The Atlantic

The Atlantic’s Abortion Doula: ‘Grief is Celebratory’
By Katie Yoder | March 27, 2014 | 6:36 PM EDT

Normally, a “doula” is a woman who assists other women with birth. But Roc Morin, writing for The Atlantic, found a “full-spectrum doula.” “On Being an Abortion Doula” was about Annie Robinson, and explored the “range of emotions involved in helping women terminate pregnancies.” Robinson told Morin that “the grief is celebratory” and that “some of the connections [with women aborting] are really joyful, and funny, and loving.” 

To explain her attraction to her work, Robinson detailed how “I’m really interested in loss and grief.” She acknowledged that “Even if the grief is celebratory, it still is grief and it still is loss.” She argued that birth isn’t that much different: “There’s something lost with birth too—loss of pregnancy, loss of the in-utero experience.” 

Depraved New World: The Atlantic Plugs Polyamory
By Kristine Marsh | February 20, 2014 | 3:40 PM EST

Find the thought of marriage’s “incredibly intense contract” with its big commitment “horrifying?” Think monogamy might be too hard and result in a “sexless marriage” that leads to divorce? The answer is simple: marry more than one person! Or, don’t marry them. Or sort of marry them … just make sure there are more than two of you in the relationship.

Or so “polyamorous lawyer” Diana Adams told The Atlantic.

LOL: Claim That Media Downplayed Benghazi Denounced as ‘Whopper of the Year’
By Randy Hall | August 6, 2013 | 11:59 PM EDT

In shining examples of the phrase “better late than never,” Conor Friedersdorf -- a staff writer on politics and national affairs at The Atlantic -- and Dylan Byers -- a media critic for the Politico website -- hammered conservatives on Monday for charging that the mainstream media had mostly ignored or minimized the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

Friedersdorf called the charge the “Whopper of the Year,” while Byers accused conservatives of taking a “guilty-until-proven-innocent approach” regarding the reaction by President Barack Obama and his administration to the incident, which 11 months ago led to the deaths of four people, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Liberal Columnist Cautions: Too Soon to Say Islamic Extremism Motivated Tsarnaev Brothers
By Howard Portnoy | April 21, 2013 | 2:28 PM EDT

In a column published Friday, Megan Garber, a staff writer at “The Atlantic” proffers some sage advice to members of the media: Stop pinning labels on people whose names end up in the headlines because of dastardly deeds. The title of piece — “The Boston Bombers Were Muslim: So?” — is meant as an admonition. And so are the opening paragraphs, which catalog all the things “we think we” know about the brothers Tsarnaev (Tamerlan was a “gifted athlete” and “very religious,” Dzhokar is “very quiet” and career-oriented).

Although some of the descriptors she cites are well-documented (for example, “Dzhokar received a scholarship from the City of Cambridge”), she dismisses all in the third paragraph as “provisional facts,” adding:

’Double Social Security’ Advocates Soros-Funded Organization in ’Atlantic’
By Mike Ciandella | December 27, 2012 | 4:38 PM EST

America has a debt problem, driven in part by huge entitlements. The liberal solution? Make them bigger. “An expansion of Social Security not only would be good for America's retirees, it also would be good for the broader macroeconomy” argued New America Foundation political writer Steven Hill, in an article for “The Atlantic.”

According to Hill, the problem with Social Security is not the lack of money going into the system, but rather that there aren’t enough benefits coming out of it. “The bigger problem is that Social Security's payouts are so meager -- far too low for the program's new role as America's de facto national retirement system. It only replaces about 33 to 40 percent of a retiree's average final wage, which is simply not enough money to live on.”