Pence On Trump’s Georgia Racketeering Indictment: ‘No One’s Above The Law’
As others defend the coup-attempting former president and criticize the prosecutors, the former vice president’s remarks stand out.
Today's Liberal News
The Misguided Debate Over ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’
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 WeekWhat do you think of the viral hit song “Rich Men North of Richmond”?Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com or simply reply to this email.
This Week in Books: A Novel That Sees Through Self-Delusion
Updated at 2:36 p.m. ET on August 18, 2023.This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.Lydia Kiesling’s new novel, Mobility, is about a woman who spends her life trying not to see the harm her work is doing to the Earth. The main character, Bunny Glenn, has fallen almost unwittingly into a career in the oil industry.
Make the Collabs Stop
This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here.Earlier this year, while waiting for the subway, I encountered one of the most revolting pairs of shoes I’ve ever seen on the feet of a fellow commuter. They were the unholy spawn of a Gucci loafer and an Adidas sneaker.
Inside the Smithsonian’s “Racial Brain Collection” & the Eugenics Project Behind It
The Smithsonian has formed a task force to address the massive collection of human remains held by its museums, which includes 255 human brains that were removed primarily from dead Black and Indigenous people, as well as other people of color, without the consent or knowledge of their families. The so-called racial brain collection was revealed by a Washington Post investigation.
Teach No Lies: Historian Marvin Dunn Takes on Ron DeSantis & Florida’s Attack on Black History
We speak with renowned Florida educator Marvin Dunn about the fight to protect the teaching of Black history in the face of racist curriculum changes in the state that justify slavery and downplay violence against African Americans. Ahead of the first day of school, Dunn helped lead a “Teach No Lies” march to the Miami-Dade County School Board Wednesday to protest the new education standards.
Plantation Disaster Capitalism: Native Hawaiians Organize to Stop Land & Water Grabs After Maui Fire
With the death toll from the Maui wildfires at 111 and as many as 1,000 still missing, we speak with Hawaiian law professor Kapuaʻala Sproat about the conditions that made the fires more destructive and what’s yet to come for residents looking to rebuild their lives.
Legacy for You, but Not for Me
In the ’90s, being a low-income student of color in the Ivy League was hard. Our population was minuscule. We were inside a place of privilege, but not fully part of it. The institution wasn’t built for us, and we knew it. We weren’t like the wealthy white kids whose alumni parents came to visit their favorite haunts in their favorite old college sweatshirts. But we were, we believed, part of a different future.
GOP push to get more Americans into high-deductible health is dividing Democrats
Bipartisan legislation aims to get more Americans into high-deductible insurance, but perils would remain.
‘Pathetic’: Voters of color slam Biden’s performance on the economy
“Our economy is the lowest it’s been.
Abortion pill ruling sets up Supreme Court showdown
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals largely sided with groups challenging policies making the drugs more accessible
We’re on the cusp of another psychedelic era. But this time Washington is along for the ride
From Congress to the Biden administration, there’s enthusiasm for the drugs’ ability to treat mental illness.
Biden administration warns states as millions lose Medicaid
More than 4 million people have had their Medicaid benefits terminated in the last four months, including nearly three-quarters who have lost coverage because of paperwork problems.
The White House plays it cool as ‘Bidenomics’ struggles to catch on
The president made a big bet on owning the economy. His team says give it time.
DeSantis’ conservative populism has left some donors chafing
The Florida governor has made a name for himself with the fights he’s picked.
Biden and Trump in a dead heat in hypothetical 2024 rematch, poll finds
Trump saw slightly more support from his base than Biden, with 88 percent of registered Republicans selecting Trump versus 83 percent of Democrats choosing Biden.
“Watershed Moment”: Montana Rules Youth Have Constitutional Right to Healthy Climate
In a landmark climate case, a judge in Montana has ruled in favor of a group of young people who had sued the state for violating their constitutional rights as it pushed policies that encouraged the use of fossil fuels. In her decision, Montana Judge Kathy Seeley wrote, “Plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate.
Old Ted Cruz Post Shows Him Pouring A Different Pint From Current Bud Light Gripes
Cruz criticized Anheuser-Busch InBev for “marketing beer to children” this week despite the Republican making brewing a family affair in 2019.
‘Coward’ Trump Mocked After 2 Backpedaling Announcements In A Row
Critics blast the former president for another broken promise.
Trump Requests April Start Date For Federal Jan. 6 Trial … April 2026
“Even assuming we could begin reviewing the documents today, we would need to proceed at a pace of 99,762 pages per day,” his attorneys wrote in a filing.
Teacher Loses Appeal To Get Job Back After Being Fired For Reading A Book To Her Class
Katie Rinderle was terminated after reading “My Shadow Is Purple” to her fifth-grade class in Georgia.
It Looks Like No One Wants To Be Ron DeSantis’ Guest At GOP Debate
Although the Florida governor has 2.1 million followers, less than 50 liked his post offering a chance to be his guest at the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee.
Why Republicans Would Welcome a Biden Challenger
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.Some Democrats, echoing GOP narratives about Joe Biden’s age, are invested in the idea of challenging the president’s renomination. But how would that actually work?First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:
Trump discovers that some things are actually illegal.
The Future of Recycling Is Sorty McSortface
At the Boulder County Recycling Center in Colorado, two team members spend all day pulling items from a conveyor belt covered in junk collected from the area’s bins. One plucks out juice cartons and plastic bottles that can be reprocessed, while the other searches for contaminants in the stream of paper products headed to a fiber mill. They are Sorty McSortface and Sir Sorts-a-Lot, AI-powered robots that each resemble a supercharged mechanical arm from an arcade claw machine.
Life Can’t Get Much Hotter Than This
Anoles have always been happy in the heat. The svelte little lizards, a group some 400 species strong, thrive in the Americas’ warmest parts—from the balmy rainforests of South America up through the United States’ Sun Belt—where they spend their days basking on boulders and scurrying out to the sun-soaked tips of twigs, or even scampering over the blistering metal of exposed city pipes.
An Absurdly Unrelatable Show Has a Relatable Moment
This article contains spoilers through Season 2 Episode 10 of And Just Like That.And Just Like That, like no other show in our admittedly depleted television universe right now, is simultaneously a riot, a rout, and an utterly chaotic melange of small-scale storytelling and high—but-literally-am-I-high—fashion.
Biden’s fall Covid vaccine rollout for the uninsured won’t include pharmacies at first
The administration doesn’t expect to finalize contracts with pharmacies distributing the vaccine to the uninsured until mid-October, weeks after the shot is made widely available.
Biden’s approval rating for the economy remains at about a third, poll finds
The Biden administration has hit hard the president’s economic policy, known as “Bidenomics,” amid falling inflation, steady job growth and diminished talk of a forthcoming recession.
Did the U.S. Push Imran Khan from Power? Leaked Cable Shows How State Dept. Pressured Pakistan
An explosive leaked document obtained by The Intercept appears to show direct U.S. involvement in former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ouster in 2022 because of his stance on the war in Ukraine. Khan is currently jailed and facing trial over a slew of corruption charges that his supporters say are intended to keep him from running for office again.