Today's Liberal News

Howard Lutnick’s Epstein Story Doesn’t Make Any Sense

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.
“I have nothing to hide. Absolutely nothing,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Senate committee yesterday. Perhaps that’s true—but given his recent history, don’t bet on it.

Scientists Figured Out the Problem With Johnson & Johnson’s COVID Vaccine

In 2021, just months after the first COVID vaccines debuted, concern was growing about an exceedingly rare but sometimes deadly outcome of certain shots. Two related vaccines—one from AstraZeneca and the other from Johnson & Johnson—were linked to dangerous blood clotting.
Out of almost 19 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s version given in the United States during the first two years of the pandemic, at least 60 such cases were identified. Nine of them were fatal.

Winter Olympics Photo of the Day: Starting Speed

Stefano Rellandini / AFP / Getty
Austin Florian of Team USA begins a run at a skeleton men’s training session at Cortina Sliding Center, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, on February 11, 2026, during the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Skeleton athletes, wearing spiked shoes, sprint for up to 100 feet at the beginning of a race, propelling themselves into a slide that can reach speeds of more than 90 miles per hour.

Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Where Does the Other 0.01 Percent Live?

Updated with new questions at 3:45 p.m. ET on February 11, 2026.
You won’t find this in Cortina d’Ampezzo over the next few weeks, but for several decades of the Olympics’ history, the contest awarded medals not just for sport but for art too.
In the Summer Games from 1912 to 1948, musicians, painters, and plenty of other aesthetes went brain-to-brain in events such as lyric poetry and chamber music. “Town planning” was even contested one year under the umbrella of the architecture competition.

“Devastating”: Trump EPA to Scrap Landmark Climate Finding in Pro-Fossil Fuel Deregulatory Push

In a victory for the fossil fuel industry, a set of Obama-era rules that required the federal government to regulate the emissions of six greenhouse gases is being reversed by the Trump administration. The changes would undo the legal basis of the fight against global warming, as well as remove industrial reporting obligations and roll back emissions standards for cars and trucks.

Impeach the President: Rep. Al Green Denounces Trump’s Racist Obama Video & Attacks on Black History

We continue our conversation with Texas Congressmember Al Green as he plans to reintroduce impeachment proceedings against President Trump over “infusing his hate into policy.” Green currently represents Texas’s 9th Congressional District, which was recently redistricted by the Texas state Legislature in favor of Republican voters. He says his seat, which he has held for over two decades, was targeted for redistricting in part because of his opposition to Trump.

“The War Hasn’t Ended”: Palestinians in Gaza Still Face Israeli Attacks, Disease, Medical Neglect

The partial reopening of Gaza’s southern Rafah crossing with Egypt has been marked by chaos and severe restrictions imposed by Israel, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to wait for medical evacuation to receive urgent care outside the Gaza Strip. According to U.N. data, only 36 Palestinians in need of medical treatment were allowed to leave Gaza during the first four days of the crossing’s reopening.

I Went to the March for Billionaires

A couple of weeks ago, word began to spread around San Francisco that somebody was organizing a “March for Billionaires.” A mystery organizer had posted on social media that “billionaires get a bad rap,” and soon, some flyers appeared around the city. A website provided a time and rendezvous point; it also celebrated the societal contributions of Jeff Bezos and Taylor Swift, exhorting people to “judge individuals, not classes.” The message seemed to be: Not all billionaires.

The Grim Paradox of the Nancy Guthrie Case

Legal scholars sometimes bemoan what they call the “CSI effect”—the tendency, in courtrooms, for jurors’ familiarity with true-crime TV shows to skew their expectations of how crimes are investigated and solved. The effect emerges from a paradox: People’s interest in televised versions of the criminal-justice system can, regardless of their compassion or sympathies, impede justice in the real world.

What the Crypto Crash Reveals About Trump’s Power

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.
During the summer of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made a vow to the cryptocurrency industry: Elect him, and the United States would become the “crypto capital of the planet.