Today's Liberal News

“Mayor for the Masses”: Can the Democratic Socialist Movement That Elected Mamdani Keep Its Momentum?

New York City is preparing to welcome Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, into office as mayor. Ahead of the highly anticipated inauguration, we sit down with NYC-DSA’s co-chair Grace Mausser to discuss the goals of the incoming administration and next steps for the volunteer-powered campaign apparatus that helped propel Mamdani to City Hall.

“One More Step to Push Out Principled Humanitarian Actors”: NRC on Israel Ban on Aid Groups in Gaza

Israel is set to suspend the operating licenses of Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam and dozens of other humanitarian aid groups in Gaza and the West Bank over alleged ties to Hamas, preventing international aid workers from entering Gaza and carrying out critical, lifesaving operations. Israel’s licensing process is “arbitrary and highly politicized,” explains Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the impacted groups.

U.S. Strikes Against Venezuela: Trump “Wants the Oil” as Grassroots Resist “Economic Asphyxiation”

As the Trump administration escalates its military campaign against Venezuela, we speak to Venezuelan journalist Andreína Chávez about the latest developments. Responding to the U.S. military’s drone strikes on small boats and seizures of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, Chávez says U.S. claims of pursuing fentanyl traffickers lack evidence and are “pretext” for an attempt “to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy” and wrest control of the country’s state-owned oil reserves.

The Secret to Loving Winter

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
It’s January 1, and the self-help corners of the internet tell me I’m supposed to wake up as a matcha-drinking, Pilates-doing goddess of discipline. Except I don’t like matcha, my gym leggings are in hibernation, and my discipline is nowhere to be found. Outside, winter has the nerve to continue.

Iranians Have Had Enough

A wave of protests started by shopkeepers swept through Tehran in December. Iranians have had such a terrible year—facing such a decline in living standards and such a sense of political impasse—that no one was terribly surprised when demonstrations filled the streets.
I asked one Iranian student why she had taken part in the street protests. “Yeah, why should we protest?” she replied sarcastically.

“Empire of AI”: Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World

In this holiday special, we revisit our interview with longtime technology reporter Karen Hao, author of the new book Empire of AI, which unveils the accruing political and economic power of AI companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the exploitation of workers in Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment.

A Bizarre, Challenging Book More People Should Read

Every year, I set myself a reading challenge. These are sometimes small—read more poetry; read older books—and sometimes quite large. More than a decade ago, I spent an entire year reading nothing but writing in translation, an experience that fundamentally reoriented my literary habits. Part of my annual resolution is to devote each summer to filling in a major blind spot.

The Question-Mark Mayoralty

In the months before the election of the young democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor, panic seized members of New York’s elite business community. Real-estate moguls, hedge-fund princes, and a well-known supermarket-chain magnate forecast disaster. Several of them vowed to move to Texas or Florida, or at least Hoboken, if Mamdani was elected. So far, however, the city hasn’t seen an exodus of its richest residents, and their alarm has lapsed into glum acceptance.

Six Months Off the Street

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In July, we published a series of stories about San Francisco’s attempt to address the growing number of homeless and addicted people living on the streets. We followed Evan, who had been homeless for years, as he sought to escape the addiction that was threatening his life. Four months later, we check in on how he’s doing.