Today's Liberal News

The Absurd Talent of Kylian Mbappé

This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.There is no player in the world right now like Kylian Mbappé.In the 2018 World Cup four years ago, Mbappé burst onto the international stage as a 19-year-old, scoring four times in the tournament, including a breathtaking goal in the final.

Remembering Grant Wahl, a Champion of American Soccer

Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on December 10, 2022.This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.Twenty years ago, when I first called the soccer writer Grant Wahl, he was an exotic species. In those days, most writing about American games existed in niche magazines with low production values and even lower circulations.

Why We Buy What We Do

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.“I don’t like to shop, but I do like to buy,” Frances Taylor wrote in The Atlantic in 1931. In an essay called “Who Wants My Money?,” Taylor laments how inconvenient the process of shopping is.

‘Biological Strip Malls’ Have Taken Over the Planet

This story originally appeared in bioGraphic, an independent magazine about nature and regeneration powered by the California Academy of Sciences. On a toasty morning in March, a steady stream of hikers trudges up the steep road leading into Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Many seek out this popular park just north of San Diego for the expansive views of the sparkling Pacific Ocean and the gnarled, endangered pine trees that lend the reserve its name.

Zero COVID’s Failure Is Xi’s Failure

For three years, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, fought a remorseless battle against COVID-19. He called it a “people’s war”—a national struggle to defeat an unseen foe and save lives. The contest locked families in their homes for weeks, strangled the economy, and closed the country to the world.

Supreme Court Weighs Voting Rights Case Based on Fringe Theory That Could Upend Democracy

The Supreme Court is considering a North Carolina redistricting case that could have far-reaching implications for voting rights in the 2024 election and beyond. At stake in Moore v. Harper is whether North Carolina Republican lawmakers had the authority to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that redrew the state’s congressional map due to partisan gerrymandering.

Fox News’ criticism of Brittney Griner’s release is really just a hateful reaction to Black joy

It didn’t take long for Fox News and Republicans to try to erase President Joe Biden’s success in securing the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner. The right-wing machine has spent nearly every moment since the announcement trash-talking Griner—who they claim “hates America”—and Biden, who they blame for the continued Russian incarceration of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

A new pandemic is killing hundreds of millions of birds, and some species may be completely lost

The flu virus can infect practically every species of mammal. It’s also capable of infecting birds. For a disease to readily infect two groups whose last common ancestor lived somewhere between 320 and 340 million years ago is pretty unusual, but far from unheard of. After all, there are good half a dozen bacterial diseases that you can get from handling a turtle. Even so, flu is extraordinary in how it has adapted to such a variety of hosts.

We Need a Little Christmas (Music)

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.It’s time for the takeover of the airwaves by Christmas TV specials and music. I have some nostalgic favorites—and some nominations for songs that should get a Scrooge-like burial after being boiled in a vat of Christmas pudding.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Files Are Bait

Last night, Elon Musk celebrated the release of a new entry in the “Twitter Files” series, which aims to … Well, that’s complicated. It’s a supposed transparency project from Musk that, to date, has included giving two independent writers access to internal Twitter communications, as well as to the company’s Slack channels.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Another COVID Surge

When I called the epidemiologist Denis Nash this week to discuss the country’s worsening COVID numbers, he was about to take a rapid test. “I came in on the subway to work this morning, and I got a text from home,” Nash, a professor at the City University of New York, told me. “My daughter tested positive for COVID.”Here we go again: For the first time in several months, another wave seems to be on the horizon in the United States.