Today's Liberal News
Trump’s Déjà-Vu Moment on Birthright Citizenship
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If at first you don’t succeed, appeal to a higher federal court. And if you even lose at the Supreme Court … just try again anyway.
This seems to be President Trump’s approach to limiting birthright citizenship.
The Genre That’s a Shortcut to Wisdom
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.
“How are you on theory?” my editor asked me earlier this week. I knew what he was talking about—not my pet hypotheses about, say, the existence of cryptids, but rather a group of 20th-century French philosophers. Yet I didn’t know much else beyond that.
Pop Culture Has Its Teeth in You
In their fledgling but fascinating career thus far, the director Jane Schoenbrun has been consumed by the pop culture that consumes us. They’ve already proved to be an urgent voice on the matter: Their first feature, the low-budget We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, focused on the allure of online “creepypastas” and weird YouTube rabbit holes that despondent teenagers might go down.
The Internet Is in Crisis
Almost 20 years ago, I had tickets to see Amy Winehouse perform in London, at a show that was canceled just an hour before it was scheduled to start. A friend and I went to a nearby hotel bar instead, and not much later, in walked Winehouse herself—tiny, grubby, and completely incoherent. She walked over to us and stared, her eyes both furious and vacant, until someone in her entourage came and dragged her away.
The Case for Calling People on the Phone
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
Conversation has become optimized—but not always for the better. We send a quick text instead of making a call, react with an emoji instead of a laugh, and turn catching up into a series of efficient updates.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Historic Michigan Win: “People Are Sick and Tired of This Politics of Hatred”
We speak with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed after his victory in Michigan’s primary race for U.S. Senate sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party. El-Sayed, a former public health official, ran a progressive campaign focused on affordability, Medicare for All, getting money out of politics, and opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He defeated Congressmember Haley Stevens, who was backed by tens of millions in outside spending including by AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby group.
“The Potluck”: Musical Explores Trauma of 1979 Greensboro KKK Massacre of 5 Antiracist Activists
Composer and playwright César Alvarez joins Democracy Now! to discuss their new musical, The Potluck. It tells the story of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre, when Klansmen and American Nazis opened fire on an antiracist demonstration in Greensboro, North Carolina, killing five members of the Communist Workers’ Party. In 2020, the Greensboro City Council passed a resolution apologizing for the attack and the police department’s complicity in the killings.
“Focus Is on Affordability”: Cindy Holscher, Kansas Dem Nominee for Gov, on Data Center Fight & More
Kansas state Senator Cindy Holscher won Tuesday’s primary race to become the Democratic nominee in the state’s gubernatorial race, facing Republican Ty Masterson in November. Holscher clinched the nomination over fellow state lawmaker Ethan Corson, who was backed by the outgoing Democratic Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. Holscher’s victory is seen as another resounding defeat for establishment Democrats in Kansas and nationwide.
“Zombie Law from the Victorian Era”: DOJ Could Use 1873 Comstock Act to Ban Abortion Pills by Mail
Reproductive rights activists are alarmed over a pledge by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to institute nationwide abortion restrictions. Blanche, whose confirmation for attorney general is currently before the Senate, made the remarks in a private call with anti-abortion activists that was later posted online.
Money Talks: Country-sized Mistakes
A live chat with Felix Salmon and Lee Buchheit hosted by the Library of Mistakes.
Citadel Swoops In to Save Situational Awareness
Leopold Aschenbrenner’s A.I.-focused portfolio was plummeting before Ken Griffin snapped up most of it.
The “Explosive” News Story That We All Couldn’t Stop Talking About.
Cyclosporiasis’ rebranding as “explosive diarrhea” has brought our collective attention to food safety concerns and the MAGA-cultivated Taylor Farms.
Money Talks: Your Plastic Guilt Is by Design
Beth Gardiner explains how we ended up holding the (plastic) bag for Big Oil’s wastefulness.
A.I. Is Growing. So Is Your Electricity Bill.
The rush to build more data centers is driving up electricity costs.
A lab-leak proponent is in line for Fauci’s old job
Steven Quay is in final vetting to run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Blanche assures anti-abortion supporters that Dobbs will be ‘permanent in every single state’
The acting attorney general made the remarks during a private call with faith leaders.
When Church Was a Queer Space
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
Remembering, with the People of MCC San Francisco, AIDS Still Isn’t Over.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
What Happens When You Organize Church Around AIDS – and AIDS Changes?
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The Church’s Pastor Gets Diagnosed with AIDS. And the Church Wonders How Much They Might Lose.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
“This Is an ICE Murder, Too”: Gabriela Soto Says She Miscarried While Husband Was Detained in Solitary
In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities.
Trump Is Asking the Private Sector to Save Him
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Hellbent on putting Fauci in jail, Rand Paul wants to skip a Senate vote
The Kentucky senator and nemesis of America’s Covid czar says he’s taking his case straight to the attorney general.
Icarus in the Faculty Lounge
Even before the push alert about his resignation from the University of Cambridge this week, Jason Arday might well have been the world’s most famous living sociologist. In early 2023, Arday received a professorship at Cambridge; at 37, he was the youngest Black scholar ever to have done so, and his appointment made international headlines. A year later, he set out to sell his memoir.
Trump admin defunds abstinence-only programs in chaotic budget cuts
A DC court will hear a challenge to the cuts on Thursday.
One Surprising Thing About The Odyssey—Its Rating
Christopher Nolan has directed two movies in which a soldier washes up on a foreign shore and, battle-weary and sodden, fights to return home. The first, 2017’s Dunkirk, dramatized the World War II evacuation in which thousands of Allied soldiers were killed. It received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) for “intense war experience and some language.
The New Parent Trap
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The first time I went to sleepaway camp, I was 10 years old. When I returned home, a month later, my mom opened my footlocker to help me unpack. On top was a tray of my belongings—flashlight, lanyard, marksmanship badge, a few items of clothing, and a stack of letters my parents had mailed to me, many unopened.
Running From a Fire Should Not Be This Routine
In the western United States, particularly in fire-prone areas, people have become well versed at preparing to flee. They’re experts at using the tools and technology for monitoring a wildfire’s advance; they consult the Watch Duty app as often as checking the time. They know the three levels of evacuation—Ready, Set, Go—and many perform a running calculation of how much time they might need to get to safety.
On Saturday afternoon, Rita Gregovich was following that script.





























