Today's Liberal News

What Has Alcohol’s Existence Done to Humans?

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 WeekAre humans better or worse off for having beer, wine, and spirits? Or, if you’d prefer introspection, how about you personally?Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com or simply reply to this email.

The 2024 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet

No one alive has seen a race like the 2024 presidential election. For months, if not years, many people have expected a reprise of the 2020 election, a matchup between the sitting president and a former president.But that hasn’t prevented a crowded primary. On the GOP side, more than a dozen candidates are ostensibly vying for the nomination.

“Unspeakable”: Dr. Fady Joudah Grieves 50+ Family Members Killed in Gaza & Slams U.S. Media Coverage

Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza has killed more than 10,500 Palestinians, including dozens of family members of award-winning Palestinian American writer, poet and physician Dr. Fady Joudah. “It is really beyond words to describe what it means to be a Palestinian in this moment,” says Joudah, who calls for the humanization of the people of Gaza and allowing more Palestinian voices into the public spotlight.

“We Have Come to an End”: Palestine Red Crescent Says Gaza’s Hospitals Are Out of Solutions

As tens of thousands flee northern Gaza amid an intensifying Israeli ground invasion, most operations have been halted at al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City due to limited fuel supplies and Israel’s bombardment nearby. “We have completely run out of all solutions,” says Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which operates the hospital, where thousands of civilians are sheltering.

Trump Lashes Out at Judge, Attorney General in Fraud Trial That Could End His Real Estate Empire

Former President Donald Trump lashed out from the witness stand at the judge and prosecutor in his New York civil fraud case Monday. He could be forced to dissolve much of his real estate empire and bar his family from doing business in New York. “The scene was pretty incredible to witness,” says Lauren Aratani, reporter for the Guardian US who is covering the trial. The court is now determining how much the Trumps must pay in damages as the case enters the penalty phase.

Trump’s Rivals Pass Up Their Chance

“We’ve become a party of losers,” the conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy declared during the opening minutes of tonight’s Republican primary debate in Florida. He bemoaned the GOP’s lackluster performance in Tuesday’s elections, and then he identified the Republican he held personally responsible for the party’s defeats.

Ivanka Trump and Her Father’s Scandals

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.For years, Ivanka Trump has meticulously cultivated her public image. Today, compelled to testify in the Trump Organization’s civil trial, she was thrust back into the spotlight against her will.First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic:
Republicans can’t figure it out.

Bats Could Hold the Secret to Better, Longer Human Life

In Linfa Wang’s ideal world, all humans would be just a bit more bat-like.Wang, a biochemist and zoonotic-disease expert at Duke-NUS Medical School, in Singapore, has no illusions about people flapping about the skies or echolocating to find the best burger in town. The point is “not to live like a bat,” Wang told me, but to take inspiration from their very weird physiology in order to boost the quality, or even the length, of human life.

What If Psychedelics’ Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect?

One of my chronically depressed patients recently found a psychoactive drug that works for him after decades of searching. He took some psilocybin from a friend and experienced what he deemed a miraculous improvement in his mood. “It was like taking off a dark pair of sunglasses,” he told me in a therapy session. “Everything suddenly seemed brighter.

“Stop This Madness”: Holocaust Survivor Marione Ingram, 87, Condemns Israeli Assault & Calls for Peace

We speak with 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Marione Ingram, who has been protesting outside the White House calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Ingram says experiencing anti-Jewish hate, losing family members to the Nazi killing machine and surviving the Allied bombing of Hamburg as a child all inspire her to speak out for peace. “What Israel is doing will not end this conflict. It will only exacerbate it,” says Ingram.