Money Talks: The End of Internet Optimism
Tim Wu joins Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his book on how our economy ended up under the collective thumb of Big Tech.
Today's Liberal News
You Should Be Rooting for Donald Trump to Kill Netflix’s Deal to Buy Warner Bros.
Even though that might mean you-know-who buys the studio instead.
Bill Gates appears in newly released photos from Epstein estate
The billionaire philanthropist has said his meetings with the late convicted sex offender were a mistake.
What fraud? State Obamacare officials don’t see the problem GOP subsidy opponents do
State health care exchanges say they have few problems with fraud. Instead of killing the subsidies, policy experts suggest fixing the federal exchanges instead.
Trump still hasn’t endorsed a plan to avoid impending Obamacare hikes for millions
The Senate will vote Thursday on a key Republican health care plan, but its fate is uncertain, and Trump still hasn’t endorsed any specific proposals.
Remembering, with the People of MCC San Francisco, AIDS Still Isn’t Over.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
What Happens When You Organize Church Around AIDS – and AIDS Changes?
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The Church’s Pastor Gets Diagnosed with AIDS. And the Church Wonders How Much They Might Lose.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
A Sermon With “Old Fashioned Homosexual Values.”
A celebrity contracts HIV, the world finally pays attention to AIDS, and Jim Mitulski preaches to a community tired of people dying from it.
Democrats think they’ve found their 2026 message — and Miami just backed it up
In races across the country, Democrats focused on promises to make life more affordable — even as they offered contrasting approaches.
Voters sour on Trump’s handling of the economy in new poll
The White House plans to make affordability a key selling point for Republicans across the board as the 2026 midterm elections come into focus.
Trump will again test ‘blame Democrats’ message on the economy — this time at a casino
President Donald Trump will give a speech in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the first stop in a ‘tour’ where he will talk about affordability concerns, among others.
How Russia keeps raising an army to replace its dead
An online bazaar of freelance headhunters finds new recruits to fight Ukraine, emboldening Vladimir Putin at the negotiating table and scaring European leaders about what his growing army might do next.
“A Force of Terror”: Rep. Delia Ramirez on ICE Abuses & Her Push to Impeach DHS Chief Kristi Noem
Democratic lawmakers repeatedly called on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign as they confronted her on Trump’s immigration crackdown during a heated House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday. We speak with Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who reiterated her call during the hearing for Noem to resign and announced that she would begin taking steps for her impeachment.
Trump Gold/Platinum Card: Amid Immigrant Crackdown, U.S. Sells Visas for Up to $5 Million
As the Trump administration expands its immigration crackdown nationwide, President Trump is simultaneously creating new pathways for wealthy noncitizens to obtain U.S. visas. Earlier this week, Trump officially launched a program allowing affluent visitors to fast-track permission to live and work in the United States. For a $1 million payment, applicants can receive a so-called Trump Gold Card, which promises to speed up U.S. residency applications “in record time.
“Watched, Tracked & Targeted”: Gaza Writer Mohammed Mhawish on Life Under Israeli Surveillance
Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations, biometric data and more.
From COVID to Hepatitis to Measles, RFK Jr. Is Gutting Vaccine Science: An Ex-CDC Expert Speaks Out
As Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dramatically reshapes U.S. immunization policy, we speak with Dr. Fiona Havers, a former top vaccine expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who resigned in June.
Last week, Kennedy’s handpicked advisers on a federal vaccine panel voted against universal hepatitis B shots for newborns, reversing 35 years of CDC guidance that all newborns receive the vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
I Watched 12 Hours of Nick Fuentes
Before each episode of America First With Nicholas J. Fuentes begins, a surreal mix of images and video clips runs, like a screen saver, for an unpredictable and seemingly eternal amount of time. Gentle plains of swaying grass, trickling streams, and the show’s logo flash across the screen. EDM kicks in. Psychedelic depictions of Christian imagery, including Jesus’s crucifixion, come and go. So do snippets of Fuentes talking about, among other things, borders, drag queens, and his faith.
A Sea of Galaxies
ESA / Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Rihtaršič, R. Tripodi
Day 13 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: A Sea of Galaxies. The James Webb Space Telescope pointed its Near-Infrared Camera toward the galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 and captured this image of hundreds of galaxies at varying distances and of different sizes, shapes, and colors—showing only a small section of the cluster.
See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25.
Trump’s Pressure on Ukraine
Donald Trump continues to put pressure on Ukraine to accept his administration’s peace proposal, despite how the plan favors Russia. On Washington Week With The Atlantic, panelists joined to discuss what this may suggest about the administration’s shifting international priorities, and more.
If the Ukrainians were to stop fighting today, “they don’t have any kind of security guarantee,” Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic, explained last night.
End the Year With Great Movies
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.
The year 2025 was hard for the film industry but good for movies.
Can Disney Save Mickey from GenAI?
Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI so you can’t use Sora to make Darth Vader porn among other concerns.
The Real Reason for the Hong Kong Fire
The world’s deadliest residential fire in more than four decades was still burning up a block of Hong Kong apartment buildings when pundits settled on a culprit: bamboo. Surely, the bamboo scaffolding that had surrounded the Wang Fuk Court towers explained how the flames tore through the complex so quickly. “There can be only one outcome,” the Independent declared. “The bamboo has to go.
Money Talks: The End of Internet Optimism
Tim Wu joins Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his book on how our economy ended up under the collective thumb of Big Tech.
You Should Be Rooting for Donald Trump to Kill Netflix’s Deal to Buy Warner Bros.
Even though that might mean you-know-who buys the studio instead.
