Today's Liberal News

What People Misunderstand About NIMBYs

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.Housing-policy experts largely agree that the solution to a housing-affordability crisis is to build more housing. Many residents support this notion in theory, until they’re faced with the possibility of new housing developments in their own backyard—in other words, NIMBYs.

A Spidey Sense We Haven’t Seen Before

Multiverses are, at this point, familiar ground for Hollywood. Films about extra-dimensional travel and parallel versions of ourselves aren’t restricted to the realm of comic-book nerdery; the reigning Best Picture winner at the hoary Oscars is all about “verse-jumping,” after all.

AI Doomerism Is a Decoy

On Tuesday morning, the merchants of artificial intelligence warned once again about the existential might of their products. Hundreds of AI executives, researchers, and other tech and business figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bill Gates, signed a one-sentence statement written by the Center for AI Safety declaring that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.

Will We Remember Succession or Ted Lasso More?

This article contains spoilers through the series finales of Succession and Ted Lasso.Succession ended on Sunday with a series finale whose title, like the three season finales before it, was taken from a John Berryman poem, “Dream Song 29.” Before the episode aired, there was widespread speculation about whether the poem alluded to any particular revelation.

A Nobel Laureate Walks Into a Supermarket

This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.When the French author Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize last fall, it was for her highly personal books—autobiographical narratives in which she places herself on an operating table and also acts as the surgeon, splaying out her thoughts and anxieties and desires in meticulous, vulnerable detail.

A Sweetheart Deal for the Sacklers: Billionaires Get Immunity from Civil Lawsuits over Opioid Crisis

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that members of the Sackler family can receive immunity from all current and future civil litigation related to their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. The billionaire Sacklers own Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin. The legal shield could lead to a settlement in the range of $6 billion for thousands of plaintiffs, including states, local governments and tribes.

Armed Police Raid on Bail Fund for Cop City Opponents Is Attack on “Infrastructure of the Movement”

We get an update on the armed police SWAT team raid and arrest of three organizers with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has been raising money to bail out protesters opposed to the construction of a massive police training facility known as Cop City in the Weelaunee Forest, one of the city’s largest green spaces and the former site of a prison farm. Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were charged with money laundering and fraud.

Rep. Ro Khanna Says Sen. Dianne Feinstein Should “Step Down with Dignity”

Dianne Feinstein returned to the Senate last month after a prolonged absence due to poor health and as questions continue to grow about her fitness for office. Feinstein said she would resume her duties with a lighter schedule, but the 89-year-old senator is reportedly suffering from mental decline that leaves her heavily reliant on her aides. Congressmember Ro Khanna of California is among a growing number of Democrats who have called on Feinstein to retire.

Erdoğan Reelected to 5 More Years in Turkey as His Government Grows More Authoritarian & Nationalist

We look at the impact of the reelection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sunday in a tight runoff vote, extending his 20-year rule for a further five years. Erdoğan received just over 52% of the vote, beating challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, an economist and former civil servant who unified a broad coalition but failed to unseat Erdoğan despite growing dissatisfaction with his governance and deep economic pain within the country.