The Bow-Tied Bard of Populism

Tucker Carlson is selling me hard on the swamp. It is an unseasonably warm afternoon in late January, and we are seated at a corner table in Monocle, an upscale Capitol Hill eatery frequented by the Fox News star. (Carlson, who typically skips breakfast and spends dinnertime on t … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

'There's Enough Time to Change Everything'

Last month, David Galernter, the pioneering Yale University computer scientist, met with Donald Trump to discuss the possibility of joining the White House staff. An article about the meeting in the Washington Post was headlined, “David Gelernter, fiercely anti-intellectual compu … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The 'Rhododendron Situation' and the Tricky Politics of Invasive Plants

On Tuesday, an Irish politician gave an impassioned speech about rhododendrons. “The rhododendron situation in Killarney National Park has gotten so bad, minister,” Michael Healy-Rae expounded from the floor of the Irish parliament, “nothing short of calling in the army is going … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The 'Curious' Robots Searching for the Ocean's Secrets

People have been exploring the Earth since ancient times—traversing deserts, climbing mountains, and trekking through forests. But there is one ecological realm that hasn’t yet been well explored: the oceans. To date, just 5 percent of Earth’s oceans have been seen by human eyes … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Coming Battle Over Legal Immigration

With so many other confrontations over immigration already raging, it was easy to overlook that new skirmish that Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia started last week.Just weeks into office, President Trump is embroiled in legal and political s … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Federal Government’s Reversal: Let the States Deal With Transgender Kids

The Trump administration issued a new letter on Wednesday: The federal government will no longer stand behind Obama-era guidelines requiring schools to accommodate transgender students based on their gender identity. The new administration is withdrawing two letters, written in 2 … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

'Some Toxins Can Be Deadly in Small Doses'

The U.S. Supreme Court gave a Texas death-row inmate a second chance to avoid the death penalty on Wednesday, ruling in a 6-2 decision that Duane Buck's lawyer had unconstitutionally introduced testimony suggesting he was more likely to be commit future crimes because he is black … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Atlantic Daily: Safety and Space

What We’re FollowingBig News in Science: Seven Earth-sized planets have been discovered in a solar system relatively close to ours. What’s more, they’re in the star’s temperate zone, where it’s neither too hot nor too cold for containing liquid water—and maybe life. Back on Earth … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Planets 7 From Outer Space

Today in 5 LinesThe Trump administration plans to revoke Obama-era guidance that required public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly are scheduled to meet with Mexic … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Scenes From the Mall of America

Nicholson Baker, the great novelist, essayist, and observer of the world’s absurdities, produces much of his work when he’s out in that world: He likes to do his writing, Baker has told interviewers, in Panera restaurants, and in Starbucks shops, and in his favorite corner booth … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

In Fire at Sea, Tragedy and Normalcy Live Side by Side

An Italian woman kisses a Virgin Mary statue after she methodically makes her bed and begins her morning. A Nigerian migrant recounts the prayer he said while traversing the Sahara, as others in a dark room chant along with him. A boy rows in the harbor under an overcast sky. The … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

'What We Are Seeing With Trump Is Fundamentally Different'

The election of Donald Trump, and the early days of his presidency, have driven many Americans to rummage through history in search of context and understanding. Trump himself has been compared to historical figures ranging from Ronald Reagan to Henry Ford, and from Andrew Jackso … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Republican Voters Trust Trump More Than GOP Leaders in Congress

Now that Republicans control Congress and the White House, the stage is set in Washington for the GOP to enact sweeping legislative change after eight years of President Obama. But for Republicans, that new-found power comes with a caveat: Republican voters tell pollsters they tr … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Foreign-Policy Establishment Defends Itself From Trump

Ben Rhodes, one of Barack Obama’s top advisers, once dismissed the American foreign-policy establishment—those ex-government officials and think-tank scholars and journalists in Washington, D.C. who advocate for a particular vision of assertive U.S. leadership in the world—as the … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Great Croissant-Eating Controversy

Last week, a reader who signed his email “J.” gave us a detailed critique of what he calls the “zombie rules” of grammar—the gripes against such things as split infinitives and dangling prepositions that “fuel ... people’s misconceptions (and their nervous cluelessness) about Eng … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Burn Their Camp Ahead of Evacuation

For months now, protesters have lived in tents and tepees during the frigid North Dakota winter, opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. In that time, construction was halted by the Obama administration, then re-started by the Trump administration. Recently, stat … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Kenneth Lonergan, the Apolitical Bard of Service Workers

Over two centuries, many a novel or film has investigated the various corners of oppression in a capitalist world, issuing powerful protest on behalf of slaves, farmers, and factory workers. In the 19th century, Western literature saw the publication of the great slave narratives … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

A Probiotic Skin Cream Made With a Person’s Own Microbes

In 1928, the British chemist Alexander Fleming returned from a vacation in the countryside to find that his lab was a frightful mess. There was, for example, a pile of Petri dishes in his sink, each of which contained a carpet of Staphylococcus aureus—a bacterium that can cause s … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Maddening Media Obsession With Female Feuds, Katy Perry Edition

Katy Perry’s new video for “Chained to the Rhythm” throws shade at fossil fuels and predatory home lending, nuclear weapons and nuclear families, lines at amusement parks and space helmets worn on Earth. But in some corners of the Internet, Perry’s recently been portrayed mostly … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Why Netflix Will Release Martin Scorsese’s Next Film

Martin Scorsese’s next project, The Irishman, is as close as you can get to a box-office guarantee for the famed director. It’s a gangster film based on a best-selling book about a mob hitman who claimed to have a part in the legendary disappearance of the union boss Jimmy Hoffa. … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Seven Earth-Like Planets Have Been Spotted Around a Nearby Star

In late 2015, in the Chilean desert, astronomers pointed a telescope at a faint, nearby star known as a red dwarf. Amid the star’s dim infrared glow, they spotted periodic dips, a telltale sign that something was passing in front of it, blocking its light every so often. Last sum … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Coded Language of For-Profit Colleges

The majority of for-profit colleges are small, but the largest and most notable bear familiar names: the University of Phoenix and ITT Technical Institute, to name two. Historically, for-profit colleges have been local, family-owned operations controlled privately, oftentimes by … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Economy Is Not Doomed

The 2016 election might seem like a death knell for liberals who dream that the United States might eventually come to resemble one of Europe’s social democracies. The Republican Party now controls the White House, both houses of Congress, and the majority of governorships and st … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

How Anti-Trumpism is Hijacking the Anti-Brexit Movement

On Monday afternoon, roughly 100 protesters swathed in European Union flags and carrying signs bearing slogans like “I am not a bargaining chip,” “EU Worker Making Britain Great Again,” and “Brexit and Trump: Sound the Alarm,” gathered quietly on Parliament Square, opposite the B … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Need to Make Big Business Less Big

There are many competing interpretations for why Hillary Clinton lost last fall’s election, but most observers do agree that economics played a big role. Clinton simply didn’t articulate a vision compelling enough to compete with Donald Trump’s rousing, if dubious, message that b … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Why Space Operas Will Never Come True

As an astrophysicist, I am always struck by the fact that even the wildest science-fiction stories tend to be distinctly human in character. No matter how exotic the locale or how unusual the scientific concepts, most science fiction ends up being about quintessentially human (or … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Story Behind Trump’s Chinese Trademark

Amid the tumultuous end to his first month in office, President Donald Trump got a piece of long-awaited good news: After more than a decade of hold-ups in court, his application to trademark his name in China was finally approved.Because the announcement came shortly after Trump … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

When Picture-Day Combs Don't Actually Comb

Like Sunday school and Friday night football games, Picture Days are rituals in the South. I went to a lot of different schools in different cities and towns, and had to memorize new customs, traditions, mascots, and slogans at each one, but the anchors that made the experience o … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

A Passion for Finding Talent

Philip Carlson was a talent agent who signed and represented the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, and Liev Schreiber. His roster of acting talent is long and his career spanned decades. In this short film by Christopher Ming Ryan, Carlson re … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Kiki Revisits the Power of New York’s Ball Culture

It can be easy for certain kinds of films to feel overly voyeuristic. Any work that offers a peek into a world that’s completely unfamiliar to much of its audience risks keeping viewers at arm’s length, or turning its subjects into a mere curiosity. But the new film Kiki avoids t … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Zapping Your Brain at Home to Cure Fatigue

Laura Bennett, a 59-year-old pediatrician in Long Island, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1997, but her symptoms consisted mostly of numbness and tingling until about six years ago. That’s when she started to have trouble walking. She went from using a cane, to a walker, … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

When Evidence Says No, But Doctors Say Yes

First, listen to the story with the happy ending: At 61, the executive was in excellent health. His blood pressure was a bit high, but everything else looked good, and he exercised regularly. Then he had a scare. He went for a brisk post-lunch walk on a cool winter day, and his c … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Today's News: Feb. 22, 2017

—Donald Tsang, who served as Hong Kong’s chief executive from 2005 to 2012, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for misconduct.—Malaysian authorities say they want to question a North Korean diplomat in connection with the killing last week of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Is the Leading Theory About Alzheimer's Wrong?

Last week, the pharmaceutical company Merck pulled the plug on a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug trial. The drug verubecestat, an outside committee concluded, had “virtually no chance” of benefit for patients with the disease.The failure of one drug is of course disappointing, b … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Christian Retreat From Public Life

Donald Trump was elected president with the help of 81 percent of white evangelical voters. Mike Pence, the champion of Indiana’s controversial 2015 religious-freedom law, is his deputy. Neil Gorsuch, a judge deeply sympathetic to religious litigants, will likely be appointed to … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Promise of 3-D Printing Body Parts

He was barely a teenager when he was grabbed by a Sudanese guerrilla army and forced to become a child soldier. He was made to endure weeks of walking with so little food and water that some of his fellow captives died. Four more were killed one night in a wild-animal attack. The … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Why #DeleteUber and Other Boycotts Matter

The #DeleteUber campaign got another boost this weekend after a former Uber engineer wrote in an essay that she had reported incidents of sexual harassment at the company, and that the company had protected the alleged harasser. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick pledged to immediately loo … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Atlantic Daily: Expulsions and Eternity

What We’re FollowingBorder Lines: Homeland Security issued new memos today that designate nearly all undocumented immigrants as priority targets for deportation from the U.S.—a change from the previous policy, which focused on deporting convicted criminals. It’s the first impleme … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Arch-Troll Milo's Mini Apology Tour

NEW YORK — Milo Yiannopoulos has a new mode, and it’s contrition.Yiannopoulos appeared before reporters on Tuesday in a rented Soho loft to announce his resignation from Breitbart News and apologize to abuse victims for over-a-year-old remarks on pedophilia that incited a politic … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Alt-Right's Intellectual Darling Hated Christianity

In the summer of 2014, years before he became the White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon gave a lecture via Skype at a conference held inside the Vatican. He spoke about the need to defend the values of the “Judeo-Christian West”—a term he used 11 times—against crony capitali … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: All by Milonesome

Today in 5 LinesThe Department of Homeland Security issued new rules expanding the number of undocumented immigrants who can be deported from the United States. During a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, President Trump promised to fight bigotr … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Is the U.S. Becoming a Banana Republic?

David Frum is worried it will under President Trump. “The fancy term is authoritarian kleptocracy,” Frum says in a long and enriching talk with Atlantic editor Scott Stossel last Thursday about the dangers of the Trump administration (starting at the 10:22 mark):If you haven’t ye … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Milo Yiannopoulos and the Church of Winning

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) takes place this week near Washington, D.C., the first such gathering since Donald Trump took office. The conference purports to be a gathering for like-minded folks who believe, generally, in the well-established principles of … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Simon & Schuster's Completely Avoidable Milo Yiannopoulos Disaster

On Monday, when videos reemerged on social media in which the Breitbart News senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos seemed to condone sexual relationships between adult men and teenagers below the age of consent, the overwhelming response was one of outrage. The CNN host Jake Tapper pos … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

President Trump’s Harsh Immigration Policy Is Now a Reality

The Department of Homeland Security issued new memos on Tuesday that give U.S. officials sweeping latitude to target “removable aliens” for deportation, effectively making  most of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as priority targets.The memos, issued … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Is the Southern Border a Constitution-Free Zone?

“No matter whether the Constitution follows the flag or not,” Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley said long ago in an obsolete dialect, “the Supreme Court follows the election returns.”Both of these—the traveling flag and the election returns—formed a complicated subtext Tuesday at t … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

The Fallout From 'A Day Without Immigrants'

On February 16, immigrants across the U.S. stayed away from work as part of the protest “A Day Without Immigrants.” Employees and employers gave up wages and profits in protest of the immigration policies of the Trump administration, hoping to show American consumers what an econ … | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago

Reports of an Active Shooter at a Houston Hospital

What we know:—Houston police are responding to reports of shots fired at Ben Taub hospital.—There are no reports of injuries, police say.—This is a developing story and we’ll be following it here. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5). Read On » | Continue reading


@theatlantic.com | 7 years ago