Today's Liberal News

Trump Plots Against His Enemies

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.Donald Trump often says outlandish things, but he is not bluffing about his plans to jail his opponents and suppress—by force, if necessary—the rights of American citizens.

AI Search Is Turning Into the Problem Everyone Worried About

There is no easy way to explain the sum of Google’s knowledge. It is ever-expanding. Endless. A growing web of hundreds of billions of websites, more data than even 100,000 of the most expensive iPhones mashed together could possibly store. But right now, I can say this: Google is confused about whether there’s an African country beginning with the letter k.I’ve asked the search engine to name it.

How Is Child Marriage Still Legal in the U.S.?

This past spring, as part of my work teaching international relations, I oversaw a team of students assigned to create a first-of-its kind, comprehensive report on the status of women in the United States. Four of the students working on the project were from other countries—Afghanistan, Bolivia, Nepal, and Nigeria—and many of the findings pierced their idea of America as a nation that protects women and girls. One issue stood out among the rest: child marriage.

The Democrats’ Most Surprising Southern Foothold

The GOP controls nearly everything in Kentucky, a state that Donald Trump carried by 26 points in 2020. Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats and five of Kentucky’s six House seats; they dominate both chambers of the state legislature.What Republicans don’t occupy is Kentucky’s most powerful post. The state’s governor is Andy Beshear, a Democrat elected in 2019 who is hoping to win a second term tomorrow.

Even the Oppressed Have Obligations

After the Hamas attack on Israel October 7, an old, bad argument resurfaced. In the streets of New York, London, and Paris, and on American college campuses, protesters who consider themselves leftists took the position that oppressed people—Palestinians in this case, but oppressed people more generally—can do no wrong.

Jewish Voice for Peace Health Adviser Dr. Alice Rothchild on Gaza Catastrophe as Health System Fails

Israel says it is responsible for an attack on a convoy of ambulances outside Gaza’s largest hospital on Friday that killed at least 15 people. Meanwhile, doctors in Gaza lack the resources to provide adequate care to the sick and injured, thanks to Israel’s blockade of water, food and fuel from entering the besieged region. For more on the rapidly deteriorating state of medical care in Gaza and Israel’s illegal targeting of medical providers, we speak with Dr.

Why Did Israel Kill My Son? Palestinian Poet Speaks from Hospital Bed After Airstrike Destroys Home

Gazan poet, journalist and peace activist Ahmed Abu Artema describes how he lost five members of his family, including his 12-year-old son, in an Israeli airstrike on his house on October 24. Abu Artema was seriously injured and sent Democracy Now! an audio message from his hospital bed. “Israel didn’t bombard my house, didn’t kill my child by mistake. It’s the Israeli strategy,” he says. “Israel’s problem is Palestinian existence itself.

Voices from Largest Pro-Palestinian Protest in U.S. History: Stop the Siege on Gaza Now!

Tens of thousands marched from Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza to the White House Saturday in the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in U.S. history. Democracy Now!’s Messiah Rhodes, María Taracena and Hany Massoud spoke to protesters who condemned the U.S. government’s support for Israel and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. We also play excerpts from speakers at the protest rally, including lawyer Noura Erakat, musician Macklemore and writer Mohammed El-Kurd.

“Paradigm-Changing Moment”: Public Opinion Shifts on Palestine. Will Gaza War Hurt Biden Reelection?

As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 10,000, calls for ceasefire are growing around the world. “This is a paradigm-changing moment,” says Shibley Telhami, who discusses the shifting public opinion on conflict in Israel and Palestine and its potential impact on Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. Telhami is a professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland and senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy.

State Department Official Resigns, Says Israel Is Using U.S. Arms to Massacre Civilians in Gaza

We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned last month to protest continued arms sales to Israel amid its bombardment of Gaza, writing in a viral letter that one-sided U.S. support for Israel is “shortsighted,” “destructive” and “contradictory.” Media reports say many others inside the State Department are equally frustrated with the U.S. role in the conflict.

Another Nakba? Israeli Intel Ministry Proposes Expelling Every Palestinian in Gaza to Egypt

A leaked document from Israel’s Intelligence Ministry dated less than one week after the October 7 Hamas attack proposes the permanent transfer of Gaza’s residents to Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the document’s authenticity but dismissed it as a mere “concept paper,” while Egypt and much of the Arab world has publicly opposed the forced displacement of millions of Palestinians.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Speaks Out Against Israel’s “Segregationist Apartheid Regime” After West Bank Visit

As pressure builds for a ceasefire after 27 days of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates joins us in a broadcast exclusive interview to discuss his journey to Palestine and Israel and learning about the connection between the struggle of African Americans and Palestinians. “The most shocking thing about my time over there was how uncomplicated it actually is,” says Coates, who calls segregation in Palestine and Israel “evil.

An Album About Fatherhood and Healing

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.Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is Vann R. Newkirk II, a senior editor and the host of the podcasts Floodlines and Holy Week.

Tick Season

Fresh again from summer
and its fields of unrepentant grass,
we strip down in the dooryard
of my little house, check each other over
for ticks. By now we have
outlived embarrassment,
though of the naked pastimes,
this one remains the more intimate:
what shapes we make
in the flashlight’s chiaroscuro,
interrogating every mole, every freckle,
before kissing them, an apology
to the innocent for such accusations.

Plant Seeds Are Stuck

This article was originally published by Knowable Magazine.Haldre Rogers’s entry into ecology came via the sort of man-made calamity that scientists euphemistically call an “accidental experiment.”She’d taken a job in 2002 on the Pacific island of Guam and the neighboring Mariana Islands to study the invasive brown tree snakes that were introduced to Guam, likely from a cargo ship, shortly after World War II.