Today's Liberal News

The Atlantic Announces Joshua Partlow, Ariel Sabar, and Sebastian Smee as Staff Writers

The Atlantic is announcing the hires of three new staff writers: Ariel Sabar, who has contributed to The Atlantic as a freelancer since 2015, and Joshua Partlow and Sebastian Smee, both joining from The Washington Post.
Joshua will cover extreme weather and natural disasters. Ariel will focus on in-depth narrative reporting. Sebastian will write widely about visual art and its influence on modern life and culture.

“MAGA Inc.”: CorpWatch on Trump’s World of Tech Titans, Crypto Czars & Prison Profiteers

A new report by CorpWatch titled ”MAGA Inc.” reveals which allies of President Trump are profiting off of the administration’s policies. Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch, says that prison companies and Big Tech companies have cashed out on policies of mass deportation. “The people that we think are profiting the most out of MAGA [are in] the business of deportation, the business of gathering data,” says Chatterjee.

DSA vs. Establishment: New York Primary Tests Growing Antiwar Split in Democratic Party

Today is Election Day in New York, with a number of primary challengers hoping to unseat Democratic establishment politicians. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have a packed slate of 10 candidates across congressional, state Assembly and state Senate races. “People are really looking for something else other than these corporate Democrats,” says Liza Featherstone, author and columnist for Jacobin.

Remembering Mona Khalil, Beloved Lebanese Sea Turtle Conservationist Killed in Israeli Airstrike

Acclaimed conservationist Mona Khalil was killed by an Israeli strike on her beachside home in the village of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon. The 76-year-old spent more than 25 years working to protect endangered sea turtles, and her work helped turn a stretch of southern Lebanon’s coastline into one of the most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles in the eastern Mediterranean.

Remembering Ahmed Wishah, the Latest Palestinian Journalist Killed by Israel in Gaza

Israel is continuing to attack Gaza despite the so-called ceasefire. Israeli strikes killed Ahmed Wishah, a cameraman with Al Jazeera, and at least six people, including two children, on Saturday. Wishah’s brother Mohammed, who also worked for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike this April. Israel has now killed over 260 journalists in Gaza, including at least 12 working for Al Jazeera, since October 2023.

“Another Wasted Life”: Rhiannon Giddens on How Death of Kalief Browder Inspired Her Song

“Another Wasted Life.” That’s the name of a remarkable new song by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. She released a video of the song on October 2 to mark International Wrongful Conviction Day. The song was inspired by Kalief Browder, a Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after being detained at Rikers Island jail for nearly three years, after being falsely accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack.

Trump Can’t Spin His Way Out of His Two Latest Crises

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.
President Trump spent the weekend trying to calm the waters in Washington and roil them in the Persian Gulf.
Let’s begin with the less serious of these two self-inflicted crises.

First the Kennedy Center, Now the Smithsonian

Updated at 7:26 p.m. ET on June 22, 2026
When President Trump summoned Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for lunch at the White House on August 28 of last year, Bunch’s advisers assumed that the end was near.

California, Seen Through the Lens of George Rose

George Rose / Getty
Yosemite Valley, including Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Bridalveil Fall, and El Capitan, viewed from Tunnel View after a brief rainstorm cleared on March 27, 2025, in Yosemite National Park, CaliforniaGeorge Rose / Getty
Heavy rains arrived in Santa Barbara County wine country, filling the creeks and streams and turning the hillsides a vivid green as viewed on January 20, 2023, near Santa Ynez, California.

The Man Who Couldn’t Do It

Updated at 11:54 a.m. ET on June 22, 2026
In the past decade, Britain has churned through leaders faster than the average fringe revolutionary sect. Earlier today, Keir Starmer became the sixth prime minister to announce his resignation since 2016. He managed just over 700 days in power.

What Happened to Tony Carruthers Is Horrifying

Used needles clinked into the plastic medical-waste bin in the death chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Tony Carruthers was strapped to a gurney for his scheduled execution on May 21, but as his attorney Maria DeLiberato watched the medical team repeatedly try and fail to access her client’s veins, she knew something was going terribly wrong. The medics whispered and gestured to one another. One asked for bigger needles, then smaller ones.

“Criminal Approach to Politics”: Trump Ally Abelardo de la Espriella Wins Colombian Presidency

Right-wing Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday’s runoff presidential election in Colombia, defeating leftist Senator Iván Cepeda, an ally of current President Gustavo Petro. De la Espriella ran a fearmongering, “tough-on-crime” campaign, promising to build mega-prisons inspired by El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib Bukele, to bomb “narcoterrorist camps” and to abandon Petro’s peace efforts. His reported victory is also a win for U.S.

U.K. Political Crisis: PM Keir Starmer Resigns & Palestine Action “Terrorism” Sentencing of “Elbit 4”

Keir Starmer has announced his resignation as the United Kingdom’s prime minister and leader of the Labour Party following growing pressure from within his own party to step down. During his time in office, Starmer faced mounting opposition over his embrace of austerity measures amid a cost-of-living crisis in Britain, as well as his brutal crackdown on Palestine solidarity protesters. Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to become the next prime minister.

“Document of Capitulation”: Spencer Ackerman & Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi on the U.S.-Iran Deal

Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar say the United States and Iran made “encouraging progress” during 18 hours of negotiations in Switzerland, where the two sides agreed to a roadmap toward reaching a final deal within 60 days. The talks took place despite Iran on Saturday announcing it was closing the Strait of Hormuz after Israel killed 83 people in Lebanon on Friday. Israel said it would agree to a new ceasefire in Lebanon but is also refusing to end its occupation of southern Lebanon.