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Two-hundred years ago, on July 4, 1826, the United States celebrated its 50th birthday. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. And another enduring voice was born: the songwriter Stephen Foster.
The timing is fitting, for Foster is a quintessentially American figure.

“We’re in a new world now,” Solicitor General John Sauer told the U.S. Supreme Court during oral argument this April in the birthright-citizenship case Trump v. Barbara, “where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.” Chief Justice John Roberts quickly shot him down, replying, “Well, it’s a new world,” but it’s “the same Constitution.

Literary agents and book editors are in the business of selling stories, so drama comes easily to them. Even temporary sales slumps breed alarmist pronouncements; book parties in disfavored genres begin to feel like wakes, sending off one more spirit to the inevitable afterworld of the remainder shelf. The novel has apparently been declared dead 30 times since 1902.

There are many things you can buy for $10,000: A nose job. With luck, a used car. A middling ticket to the World Cup final. Or you could purchase a MacBook Pro. That’s how much the highest-end, fully loaded version of Apple’s laptop now costs—$3,000 more than it did last week.
Maybe you don’t need the most powerful MacBook Pro. But last Thursday, Apple announced price hikes on most of its products. Apple’s cheapest laptop, the MacBook Neo, debuted for $600 just a few months ago.

Are movies bad for us? Do they waste our time, dumb down the culture, even harm society? On-screen, stars depict unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty. More subtly, movies make bad choices look appealing; viewers might watch The Godfather and think not merely I want Michael Corleone’s suit, but I want to smoke like he smokes—and maybe run my business like him too.

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.
No sooner had the Supreme Court issued its opinion in a big campaign-finance case yesterday than my inbox began filling up with nongovernmental organizations and Democratic leaders decrying the ruling.
In the case, National Republican Senatorial Committee v.

Yesterday, Freddy woke up in a hotel room in downtown Boston that had been paid for by the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Draped over one chair was an autographed chef’s coat and a personal note from the Hell’s Kitchen star: “Dear Freddy, Welcome to Boston!” For the past month, the German man who went by @FreddyLA7 on X was on the ride of his life.

It’s MAHA Monday at the Great American State Fair, and I am drinking a Phorm Energy Screamin’ Freedom (16 ounces for $6). The fair also offered normal drinks for $5 (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, lemonade), but I figured that for an extra dollar, it would be worth it to know the taste of freedom. Screamin’ Freedom, specifically. This drink offers “natural energy,” “mental focus,” “hydration,” “zero sugar,” “200 MG caffeine,” and a picture of an eagle.

Something is happening in the Democratic base.
For a year and a half Democrats have been disgusted with President Trump. They’ve been similarly outraged by the fecklessness of their own party leaders. Now, after a handful of surprising primary elections last night in Colorado, a third observation is coming into focus: The Democratic base would like to shove the entire political establishment into a blade grinder.

Sports are unlike other parts of American life—treating men and women differently on the court or the field is okay. That’s the crucial point made by the Supreme Court’s judgment in West Virginia v. B.P.J. yesterday. By a 6–3 margin, the justices upheld state laws that define men’s and women’s sports by biological sex instead of gender identity.