Liberals Dreamed of This Economy For Decades. What If Voters Don’t Like It?
Policymakers were determined to avoid the mistakes of the Great Recession — and they succeeded. But now they are in a mood of “fear and introspection.
Today's Liberal News
Biden’s economy keeps messing up Trump’s message
“You can’t blame the president when policies go wrong, and then say he’s not responsible if things are going right.
US employers added surprisingly robust 353,000 jobs in January in further sign of economic strength
The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, just above a half-century low.
Biden’s new economic messaging strategy: Attack Trump’s tax legacy
The strategy shift focuses on Trump’s tax law and poses a simple question to voters: Whose side are you on?
U.S. Anti-Terrorism Laws Are “Anti-Palestinian at the Core,” Chill First Amendment
As Israel continues to massacre Palestinians in Gaza with U.S. military and political support, Palestinians in the United States are increasingly being targeted by anti-terrorism laws in an attempt to silence their pro-Palestine activism. “Anti-Palestinian animus is one of the most enduring areas of bipartisan appeal in Washington,” says Darryl Li, an anthropologist and lawyer teaching at the University of Chicago. Li shares the history of U.S.
Gaza Ceasefire Could Save 75,000 from Death: Report from London School of Hygiene & Johns Hopkins
A new report on Gaza’s escalating health crisis projects that due to the extent of destruction wrought upon the region’s infrastructure since October, thousands of Palestinians will continue to die from disease, malnutrition, dehydration and starvation, regardless of whether Israel continues to pursue its military assault.
Apple Revolutionized the Auto Industry Without Selling a Single Car
Apple has long been a company shrouded in mystery—and perhaps its most mysterious recent project of all has been the Apple Car. For a decade, reports have continually emerged about the company building an electric, autonomous car as smart and beautiful as an iPhone. The company never confirmed the project’s existence, even as it hired executives from Lamborghini and BMW. MotorTrend created a speculative Apple Car in 2016, treating it like an object of science fiction, then another in 2022.
Two Theories for Americans’ Dire Economic Outlook
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.
Even as many measures show that the economy is thriving, Americans have been feeling down lately—especially about grocery prices.
Alabama Republicans want to give IVF doctors immunity after court rules frozen embryos are kids
GOP Gov. Kay Ivey expects to sign legislation she believes will allow the state’s fertility clinics to reopen soon.
The Black-History Books Teachers Hope Won’t Be Banned
Illustrations by Diana Ejaita
Nearly a century ago, the historian Carter G. Woodson started a movement to teach Black history in America’s schools. First called Negro History Week and now Black History Month, it has been an oasis amid curricula that have too often and for too long either completely ignored Black people or treated them as subordinates.
Republicans have an answer on IVF. It’s only raising more questions.
At the same time that they are professing support for IVF, dozens of congressional Republicans have signed onto so-called personhood legislation.
Duckworth to demand vote on IVF bill
The bill would establish federal protections that override any state policy restricting IVF access.
Ralph Nader at 90 on the “Genocidal War” in Gaza & Why Congress Is a Weapon of Mass Destruction
On his 90th birthday, the legendary consumer advocate, corporate critic and four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader joins Democracy Now! for an in-depth conversation about U.S. democracy and why “Congress is a weapon of mass destruction.” He says lawmakers have shredded the country’s social safety net, refused to rein in the U.S. war machine, allowed white-collar crime to go unpunished, failed to enforce tax fairness and more.
Should U.S. Send More Weapons to Ukraine? A Debate on Funding & Ways to End Two-Year-Old War
It has been two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a brutal war in which tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have died. With Ukraine running low on both weapons and new recruits, and with more U.S. funding stalled in Congress, we host a discussion on the future of the conflict with peace activist Medea Benjamin of CodePink and Oberlin professor Stephen Crowley, an expert on Russian and Eastern European politics.
I Wrote George W. Bush’s Cheat Sheets. Here’s What I Learned.
Axios recently reported that President Joe Biden carries cheat sheets with him into meetings with supporters and donors. Some of these supporters have expressed alarm that a president would do such a thing. Perhaps these cards—aide-mémoire, after all—are a sign of age and frailty?
From 2001 to 2002, I had the job of writing speeches for President George W. Bush. Bush was 54 years old when I started working for him—almost 10 years younger than I am now.
Something Went Terribly Wrong With Online Ads
These days, turning on my Amazon Fire smart TV is like a reflex test. Hesitate for even a second, and the home screen starts blasting an ad for the latest show or movie from Amazon Prime. Even if I do manage to navigate away in time, I still have to scroll past an ad for, say, toothpaste. Only then can I access the entertainment I actually want to watch, typically on a once-ad-free streaming service that is now … showing ads.
Alabama said frozen embryos are kids. The GOP isn’t sure what to do about it.
IVF — and specifically how to handle unused, frozen embryos — was rarely, if ever, discussed outside of the rightmost fringes of anti-abortion and religious circles.
‘Another hot potato’: Alabama’s IVF ruling risks political, legal backlash
Alabama court ruled frozen embryos are people. The GOP could pay for it in November.
Red states hopeful for a 2nd Trump term prepare to curtail Medicaid
Biden revoked Medicaid work requirements when he took office. Republicans are hoping for their return.
‘No one’s coming to save us’: Abortion campaigns scramble for limited cash
From deep-red Arkansas and Missouri to purple Arizona and Nevada, activists are already competing with each other.
Advocates hope Jimmy Carter’s endurance in hospice care drives awareness
It’s been a year since Carter entered hospice care at his Georgia home.
Liberals Dreamed of This Economy For Decades. What If Voters Don’t Like It?
Policymakers were determined to avoid the mistakes of the Great Recession — and they succeeded. But now they are in a mood of “fear and introspection.
Biden’s economy keeps messing up Trump’s message
“You can’t blame the president when policies go wrong, and then say he’s not responsible if things are going right.
US employers added surprisingly robust 353,000 jobs in January in further sign of economic strength
The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, just above a half-century low.
Biden’s new economic messaging strategy: Attack Trump’s tax legacy
The strategy shift focuses on Trump’s tax law and poses a simple question to voters: Whose side are you on?
Haitian Asylum Seekers Take Biden Admin to Court for Racial Discrimination, Rights Violations
A federal court in Washington, D.C., heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of racial discrimination and rights violations of Haitian asylum seekers. The suit was brought on behalf of 11 Haitian asylum seekers who were abused by U.S. border agents as more than 15,000 people, mostly from Haiti, were forced to stay in a makeshift border encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuña-Del Rio International Bridge in Texas.
Trump Delivers Another Autocratic Tirade
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.
Donald Trump unleashed a flood of delusions and fascistic threats at CPAC this weekend in a speech to an audience that included actual neo-Nazis, a story overshadowed by the South Carolina GOP primary and his completely predictable defeat of the state’s former governor, Nikki Haley.
The Deeper Problem With Google’s Racially Diverse Nazis
Is there a right way for Google’s generative AI to create fake images of Nazis? Apparently so, according to the company. Gemini, Google’s answer to ChatGPT, was shown last week to generate an absurd range of racially and gender-diverse German soldiers styled in Wehrmacht garb. It was, understandably, ridiculed for not generating any images of Nazis who were actually white. Prodded further, it seemed to actively resist generating images of white people altogether.
What Shane Gillis Proved on SNL
The comedian Shane Gillis is fond of joking about all of the things he knows he looks like: a high-school football coach; a possible parking-lot rapist; a police-brutality skeptic, someone who asks to “see the rest of the body-cam footage before we jump to any conclusions.” He’ll pose as a recognizable genre of buffoon or creep, before subverting those expectations.