What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite
Zhang Yueran’s novel Women, Seated—a take on the upstairs, downstairs drama—examines class conflict among the Chinese upper crust and the people who wait on them.
Mar 27, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin
The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack The Bad-News Echo Chamber of Pro-Democracy Substack
How many pro-democracy Substack authors over-focus on gloom and doom and ignore organizing, and who’s bucking that trend.
Mar 27, 2026 / Micah L. Sifry
The Rapid and “Unprecedented” Collapse of American Democracy The Rapid and “Unprecedented” Collapse of American Democracy
The V-Dem Institute, the world’s chronicler of democracy and autocracy, has determined that the United States is no longer “a liberal democracy.”
Mar 27, 2026 / Column / Sasha Abramsky
The Immigration Crackdown Hurts More Than Just International Students The Immigration Crackdown Hurts More Than Just International Students
Universities are raising their tuition, offering fewer classes, and axing extracurricular programs to compensate for the dip in international student enrollment.
Mar 27, 2026 / StudentNation / Yong-Yu Huang
A Landmark Suit Against Meta and YouTube Opens the Floodgate for AI Litigation A Landmark Suit Against Meta and YouTube Opens the Floodgate for AI Litigation
A jury finds big tech liable for programming addictive features into platforms—and that’s basically the business model for companion bots.
Mar 27, 2026 / David Futrelle
Trump’s TV-Warped Brain Is Putting the World in Danger Trump’s TV-Warped Brain Is Putting the World in Danger
The president is experiencing the Iran War almost entirely through misleading video clips—and that’s very bad news for all of us.
Mar 26, 2026 / Chris Lehmann
Mamdani Asked Tenants to Tell Him Their Problems. Hundreds Did. Mamdani Asked Tenants to Tell Him Their Problems. Hundreds Did.
What it's like at one of the mayor's "Rental Ripoff" hearings.
Mar 26, 2026 / Prajwal Bhat
Mamdani’s Master Class in Impression Management Mamdani’s Master Class in Impression Management
New York’s mayor continues to showcase his command of political symbolism as he prepares to reckon with some difficult real-world choices
Mar 26, 2026 / D.D. Guttenplan
Water Infrastructure in Texas Is Failing. A Surge of New Funding Can Fix It. Water Infrastructure in Texas Is Failing. A Surge of New Funding Can Fix It.
As the state promotes industrial expansion and costly seawater desalination projects, advocates want to prioritize fixing aging pipes and supporting public health.
Mar 26, 2026 / StudentNation / Lajward Zahra