Today's Liberal News

The complete guide to every excuse Republicans have made for Trump’s theft of classified documents

My oh my. It’s been less than a week since federal agents raided Donald Trump’s Florida beachhouse in search of classified documents that Trump stole from the White House, but Republicans have come up with a truly dizzying number of excuses and smokescreens trying to cover up his wrongdoing—often several each day. Honestly, it’s been somewhat hard to keep track of them all, especially as many contradict one another, but we’re here to help.

Trump now claims a ‘standing order’ to declassify anything that left the Oval Office

In the days since the FBI executed a search warrant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Trump, and his GOP lackeys have trotted out excuse after excuse to explain away the trove of material seized from a storage room at his golf club: A politically motivated witch hunt! The evidence was planted by the FBI! There was nothing important there! Obama did it too! (He didn’t.

Ukraine Update: Russia’s best efforts manage only the slightest Donbas gains

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On vacation still, but checking in to provide an update on the on-the-ground tactical situation in Ukraine. I’ll start at Izyum, and work my way around the front in clockwise direction.

Izyum direction: No one is officially calling it yet, but it’s increasingly clear that Ukraine has retaken Dovhen’ke as Russia’s Izyum holdings recede.

To Support Salman Rushdie, Just Read Him

Salman Rushdie was stabbed repeatedly yesterday at the Chautauqua Institution, in western New York. He is on a ventilator. He has wounds to his neck, stomach, and liver; severed nerves in one of his arms; and, according to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, will probably lose an eye. This singular symbol of daring artistic ambition has become, suddenly, a flesh-and-blood person in grave suffering.

Asking Gay Men to Be Careful Isn’t Homophobia

An aspiring dramatist named Emlyn Williams watched the rain fall from his bed in his New York City apartment. He had just turned 22 and had performed in a play the night before, but—as he recalled years later in his autobiography—“the feeling of being alone darkened into loneliness.” Then a thought darted across his mind. Unlike in London, where he had spent time after graduating from Oxford, there was a place for him to go in New York City: the Everard Baths.

Trump’s Scandals Are Never Done

Although there are many rivals for the title, this week’s FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, the apparent mishandling of classified information that led to it, and the political fallout since is close to the paradigmatic Donald Trump scandal.The story is at once totally new and unexpected and yet entirely of a piece with everything we know and have seen from Trump.

Should You Cut ‘Toxic’ People Out of Your Life?

Last spring, my boyfriend sublet a spare room in his apartment to an aspiring model. The roommate was young and made us feel old, but he was always game for a bottle of wine in the living room, and he seemed to like us, even though he sometimes suggested that we were boring or not that hot.One night, he and my boyfriend started bickering about which Lorde album is better, the first one or the second one.

News Roundup: Donald Trump did it, admitted to it, says everybody does it, says it’s a conspiracy

It is Friday. Did anything of note even happen this week? [Looks through papers] Oh, yes. The FBI executed a search warrant, authorized by Attorney General Merrick Garland, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and removed approximately a dozen boxes from the premises—some of which contained classified documents, possibly including America’s closely held nuclear secrets.

Search warrant shows Trump is under investigation for possible Espionage Act violations

The Department of Justice search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property indicates that the 45th president is under investigation for obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act. 

The Wall Street Journal was first to report details of the warrant, and Daily Kos obtained it after it became part of the public record—when information contained therein could be independently confirmed.

Russia suddenly really, really wants to ‘protect’ Donald Nuclear Secrets Trump

After the news broke that the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago the FBI obtained a search warrant to hunt for pertained to classified nuclear secrets, it took about zero point zero seconds for the Russian government and its media mouthpieces to decide that they really, really would love it if Donald trump came to Moscow. You know, for humanitarian reasons or whatever.

The Daily Beast brings us this one.

Not Even a Single Republican Voted for the Climate Bill

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by the House of Representatives today, is about to become the first comprehensive climate legislation in U.S. history. Compared with Congress’s desultory approach to the issue in the past, the numbers are striking: The legislation will spend roughly $374 billion on decarbonization and climate resilience over the next 10 years, getting us two-thirds of the way to America’s Paris Agreement goals.

All Because Salman Rushdie Wrote a Book

Salman Rushdie has had a price on his head for 33 years. He is a writer who has lived with the fear of being killed for his words. Whatever other opinion one might have about Rushdie and his skills as a novelist or his public persona, this much is true: He has understood what it means to be targeted and hated—burned in effigy—forced to hide and, even in recent years, to continue to look over his shoulder. All because he wrote a book.

Trump’s Vault of Secrets

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.Everything that crosses a president’s desk is valuable intelligence to our adversaries. Why were boxes of such materials in Donald Trump’s home in Florida?But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.