Today's Liberal News

Rep. Greg Casar: Biden Must Not Cave on GOP’s Hard-Line Immigration Demands in Ukraine Funding Request

President Biden appears to be caving to hard-line Republican demands for a new crackdown on asylum seekers and immigrants nationwide in exchange for more Ukraine funding. As negotiations on the emergency funding request continue, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas about how he and other lawmakers oppose “some of the worst changes to our immigration system in decades.

Exclusive: Palestinian Diplomat Who Went Viral for U.N. Speech Says Israel & U.S. Are Isolated on Gaza

The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza: 153 U.N. members approved the resolution, 23 abstained, and just 10, including the United States, voted “no.” The vote is nonbinding but adds to the mounting isolation faced by the U.S. for its ongoing support of Israel’s assault that has killed at least 18,000 Palestinians in just over two months.

“Please Stop This War Against Us”: Gaza Doctor Begs for World’s Help as Hunger & Disease Spread

We get an update from one of the few hospitals still operating in southern Gaza from Ahmed Moghrabi, a doctor at Nasser Hospital, who describes horrific conditions. “I’ve developed [a] psychological disorder,” says Moghrabi, who himself is barely surviving on little food and clean water. “Please stop this genocide against us. Stop this war. Please, please, I beg you.” We also speak with Dr.

The Layoffs That Hammered the Tech Industry

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.This year was one of periodic bloodshed in tech, and the ongoing reverberations of early-pandemic hiring sprees are part of the problem.

Nicki Minaj Faces Hip-Hop’s Middle-Age Conundrum

When the hip-hop legend André 3000 confused the world by releasing an album of experimental flute music earlier this year, he offered a simple explanation for why he’s stopped rapping: “I’m 48 years old,” he told GQ. He gave examples of personal concerns that he found lyrically unusable: “I got to go get a colonoscopy’ … ‘My eyesight is going bad.

Where Teens Used to Hang Out

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.Last week I asked readers how much time they spent with peers in adolescence. This is the first batch of responses.

I Spent $85 to Eat Breakfast With Santa

For all of my life, I thought eating breakfast with Santa was totally normal. Every year, he would come to my church in western New York and sit in the corner of the reception hall for a few hours. (Sometimes, he was played by my dad or my cousin Frank.) The kids would eat pancakes and drink hot chocolate in his presence and work up their courage. Whenever they felt ready, they could meet the big guy and discuss whatever they needed to. And then they would get a candy cane.

The Fossil-Fuel Industry Has a Rosy Idea of Its Future

Like the draft agreement that came out yesterday at COP28, in Dubai—which softened language about phasing out fossil fuels to “reducing” them and “efforts towards” substituting “unabated” fossil fuels—Canada is awkwardly trying to live with two contradictory ideas about climate change. The world has to stop using fossil fuels, and yet, for a petrostate, letting go isn’t easy.

Texas Woman Denied Abortion for Nonviable Fetus, Flees State, “One of Thousands” in Similar Position

A Texas woman has had to flee to another state to have an emergency abortion after the state Supreme Court ruled against her. Kate Cox fled Monday after she had petitioned a judge to get an exemption from the state’s near-total abortion ban when her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition and doctors warned her carrying to term could endanger her fertility. “Unfortunately, it’s one of hundreds, if not thousands, of comparable stories,” says Dr.

Climate Activists Outraged as COP28 Draft Text Drops Call for Fossil Fuel Phaseout

At the COP28 U.N. climate summit, a draft agreement released Monday omits a call to phase out fossil fuels, proposing “reductions” instead. The United States, Canada and other rich countries have loudly championed a phaseout but are simultaneously approving new oil and gas projects eating up the planet’s remaining carbon budget, says Meena Raman, head of programs at Third World Network and president of Friends of the Earth Malaysia.

Diplomacy, Not War: Daughter of Released Hostage Urges Israel to Reach Deal to Free More Captives

As relatives of hostages held in Gaza urge Israeli lawmakers to use diplomacy, not war, to free their loved ones, we speak to an Israeli peace activist whose 84-year-old mother was released by Hamas in late November as part of an Israel-Hamas hostage swap during the weeklong pause in fighting. “We are demanding to release all the hostages,” says Neta Heiman Mina, a member of Women Wage Peace.