Today's Liberal News
Germany’s Anti-Vaccination History Is Riddled With Anti-Semitism
Last year, I felt lucky to be an American in Germany. The government carried out a comprehensive public-health response, and for the most part, people wore masks in public. More recently, COVID-19 cases have surged here, with new infections reaching a single-day zenith in late March.
I Was Such a Fool to Believe My Boyfriend Wanted a Baby
Now he’s trying to convince me to terminate the pregnancy.
We Still Don’t Know Who the Coronavirus’s Victims Were
To reflect on the racial pandemic of the past year is to reflect on the ravages of multiple viruses, all mutating from the original American virus: racism. People of color—already forced into the shadows of society—were infected, hospitalized, impoverished, and killed at the highest rates by COVID-19. All the while, they received the fewest medical and economic protections—prolonging, deepening, and spreading their suffering.
On Rape Narratives and the Surprising Value of Plot
At the bookstore where I used to work, we shelved fiction in four separate categories. Crime novels shared a wall with speculative fiction; romance had a set of freestanding shelves. The rest of the fiction room was devoted to literary fiction, which, unlike the others, we never identified by genre name. The publishing industry tends to treat literary as a descriptor, a nod to a work’s artistic quality or aspirations.
The Professional Women Who Are Leaning Out
To be a working mother during a global pandemic is to be constantly torn between your kids and your clients. At times in the past year, Amy Conway-Hatcher, a lawyer at a big firm in Washington, D.C., would overhear her two children having dinner with her husband and not be able to join them, because she was working 80-to-100-hour weeks on a big case.
The Numbers Tell a Different Story About Police Killings of Minors
Deadly police force may be most traumatic to a community when officers kill a child. No matter the circumstances, we mourn both today’s loss and the decades of forgone tomorrows. The blow is sharper still when the child’s killing is captured on video and replayed again and again. Most recently, the police killings of Adam Toledo, 13, in Chicago in late March, and Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, last month in Columbus, Ohio, sparked protests and a social-media outcry.
What Uber and DoorDash’s Investors Are Suddenly Afraid Of
And what the gig economy really has to fear.
The Real Villains of the Housing Crisis
One group has too much power over what gets built—or, more often, what doesn’t.
Joe Biden Just Wants to Make the U.S. a Normal Country That Isn’t Horrible for Parents
The American Families Plan is really a plan to give us what other industrialized countries already have.
Joe Biden’s Ambitious Plan to Audit the Filthy Rich
A sensible, way overdue idea for fixing the welfare state.
‘A tough call’: Biden considering mandatory Covid vaccines for U.S. troops
The comments from the commander in chief come as the Pentagon has sounded the alarm about service members refusing the shots in large numbers.
Biden’s next pandemic challenge: Getting Americans to accept the virus
The challenge for Biden, his response team and state health officials will be managing the rolling series of outbreaks possibly driven by more dangerous virus variants.
FDA says it will ban menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars
The agency has long faced calls to act on menthol cigarettes, which are disproportionately smoked by Black Americans and teens just starting to use tobacco.
FDA readies plan to bar menthol cigarettes nationwide
The menthol ban would be one of FDA’s most aggressive tobacco reform efforts since the agency first began regulating the industry in 2009.
Biden’s Covid team split over decision to send vaccine doses abroad
The announcement Monday followed a call between President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Atlantic Daily: An Hour of Music for Your Next Road Trip
Every weekday evening, our editors guide you through the biggest stories of the day, help you discover new ideas, and surprise you with moments of delight. Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox.What do you need for a driving playlist? The fizz of the white line, the pull of the horizon, the tires beneath you slurping up the miles … You need forward momentum and you need space—expansiveness. You need regular beats and loads of deep repetition. Spiraling guitars.
A Year Without Germs
Sales of alcohol surged in 2020, especially among the higher-proof varieties. But one type far outsold the others: hand sanitizer.In the heat of the pandemic, Purell poured some $400 million into expanding its production. As anyone who resorted to bootleg hand sanitizer knows, the company came nowhere close to meeting demand.
The Books Briefing: How to be Happy
The debate over what happiness is, and how to achieve it, goes back thousands of years: As Arthur Brooks, an Atlantic contributing writer, points out, the Greek philosopher Epicurus believed that happiness involved freedom from mental disturbance and the absence of physical pain. In the Stoic school of thought, happiness could be found only in a virtuous life.
Dear Care and Feeding: My Ex’s Sexual Assault Case Made the News. How Do I Help Our Son?
Parenting advice on tough conversations, Cricut overload, and lonely neighbors.
“We See Everything”: A Waxer on Her Clients’ Rush to Get Ready for Hot Vax Summer
“The first thing they’ll say is ‘I’m so sorry.
Instagram’s Favorite Furniture Style Has an Uncomfortable History
How we sit isn’t the only thing midcentury modernism sought to control.
Mark Carney on Canada’s economic growth: ‘It’s going to take more than one budget’
“There were elements of growth in the balance from what I can see and understand,” Carney said in a long response that didn’t directly answer the question.
How the Trudeau government plans to meet its climate goals
Chrystia Freeland uses Budget 2021 to reveal Canada’s new emissions target.
Biden’s spending plans collide with a resurgent U.S. economy
The numbers signal the U.S. is well on its way toward a revival, one that’s widely expected to reach record levels of growth later this year.
Bone Rooms: How Elite Schools and Museums Amassed Black and Native Human Remains Without Consent
Revelations the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton hold the remains of a child killed by Philadelphia police in the 1985 MOVE bombing are the latest development in a conversation about demanding respectful treatment of African American remains in museum collections, especially those of the enslaved.
After Protests over Unauthorized Use of MOVE Child’s Bones, U. of Pennsylvania & Princeton Apologize
Following protests, two Ivy League schools — the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — have issued apologies for their handling of the remains of an African American child killed by the Philadelphia police in the 1985 MOVE bombing.
“A Threshold Crossed”: Israel Is Guilty of Apartheid, Human Rights Watch Says for First Time
A major new report by Human Rights Watch says for the first time that Israel is committing crimes of apartheid and persecution in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The international human rights group says Israeli authorities dispossessed, confined and forcibly separated Palestinians. “For years, prominent voices have warned that apartheid lurked just around the corner.
“Rejection of the Neoliberal Framework”: Biden Proposes Trillions in New Spending, Taxes on the Rich
On the eve of his 100th day in office, President Joe Biden gave his first speech to a joint session of Congress and proposed trillions of dollars in new economic measures. He unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits aimed at expanding access to education and child care.
Trump Hints At Mar-A-Lago That Biased Arizona Recount Could Be Road To White House
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they found thousands and thousands and thousands of votes” for him, he tells cheering guests.