Today's Liberal News

Some wins and some losses on labor-related ballot measures, this week in the war on workers

They weren’t mostly the highest-profile things on the ballot on Tuesday, but this year’s elections did include a number of ballot measures relevant to workers. The outcomes were a mixed bag.

In Illinois, a workers’ rights amendment looks likely to pass. That measure would affirm the right to organize and ban any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.

Everything We Know About Dreams

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.

The Exquisite Pain of Monogamous Life

Being really, honestly surprised, especially these days, can feel thrilling—which is what makes Mammals, the new Prime Video series from the Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth, so hard to write about. There’s a revelation at the very end that turns the entirety of what we’ve just seen on its head; rewatching the first few episodes after that, which I did, was a bracingly new experience.

Go Ahead, Joke About the Pandemic

Jokes are rich notions. The Black comedic and satirical traditions have for decades fascinated scholars and comedians, many of whom have converged on the idea that trauma is a defining feature of Black comedy. W. E. B Du Bois wrote in The Humor of Negroes that humor is partly “a defense mechanism; reaction from tragedy; oppositions set out in the face of hurt and insult.

The Petulant King

A difficult labor—30 hours!—and someone has to make the terrible decision. Right there in a Buckingham Palace bedroom, with mother and child etherized upon the table, deft hands make the cut, the unwilling baby is tugged out—and it’s done.A boy! Clever girl.To sleep, to sleep, to sleep.Posted on the gates of the palace, a handwritten announcement:Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth Duchess of Edinburgh was safely delivered of a Prince at 9.

South Dakota votes to expand Medicaid

The Republican-controlled state, where lawmakers have long resisted Medicaid expansion, is the seventh in the last five years to do so at the ballot box — and likely the last to do so for some time.

The Story of Baby O: Rebecca Nagle on the Supreme Court Case That Could Gut Native Sovereignty

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Haaland v. Brackeen, a case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act and ultimately threatening the legal foundations of federal Indian law. ICWA was created in 1978 to address the systemic crisis of family separation in Native communities waged by the U.S. and requires the government to ensure foster children are adopted by members of their Indigenous tribes, as well as blood relatives, before being adopted by non-Indigenous parents.

Sen. Mark Kelly wins in Arizona, in key hold for Senate Democrats

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has defeated Republican Blake Masters in Arizona’s Senate race. Arizona has been one of the hardest-fought battlegrounds this year, after both Kelly and President Joe Biden won narrowly in 2020. That marked the first time the state had two Democratic senators since 1953 and just the second time a Democrat had won the state’s presidential election since 1948.

Ukraine update: Kherson is liberated

UPDATE: Friday, Nov 11, 2022 · 8:12:34 PM +00:00

·
Mark Sumner

Here’s a highlight for the captured equipment reel. 

“Some capture tanks – but we focus more on helicopters!” Hey, @MoD_Russia! You forgot something! #RussianArmy #RussiaIsLosing pic.twitter.

Republican Joe Lombardo unseats Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak

UPDATE: Saturday, Nov 12, 2022 · 2:18:08 AM +00:00 · Joan McCarter

Democrats will hold both chambers of the legislature, so Lombardo will definitely be checked by the legislative branch. 

Republican Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo has toppled incumbent Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, winning the Nevada governor’s office for Republicans.

AOC skillfully corrects Chris Wallace on who’s ‘extreme,’ citing Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP

When it comes to defining extremist views, somehow, the Republican Party can’t bring itself to consider that the demon is actually inside its own house.

In a recent appearance on Chris Wallace’s series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on HBO Max, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) took no time to push back when Wallace asked if she would concede that “people want both parties to move from the fringes, from the extremes back to the center.

You Can Forget About Crypto Now

When I spoke with Sam Bankman-Fried three weeks ago, he was crypto’s golden boy. Worth about $15 billion, this quirky 30-year-old led one of the industry’s largest empires. Over the past few years, he’s palled around with Bill Clinton, graced the cover of Fortune magazine, and turned himself into a three-letter initialism: SBF. Toward the end of our rambling, 90-minute interview, Bankman-Fried dropped a casual hint at the state of his finances.

Is the Status Update Over?

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.This was probably the most chaotic week for the social-media business in years, maybe ever. I called my colleague Charlie Warzel, who has been tweeting (and writing) through it, for a recap and his prediction for what comes next.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

America Just Shrugged Off Biden’s Big Climate Law

Probably the best day for climate action in American political history was August 7, 2022, when the Senate overcame 30 years of sclerosis and passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the country’s first comprehensive climate bill. After that day, the bill’s adoption into law was all but assured, and it sailed through the House and reached the president’s desk.But perhaps the second most important day for American climate policy was this past Tuesday.

Trump’s Future Isn’t Up to Fox News

Rupert Murdoch, Rich Lowry, Mike Pompeo, and company: Welcome to the resistance!These conservative luminaries are among the many credentialed members of the right who have criticized former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the Republican Party’s historically underwhelming performance in the midterm elections. They are right to do so: Voters rejected not only many of Trump’s handpicked candidates but also his attacks on democracy and claims about stolen elections.