Lots happening today, so bonus update!
On Monday I briefly addressed rumors out of pro-Ukraine Telegram that Russian forces had abandoned two key villages near Izyum, the site of a pontoon bridge and a key supply route for forces pushing toward the twin fortress cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Unfortunately it’s not likely true.
Maybe, after all is said and done, promoting an irritable bowel with a Sriracha beer bong attachment as your party’s standard-bearer isn’t such a great idea after all. For years, Donald Trump was to Fox News what Jared was to Subway: the face of the franchise. The only difference is, Fox knew all along what an odious lump of id Trump was but decided to make him their mascot anyway.
That may all be changing.
In December, President Joe Biden extended the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030 as part of the Space Frontier Act. A month later, NASA set an explicit end date for the last crew to leave in January of 2031. Then in February, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin initiated an illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“There was no order from the president,” former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller testified.
“I’m not the only provider who has taken care of young children needing abortion care,” Dr. Caitlin Bernard said on “CBS Evening News.
It is a fact that the Fox propaganda channel is virulently anti-LGBTQ. In just one example, Daily Kos’ Marissa Higgins has previously reported how the right-wing outlet has played a significant role in re-popularizing the Anita Bryant-era “groomer” slur against LGBTQ people.
Oh, but that’s just outright false, Fox might rebut. We honored LGBTQ Pride month just a couple weeks ago, it might insist.
They’re leaving the door open to supporting him if he runs for president again.
The idea of a Donald Trump–oriented think tank is inherently absurd. Whatever your views on the former president, there’s no question that wonkish attention to policy was never the point or the focus of his administration—which might explain the strangeness of his speech today at the America First Agenda Summit, where a blood-soaked philippic on crime became a cringey laugh-fest of transphobic jokes.The D.C.
Meijer, a Trump critic, is locked in a tense primary against former Trump administration official John Gibbs.
The report reflects the growing scope of the agency’s inquiry into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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.Are you ready to “release the wiggle”? Beyoncé’s new album will soon test America’s appetite for dancing—and her ability to adapt to the times.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.
The Supreme Court is making America ungovernable.
Vice President Kamala Harris plans to turn up pressure against “Republican extremism,” Hulu angered Democrats and state judges made opposite rulings on enforcing bans.
Barely a month ago, Northern Ireland’s former first minister David Trimble and his old partner in peace, the Republic of Ireland’s Bertie Ahern, were sitting together in Belfast reminiscing about what they had built. With John Hume’s death in 2020, Trimble and Ahern were among the last of the island’s old giants. And now Trimble has gone too.
Last week came news that Russian President Vladimir Putin was threatening to shut down the offices of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Russia. For those unfamiliar with it, the agency is a nonprofit that for nearly a century has been tasked with figuring out the nuts and bolts of Zionism—that is, how to get Jews to a Jewish state. It was banned from the Soviet Union, but began operating in the region in the late 1980s and helped about a million Jews get to Israel through the 1990s.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have introduced the Puerto Rico Status Act, which would allow residents of the longtime U.S. colony to begin the process of self-determination and decide on the island’s territorial status. The bill sets up three options for residents to choose from in a referendum — U.S. statehood, independence or sovereignty in free association with the United States — and commits Congress to abide by the results.
Human rights activists are sounding the alarm in Burma, where the military junta has executed four men imprisoned for their pro-democracy activism and opposing last year’s coup. It is the first series of reported executions in Burma in three decades.
Pope Francis is on a historic trip to Canada this week to apologize for the mistreatment suffered by thousands of Indigenous children in residential schools run by the Catholic Church. Many survivors say the apology comes over half a century too late and the church should take further actions to prevent the psychological, physical and sexual abuse from recurring in Catholic-run institutions.
This summer, the “dirtbags” have taken over screens. You know them when you see them. A paragon of the form is Eddie Munson from Stranger Things: Repeating his senior year of high school, Eddie sells weed, leads the Dungeons and Dragons club, and strikes most of the townsfolk as a plausible Satanist. He is alternately goofy and intimidating, with a love of heavy metal and a mullet one imagines smells of stale beer.
The GOP’s decade-plus war against the health law continues with lawsuit over coverage requirement for testing, vaccines and PrEP.
There are over 16,800 cases reported globally, with nearly 2,900 in the U.S.
“We’re looking at … what are the ways the response could be enhanced, if any, by declaring a public health emergency,” said White House Covid response coordinator Ashish Jha.
Experts say the president’s case is likely to stay mild.
Slower wage growth could help bring down prices and ultimately mean less sting for the average worker.
Lower-income and Black and Hispanic Americans have been hit especially hard.
Biden officials have repeatedly touted the jobs numbers as evidence of the economy’s underlying strength, but slowing the labor market is essential to helping tame consumer prices.
Fears have mounted that the central bank might trigger a recession sometime in the next year with its aggressive rate action.
Marc Short spoke to a grand jury convened by the DOJ to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Kemp was slated to provide a “sworn recorded statement” in D.A. Fani Willis’ probe into Trump’s efforts to upend the Georgia vote to make him a winner.
“I’m actually surprised that Florida law enforcement still allows him to speak to teenage conferences like that,” Marc Short said of the GOP congressman.
Trump is coming to Washington this week at the invitation of the far-right America First Policy Institute to present a kind of “State of the Union” speech.