jan. 6 committee.
UPDATE: Friday, Dec 16, 2022 · 3:47:56 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
So far, nothing from @bariweiss or @mtaibbi on the banning of journalists from Twitter.— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 16, 2022
UPDATE: Friday, Dec 16, 2022 · 3:33:44 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Musk is now claiming that the journalists involved “posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates.
Honestly, I was ready to get out my bowl of popcorn and relax when I learned that former President Donald Trump was making a “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT.
UPDATE: Thursday, Dec 15, 2022 · 11:33:32 PM +00:00
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Mark Sumner
For anyone who was actually concerned about those forces from Belarus that were all over the media two days ago…
🔙 The 38th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was transferred to the Ukrainian border as part of a sudden check of combat readiness, is already returning to Brest— Ukrainska Pravda in Engl
Another day, another story about how anti-abortion conservatives really, really want to start throwing people in jail. The Washington Post goes to Texas for this one, though much of the actual planning and grumbling is due to the same national anti-abortion groups that are always involved in these things.
The Georgia election runoff system was created in the 1960s to lessen the power of Black voters. In recent decades, it has worked overwhelmingly to the advantage of Republicans—until 2021, when Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock became U.S. senators. In response, Republicans shortened the time between general and runoff elections, hoping to gain an advantage.
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.Does the U.S. really want clean energy? A step forward in fusion technology raises questions about what it will take to have a carbon-free future.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
The Twitter Files are a missed opportunity.
Well, here we all are again. Ready for three more hours of expensively lit retribution? I hope so, because the second half of Netflix’s documentary Harry & Meghan dropped today, covering the four and a half years from the couple’s wedding to the present day.The final three episodes of this six-hour series—Ken Burns needed just three times as long to get through the entire Vietnam war—focus on the Royal Family’s relationship with the press (again).
The GOP is in a strange place. After falling short of expectations in the midterms, some Republicans blame Donald Trump, and some want to anoint a challenger for 2024.
The report by Democrats on the House Intelligence Community says the CIA and other spy agencies “took too long to pivot.
As the world’s attention turns to the World Cup final on Sunday between Argentina and France, we look at the case of imprisoned World Cup whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, a former communications director for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organizers, who has been imprisoned since November 2019.