The Watchdogs Are Barking Themselves Hoarse
The scandals of the president’s first term now seem quaint.
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llustration by The Atlantic. Source: Magnolia Pictures.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty What Mitch McConnell Did
The former Senate GOP leader’s legacy will make America harder to govern for years to come.
Bettmann / Getty The Human-Origin Story Is Being Radically Revised
New secrets from our past have been coming out in droves.
Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic The Color Recession May Be Permanent
Consumers are so afraid of getting colors wrong, they don’t use them at all.
Dina Litovsky / Redux The Internet Is in Crisis
For 15 minutes, the celebrity-gossip blogger Perez Hilton livestreamed his violent self-harm without anyone intervening.
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Illustration by Paul Spella* Hard-Luck Men in Hardscrabble Towns
In Richard Russo’s novels, the American dream feels like a cruel joke.
Illustration by Dena Springer A Chatbot-Free Childhood Will Be a Status Symbol
AI is like ultra-processed food for developing brains.
Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Trump’s Déjà-Vu Moment on Birthright Citizenship
The president’s latest attempt to limit who is an American by birth is plagued by weak legal arguments and nonsensical claims.
Graeme Robertson / Guardian / eyevine / Redux Icarus in the Faculty Lounge
The Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s unlikely ascent has come to a tragic end.
ClassicStock / Getty There’s a Better Way to Parent: Less Yelling, Less Praise
When Michaeleen Doucleff met parents from around the world, she encountered millennia-old methods of raising good kids that made American parenting seem bizarre and ineffective. (From 2021)
Vivek Prakash / Reuters Air-Conditioning From Outer Space
“Air conditioning and outer space have a history that goes back further than ballpoint pens that write upside down.” (From 2015)
Millennium Images / Gallery Stock 
Library of Congress The English Governess at the Siamese Court
The author recounts her adventures with the King of Siam. (From 1870)
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Matt Doyle the david frum show•Episode 71Was Herbert Hoover America’s Most Misunderstood President?
Margaret Hoover on Herbert Hoover’s life, presidency, and legacy, and the renovation of his presidential library. Plus: Trump’s dropped Reflecting Pool indictment and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré
by The Atlantic galaxy brainHow Social Media Makes Our Lives Smaller
In the posting era, there’s room only for redemption and improvement narratives.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. how to touch grass•Episode 2How AI Could Make People More Anxious
Researchers warn that the design of chatbots is a “perfect storm” for anxiety.
LIMITED SERIESAutocracy in America
There are authoritarian tactics already at work in the United States. To root them out, you have to know where to look.
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