Today's Liberal News

College Rankings Were Once a Shocking Experiment

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
In 1934, Edwin Embree made an informal list of “the dozen greatest universities in America.” As he related in The Atlantic the following year, “A storm at once broke over my temerarious head.” An unnamed politician responded with curses and threats over the exclusion of his state’s university on the list.

Portland’s ‘War Zone’ Is Like Burning Man for the Terminally Online

In the days since Donald Trump directed his “Secretary of War” to marshal troops against “domestic terrorists” in Portland, Oregon, encouraging the use of “full force” in a city he likened to a “war zone,” I have been hanging around the demonstration that the president wants to crush. What I’ve found is an atmosphere that is more like a carnival than combat.
By some accounts, this all started back in June, when a group of friends decided to pitch a tent outside an ICE facility in the city.

“Orwell: 2+2=5”: Raoul Peck & Alex Gibney on New Documentary, Authoritarianism, Trump & More

We speak with the acclaimed filmmakers Raoul Peck and Alex Gibney about their latest documentary, Orwell: 2+2=5, which explores the life and career of George Orwell and why his political writing remains relevant today.
“We are living again and again — not only in the United States, but in many other countries, including in Europe, in Latin America, in Africa — the same playbook playing again and again,” says Peck, who directed the film.

Chicago Activist on Organizing Community ICE Patrols as Trump Escalates Immigration Crackdown

Tension between immigration agents and community activists is growing in Chicago, where ICE agents have deployed tear gas and pepper balls against ongoing protests outside Chicago’s Broadview ICE detention facility.
Democracy Now! speaks with community activist Cristóbal Cavazos, who says that the people of Chicago have been steadfast in their mobilization against ICE, with communities engaging in daily protests and community safety patrols.

YouTube Bends the Knee

If you measure only in dollars (and not in dignity), YouTube got a pretty good deal. This week, the Google-owned platform paid $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump after the company suspended his channel six days after the January 6 riot at the Capitol. At the time, YouTube said it was “concerned about the ongoing potential for violence.” (Trump’s account was eventually reinstated in March 2023.

Today’s Atlantic Trivia

Updated with new questions at 5:05 p.m. ET on October 1, 2025.
In the 1960s, the authors of one of the world’s first popular compendiums of fun and interesting facts entreated readers not to mistake the “flower of Trivia” for the “weed of minutiae.” Trivia stimulates the mind, Edwin Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky wrote in More Trivial Trivia; minutiae stymie it.

The One Big Change SNL Is Making

As Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year, the discussion about the show’s legacy rarely focused on its comedy. Instead, the emphasis was placed on its lore and rituals as well as the Sphinx-like decision making of the show’s creator, showrunner, and executive producer, Lorne Michaels.

Bail Out Argentina

Sometimes even the Trump administration acts like a normal American government. The bailout of Argentina is one of those times.
The Trump administration is proposing to lend Argentina up to $20 billion to support its currency on financial markets. The plan is unpopular with Republicans and Democrats alike. Yet at a time when much of U.S.