Today's Liberal News

The Cost of ‘Natural’ Womanhood

Supposedly, the menstrual cycle is a gift. It’s a product of good design. It’s a miraculous dance of hormones that can’t be contained. Such are the messages flooding the internet these days, courtesy of lifestyle influencers, crunchy moms, so-called hormone coaches, and all sorts of popular entertainers.
The menstrual cycle, according to these same voices, is also an emotional roller coaster, best ridden with the aid of bespoke products.

The Rise of Emotional Surveillance

The good news, for me at least, is that the computer thinks I have a nice personality. According to an app called MorphCast, I was, in a recent meeting with my boss, generally “amused,” “determined,” and “interested,” though—sue me—occasionally “impatient.” MorphCast, you see, purports to glean insights into the depths and vagaries of human emotion using AI. It found that my affect was “positive” and “active,” as opposed to negative and/or passive. My attention was reasonably high.

“A People’s History of Invisible India”: Journalist Neha Dixit on Dire State of Worker Rights

On International Workers’ Day, we take a look at the state of workers’ rights and freedoms in India, where pressure on fuel supplies from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has deepened the cost-of-living crisis and labor unrest is on the rise. In mid-April, tens of thousands of workers from the industrial hubs around New Delhi blocked roads to demand a fair wage and better working conditions.

“No School, No Work, No Shopping”: Workers, Immigrants to Lead Thousands of May Day Protests

As workers around the world rally to mark May Day, International Workers’ Day, we speak with organizers in Los Angeles and Chicago. The May Day Strong coalition here in the United States says 3,000 protests and events are scheduled across the country with organizers calling for “no school, no work, no shopping.”
The largest May Day protest in Los Angeles is planned at MacArthur Park.

From Springfield, Ohio, to the Supreme Court: A Pastor’s Fight to Protect TPS for Haitians

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on President Trump’s push to strip temporary protected status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians living in the United States. The TPS program grants protection from deportation and work authorization to immigrants whose home countries are deemed unsafe to return to, most often because of war or natural disaster. The case could ultimately have ramifications for more than 1 million TPS holders from over a dozen countries.

Sunlight Doesn’t Go Through the Strait of Hormuz: Bill McKibben on Iran Oil Shock & Green Transition

We speak with author and activist Bill McKibben about the worsening climate crisis and why the world must rapidly transition to renewable energy in order to stave off the worst impacts. He says the Iran war has exposed the “utter folly” of fossil fuel dependence. “Sunlight has to travel 93 million miles to reach the Earth, but none of those miles go through the Strait of Hormuz,” says McKibben.

How the Iran War May Play a Role in the Midterms

Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
Fallout from the war in Iran may play a role in the midterm elections, particularly when it comes to the economy. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined last night to discuss this, and more.

How to Find Focus When It’s Most Elusive

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.
When the writer David Epstein had to get stitches in his head and was told to move slowly for a few days, he expected to feel annoyed. But instead, after three days of following doctors’ orders, he found that he felt happy.

They Tried to Move a Whale

One afternoon in November, just north of the small Oregon coastal town of Yachats, a juvenile humpback whale tumbled ashore. A few hours earlier, local residents had spotted it thrashing in distress half a mile out at sea, entangled in crabbing gear, with a rope bound around its pectoral fin and woven through its baleen. One resident had swum out and cut the whale free, but it didn’t turn itself around and was now lodged on sand in shallow surf.

Your Next Dog May Live Longer

One day last November, my dog, Forrest, sat on the cold marble steps of the Smithsonian’s natural-history museum in Washington, D.C., ready to meet Celine Halioua, a woman who may one day add a tail-wagging year or so to his life, and also the lives of millions of other dogs. In 2019, Halioua founded a company called Loyal, and in February 2025, a pill that she developed for dogs was deemed likely to be effective by the FDA.

Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account

Updated at 4:34 p.m. ET on May 2, 2026
Donald Trump is on TikTok doing his morning routine. “Get ready with me for a big day 💄🇺🇸,” reads the caption, as the president holds a makeup brush to his cheek. The scene is a still, ostensibly a screenshot of a TikTok clip. Like so much other AI-generated slop coursing through the internet, the image is fake and ridiculous.