If you’ve been alive between Christmas and New Years, you’ve probably read a Best of the Year list. Best movies of the year. Best albums. Art. Social-media trends. Anything, really. Last year, according to The New York Times, Víkingur Ólafsson’s recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” the actor Bella Ramsey, and a sushi-and-scuba video game called Dave the Diver were worthy of your time and attention.
President Joe Biden’s recent executive actions on asylum and other border-security issues mark more than a shift to a more restrictive immigration policy. They’re also a rejection of the narrative that progressive advocacy groups and Latino Democrats have been pushing for years: that the best way to woo voters in the nation’s largest ethnic minority is to push for a permissive immigration system.
The far-right publisher known as “Lomez” kept his identity private, and for good reason. His company, Passage Publishing, has printed books from a German nationalist, anti-democracy monarchists, and white supremacists promoting “human biodiversity.” On X, where he has more than 70,000 followers, Lomez has suggested that journalists be killed, praised Kyle Rittenhouse, and tweeted a homophobic slur on at least one occasion.
Israelis celebrated the return of the four hostages in Saturday’s raid. The four hostages — Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv — were all in good medical condition. Just hours after the rescue, thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities to protest Netanyahu’s government and to call for a deal to free the remaining hostages.
Four Israeli hostages have returned to their families after Israel’s deadly raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed at least 274 Palestinians. All four hostages were in good medical condition. As Israel’s war on Gaza continues unabated, families and supporters of many of the remaining hostages see the Israeli government’s refusal to negotiate for a ceasefire as a barrier to their loved ones’ safe return.
Israel’s weekend attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that freed four Israeli hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians and wounded nearly 700 was reportedly supported by the Biden administration, which provided intelligence to Israel ahead of the raid. “There’s no question that what unfolded in that operation was a massacre,” says Palestinian American political analyst Omar Baddar.
In one of the single bloodiest Israeli attacks in Gaza over the last eight months, at least 274 Palestinians were killed, including at least 64 children, and nearly 700 were wounded in a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday that freed four Israelis held hostage in Gaza since October 7. “Children were shot dead. Elderly people were shot dead. Women were shot dead,” says Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri, who was at the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday.
The Biden administration is in court defending a federal law it argues protects emergency abortions. In practice, the statute has offered only limited help.
Democrats hope Republicans who voted against the legislation pay a political price in November.
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said using ecstasy to boost therapy for people with post-traumatic stress disorder was not effective.
Lawmakers and the VA hope ecstasy can help treat veterans with PTSD, but there’s reason for doubt.
Friday’s good jobs numbers may be a boost. But boosts haven’t yet materialized into political benefits.
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.
Democracy Now! speaks with the creators of a new arts campaign grounded in Black women’s stories. VOICES: a sacred sisterscape is an audio play directed by award-winning poet aja monet weaving together Black feminist poems and perspectives. “Art is an invitation to expand our participation in the world and the ways that we see the world,” says monet, who hopes the project inspires action beyond aesthetics.
As we enter the month of June, scorching temperatures are already making deadly heat waves around the world. Data confirmed last month was the hottest May on record, putting the Earth on a 12-month streak of record-breaking temperatures. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization announced there is an 80% chance the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels for at least one of the next five years.
Israeli forces have illegally dropped white phosphorus munitions on densely populated residential areas in southern Lebanon, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. White phosphorus, which poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering, was dropped by Israel over at least 17 municipalities in Lebanon since October 2023.
We speak with Congressmember Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of the top targets for pro-Israel groups seeking to oust lawmakers who have led calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Bowman is a former Bronx middle school principal who won his seat in 2020 before becoming a member of the so-called Squad of progressives in Congress.
This article was originally published by Hakai Magazine.
In 2015, 76 million cubic meters of rock crashed from the rugged cliffs above a southeastern Alaska fjord and into the water below. The landslide sparked a nearly 200-meter-tall wave that roared down the narrow Taan Fiord and out into Icy Bay. No one witnessed the collapse, but a year later, the geologist Bretwood Higman was in the area taking detailed measurements of the tsunami’s effects.
On June 12, Russia celebrates its Independence Day. The commemoration was instituted by President Boris Yeltsin in 1992 to a collective shrug—“Who did Russia declare independence from?” people asked. But in the early 2000s, President Vladimir Putin elevated the day to a major national celebration, accompanied by a cornucopia of flag-waving.
His new anti-vaccine persona could have far-reaching consequences if he’s elected to a second stint as president with far-reaching administrative powers.
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.
Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is Rina Li, a copy editor who works on this newsletter.
Rina has wide-ranging cultural tastes.
As Gavin Newsom rose from mayor of San Francisco to governor of California, he championed progressive efforts to reclassify various felonies as misdemeanors, to end the death penalty, and to legalize marijuana. After George Floyd’s murder in 2020, he signed laws barring cops from using a controversial chokehold and requiring independent probes in police shootings, bragging that “California has advanced a new conversation about broader criminal justice reform.
Looking for their night roost, tiny
birds drop like stars into the darkened dead trees
around me. I thought
dreams were like water, that we
can’t smell anything there. And then you visited me,
your body whole again
but the must of extinction on your breath.
This poem was adapted from Forrest Gander’s forthcoming book, Mojave Ghost: A Novel Poem. It appeared in the July/August 2024 print edition.
The Biden administration is in court defending a federal law it argues protects emergency abortions. In practice, the statute has offered only limited help.
Democrats hope Republicans who voted against the legislation pay a political price in November.
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said using ecstasy to boost therapy for people with post-traumatic stress disorder was not effective.
Lawmakers and the VA hope ecstasy can help treat veterans with PTSD, but there’s reason for doubt.
The government’s former top infectious disease official said he didn’t suppress the debate over the coronavirus’ origin.