Today's Liberal News

John Fetterman Is Very Online. That’s Not Why He’s Ahead.

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.The Democrat running to be Pennsylvania’s next senator is famous for his ultracasual aesthetic and irreverent social-media strategy.But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

Prison Health Expert Warns Monkeypox Could “Dramatically Increase” Behind Bars, Calls for CDC Action

The first case of monkeypox behind bars was reported in Chicago this week, and health experts are warning that jails could accelerate the spread as they are dangerously unprepared to combat against a virus that spreads through close physical contact. We speak with Dr. Homer Venters, the former chief medical officer for New York City’s Correctional Health Services, whose new op-ed for The Hill is headlined ”CDC must act to prevent monkeypox explosion in prisons.

“Hellholes”: Heat Waves Worsen Conditions in Prisons with No Air Conditioning, Understaffing

As tens of millions of people in the United States live under heat alerts this summer, we look at conditions faced by those in prisons and jails with poor cooling systems and lack of access to running water. “Although heat has been an ongoing issue in Texas, this year it’s exacerbated by a staffing crisis that’s been years in the making,” says Keri Blakinger, the first formerly incarcerated reporter for The Marshall Project.

“Our Lives Depend on Passing Climate Policy”: Meet Congressional Staffer Arrested in Senate Protest

Before a deal emerged this week on a bill to address the climate emergency, six congressional staffers were arrested Monday on Capitol Hill as they held a nonviolent civil disobedience protest inside the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging him to reopen negotiations on the bill. We speak with Saul Levin, one of the staffers who was arrested, and discuss the role the action had in pushing the bill forward.

Why Is AIPAC Spending Millions in Primary to Defeat Rep. Andy Levin, a Former Synagogue President?

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) invests millions in Democratic primaries to defeat progressives who support Palestine, we speak to one of the candidates: Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, whose primary is on Tuesday. He is a self-described Zionist who supports a two-state solution, but earlier this year a former president of AIPAC described him as “arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Ukraine update: Atrocity

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was both illegal and unprovoked. Every life lost in this conflict, both Ukrainian and Russian, is a murder that belongs to Russia alone, and specifically to dictator Vladimir Putin, who personally made the decision to begin this needless slaughter. This doesn’t just apply to the tens of thousands who have died in the invasion that began on Feb.

Coalition calls on Biden and Schumer to ditch fossil fuel provisions in Manchin climate deal

In a letter Friday, more than 360 environmental and community organizations asked President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to “Hold the line against fossil fuel expansion” and oppose what one signatory—the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)—labeled fossil fuel “poison pills” tucked into the final pages of the 725-page Inflation Reduction Act hammered out behind the scenes by Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin.

Of Course Biden Has Rebound COVID

Four days after recovering from a COVID-19 infection, President Joe Biden has tested positive again. When he first got sick, Biden—like more than one-third of the Americans who have tested positive for COVID-19 this summer, according to the U.S. government’s public records—was prescribed Paxlovid, an antiviral pill treatment made by Pfizer. Like many Paxlovid takers, he soon tested negative and resumed his normal activities.

I’ll Make You Copies. But I Have Dreams, Too.

I recently landed a final-round interview for a dream job: senior research coordinator. Actually, I hadn’t dreamed about it, but it offered a way out of my current role—and it felt like a dream because I’d stopped being able to imagine myself doing anything so illustrious. For a few days, I pictured myself doing thankless and sharply written research.

Everyone Loses on Jeopardy Eventually

The night before my episode of Jeopardy aired on national television, I had a nightmare. In the dream, everyone who knew me in high school gathered in a cafeteria to watch and laugh—at how I’d aged, at my flubbed attempts to hit the buzzer, at every wrong answer. Their laughter chased me down the weird hallways of my mind. I woke up covered in sweat and freaking out.  My husband, however, woke up excited.

What Narendra Modi Is Taking From Me

New Delhi is more than 2,000 years old and has served as the center of multiple empires and kingdoms, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. By the 17th century, what is now known as Old Delhi was the capital of the Mughal empire. The British, who came later, sited their capital in Calcutta (now Kolkata) before eventually deciding to move it back. In 1911, King George V laid the foundation stone of a new capital to be built within Delhi—New Delhi.