Today's Liberal News

Michigan Lawyer Detained at Detroit Airport, Phone Seized; He Represents Pro-Palestine Protester

A lawyer who represents a pro-Palestinian student protester in Michigan was detained Sunday at the Detroit Metro Airport on his way back from a family vacation. Dearborn attorney Amir Makled was separated from his wife and children and asked to surrender his cellphone by Border Patrol agents. “This wasn’t something that was random,” says Makled. “They had a whole profile about me.

Supreme Court Orders U.S. to “Facilitate” Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, after the Maryland resident was denied due process rights and deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. But the court remains vague on how exactly this would happen, and the Trump administration has claimed it has no way of ensuring his safe return.

The SNL Parody That Captured the Tariffs Chaos

Last night’s Saturday Night Live had tariffs on the brain.
Multiple sketches tackled the same topic that has preoccupied much of the country this week: the economic instability brought on by President Donald Trump’s imposition of sweeping global tariffs (which he then paused on countries that aren’t China for 90 days). SNL explored the subject in several different ways; some were more genuinely amusing than others, but all captured the anxiety many Americans are feeling, across class lines.

For the Duration

For Jay Hopler
The philosophers I love believed in things
they didn’t want to convert to; the isolation
of the thought, of the shattering idea,
lonelied them into a truth that would tremble too much
were it carried from desk to window,
its outermost manifestations too loosened,
too far specified to seem much other than frailty now.

America and Its Universities Need a New Social Contract

The life of the mind may be a deeply personal thing, but as embodied in colleges and universities, it is also a very public thing—and the two go hand in hand. Since taking office, the Trump administration has been working to dismantle the global order and the nation’s core institutions, including its cultural ones, to strip them of their power. The future of the nation’s universities is very much at stake. This is not a challenge that can be met with purely defensive tactics.

Grandparents Are Reaching Their Limit

Elena and her husband had plans for their retirement. They wanted to move to Wyoming; to meet new people, volunteer, hike the snowy, perfect Tetons. And they did move there—for about eight months. Then they got a call from their daughter, who was due to have a baby within weeks. She and her husband were on five or so different waitlists for day cares, and now she could see that they would still be waiting by the time she had to go back to work, six weeks after giving birth. She needed help.

Five Joyful Ways to Spend Time Online

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.
Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition.
The internet is a choose-your-own-adventure place, but it can sometimes feel like too many roads lead to doomscrolling.