Trump Hoarded Most Of The $147 Million In Small-Donor Money He Raised For Himself
The much-touted super PAC he created spent only $15 million on GOP candidates in key Senate races, and nothing at all on Herschel Walker’s runoff.
Today's Liberal News
Is the War on Drugs to Blame for the Fentanyl Crisis?
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he 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 should be done about fentanyl? Has it affected your family or community?Send your responses to conor@theatlantic.com.
What Gives SZA Her Edge
Happy holidays—the final great pop album of the year is all about loathing and misery! “Everything disgusting, conversation is so boring,” SZA sings on her long-awaited second album. She later adds, “I hate everybody, I hate everyone.”SZA’s music is often described as R&B, a style in which anger and sadness tend to flow from heartbreak. But the 33-year-old star doesn’t seem comfortable admitting she has a heart at all.
Sam Bankman-Fried Got What He Wanted
In the hours before Sam Bankman-Fried surrendered to police at his home on the Bahamian island of New Providence, he was still engaged in something like a last-ditch press tour: a final, desperate attempt to make amends after his $32 billion crypto empire unraveled last month. Asked during a Monday-afternoon roundtable on Twitter Spaces whether he thought the prospect of returning to the U.S. might result in his arrest, Bankman-Fried responded with a resounding no.
The Dawn of Artificial Imagination
For years, fears about the disruptive potential of automation and artificial intelligence have centered on repetitive labor: Perhaps machines could replace humans who do secretarial work, accounting, burger-flipping. Doctors, software engineers, authors—any job that requires creative intelligence—seemed safe. But the past few months have turned those narratives on their head.
Mumia Should Be Freed: A Sitting Trial Judge in Arkansas Appeals to Philly Judge to Drop Charges
This Friday, Mumia Abu-Jamal faces what could be his last chance for a new trial to consider newly discovered evidence that casts doubt on his 1982 conviction for murder. The journalist and former Black Panther has spent 41 years in prison for the death of police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which he has always maintained his innocence.
Slash the Pentagon Budget in Half & Abolish ICBMs: Dan Ellsberg on How to Avoid Nuclear Armageddon
As tension rises between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, we speak with Daniel Ellsberg, the famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower, who worked for years during the Cold War on nuclear war strategy within the U.S. national security establishment. He says the threat of a catastrophic nuclear war is intolerable, with intercontinental ballistic missiles posing the highest risk.
Indict Us Too: Daniel Ellsberg & Cryptome’s John Young Demand U.S. Drop Charges Against Julian Assange
As supporters of Julian Assange fear his extradition to the United States could be just weeks away, and President Biden faces growing pressure to drop espionage charges against Assange, we are joined for an exclusive joint interview with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and John Young, the founder of Cryptome.org, who have both asked the Department of Justice to indict them for possessing or publishing the same documents as the WikiLeaks founder.
CDC says long Covid has contributed to thousands of U.S. deaths
The agency’s report comes as Congress is considering whether to fund research and treatment.
‘The situation in the hospitals is grim’: States face brutal virus fallout
Nearly 30,000 people currently in the hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, up 30 percent since Thanksgiving.
Dems’ final Covid report slams government failures. Congress may repeat them.
The Coronavirus Crisis committee lays out 30 recommendations for protecting the country during future pandemics.
FDA greenlights bivalent vaccines for children as young as 6 months old
The move to authorize the shots comes as Covid-19 infections in the U.S. tick up amid the most intense flu season in years.
China announces rollback of strict anti-Covid measures
Public frustration with the restrictions appears to have finally swayed the opinion of officials.
Ex-FDA vaccine inspectors call for better training
The team overseeing licensed vaccines is overwhelmed by high turnover and a pandemic-induced backlog of inspections.
Fed jacks up rates again but Powell hints it might slow down
Inflation has cooled only slightly and job growth remains strong.
Voters remain gloomy despite recent economic gains
A new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll suggests voters’ views of the economy are baked in.
U.S. economy returned to growth last quarter, expanding 2.6 percent
Housing investment, though, plunged at a 26 percent annual pace, hammered by surging mortgage rates.
More voters trust Republicans on economy as interest in midterms hits high, polls say
According to an NBC News poll released Sunday, 70 percent of registered voters expressed interest in the upcoming election as a “9” or “10” on a 10-point scale.
“Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power”: New Film on Radical Voting Activism in 1960s Alabama
We look at “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power,” a remarkable new documentary that shows how a small rural community in Alabama organized during the civil rights movement to challenge white supremacy and systematic disenfranchisement of Black residents, and would become, in some ways, the first iteration of the Black Panther Party.
Right-wing judge makes the inevitable move against birth control rights
We warned you this was coming. The same crowd that said Republicans and their judges wouldn’t really overturn Roe v. Wade have dismissed the idea that Republicans and their judges would follow up Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization by coming for birth control next, but here it is.
Ukraine update: Russia fails in attempts to push back Ukrainian troops around Kreminna and Svatove
UPDATE: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2022 · 4:40:40 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
The situation in Bakhmut is reported to be bad and getting worse this evening. Russia launching wave attacks one on top of another, and coming at the city from multiple directions. Even though Ukraine has been able to push back some of these attacks, and even reclaim ground in some areas, the situation is approaching a critical point.
DeSantis doubles down on misinformation campaign, vows to impanel grand jury on COVID-19 vaccine
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pulling out all the stops to attract COVID conspiracy voters in his quest for the 2024 Republican crown. This weekend, he started laying the groundwork by indicting the COVID-19 vaccine, citing an unfounded conspiracy about the vaccine’s side effects.
Speaking at a private event, DeSantis announced his administration intends to impanel a statewide grand jury to “investigate any and all wrongdoing” by the makers of the mRNA vaccine.
Elon Musk is about to learn that liberals—not his new deplorable pals—buy Teslas
I drive a Tesla. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sometimes it feels like a third of people around me drive Teslas. I see lots of Teslas in New York City, Austin, and Seattle. I don’t see many of them in Alabama, or the Florida Panhandle or mid-Pennsylvania or Idaho, or anywhere else that’s mostly conservative.
Just 31% of Republican voters still favor Trump’s ’24 bid, but GOP might still be stuck with him
There’s nothing quite so vexing as being saddled with a losing candidate who most people don’t want to run nearly two years out from Election Day. But that’s precisely where the Republican Party finds itself—mostly because their ‘leaders’ were too spineless and craven to shiv Donald Trump when they had the chance (looking at you, Mitch).
Mary Trump Suggests Why Cousin Ivanka And Jared Kushner Are Ditching Donald Trump
The former president’s older daughter has said she doesn’t plan to be involved in his 2024 presidential campaign.
Fox Business Host Tells Elaine Chao ‘We Were All Appalled’ By Trump’s Racist Post
Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney asked Trump’s former transportation secretary if she had a response to his September slurs.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown Commutes State’s Death Sentences
The 17 people previously on death row will instead get life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Surprise! Snakes Have Clitorises
In her two decades as a genital morphologist, Patricia Brennan has looked at a lot of animal clitorises. She’s seen female lizards’ two spike-studded protrusions, which are almost identical to their counterparts on males. She’s glimpsed the prominent appendage through which female spotted hyenas urinate and give birth. She’s even studied the thin-skinned, nerve-laced organ of a female dolphin, which Brennan’s work suggests makes sex pleasurable.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Leaves Democrats In Awkward Spot Ahead Of 2024
With potential challengers circling, Democrats must decide how to avoid a messy Arizona Senate primary now that’s she’s switched to independent.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Schools The World On What Makes A ‘Real Insurrection’
“They can’t handle the truth,” the congresswoman said of her critics, paraphrasing Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men,” because why not.