Today's Liberal News

Donald Trump claims he declassified documents ‘by thinking about it,’ but that’s not the worst thing

Telepathy is the ability to communicate using only thoughts. Telekinesis is the ability to move objects with the mind. But Donald Trump believes he has an ability even more rare and unbelievable—teledeclassification, the ability to declassify Top Secret documents without saying a word to anyone.

In a Wednesday appearance with Sean Hannity, Trump denied that there had to be a process for declassification. No forms, no verification, not even any words.

U.S. Supreme Court approval plummets to record lows as court expansion gains majority support

What’s a lot more popular with voters than the Supreme Court? The right to have an abortion. That’s the finding of two national surveys from the Marquette University Law School Poll released Wednesday and Thursday.

Marquette finds that the Supreme Court’s approval has plummeted in the past two years from 66% approval in September 2020 to 40% this month. That means just 40% of adults approve of the job the U.S. Supreme Court is doing.

Trump’s Terrible Week

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.Pour one out for Donald Trump’s lawyers: Their client has had a miserable week in court, and his legal woes are mounting.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

The ‘End’ of COVID Is Still Far Worse Than We Imagined

When is the pandemic “over”? In the early days of 2020, we envisioned it ending with the novel coronavirus going away entirely. When this became impossible, we hoped instead for elimination: If enough people got vaccinated, herd immunity might largely stop the virus from spreading.

Azerbaijan’s Deadly Attack on Armenia Inflames Decades-Long Conflict in South Caucasus

An attack by Azerbaijan on Armenia left more than 200 people dead before a ceasefire was called last Wednesday. It was the latest round of fighting between the two neighbors in the South Caucasus, which have fought a series of wars over territory. For more, we speak with Armenia-based reporter Roubina Margossian, who has reported from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that is at the center of the conflict.

Women Burn Hijabs in Iran as Protests Escalate over Killing of Mahsa Amini by “Morality Police”

Protests in Iran continue after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in custody of the so-called morality police. Mahsa Amini died last week after being detained for allegedly leaving some of her hair visible in violation of an Iranian law requiring women to cover their heads. Witnesses said Amini was severely beaten by police, but authorities claim she died of natural causes.

“Art of the Steal”: Trump Faces Greatest Legal Peril Yet as NY AG Sues Trumps & Docs Probe Resumes

Former President Donald Trump is facing his greatest legal peril yet, as New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against Trump, three of his children and his family business for widespread financial fraud. The suit alleges they overvalued assets by billions of dollars in order to secure more favorable financial arrangements, then deflated those values to pay less in taxes.

Why Adults Still Dream About School

I have a recurring dream. Actually, I have a few—one is about dismembering a body (I’d rather not get into it), but the more pertinent one is about college. It’s the end of the semester, and I suddenly realize that there is a class I forgot to attend, ever, and now I have to sit for the final exam. I wake up panicked, my GPA in peril. How could I have done this? Why do I so consistently self-sabota—oh. Then I remember I haven’t been in college in more than a decade.

No More ‘Strategic Ambiguity’ on Taiwan

President Joe Biden is changing Washington’s policy on Taiwan. And it’s about time.On Sunday’s 60 Minutes, Biden was asked whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan from a Chinese military assault. He replied: “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”Making such a pledge breaks with Washington’s traditional approach to Taiwan’s security.

The Tipping Point of Stupid

Donald Trump has a knack for making his most committed apologists look like complete imbeciles—even if they are not complete imbeciles, though many of them are. This has been true for several years. But in recent weeks, Trump’s trickle-down idiocy has become a significant midterm-election issue for Republicans, and a drag on some of the party’s most vulnerable Senate candidates.

What started with the murder of one woman has turned into protests that threaten to overturn Iran

On Sept. 13, Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman from northern Iran, was in Tehran to visit with her brother. She was walking with him near the entrance to a metro station when members of a “guidance patrol,” also known as the morality police, surrounded them. The religious police complained that Amini wasn’t properly wearing her hijab—a head covering women are required to wear under Iran’s strict religious dress codes.

The party of stolen valor just dropped a new lead character. Meet Ohio House candidate J.R. Majewski

 J.R. Majewski, who is running against Democrat Marcy Kaptur for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, has been campaigning on a hero’s story—one in which after Sept. 11, he was deployed to Afghanistan and suffered under “tough” conditions. The only problem is, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press (AP), Majewski never stepped foot in Afghanistan.