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.There’s been some—mostly silly—hysteria over Elon Musk finally taking ownership of Twitter. But there are reasons to be concerned, even if you’re not on the platform.First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
Emily Oster: Let’s declare a pandemic amnesty.
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, as lines of ambulances roared down the streets and freezer vans packed into parking lots, the pediatric emergency department at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was quiet.It was an eerie juxtaposition, says Chris Woodward, a pediatric-emergency-medicine specialist at the hospital, given what was happening just a few doors down.
If the measure passes, language will be added to the state’s constitution guaranteeing the right to abortion as well as contraception and other reproductive health services.
From 2017 to 2021, a string of businessmen with long, lucrative careers entered government service and left with their reputations tarnished. Rex Tillerson was a world-bestriding CEO who found himself hated by both his new boss and his new employees. Steven Mnuchin, a successful though largely anonymous moneyman, developed an image as a sloppy supervillain.
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna says Saudi Arabia should face consequences for its decision to cut oil output by 2 million barrels a day as part of the OPEC+ cartel, raising gas prices in the United States just before the midterm elections where cost-of-living issues are expected to be a major factor. He also discusses the Saudi-led war in Yemen, describing it as “one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world” that must be brought to an end.
Why did members of the House Progressive Caucus retract a letter to President Biden that called for diplomatic engagement with Russia to end the war in Ukraine? We speak with Congressmember Ro Khanna of California, one of the signatories, who says he continues to stand by the letter despite the decision to withdraw it.
Police in California have arrested a 42-year-old man for breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and assaulting her 82-year-old husband with a hammer. Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and other injuries, but is expected to make a full recovery. We speak to Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna of California as President Biden links the attack on the Pelosis to election conspiracy theories spread by Republicans.
Leftist presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil’s runoff election, ousting far-right President Jair Bolsonaro after just one term. Lula won with 50.9% of the vote, though Bolsonaro has yet to concede. Other world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, were quick to congratulate Lula on his victory in an effort to forestall efforts by Bolsonaro and his allies to deny the results.
The agency says it’s concerned the practice could endanger patients’ health.
The departure of Michelle McMurry-Heath comes just as the Biden administration is poised to begin implementing key drug pricing provisions and the balance of power could shift in Congress.
The November measure comes as health care advocates at the state level grapple with how to help residents with the rising costs of health care now that it appears Congress will be unable to pass any significant reforms to address the issue.
The head of the federal public health agency is isolating at home with mild symptoms.
If the plan fails, the agency risks repeating the mistakes it made during the pandemic.
Housing investment, though, plunged at a 26 percent annual pace, hammered by surging mortgage rates.
According to an NBC News poll released Sunday, 70 percent of registered voters expressed interest in the upcoming election as a “9” or “10” on a 10-point scale.
The budget gap shrank by half in fiscal 2022 as spending on pandemic programs expired and tax revenues surged.
The U.K. political drama will have ripple effects in the U.S.
We speak with Florida voting rights activist Desmond Meade about how Republicans like Governor Ron DeSantis are attempting to scare formerly incarcerated people with felony convictions from voting. DeSantis launched an election police force to arrest people on trumped-up voter fraud charges.
With Republicans set to make major gains in the November midterms, we speak with reporter Ari Berman, who says Republican control of the Legislature in Wisconsin is a preview of the damage the party could do if empowered in Washington. Berman’s latest piece for Mother Jones is titled “How Wisconsin Became the GOP’s Laboratory for Dismantling Democracy.
Former President Barack Obama is in Georgia Friday to campaign for Democrats in the closely watched Senate and gubernatorial races. This comes as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was caught on a hot mic Thursday saying the race between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Trump-backed anti-abortion Republican nominee Herschel Walker is “going downhill,” and recent polls show Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is trailing Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
Public health experts in the United States are warning of a possible “tripledemic” of respiratory illness this winter: an increase in COVID cases, an early flu season and a surge in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Hospitals in some parts of the U.S. are already seeing a surge in cases of RSV, which usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms but can be very serious for infants.
He also tore a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as images of other American icons as he claimed Democrats are dividing the nation.
Crowd marks 100 years after dictator entered Rome in bloodless coup as modern-day leaders with fascist roots take over Italian government.
Mark Brnovich’s comments come months after he lost a GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat to Blake Masters, a Trump-endorsed Republican.
The suspect’s plastic cuffs and demands of “Where is Nancy?” are chillingly reminiscent of the attack on the Capitol last year.
Arizona Trump supporters have gotten themselves a new hobby in these last weeks of the 2022 elections: Showing up just outside the legally protected 75′ perimeter around public ballot drop boxes in Maricopa County to watch voters turning in their ballots. Sometimes while sporting tactical vests and/or weapons. Sometimes while capturing videos of the voters that arrive or taking pictures of their license plates.
Campaign Action
This has led to confrontations, of course.
Ukraine is tight-lipped about its advances, and Russia has effectively muzzled its Telegram milbloggers, forcing them to report on Russia’s glorious victories under threat of imprisonment. So getting accurate information has suddenly gotten a bit tougher, and the fog of war has always been a challenge to see through.
The front around Svatove and Kreminna is a perfect example, with claims and counter-claims and rumors muddying the picture.
Here’s a job for the national political press corps, if they can take time out from declaring doom for the Democrats in the midterms: Put elected Republicans and every GOP candidate on the ballot everywhere on the record about how their vilification of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resulted in an assassination attempt against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and landed her husband in the hospital with serious injuries.
We’re almost down to the wire here, but there’s still time to make a difference before the November midterms, and Daily Kos has the best way to make a financial impact: Donate to our Election Protection slate.
This slate features 17 Democrats running for three crucial posts in eight key states: secretary of state, attorney general, and state supreme court.