Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg Has Died
“All the young activists rising up give me hope as I leave my life,” Ellsberg wrote earlier this year, after announcing his cancer diagnosis.
Today's Liberal News
FDA recommends updated target for fall Covid boosters
The agency followed the guidance of its independent advisory committee, which identified a commonly circulating strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Republicans are already attacking Biden’s CDC pick on Covid
Mandy Cohen’s experience parrying GOP assaults is seen as a key attribute she’ll need in leading the CDC.
The Powerful Weirdness of Cormac McCarthy
This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.Cormac McCarthy died this week. With him went a style that seemed chiseled out of granite—biblical, as if produced by an Old Testament prophet who had somehow found himself wearing dusty dungarees and shuffling through a desert in the American Southwest.
Don’t Wait for the Children to Save Us
In 1860, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson—the daughter of Quaker abolitionists—attended a public debate in her native Philadelphia titled “Women’s Rights and Wrongs.” She had not planned to speak. But when a “bristling, dictatorial man”—as she later called him—stood to insist that his daughters were equal to all men, just better suited to domestic lives than commercial pursuits, Dickinson could not resist.
The Age of Pleasure Is Here
For the past year or so, artists have marketed delirious new music by talking about the doldrums of lockdown. The signature example is Beyoncé’s Renaissance, a whirligig tour through gay, Black dance history that features the type-A superstar performing her wackiest vocals ever. Renaissance, Beyoncé wrote on Instagram, was born from dreaming of freedom at “a time when little else was moving.
“Unacceptable”: Olympic Track Star Tori Bowie’s Death Highlights Black Maternal Health Crisis
Olympic track star Tori Bowie was eight months pregnant and in labor when she died on May 2, according to an autopsy. She was alone in her home at the time and may have suffered from respiratory distress and eclampsia, a rare but life-threatening pregnancy complication. Her baby also died.
Was Mika Westwolf Killed by White Nationalist? Indigenous Woman’s Parents & Community Demand Justice
We speak with the parents of Mika Westwolf, a 22-year-old Indigenous woman struck and killed in March by a driver as she was walking home along the highway in the early morning hours. The parents and allies are on a “Justice to Be Seen” march to call for justice and an investigation. Westwolf was a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and was also Diné, Cree and Klamath.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: State Dept. Must Release Report on Shireen Abu Akleh Death, Hold Killers Accountable
We speak with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland about his call for the U.S. State Department to declassify a report on the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank last year. The Al Jazeera reporter was covering an Israeli military raid just outside the Jenin refugee camp and was clearly marked as press.
Big Win for Tribal Sovereignty: Indian Child Welfare Act Upheld by Supreme Court in Surprise Ruling
We speak with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle about a major victory at the Supreme Court in a case that could have gutted Native American sovereignty. In a surprise 7-2 ruling Thursday, the court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which protects Native children from being removed from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption in non-Native homes. The court rejected an argument from Republican-led states and white families who argued the system is based on race.
Meet 5 Arkansans who are worried about their family’s Medicaid
More than 140,000 residents have lost eligibility in one of the poorest states in the country.
Thousands lose Medicaid in Arkansas: Is this America’s future?
As many as 15 million people nationwide are expected to lose coverage as states check eligibility for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
Compromise struck to preserve Obamacare’s preventive care mandate
The deal reached between the DOJ and Texas challengers could maintain insurance coverage of HIV drugs and other services nationwide.
Top Biden Covid official Jha set to depart June 15
The long-planned departure comes weeks after HHS allowed the Covid-19 public health emergency to lapse on May 11.
5 takeaways from POLITICO’s Health Care Summit
Government officials, lawmakers and health policy experts said the U.S. is prepared for the next pandemic but also detailed health care challenges.
U.S. consumer price growth slowed last month, though underlying inflation measures stayed high
Inflation slowed to just 4% in May.
U.S. prices pick up, showing inflation pressures persist
The Fed is paying particular attention to so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs and are regarded as a better gauge of longer-term inflation trends.
The under-the-radar issues that could shake up 2024
POLITICO asked a panel of strategists and elected officials what under-the-radar issue they think could play an outsize role in 2024.
“Money Has Won”: Saudi Rights Activist Says PGA-LIV Golf Merger Gives MBS More Power & Influence
We speak to Lina Alhathloul, the sister of a Saudi dissident who was jailed and tortured, about how the kingdom is using its oil fortune to reshape its image by taking over the world of professional golf with the merger of its own LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. This comes after President Biden pledged to make Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “pariah” after the brutal assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.
Ted Cruz Mercilessly Mocked For Bizarre Rant About Biden, Satan And Pat Benatar
Critics called out Cruz for invoking the name of the rock icon in his attempt to slam the president.
Ron DeSantis Jeers At Gavin Newsom: ‘Stop P***yfooting Around’
The Florida governor said his California counterpart should run for president since he’s always in Florida’s business.
House Republicans Take First Steps Toward A Possible Government Shutdown In October
They may have avoided a default on the national debt, but keeping the government open past Sept. 30 is looking tougher.
J. D. Vance and the Yahoo Caucus
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.When J. D. Vance first ran for office, he impressed some observers as a bridge between red and blue America. I was less impressed, but as a senator, he’s worse than even I expected; he’s become part of a caucus of panderers who are betraying the people they claim to represent.
Twitter Users Mock Right-Wing Podcaster’s Wish To Go Back To 1220
“I do not want America to be as socially conservative as 2012. I want our civilization to be as socially conservative as we were in 1220,” Michael Knowles said.
Man Harasses 9-Year-Old At Track Meet, Demands She Prove Her Gender
The man’s wife also called the child’s mothers “groomers and genital mutilators” — and now her parents are speaking out.
When Science Outpaces Ethics
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.
Tesla’s Magic Has Been Reduced to Its Chargers
When you first drive a Tesla, there’s a moment when you just get it. For me, it was cruising around Detroit in a Model S about seven years ago and feeling that instant, supercar-crushing speed without the engine roar that usually accompanies it. Instead of an array of dials and buttons, I worked its controls through a giant touch screen, and used its Autopilot system to help with the monotony of long highway drives.
“A Carbon Bomb”: Kumi Naidoo on Fight to Stop Construction of EACOP, Proposed Pipeline in East Africa
The proposed 900-mile East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would carry crude oil from Uganda south to neighboring Tanzania before being exported to refineries in the Netherlands, is facing continued resistance from climate activists around the world. Protesters disrupted the annual shareholder meeting of potential EACOP lender Standard Bank in Johannesburg Monday. Among them was our guest Kumi Naidoo, the former head of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International.
“The New Cold War: The United States, Russia, and China”: Gilbert Achcar on Ukraine War & More
Belarus says Russia has begun transferring tactical nuclear weapons to the former Soviet state, which shares a nearly 700-mile border with Ukraine, escalating the risk of a nuclear confrontation in Europe. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has urged allies to “dig deep” to provide more arms and ammunition to help Ukraine as it launches its counteroffensive against Russia.
Sudan’s Healthcare on Brink Amid Fighting & Targeted Attacks on Medical Workers, Hospitals Worldwide
Fighting between rival military factions in Sudan targeting medical facilities has left the country’s healthcare system on the verge of collapse. With a limited amount of power, water and medical supplies, and doctors fleeing the country for safety, less than a third of hospitals in the country’s conflict zones remain open. Calling this situation a calamity, Dr.