The Georgia election runoff system was created in the 1960s to lessen the power of Black voters. In recent decades, it has worked overwhelmingly to the advantage of Republicans—until 2021, when Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock became U.S. senators. In response, Republicans shortened the time between general and runoff elections, hoping to gain an advantage.
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.Does the U.S. really want clean energy? A step forward in fusion technology raises questions about what it will take to have a carbon-free future.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
The Twitter Files are a missed opportunity.
Well, here we all are again. Ready for three more hours of expensively lit retribution? I hope so, because the second half of Netflix’s documentary Harry & Meghan dropped today, covering the four and a half years from the couple’s wedding to the present day.The final three episodes of this six-hour series—Ken Burns needed just three times as long to get through the entire Vietnam war—focus on the Royal Family’s relationship with the press (again).
The GOP is in a strange place. After falling short of expectations in the midterms, some Republicans blame Donald Trump, and some want to anoint a challenger for 2024.
The report by Democrats on the House Intelligence Community says the CIA and other spy agencies “took too long to pivot.
As the world’s attention turns to the World Cup final on Sunday between Argentina and France, we look at the case of imprisoned World Cup whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, a former communications director for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organizers, who has been imprisoned since November 2019.
Human rights groups say over 14,000 people have been arrested across Iran since protests began in September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. At least 400 people have reportedly been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, and multiple people have been executed.
Nearly 30,000 people currently in the hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, up 30 percent since Thanksgiving.
The Coronavirus Crisis committee lays out 30 recommendations for protecting the country during future pandemics.
The move to authorize the shots comes as Covid-19 infections in the U.S. tick up amid the most intense flu season in years.
Public frustration with the restrictions appears to have finally swayed the opinion of officials.
Even with last month’s further easing of inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates.
Inflation has cooled only slightly and job growth remains strong.
A new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll suggests voters’ views of the economy are baked in.
Housing investment, though, plunged at a 26 percent annual pace, hammered by surging mortgage rates.
What does Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s defection from the Democrats mean for the party, control of the Senate and President Biden’s policy agenda? Sinema said last week that she is registering as an independent, though she will keep her committee assignments. Her announcement came just as Democrats were celebrating Senator Raphael Warnock’s reelection in Georgia, which gave Democrats 51 seats in the upper chamber.
“This painting will stand out as a woman in that Speaker’s Lobby,” the outgoing House speaker said.
“That’s almost the scenario that Biden wishes for. And that’s probably how he got elected the first time,” said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
The collection of texts from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows continues to turn up almost unending examples of Republicans behaving not just badly, but potentially criminally. The number of Republicans who contacted Meadows both before and after Jan.
UPDATE: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2022 · 8:11:12 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
I find this incredible in a direction that I can’t even name. Remember the opera theater in Mariupol? Early in the war Russia bombed this facility, even though it was not just a classic landmark of the city, but was a bomb shelter which had signs visible from above reading “children inside.
Three times in the last two weeks, the White House has directly and aggressively rebuked Trump-inspired attacks on the U.S. government and the rule of law.
The latest installment came in response to recently revealed Jan. 6-era texts in which Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina urged the Trump White House to declare ‘Marshall’ law, also commonly known as martial law outside of GOP circles.
Republicans have offered a preview of what we can expect from the House Oversight and Reform Committee once they’re in charge, and attorneys for women affected by that preview are objecting strongly to the “objectification and sexual exploitation” involved.
Renowned primatologist and environmental activist Jane Goodall minced no words in a recent interview in which she was asked to describe former President Donald Trump.
Goodall, 88, appeared on MSNBC’s latest installment of The Summit Series Tuesday with host Ari Melber, a show that features leaders at the summit of their fields. During the nearly 40-minute-long interview, Melber pivoted to the topic of politics.
Students are calling for the expulsion of Meg Miller, who has resigned as president of the university’s Turning Point USA chapter.
The would-be House speaker declines to rule out endorsing the former president or to criticize Trump’s threat to scrap the Constitution.
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.My colleague Faith Hill focuses much of her writing on what people actually need and want in day-to-day life, and why those needs aren’t as universal as we might assume.
The much-touted super PAC he created spent only $15 million on GOP candidates in key Senate races, and nothing at all on Herschel Walker’s runoff.
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.Question of the WeekWhat should be done about fentanyl? Has it affected your family or community?Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com.
Happy holidays—the final great pop album of the year is all about loathing and misery! “Everything disgusting, conversation is so boring,” SZA sings on her long-awaited second album. She later adds, “I hate everybody, I hate everyone.”SZA’s music is often described as R&B, a style in which anger and sadness tend to flow from heartbreak. But the 33-year-old star doesn’t seem comfortable admitting she has a heart at all.
In the hours before Sam Bankman-Fried surrendered to police at his home on the Bahamian island of New Providence, he was still engaged in something like a last-ditch press tour: a final, desperate attempt to make amends after his $32 billion crypto empire unraveled last month. Asked during a Monday-afternoon roundtable on Twitter Spaces whether he thought the prospect of returning to the U.S. might result in his arrest, Bankman-Fried responded with a resounding no.