Today's Liberal News

The Republicans Need a Reckoning

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.The pretense that the seditionists in the GOP are limited to a handful of kooks who worship Donald Trump is no longer sustainable. If there are any Republicans left who care about the Constitution, the time to speak up is now.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

The Threat to Democracy Is Still in Congress

The defeat of prominent election deniers around the country in last month’s midterm elections is cause for relief and maybe even tempered celebration, but not complacency about the dangers to democracy.Unexpectedly bad results for Republican candidates were, I have written, the result of an anti-MAGA majority that has turned out in three consecutive elections to rebuke Donald Trump and his coalition.

Avatar: The Way of Water Puts Most Modern Blockbusters to Shame

These days in Hollywood, scale seems to be one of the easiest things to achieve on-screen. Breakthroughs in visual-effects technology mean that audiences get to watch one epic battle after another, and are accustomed to seeing dozens of superheroes zipping around pointlessly. James Cameron has always been a director who harnesses the latest CGI advances to whip up thrills, but with Avatar: The Way of Water, his first film in 13 years, he faces an undeniable challenge.

Kyrsten Sinema Leaves Democratic Party. Is It Enough to Save Unpopular Senator’s Reelection Plans?

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.

AZ Governor Builds Illegal “Border Wall” of Shipping Containers & Razor Wire. Why Isn’t Biden Stopping It?

Outgoing Republican Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona is spending nearly $100 million in his final weeks in office to erect a makeshift border wall along the state’s southern boundary with Mexico made of shipping containers and razor wire. Ducey has described it as an effort to complete former President Donald Trump’s border wall, but the shipping containers are being placed on federal and tribal lands without permission.

Biden Hosts Summit of 49 African Leaders to Counter China & Russia’s Growing Power Across Continent

Leaders from 49 African nations are in Washington, D.C., this week for a three-day summit organized by the Biden administration. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit comes as the United States is trying to counter the growing influence of China and Russia in Africa. On Monday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced a pledge of $55 billion in economic, health and security support for Africa over the next three years.

“A Personified Weapon of Mass Destruction”: Ex-Arms Trafficking Inspector on Freed Russian Viktor Bout

Brittney Griner’s release from Russia has brought renewed attention to the notorious Russian arms dealer whom the U.S. exchanged for the basketball star in a prisoner swap. Viktor Bout, the former Soviet military officer who became known as the “Merchant of Death,” was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States for conspiracy to commit terrorism.

Trump’s a loser. So’s McDaniel. The whole back-scratching crew is taking the GOP down with them

Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party into a wasteland of losers, but they’re his loyal losers and that’s all that really matters. With his 30% base of voters and MAGA maniacs running most of the state parties, Trump will likely continue driving the GOP into the ground without paying even a smidge of a price for costing the party dearly in 2018, 2020, and once again in 2022.

Negotiations over boosting child tax credits are proof we are a crooked, crooked country

Remember the expanded child tax credit? You know, the program that singlehandedly boosted millions of American children out of poverty, only to send them crashing back down because Republicans absolutely refused to keep the program running no matter how successful it was and were, in fact, enraged that Democrats managed to pass it in the first place? The one that saw Democratic Sen.

The Wild Future of Artificial Intelligence

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.OpenAI’s impressive new artificial-intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, has intensified the debate over what the rise of AI-generated writing and art means for work, culture, education, and more.

What Does a Good Health-Care System Look Like?

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.Last week I asked, “What’s been your experience with the health-care system and what lessons have you drawn?”Dennis kicks us off with a near-death experience:
I was young and foolish.

Is This the ‘Kitty Hawk Moment’ for Fusion Energy?

Tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to announce that the era of fusion power is finally upon us: Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, have generated energy with a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. It has already been hailed as a transformative moment, even as the nature and reality of that transformation are nigh-impossible to discern.