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, “What is a belief or position you hold that you feel to be misunderstood or misrepresented by many people who disagree with you?”
Replies have been edited for length and clarity.
R.
For most of history, communicating with a computer has not been like communicating with a person. In their earliest years, computers required carefully constructed instructions, delivered through punch cards; then came a command-line interface, followed by menus and options and text boxes. If you wanted results, you needed to learn the computer’s language.
This is beginning to change.
Not long ago, the idea that a former president—or major-party presidential nominee—would face serious legal jeopardy was nearly unthinkable. Today, merely keeping track of the many cases against Donald Trump requires a law degree, a great deal of attention, or both.
In all, Trump faces 91 felony counts across two state courts and two different federal districts, any of which could potentially produce a prison sentence.
Military actions by various actors across the Middle East are compounding fears that Israel’s assault on Gaza is escalating into a full-blown regional war. In recent days, the United States has carried out strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen who have resumed their attacks on container ships in the Red Sea; Iran has struck targets in northern Iraq, Syria and Pakistan; while Hezbollah and Israel have escalated the intensity of fighting across their border.
We continue our conversation with the renowned Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who says there are growing questions about the IDF’s response to the October 7 Hamas attack that cannot wait until the end of fighting in Gaza. That includes intelligence failures in the lead-up to the attack, as well as reports of troops killing Israeli civilians when they opened fire on homes taken over by Hamas militants. “The fact is that those people were killed and might have been rescued.
We speak with acclaimed Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist for Haaretz and a member of its editorial board, about how the Israeli media has covered the war on Gaza, the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and more. Levy says the domestic Israeli media all but ignores the Palestinians being killed, focusing mostly on its own soldiers and the families of hostages. “The Israeli average viewer doesn’t see Gaza at all,” he says.
We hear from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, whose recent article for The Intercept documents how Israel bombed two Al Jazeera journalists in mid-December while they were accompanying rescue workers, seriously injuring both.
Gaza is now the deadliest place on Earth for media workers. By some estimates, over 110 journalists have been killed there since Israel began its assault on the territory following the October 7 Hamas attack, and the Committee to Protect Journalists says more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.
Lawmakers aim to protect kids’ mental health by forcing tech giants to redesign their sites.
The defense secretary underwent a prostatectomy to remove cancer and suffered painful complications.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are using microgravity to unlock the disease’s secrets.
The high court’s order temporarily freezes a lower court decision that blocked enforcement of Idaho’s near-total abortion ban in emergency circumstances.
Pollsters and political operatives said the fact Americans are unlikely to see their drug prices go down by November means the FDA’s decision is unlikely to have any tangible effect on the presidential election.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%, not far above a five-decade low of 3.4% in April.
Expiring Covid benefits and new limits on safety net programs threaten to hit Americans’ pocketbooks — especially among core parts of the Democratic electorate.
Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War.
The former secretary of state expressed her frustration over GOP governors’ rejection of a summer food assistance program for children.
Right-wing pundit Dick Morris was speaking from what appeared to be a living room as the man strolled through.
A Pride display at a local library spurred community backlash — and now its staff is dealing with the repercussions.
Though his bill failed, Bernie Sanders put senators on the record on the U.S.-backed military campaign in Gaza. Israeli envoy Michael Herzog visited the Senate before the vote.
The former president unleashed an onslaught of attacks against the writer suing him for defamation.
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Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, and he has vowed revenge on his political enemies. His voters want revenge as well—on their fellow citizens.
First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:
The ruin that a Trump presidency would mean
You should go to a Trump rally.
In 2016, Republicans could profess some uncertainty about the kind of president Donald Trump would be. Maybe the office would change the man? Maybe the party elite could bend Trump to its will?
But in 2024, there’s no uncertainty. Trump’s party is signing up for the ride, knowing exactly what the ride is. Pro-Ukraine senators are working to elect a president who will cut off Ukraine, knowing that he will cut off Ukraine.
For all the glamorous stars and standing ovations, last night’s Emmys were a rather muted affair. The host, Anthony Anderson, didn’t blame his writers for misfiring jokes. The speeches were appropriately emotional. Elton John became an EGOT winner; he didn’t show up to accept his trophy, but everyone seemed extremely happy for him.
That there weren’t many surprises perhaps came as no surprise.
Except for the lone pair of baggy Guess jeans and oversize silk shirt I wore most days in middle school, I’ve never been very fashionable. So on my first day as a Domino’s delivery driver in college, when the store manager tossed me a used red-and-blue polo that would constitute my uniform, I didn’t even notice that it was a size too large. He also gave me a goofy Domino’s hat, a light-up Domino’s sign for the roof of my car, and a salary of a little more than $2 an hour, plus tips.
Former President Donald Trump has won the Iowa caucuses by a landslide, but polls reveal almost a third of voters believed Trump would not be fit to serve as president if convicted in his ongoing criminal trials.
Worldwide protests this weekend called for a ceasefire while marking 100 days of Israel’s unrelenting bombardment and siege of the Gaza Strip since the October 7 Hamas attack. United Nations humanitarian leaders issued a joint demand Monday for dramatically increasing the flow of aid into Gaza. “The situation is spiraling out of control” in Gaza, says pediatric neurologist Omar Abdel-Mannan, who shares on-the-ground health worker reports of the “apocalyptic” scenes in collapsing hospitals.
Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as president of Guatemala Monday after conservative leaders attempted for months to disqualify Arévalo’s landslide victory in August’s runoff presidential election by claiming election fraud and persecuting his progressive Semilla party up until the final hours before his inauguration.
Lawmakers aim to protect kids’ mental health by forcing tech giants to redesign their sites.
The defense secretary underwent a prostatectomy to remove cancer and suffered painful complications.