Today's Liberal News

Herschel Walker Is the New Normal

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.Win or lose, all the criticisms of Herschel Walker obscure a larger point: The Republicans have acclimated the American public to ghastly behavior from elected officials and candidates for high office.

The Companies That Are Killing Creativity

In 2012, Jeff Bezos claimed in a letter to Amazon shareholders that the company was serving humanity by eliminating old-fashioned “gatekeepers,” like book publishers, that stood between creators and their audiences. Today, nearly three decades since its founding, the company has indeed replaced these businesses with an even bigger and more centralized gatekeeper: Amazon itself.Think about the art and culture you consume—the books, music, movies, and podcasts.

China’s COVID Wave Is Coming

In China, a dam seems on the verge of breaking. Following a wave of protests, the government has begun to relax some of its most stringent zero-COVID protocols, and regional authorities have trimmed back a slew of requirements for mass testing, quarantine, and isolation. The rollbacks are coming as a relief for the many Chinese residents who have been clamoring for change.

Herschel Walker Is an American Tragedy

Commodity. Chattel. Contraband. Capital. What is a Black body in the South? What is a Black southern man, carted out to work a white-owned field?It’s impossible today to talk about Black men and white agendas without talking about Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in the runoff election in Georgia. But in order to talk about Walker, I’ve got to start in what may be his actual state of residence, Texas.

Warnock vs. Walker, Round 2: Georgia Breaks Voting Records in Senate Runoff Election

Voters in Georgia cast their ballots Tuesday in the closely watched runoff election between Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. A victory for Warnock would give Democrats a 51st seat in the Senate. The election has seen a record number of early votes, especially in communities of color, but Black Voters Matter co-founder and executive director Cliff Albright says that is “partially a function of the voter suppression” in the state.

Publishing Is Not a Crime: NYT, The Guardian & More Urge Biden Admin to Drop Charges Against Assange

The New York Times and four major European newspapers — The Guardian in Britain, Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany and El País in Spain — recently urged the Biden administration to drop all charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In a joint letter, the newspapers said, “This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.

Pegasus Spyware Maker NSO Group Sued in U.S. Court by El Faro Journalists

A group of journalists working for the award-winning Central American independent news outlet El Faro have filed a lawsuit in U.S. court against NSO Group, the Israeli company that operates the Pegasus spyware used to monitor and track journalists, human rights activists and dissidents across the globe. The journalists of El Faro, which is based in El Salvador, allege that Pegasus software was used to infiltrate their iPhones and track their communications and movements.

Jeffrey Sachs: A Negotiated End to Fighting in Ukraine Is the Only Real Way to End the Bloodshed

With the war in Ukraine now in its 10th month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden have both expressed openness to peace talks to end the fighting, as have leaders in France, Germany and elsewhere. This comes as millions of Ukrainians brace for a winter without heat or electricity due to Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Inside Israel’s Cover-up & U.S. Response to Murder of Palestinian American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

More than six months since the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while reporting in the occupied West Bank, “there is still no accountability in what happened,” says journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous. He is the correspondent on a new Al Jazeera documentary for the program “Fault Lines” that investigates Abu Akleh’s May killing.

Alito interrupts Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to crack ‘joke’ about Black kids in KKK costumes

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that uses “free speech” and personal religious beliefs as justifications to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans. Justice Samuel Alito clearly didn’t take the case seriously as he was overheard making a nonsensical joke about Black children in KKK costumes as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson attempted to clarify a hypothetical.  

The case is titled 303 Creative LLC  v.

Warnock campaigns hard in final days before Georgia runoff, while Walker hardly seems to be trying

The day before the Georgia Senate runoff election, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is seen as having the advantage of Republican nominee Herschel Walker, but the race is expected to be tight. Warnock responded by sprinting through a final weekend of hard campaigning, making six campaign stops and delivering a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the historic Black church where he is senior pastor.

House Republicans remain in total disarray

The vote counting is finally all done, and House Republicans have a tiny majority of 222 seats, with Democrats holding 213. This means GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes in his bid to be Speaker of the House, and there are already five who insist they will oppose him. The chance that he could scrap together a majority with help from Democrats is vanishingly small.

Republican talk show host who says election was ‘stolen’ investigated for election fraud

A conservative North Georgia talk show host who, like most conservatives, rails against election fraud, has allegedly voted illegally … nine times. He’s also a candidate for the state House. How did he allegedly break the law and commit Republican-only election fraud?

Well, the Georgia attorney general’s office says Brian K. Pritchard voted while “serving a felony sentence in a $33,000 forgery and theft case.