US politics

US politics

Would you commit to just letting his mother know - as a mother-to-mother - if Andry is alive?

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 stories that resonated most with our readers this year include reporting that led the political conversation, analysis that unraveled deep mysteries, and meditations on our evolving culture. Spend time with some of our most popular stories of the year.

For much of 2025, there was one big question on the minds of Social Security recipients: What would their 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) look like? In late October, seniors finally got their answer. The Social Security Administration announced that benefits would getting a 2.8% COLA in 2026. That 2.8% COLA, historically speaking, isn't Social Security's most generous. But it's also far from the smallest COLA to ever arrive.

"Yeah, that's changed," the Massachusetts Democrat said with a laugh this month, explaining that she now finds ChatGPT to be "really valuable" for basic research questions, even if she still catches the occasional hallucination. Warren said that she began using ChatGPT more after seeing her daughter use it. She says she doesn't "rely" on the technology, but uses it to "start to approach a problem."

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is once again under fire this time because her husband Tim Mynett's $25 million venture capital firm, Rose Lake Capital, purged key officer details amid growing questions about the couple's wealth and Minnesota's ongoing welfare fraud investigations. According to her latest financial disclosure in May, the couple's net worth surged 3500% in just one year; their net worth is now anywhere from $6 million to $30 million. The venture capital firm alone, per the filing, is worth between $5 million-$25 million.

Edward Zakrzewski's wife had known him since they were in the fourth grade. Growing up in the same neighborhood in Michigan, she and Zakrzewski had a close friendship. "I always had a crush on him, but I always knew that he was a ladies' man in high school, and I was a good girl, so I wasn't having that," she said. As happens with many childhood friendships, they lost touch when her family moved away to Illinois.

In California, Gavin Newsom, he closed churches but kept open strip club which I appreciated and he kept open the liquor stores and the weed stores. It was like, what? And then closed private businesses. He said if you have more than 1,000 people [when you] perform, then they have to bring their vaccine cards. So I said, OK, just sell 999 tickets.' I'm not going to force anyone to do anything.

Since September, the H-1B visa program has been caught in a whirlwind of changes. As a result, companies nationwide are scrambling to determine their next steps, rewriting travel guidance for foreign workers, and lining up backup staffing plans, including shifting some work overseas, according to five immigration attorneys who spoke with Business Insider. "Unpredictability is one of the number one enemies for business," said Rohit Srinivasa, an immigration attorney based in Los Angeles who works with startups and medium-sized tech companies.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Miller exclaimed. I know! And she had already been telling people, Swisher said of Nuzzi. It was getting out, right? There were too many people who were starting to know. Swisher said one person read her one of those weird poems. And there were pictures, too, she added. So then I went to work and started figuring it out, Swisher said. I just figured it out. That's all.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls.

Rogan mocked Trump's plaques hanging in the White House trolling past presidents, calling it crazy and something you shouldn't be allowed to do. Rogan also pointed to Trump's reaction to Reiner's murder as another example of his trolling gone wrong. The Rob Reiner thing is not funny, right? And that's like the same thing. It's the same kind of thinking. And when you see it with no empathy, that's when it's hard to like [him], he said.

"ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not see for many years, and even Centuries!"