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Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare’s CEO on a Manhattan sidewalk last year, was indicted in federal court on charges of murder, stalking and a firearms offense.

Is it really the end of the End of History? Is this the demise of the “long” 20th century? To many observers, the neoliberal hegemony that Francis Fukuyama diagnosed a generation ago appears to be over. Both liberal democracy and the globalized free market are in retreat: Anti-establishment, anti-institutional, anti-incumbent politicians skilled at extreme rhetoric have been gaining ground in many advanced democracies. Since returning to power, Donald Trump has governed as an arbitrary tyrant in blatant defiance of the rule of law, threatened the sovereign territory of multiple U.S. allies, and announced exorbitant levies on goods imported from nearly every foreign country, throwing global markets into turmoil. An age of renewed great-power competition and tariff-driven autarky seems to be at hand.

Events are moving with shocking speed, and it’s too early to say if democracy, free trade, and the established geopolitical order really have been irreparably harmed, or if they might all prove more resilient than expected. Trump himself keeps hedging on his own tariff proposals, with haphazard attempts daily to buy time and reassure the investor class. It’s one thing to demagogue against the free-trade consensus of the past few decades or propose gradually decoupling the U.S. economy from China’s and reinvesting in domestic industries—issues that Democrats, Republicans, and the American public are all broadly aligned on. It’s another to impose a shock doctrine on one’s own citizens that risks impoverishing them overnight and expect no backlash. The U.S. remains a consumer society, and consumerism, as they say, is a hell of a drug.

But on at least one crucial front, the many prophecies of doom already reflect something real: Liberalism, always a convenient scapegoat for the unresolvable crises of neoliberal capitalism, is under existential threat—as an ideology, as a temperament, and above all as a class with distinct material interests and political power.

“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start,” says investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr. In a searing talk, she decries the rise of the “broligarchy” — the powerful tech executives who are using their global digital platforms to amass unprecedented geopolitical power, dismantling democracy and enabling authoritarian control across the world. Her rallying cry: resist data harvesting and mass surveillance, and support others in a groundswell of digital disobedience. “You have more power than you think,” she says.

AI chatbots can help treat mild mental illnesses. But false diagnoses, the misuse of personal data, and the complete absence of human empathy can have serious consequences.

In five jurisdictions reviewed by The Appeal, prosecutors have filed or are considering filing 187 charges against 66 protesters—including alleged hate crimes on cops, mob action, and attempted ethnic intimidation.

Cuts to PEPFAR, the country’s emergency plan for HIV and AIDS relief, have resulted in an estimated 40,000 deaths overseas, analysis shows.

He wants to “own” Gaza and Greenland, and he treats immigrants like tenants he can evict at will. The rent-seeking class created Trump, and now he’s governing as America's landlord in chief.

A new Public Citizen report found that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department (DOJ) prosecuted fewer corporate criminals in 2024 than in any previous year over the past three decades. Over the course of Biden’s four-year term, the DOJ prosecuted fewer corporate criminals than any previous president’s four-term as far back as the first Clinton administration.

Escalating Israeli offensives is harming civilians, compounding suffering, and impeding recovery efforts in Syria. On 3 April, the Israeli military reportedly launched airstrikes across the country, targeting multiple locations across Dar’a, Hama, Homs Quneitra, and Damascus. One of the deadliest incidents occurred in southern Dara’a province, where nine civilians were killed and several others injured, underscoring the growing toll on the civilian population.

Corruption, or the appearance of corruption, corrodes the public trust that serves as the very foundation of American government’s ability to function. That’s why, “when taking an official action (e.g., making decisions or recommendations), American public servants are expected to put the government’s interests ahead of their own.” To ensure this happens, safeguards to prevent unethical dealings and self-interested decisions – in addition to outright bribery – are fundamental to a healthy American government.

Unfortunately, during its first few months in office, the Trump Administration has effectively circumvented key anti-corruption safeguards in order to quickly install individuals with potentially major conflicts of interest into high-level government jobs. It has done so by transforming the discrete, limited government employment designation known as “Special Government Employee” (SGE) into a vehicle for an end run around ethics requirements, evading barriers against self-dealing and eliminating transparency.

A review of court documents, public records, and news stories sheds light on how extensively the Trump Administration has used the SGE designation. This report found that, in addition to Elon Musk, the Trump Administration has deployed the SGE designation to place at least a dozen others in high-level roles in three federal agencies (Treasury, Homeland Security, and the Office of Personnel Management), helping Musk run DOGE, and advising the White House on issues from global affairs to health care.

Since the SGE designation enables the appointed officials to be exempt from important conflict of interest rules and transparency requirements, these maneuvers create ethical minefields. “Public service is a public trust. In order to protect that public trust, it’s necessary to ensure that Government employees uphold the highest ethical standards.” This report finds that the Trump Administration’s misuse of the SGE designation fails the important public trust test, which requires urgent remedial action.

HB 1472 has sparked debate between those who support a community-based model and those who say closures will hurt current residents and state employees.