The Estate Tax Has Hit A Historic Low In America
Thanks to policy changes, more and more of the country’s megarich are keeping their wealth in the family.
Today's Liberal News
Texas Attorney General Petitions To Block Abortion Greenlighted By Judge
Ken Paxton is trying to get the state’s Supreme Court to stop a woman’s abortion.
The Dark Side of Christmas Music
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.The season of Christmas music––of Mariah Carey blasting in malls, carolers gracing street corners, and children singing about Rudolph—has once again arrived. Fans of festive cheer are rejoicing, and haters are rolling their eyes.
AI’s ‘Fog of War’
This is Atlantic Intelligence, an eight-week series in which The Atlantic’s leading thinkers on AI will help you understand the complexity and opportunities of this groundbreaking technology. Sign up here.Earlier this year, The Atlantic published a story by Gary Marcus, a well-known AI expert who has agitated for the technology to be regulated, both in his Substack newsletter and before the Senate.
Hayao Miyazaki Is Thinking About the End
The first sound in Hayao Miyazaki’s new movie, The Boy and the Heron, is an air-raid siren, heard over a screen of black that quickly explodes into tumult and destruction. It’s 1943, and a firebombing has set a Tokyo hospital ablaze, killing the mother of 12-year-old Mahito Maki, the movie’s protagonist.
Landmark gene-editing therapy approved: here’s what you need to know
The FDA approved the landmark treatment on Friday. It’s expected to cost more than $1 million.
The Best Strategy for Late-December Reading
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.When the end of the year comes around, I know that I can count on taking multiple long, cross-country plane rides broken up by days’ worth of loafing on my parents’ or my in-laws’ couches. “Dead week,” as Helena Fitzgerald memorably calls the time from Christmas to New Year’s Day, is the perfect moment for aimless reading.
US employers added a solid 199,000 jobs in November in sign of a still-sturdy labor market
Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%, not far above a five-decade low of 3.4% in April.
Why Is Brazil Joining OPEC+ Oil Cartel, If Lula Is Committed to Phasing Out Fossil Fuels?
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is calling for phasing out fossil fuels but has alarmed many climate activists as Brazil moves to join the oil producer alliance OPEC+ as an observer state. Paula Vargas, director of the Brazil program at Amazon Watch, lays out Brazil’s environmental policy under Lula and Jair Bolsonaro’s legacy of impunity for those attacking environmental defenders.
Exclusive: Indigenous Climate Activist Jacob Johns Speaks Out After MAGA Gunman Shoots Him in New Mexico
Broadcasting from COP28 in Dubai, we speak with Jacob Johns, a Hopi and Akimel O’odham environmental defender who is leading the Indigenous Wisdom Keepers delegation at COP28. This is his first interview after surviving being shot in the chest by a far-right agitator in September.
COP28 Activists Say Palestine Solidarity Protests Calling for Ceasefire Face Severe Restrictions
At COP28 in Dubai, protests in solidarity with Palestine have faced severe restrictions. Asad Rehman, the lead spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition, joined with human rights groups at an unofficial media briefing to explain how climate summit officials have threatened to debadge participants for even wearing Palestinian colors or sporting visual depictions calling for a ceasefire. “This is probably the most restrictive we’ve seen,” Rehman said.
“If I Must Die”: IDF Strike Kills Gaza Scholar Refaat Alareer; Friend Pays Tribute & Reads His Poem
Scholar and policy analyst Jehad Abusalim remembers his friend Refaat Alareer, the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier this week.
“We Want Freedom”: Refaat Alareer, Gaza Scholar & Activist Killed by Israeli Strike, in His Own Words
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old. For more than 16 years, he worked as a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza and authored dozens of stories and poems about life under Israeli occupation in Gaza. “Whether it is my kids or any Palestinian kid or any Palestinian, no one is safe. No place is safe.
AI is driving Google’s health care business. Washington doesn’t know what to do about it.
The firm is deploying its artificial intelligence across the health care spectrum. Its lobbyists are smoothing the way.
Trump targets a bigger, cheaper and more popular Obamacare
Why the law could be harder to repeal in 2025 than it was in 2017.
GOP senators: Halt travel with China to stop ‘mystery illness’
Public health experts have said the pneumonia outbreak is linked to known diseases.
Americans are losing benefits. That could hurt Biden in 2024.
Expiring Covid benefits and new limits on safety net programs threaten to hit Americans’ pocketbooks — especially among core parts of the Democratic electorate.
The alarming news progressive groups delivered to the White House
Top White House aides reviewed private polling showing Biden’s economic message falling flat and suggesting paths toward a turnaround.
Their Prophecy of Enduring Democratic Rule Fell Apart. They Blame College Grads.
Can Democrats overcome their college-campus branding and reclaim the working class?
UAW promises more pain for Big Three: ‘We’re not messing around’
The new strategy UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday signaled the strike could start having broader implications for the economy.
Why Are Russia & U.S. Promoting Nuclear Power at U.N. Climate Talks? Russian Environmentalist Speaks Out
As Vladimir Putin arrives in Abu Dhabi but does not plan to attend the COP28 summit in Dubai, we speak with Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair for the leading Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, about the climate impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the renewed push at the summit to expand nuclear power.
ABC News And CNN To Host Separate GOP Debates Days Apart In 2024
Three GOP debates in Iowa and New Hampshire are set to take place in January: two hosted by CNN and another by ABC News.
U.S. Officials Privately Raise Fears Of Israel-Gaza Conflict Sparking A Broader War
Officials are worried Israel is seeking U.S. weapons for a war in Lebanon, and analysts say an uptick in attacks tied to Iran risks ensnaring the U.S. in a major conflict.
Amnesty Report Says Israel Used U.S. Weapons To Kill Dozens Of Gaza Civilians
The human rights group’s investigation accuses Israel of using U.S.-made guidance weapons in two illegal strikes on homes filled with Palestinian families.
Hunter Biden Indicted On Tax Charges In California
The president’s son has been charged with nine counts, including tax evasion, as a special counsel probe into his business dealings intensifies.
Fox News Host Pins Down Exactly Why Vivek Ramaswamy Is So Annoying
Dagen McDowell compared Ramaswamy to your sister’s new boyfriend who inspires you to fake an illness so you don’t have to be around him.
Taylor Swift and the Era of the Girl
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.’Tis the season of Taylor Swift. Maybe you’re sick of her, or maybe you’re obsessed. Either way, you are likely finding yourself in the middle of a Girl Culture moment.
The Decline of Teen Hangouts
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.Question of the WeekHow much time did you spend with peers in adolescence, and what effect did that have on the rest of your life? (Anecdotes illustrating how you spent that time and in what era are especially welcome.)Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.
The Trump Prosecutions Are Cause to Celebrate the Rule of Law
There has never been a graver test of America’s rule of law than the prosecutions of Donald Trump. He “stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes,” as Jack Smith put it in a recent court filing. No president has ever schemed for months to retain power after losing an election—and over the repeated advice of his advisers and lawyers—nor taken and concealed classified documents for many months following his return to civilian life.
Diamonds Aren’t Rare. Why Are They So in Demand?
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present, surface delightful treasures, and examine the American idea. Sign up here.