Members phkrause Posted September 24, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 24, 2023 September 23, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY Apple TV+ By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. The movies we watch can serve as place holders for a cache of memories, who we were and how we felt at particular moments. María Jesús Contreras Home movies On Friday, Netflix is shutting down its mail-order DVD service. Customers who still receive physical DVDs can hold on to the ones they have. “Please enjoy your final shipments for as long as you like!” the company wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. I misread this as “Please enjoy your final shipments for as long as you live!,” a chirpy and morbid send-off, conjuring images of a devoted Luddite breathing his last in a room littered with faded red envelopes and dusty remote controls. This is not a eulogy for the DVD. I stopped receiving DVDs by mail more than a decade ago with little remorse. Or at least I think I did. I tried recently to access my complete Netflix viewing history only to discover that all DVD data is deleted 10 months after your subscription ends. Now I’m left with just my streaming history, which begins in 2009 with “Party Down,” a show which, for many reasons, feels recent and very much of the streaming era. If I’m forlorn about anything, it’s the lost data. I can’t remember a single movie I watched on DVD from Netflix. I remember the first rentals my parents brought home to play on our hulking faux-bois VCR (Billy Wilder’s 1960 film “The Apartment,” “A Little Romance,” with Laurence Olivier and a teenage Diane Lane). I remember borrowing the comically gigantic laser disc of “Koyaanisqatsi” in the college library and renting “Say Anything” from Tower Video in the East Village. These movies, these moments, are the pegs that threads of memory wind around. Who I was, what I did, how I felt at a moment in time. I rented Jim Jarmusch’s “Down by Law” from Kim’s Video, then I went and got steamed eggs at a cafe. I can see the video on the cafe table. I remember the winter coat I had. I wish I could recall the Netflix rentals, summon the memories that accompany them. For a short time, Netflix had a feature that I loved called “Netflix Friends.” It allowed you to share your queue with friends and to see their star ratings for movies they’d watched. I remember adding ratings and comments to movies I’d seen before the launch of Netflix, so I could recommend them to friends. Netflix canceled the Friends feature in 2010. I wish I’d kept track of each movie I watched and the ratings I gave them. Why did I give away the information? Why didn’t I save what could be a log of prompts to help spur memories of other eras, an archive of how I spent my time? At the end of each year, the filmmaker Steven Soderbergh posts a list of everything he watched and read in the previous 12 months. I’ve been envious of this record, but for whatever reason, maybe because my intake seemed so feeble compared to Soderbergh’s, I’ve never kept a list of my own. That changes now. I downloaded my Netflix streaming history and plan to do so for all the streaming platforms that allow it. I’ll log my viewing in a notebook, be my own data collector, the custodian of my own cultural history. For more If you’re a recent Netflix DVD subscriber, you can still access your DVD data. If you have a streaming account, download your viewing history here. Letterboxd is sort of a present-day version of Netflix Friends. (But I think you should still keep an analog copy of the stuff you watch!) “Why’s it so hard to figure out how many people watch Stranger Things?” This episode of the podcast “Search Engine” looks at the history of streaming and the data that Netflix does and doesn’t reveal. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Apple TV+ 'The Super Models' on Apple TV+ This is the story behind the original influencers and how they shaped the fashion industry today. Stream Now THE WEEK IN CULTURE Disney WorldTodd Anderson for The New York Times Disney, whose film and TV businesses are struggling, says it will invest more in theme parks and cruise lines. At London Fashion Week, the streets were a laboratory for experiments in getting dressed. As for the shows, red was a dominant color. And in Milan, Gucci had the glitziest front row, welcoming Julia Roberts, Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain. The last, best hope for TV networks? Boomers. The Mexican singer-songwriter Peso Pluma canceled a show in Tijuana following apparent threats from a drug cartel. He had already postponed U.S. concerts. John Grisham and other prominent novelists are suing OpenAI for using their novels to train its chatbot, ChatGPT. Read a timeline of the scandals that have marked the career of Russell Brand, who faces accusations of sexual assault. A former wardrobe designer accused Lizzo in a lawsuit of failing to address what she described as a hostile work environment. An artist was commissioned to incorporate physical money into work for a Danish museum and sent two blank canvases titled “Take the Money and Run.” A court ordered him to repay the museum $70,000. Kim Kardashian made her first appearance as a series regular on FX’s “American Horror Story: Delicate.” Rihanna and A$AP Rocky shared photos of their newborn baby, Riot, for the first time, Harper’s Bazaar reported. An anti-sex-trafficking activist who inspired the movie “Sound of Freedom,” a conservative hit, resigned from his child rescue group following misconduct allegations, NBC reported. THE LATEST NEWS Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, announced charges against Senator Robert Menendez.Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey was charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including gold bars, to help businessmen and the Egyptian government. Autoworkers expanded their strike to include all the spare-parts distribution centers for both General Motors and Stellantis. Pay advances and zero-percent loans: Officials in Washington were preparing for the possibility of a government shutdown at the end of next week. Nearly 9,000 migrants a day are illegally crossing the southern border, one of the highest rates in months, creating a humanitarian crisis. Prosecutors’ request for a gag order on Donald Trump presents a conflict between his free-speech rights and fears that he could — intentionally or not — incite his supporters to violence. An influx of athletes and the end of the gender studies program are among the changes at New College in Florida, which Gov. Ron DeSantis had pledged to transform. Our best offer ends soon. Save on all of The Times. Readers of The Morning can enjoy everything The Times has to offer, all in one subscription and all for a special rate. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. CULTURE CALENDAR 📺 “Sex Education” (out now): Since this Netflix show debuted in 2019, depicting British high school students navigating knotty relationships as well as the trials of their own bodies, it has felt unlike anything else on television. With an empathetic eye, it has depicted gender identity, disabled intimacy, and the sometimes uneasy intersection between sexuality and cultural heritage. The new season, its fourth, will be its last. 📺 “Gen V” (Friday): For some more young-people-figuring-it-all-out content, this Prime Video spinoff of the popular satirical superhero series “The Boys” takes place at a college for students with superpowers. The show bears the hallmarks of its parent series: a lot of blood, odd superpowers and the specter of an evil conglomerate that has embedded itself in the U.S. military-industrial complex. — Desiree Ibekwe RECIPE OF THE WEEK Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Fudge Brownies If you like your brownies chewy on the inside, crackling and shiny on top and bittersweet, you can’t do better than classic fudge brownies. Easily mixed in a saucepan, these come together in under an hour from start to finish for near-instant gratification. (For those with that much patience, the payoff is big.) According to the recipe notes, these brownies get even better after they’ve rested overnight. So make them today and try not to eat them until tomorrow. At least not all of them. REAL ESTATE DZA, a 156-pound Great Dane.Clark Hodgin for The New York Times Small apartment, big dog: Sharing won’t be easy. Wall Street takeover: In a Charlotte neighborhood, investors are buying modest homes and converting them into rentals. What you get for $400,000: A Cape Cod-style house in Indianapolis; a Colonial revival home in Richmond, Va.; or a 1920 Craftsman bungalow in Saugerties, N.Y. The hunt: A classics teacher wants her first home to have some history. Which did she choose? Play our game. LIVING The New York Times FoodTok: TikTok creators with little to no professional cooking experience are publishing cookbooks — and topping best-seller lists. Aging: Want to live a longer, healthier life? Thinking positively about getting older could help. Working out: When your fitness progress stalls, go longer, not harder. Wedding crashers: You can buy tourist tickets to one of the most celebrated and sacred aspects of Indian culture — weddings. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Soup season’s unsung hero In my family’s kitchen, our greatest cozy-weather MVP is the Dutch oven. We affectionately refer to ours — black-handled and bright yellow — as “The Bumblebee” and use it to cook meals that range from easy weeknight dinners of roasted squash soup to elaborate Sunday feasts. Wirecutter experts have spent hours searing, braising, steaming and sautéing in their quest for the best Dutch oven. Our two favorites are durable enough to handle heavy use, and handsome enough to go right from stovetop to table. Which is important this time of year, when they are likely to be simmering soups, stews and sauces all autumn long. — Brittney Ho Wirecutter is giving away a Dutch oven — and more favorite cold-weather products — in celebration of Cozy Week. (Terms and conditions apply.) GAME OF THE WEEKEND Colorado coach Deion SandersDavid Zalubowski/Associated Press No. 19 Colorado vs. No. 10 Oregon, college football: After posting an abysmal 1-11 record last year, Colorado hired Deion Sanders, the N.F.L. legend with a famed sense of showmanship, to be its head coach. The turnabout has been quick. “Coach Prime,” as Sanders is now known, enticed dozens of players to transfer to Colorado in the off-season, loading the roster with stars. Colorado is now the buzziest team in college football — its game last week broke TV viewership records — and it has the offensive skill to match. But its defense might struggle to keep up today, considering Oregon averages nearly 60 points a game. 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC For more Colorado has sold out every home game this season, a first for the school. (Some fans might be showing up to glimpse the celebrities on the sidelines.) The Athletic picked the other best games in college football this weekend, including No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Notre Dame. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were grandpop and propaganda. See the hardest Spelling Bee words from this week. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 25, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 25, 2023 September 24, 2023 Photographs and Text by Lauren Jackson Good morning. Running clubs have become popular in cities around the world, helping people make friends and even meet spouses. Running clubs from around the world meeting in Berlin.Lauren Jackson/The New York Times Social running The marathon runners were wearing neon and sipping beers. They had flown from as far as Seoul and Cape Town for the Berlin marathon, which is happening this morning. While professionals are racing to break records, these runners were there for the party. Berlin has become a destination for social running clubs from around the world to meet up and hang out. In the days leading up to the marathon, runners danced to D.J. sets, visited galleries and ate brunch together after jogs. Today, the clubs are supporting their racing members on route sidelines as rowdy as American tailgates. “It takes over the city,” Ainoa Ryll, 33, from Barcelona, said over music playing at a marathon photography exhibit. “So many people run now, it’s one big party.” Running clubs are popular in cities around the world: Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Houston and New York, where Alyson Krueger reported on their rise for The Times. These clubs help people build communities in cities that can feel alienating. At the runs and the hangouts afterward, members have met best friends and even spouses. “Running was once seen as a nerdy, solo sport,” said Joey Elgersma, the founder of the Berlin Braves. “These clubs are showing how cool and social it can be.” Creating community Joey Elgersma and Emmanuel Ovola, from London.Lauren Jackson/The New York Times Many running clubs started during the pandemic, when people were looking for opportunities to exercise and safely spend time with others outside. Justin Shields, 33, founded the Venice Run Club in Los Angeles in 2020. The club grew into one of the largest in the world as people sought out friendship during lockdowns: Recently, more than 1,000 people came to one of the group’s runs (there are three a week). The club hosts community service opportunities, 5Ks and parties for its members, who are mostly in their 20s and 30s. Despite its size, Shields said the club still maintained a sense of community by having newcomers introduce themselves at the beginning of each run. “I understand how hard it is to make friends now,” Shields said. “I want to help people make a real connection.” Shields himself made one: He met his wife, Erin, 28, on one of the club’s first runs. They now manage it together. Quick bonding A mural of Eliud Kipchoge, who won the Berlin marathon today.Lauren Jackson/The New York Times Run club founders say the groups are popular because running facilitates deep connections. Unlike in most social settings, members see one another exhausted, struggling and sweaty — a vulnerable combination. “We’ve found that people bond really, really quickly,” Matt Horrocks, 33, a co-founder of the Your Friendly Runners club in London, said. Ryo Yamamoto, 47, a creative director who co-founded the Old Man Run Club in New York, said his running community once rallied behind a member who was experiencing health challenges. And Erin Shields, from the Venice Run Club, said that the community felt similar to the one she had found at church as a child. “Religion gives you a group of people who are willing to take action and help you at any time, be there in your corner and support you and celebrate you,” she said. “The run club gives you that, too.” Related: Run clubs have become so popular in New York, rivalries and turf wars have started. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS Politics Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey abused his power in a sprawling corruption scheme involving piles of cash and gold bars, prosecutors say. Read key takeaways from the indictment. The Times found no evidence to back up claims that Ron DeSantis took part in the forced feeding of a hunger striker at Guantánamo Bay when he was a young Navy lawyer. International Mercury is used to separate gold from mud. Ian Cheibub for the New York Times The gold industry still uses mercury despite an international treaty to ban the substance. That’s hurting miners and the environment. The U.S. provided intelligence that helped Canada conclude that India had been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia. Days after Azerbaijan reclaimed the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, there are reports of food shortages there. Miriam Rodriguez’s daughter was kidnapped by Mexico’s Zeta cartel in 2014. Read about her quest to find out what happened to her daughter. Migration Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have arrived at the U.S. border in the past two years. Many are searching for safety and stability. “Graveyard of dignity”: In France, Pope Francis condemned the world’s indifference toward the deaths of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Other Big Stories A death at a day care highlighted New York’s fentanyl crisis. The city is trying to curb a drug epidemic without reverting to aggressive crackdowns. Saltwater in the Mississippi, caused by drought-like conditions over the summer, is endangering drinking water in New Orleans. The Labor Department opened inquiries into the poultry producers Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms after The Times Magazine found migrant children working in the companies’ slaughterhouses. FROM OPINION Even when she lived in cities, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland sought out nature. Pay attention to it, she writes. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on the permanent migration crisis and Nicholas Kristof on Canada’s accusations against India. The Sunday question: Will Rupert Murdoch’s retirement change Fox News? With Lachlan, Murdoch’s son and successor, unlikely to shift the network’s focus, “Fox likely won’t be much different than the past,” Tom Jones writes for the Poynter Institute. But there are rival sibling factions within the Murdoch family, leaving Lachlan’s control “likely to be contested once Rupert is no longer around,” The Financial Times’s Matthew Garrahan writes. Our best offer ends soon. Save on all of The Times. Readers of The Morning can enjoy everything The Times has to offer, all in one subscription and all for a special rate. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS At Think!Chinatown, a nonprofit group.David Chow Saving history: Young Asian Americans are fighting to protect Chinatown’s culture. Cuppa: Has coffee ousted tea as Britain’s favorite hot drink? Eclectic interiors: Kelly Wearstler is a famous designer with a style that’s hard to define. Vows: They met while documenting an ice climb. Lives Lived: Dick Clark was a long-shot Senate candidate who won his race with a 1,300-mile walk around Iowa. He died at 95. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE Caitlin Moran Mamadi Dambouya for The New York Times By David Marchese I spoke with the author Caitlin Moran about her new book on the masculinity crisis, “What About Men?” Part of the framing of your book is that there’s not enough discussion about young men’s struggling to adapt to changing ideas about masculinity. I feel as if that’s a big topic of conversation these days. What is the fresh thinking that you’re bringing to it? Feminism has a stated objective, which is the political, social, sexual and economic equality of women. With men, there isn’t an objective or an aim. Because there isn’t, the stuff that is getting the most currency is on the conservative side. Men going: “Our lives have gotten materially worse since women started asking for equality. We need to have power over women again.” What should the future look like for men? There’s no sense of a continuing conversation; of there being a new pantheon of men being invented all the time; then those inventions embedding themselves more firmly in the mainstream. Look at Beyoncé or Phoebe Waller-Bridge: When we invent a new kind of woman or new way of talking about women, it gets quickly absorbed into the mainstream. Why has it been harder for the left than the right to gain the kind of currency you mentioned earlier? Men on the liberal left, while feminism was having this massive movement, were like, OK, we’re not going to start talking about men while this is happening. They sat it out for a decade, and now their sons have grown up in an era where they have heard people go, “Typical straight white men; toxic masculinity,” and those sons are like, “[expletive] this,” because they don’t see what a recent corrective feminism is to thousands of years of patriarchy. Read more of the interview here. More from the magazine How a former drug smuggler turned Americans’ personal information into a big business. Read the full issue. BOOKS Zadie SmithVittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for RFF Literary superstar: Zadie Smith’s new novel, “The Fraud,” is set in 19th-century England. Listen to her discuss the book. Six titles: See the shortlist for the Booker Prize. Our editors’ picks: “50 Years of Ms.,” about the pathfinding feminist magazine, and eight other books. Times best sellers: Walter Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk” tops the latest hardcover nonfiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Stream these five international movies. Bake a good birthday cake. Draw with colored pencils again. Sleep in the best pajamas. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Yom Kippur begins at sundown tonight. President Biden will host a forum of Pacific island leaders tomorrow. Paris Fashion Week begins tomorrow. The second Republican presidential debate is Wednesday. The House Oversight Committee is set to hold its first hearing on the impeachment inquiry into Biden on Thursday. The deadline for Congress to fund the government and prevent a shutdown is Saturday. What to Cook This Week Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks. Transition from summer into fall with Emily Weinstein’s ideas for dinner, including skillet chicken with peppers and tomatoes and roasted broccoli with vinegar-mustard glaze. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was hayfork. Can you put eight historical events — including Visigoths’ marching on Rome, the World’s Fair in New York and striking tomb builders in Egypt — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 26, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 26, 2023 September 25, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY Masterworks By German Lopez and Lauren Jackson Good morning. We’re covering the deal to end the Hollywood writers’ strike — as well as the South China Sea, abortions in Mexico and Taylor Swift. In Los Angeles last week.Mario Tama/Getty Images 146 days on strike A writers’ strike has frozen Hollywood for months. Studios delayed the production of TV shows and movies, including fan favorites like “Stranger Things” and new “Star Wars” films. Organizers postponed the Emmys. Talk shows went on hiatus. But the strike now seems poised to end. Writers and studios have reached a tentative deal, the Writers Guild of America announced yesterday. W.G.A. members had demanded higher pay, greater royalties, better working conditions and protections against artificial intelligence. The tentative deal includes most of what the writers sought. In the coming days, union members will vote on whether to approve the agreement. “We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the W.G.A. negotiating committee told union members yesterday. The studios, notably, were not celebrating. How the deal was done Negotiations had stalled for months. They regained momentum last week when studio executives, including Disney’s powerful chief executive, Bob Iger, came to the table. After five days, both sides reached an agreement. The use of A.I. was the final sticking point. The writers didn’t want studios to use their work to teach chatbots how to write, feeding A.I. old scripts so the chatbots could generate writing in a similar style. The writers also worried that studios would ask chatbots to rewrite or refine the first drafts of their work — for scenes or whole shows. “That’s the nightmare scenario,” said John August, who is on the Writers Guild negotiating committee. The studios had initially said that too much was unknown about the technology, and that the guild would need to wait to discuss it in future contract negotiations. But over the weekend, the studios proposed a few paragraphs to be inserted into the new contract that addressed a writers’ concern about A.I. and old scripts. The two sides spent several hours negotiating the language on the final night of talks. An ongoing shutdown An end to the writers’ strike would not mean that Hollywood is back to full working order. A separate actors’ strike, led by SAG-AFTRA, is continuing. The actors want 2 percent of the total revenue generated by streaming shows, something that studios have said is a nonstarter. There are no talks scheduled between the two sides. The combination of the writers’ and actors’ strikes had halted work on shows like “Yellowstone” and movies like the next installment of “Mission Impossible.” More than 100,000 behind-the-scenes staff, like camera operators and makeup artists, are still out of work. The actors’ strike also hindered marketing, by preventing union members from going on press tours. With writers most likely heading back to work, daytime and late-night talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Hudson could soon return to the air. Earlier this month, some talk show hosts, including Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher, announced that they would bypass the writers’ strike and restart production of their talk shows. After a fierce backlash from their staffs and audiences, they delayed production once again. More on the strikes The Writers Guild suspended picketing — but encouraged members to join the striking actors’ picket lines, which will begin again tomorrow. The stock prices for Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have taken a hit during the strikes. Hollywood writers thanked their negotiators on social media. “You saved our profession,” one wrote. Hundreds of filmmakers attending an awards gala cheered when the deal was announced from the stage, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Masterworks A Banksy got everyday investors a 32% return? So, what’s the catch? We know it may sound too good to be true, but thousands of investors are already smiling all the way to the bank. All thanks to the fine-art investing platform Masterworks. These results aren’t cherry-picking — this Is the whole bushel. Masterworks has built a track record of 16 exits, with three recently seeing net returns of 17.8 percent, 32 percent and 21.5 percent. Offerings sell out fast, but you can skip the waitlist with the link below. See disclosures at masterworks.com/cd. Skip the Waitlist THE LATEST NEWS International A Chinese coast guard ship.Jes Aznar for The New York Times In the South China Sea, Times journalists saw China’s growing militarization and territorial ambitions in the contested waters. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, plans to withdraw troops from Niger by the end of the year, after weeks of escalating tensions with the nation’s new military leaders. Refugees are crossing into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave that was returned to Azerbaijan’s control in a military offensive last week. The diplomatic crisis between India and Canada over the killing of a separatist in British Columbia has left many Indians with plans to travel for work and education in limbo. The Greek economy is growing at twice the eurozone average, a decade after the country’s financial crisis shuttered hundreds of thousands of businesses. War in Ukraine Russia struck the port of Odesa in the first large attack since Ukraine started testing a new route to ship grain across the Black Sea. Finland raced to join NATO after its neighbor Russia invaded Ukraine. Joining the alliance has been expensive and complicated. Politics More than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, American women are crossing the border into Mexico to seek abortions. Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy’s hard-line positions on issues like race and identity are frustrating some Indian Americans. As the criminal cases against Donald Trump move forward, law enforcement officials have warned about the potential for violence by his supporters. Climate The wooden arrow.Espen Finstad An archaeologist found a 3,000-year-old arrow in Norway. It is among the thousands of artifacts emerging as climate change thaws permafrost and glaciers. Many of the world’s largest food companies have not made progress on their emission reduction goals. Some, like McDonald’s, have reported rising levels. Hot-weather cherries and drought-resistant melons: Meet the crops that could change how we eat in a warming world. Other Big Stories A NASA spacecraft returned to Earth after seven years. It carried material from a carbon-rich asteroid that could reveal clues about the origins of our solar system. Few U.S. hospitals have restored mask mandates as Covid infections rise. Health care workers and public health experts are divided. The F.B.I. opened a civil rights investigation into allegations that police officers in Baton Rouge, La., abused and humiliated detainees in an unmarked “torture warehouse.” Opinions When music educators focus on fun instead of perfection, they inspire children to love music, Sammy Miller writes. Here are columns by David French on friendship and Carlos Lozada on Vivek Ramaswamy. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss the indictment of Senator Robert Menendez and House Republicans. Our best offer ends soon. Save on all of The Times. Readers of The Morning can enjoy everything The Times has to offer, all in one subscription and all for a special rate. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS A subway train in Seoul.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Senior subway surfing: Some retired people in Korea spend their days riding the trains. See photos of their journeys. Powdered hair to hoodies: How dress in the Senate has evolved. The pastry is political: Mooncakes — dense Chinese pastries — are being used in protest, The Washington Post reports. Metropolitan Diary: Witnessing a missed connection in real time. Lives Lived: Matteo Messina Denaro was a convicted killer and high-ranking mobster who had eluded capture for three decades. He died at 61. SPORTS Pittsburgh wins: The Steelers beat the Las Vegas Raiders, 23-18, with a strong defensive performance. Around the league: The Miami Dolphins scored 70 points, the most in an N.F.L. game since 1966, in a rout of the Denver Broncos. And the Chicago Bears’ struggles continued — with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they have now lost 13 straight games going back to last season. N.F.L.: Women are increasingly taking on roles as scouts and assistant coaches. They have formed support systems to navigate the male-dominated world. Dartmouth: Buddy Teevens, a pioneering football coach who banned tackling during practices, died at 66. U.S. women’s soccer: Megan Rapinoe played her final international match, in a game against South Africa. The U.S. side won, 2-0. Baseball: The Yankees lost to the Diamondbacks, 7-1, failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Masterworks A Banksy got everyday investors a 32% return? So, what’s the catch? We know it may sound too good to be true, but thousands of investors are already smiling all the way to the bank. All thanks to the fine-art investing platform Masterworks. These results aren’t cherry-picking — this Is the whole bushel. Masterworks has built a track record of 16 exits, with three recently seeing net returns of 17.8 percent, 32 percent and 21.5 percent. Offerings sell out fast, but you can skip the waitlist with the link below. See disclosures at masterworks.com/cd. Skip the Waitlist ARTS AND IDEAS “¡Presente!,” the first preview exhibition.Tony Powell/The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Battle over history: Construction has not yet begun on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, but a political fight is already boiling over how the museum will present its material. Conservative commentators blasted its first preview exhibition, accusing it of putting a Marxist bent on history, and a group of Latino Republican congressmen led a vote to eliminate the museum’s funding. The outcry led the museum’s director to replace a planned exhibition on civil rights with one about salsa music, to the dismay of some Latino scholars. More on culture Usher will headline the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show. Taylor Swift attended a Kansas City Chiefs game. She sat with tight end Travis Kelce’s family, fueling rumors they are dating, CNN reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Whip up an anchovy butter you can add to a steak or salad. Watch a spinoff of “The Bachelor” this week that features singles over 60. Burn a scented candle for optimal ambience. Slip into one of these comfy robes. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were immigrant, immigrating, marinating, migrant and migrating. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 27, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 27, 2023 September 26, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re asking why recent progressive movements have been disappointing — and we’re also covering strikes, the Black Sea and Gucci. An Occupy Boston protester in 2011.Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times ‘Elite capture’ Three progressive movements have risen to prominence over the past 15 years and vowed to create a fairer America: Occupy Wall Street, #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. All of them have had an impact. Occupy popularized the idea of the 1 percent and the 99 percent. #MeToo led to the firing (and sometimes jailing) of sexual predators, as well as the hiring of more women in prominent jobs. Black Lives Matter led to policing reforms in some cities and the hiring of more Black Americans in prominent jobs. Still, none of the three movements have come close to achieving their ambitions. Congress has not passed any major laws to reduce economic, gender or racial inequality, such as a wealth tax, universal pre-K or nationwide police reforms. Instead, taxes on the affluent are near their lowest level in decades, and the number of killings by the police remains largely unchanged. “The term ‘reckoning’ was invoked again and again, and yet we don’t seem to have reckoned with any of our problems in any meaningful way,” Fredrik deBoer, a popular Substack newsletter writer, argues in a new book. What explains these disappointments? In part, it’s simply that political change is fantastically difficult and often takes decades. But the degree of difficulty is only part of the story. The movements also bear some responsibility for their disappointments. Above all, they made decisions geared more toward changing elite segments of American society — like academia, Hollywood and the national media — than toward passing new laws and changing most people’s lives. That’s the central argument of deBoer’s book, “How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement.” It has helped me think about American politics, and I want to devote today’s newsletter to these issues. Black Lives Matter demonstrators, in 2020.Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Radical and practical The most successful political movements tend to share a few features. They start with activists whose goals can seem so audacious as to be unrealistic. (Otherwise, there would be no need for a movement.) Over time, the movement’s leaders make careful decisions about how to accomplish at least some of those goals. They appeal to public opinion. They collaborate with unlikely allies. They work the system to change the system. It was true of the civil rights movement, which combined radical aims with patriotic symbols and nonviolent protest. More recently, the gay rights movement accomplished rapid change partly by emphasizing traditional values like marriage and military service. The lessons also apply to the political right: Abortion opponents spent decades patiently taking over the Republican Party and making the case that voters have a right to choose their own policies, state by state. Recent progressive movements have tended to be less strategic, explains deBoer, a self-described leftist. Occupy celebrated its lack of structure, including its lack of concrete goals. “Demands are disempowering since they require someone else to respond,” one Occupy protester told The New York Times in 2011. Black Lives Matter refused to name leaders, contrasting its approach with the old top-down civil rights movement. #MeToo, befitting its hashtag, never quite became an organized movement. None of the three created a mass organization with a long-term plan — as labor unions, civil rights groups, evangelical Christians and other successful movements did in past decades. Occupy and Black Lives Matter also allowed unpopular positions to shape their public image — and weaken them. For instance, polling shows that most Black Americans support major changes to policing but not less policing. Much of Black Lives Matter, however, focused on cutting police funding. One organizer wrote a Times Opinion article titled “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police.” The recent movements have instead had more success changing elite institutions that tend to be filled by fellow liberals. The winners of prestigious cultural awards have become more diverse. Media organizations now capitalize Black when describing somebody’s race. President Biden has made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Universities emphasize identity in their curriculums. Symbols over substance These are real changes, but deBoer notes that they have little effect on most people’s lives. They instead reflect what the political philosopher Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò calls the “elite capture” of social justice campaigns. “Today,” deBoer writes, “left-activist spaces are dominated by the college-educated, many of whom grew up in affluence and have never worked a day at a physically or emotionally demanding job.” For that reason, these spaces prioritize “the immaterial and symbolic” over “the material and the concrete,” deBoer argues. (That point is related to a continuing theme of this newsletter: the class inversion of American politics.) DeBoer’s writing can be withering, as the best polemics often are, and few people will agree with all of his arguments. But his central point is important, whether you’re part of the political left, center or right: Calling out injustice isn’t the same as fighting it. “The spirit of 2020 was always a righteous spirit, and the people and organizations that powered that moment had legitimate grievances and moral demands,” he writes. “What we need is practicality, resilience and a plan.” For more “Does the conversation around social justice, especially in the media and academia, actually serve the less fortunate and the oppressed?” Jay Caspian Kang asked in a Times Opinion Q. and A. with Táíwò last year. Pamela Paul, a Times columnist, wrote that she hoped deBoer’s book would be read “especially by those on the left.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics Biden will join striking autoworkers on the picket line in Detroit today, an unusual show of support for unions by a U.S. president. More military aid for Ukraine is a sticking point in Senate talks to avoid a government shutdown. Read what services, like national parks and food aid, a shutdown would affect. Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat facing corruption charges, denied wrongdoing and said he would not resign. Some Democrats said he should. Seven Republican presidential candidates have qualified for tomorrow night’s primary debate. Donald Trump, the front-runner, does not plan to attend. Fox News will host a November debate between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California. The two often criticize each other. War in Ukraine Smoke billowing in Crimea.Planet Labs, via Associated Press Ukraine said it killed the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a missile strike on Crimea. The claim could not be verified. Russia struck one of the main ports that Ukraine uses to ship grain, hitting warehouses and dozens of trucks. Vladimir Putin is trying to maintain military control of the Black Sea. See photos of life in one Ukrainian port city. Hollywood Strikes The striking actors’ union is studying the deal studios struck with writers to inform their bargaining strategy. The studios and the actors’ union have not spoken in more than two months. No talks are scheduled. Members of the actors’ union voted to authorize a strike against 10 major video game companies, Variety reports. China Biden hosted Pacific Island leaders at the White House. The U.S. is competing with China for influence in the region. The Philippine Coast Guard removed Chinese barriers that blocked Filipino fishing boats in the South China Sea, a direct challenge to Beijing. Climate A rancher in Texas. Sergio Flores for The New York Times Giant new oil and gas wells are threatening aquifers that supply drinking water. Use of coal and oil could peak this decade as cleaner energy technologies spread, according to the International Energy Agency. American companies are investing in solar panel production, entering an industry dominated by China. Scientists in California briefly reproduced the process of fusion that powers the sun, repeating an experiment from last year but generating much more energy. Other Big Stories A fuel depot exploded in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, killing at least 20 people. Armenian refugees trying to evacuate were in line for gas. A third person was charged in the death of a 1-year-old boy at a Bronx day care. Opinions The government can stem the rapid rise in child poverty by reviving pandemic relief programs — especially the expanded child tax credit, Nikhil Goyal writes. A proposed mine in Alaska would destroy the world’s largest salmon fishery. Congress should step in and save the waters, Carl Safina and Joel Reynolds write. Here’s a column by Michelle Goldberg on a failing antiracism center. Ends soon: Our best offer on the complete Times experience. Readers of The Morning can enjoy substantial savings on everything The Times has to offer. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS In Goro. Elisabetta Zavoli for The New York Times ‘We will lose our identity’: Goro, Italy, is famous for its clams, but an invasion of blue crabs is threatening its spaghetti alle vongole. Bulletproof backpacks: A mother who survived a school shooting herself struggles to send her children back to class each fall. Midlife crisis: Mammals first appeared on earth about 250 million years ago. Scientists say we have another 250 million years ahead of us. Amicable and mutual: Celebrities say they are fine with their breakups. Are they being honest? Lives Lived: David McCallum was a Scottish-born actor who played a Russian spy on “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in the 1960s and found fame again almost 40 years later on the hit series “N.C.I.S.” He died at 90. SPORTS N.F.L.: The Cincinnati Bengals survived a gritty matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, winning 19-16. The Philadelphia Eagles pummeled the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 25-11. Jets: The former quarterback Joe Namath had harsh words for the Jets’ starter: “I’ve seen enough of Zach Wilson.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS At the Gucci show.Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Gucci Fashion month: The designer Sabato De Sarno was essentially unknown outside the fashion industry until Gucci made him the new creative director of its $10 billion empire. But his debut show had Milan Fashion Week’s glitziest front row: Julia Roberts, Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain were all in attendance. His subtle collection set a new tone for the brand. “Gucci has been a lot of things, but it has never been minimal. Perhaps it’s time,” Vanessa Friedman writes. More on culture “Her most promising and encouraging album yet”: Read our critic’s take on the rapper Doja Cat’s latest music. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Dry-roast wings, then add harissa. Buy a firmer mattress if you sleep on your stomach. Cuddle up on the couch with one of these throw blankets. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was toughen. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David P.S. Ford Motor Company permanently adopted a five-day, 40-hour workweek 97 years ago. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 28, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2023 September 27, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the debate over whether a senator should resign — as well as Trump’s fraud ruling, strikes and Travis Kelce. Senator Robert MenendezAndrew Seng for The New York Times The Menendez case Under what circumstances should an elected politician resign? The indictment of Senator Robert Menendez on corruption charges last week has raised that question again, and it can be a tricky one. It also led to passionate debate after allegations against Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Ralph Northam (none of whom resigned) as well as Al Franken, Andrew Cuomo and Richard Nixon (all of whom did). Yesterday, a flood of other senators called on Menendez to step down, as my colleague Annie Karni explains. Some of the first calls for resignation came from Democratic senators running for re-election next year in swing states, and Senator Cory Booker — Menendez’s fellow New Jersey Democrat — joined the group, too. Booker said that the indictment contained “shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing.” Menendez has rejected those calls and asked people “to allow all the facts to be presented.” In today’s newsletter, I’ll try to make the best case on each side of the debate. He should quit At the crux of the argument that Menendez should resign is the idea that the standards for a U.S. senator should be higher than merely not having a criminal conviction. Serving as a senator is a privilege, not a right, and Menendez has offered no good explanation for his actions — even if they are not criminal. The federal indictment tells a jarring story. During a search of Menendez’s home and safe deposit box, investigators found more than $650,000 in cash and gold bars, some of it hidden in clothing or closets. On envelopes containing money were the fingerprints of Fred Daibes, a real-estate developer and Menendez fund-raiser. Prosecutors say that Daibes was a go-between who gave money to Menendez and his wife, Nadine, in exchange for Menendez’s intervention to protect the monopoly of a New Jersey company that certified meat. Investigators say Menendez also pressured a future federal prosecutor not to pursue charges against another of his fund-raisers. The closest to a rationale that Menendez has offered is that his parents grew up in Cuba, where, he said, their money was confiscated (although he didn’t explain the precise connection to his own piles of cash). He has also said that the prosecutors are trying to criminalize ordinary politics. He has not said whether he considers cash gifts in exchange for senatorial influence to be ordinary politics. Many other politicians believe that he has damaged the credibility of the Senate and of the Democratic Party. By remaining in office without offering a reasonable explanation of his behavior, he has contributed to cynicism about politics, his critics say, and he is unable to do his job effectively. (“His refusal to resign is a problem for Democrats both substantively and politically,” writes Michelle Goldberg of Times Opinion.) The one Democrat who benefits from Menendez’s remaining in the Senate, the critics say, is Menendez. He should fight Six years ago, another member of the U.S. senate faced calls to resign from office. That senator was Franken, the Minnesota Democrat and former comedian whom several women had accused of touching them in inappropriate ways. After weeks of criticism, Franken did resign. He has since said he regrets having done so. Some other Democrats also regret the rush to judge him. In hindsight, they believe that Franken at least deserved a chance to contest the accusations in an ethics hearing. (Jane Mayer of The New Yorker has written a helpful article about the case.) The Franken case offers a reminder that the American political system does have ways to adjudicate accusations against elected politicians. Most important, members of Congress do not have lifetime tenure. Ultimately, voters can decide whether a politician’s behavior is disqualifying. As it happens, Menendez’s current Senate term — his third — expires in about 15 months. Another New Jersey Democrat, Representative Andy Kim, has already announced a primary challenge, and more may follow. Voters can make a judgment soon. This is not the first time that Menendez has been indicted in a corruption case. Federal prosecutors also charged him in 2015, but the jury deadlocked and prosecutors declined to retry him. Later that year, New Jersey’s voters re-elected him. Menendez understandably mentioned that history during his fiery public remarks this week. In effect, he seemed to be saying: What’s the rush? Don’t I deserve another opportunity to persuade people the prosecutors have overreached? What’s next When politicians resign under pressure, it is often because they understand that they could otherwise be impeached and removed from office. That was true of Cuomo, Nixon and Eliot Spitzer. When politicians are unlikely to be removed, they rarely quit, and Menendez faces little risk of removal. Only the Senate can expel one of its members. It has not done so since the Civil War. Yes, there are exceptions — politicians who quit voluntarily. Franken was one. Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s first vice president, was another; he resigned in 1973 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. But Agnew highlights the larger principle: Politicians don’t tend to quit unless they think that doing so benefits them. Maybe Menendez’s situation will become so uncomfortable that he changes his mind and steps down. Or maybe New Jersey’s voters will again decide his political fate. For more Menendez is scheduled to be arraigned today in a Manhattan court, along with his wife, Nadine. Prosecutors have spent much of Menendez’s 18-year Senate career looking into murky relationships between his office and special interests. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Trump Ruling Donald Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his properties by as much as $2.2 billion, a judge ruled. Trump could lose control of several properties, including Trump Tower. Read key takeaways from the decision. The ruling challenges Trump’s narrative about the business career that made him a national figure. Politics The Senate passed a bipartisan bill that would keep the government open into November and aid Ukraine. House Republicans haven’t yet passed their own bill. Trump will skip the Republican debate tonight. His poll lead has grown even though he skipped the first debate. Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of illegally spreading personal data from a laptop left at a repair shop. President Biden’s dog Commander bit another Secret Service agent. The officer is doing well. U.A.W. Visits In Michigan.Pete Marovich for The New York Times Biden joined striking autoworkers on a picket line in Michigan. “Stick with it,” he said through a bullhorn, before fist-bumping and shaking hands with marchers. He appears to be the first sitting U.S. president to join striking workers, historians said. “We know the president will do right by the working class,” Shawn Fain, the union’s leader, said. Biden said workers should be able to bargain for the 40 percent raise they’ve demanded. Here’s what else the union wants. Trump will also speak to autoworkers in Detroit. As a businessman, he both circumvented and appeased unions. More on Strikes Hollywood writers can return to work. Their union’s leaders decided to end their strike as members prepare to vote on a new contract. Las Vegas hospitality workers voted to authorize a strike against major resorts on the Strip. Monopoly Lawsuits The U.S. sued Amazon, accusing it of abusing its monopoly to keep prices high. The suit has been years in the making: Lina Khan, the head of the F.T.C., first set out arguments against Amazon when she was a law student. Google is pushing to limit transparency at its separate monopoly trial. Last week, much of the testimony was given behind closed doors. Social Media Under a new E.U. law, social media companies could be fined for failing to fight disinformation on their platforms. Reddit will pay users for popular posts, the BBC reports. International A family in Armenia after fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh. An explosion killed the children’s father.Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, survived decades of war, but its collapse into Azerbaijani control last week was sudden. At least 100 people died in northern Iraq after a fire tore through a wedding hall. Other Big Stories J.P. Morgan Chase agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Columbia University is the largest private landowner in New York City. It pays almost no property taxes. Opinions In Washington.Ian Allen for The New York Times Barbed-wire fences cover the American West. Virtual fences could restore pristine landscapes, Michelle Nijhuis writes. Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Clarence Thomas. Ends soon: Our best offer on the complete Times experience. Readers of The Morning can enjoy substantial savings on everything The Times has to offer. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS Taylor SwiftDavid Eulitt/Getty Images New era: Travis Kelce was a star. Taylor Swift put him in another orbit. Fall classic: Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, which recently turned 20, has endured by refusing to be cool. Sacred ground: These women are trying to save America’s Black cemeteries. Lives Lived: Barbara Mullen often said she never thought of herself as beautiful. But in the 1950s, she was at the vanguard of the fashion industry’s shift toward tall, slender models. She died at 96. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: The New York Liberty beat the Connecticut Sun. Breanna Stewart is the league’s M.V.P. N.F.L.: Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback, lobbied the Jets’ general manager to let him lead the team’s practice squad. A Hall of Famer: Brooks Robinson, who played 23 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, was best known for his unparalleled defense. He died at 86. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria.via Kehinde Wiley and Galerie Templon Africa’s leaders: Much of Kehinde Wiley’s art depicts regular people, but his most famous work is a picture of power — Barack Obama, seated amid a wall of flowers. Wiley’s latest exhibition, in Paris, returns to that realm with portraits of 11 current and former African presidents. Many of their poses evoke paintings of royalty and aristocrats from centuries ago, giving them a historical gravitas that was long limited to Europeans. More on culture The Smithsonian acquired an unpublished manuscript by Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman and the first American of African descent to publish a book. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Create a spiced tuna sauce for this Somali staple. Drink coffee, but don’t overdo it. Add a flash to your camera. Shuffle around the house in slippers that will last. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were caboodle and codable. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 29, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2023 September 28, 2023 By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick Good morning. We’re covering the looming government shutdown — as well as the Republican debate, the autoworkers’ strike and banjos in Arkansas. Speaker Kevin McCarthyKenny Holston/The New York Times Three days left Two basic facts are central to understanding why the federal government may shut down on Sunday morning: First, the House Republican caucus contains about 20 hard-right members who sometimes support radical measures to get what they want. Many of them refused to certify the 2020 presidential election, for example, and now favor impeaching President Biden. They also tend to support deep cuts to federal spending, and they’re willing to shut down the government as a negotiating tactic. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — a fellow Republican — said last week. Second, the Republicans’ House majority is so slim that McCarthy needs the support of most of these roughly 20 members to remain speaker. If he passes a bill to fund the government and keep it open without support from the hard-right faction, it can retaliate by calling for a new vote on his speakership and potentially firing him. Nobody knows who would then become speaker. This combination has created a strange situation in Washington. Most House members — along with President Biden — want to avoid a shutdown. So does the Senate: A bipartisan group agreed this week on a spending bill that would keep the government open through mid-November. A similar bill could probably pass the House by a wide margin if it came to the floor. Yet the small Republican faction has enough sway over McCarthy that he has resisted allowing a vote on such a bill. As a result, much of the federal government may shut down this weekend. The deadline is midnight on Saturday night. We know that some readers find a potential shutdown to be both a complex and frustrating story. But it’s now a serious enough possibility to deserve some attention. Feeling sold out This conflict has its roots in the debt-limit increase that Congress passed and Biden signed in June. Most countries don’t have a debt limit; they debate taxes and spending when voting on whether to fund government programs. The U.S. government has a two-stage process in which Congress decides first how to spend money and later whether to pay back the debts it has already accumulated. The more extreme parts of the Republican House membership — “the wrecking-ball caucus,” as Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, has called it — seemed as if they might use the debt-ceiling debate to insist on large spending cuts. They knew that if the U.S. breached its debt limit, a financial crisis could follow. Ultimately, though, the Republican faction allowed McCarthy to negotiate a fairly normal deal. It cut some forms of spending, like tax enforcement, but only modestly. The deal also included agreements about spending levels over the next two years, meant to avoid future government shutdowns. For Biden (and most American citizens), the deal’s main benefit was obvious: no economic crisis. For Republicans, the deal also offered the advantage of making McCarthy look like an effective leader who could negotiate on its behalf. But the right-wing faction came to hate the deal once others began celebrating it. “A lot of hard-right Republicans held their nose and voted for the debt limit increase the first time to give McCarthy negotiating leverage,” Carl says, “and then felt like they were sold out even though everyone in Washington saw what was coming.” The faction has since decided that it does not need to abide by the earlier spending agreements and wants to renegotiate them by threatening to shut down the government. Both White House officials and some Senate Republicans are frustrated by the turnabout. “We settled this five months ago with a bipartisan budget agreement — which, by the way, two-thirds of Republicans in the House voted for,” Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, told us last night. If the government shuts down, Zients said, “A million active duty troops and their families could have to worry about how they pay their bills. People could have to worry about fewer food inspectors on the job. Cancer research would stall.” One obstacle to a solution is that different parts of the Republican group have different demands, as Catie Edmondson, a Times reporter on Capitol Hill, said. Some want to increase spending on border security while cutting other programs. Others acknowledge that they want to weaponize the threat of a shutdown to force major spending cuts. “Most of what we do as a Congress is totally unjustified,” Bob Good, a Republican representative from Virginia, recently told Carl. What’s next The outcome remains uncertain. The Republican faction might ultimately accept small, symbolic spending cuts and claim victory. Or the government might shut down this weekend. The situation is a reminder that partisan polarization in Washington is not symmetrical. Yes, Democrats have moved significantly to the left on some major issues in recent decades while Republicans have moved significantly to the right. But a large number of only one party’s members — Republicans — is willing to take procedural steps that both parties would once have considered too extreme. It’s true about election certification, the debt ceiling and a government shutdown. Matt Dallek, a historian at George Washington University, described the rise of this faction as “the fairly logical culmination of an increasingly radical and increasingly extremist Republican Party.” For more A shutdown could disrupt air travel and hurt the economy. “Fight like hell”: Meet 10 House Republicans who say they oppose a short-term funding bill. The hard-liners have put Republicans who represent districts Biden won in a tough spot. The House voted to cut Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1, one of several hard-right proposals that are unlikely to become law. House Republicans will hold their first public hearing about a Biden impeachment today. They have been grasping for evidence to support their case. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Presidential Debate Seven candidates talked over one another in the second Republican debate. Here are takeaways. Donald Trump, who skipped the debate, still had a big presence onstage. Ron DeSantis said he was “missing in action,” while Chris Christie called him “Donald Duck.” Multiple candidates targeted Vivek Ramaswamy, who commanded last month’s debate. “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber,” Nikki Haley said. The debate was often chaotic: Senator Tim Scott falsely claimed that Haley spent lavishly on curtains, and Mike Pence exaggerated his record as vice president. Here’s a fact check. Autoworkers’ Strike Instead of attending the debate, Trump visited Michigan one day after Biden. He asked for an endorsement from the U.A.W. president. The union’s president said he wouldn’t meet Trump, casting him as an out-of-touch billionaire who didn’t care about the workers. The union said it would expand its strike against the big three automakers on Friday if substantial progress was not made in contract negotiations. Politics Senator Robert Menendez pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges. Dick Durbin, a leading Senate Democrat, joined the calls for his resignation. The Senate reverted to its decades-old business attire dress code, one week after the rules were relaxed. The standards will now be enforceable. The judge in Trump’s election interference trial rejected his request that she recuse herself. Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from State Department accounts earlier this year. Democratic and Republican leaders asked the Supreme Court to overturn lower court decisions that restrict them from removing homeless encampments. International A funeral for fire victims in Hamdaniya, Iraq.Abdullah Rashid/Reuters A fire that killed more than 100 people at an Iraqi wedding was started when guests lit flares during the bride and groom’s traditional slow dance. The couple escaped. An American soldier who crossed into North Korea in July has been released into U.S. custody. The front line in Ukraine has barely moved since the start of the year, as these maps show. Other Big Stories Frank Rubio after landing in Kazakhstan.NASA/Getty Images A NASA astronaut returned to Earth after spending 371 days in space, a record spaceflight for an American. The actors’ union will resume negotiations with Hollywood studios on Monday. With the writers’ strike over, most late-night talk shows will return next week. Meta introduced new A.I. tools for its apps, including chatbots using the likenesses of famous people and image-editing tools for Instagram. Gear for making 3-D-printed guns was found at a day care in an East Harlem apartment. A Mississippi sheriff used grand jury subpoenas to spy on his married girlfriend. Opinions The health care system should emphasize keeping patients healthy in their later years rather than increasing their life spans, Dave Chokshi argues. Here are columns by Pamela Paul on sympathy and Thomas Edsall on Democrats’ approval ratings. Ends soon: Our best offer on the complete Times experience. Readers of The Morning can enjoy substantial savings on everything The Times has to offer. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS Musicians in Arkansas.Houston Cofield for The New York Times Tradition: In the town of Mountain View, Ark., residents play banjos, forge iron and preserve the Ozark way of life. New home: North American birds have been spotted in Britain and Ireland after being blown off course by Hurricane Lee. Lives Lived: Terry Kirkman helped found the Association, a blazer-and-tie-clad vocal group, in 1965. Its lush harmonies and folk-inflected sound made the group a hit machine in its heyday. Kirkman died at 83. SPORTS N.B.A. blockbuster: The star point guard Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he will play alongside the two-time M.V.P. Giannis Antetokounmpo. An exit: Michigan State fired its football coach, Mel Tucker, saying sexual harassment allegations against him “brought public disrespect” upon the school. Soccer: The Houston Dynamo beat Inter Miami, 2-1, in the U.S. Open Cup Final. Lionel Messi sat out the game, but is expected to return before the season ends. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS The Juilliard School in Manhattan.Jeenah Moon for The New York Times Learning the craft: Juilliard, the renowned arts school in New York, is making its graduate acting program tuition-free. School officials hope a broader range of students will apply to the program. “I know too many people who didn’t apply because they thought, ‘I couldn’t afford it,’” Damian Woetzel, the school’s president, said. More on culture Bruce Springsteen postponed his remaining 2023 tour dates as he recovers from peptic ulcer disease. The British Museum opened a public hotline asking for help locating missing artifacts, Reuters reports. Idea, the fashion industry’s go-to dealer of rare art books, is opening a bookstore. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Armando Rafael for The New York Times Caramelize chiles for this colorful sheet pan dinner. Treat yourself to restaurant-quality waffles at home. Buy the best bath towels. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were confluence and flounce. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Ian Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted September 29, 2023 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2023 September 29, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re looking at a worrisome turnabout in the global battle against mosquitoes — and covering democracy, migration and Beyoncé. A malaria-carrying mosquito breeds in water cisterns.Tiksa Negeri for The New York Times Progress no more When my colleague Stephanie Nolen began working on an article earlier this year about new technologies to fight mosquito-borne diseases, she assumed she would be writing a story of continued progress. For much of the past two decades, those diseases have been receding, thanks to mosquito nets, insecticides and billions of dollars of funding from governments and philanthropies. Between 2000 and 2019, for example, global malaria deaths fell more than a third. “But it only took a couple of calls to realize that there was way more going on in the world of mosquitoes than I had realized,” Stephanie told me this week. “I was a bit taken aback, as a global health reporter who has been writing about malaria for 25 years, to realize that the common public narrative of a straightforward trajectory of progress against the disease is inaccurate.” Catching mosquitoes in a goat shelter.Tiksa Negeri for The New York Times. Over the past year, she has traveled to six countries, studied data, waded through swamps in Kenya, crawled into goat sheds in Ethiopia and learned how to suck a mosquito into a glass vial — as researchers do so they can study it alive. The result is a series of alarming stories that The Times published this morning. The mosquito already kills more people every year than any other creature does, and the toll is rising. Malaria deaths rose about 8 percent between 2019 and 2021, the first increases in decades. Source: Our World in Data | By The New York Times Two big causes The toll is rising for two main reasons. First, mosquitoes have evolved to elude strategies that were once working against them. The increasing use of bed nets has led to a decline in the population of mosquitoes that tend to live indoors — but mosquitoes that thrive outdoors have increased in number, and bed nets can’t fight them so easily. Mosquitoes have also evolved to become more resistant to current insecticides. Second, climate change has expanded the areas where the weather is warm enough for the most dangerous species of mosquitoes — those that carry deadly diseases — to thrive. Dengue, which used to be a purely tropical disease, has moved into Florida and France. This past summer, a small number of malaria cases spread in Texas, Florida and Maryland, the first local transmissions of the disease in the U.S. in 20 years. “It seems as though the mosquitoes are winning,” Eric Ochomo, a mosquito-fighting scientist in Kenya, told Stephanie. One problem, many experts believe, is that the World Health Organization and other regulators are slow to approve new insecticides and other preventive measures. These agencies typically wait for years of evidence to accumulate before approving new mitigation strategies, but people are dying in the meantime. The situation reminds me of the C.D.C.’s struggles to provide timely, clear help during the Covid pandemic, be it with masks, tests or behavioral guidance. Public health crises don’t operate on the same timetable as academic journals. You can read Stephanie’s overview here — as well as a second story about a new malaria-carrying mosquito that’s threatening some of Africa’s largest cities. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Biden’s Democracy Speech In Tempe, Ariz.Pete Marovich for The New York Times President Biden accused Donald Trump and other “MAGA extremists” of threatening the Constitution. The speech, in Arizona, was his most blistering recent attack on Trump, Peter Baker writes. “Democracies don’t have to die at the end of a rifle,” Biden said. “They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy.” Biden also criticized Republicans for not rebuking Trump’s recent suggestion that an Army general who clashed with him deserved the death penalty. Biden announced federal funding for a library honoring John McCain, the late senator. He told the story of introducing McCain to his future wife Cindy, who was there. Trump Cases Trump’s civil fraud trial may begin as soon as Monday, after a New York appeals court rejected his bid for a delay. He could lose control of Trump Tower and other properties. See which ones are at risk. In Trump’s Georgia racketeering case, over election interference, his lawyer wrote that he would not seek a transfer to federal court. Trump’s team has paid the legal bills for people caught up in his prosecutions. The money is running low. Government Shutdown As a deadline looms, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to turn a fight over federal spending into a battle over Biden’s handling of the border. Biden’s strategy: Avoid a shutdown, if possible. If not, make sure Americans know where to place the blame. Senator Menendez Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said he was open to expelling Robert Menendez from the Senate if he refused to resign over corruption charges. The Supreme Court has repeatedly narrowed the legal definition of corruption. That may help Menendez. More on Politics At House Republicans’ first impeachment hearing against Biden, their own witnesses said there was not enough evidence to support impeachment. Ron DeSantis projected confidence at the Republican debate this week, but it may not convince voters he’s the best alternative to Trump. China The tech giant Huawei offered gifts to Greek officials as it sought European allies during a trade war with the U.S., a Times investigation found. Evergrande, a property company, suspended its stock and said its billionaire chairman was under investigation. Employment A group of former applicants sued the Peace Corps, accusing it of discriminating against them because of their mental health histories. Resident advisers at the University of Pennsylvania voted to unionize, part of swell of labor organizing among undergraduates. A judge said New York City regulators could raise minimum wages for workers who deliver food for platforms like Uber. The new minimum will start at about $18 an hour. New York City now has the biggest income gap of any large county in the country. Other Big Stories Michael Gambon as Dumbledore.Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Michael Gambon, whose long acting career reached a late peak with the role of Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” films, died at 82. An explosion at a religious gathering in Pakistan killed at least 52 people and injured dozens more. Officials believe it was a suicide attack. Many U.S. nursing homes are still awaiting the latest Covid vaccine. Opinions Fort Myers Beach in Florida. Damon Winter/The New York Times Florida created building codes to protect the tourism industry from hurricanes. Instead, it’s pricing tourists out, Sarah Stodola writes. Randy C. Hatton and Leslie Hendeles spent decades urging the F.D.A. to say cold medicines don’t work. Regulators need to review other drugstore staples, they write. Here are columns by Charles Blow on Trump’s populism and Paul Krugman on the Trump fraud case. Our best offer ends tomorrow. Become a subscriber today. Readers of The Morning can enjoy everything The Times has to offer with substantial savings that won’t last. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. MORNING READS Migrants at Port Authority Bus Terminal.Todd Heisler/The New York Times New York City: In parking lots and empty schools, newly arrived migrants are creating communities. Travel delays: There’s a monthslong wait for short-term visas to Europe. Covid fatigue: Doctors still don’t understand it. But they do now have reliable ways to manage it. Modern Love: It was the greatest love she’d ever known. Too bad it wasn’t real. Lives Lived: For more than seven decades, M.S. Swaminathan built a formidable career in crop science and food production. His research and faming methods helped ward off starvation for hundreds of millions of people. He died at 98. SPORTS Thursday Night Football: The Detroit Lions used a dominant first half to shut down the Green Bay Packers, winning 34-20. Baseball: The Baltimore Orioles clinched the 2023 American League East title with a 2-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. Golf: As the Ryder Cup begins, look at its history of weird fashion. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Silvery, shimmering Beyoncé.Videos by Matthew Pillsbury Force of nature: Anything Beyoncé does is a cultural event, but her Renaissance World Tour has become a cultural movement. People are crossing the globe to see her, dressed en masse in silver and rhinestones. By the tour’s close, Beyoncé will have generated an estimated $4.5 billion for the American economy — about as much as the 2008 Olympics did for Beijing. More on culture In an era of quiet luxury, maximalism has been on the runway at Paris Fashion Week. These photos and maps show how art galleries remade New York City’s SoHo. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Nico Schinco for The New York Times Add cumin and cashews to this yogurt rice. Adjust your skin care routine for the fall. Read this essay about quitting smoking in GQ. Buy the best TV. Wear an insulated vest. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was whupping. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 1, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 September 30, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY Mass General Brigham By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. “The Golden Bachelor” premiered this week, part of broadcast networks’ ongoing efforts to cater to their mostly older audience. María Jesús Contreras Date night In September 1985, a new hit premiered on NBC. The network envisioned a show like nothing else on TV. “Take some women around 60. Society has written them off, has said they’re over the hill,” the pitch to producers went. “We want them to be feisty as hell and having a great time.” The result, of course, was “The Golden Girls,” the beloved sitcom about a group of single women, widowed and divorced, living together in a house in Florida. The show was ranked in the Top 10 of Nielsen ratings for six of its seven seasons. More than 27 million people watched the 1992 series finale. Thirty-eight years later, ABC is betting that a house full of single women, ages 60 to 75, and the 72-year-old man whose heart they’ll vie to win, can achieve ratings success with the aid of mostly boomer-age viewers who still flip on the TV for the prime-time lineup, and have yet to fully abandon network television for streaming. I tuned in for Thursday night’s premiere of “The Golden Bachelor” at 8 p.m. sharp with high hopes. Buzz for the season promised we’d accompany a mild-mannered retired and widowed “grandzaddy” from Indiana on his quest for a second chance at love with one of 22 equally self-possessed bachelorettes. This sounded more my speed than the high-conflict carryings-on I usually associate with reality TV. Perhaps I’d be part of the showrunners’ hoped-for “new audiences who might have turned their noses up at the brand before now.” In the innuendo-packed first episode, we meet our bachelor, Gerry Turner, who spends the hour speed-dating the eager bachelorettes, including Leslie, a fitness instructor from Minneapolis who tells us she dated Prince; Sandra, a retired executive assistant from Georgia with a Zen practice that incorporates curse words; and Faith, a high school teacher from Washington State who rides in on a motorcycle, serenades Gerry with a guitar and seems from the little time we spend with her to be a leading contender for last woman standing. When the show opened with a scene of Gerry getting dressed, deliberately showing him putting in his hearing aids as he recounted the tale of his wife’s death over the strains of “The Wind” by Cat Stevens, I thought this might be a departure for the “Bachelor” franchise, a more serious examination of aging and mortality. But once we arrived at the mansion where Gerry canoodles with each potential sweetheart — a dizzying procession of bawdy jokes and canned repartee — I remembered that this was a reality show with a bonkers conceit that is about pure entertainment (and ratings). It may not end up being any more cerebral than its brethren, but that’s not its remit. So can “The Golden Bachelor” keep network television afloat through the imminent shortage of scripted shows occasioned by the writers’ and actors’ strikes? My colleague John Koblin says it’s “off to a decent start”: While far from the most-watched show of the week, the premiere episode was the most-watched show on network television on Thursday night and, with delayed viewing, the audience will only grow. But, more pressing for viewers, will Gerry ultimately find his soul mate? Who will get the final rose? And will people like me, still skeptical of love competition shows, tune in to find out? I was charmed to learn that one of the showrunners for “The Golden Bachelor” studied “The Golden Girls” for conversation topics should the repartee on the show start to lag. I’m holding out hope that we will see the golden bachelorettes in their chenille bathrobes and house scuffs, sharing a cheesecake in the middle of the night. For more See the moment in the NBC promotional special from 1984 when the “Night Court” actress Selma Diamond joked about an imaginary show called “Miami Nice,” a bit that inspired network executives to create “The Golden Girls.” Part of the networks’ continuing efforts to retain older viewers? Game shows. “Older daters face all of the challenges their younger counterparts do — burnout, ghosting, gaslighting — but many of them have found that dating can be infinitely better when you don’t have as much to prove,” writes my colleague Catherine Pearson of the roses and thorns of dating after 60. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Mass General Brigham Exceptional care happens here At Mass General Brigham, we are dedicated to improving the lives of patients everywhere. With annual investments in medical research, we are committed to innovation and advancement in care — not just in our communities, but for patients around the world. Learn more THE WEEK IN CULTURE Michael Gambon as DumbledoreJaap Buitendjik/Warner Bros. Pictures Michael Gambon, best known for playing Dumbledore in several of the Harry Potter movies, died at 82. Read how he inhabited the role of the beloved Hogwarts headmaster. A man was charged with murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur. Since his death, Shakur has become an almost mythical figure. A judge ended a legal arrangement between Michael Oher, the subject of the hit movie “The Blind Side,” and the people who took him in when he was a teenager. It had given them authority over his affairs. Amal Clooney, Anne Hathaway and Jon Hamm hit the fall galas in New York. After a lackluster debut for Helmut Lang in New York, the brand’s creative director, Peter Do, showed a better-received collection under his own name at Paris Fashion Week. In Milan, some of the most interesting looks were on the street. A meme of “King of Queens” actor Kevin James has taken over some people’s social media feeds, Vulture reports. Aerosmith postponed the rest of its farewell tour until next year because its lead singer, Steven Tyler, injured his vocal cords. Performances of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, “Here We Are,” commenced this week. The composer died in 2021. Cher is accused of hiring four men to kidnap her adult son as an apparent form of intervention, The Los Angeles Times reported. Usher will perform at the Super Bowl. Listen to a playlist inspired by his hit “Yeah!” Electronic Arts, a video game publisher, released “EA Sports FC,” a rebranded version of its popular soccer series FIFA. Much of the game is the same, The Guardian reports. The French actor Gérard Depardieu’s art collection sold at auction in Paris for $4.2 million. The home of the French singer Serge Gainsbourg is open to the public, with everything as it was on the day he died. The eight remaining campuses of the Art Institutes, a system of for-profit colleges, will close by the end of the month. THE LATEST NEWS Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Heavy rainfall pounded New York City and the surrounding region, causing flash floods, shutting subway lines and turning roads into lakes. See some of the hardest-hit areas. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who gained national stature in more than 30 years in the Senate, died at 90. Hard-line Republicans tanked Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s long-shot attempt to avert a government shutdown ahead of a midnight deadline tonight to keep federal funding flowing. A co-defendant in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump pleaded guilty to five charges, the first of the 19 defendants to enter a plea. The United Arab Emirates is giving weapons and medical treatment to one side in Sudan’s war under the guise of saving refugees. An I.R.S. contractor was charged with leaking tax return information believed to be Donald Trump’s. Ends today: Our best offer for readers of The Morning. Enjoy your first year of The Times at substantial savings and gain unlimited access to News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. Subscribe now. CULTURE CALENDAR 📚 “Let Us Descend” (Tuesday): This book, inspired by Dante’s “Inferno,” is the latest from Jesmyn Ward, a two-time National Book Award winner and the youngest recipient of the Library of Congress’s American fiction prize. The novel follows an enslaved teenager named Annis as she travels through the pre-Civil War South after her white slave-owner father sold her. The book is among the most anticipated novels of the year. 🎬 “Foe” (Friday): Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, who are among the buzziest young actors working, play a married couple living on a farm in 2065 in this sci-fi drama. Their lives are upended when Junior (Mescal) is told that he’s been chosen to work on a space station. While he’s away, Henrietta (Ronan) will live with a duplicate version of her husband. — Desiree Ibekwe RECIPE OF THE WEEK Linda Xiao for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Tomato sandwiches As September fades away, it’s time to celebrate some of the last of the good heirloom tomatoes by piling them in the sandwich of your dreams. While there are loads of variations to choose from, my tomato sandwich is probably the messiest, in the very best way. The recipe is a hybrid, combining the garlic-rubbed, oil-slathered toast of Catalan pan con tomate with the kind of slivered onions you would see in a tomato tea sandwich, and the bacon of a BLT. Act fast, because sad winter tomatoes will not do justice to a sandwich as good as this. REAL ESTATE Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times A dining table for six: Inside the Long Island City apartment of a best-selling cookbook author. A new frontier: As rising sea levels threaten coastlines, some developers look to floating homes. What you get for $1.4 million: A Cape Cod-style house in Monhegan Island, Maine; an Edwardian home in Evanston, Ill.; or an 1890 rowhouse in Washington, D.C. The hunt: These newlyweds want a three-bedroom house with a yard and a reasonable commute to Manhattan. Which did they choose? Play our game. LIVING Simon Bailly/Sepia Self-esteem: Want to believe in yourself? “Mattering” is key. Going solo: Make the best of attending a wedding alone. Elton John’s piano: Celebrity memorabilia and estate sales headline the coming auction season. Child of Birkin: The new standard-bearer for French-girl style just opened a store in Manhattan. Lessons from summer: Climate change is making travel season less predictable. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Emergency essentials When preparing for a natural disaster, no single strategy is right for everyone. But Wirecutter experts have found a few things to be true. When you put together a bag to grab in an emergency, don’t buy a premade kit. Instead, add gear that you actually need and know how to use. (Here’s a good place to start.) And it’s not just about the gear — simple tasks you can do today, like taking a CPR or first aid class, or designating a point person to be in touch with, can make a big difference. — Ellen Airhart For more advice, sign up for Emergency Kit, an easy-to-follow guide to preparing for natural disasters from Wirecutter’s experts. GAME OF THE WEEKEND Taylor Swift at last week’s Kansas City Chiefs game.David Eulitt/Getty Images Kansas City Chiefs vs. New York Jets: Taylor Swift and the N.F.L., two of America’s cultural juggernauts, pulled off a remarkable bit of brand synergy last weekend. Swift showed up in Kansas City to cheer on the Chiefs’ star tight end, Travis Kelce, whom she is rumored to be dating. The TV cameras, of course, cut to her constantly, and her exuberant celebrations brought life to an otherwise lousy game. Will she show up again this week? The N.F.L. surely hopes so — her presence would make this prime-time broadcast must-see TV, even if the game itself is another dud. (Fans who want great football without the spectacle should tune in earlier in the day to the powerhouse matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills.) 8:30 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on NBC. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were bootjack and jackboot. See the hardest Spelling Bee words from this week. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 1, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2023 October 1, 2023 By Carl Hulse and Catie Edmondson Good morning. Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown. Senator Chuck SchumerHaiyun Jiang for The New York Times A compromise in Congress A government shutdown seemed all but certain. Millions of federal workers and members of the military braced for late paychecks. National parks planned to close. Then came a stunning reversal. Last night, Congress approved a stopgap plan to keep the federal government open until mid-November, avoiding a shutdown just hours before the midnight deadline. A coalition of House Democrats and Republicans voted to pass a plan that would keep money flowing to government agencies and provide billions of dollars for disaster recovery efforts. The bill does not include money for Ukraine, despite a push for it by the White House. The Senate approved it late last night, and President Biden signed it. Below, we explain how Congress compromised and what battles over federal spending remain in the weeks ahead. Reaching a deal For weeks, Speaker Kevin McCarthy had brushed off demands to work with Democrats on a spending solution. Yesterday morning, though, McCarthy changed course. He informed House Republicans of the compromise plan, then rushed to get it to the floor, where he wasn’t sure it would pass. “I like to gamble,” he said. Democrats initially complained that McCarthy had sprung the plan on them without much time to scrutinize it. But they didn’t want to be accused of putting aid for Ukraine ahead of keeping the government open. Ultimately, they supported the bill, which passed 335 to 91. Ninety Republicans and one Democrat voted against it. (See how each member voted.) Hard-right Republicans refused to support the stopgap bill because it essentially maintained funding at levels set when Congress was under Democratic control last year. Some had threatened to oust McCarthy from the speakership if he made a deal with the Democrats. McCarthy recognized that the legislation might spark a challenge to his job, but said he was willing to risk it to keep the government open. “If someone wants to make a motion against me, bring it,” he said at a news conference after the House passed the bill. “There has to be an adult in the room.” Battles ahead Members of both parties said they believed they could win money for Ukraine in the weeks ahead. But the decision to leave it out of the spending bill was a disappointment for the Biden administration. It was also a sign of Republicans’ waning support for funding the war. Representative Mike Quigley, the only Democrat to vote against the bill, said he did so because it did not include aid to Ukraine. He called it “a victory for Putin and Putin sympathizers everywhere.” Still, Democrats voted for the spending bill by a wide margin, and the party’s leadership celebrated its passage. “The American people can breathe a sigh of relief: There will be no government shutdown,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader. “After trying to take our government hostage, MAGA Republicans won nothing.” Despite the intense effort involved, the stopgap bill is only a temporary solution. The House and Senate are both struggling to approve yearlong spending bills, and the gulf between the two parties remains vast. For more “It was like riding a mechanical bull all week,” one Republican representative said. Read more about the path to the deal. McCarthy opted to keep the government open the only way he could — by partnering with Democrats. His plan was an abrupt shift from his previous attempts to placate all corners of his party, including hard-liners, Politico reports. Ukraine’s government said it was confident that the U.S. would continue to support its war against Russia. Representative Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, pulled a fire alarm as his party was trying to delay the vote earlier in the day. Americans seemed largely disinterested in the impending government shutdown. They have come to expect chaos in the capital, Peter Baker reports. The standoff over spending will continue well past this weekend, Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS War in Ukraine In southern Ukraine.David Guttenfelder for The New York Times Snipers are an overlooked but essential part of the war. The Times spent a week embedded with a Ukrainian sniper team on the front lines. Ukrainian soldiers have turned cheap drones sold by China into weapons, giving Chinese suppliers influence. Dianne Feinstein After the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein, California’s Democrats are preparing for an ideological battle to replace her. Her death has temporarily narrowed Democrats’ Senate majority. Read more about how congressional deaths have influenced legislative history. Law Enforcement Private security has become a fast-growing industry as police response times increase in many American cities. A Kansas police chief was suspended after he ordered raids on a local newspaper. Other Big Stories The F.B.I. is investigating whether a co-defendant in the corruption case against Senator Robert Menendez was an agent of the Egyptian government. After record-breaking rains filled New York’s subways, the governor warned that climate change was making severe storms more common. The accusation that a Harvard professor falsified data in academic papers caused a crisis in the behavioral science community. FROM OPINION The Inflation Reduction Act is transforming the economy. If Biden wants to get credit, the benefits for working people need to roll out soon, Robinson Meyer writes. Here’s a column by Maureen Dowd on Dianne Feinstein. The Sunday question: Did the Hollywood writers’ union get a good deal? The Writers Guild of America won industry-specific benefits, such as writers’ room minimum pay and residuals for streaming, but also broader gains like protections surrounding the use of A.I. “For writers, it’s a storybook ending,” Adam Seth Litwin writes for Times Opinion. But the residuals system — how writers get paid — still doesn’t recognize the money in streaming. “The W.G.A., for all its other wins, got 0 percent,” Nelson Cheng writes for The Los Angeles Times. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS A rendering of homes on the moon. Search+ Lunar Lantern for Project Olympus Lunar living: NASA has plans to build houses on the moon using a 3-D printer. Vogue model: The magazine had an open casting call. There were 67,000 applications. Vows: A pastor and a pole dancer fell in love. Lives Lived: Lori Teresa Yearwood was a journalist who returned to reporting after two years of homelessness and became a prominent voice for the unhoused in articles for outlets like The Washington Post and The Times. She was 57. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE Arnold SchwarzeneggerMamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times By David Marchese I spoke with the action-movie icon and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, author of the new book “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life,” about show business and politics. The right often uses Hollywood as a punching bag: “It’s all wokeism; it’s not friendly to conservatives.” What do you think of that criticism? Well, it’s true, but so what? What part is true? The wokeism and that they’re trying to be goody-goody. Let’s not fool ourselves. They talk about the environment and all that stuff, look at which studio has solar panels on top of the rooftops. None of them. But the bottom line is, Hollywood at least is out there talking about the right issues: women’s rights and equal rights. This is all good. You grew up in Austria after World War II. You had exposure to people who believed in fascism. So when you hear people say Donald Trump is a burgeoning fascist or the Republican Party is authoritarian, does that sound alarmist to you, or do you think there’s truth to it? I cannot tell you if Trump is prejudiced. I think that he made moves and said things that sound like it, but I don’t know what’s in his heart. We need a leader who has the energy to bring people together, who sells that idea and who is convincing enough to bring people together because they want to work together. Do you see anyone out there with the potential to be that unifying figure? No. Someone has to come forward and talk about rebuilding the country in a great way and about the things that are really important rather than, “Should we have a bathroom for trans people?” All the little battles just hold us up. Read more of the interview here. More from the magazine How Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, drove his country to the brink of democratic collapse. “It’s been hell since my in-laws moved in. Do I have to put up with it?” Read the full issue. BOOKS Ford Motor Company employees in the 1920s.Ullstein Bild, via Getty Images 20th century: In two books, read about the Black and white Southerners who changed the North. Our editors’ picks: “The Pole,” about a concert pianist who falls for a married arts patron, and eight other books. Times best sellers: Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe’s “Astor” is one of seven new books on the hardcover nonfiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Buy souvenir toothpaste. Put your phone on a car mount. Get a convertible car seat. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Jimmy Carter turns 99 today. The trial begins tomorrow in the New York lawsuit accusing the Trump Organization of inflating property values. The Supreme Court’s new term starts tomorrow. The Major League Baseball playoffs begin Tuesday. Hunter Biden will appear in court Wednesday, where he is expected to plead not guilty to gun charges. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced Friday. Other Nobel winners will also be announced throughout the week. What to Cook This Week Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. The arrival of fall marks the start of soup season, Emily Weinstein writes in her Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter. She recommends stewy red curry lentils with sweet potatoes, along with a brothier option: coconut-miso salmon curry. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was catholic. Can you put eight historical events — including “Pride and Prejudice,” the Spanish Inquisition and the arrival of tea in England — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 2, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 2, 2023 October 2, 2023 By German Lopez Good morning. We’re covering a successful global AIDS program — as well as a Trump trial, an E.U. meeting and the W.N.B.A. In Uganda.Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images ‘Shining example’ For decades, the U.S. has bankrolled global efforts to fight the spread of AIDS, saving tens of millions of lives. Congress has extended the program on a bipartisan basis since President George W. Bush created it in 2003. At least, until now. Congress is gridlocked on a bill that would reauthorize the program, known as PEPFAR. Lawmakers passed a spending deal on Saturday to avert a government shutdown for 45 days, but that legislation did not reauthorize the AIDS program. Without reauthorization, parts of the program expired over the weekend. If Congress does not act soon, organizations that deliver lifesaving drug treatments and other forms of support to H.I.V. patients could have to curtail their work. And some specific measures could lose funding, including one that provides care for orphans and other vulnerable children. “PEPFAR has been a shining example of a bipartisan commitment to addressing a global health issue,” my colleague Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who covers health policy, told me. “If it doesn’t get reauthorized, it will be an example of how Washington is so broken that it’s even abandoning its moral leadership in the world.” Why is this happening? Abortion politics are largely to blame. Some of the health organizations that fight AIDS also provide abortion services, and Republicans do not want to subsidize those groups. Even if the money does not directly fund abortions, these critics worry that PEPFAR strengthens the groups that provide them. House Republicans passed a bill last week extending the program only for a year and with more anti-abortion restrictions. Supporters, including some Republicans, want a five-year extension without any new anti-abortion language. Many worry that cutting off groups that also provide abortions would damage anti-AIDS efforts. In recent weeks, Bush — himself an opponent of abortion rights — lobbied for the program’s renewal. Global success There is no partisan dispute on one point: The AIDS relief program is a major public health success. It has saved 25 million lives, equivalent to the population of Australia. In some countries, it has helped reduce the rate of H.I.V. infections by half or more. How? The program funds health care services in more than 50 countries. It has helped build clinics that distribute antiretroviral medications for H.I.V., which reduce the risk of developing AIDS and undercut the virus’s ability to spread. It has established testing centers to help catch the virus earlier. And it has encouraged other preventive measures, such as safer sex practices and circumcision. The program is especially important in western and southern Africa. Many H.I.V. patients in these regions otherwise struggle to get treatment. Nothing in the program directly funds abortions. Critics’ argument is, in short, that money is fungible. Program partners may not use federal funds directly on abortions, but they may use the money to set aside other dollars that can then go to abortions. The critics want the program to stop supporting any group that provides abortion services. But PEPFAR operates in many countries that lack basic health care infrastructure, so it cannot be all that picky in choosing partners. In some regions of the world, strict anti-abortion language could force the program to pull out because it would no longer be able to find a partner that meets its standards. More people would die from AIDS as a result. What’s next PEPFAR remains funded for now. But Congress has not passed a longer-term extension of the program, which requires a separate bill. If Congress does not reauthorize the program, it could send a chilling message. For the first time in decades, the global fight against AIDS would no longer seem like a bipartisan priority. The program’s partners may start to wonder whether they can rely on the funding and if they should work with the U.S. on a now-politicized issue. “It would be a huge departure from the past,” said Jennifer Kates of KFF, a health policy organization. For an AIDS fight that has saved so many people over the decades, those problems could over time translate to millions of preventable deaths. Related: Women in poor places where H.I.V. is still very common often struggle to get preventive medicine, The Economist writes. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics A trial begins today in a New York lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of fraudulently inflating his wealth. The Trump campaign is using the case as an opportunity to rally supporters. Gov. Gavin Newsom chose Laphonza Butler, president of the political organization Emily’s List, to fill California’s Senate vacancy after the death of Dianne Feinstein. Shutdown Deal Matt GaetzKent Nishimura for The New York Times Representative Matt Gaetz, the hard-right Republican from Florida, said he would try to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker for working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. McCarthy said Gaetz’s efforts would fail, telling CBS: “I’ll survive. You know this is personal with Matt.” War in Ukraine A Russia-leaning party finished first in Slovakia’s parliamentary elections, a sign of flagging support for Ukraine in the West. Foreign ministers from E.U. member countries are gathering in Kyiv for a surprise meeting. Russia may be preparing to test an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, according to a Times investigation. International In Greece.Achilleas Chiras/Associated Press “The fire has reached us”: The Times pieced together the desperate final hours of Syrian asylum seekers who died in a wildfire in a Greek forest. Turkey conducted airstrikes against a Kurdish rebel organization that took responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Ankara. A fire broke out at a nightclub complex in southeastern Spain, killing at least 13. The Catholic Church Pope FrancisRiccardo De Luca/Associated Press Catholic bishops will discuss priestly celibacy and the blessing of gay couples at an assembly at the Vatican known as the synod. Pope Francis has invited lay people, including women, to attend and vote during the meeting for the first time. Read about the gathering. A prominent Texas bishop who is critical of Pope Francis said the meeting threatens the “basic truths” of Catholic doctrine. Other Big Stories The Supreme Court returns today for a new term. Justices are expected to revisit issues like gun rights, race and free speech. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, will stand trial this week for fraud. Many in the crypto industry want to see him held accountable. The authorities in New York are searching for a 9-year-old girl who disappeared while riding a bike with friends at a state park. Three police officers in Baton Rouge, La., are accused of trying to cover up their use of stun guns during a strip search in a department restroom. A grizzly bear killed two people in Banff National Park in Canada, officials said. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, for their discoveries that led to the development of Covid vaccines. Opinions Republicans want to change how we talk about their extreme abortion policies, moving away from terms like “pro-life.” We threaten women’s lives if we let them, Jessica Valenti argues. Here are columns by David French on Christian nationalism and Nicholas Kristof on unions. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Kevin McCarthy and the Republican debate. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS In Cocullo, Italy.Elisabetta Zavoli Rite of the snake charmers: In the small Italian village of Cocullo, draping snakes over a statue kicks off a centuries-old ritual. Just say vagina: Upstart feminine care brands are ditching the euphemistic marketing of their predecessors. Windy City: Spend 36 hours in Chicago. Metropolitan Diary: Cutting a sandwich line in Manhattan. Lives Lived: Evelyn Fox Keller was a theoretical physicist, mathematical biologist and feminist theorist who explored the way gender pervades and distorts scientific inquiry. She died at 87. SPORTS Sunday night football: The Chiefs defeated the Jets, 23-20, even though the New York side had its best performance of the season. (And yes, Taylor Swift was there.) Around the N.F.L.: A week after a historic offensive performance, the Miami Dolphins fell back to earth with a loss to the Buffalo Bills. And the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Commanders in overtime to remain undefeated. Here are takeaways from the weekend. Gymnastics: Simone Biles became the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault at an international competition. The sport is renaming the move after her. W.N.B.A.: The New York Liberty advanced to the league finals after eliminating the Connecticut Sun in an 87-84 win. Curse breaker: Tim Wakefield was a pitcher for the Red Sox who, in 2004, played a critical role in the team winning its first World Series championship in 86 years. He died at 57. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Photo Illustration by Kyle Berger Dogs on film: A puppy waddling through space. A dog digitally placed on a train, passing alpine mountains. Much of the content on DogTV, a television and subscription service, is meant to cater to bored and anxious dogs who are left home alone, but owners, it appears, are watching too. One dog owner, Jay, described his wife coming home to find him watching the channel. “She’ll be like, ‘What are you doing?’,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, you got to see this — they’re going through the fields, and the ducks are following him.’” More on culture “Peaks and valleys”: Read our critic’s review of U2’s concert at the Sphere, a new performance venue in Las Vegas. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Sprinkle sesame seeds to add crunch to this salmon dish. Catch “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” before it leaves Netflix. Play a relaxing video game. Ditch clunky paperbacks for an e-reader. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was encampment. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — German Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 3, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 3, 2023 October 3, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the big story of the new Supreme Court term — as well as Kevin McCarthy, Sam Bankman-Fried and the return of late night. The Supreme Court justices.Erin Schaff/The New York Times A libertarian court With the Supreme Court’s new term having started this week, I want to use today’s newsletter to give you context on the issue that Adam Liptak — who covers the court for The Times — calls “the story of the term”: business regulation. Even before the court moved to the right over the past several years, business regulation was an area in which its rulings tended to be conservative. Thirteen years ago, Adam wrote an article explaining that the court led by Chief Justice John Roberts was the most business-friendly Supreme Court in modern history. Roberts and his colleagues tend to be skeptical of government regulation that tries to protect the environment, consumer safety or workers’ rights. In all these areas, the court has often taken a laissez-faire approach, allowing corporations to behave as their executives think best. This outlook hasn’t been restricted to Republican-appointed judges, either. Democratic appointees who lean left on social issues like abortion, gay rights and guns have been more conservative on business regulation. This shift has been part of the so-called neoliberal revolution in economic policy that took off in the 1980s. Free markets, according to this view, are more efficient than government can be. “The modern judge is quite economically libertarian, Republican and Democrat alike,” Adam told me. Still, there have been limits to the court’s libertarianism. The E.P.A., F.D.A., I.R.S. and many other Washington agencies still exist, after all. If you talk with many corporate executives or their lobbyists and lawyers, you will hear that they feel over-regulated — and they have continued to bring lawsuits trying to lighten the burden of government. The story of this term, to use Adam’s phrase, is whether corporations will persuade the Supreme Court to go further than it previously has and strike down whole new categories of regulation. Three separate cases raise that prospect. First up The justices will hear arguments in the first of those three cases this morning, involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, known as the C.F.P.B. The case’s details are technocratic, but the impact could be large. When Congress and President Barack Obama created the agency in 2010, after the financial crisis, they funded it using transfers from the Federal Reserve. The goal was to shield the bureau from back-and-forth partisan politics; the Fed is a semi-independent agency for similar reasons. Elizabeth Warren, then a law professor, who helped create the bureau, was worried that Republicans would try to starve its budget. A banking industry group has argued that this funding structure is illegal, saying that federal agencies should be accountable to Congress. The bureau’s defenders respond that it already is: Congress established the agency by passing a law that funded it in a specific way. To change this arrangement, the defenders say, Congress should have to pass a new bills that a president signs. Last year, a federal appeals court based in New Orleans — the Fifth Circuit, perhaps the country’s most conservative, having been shaped by President Donald Trump’s appointees — agreed with the plaintiffs. Legal observers aren’t sure what to expect now from the Supreme Court. On the one hand, conservative justices dominate the court. On the other, at least some of them have seemed uncomfortable with how far the Fifth Circuit has gone in other cases. The biggest case An even more significant business case this term involves a 1984 Supreme Court decision that has come to be known by the shorthand “Chevron deference.” Under Chevron deference, the court gave regulatory agencies leeway to interpret laws that Congress had left vague. Corporate lobbyists have long chafed at the ruling, believing that regulators should have only the powers that Congress has explicitly given them. Undoing Chevron has been a central goal of the conservative legal movement. Conservatives talk about the importance of weakening “the administrative state.” Both sides in the Chevron case agree that the stakes are large. When Congress passes a law, it cannot anticipate all the ways that the economy will change in coming years. If regulators have only the powers that Congress explicitly gives them, many regulations — on the environment, consumer safety, worker safety and more — would be vulnerable to legal challenges. “Overruling Chevron,” the Biden administration argued in a recent brief, “would be a convulsive shock to the legal system.” The third major business case this term involves the Securities and Exchange Commission. Depending how the court rules, the S.E.C. could have less power to pursue fraud cases. The justices have not yet set dates for oral arguments in the Chevron and S.E.C. cases. More on the court Stacy Cowley — who covers the C.F.P.B. for The Times — profiled its director, Rohit Chopra, 41, who is fighting thyroid cancer. This term also includes cases on abortion, gerrymandering, guns, opioids and social media. We’ll preview them in future newsletters. (Here’s an overview.) The court heard arguments about a federal law that lets judges ignore minimum mandatory sentences for some drug offenses. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Kevin McCarthy Speaker Kevin McCarthyHaiyun Jiang for The New York Times Representative Matt Gaetz called for a vote on removing Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, after McCarthy worked with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown. The vote is expected within days. McCarthy has little chance of surviving without help from Democrats. They are considering what they could ask in return. Donald Trump At the start of his New York civil fraud case, Trump called for the judge to be disbarred. Read takeaways from the first day. When Trump first suggested using the military against Mexican cartels, defense officials considered the idea ludicrous. Republicans now widely support it. Congress Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption trial is scheduled for May, a month before the New Jersey state primary. He has not said whether he intends to run. Three people carjacked Representative Henry Cuellar at gunpoint near his home in Washington D.C. He was not harmed. Representative Dean Phillips will step down from House Democratic leadership. He’s considering a primary challenge against Biden. More on Politics A North Dakota state senator, his wife and two of their children died after the plane he was piloting crashed at an airport in Utah. Hunter Biden is expected to plead not guilty when he’s arraigned on gun charges at a Delaware court today. International In Port-au-Prince, Haiti.Johnson Sabin/EPA, via Shutterstock The U.N. approved Kenya’s plan to send security personnel to Haiti, where gang violence is rampant. After a fire at an Iraqi wedding hall killed at least 119 people, investigators called for local officials to be fired for failing to enforce safety standards. U.S. officials say Russia intends to spread election disinformation to undermine Western support for Ukraine. Palestinian herders are abandoning their homes as a result of intimidation by Israeli settlers. Seven months after deadly earthquakes hit southern Turkey, some families are still living in tents. Technology At Google’s antitrust trial, the C.E.O. of Microsoft testified that Google’s stranglehold over search was so tight that his company could not compete. Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, goes on trial today. A new book by Michael Lewis offers details of the firm’s collapse. Hollywood Strikes The striking actors’ union and Hollywood studios had their first talks in months. Negotiations will continue tomorrow. “We’ve been gone so long, ‘The Bachelor’ is now a grandfather”: Late night shows returned for their first broadcasts since the writers’ strike ended. Other Big Stories Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old girl who disappeared at a state park, is safe. The police found a fingerprint on a ransom note and raided a suspect’s home, where Charlotte was hidden in a cupboard. Young children face a greater risk of eviction than any other age group. The risk is most acute for Black children. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists — Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier — for their work on electrons. Opinions Americans without a four-year college degree are struggling. Removing B.A. requirements for jobs would help, Anne Case and Angus Deaton write. Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Biden. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS Above Chicago.Daniel Wilsey High Flight LLC Never too old: At 104, Dorothy Hoffner wanted to skydive again. Watch her jump. Grizzlies: What’s behind all the recent stories about rogue bears? Windows to the soul: To fast-track intimacy, an event in Brooklyn encourages daters to engage in extended eye contact. Lives Lived: Echo Brown mined her life to create a one-woman show about Black female identity and two young adult novels. She died at 39. SPORTS N.F.L.: The Seahawks embarrassed the Giants at home last night in a 24-3 win. M.L.B. playoffs: The baseball postseason starts today with a single question looming: Can anyone beat the Braves? Recovery: Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of LeBron James who suffered cardiac arrest during practice two months ago, is doing “extremely well,” his father said. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Behind our scenes: If you’re interested in The New York Times, we recommend a new history of the institution. It’s called “The Times,” and Adam Nagourney — a longtime reporter here — wrote it. The company did not have approval over it. The book, Julia Klein wrote in The Los Angeles Times, is “an often enthralling chronicle of four decades (1976-2016) of management upheaval and digital transformation” and “delivers the gossipy goods, thanks in part to interviews with nearly all the surviving principals.” The central theme is how the company survived the mortal threat of the digital revolution. More on culture Beyoncé announced a concert film of her Renaissance World Tour will be released in theaters on Dec. 1. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Make a smoky eggplant salad infused with cumin. Buy fewer skin care products. See how many dermatologists recommend. Level up your pie-making skills with these tools. Create a cozy home movie night on a budget. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was bigoted. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 4, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 4, 2023 October 4, 2023 By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick Good morning. We’re covering the downfall of Kevin McCarthy — as well as a Trump “gag order,” an emergency alert test and the fight to save a language. Kevin McCarthy speaking after his ouster.Maansi Srivastava/The New York Times Chaos in the House In the 234-year history of the House of Representatives, its members had never voted to fire their leader in the middle of a term. They did so yesterday. The toppling of Speaker Kevin McCarthy creates an uncertain future for Congress. It’s unclear who will be the next speaker, although it apparently won’t be McCarthy; he said last night that he would not run again. It’s also unclear what will happen with several major issues, including U.S. support for Ukraine and a potential government shutdown next month. In today’s newsletter, we walk through two things that we do know the morning after McCarthy’s firing. For much more, you can read The Times’s main story on yesterday’s events, as well as this explanation of what happens next. Lesson 1: House Republicans have fallen into chaos with little precedent. McCarthy lost his job because eight House Republicans voted against him yesterday, mostly as punishment for his working with Democrats to pass a bill keeping the government open into next month. Those Republicans, led by Matt Gaetz of Florida, wanted to use a potential shutdown to insist on large spending cuts. But that was never going to happen. Democrats control the Senate and the White House. Even many House Republicans don’t favor the cuts that the hard-right faction does. Nonetheless, a small Republican faction decided that a bill to keep the government open was a fireable offense for their leader. “Think long and hard before you plunge us into chaos,” Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and a McCarthy ally, told his House colleagues before the vote yesterday, “because that’s where we’re headed if we vacate the speakership.” “Chaos is Speaker McCarthy,” Gaetz replied. “Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word.” McCarthy, speaking before the vote, said: “If you throw a speaker out that has 99 percent of their conference, that kept government open and paid the troops, I think we’re in a really bad place for how we’re going to run Congress.” The unprecedented nature of a speaker’s midterm dismissal highlights the radicalism of parts of today’s Republican Party. It’s also a contrast to the unity of Democrats when they controlled the House under Speaker Nancy Pelosi in recent years. Lesson 2: Democrats took a gamble by not saving McCarthy. House Democrats could have helped keep McCarthy in the job. Instead, 208 Democrats voted unanimously against him. Combined with the eight breakaway Republicans, the Democrats caused McCarthy to lose the referendum that Gaetz called, 216 to 210. McCarthy has certainly given Democrats reason to oppose him. He depended on their votes to pass a spending bill last week but barely gave them time to read the bill before calling for a vote — and then claimed on television, falsely, that Democrats were the ones who wanted a shutdown. Perhaps most significantly, McCarthy has made excuses for extremism, including Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and the violent rhetoric of a few House Republicans. Ilhan Omar, a progressive House Democrat from Minnesota, yesterday called McCarthy “a threat to our democracy.” Abigail Spanberger, a centrist from Virginia, said he had “excused the inexcusable time and time and time again.” The spectacle of Republican infighting does offer some potential political advantages for the Democrats. From their perspective, as Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, told us, “a little chaos is good.” Voters may end up blaming Republicans for the current tumult. (Politico explains how infighting could hurt Republicans’ chances in 2024.) Democrats also argue that it is not their job to rescue Republicans from internal discord. “It is now the responsibility of the G.O.P. members to end the House Republican Civil War,” Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, wrote before yesterday’s vote. Still, McCarthy’s downfall brings risks for Democrats. He managed both to keep the government open last week and to raise the debt limit this past spring. He did so by finding compromise with Democrats, however unpleasant the process was, and by maintaining the support of most Republicans. His successor may not be able to do so, risking economic and political turmoil. The war in Ukraine is one example of the stakes. U.S. aid will decline significantly unless Congress passes a new bill to help Ukraine fight Russia. The next speaker may be less willing to help Ukraine than McCarthy was. “I think Democrats would benefit by a more functional House,” Laura Blessing of Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute told us. “They have a lot that they need to get done.” For more The House is paralyzed, with no consensus on who will replace McCarthy. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Tom Emmer of Minnesota are contenders. Representative Patrick McHenry, a McCarthy ally from North Carolina who voted for the government funding bill, became interim speaker. McCarthy’s nine-month speakership was the shortest since 1876, CNN reports. “I don’t regret standing up for choosing governance over grievance,” he said after his ouster. His demise highlights the challenge of leading Republican lawmakers who refuse to be governed, Carl Hulse writes. President Biden, in a conference call with world leaders, said the U.S. would continue to support Ukraine. Gaetz is using the country’s fiscal problems as a ladder to elevate himself, Ross Douthat writes in Times Opinion. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics The judge overseeing Trump’s civil fraud trial ordered him not to comment publicly on the court’s staff after Trump attacked a law clerk online. The Supreme Court seemed skeptical of a challenge that could hobble a watchdog that protects consumer rights. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he lied on an application to buy a gun. Kari Lake, a Republican who lost her bid for Arizona governor last year, has filed to run for the Senate seat occupied by Kyrsten Sinema. International A 14-year-old shot two people to death in a shopping mall in Bangkok. A bus filled with tourists in Venice drove off an overpass, killing at least 21 people. Pakistan is experiencing a surge in deadly extremist attacks. The police in New Delhi raided the homes and offices of journalists working for a news outlet critical of the Indian government. The founder and editor was arrested. Indigenous women in Greenland, who say they were fitted with IUDs without their consent, are seeking compensation from the Danish government. Health The manufacturers of 10 expensive medications agreed to negotiate with the U.S. government for lower prices for Medicare recipients. Insulin resistance affects more than a third of Americans. Here are the signs to look for, such as feeling excessively tired or gaining weight. Migration In Queens.Juan Arredondo for The New York Times Some newly arrived migrants in New York City have begun street vending, causing turf battles with more established sellers. The U.S. detains thousands of undocumented immigrants so that they can testify against those accused of smuggling them across the border. Other Big Stories The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for the discovery and development of quantum dots. An attacker wounded five people in a shooting on the Morgan State University campus in Baltimore. The police have not yet located a suspect. The shipping industry is trying to move away from fossil fuels by bringing back sails. The Powerball jackpot prize has grown to $1.2 billion. The next drawing is tonight. The U.S. will send a test of its emergency alert system to cellphones, radios and TVs across the country today. Opinions People with disabilities have filed lawsuits to make businesses and public spaces more accessible. The Justice Department needs to lift the burden, Evelyn Clark, a lawyer who uses a wheelchair, writes. The U.S. abused its power when it used its economic might to force Europe to break ties with Russia and China, Christopher Caldwell argues. Here’s a column by Paul Krugman on MAGA Republicans and Ukraine. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS A high school in Gagauzia, Moldova.Andreea Campeanu for The New York Times “Our language is dying”: People are fighting to save Gagauz, a Turkic tongue used in Moldova. One bite: Dave Portnoy, the caustic founder of Barstool Sports, has become the most influential figure on America’s pizza scene. Lives Lived: Ed Young wrote and illustrated dozens of children’s books, mesmerizing readers with intricate depictions of fairy tales, poetry and his own life story as a Chinese immigrant. He died at 91. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Minnesota Twins won their first playoff game since 2004. Big game, small crowd: The Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Texas Rangers, 4-0. The game drew the smallest M.L.B. postseason crowd since 1919. A new look: The Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler debuted a new emo persona. On media day, it helped distract from questions about the team’s muted off-season. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS At Paris Fashion Week.Miguel Medina/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Fashion F.A.Q.: A reader asked Vanessa Friedman, our fashion critic, “Why do runway models always look miserable?” Vanessa replied: “It’s awfully hard to maintain a believable expression of great joy when you are walking in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of strangers, all there to render their judgment on what you are wearing. When your shoes probably don’t fit, since they are samples, and you are concentrating very hard to avoid slipping or falling, and you are modeling chiffon in winter or leather in September, when it’s still 80 degrees, and you are partially blinded by the flashes of a zillion photographers.” Read her full answer. More on culture The National Book Foundation announced the 25 finalists for this year’s National Book Awards. The winners will be named on Nov. 15. Sean McGirr, an Irish designer, will take over from Sarah Burton as the new creative director of Alexander McQueen. Mattel unveiled a Stevie Nicks Barbie with an outfit inspired by her look on the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Eugene Jho. Bake bread flavored with pumpkin and cinnamon. Go on an ice cream tour of Mexico City. Melt away creases with a hand-held steamer. Use this password manager app to keep track of your logins. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were ductility and lucidity. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Ian Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 5, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2023 October 5, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering America’s political turmoil — as well as the race for House speaker, student debt and a new class of MacArthur fellows. Matt GaetzKent Nishimura for The New York Times ‘Two viable parties’ Imagine if you were a foreign leader surveying the political chaos in the United States: For the first time in history, a party has just fired its own speaker of the House in the middle of a term. In the Senate, one of the two party leaders, who’s 81 years old, has twice recently frozen in public, unable to speak. A Supreme Court justice has allowed wealthy political donors to finance a lavish lifestyle for him and his wife (and that same justice’s wife urged officials to overturn the 2020 presidential election result based on lies). A likely nominee in the upcoming presidential election is facing four criminal trials and regularly speaks in apocalyptic terms about the country’s future. That nominee is essentially tied in the polls with an 80-year-old president who many voters worry is too old to serve a second term. If you were an ally of the U.S., you’d have to be worried. If you were an enemy, you’d have to be pleased. “To many watching at home and abroad, the American way no longer seems to offer a case study in effective representative democracy,” Peter Baker of The Times writes. “Instead, it has become an example of disarray and discord, one that rewards extremism, challenges norms and threatens to divide a polarized country even further.” Fractured and extreme Many factors have contributed to this turmoil. Decades of stagnant living standards have caused voter frustration. Social media, along with the rise of a cable television network willing to promote falsehoods, has inflamed discourse. The decline of institutions — churches, labor unions, once-dominant local employers — has left Americans feeling unmoored. And aging political leaders have failed to groom strong successors. But the single largest source of the chaos is the Republican Party. I don’t say that lightly. Readers of this newsletter know that I think there is plenty of evidence that the Democratic Party also has problems. It has struggled in recent years to come up with effective policies on Covid school closures, illegal immigration and several other issues. Many working-class voters consider the party to be disdainful of them, which helps explain why its longtime troubles with white voters have recently spread to voters of color. Still, every major political party has weaknesses. Despite theirs, the Democrats remain a functional party by almost any standard. Their moderate and progressive factions frequently work together. President Biden, like Barack Obama before him, has passed a long list of substantive legislation. Congressional Democrats have remained impressively united for two decades. The Republican Party, by contrast, is both fractured and increasingly extreme. Tens of millions of Republican voters have embraced beliefs that are simply wrong: that Obama was born in Kenya, that Donald Trump was cheated out of re-election, that Covid vaccines don’t work, that human beings aren’t causing climate change. A crowd of Republican-aligned protesters violently attacked the Capitol in 2021, assaulting police officers and causing several deaths. Prominent Republican politicians, including Trump, have spoken positively about that attack and more generally about political violence. Kevin McCarthy’s downfall as speaker is the latest sign of the party’s drift toward radicalism. He lost his job because a group of hard-right House members was furious with him for conducting policy negotiations that are inherent to democratic governance. “The ouster captures the degraded state of the Republican Party in this era of rage,” wrote The Wall Street Journal editorial board, a reliable voice of conservatism. ‘The greatest challenge’ When my colleagues and I asked democracy experts this week how to make sense of the country’s political turmoil, they emphasized that the central explanation was the Republican Party: “The democratic system needs two viable parties,” Sarah Binder, a political scientist at George Washington University, said. “You need a set of leaders on both sides that have the confidence of their followers and have some understanding of the rules of the road.” “In my lifetime, this is the greatest challenge that I’ve seen coming at us,” said Joseph Ellis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. Daniel Ziblatt, a co-author of the recent book “Tyranny of the Minority,” told me that the structure of the American political system was partly to blame: The Electoral College, the Senate and gerrymandering have allowed Republicans to wield power without appealing to most Americans. “Our constitution in this way is one of several factors radicalizing the Republican Party, leading it to turn away from democracy itself,” Ziblatt said. “I think the country’s political class is aging and underperforming in many ways — I’m a longtime critic of gerontocracy. But that’s a second-order problem,” Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College said. “The first-order problems by far are the state of the G.O.P. and the electoral rules and institutions that make the threat it poses so significant.” Even with all these problems, there are reasons for optimism. The Republican caucus in the Senate is more functional than in the House. Federal judges and election officials, from both parties, blocked Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Candidates who endorsed his lies fared poorly in the 2022 midterms. It’s possible that a more functional Republican Party, committed to both conservatism and American democracy, will emerge in coming years. But it is not assured. “Events of recent weeks have reminded us that the authoritarian threat isn’t going away,” Nyhan said. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Congress Steve Scalise and Jim JordanJulia Nikhinson for The New York Times Kent Nishimura for The New York Times Representatives Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are running against each other for House speaker. Nancy Pelosi was kicked out of her bonus office in the Capitol. The decision was supposedly made by McCarthy, who is expected to move into the office next week. Biden expressed concern that aid to Ukraine could be disrupted by the chaos over the House speakership. Steve Bannon’s podcast has stoked the right-wing anger that unseated McCarthy. More on Politics The Biden administration will forgive additional student debt, this time for teachers, firefighters and people with disabilities. Federal prosecutors are looking at Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits as part of Trump’s 2020 election interference case. Ron DeSantis’s campaign announced that it had raised $15 million in the past three months. Hours later, the Trump campaign said it raised $46 million. Senator Robert Menendez was accused of receiving a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for his partner as a bribe. She damaged her previous car in a crash that killed a man. Commander, Biden’s 2-year-old German shepherd, is no longer living at the White House after a series of biting incidents involving staff. International A monastery in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.Khasar Sandag for The New York Times Meet the 8-year-old boy in Mongolia who was identified as the latest incarnation of a spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism. A teenage girl in Iran is in a coma after she boarded a train with her hair uncovered. The government hasn’t released video, but some accuse the country’s morality police of hurting her. Kenya is sending police officers to deal with gang violence in Haiti. At home, people accuse the officers of brutality. Volodymyr Zelensky hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a presidential election in Ukraine next year. Climate In the Bronx.Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times June, July, August and September broke heat records. The soaring temperatures are changing Americans’ relationship to summer. People who work outside have few legal protections against the heat. While fall is off to a late start, chillier air is expected to arrive in much of the U.S. this weekend. Labor Workers at the health care provider Kaiser Permanente began a three-day strike, hoping to call attention to staffing shortages. “There’s a billionaire class, and there’s the rest of us”: Read a profile of Shawn Fain, the leader of the striking autoworkers. Other Big Stories Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge to suspend New York City’s obligation to provide housing for thousands of migrants. A shooting outside a Massachusetts market critically injured a pregnant woman on a passing bus. Her baby died. The Maryland Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today in the case of Adnan Syed, the subject of the podcast “Serial.” Opinions Americans can be forgiven for tuning out Trump, but we should pay attention to his escalating calls for violence, Alex Kingsbury says. Here are columns by Charles Blow on Trump and McCarthy and Pamela Paul on the concept of antiracism. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS This dog loves New York.Amy Lombard for The New York Times Dogs have their day: A beloved New York Halloween dog parade was almost canceled. Then the mayor’s office stepped in. Detective work: A lucky break and old-fashioned police work led to the rescue of a missing 9-year-old in New York. Travel 101: Make sure you don’t bring bedbugs home from vacation (especially if you go to Paris). Kenergy sanctions: Warner Bros. no longer releases films in Russia. But theaters have found a way to screen “Barbie.” Lives Lived: James Jorden was an influential writer and editor who fused high culture and punk aesthetics in his opera zine-turned-website Parterre Box. He died at 69. SPORTS M.L.B.: In a surprise result, the Texas Rangers swept the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card Series, winning 7-1. Bowling and batting: The Cricket World Cup starts today and will be played in 10 locations across India. Soccer: The 2030 World Cup will take place across three continents, as part of the celebration of the tournament’s 100th anniversary. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS María Magdalena Campos-Pons in her studio. Gabriel McCurdy for The New York Times Geniuses: Patrick Makuakane, a hula choreographer in San Francisco. María Magdalena Campos-Pons, a multimedia artist in Nashville. Courtney Bryan, a composer in New Orleans. They are among this year’s class of MacArthur Fellows — commonly known as the “genius” awards — which reward innovators in arts, science and more with an $800,000 grant. See the full list of winners, which also includes a U.S. poet laureate, a hydroclimatologist and a democracy advocate. More on culture Prosecutors are mapping out a detailed narrative of the events that led to Tupac Shakur’s death. Saturday Night Live announced it will return for the first time since the writers’ strike on Oct. 14, with Pete Davidson as host. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophia Pappas. Make a Hiroshima-style Japanese cabbage pancake. Elevate your morning coffee with these mugs. Go for a hike in comfortable boots. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were arthropod and hardtop. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 8, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 8, 2023 October 7, 2023 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. For some, tending to our humble home gardens, dreaming of lush green splendor, is a pastime. For others, it’s a calling. María Jesús Contreras Living in clover My hometown has a gardening store so lavish, so over-the-top curated with weather-stained terra-cotta planters the size of vintners’ casks, crumbling concrete birdbaths rescued from Eden and a jungle’s worth of fronds and boughs and leaves that it is a destination. Out-of-towners come to gaze at its tableaux of mosses, hand-forged shears and fairy lights, to dine on seasonal produce at its in-house cafe. I think there might be an actual waterfall back by the table linens. I love going to this store, wandering its aisles and imagining how different my life would be if I could inhabit its forever-green promise, like Keats gazing on the Grecian urn. The dream of a life so exquisitely alive, so committed to the beau idéal of aesthetic richness, is what I imagine drives many former fashion designers and filmmakers to jobs in horticulture, as my colleague Steven Kurutz writes about in The Times today. They’re arts majors who found their medium in flowers and ferns, corporate operatives who realized there was life beyond the laptop, even if it wasn’t all glamour. “I wanted to be the one digging the holes and carrying the soil up a four-story walk-up,” one — a tech-start-up defector turned plant coach and landscape designer — told Steven. I’ve written about my travails in attempting to bring the jungle’s abundance to my apartment, an ongoing struggle between me and the unforgiving ravages of southern exposure and root rot. I took the counsel of Morning readers and stopped fussing so much with my charges, learning to let them be themselves. Mostly this has been successful: I have a bird of paradise that is, if not thriving, then at least alive. I’m living and letting the plants live even when living for them means petulantly throwing out vines in awkward and not-at-all-Keatsian clumps, then inexplicably lying there limply for a season, playing dead or, let’s face it, possibly actually dead. People who work with plants for a living, who orchestrate lush and enviable displays that make me want to be a better person, know that it’s hard work to create a home garden that looks effortless. I’m still trying to balance the dream of free-range plant parenting with the fact that every leafy thing that crosses my threshold instantly becomes a hothouse flower, desirous of climate and light conditions that I can’t readily provide. I’m trying to adopt the mind-set of the floral designer Emily Thompson, who told Steven, “It’s practically a spiritual and holy experience to collaborate with the living world.” She may have been talking about her breathtaking botanical creations and not a garden-variety snake plant on a dusty sill, but the wisdom holds nonetheless. For more How to create the perfect green space at home. Find the right houseplant — and maintain it. How to treat a sick or dying plant. You can pay people to style your houseplants. Remember the hot house plant of 2022? How’s your Geo faring? Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE WEEK IN CULTURE Paris Fashion Week On the runways of Paris Fashion Week, and on the streets outside, outfits popped with bright colors. The photographer Simbarashe Cha captured the best looks. New York, London, Milan and Paris: Our critics have a guide to the most memorable clothes and moments from a month of fashion shows. The talk of Fashion Week, apart from the looks? Paris’s bedbug infestation. The singer Grimes sued Elon Musk to establish parental rights over their three children, Vulture reports. Paramount Pictures uploaded the entirety of the 2004 movie “Mean Girls” to TikTok in 23 snippets, part of a trend among studios and streamers. The film adaptation of the viral New Yorker short story “Cat Person” was released in theaters. Read the Times review. Tom Hanks warned his Instagram followers that an A.I. likeness of him was being used to advertise a dental plan. Lady Gaga will not have to pay the $500,000 reward she offered for her missing French bulldogs, because the woman who returned them was charged in connection with their theft. Jack Fisk is the force behind many of Hollywood’s most indelible film sets. His latest effort: creating the Osage Nation of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” THE LATEST NEWS Ashkelon, Israel after rockets were launched from Gaza.Amir Cohen/Reuters “We are at war,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after Palestinian militants launched surprise rocket and ground assaults in Israel. U.S. employment grew by 336,000 jobs last month, almost double economists’ forecasts. House Republicans are fighting over how to elect a successor to Representative Kevin McCarthy as speaker. President Biden said he has no power to block construction of a border wall that Congress had approved during Donald Trump’s presidency. “Disgust isn’t a strong enough word”: Americans of all stripes are fed up with politics. The New Jersey attorney general opened an investigation into a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez. A former U.S. Army soldier who fled to Hong Kong was charged with trying to deliver classified secrets to the Chinese government. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. CULTURE CALENDAR 🎧🎬 Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Friday): If you, like me, failed to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s latest tour, you’re in luck, virtually. Swift, an all-American girl with big, boundary-less feelings, has made a concert film, which AMC will show at its theaters. While a movie theater can’t mimic the excitement of a stadium, Swift has encouraged attendees to make the experience feel like a live event, with costumes, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing. Can Swift dance? Not really! But why not reserve a seat near an aisle so you can stand up and shake it off? 📺 “Frasier” (Thursday): The blues, they are a-calling again. Nineteen years after walking offscreen, Frasier, the imperious psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer, has returned. He’s the latest marcher in the parade of reboots, revivals and reprisals. This new series finds him back in Boston — appropriate for a character who began on “Cheers.” But he has traveled light. The other characters from the original “Frasier” have not made the trip, though a few will appear in guest roles. It can be hard to love a new cast when you’ve spent so long with the old one. Maybe you can talk to your own psychiatrist about why you fear change. The show will premiere on Paramount+ and Pluto TV, then move to CBS. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT RECIPE OF THE WEEK David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. By Melissa Clark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread It’s a long weekend for many people, which makes it a great time to bake up a cozy loaf of Erin Jeanne McDowell’s chocolate chip banana bread. Her recipe calls for more bananas than many others of its kind, which gives it a deep banana flavor and very moist crumb. Chocolate chips make this banana bread worthy of dessert, but you can substitute extra chopped nuts or a handful of dried fruit (prunes or apricots would be excellent) if you’re looking for something a little more wholesome. REAL ESTATE The Jameswood Villa, built in 1901.Whathavewedunoon Wrong house, right mistake: A couple accidentally bought a derelict home in a Scottish village. They toiled for five years to make it work. Where the heart is: Some people are choosing to get married at home. What you get for $640,000: A Victorian in Dorset, Vt.; a Craftsman house in Kansas City, Mo.; or a renovated 1890 home in Columbus, Ohio. The hunt: A retired couple left their floating home of 20 years in Portland, Ore., for a place closer to their children in Los Angeles. Which house did they choose? Play our game. LIVING Children of the 2000s.Clara Mokri for The New York Times A party in the U.S.A.: Children of the 2000s are returning to the tween pop of their youth. Fall rides: Biking is an ideal way to revel in autumnal ambience. Here’s where to do it. In-flight meltdowns: Planes have become stages for viral videos of questionable behavior. Prevention: What to know about DoxyPEP, a new morning-after pill to protect against S.T.I.s. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER A backpack for fall travel My go-to-weekender bag is a surprisingly spacious backpack. On a recent three-day trip for a wedding, I fit a bridesmaid dress, several pairs of heels, every hot hair tool I own and my stash of toiletries into the Cotopaxi Allpa 35L — and had room to spare. For a frequent solo traveler like me, maneuvering through the airport with a backpack is easier than with a carry-on suitcase, especially without a companion to watch my things when I take a preflight bathroom break. Of course, not everyone wants to wear all their belongings on their back. If that’s you, Wirecutter’s experts have plenty of recommendations for durable bags that are well suited for smooth travel. — Elissa Sanci GAME OF THE WEEKEND The New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces facing off in August.Ethan Miller/Getty Images New York Liberty vs. Las Vegas Aces, W.N.B.A. finals: These two teams have been on a collision course. After the Aces won the championship last season, the Liberty assembled a superteam to challenge them. New York tore through the regular season, and the team’s new forward, Breanna Stewart, won the league M.V.P. award. The Aces haven’t slowed down, either — their star, A’ja Wilson, is averaging 26 points and 11 rebounds per game in the playoffs. Stewart and Wilson have been the league’s best players for years; a clash in the finals takes their rivalry to the next level. 3 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on ABC. For more For the first time, the head coaches of both teams in the finals are former W.N.B.A. players. The W.N.B.A. is expanding: The league will add a team in the Bay Area in 2025 and is considering another in Portland, Ore. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was airflow. See the hardest Spelling Bee words from this week. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 9, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 9, 2023 October 8, 2023 By Steven Erlanger Good morning. After a surprise assault, Israel says it is at war with Gaza. In Gaza City.Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times Few good options Nearly 50 years to the day after the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel was again taken by surprise by a sudden attack. Unlike the series of clashes with Palestinian forces in Gaza over the past three years, this appears to be a full-scale conflict mounted by Hamas and its allies, with rocket barrages and incursions into Israel proper, and with Israelis killed and captured. At least 250 Israelis have been killed, officials said, and more than 1,400 injured. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 313 Palestinians were killed, and 1,990 injured, as Israeli forces launched retaliatory airstrikes and the two sides engaged in pitched battles. The psychological impact on Israelis has been compared to the shock of Sept. 11 in America. So after the Israeli military repels the initial Palestinian attack, the question of what to do next will loom large. There are few good options for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has declared war and is being pressured into a major military response. Given that scores of Israelis have died so far and an unknown number have been taken hostage by Hamas, an Israeli invasion of Gaza — and even a temporary reoccupation of the territory, something that successive Israeli governments have tried hard to avoid — cannot be ruled out. As Netanyahu told Israelis in declaring war, “We will bring the fight to them with a might and scale that the enemy has not yet known.” By The New York Times But a major war could have unforeseen consequences. It would be likely to produce sizable Palestinian casualties, civilians as well as fighters. And it might disrupt diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia, whose leaders have been negotiating a putative treaty to normalize relations with Israel in return for defense guarantees from the United States. The conflict will unite Israel behind its government, at least for a while, with the opposition canceling its planned demonstrations against Netanyahu’s proposed judicial changes and obeying calls for reservists to muster. It will give Netanyahu “full political cover to do what he wants,” said Natan Sachs, the director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Nevertheless, Sachs added, Netanyahu has in the past rejected calls to send thousands of troops into Gaza to try to destroy armed Palestinian groups like Hamas, given the cost and the inevitable question of what happens the day after. “But the psychological impact of this for Israel is similar to 9/11,” he said. “So the calculus about cost could be quite different this time.” The fighting Israeli citizens were barricaded in their homes near the Gaza Strip. Some called into TV stations, reporting in whispers that gunmen were moving door to door. Militants took several Israelis hostage, including children, according to the Israeli military. Hundreds fled an outdoor music festival in southern Israel to escape incoming rockets and gunfire, according to Israeli news outlets. Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel this morning. One struck Sderot, an Israeli city that was the site of intense fighting on Saturday. Israeli airstrikes demolished three buildings in Gaza and damaged a fourth, residents said. The streets of Gaza City emptied as residents took shelter at schools. The Israeli government said it had cut off its electricity supply for Gaza, which gets two-thirds of its power from Israel. After a late-night meeting, Israel’s security cabinet announced that the goal of its operation in Gaza was “to achieve the destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.” Israel’s military said it was still battling gunmen on Israeli territory this morning, more than 30 hours after the initial attack. Read the latest updates here. For more Israelis pride themselves on the prowess of their intelligence services. Now, many are questioning how the country could have been blindsided by such a large and complex attack. Hamas said its assault was “in defense of the Aqsa Mosque,” which is in a compound that both Muslims and Jews consider sacred. Tensions have been rising since the Israeli police raided the site in the spring. Yair Lapid, a centrist leader, said he was prepared to join a wartime coalition government — a move that could potentially allow Netanyahu to end his alliance with the far right. Officials in the U.S. and Europe condemned the assault. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine likened the attack to Russia’s invasion of his own country. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS International Herat Province, Afghanistan, in the aftermath of an earthquake.Mohsen Karimi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes hit Afghanistan, killing at least 813 people. Six men accused of assassinating an Ecuadorean presidential candidate were found dead in prison. The authorities in Pakistan are cracking down on undocumented Afghan migrants, as the two nations clash over extremist groups operating across their borders. U.S. Migration Mayor Eric Adams visited Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia to warn migrants against traveling to New York City. “People are extremely internally conflicted”: The migrant crisis is testing the limits of New Yorkers’ openness to new arrivals. Migrants are building homes in a fast-growing development outside Houston. It has highlighted a Republican tension between business freedom and border controls. Other Big Stories Biden allies are engaged in a multimillion-dollar effort to squash third-party candidates, who they fear could bolster Donald Trump in 2024. Online platforms where users wager on future world events have caught the eye of some in Silicon Valley. A mummy that had been on display at a Pennsylvania funeral home was finally buried after 128 years. FROM OPINION Over one-third of Supreme Court decisions are decided unanimously — evidence the court is united, even if many Americans don’t think so, Nora Donnelly and Ethan Leib argue. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on the Francis era in Catholicism and Maureen Dowd on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. The Sunday question: Should Democrats have helped Kevin McCarthy keep the House speakership? House Democrats’ decision to join eight hard-line Republicans in removing McCarthy last week was “a cynical display of short-term political gain” at the expense of stability, Patrick T. Brown writes for CNN. But Democrats can’t hold the majority together and allow Republicans “to get away with all they’ve done to nurture MAGA’s pathologies,” The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent writes. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS Pop-Tarts advertised in the 1960s.Kellogg's Snack critics: Meet the family who were enlisted in the 1960s to taste test Pop-Tarts. Vows: They met playing glow-in-the-dark dodgeball. Lives Lived: Henri Dauman was a Holocaust survivor and photographer who made his name capturing celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Yves Saint Laurent and Elizabeth Taylor. He died at 90. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE Errol MorrisMamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times By David Marchese I spoke with the Oscar-winning documentary director Errol Morris, whose upcoming film, “The Pigeon Tunnel,” is about the late, enigmatic spy novelist John le Carré. In le Carré’s letters, he mentions that you want to work on this film and that he really wants to do it. When a guy who doesn’t like interviews, understands them as a performance and is a liar says you’re the guy to tell my story, does that raise any questions? What is the purpose of an interview, anyway? A lot of people think it’s this gotcha idea: You’re required to come up with a difficult question that pins the butterfly to the board. That’s not part of the deal. An interview should be investigative, in essence. But to go back to my question, which is, did you have any concerns about why it was that le Carré thought you were the guy to tell this story? The whole premise of what you’re saying is utterly ridiculous. Why? You tell me this is a guy who is an admitted liar, why would you want to talk to him? I wanted to talk to him because I had read a lot of his novels. I read “The Pigeon Tunnel,” [Morris’ film is adapted from le Carré’s memoir of the same name] and he is a smart and interesting person. When people see your films, do they see the truth? What did Godard say? That cinema is the truth, 24 frames a second. It’s lies at 24 frames a second. We live in a world of lies. When you asked me, does it bother me that David [Cornwell; le Carré’s real name] is a known liar? The answer is, How does it make him different from anybody else? It doesn’t! Read more of the interview here. More from the magazine How the production designer behind movies like “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “The Revenant” brings the past to life. America’s broken immigration system is still the best option of many migrants and employers. Read the full issue. BOOKS A production of Jon Fosse’s “I Am the Wind.”Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Spare and existential: A guide to the major works of Jon Fosse, this year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Our editors’ picks: “North Woods,” about the occupants of a single house in Massachusetts over several centuries, and eight other books. Times best sellers: Michael Wolff’s “The Fall” is a new entry on the hardcover nonfiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Read your way through Missoula, Mont. Buy a spice blend that could transform your cooking. Peel apples the old-fashioned way. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Tomorrow is Columbus Day, a federal holiday in the U.S. Many states also recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Nobel Prize for economics will be announced tomorrow. Liberia will hold elections Tuesday. House Republicans will hold a party vote Tuesday to nominate a speaker. New Zealand will hold elections Saturday. A solar eclipse will pass over the United States on Saturday, from Oregon to Texas. Here’s how you can safely view it. What to Cook This Week Christopher Testani for The New York Times You need recipe basics the same way you need wardrobe basics, Emily Weinstein writes in her Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter. Ali Slagle’s baked tilapia is just that — it’s simple to make, and goes with just about any side. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was multimillion. Can you put eight historical events — including the development of dating, mRNA and The Supremes — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 9, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 9, 2023 October 9, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY Upway By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the global context of the Hamas-Israel war — as well as the hottest summer on record, Maui and Halloween decorations. In Ashkelon, Israel. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times The new world order Russia has started the largest war in Europe since World War II. China has become more bellicose toward Taiwan. India has embraced a virulent nationalism. Israel has formed the most extreme government in its history. And on Saturday morning, Hamas brazenly attacked Israel, launching thousands of missiles and publicly kidnapping and killing civilians. All these developments are signs that the world may have fallen into a new period of disarray. Countries — and political groups like Hamas — are willing to take big risks, rather than fearing that the consequences would be too dire. The simplest explanation is that the world is in the midst of a transition to a new order that experts describe with the word multipolar. The United States is no longer the dominant power it once was, and no replacement has emerged. As a result, political leaders in many places feel emboldened to assert their own interests, believing the benefits of aggressive action may outweigh the costs. These leaders believe that they have more sway over their own region than the U.S. does. “A fully multipolar world has emerged, and people are belatedly realizing that multipolarity involves quite a bit of chaos,” Noah Smith wrote in his Substack newsletter on Saturday. Zheng Yongnian, a Chinese political scientist with ties to the country’s leaders, has similarly described the “old order” as disintegrating. “Countries are brimming with ambition, like tigers eyeing their prey, keen to find every opportunity among the ruins of the old order,” Zheng wrote last year. A weaker U.S. … Why has American power receded? Some of the change is unavoidable. Dominant countries don’t remain dominant forever. But the U.S. has also made strategic mistakes that are accelerating the arrival of a multipolar world. Among those mistakes: Presidents of both parties naïvely believed that a richer China would inevitably be a friendlier China — and failed to recognize that the U.S. was building up its own rival through lenient trade policies, as the political scientist John Mearsheimer has argued. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. spent much of the early 21st century fighting costly wars. The Iraq war was especially damaging because it was an unprovoked war that George W. Bush chose to start. And the humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, overseen by President Biden, made the U.S. look weaker still. Perhaps the biggest damage to American prestige has come from Donald Trump, who has rejected the very idea that the U.S. should lead the world. Trump withdrew from international agreements and disdained successful alliances like NATO. He has signaled that, if he reclaims the presidency in 2025, he may abandon Ukraine. In the case of Israel, Trump encouraged Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to show little concern for Palestinian interests and instead seek a maximal Israeli victory. Netanyahu, of course, did not start this new war. Hamas did, potentially with support from Iran, the group’s longtime backer, and Hamas committed shocking human rights violations this past weekend, captured on video. But Netanyahu’s extremism has contributed to the turmoil between Israel and Palestinian groups like Hamas. An editorial in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, yesterday argued, “The prime minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession.” Netanyahu, Haaretz added, adopted “a foreign policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians.” A Palestinian mother cries next to the body of her son.Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times … but still powerful Even with the rise of multipolarity, the U.S. remains the world’s most powerful country, with a unique ability to forge alliances and peace. In the Middle East, the Trump administration persuaded Israel and four other countries — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco — to sign unprecedented diplomatic agreements, known as the Abraham Accords. In recent months, the Biden administration has made progress toward an even more ambitious deal, between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hamas attacked Israel in part to undermine an Israeli-Saudi deal, many experts believe. Such a deal could isolate Iran, Hamas’s patron, and could lead to an infusion of Saudi money for the Palestinian Authority, a more moderate group than Hamas (as Thomas Friedman explains in this column). But if the recent Hamas attacks lead Israel to reduce the Gaza Strip to rubble in response, Saudi Arabia will have a hard time agreeing to any treaty. “This will slow considerably if not kill the Saudi Abraham Accords deal,” Mara Rudman, a former U.S. diplomat, told The Times. In these ways, you can think of Hamas’s attacks as an attempt to prevent a reassertion of American power — and instead to continue pushing the world toward multipolarity. I understand that some readers may question whether the long era of American power that’s now fading was worth celebrating. Without question, it included some terrible injustices, be they in Vietnam, Iran, Guatemala or elsewhere. But it also made possible the most peaceful era in recorded history, with a sharp decline in deaths from violence, as Steven Pinker noted in his 2011 book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature.” And the number of people living in a democracy surged. Smith concluded his Substack newsletter on the new Middle Eastern war this way: Over the past two decades it had become fashionable to lambast American hegemony, to speak derisively of “American exceptionalism,” to ridicule America’s self-arrogated function of “world police” and to yearn for a multipolar world. Well, congratulations, now we have that world. See if you like it better. More Israel-Hamas coverage Israeli is fighting to retake towns, and ordered a “complete closure” of Gaza. More than 700 people have died in Israel. Israel just struck a marketplace in Gaza, and hundreds of other strikes have leveled whole buildings and homes. At least 493 Palestinians have died. “Everyone was surprised”: Palestinians also said they were shocked by the Hamas attack. This video shows the destruction in Gaza. Thousands of Israeli soldiers and tanks are on the southern border with Gaza, a possible prelude to a ground assault. “We are embarking on a long and difficult war,” Netanyahu said. Hamas and other militants are holding an estimated 150 hostages. They could become human shields or bargaining chips. Militants killed ravers and took hostages at a music festival just after dawn on Saturday. Read how the massacre unfolded and watch a video of one abduction. The Pentagon announced it would send munitions to Israel and move Navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, closer to the region. People demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinians across the Middle East. The failure of Israel’s intelligence agencies to foresee the attack could affect their reputation — and the political future of Netanyahu. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Upway Meet Upway — the No. 1 Certified E-Bike Expert Upway carries both new and like-new e-bikes at up to 60 percent off retail. All its e-bikes go through a rigorous inspection and certification process by its master mechanics and are given a one-year warranty. The best part? Each bike comes 99 percent assembled and ready to ride. Upway carries a wide selection of e-bikes from top brands like Specialized, Gazelle and Aventon. Its goal is to make electric mobility affordable for everyone. Use code NYT for an extra $150 off your e-bike. Shop now THE LATEST NEWS International Russia is restructuring its economy to find more money for its military. A man in France, the son of a Moroccan immigrant, spent most of his adult life as a convicted rapist. Then his accuser changed her story. Politics In his bid for House speaker, Representative Steve Scalise is pitching himself as a candidate that can unite Republicans. Puerto Rico is adding “USA” to the top of its driver’s licenses, after high-profile cases of people being told their identification isn’t proof of American citizenship. Wildlife In Montana.John Stember for The New York Times People in Montana and surrounding states are buying bear spray and guard dogs after a series of grizzly bear attacks. Nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night after crashing into the windows of a Chicago building. Other Big Stories Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, won the Nobel in economics for her research on women’s progress in the work force. The planet just experienced its hottest summer on record. It might be cool compared to the ones to come. Hawaii is no longer discouraging travel to western Maui, two months after deadly wildfires there. Many U.S. cities and states are observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day today. Read about the history behind it. The Powerball Jackpot has grown to $1.55 billion. Opinions Music diplomacy programs can help normalize U.S.-China relations, just as Ping-Pong did in the 1970s, Carla Dirlikov Canales, an opera singer, writes. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Israel and the Republican Party meltdown. Here is a column by David French on ageism. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS A Keith Haring mural in Brooklyn. Sara Hylton for The New York Times A Haring in a hospital: New York City’s public health system has amassed one of the largest public art collections in the U.S. Meet Lewis: A talking $180 Target jack-o’-lantern has become a must-have Halloween decoration. He insists you call him by his name. Connections: For some teenagers, LinkedIn is a sanctuary from the angry rants and thirst traps of other social-media networks, The Cut reports. Metropolitan Diary: Perching on Playbills instead of cushions. Lives Lived: Claude Cormier was an avant-garde Canadian landscape architect known for playfully subversive designs that confused officials and delighted residents. He died at 63. SPORTS Sunday night football: The 49ers remain undefeated after clobbering the Cowboys, 42-10, in an impressive performance. Around the N.F.L.: The Detroit Lions steamrolled the Carolina Panthers, 42-24, in a game that wasn’t close after the second quarter. The Miami Dolphins made history in their 31-16 win against the New York Giants: Their 2,599 yards were the most by any team five games into the season in the Super Bowl era. W.N.B.A. finals: The Las Vegas Aces staged a second-half comeback to beat the New York Liberty, 99-82, in Game 1. A new record: Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya became the first person to complete a record-eligible marathon in less than 2 hours and 1 minute. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Upway Meet Upway — the No. 1 Certified E-Bike Expert Upway carries both new and like-new e-bikes at up to 60 percent off retail. All its e-bikes go through a rigorous inspection and certification process by its master mechanics and are given a one-year warranty. The best part? Each bike comes 99 percent assembled and ready to ride. Upway carries a wide selection of e-bikes from top brands like Specialized, Gazelle and Aventon. Its goal is to make electric mobility affordable for everyone. Use code NYT for an extra $150 off your e-bike. Shop now ARTS AND IDEAS Steve McQueen Jaap Buitendijk/Searchlight Pictures, via River Road Entertainment An oral history: Ten years ago this month, “12 Years a Slave,” directed by Steve McQueen and written by John Ridley, was released. It was a serious R-rated Black drama with no movie stars — but it went on to gross nearly $190 million. “The movie arrived in Hollywood like a U.F.O. landing,” writes the Times reporter Reggie Ugwu, paving the way for the landmark films “Selma” (2014) and “Moonlight” (2016). Read an oral history of the making of the film from McQueen, Hans Zimmer, the film’s producers and others. More on culture The fashion house Chloé announced that Chemena Kamali will take over from Gabriela Hearst as creative director. Techno music with a breakneck speed is dominating European dance floors. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Stuff cabbage leaves with a pork and beef filling. Watch the best movies and TV shows on Hulu. Prepare for a power outage with these supplies. Buy a smartwatch that’s both stylish and useful. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was vibrant. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 11, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 11, 2023 October 10, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the top-performing public school system in the U.S. — as well as the latest from the war between Israel and Hamas. In Georgia.Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times A success story Improving America’s schools can sometimes seem like an impossible task. Politicians have been promising to do so for decades, yet the U.S. remains well behind many other countries in basic measures of learning. The Covid pandemic, with its extended school closures, aggravated the problems. But making progress really is possible, and a story by my colleague Sarah Mervosh describes perhaps the best case study. The network of schools run by the Defense Department has been performing well for years and continued to do so during the pandemic. These schools are typically on military bases, and they educate about 66,000 children of service members and Defense Department civilian employees. Last year, this school system outperformed all 50 states on reading and math scores for both eighth graders and fourth graders. Before the pandemic, the military schools did well but were not ranked No. 1. The schools also have smaller learning gaps between white and both Black and Hispanic students than other schools have. “If the Department of Defense schools were a state, we would all be traveling there to figure out what’s going on,” Martin West, an education professor at Harvard, told Sarah. Source: N.C.E.S. | By Ashley Wu Perhaps the most important lesson is that the schools are excelling not by discovering some new secret about education. They are doing what decades of research has suggested is successful. “It is not surprising that they have good outcomes,” Douglas Harris, a Tulane professor who has studied the recent progress by a different school system — in New Orleans — told me. “It’s consistent with many decades of research about effective schools.” High standards Among the reasons the Defense Department schools do so well: Consistent with military culture, they set high standards and create a disciplined classroom culture. In 2015, the schools overhauled their curriculum using principles from the Common Core, a national program that many other districts have abandoned after criticism from both the political right and left. But the approach seems to benefit students. “Unlike the Common Core, which was carried out haphazardly across the country, the Defense Department’s plan was orchestrated with, well, military precision,” Sarah writes. Defense Department schools are racially and economically integrated. Asian, Black, Hispanic and white students attend the same schools. So do the children of Army privates earning $25,000 a year and the children of high-ranking officers earning six-figure salaries. The schools receive more funding than public schools in many states do. One teacher at an elementary school on Fort Moore in Georgia told The Times that she doubled her salary by switching from a traditional public school in Florida. The supply closets at Defense Department schools tend to be well-stocked, and teachers don’t have to pay for paper, pencils and books out of their own salaries, as is common elsewhere. During the pandemic, the military’s schools reopened relatively quickly — and it’s clear that extended closures were terrible for children. By December 2020, 85 percent of students at Defense Department schools were learning in person, officials told Sarah. Only a handful of states exceeded that share, according to the Covid-19 School Data Hub. The share was below 10 percent in California, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and several other states. Two striking statistics The Defense Department schools are hardly perfect. They also have some inherent advantages that other schools do not. More of their families have two married parents than is the case nationwide. By definition, at least one parent in each military family is employed. And the military provides health care and housing. “Having as many of those basic needs met does help set the scene for learning to occur,” Jessica Thorne, an elementary school principal at Fort Moore, said. Given this contrast, many other schools are unlikely ever to fare as well. Still, it would be a mistake to think that the military schools are thriving only because of the underlying differences in their students. After all, those differences have long existed — but the gaps between the Defense Department schools and all others have recently grown, especially among vulnerable students. Consider these two striking comparisons from Sarah’s story: At Defense Department schools, Black and Hispanic eighth graders have higher reading scores than white students do nationwide on average. And eighth graders whose parents graduated only from high school performed as well in reading as students nationwide whose parents were college graduates. For more, I recommend Sarah’s story and Kendrick Brinson’s accompanying photos, which take you inside Fort Moore’s schools. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Israel-Gaza War A funeral for an Israeli military official.Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times Israel retook towns near Gaza after days of fighting and is now moving to secure the border. The country has mobilized a record number of reservists and asked the U.S. for more weapons. Israel’s defense minister ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip. The territory relies on Israel for most food, water and electricity. The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of targets in Gaza, including a mosque and a refugee camp. These satellite images show the devastation. Hamas threatened to execute a hostage each time an Israeli airstrike hit a home in Gaza. Read what we know about the at least 150 hostages and how they were taken. Western nations consider Hamas a terrorist organization. The brutality of its recent attacks stripped away illusions about the group, The Times’s Steven Erlanger writes. Both Democrats and Republicans condemned Hamas, but the consensus may fade as Israel continues to retaliate, Peter Baker writes. Vladimir Putin’s response has been muted. Russian commentators have said the fighting in Gaza could sap Western support for Ukraine. More on the War This video shows how gunmen killed dozens in the town of Sderot and another shows how a massacre at a music festival began. A man was on the phone with his wife when she and their daughters were abducted in Israel. Another abduction of a mother and her children was captured on video. Four schools and eight health care facilities in Gaza have been damaged by Israeli strikes. At least 187,500 people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza. See photos from the war. President Biden said at least 11 American citizens had been killed, and Hamas had probably taken others hostage. Biden is scheduled to speak about the attacks today. Biden and the leaders of Britain, Germany, France and Italy supported Israel and condemned Hamas in a joint statement. Business The giant Chinese property company Country Garden said it couldn’t repay a loan and signaled it would default on its debt. South Korea announced that it had secured waivers from U.S. rules that sought to limit semiconductor chip exports to China. Strikes The United Automobile Workers union went on strike in three states against Mack Trucks, in addition to its strike against major car companies. Hollywood writers voted to approve a new three-year contract with studios, formally ending a five-month labor dispute. Politics Kevin McCarthy suggested he was open to returning as House speaker, a week after he was voted out. Republicans are scheduled to pick a nominee tomorrow. The special counsel investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents interviewed him this week. Will Hurd, a Republican former congressman from Texas, dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will run for president as an independent instead of as a Democrat. Other Big Stories The San Francisco police shot to death a driver who crashed into the city’s Chinese consulate. Hurricane Lidia is expected to make landfall in western Mexico today. During a solar eclipse this week, tribal parks in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah will be closed to visitors to accommodate traditional beliefs of Indigenous peoples. Opinions A referendum on Saturday is a chance to give Aboriginal peoples a voice in Australia’s politics, Thomas Mayo writes. Here’s a guest essay by Margaret Renkl on butterflies. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS Queen Margrethe II Dennis Stenild for The New York Times Stream queen: Margrethe II of Denmark was a costume and production designer for a Netflix fantasy show about royals. Flu season: Feeling sick? Read how to know what you have — and how long you need to stay at home. Ask Vanessa: A reader asks The Times’s chief fashion critic whether she can be a feminist and love fashion. Lives Lived: Charles Feeney, a duty-free shop pioneer and start-up investor, promised to donate almost all of his $8 billion fortune before he died, and he did. He died at 92. SPORTS Baseball: A stunning double play finished a massive 5-4 comeback win for the Braves, who tied their series with the Phillies at one win apiece. M.L.B. playoffs: The Dodgers are down 2-0 in their playoff series against the upstart Diamondbacks after a surprising 4-2 loss. N.F.L.: The new Green Bay quarterback, Jordan Love, endured his worst game as a professional in a 17-13 loss to the Raiders. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS A breaker. Bedel Saget/The New York Times Hip-hop’s Olympic moment: Breaking — the dizzying athletic dance style that accompanied the rise of hip-hop — has largely faded from popularity in the U.S. Next year, though, breaking has an international spotlight, debuting as an Olympic sport at the Paris Games. “I’m like, ‘We going to the Olympics, but this started right here in my backyard,’” said Alien Ness, a pioneering B-boy from New York City. Related: Flag football and lacrosse could be among the five new sports added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. More on culture Canada’s National Gallery has become a cultural flashpoint as museums across the country attempt to confront a colonial past. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Make the easiest chicken noodle soup. Browse Amazon’s Prime Day deals. Buy a space heater for fall. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was glitching. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David P.S. Spiro Agnew resigned as U.S. vice president 50 years ago today after making a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid prison. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 12, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 12, 2023 October 11, 2023 By David Leonhardt and Lauren Jackson Good morning. We’re covering a hostage situation with little precedent — as well as an Afghan earthquake, the Sam Bankman-Fried trial and A.I.’s energy problem. Palestinians with a captured Israeli civilian.Hatem Ali/Associated Press Threat of death Shiri Bibas, a young mother, is holding her two redheaded sons — Ariel, who’s 4, and Kfir, 9 months — as armed militants surround them in an online video. In a separate video, Doron Asher Katz, who’s 34, is being blindfolded in the back of a pickup truck. Next to her are her mother Efrat Katz, 67, and her daughters, Raz, 5, and Aviv, 3. Twelve-year-old Erez Kalderon appears in yet another video, being pushed down a path by Palestinian militia members. Noam Elyakim, a father, can be seen limping while militants march him across the border into Gaza. When attackers entered his home on Saturday, they shot him in the leg and used his wife’s phone to livestream as they abducted the family, including his daughters Dafna, 15, and Ella, 8. Yaffa Adar, 85, is the woman in an image that much of the world has seen, as she sat in a golf cart that militants drove into Gaza. She normally takes medication for chronic pain and heart and lung conditions. “Without her medication, every minute is a horror for her,” Adar’s granddaughter told The Washington Post. There is no recent precedent for the scale of the hostage situation in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, the militant group that governs much of Gaza, abducted about 150 people during its weekend invasion of southern Israel. Most of the hostages are civilians. Hamas has threatened to execute them one by one and videotape the killings each time an Israeli airstrike hits Gazans in their homes. No modern government — not even the world’s most brutal, like those in Russia or North Korea — has used hostages in this way: as human shields, under threat of public execution. It is a reminder of why both the U.S. government and European Union categorize Hamas as a terrorist organization. War is here The hostages are also shaping the initial stages of this new war between Israel and Hamas, complicating Israel’s planned retaliation. Israel has a long history of prioritizing the lives of its citizens who have been taken hostage. The country has launched rescue military operations, some successful (as in Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976) and some not (as at the Munich Olympics in 1972). Israel has also swapped prisoners with Hamas: In 2011, it traded more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a single soldier, Gilad Shalit. One prisoner whom Israel released then is now the leader of Hamas. An abduction from Kibbutz Kfar Azza.Hatem Ali/Associated Press Some Israelis hope that their government can negotiate at least a limited exchange again, perhaps involving children or the elderly. But many analysts doubt that a wholesale exchange will happen. “The idea of a prisoner swap now seems very distant,” Patrick Kingsley, The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, told us. Why? For one thing, the number of hostages is larger. But the main obstacle may be that Hamas is unwilling to make a deal under the current circumstances. Global outrage Both sides know that Israel is on the verge of a full-scale invasion of Gaza, intended to destroy Hamas and prevent future attacks. Israelis seem largely united behind this goal, despite their political divisions: Hamas’s attacks have killed at least 1,200 Israelis — relative to population size, the equivalent of around 44,000 Americans. Many victims were defenseless civilians. One video shows a group of armed Hamas members marching four Israelis, with their hands tied behind their backs, down a street. Another video, analyzed by The Washington Post, shows the four lying on the same street, shot dead. (This Times project begins to catalog the horrors.) The one incentive for Hamas to release hostages may be global opinion. After several years in which left-leaning Americans and Europeans became more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, the horror of the recent attacks has put some Palestinian supporters on the defensive. “I think that the brutality here is not helping the Palestinian cause,” Stephen Walt, a Harvard political scientist, said. (A pro-Palestinian rally in New York on Sunday exposed the new divisions.) President Biden referred yesterday to the threatened executions as a “violation of every code of human morality.” Our colleague Peter Baker described Biden’s comments as “one of the sharpest, even angriest condemnations of terrorism in Israel that I’ve ever heard from an American president in covering the White House since the 1990s.” Israel’s dilemma Israel faces its own strategic quandaries. Hamas is likely holding the hostages in small groups, scattered through tunnels beneath Gaza, to make a large rescue operation impossible. Any Israeli attacks on Gaza risk killing hostages, including citizens of the U.S. and Thailand. (Here’s what we know about the missing Americans.) “This is a challenge of a magnitude that has never been faced before,” Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote this week. Most experts ruefully say that they expect more hostages to die. As Hoffman put it, “How this crisis will end is anyone’s guess, but the shedding of more innocent blood — Israeli, Palestinians and indeed noncombatant citizens of other countries — is certain.” Danielle Gilbert, a Northwestern University professor who has studied hostage-taking, told us she was worried that some people, especially the very young and old, may have a hard time surviving captivity. In the meantime, Israeli families have created their own informal groups to publicize the details about their missing relatives. By humanizing them to the world, the families hope to spare their lives. The latest A first shipment of U.S. weapons arrived in Israel, and Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, is heading there. After retaking towns near Gaza, the Israeli military is preparing for a major offensive. Israel clashed with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon. Experts worry about a broader conflict. Residents of Gaza say Israeli airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and mosques — structures that are normally safe. Israel says it is targeting only sites connected to Hamas. Israel’s military and spy operations are world-class. But their failures led to the worst breach of Israeli defenses in half a century. Hamas is spreading violent videos on sites with minimal content moderation, like X, formerly known as Twitter. A student group at Harvard blamed Israel for the violence and received a furious response. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics Representative George Santos was charged with stealing donors’ identities and credit card details. Republicans remained divided over who to nominate for speaker. They’re scheduled to vote today. Trump endorsed Kari Lake, who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged, for Senate in Arizona. The Biden administration declared the military takeover in Niger in July a coup, cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Humanitarian assistance will continue. A whistle-blower accused the office of the Arkansas governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, of altering public records to cover up the purchase of a $19,000 lectern. Afghanistan Earthquakes A burial in Afghanistan.Victor J. Blue for The New York Times A powerful earthquake hit northwestern Afghanistan, days after two quakes killed 1,000 people there. Many survivors have lost most, if not all, of their immediate family. International The Times traveled with Ukraine’s air assault brigades, elite units on the front line. See images of the troops. A Russian judge ordered Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to remain in a high-security prison until his espionage trial begins. Technology Sam Bankman-Fried’s former business partner and girlfriend testified that he had told her to steal from customers of FTX, the crypto exchange he founded. In the next few years, the computers that power artificial intelligence could consume as much electricity as some countries do now. Other Big Stories Hughes Van Ellis, who as an infant survived a 1921 racist massacre that killed hundreds of Black residents in Tulsa, Okla., has died. He was 102. The Washington Post announced that it would cut around 240 jobs, as it tries to offset declines in subscribers and digital advertising. Opinions Republicans say they want election integrity. Some red counties’ solution — hand-counting ballots — guarantees miscounts, Jessica Huseman writes. Here’s a column by Bret Stephens on Israel. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS In downtown Los Angeles. Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times Jackpot: A mini market in California sold a Powerball ticket worth more than $1 billion. Could it happen again? Brand weirdness: Trying to be funny online has become standard for corporations. It’s no longer working. A revival: In Jamaica, a movement wants to make Patois — long stigmatized — an official language. Lives Lived: Kevin Phillips predicted an “emerging Republican majority” in national politics and helped mastermind conservatives’ “Southern strategy.” He later criticized income inequality under Republican presidents. Phillips died at 82. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 7-1, completing a Division Series sweep. Hockey: Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in this year’s N.H.L. Draft, made a crucial assist in his regular-season debut. His team, the Chicago Blackhawks, beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2. Illness: Mary Lou Retton, the gymnastics champion, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life,” her daughter said. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Cast members on the new season of “Survivor.”Robert Voets/CBS Reality meets TV: When “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” began decades ago, they often took viewers to places that felt remote. But the world has changed: Dubai, a sprawling desert in an early season of “The Amazing Race,” is now a futuristic world capital. As the shows return to the air, a new story by Calum Marsh explains how they have adapted. More on culture A concert film of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour is released on Friday. Analysts are already talking about box office records. “Alfaz-e-Mewat,” a community radio station in rural India, has changed attitudes toward Covid vaccinations and on women’s education. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Coat pork chops with a maple-soy sauce. Discover the best Prime Day deals under $100. Extend the life of your jack-o’-lantern this Halloween. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was abnormal. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Lauren Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 12, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 12, 2023 October 12, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s biggest challenge — as well as the Israel-Hamas war, Steve Scalise and kidfluencers. Djeneba Aduayom for The New York Times ‘Lovely speeches’ As part of his reporting on Vice President Kamala Harris for a story in the Times Magazine, my colleague Astead Herndon had a revealing conversation with Jamal Simmons, a former Harris aide. As Simmons noted, Harris rose through California politics as a prosecutor. She was either the district attorney of San Francisco or the state attorney general for 13 straight years. To get elected to these positions, lawyers usually do not need to lay out a broad vision of society in the way that governors or members of Congress do. Prosecutors tend to focus on specific policies, while other politicians focus on reflecting — and shaping — the zeitgeist. “Often in the White House, national leaders have to base their arguments on emotion and gut,” Simmons said, “and as a prosecutor that’s not the job.” Harris was an effective prosecutor. As district attorney, she lifted the office’s conviction rate and wrote a book whose title popularized a phrase: “Smart on Crime.” As attorney general, she cracked down on for-profit colleges, mortgage lenders and drug cartels. After winning a U.S. Senate seat in 2016, she used her interrogation skills to confront Trump administration officials and nominees in hearings. But Harris still struggles with what George H.W. Bush — one of her predecessors in the vice presidency — once inartfully called “the vision thing.” She often speaks in platitudes that create grist for mocking Fox News videos. (An example: “It’s time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day.”) When Astead asked her to talk about her vision for American society, she showed little interest. “I think you have to be more specific,” Harris replied at one point, “because I’m not really into labels.” The spit bucket In some ways, Harris’s much-discussed political problems are simply part of a political truism: The vice presidency can be a miserable job. One of Franklin Roosevelt’s vice presidents, John Nance Garner, said it “wasn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.” Lyndon Johnson loathed the role. Other vice presidents who had otherwise had little in common with one another — including Mike Pence, Al Gore, Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey — have found it to be a career dead end. Joe Biden would probably have joined this list but for the chaos of the Trump presidency that made possible a resurrection. Yet Harris is not a typical vice president. She is the first female, Black person and Asian American person to hold the job. She serves alongside the nation’s oldest president, and he’s now running for re-election at age 80. One way or the other, she seems likely to be a prominent presidential candidate four years from now. Her defenders often argue that the criticisms of her stem from racism and sexism. And they have a point. White male politicians don’t receive the kind of online hate that she does. And men who are known to be difficult bosses are not subject to the gossipy “mean boss” stories Harris has been. In the White House Rose Garden.Doug Mills/The New York Times But it can be simultaneously true that Harris faces discrimination and that she creates some of her own problems. As I read Astead’s story, I kept thinking that Harris’s biggest problem was her unwillingness to help voters understand what she believed. Her inability to do so in the 2020 presidential campaign, which she entered as a front-runner, led her to drop out even before voting began. She spoke dismissively to Astead about “lovely speeches” and “fancy speeches,” contrasting them with her emphasis on “actually doing the work.” As Elaina Plott Calabro wrote in The Atlantic, “A consistent theme of Harris’s career has been her struggle to tell her own story — to define herself and her political vision for voters in clear, memorable terms.” Harris has several options for doing so. She could, as most eventual presidents do, signal to swing voters that she is more moderate than her party. Harris’s history as a prosecutor, for instance, could allow her to address voters’ concerns about crime and immigration. Instead, she has distanced herself from her own record — while also failing to embrace a clearly progressive image. Who is she, and what does she believe? Even Democrats who want to like her often aren’t sure. Harris seems to view these questions as superficial and separate from the serious business of governing. But most voters don’t follow the minutia of politics and policy. They look for leaders who can express a set of values and priorities — sometimes, yes, through lovely speeches — that resonate with their own lives. Harris has made it very far in politics without quite having done so. But her chances of taking the final step would significantly increase if she tried to meet voters where they were. As Astead writes, “A year away from the election and a heartbeat away from the presidency, Harris is an avatar for the idea of representation itself, a litmus test for its political power and its inherent limits.” You can read the story here. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR The Latest After Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza.Yousef Masoud for The New York Times Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, an opposition leader, formed an emergency unity government and pledged to “crush and eliminate” Hamas. The Israeli military said its troops were massed at the border with Gaza and both sides are bracing for an escalating war. Follow updates here. Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, has arrived in Tel Aviv. “We pull them all out dead”: Israeli strikes on schools and hospitals in Gaza have spared no one. Parents say their children are under the rubble. Israel blocked all electricity and fuel from entering Gaza, and backup generators at hospitals in Gaza are nearly exhausted. Israelis have fled villages near Lebanon, afraid that the border could become another front if Hezbollah fully enters the conflict. More on the Hamas Attacks The site of Hamas’s attack at a music festival.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times For some of the victims of the Hamas invasion on Saturday, help took more than 20 hours to arrive. Others died waiting for rescue. Shattering Israel’s sense of security was a major goal for Hamas. A retired Israeli general drove into the battle zone armed only with a pistol and organized a confused group of soldiers into a fighting unit. International Response “I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home,” Biden said of rescuing Americans that Hamas had taken hostage. One of the missing Americans is likely gravely injured. Donald Trump criticized Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence in a speech. Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to NATO headquarters to urge the alliance to continue to support Ukraine, even as the West turns to focus on Israel. Misinformation, including a clip from a video game, is adding chaos to online conversations about Israel and Hamas. An N.Y.U. Law student lost a job offer after sending a message blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks, a sign of the divide on campuses. MORE NEWS Politics Representative Steve ScaliseKenny Holston/The New York Times Republicans nominated Steve Scalise to be the next House speaker, narrowly choosing him over Jim Jordan, but postponed the full vote because of bitter party divisions. Six New York Republicans said they would try to expel Representative George Santos from the House after Santos was charged with more federal crimes this week. The Biden administration will resume construction of a Trump-era border wall. Local officials said it was unlikely to quickly reduce migrant arrivals. Business The United Automobile Workers expanded its strike to a Ford plant in Kentucky. Exxon Mobil said it was buying a big shale producer, a bet that U.S. energy policy will not significantly move away from fossil fuels. Other Big Stories A winning ticket for the $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot has been sold in California. The novelist Salman Rushdie will write a memoir about the attack that seriously injured him last year. The title is “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.” Scientists have used gene-editing technology to create chickens more resistant to bird flu. NASA offered a first glimpse of the space dirt it retrieved from an asteroid, including clay minerals might explain how Earth got its water. The high school class of 2023 received the lowest ACT test scores since 1991, a sixth year of consecutive decline. Opinions We make human drivers take safety tests. We should do the same for self-driving cars, Julia Angwin argues. Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof and Ross Douthat on the U.S. and Israel. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS In France.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times All aboard: Explore the countryside of northern France on a 19th-century steam railway. Yeats and Beckett: Ireland names warships after poets and playwrights. The small fleet’s mission is anything but whimsical. “If it’s under $5 it’s free”: The Wall Street Journal explains “girl math” and “boy math.” Lives Lived: Michael Chiarello built a culinary empire and became a Food Network star before facing accusations of sexual harassment. He died at 61. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT SPORTS M.L.B.: The Arizona Diamondbacks are headed to their first National League Championship Series since 2007 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2. W.N.B.A.: The Las Vegas Aces are one victory from sweeping the league finals after a 104-76 win over the New York Liberty. Warrant: Sergio Brown, a former N.F.L. defensive back, was taken into police custody in connection with the death of his 73-year-old mother. ARTS AND IDEAS Stefhany Y. Lozano Kidfluencers: On platforms like TikTok and YouTube, children are singing, dancing and cooking — and making a lot of money. Anastasia Radzinskaya, 9, is the star of a channel with over 100 million subscribers; Ryan Kaji, 12, has parlayed his stardom into a toy line. In the U.S., though, there are few legal protections to ensure the children’s earnings remain their own. Young activists are trying to change that. More on culture Jada Pinkett Smith said she and Will Smith separated in 2016, but they have not divorced. Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” was a debacle. A Broadway revival, starring Jonathan Groff, has turned it into something great, our critic writes. “Next week’s speaker is still anyone’s guess!” Late night hosts mocked dysfunction in the House. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times Add peanuts to a herby sweet potato soup. Sharpen your knives with a Wirecutter-approved tool. Avoid crowded courts with a portable pickleball net set. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was collectible. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 14, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 14, 2023 October 13, 2023 By David Leonhardt and Lauren Jackson Good morning. We’re covering the prospect of a ground invasion of Gaza — as well as the House speaker race, Microsoft and feminist art. Israeli soldiers near Gaza. Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Urban warfare For years, Israeli officials have worried about the threat of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Still, they viewed a full ground invasion of Gaza to be too dangerous and costly to try. Many Israeli soldiers would die. The widespread killing of Palestinian civilians would damage Israel’s global reputation. The invasion might fail to dismantle Hamas. Last weekend’s attacks by Hamas — killing more than 1,300 people, mostly civilians — have changed this calculation. Israel’s leaders and many of its citizens seem to have decided they now have no choice but to invade, and the military has ordered more than one million people to evacuate northern Gaza. Israel’s goals are to prevent Hamas from being able to conduct more attacks and to reestablish the country’s military credibility. But the same challenges that kept Israel from invading Gaza before have not gone away. The war, as a result, has the potential to become another case study in the strategic difficulties of urban warfare, as the U.S. experienced in Falluja, Iraq, nearly two decades ago, Israel did in Lebanon during the 1980s and Russia has in Ukraine. “It’s one of the most complicated fighting scenarios that you can have,” Alex Plitsas of the Atlantic Council told us. “It makes for bloody, awful conflict.” In today’s newsletter, we preview the invasion that appears to be coming, focusing on two questions: What is Israel trying to accomplish? And what is Hamas’s strategy now? Israel’s goals Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s leader, has vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas. But many analysts expect that the group will continue to exist, in some form, for the foreseeable future. What, then, would qualify as a success for Israel? It would involve a Hamas that was so weak it could no longer govern Gaza, could no longer fire missiles into Israel and could no longer launch terrorist attacks that look anything like last weekend’s. To accomplish that, Israel is planning an invasion larger and longer than its previous campaigns into Gaza since Israel ended its occupation there in 2005. Israel has mobilized 360,000 troops — more than 3 percent of its population — and cut off power, fuel and water to Gaza. That lack of resources has created dire problems for Gaza residents — and will also make it harder for Hamas to operate. In the meantime, Israel will try to kill or arrest Hamas fighters, destroy its supply of major weapons like missiles and close the tunnels where the group hides. But Gaza’s densely populated streets will make the mission extremely difficult. Hamas fighters will be able to hide in alleys and buildings and will be difficult to distinguish from civilians. Civilian deaths, in turn, may damage Israel’s international support. Hamas’s leaders, as Tahani Mustafa, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told us, “were definitely trying to draw Israel into a conflict.” Thomas Friedman, the Times columnist, puts it this way: What Israel’s worst enemies — Hamas and Iran — want is for Israel to invade Gaza and get enmeshed in a strategic overreach there that would make America’s entanglement in Falluja look like a children’s birthday party. We are talking house-to-house fighting that would undermine whatever sympathy Israel has garnered on the world stage, deflect world attention from the murderous regime in Tehran and force Israel to stretch its forces to permanently occupy Gaza and the West Bank. The Israelis do have advantages, though. “They probably have detailed computer images of every major building in Gaza, and they can use robots and drones to scout those buildings, find the Hamas defenders and kill them,” David Ignatius of The Washington Post noted. “Many of the terrorists who kidnapped Israeli hostages were recorded on video — and it’s a safe bet that every one of them will be a target for Israeli revenge.” Hamas’s defense Some experts believe that Hamas’s weekend attacks were more successful and deadlier than even Hamas’s leaders expected. Either way, Hamas almost certainly understood that the attacks would provoke a large Israeli response, and have prepared for it. In the past, urban warfare has helped insurgent groups beat back stronger militaries. In the first battle of Falluja, in 2004, Iraqi militants were able to hold onto the city by fighting from a maze of buildings. Hamas militants will probably use a similar approach in Gaza. They will hide in booby-trapped homes and tunnels, ready to lob grenades at Israeli troops. They will also likely dress as civilians, as they have in the past. “It’s almost inevitable that Israeli strikes on Hamas targets will hit or wound civilians,” our colleague Steven Erlanger, who has covered the Middle East for years, said on “The Daily” this week. “And it’s partly because Hamas deliberately lives among them and hides its munitions among them and in mosques and in hospitals. I’ve seen these things for myself. And I don’t expect them to be any different this time.” At Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times Finally, Hamas has the grim tactical advantage of holding at least 150 hostages. Israeli officials need to worry about the killing of these hostages with each attack. Hamas has also threatened to execute a hostage each time an Israeli airstrike hits Gazans in their homes. Among the few confident predictions experts make are that the coming invasion will be brutal, and will include major surprises. “That a major operation is coming is hardly in doubt,” The Times explains, in a preview of the likely ground invasion. “But there are tactical arguments over how any operation should start, whether it will begin massively or with raiding parties, and how best to coordinate Israel’s overwhelming strength in land, sea and especially air power.” More on the Evacuation The New York Times After Israel ordered more than a million people in northern Gaza to leave, Gazan officials told Palestinians not to comply. Follow our updates. Israel said Hamas was using Gaza City, in the north, for military operations. The U.N. said the evacuation would be impossible “without devastating humanitarian consequences.” Gaza’s largest hospital is in the north, and will not be evacuated. “We have nowhere to transport the patients to,” its director said. Gazans are panicked. Some fear they will permanently lose their homes. Most of Gaza’s population are refugees, or the descendants of those who fled homes in present-day Israel in a 1948 war and were never allowed to return. Strikes in Gaza The Israeli military said it struck 750 targets overnight. Israel’s retaliation has demolished entire neighborhoods, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Medics are overwhelmed. International Response The U.S. and Qatar will block Iran, a Hamas ally, from obtaining $6 billion that was transferred to the nation in a recent deal to free American prisoners. An Israeli Embassy employee was attacked in Beijing. Officials are investigating the motive. At least three Jewish schools in north London, home to Britain’s largest Jewish community, closed over safety concerns. President Biden’s face is on billboards in Israel that thank the U.S. for its support. Even some Republicans have praised Biden’s response. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS House Speaker Search Representative Steve Scalise Kenny Holston/The New York Times Representative Steve Scalise withdrew his bid to become House speaker after too many Republicans opposed him, leaving the chamber in chaos. Jim Jordan, who finished second to Scalise in the nomination vote, and Patrick McHenry, the interim speaker, are possible alternate candidates. More on Politics Federal prosecutors filed a new charge against Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, accusing him of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. Wisconsin Republicans threatened to impeach a liberal State Supreme Court justice. Now they’re backing down. Other Big Stories Microsoft is close to acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion after a signoff from British regulators. A jury convicted one officer and acquitted another in the death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man. A “ring of fire” solar eclipse will cross the sky this weekend. The best U.S. views will be along a path from Oregon to Texas, as this map shows. Opinions Only the international community can stop another devastating Israeli assault on Gaza, Fadi Abu Shammalah writes. After Hamas’s brutal terrorism, America’s duty is to stand firm with Israel, The Times’s editorial board writes. Here’s a column by Paul Krugman on the economics Nobel. All encompassing. Entertaining. Appetizing. Discerning. And sporting. No matter what you’re into, it’s all in The Times. Subscribe today to enjoy everything we offer. MORNING READS In Seattle. Meron Tekie Menghistab for The New York Times Princess décor: Forget the Mickey tchotchkes — these superfans design their entire homes with Disney themes. Say cheese: Face scans could soon replace tickets at airports and theme parks. Is the convenience worth the privacy risks? Modern Love: They have the same name. Lives Lived: Rudolph Isley sang harmony and helped write hits like “Shout” as a member of the Isley Brothers, then left the mainstream music industry to become a minister. He died at 84. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, to advance to a second straight N.L.C.S. A Denver swoon: The Broncos dropped to 1-5 with a loss in Kansas City last night, another sign that the Sean Payton era in Denver is already a disaster. Golf: Lexi Thompson is playing in a P.G.A. Tour event this weekend — just the seventh female golfer to play against men in such a tournament. She is close to the cut line after 16 holes of play yesterday. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Sisterhood: Judy Chicago’s 1979 installation “The Dinner Party” is a landmark work of feminist art. Yet she had never had her own survey in New York — until now. “Herstory,” which spans four floors of the New Museum, covers six decades of Chicago’s work, along with pieces from artists and thinkers including Hilma af Klint, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf and Frida Kahlo. More on culture The singer CMAT is making country music sad, smart and strange. In their beds or just their heads? Parisian exterminators say residents are more worried about bed bugs than they need to be. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times. Make brownies in a skillet. Read a history of Friday the 13th. Browse the Amazon discounts left over from Prime Day. Revamp your bedroom for cheap. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was familiarity. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Lauren Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 15, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 15, 2023 October 14, 2023 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. As Birkenstock goes public, we consider the past and present of the much-loved and much-maligned comfort shoe brand. María Jesús Contreras Profit and loss Birkenstock, the German sandal company once associated with Steve Jobs, people who make their own yogurt and the guys in my high school who played hacky sack in the hallways, raised $1.48 billion in an initial public offering this week. “Somehow one feels that a person in Birkenstocks is less likely to trample Nature than someone wearing clunky wing tips,” The Times wrote in 1992. Will the wing tips of Wall Street prove benevolent custodians of a company whose C.E.O. once told Michael Lewis, “If the company were compelled to answer to shareholders, it would destroy us”? That was in 2004, after some Berkeley business school students visited Birkenstock’s headquarters and advised them on how to optimize their corporate social responsibility initiatives to increase their profits. The company was skeptical, seeing publicizing good works as antithetical to the brand’s ethos of inconspicuous philanthropy. Since then, Birkenstock has nevertheless moved ever more decisively into the mainstream. In 2022, thanks in part to partnerships with fashion designers like Dior and Valentino, the company reported over a billion dollars in sales, up from around $300 million in 2014. I came to Birkenstock acceptance recently, less for reasons of fashion or principle than for expediency: I could no longer ignore the alarm bells of impending mechanical breakdown coming from my own feet. Where once I might have suffered the rolled ankles, blisters, cramping and toenail mangling wrought by a pair of uncomfortable but aesthetically gratifying shoes, now I have more literally pedestrian concerns. I want to be able to walk. Not just now, but for the rest of my life, on the one pair of feet I’ve been issued. The fact that fashion has decreed cool a sandal with a cork-latex footbed that molds to the specific contours of one’s own barking dogs seems a massive stroke of luck for the ingrown-toenailed and the bunion-afflicted, for those of us with what I’ve increasingly taken to calling simply “bad feet.” I’ve written before about trying to be an ethical consumer, to buy less, and only from companies whose principles align with my own. Reading about Birkenstock’s history of doing good works without much fanfare, about how they resisted the Berkeley students’ counsel to be more public about their philanthropy, I wondered about how answering to investors would change the company. “For a footwear name long associated with family ownership and social movements linked with critiques of capitalist systems,” my colleague Elizabeth Paton wrote this week, “going public at a time of global economic volatility could create reputational blowback. Especially if pleasing investors means compromising on quality or shifting production away from Germany, where 95 percent of products are assembled, then hand-checked in factories owned by the brand.” Trying to unbraid a company’s ethics from its profit motive is tricky for a consumer. I have been trying to get around this by buying things already used, but this isn’t simple either. There’s something very intimate (and, depending on the shoe, a little gross) about buying used shoes, of walking, as the poet Galway Kinnell put it, “on the steppingstones / of someone else’s wandering.” Scrolling through images of vintage Lady Red Wings, an aggressively plain oxford that is no longer manufactured, but to whose jolie-laide orthopedic qualities, like Birkenstocks’, I’m magnetically drawn, I try to imagine the person who originally owned these shoes. What led that person to buy them? Were they attracted by the brand’s professed ethics? Were their “bad feet” eased by the soft foam soles? And what, ultimately, led them to part with them? For more A year ago, Birkenstock Boston clogs were nearly impossible to find in stores. In 2021, the Brooklyn collective MSCHF created the “Birkinstock,” a $76,000 Birk-style shoe made from chopped-up Hermès Birkin bags. Vanessa Friedman’s advice for finding footwear that’s both comfortable and chic. “Buffeted by the trend winds of ‘ugly shoes’ during the pandemic, word-of-mouth among older and injured people and the brand’s utility to serious runners”: How Hokas became popular. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE WEEK IN CULTURE Philip Montgomery for The New York Times The concert film of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour is in theaters this weekend. In The Times Magazine, Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote about her delirious trip to see Swift perform. How do you translate the live concert experience to a movie screen? Directors say it takes multiple nights of shooting, more than 100 microphones, and a heavy dose of editing. The film faithfully captures the care and artistry Swift puts into her shows, even if it does not strive for its own artistic highs, Wesley Morris writes in a review. Paramount+ released a reboot of the sitcom “Frasier.” The Times television critic James Poniewozik called it a “mediocre, anticlimactic return.” Louise Glück, an American poet whose deeply personal work won her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2020, died at 80. A24, a studio known for indie favorites like “Uncut Gems” and “Midsommar,” is considering a shift to more mainstream action movies, The Wrap reports. Roberta Pereira, current director of the Playwrights Realm, will be the next executive director of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The country star Morgan Wallen is back atop the Billboard charts with his newest album, “One Thing at a Time.” 50 Cent is sponsoring a Welsh girls’ soccer team. As part of the deal, players’ jerseys will bear the name of his hip-hop group, G Unit, The Guardian reports. Prada has partnered with a commercial space company to design spacesuits for NASA’s 2025 Artemis III moon mission, Vogue Business reports. Dorothy Hoffner, who gained international attention earlier this month for skydiving at 104 years old, died this week. The Hollywood strikes upended the lives of stunt doubles, camera operators and other crew members who work on movies and TV shows. Many are growing desperate. THE LATEST NEWS Israel-Gaza War Palestinians traveling south on Friday. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israel softened its initial 24-hour timetable for evacuations; “We understand it will take time,” a military spokesman said. President Biden said the U.S. would work to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as it supports the Israeli response. “The overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas,” he said. How did Hamas outmaneuver the most powerful military in the Middle East? Videos from last weekend’s massacre show its fighters knew Israel’s secrets. Other Big Stories A knife-wielding man killed a teacher and injured three other people at a school in northern France. Officials described it as an Islamist terror attack. House Republicans nominated Jim Jordan, a hard-right Ohioan, to be their next speaker. He may not have enough support to win the gavel. Chinese-linked Bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. — including one near an Air Force base in Wyoming — are drawing national security scrutiny. The Supreme Court will hear a second case that seeks to limit federal agencies’ power. Gain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all by subscribing today. CULTURE CALENDAR By Andrew LaVallee Arts & Leisure Editor 📺 “Saturday Night Live” (Saturday): Now that the writers’ strike has ended, late-night television is back, and that includes “Saturday Night Live.” The sketch comedy show returns for its 49th season, following a strike-shortened 48th, with a season premiere hosted by the “S.N.L.” alumnus and Staten Island Ferry boat owner Pete Davidson. Ice Spice is the musical guest. The entire Season 48 cast is back (fingers crossed for a new “Lisa From Temecula” skit!), plus a new featured member, Chloe Troast. 🎬 “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Friday): This long-awaited movie about the murders of members of the Osage nation in the 1920s is Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the book written by David Grann. It comes with a star-studded cast (Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons), a breakthrough performance by Lily Gladstone and a 3½-hour running time. When our chief film critic Manohla Dargis saw it at Cannes, she described it as “shocking, at times crushingly sorrowful, a true-crime mystery that in its bone-chilling details can make it feel closer to a horror movie.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT RECIPE OF THE WEEK Linda Xiao for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Dumpling Noodle Soup Is there a chill in the air? Are we slipping into soup season? Hetty Lui McKinnon’s dumpling noodle soup is a quick way to satisfy your brothiest cravings when the cold winds blow. Loosely inspired by wonton noodle soup, a combination of grated ginger, garlic, turmeric and miso paste add a particularly rich savoriness to the fragrant broth, and frozen dumplings (any kind: vegetables, shrimp, chicken or pork) stand in for the wontons. Hetty adds bok choy and broccoli for color and freshness, but other vegetables like snow peas, mushrooms or carrots are excellent as well. It’s just the thing to warm your bones. REAL ESTATE Margaret Rajic Man’s best friend: Your dog doesn’t really need his own shower, but let’s be honest: He’d appreciate it. Ask Real Estate: The weed shop under their apartment makes too much noise. What can they do about it? What you get for $500,000: A 1905 three-bedroom farmhouse in Kenoza Lake, N.Y.; a Tudor Revival home in Detroit; or a 1920 Craftsman bungalow in Atlanta. The hunt: An Academy Award winner wanted a modest place on the Upper East Side with some character for $500,000. Which house did she choose? Play our game. LIVING Customers browsing a U-Mall installment in Brooklyn. Amir Hamja/The New York Times U-Mall: A writer rented out a 15-foot U-Haul truck and turned it into a trendy vintage goods market. Hidden gems: Nestled in the mountains of northwestern Italy, a cluster of Catholic sanctuaries brim with Renaissance and Baroque art. Mental health: Ketamine is an increasingly popular part of therapy for depression and anxiety, but the F.D.A. warns that unsupervised use of the drug can be dangerous. Moving backward? All six brands owned by the fashion group Kering — including Gucci and Alexander McQueen — are run by white male designers. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER The best time to shop for hiking boots Trekking through the woods to admire the changing foliage, the crisp leaves crunching underfoot, can be a magical experience. Don’t let a pair of ill-fitting hiking boots ruin it for you. To find boots that actually fit, you should go shopping at the end of the day. That may sound oddly specific, but stick with me: Your feet swell throughout the day, so you’ll want to try on new shoes when they’re at their biggest. That way, your hiking boots won’t ever pinch or squeeze, and you can happily leaf-peep pain free. — Elissa Sanci GAME OF THE WEEKEND Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., center. Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 7 Washington, college football: The Pac-12 conference, the heart of West Coast football for the past century, is most likely in its final season because many of its teams (including these two) have abandoned it for the Big 10. If this really is the end, it’s going out with a bang. Oregon and Washington are both undefeated. Both have quarterbacks who could win the Heisman. Both offenses are prolific, ranked No. 1 and 2 in the nation in yards per game. The Big 10’s grinding defenses are on the horizon; for now, though, let’s enjoy the fireworks. 3:30 p.m. on ABC. For more: The Athletic picked the other best games of the weekend, including U.S.C. vs. Notre Dame. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was billionth. See the hardest Spelling Bee words from this week. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 16, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 October 15, 2023 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the baseball playoffs and the sport’s biggest problem — as well as the latest from the Middle East and a pioneering psychedelics researcher. At a Minnesota Twins-Houston Astros game. Adam Bettcher/Getty Images A parade of strikeouts The final game of the playoff series between the Houston Astros and the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday lasted only two hours and 38 minutes. It was a crisply played game — which the Astros won, 3-2 — that highlighted Major League Baseball’s biggest accomplishment this season. Thanks to a 15-second clock that prevents players from dawdling between pitches, the average game lasted just two hours and 40 minutes this season, down a remarkable 24 minutes from last season. Major League Baseball has trumpeted this change with television commercials. Journalists have praised it for speeding up a hidebound sport. Fans seem to have noticed, too: Attendance rose 10 percent, to its highest level in six years. The shorter game times will help more fans enjoy the sport’s semifinals, known as the League Championship Series, which begin tonight with an intra-Texas rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers. Tomorrow night, the other series — between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Philadelphia Phillies — begins. There will be plenty of good stories over the next couple weeks. The Astros could become the first repeat champions in more than two decades. The Rangers have never won a World Series. Neither has Bryce Harper, the Phillies’ star. The Diamondbacks’ best player, Corbin Carroll, is a 23-year-old rookie. If you like watching only a few baseball games a year, now is the time to tune in. But the sport still has a basic problem that the celebration over the pitch clock has obscured: Major League Baseball, which can already seem slow compared with football and basketball, includes less action than at any almost any other point in its history. Baseball executives tried to address this problem with a package of rule changes before this season, including not only the clock but also larger bases (to encourage steals) and restrictions on where fielders can stand (to allow for more hits). They didn’t solve the problem, though. This chart tells the story: Source: Baseball Reference | By The New York Times For most of baseball’s history, hits were much more common than strikeouts — and hits are exciting. They can score runs, as a home run always does, or can put a runner on base who creates game action. Strikeouts, by contrast, involve a batter walking back to the dugout after failing to hit a pitch. “The idea that there would be more strikeouts than hits would have been a crazy idea even 20 years ago,” Joe Sheehan, a longtime baseball writer, told me. “Well, strikeouts surpassed hits in 2018 and there have been more strikeouts than hits in every year since.” (The small recent decline in strikeouts you can see in the chart is the result of pitchers — who tend to be weak batters — no longer hitting for themselves in any game. That change happened two years ago, and it had a one-time effect.) Going to 11 Why have strikeouts increased so rapidly in the past two decades? Pitchers have become stronger and can throw harder. Computer analysis has taught them how to spin pitches even more effectively than before. And teams have jammed their rosters with pitchers so that many need to throw only one inning at a time, allowing them to throw as hard as possible to just a few batters each night. As a result, the late innings of games often resemble a procession of strikeouts. During the Astros-Twins game on Wednesday, six of the Twins’ last seven batters struck out. There are reasons to think that fans would prefer a livelier game. Attendance, despite the increase this year, is still about 10 percent below its 2007 peak. In polls, baseball has slipped to be the country’s third most popular sport, behind both football, which it has long trailed, and basketball. “Baseball, in its design, was a game of baserunning and defense, and there’s less baserunning and defense than ever before in the game’s history,” Sheehan said. Baseball has more promising ways to address the problem than it has tried so far. It could limit the number of pitchers on a roster to, say, 11; that was a normal number a few decades ago, but teams now often carry 13. Baseball could also lower the mound, as it did in 1969, or shrink the strike zone. Some of these changes might sound radical, but most successful sports — and successful businesses of any kind, for that matter — make significant changes over time. For more: I’m a baseball fan, and Sheehan’s newsletter consistently provides some of the smartest, most enjoyable coverage I read. From The Athletic: Tyler Kepner profiles Trea Turner, the Phillies’ shortstop. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS Israel-Gaza War Israeli soldiers in Be’eri. Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Israel’s military plans to begin a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip soon, officials said, with a goal of eliminating Hamas’s leadership. The battle could lock the two sides in months of bloody urban combat. Americans in Gaza say they are unable to leave via the border with Egypt, despite an international agreement to grant them passage. Gaza’s health ministry said it would not heed Israel’s order to evacuate hospitals. “Our moral position obliges us to continue working,” said a spokesman. “I don’t think those are fireworks”: Survivors of Hamas’s assault on a music festival described the attack. In the Israel-Gaza conflict, social media has done more to confound rather than illuminate, writes Steven Lee Myers. Politics Jeff Landry, a hard-line conservative, won the Louisiana governor’s race, giving Republicans full control of the state. Allies of Representative Jim Jordan are putting public pressure on the Republicans they believe are blocking his path to becoming House speaker. Donald Trump’s political team has been working behind the scenes to twist his party’s primary and delegate rules in his favor. International Have we passed “peak Ukraine?” Officials in Kyiv worry that the U.S. and Europe are growing weary of the war effort. New Zealand elected its most right-wing government in a generation, handing victory to a coalition of two conservative parties. Covid and the war in Ukraine have disrupted the supply chain for fertilizers, threatening the livelihoods of farmers and increasing food insecurity in Africa and Asia. Other Big Stories At the Grand Canyon. D. Pawlak/National Park Service “Love is strong, but it is not as strong as our bolt cutters”: Park rangers removed dozens of love locks from fences at the Grand Canyon. A solar eclipse covered much of the Western Hemisphere yesterday. See the highlights. Wildfires have become so large and intense in some parts of the world that nature is no longer able to bounce back. Ford recalled 240,000 Explorers because of a defect that poses a risk of the cars rolling away. Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn remains closed, with no reopening date scheduled, two weeks after heavy flooding. A neuroscientist at the City College of New York whose studies underpin an experimental Alzheimer’s drug was accused of misconduct in his research. California became the first state to ban the artificial color Red Dye No. 3 in foods, three decades after the F.D.A. prohibited its use in cosmetics. FROM OPINION The left-wing fervor for “decolonization” can become an excuse for the kind of terrorist violence that Hamas committed last weekend, Ross Douthat writes. No shelter, no defense, no hope: Palestinians are watching the West and Israel deprive them of their humanity, Mosab Abu Toha, a poet, writes. “My whole world”: Rachel Goldberg pleads for the safety of her son, Hersh, whom Hamas abducted from a music festival. Here are columns by Thomas Friedman on Israel’s soul, David French on decision making in war and Lydia Polgreen on Israel and Biden’s age. The Sunday question: Should the next House speaker buck the hard right? House Republicans need to put forward a nominee that appeals to moderates, “which means accommodating Democratic priorities,” The Washington Post’s Henry Olsen writes. But the hard right is correct to criticize federal spending, and “treating the conservative faction as a problem to be managed,” W. James Antle III writes for CNN, “has clearly failed.” Gain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all by subscribing today. MORNING READS Ellie in a rainbow tutu. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images Meet Ellie: The New York Liberty’s elephant mascot has twerked her way into W.N.B.A. fans’ hearts. Ironic icon: Meme-loving leftists have embraced Hunter Biden as an antihero. Who gets credit? In Texas, there’s a culinary scandal over the origins of deep-fried pho, a version of the Vietnamese soup in which noodles and beef are wrapped in a tortilla. Vows: When Kendra Morris met the mayor of Birmingham, Ala., she didn’t think anything of it — until she had a vision about their future. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT TALK | FROM THE TIMES MAGAZINE Roland Griffiths Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times By David Marchese Earlier this year, I spoke with the pioneering psychedelics researcher Roland Griffiths, who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic colon cancer. You talk about your cancer almost as if it’s a gift. Does that mean you don’t have regrets about what’s happening? My life has never been better! If I had a regret, it’s that I didn’t wake up as much as I have without a cancer diagnosis. There have been so many positive things: my relationship with my children, my grandchildren, my siblings, my wife [Marla]. So do I have any regrets? No, but my concern is principally for Marla and how she’s going to deal with this. We’ve talked about my passing as being an opportunity, like my diagnosis, to wake up. Because these are opportunities to use events that could be labeled and experienced as miserable but don’t need to be. What do you struggle with? Marla and I had just adopted a dog and that’s brought us incredible joy. Then we got some test results back suggesting the possibility of kidney failure. That’s been more difficult than dealing with my own diagnosis. I can say, acutely, that this gives me something new to work with. So you have this sense, near the end of your life, of waking up to life’s real meaning. What’s the most important thing for everyone else who’s still asleep to know? I want everyone to appreciate the joy and wonder of every single moment of their lives. There is a reason every day to celebrate that we’re alive, that we have another day to explore whatever this gift is of being conscious, of being aware, of being aware that we are aware. That’s to be celebrated! Read more of the interview here. More from the magazine R&B seems to be past its cultural prime. Can Usher’s creative renaissance bring the genre back to life? Many of boxing’s most popular fights don’t include world champions or rising talents. They feature social media influencers. The Ethicist: “My wife once agreed to an open relationship. Can I hold her to it?” Read the full issue. BOOKS Justin Torres Jessica Lehrman for The New York Times “Blackouts”: Julian Torres’s latest novel, his second, is a National Book Award finalist that shifts between fact and fiction to tell an intergenerational queer story. Our editors’ picks: “Penance,” a novel that presents itself as a work of nonfiction about the murder of a teenager, and eight others. Times best sellers: Michael Lewis’s profile of the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, “Going Infinite,” tops the hardcover nonfiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Unlearn myths about sex. Use teeth-whitening strips that are easy to apply and work quickly. Stock your home gym with long-lasting adjustable dumbbells. Watch these five horror movies in the lead-up to Halloween. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For Ecuador’s presidential runoff election is today. Federal prosecutors will argue tomorrow that a judge should impose a limited gag order on Trump related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The U.S. is hosting a joint summit on Friday with the European Union. The leaders are expected to discuss support for Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza war. What to Cook This Week David Malosh for The New York Times For this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Mia Leimkuhler featured recipes that rely on the condiments likely to be in your fridge. They include miso-mustard salmon, stir-fried tomatoes and eggs made with ketchup, and roasted chicken thighs with a mayonnaise-apricot marinade. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were ambiance and ambience. Can you put eight historical events — including the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, the first marathon and Einstein’s theory of relativity — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 16, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 16, 2023 October 16, 2023 SUPPORTED BY BETTERMENT By German Lopez Good morning. We’re covering the end of a Republican advantage — as well as evacuations in Gaza, Congress and Sunday Night Football. A voting district map. Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press Fading advantage Republicans have been more successful than Democrats since 2010 at gerrymandering congressional districts to their advantage. But the Republican advantage may be about to fade because of a few court cases. In Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court forced officials to redraw the map to add one majority Black (and therefore Democratic-leaning) district. In New York, Democrats are trying to redraw the map to flip several seats. In Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, other legal challenges could help Democrats. If everything goes Democrats’ way, roughly 10 House seats could become meaningfully easier to win. Next year, the party needs to net only five seats to reclaim the House. New York alone could switch six seats from leaning Republican to leaning Democrat. Not every court case is hurting Republicans. In North Carolina, a ruling from the state’s Supreme Court will allow Republican lawmakers to redraw the map to move several seats their way. In South Carolina, liberal groups have taken the state’s Republican gerrymander to the U.S. Supreme Court; but the court’s conservative majority appears likely to side with Republicans, based on oral arguments last week. Still, the overall picture looks promising for Democrats. “The House map is pretty equitable now, certainly more so than it was 10 years ago,” David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report told me. If the cases go in Democrats’ favor, he added, “it could make the House map even a little bit bluer on balance than a random map would be.” In 2022, Republicans won about 51 percent of the popular vote in House elections nationwide — and about 51 percent of House seats. (My colleague Nate Cohn broke down those results.) Swinging back In some ways, the recent gerrymandering developments are the pendulum swinging back. States typically update congressional maps once a decade, after each U.S. census. In 2010, Republicans swept state elections just in time for the redrawing of maps. They took full advantage, drawing congressional districts in their favor. After the 2020 census, Republicans remained in power in more states than Democrats. But after the gerrymanders of the 2010s, Republicans could not do much more to skew the maps. Meanwhile, legal challenges from liberal groups diminished the Republican gerrymanders. Some states, like Michigan, embraced independent redistricting commissions that drew more balanced maps. Democrats also used their control of some state governments, including in Illinois and Oregon, to aggressively redraw maps. “Republicans are not the only ones who gerrymander,” Claire Wofford, a political scientist at the College of Charleston, told me. Of course, Democrats will still need to win elections next year. The balance of gerrymandering is likely to determine control of the House only if the national vote is close. What’s next Here are three major stories to watch in coming months: New York: The case moving through the courts would likely affect six seats, the most in any current dispute. A lower court already ruled in Democrats’ favor, and the state’s highest court is set to hear the case in November. Democrats now hold 11 of the state’s 26 congressional seats. North Carolina: Republicans are set to redraw the map in the next month, and could flip three or four seats in their favor. Republicans currently hold seven of the state’s 14 congressional seats. Time: If Republicans stall legal challenges for long enough, the maps may not change before the 2024 election. “There is more potential upside for Democrats right now than for Republicans,” said Stephen Wolf, an elections writer at Daily Kos, “but there are too many unresolved court cases to say yet what will likely happen.” More on 2024 Donald Trump has entered October with nearly as much campaign cash as the rest of the Republican field combined. Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a debt-ridden coal magnate who has switched parties twice, is running for U.S. senate. Polls show few voters are aware of President Biden’s record on climate issues. One advocacy group plans to spend big to change that. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM BETTERMENT Be invested and totally chill Betterment is the automated investing app that puts your money to work. Investing involves risk. Get Started Today ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR The Latest An Israeli airstrike Sunday on Gaza City. Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Israel and Hamas denied agreeing to a humanitarian cease-fire, and Israel continued to strike Gaza overnight. Western diplomats are negotiating to get emergency aid into Gaza and foreigners out through Egypt. Many Gazans are evacuating south as Israel prepares to invade the enclave. Hospital workers in the north said they weren’t able to move patients. Israel said Hamas had abducted at least 199 people, more than initially thought. Fighting has continued on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, and the U.S. is worried about a broader regional conflict. See maps of the fighting. Israelis are planning for a longer war despite having lost trust in their government and its intelligence services because of the Hamas attacks. International Response President Biden warned Israel not to reoccupy Gaza. A man in Chicago stabbed a 6-year-old boy to death because he was Muslim, the police said. The F.B.I. is tracking increased threats to Jewish and Muslim Americans. “Kidnapped”: In cities around the world, posters highlight the hostages abducted by Hamas. Many evangelical Christians are supporting Israel. Powerful donors, like Wall Street financiers, are pressuring U.S. schools to condemn student criticism of Israel. People upset about the attack by Hamas are leaving bad reviews on a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn. MORE NEWS Politics Jim Jordan Kenny Holston/The New York Times Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio is the current nominee for House speaker, but he’s short of the votes needed to be elected. Read what to expect in the speaker race this week. Donald Trump’s lawyers and federal prosecutors will argue today over whether a gag order should be imposed on him in a federal election case. Afghan Earthquakes Two more powerful earthquakes struck northwestern Afghanistan, after recent quakes killed more than 1,000 people. Read about a man’s search for his son after the first of the tremors leveled his village. South American Elections A 35-year-old heir to a banana empire won Ecuador’s presidential election. The front-runner to be Argentina’s next president once called Pope Francis a “filthy leftist.” Some Argentines aren’t happy about it. More International News Satellite images suggest North Korea may be sending weapons to Russia, The Washington Post reports. Dariush Mehrjui, an Iranian film pioneer, and his wife were killed in their home near Tehran. Business The pharmacy chain Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy as it deals with billions in debt and more than a thousand lawsuits over opioid prescriptions. Goodwill is figuring out e-commerce to compete with sites like Etsy’s Depop. Other Big Stories The new Nepal airport. Rebecca Conway for The New York Times China won an expensive contract to build an airport in Nepal, extending its regional influence. But the project left Nepal in debt. The Covid lab-leak theory has led to a lack of funding for studying dangerous pathogens, scientists say. Suzanne Somers, known for playing Chrissy Snow on the sitcom “Three’s Company,” died at 76. The American Museum of Natural History will remove human bones from public display. Some belonged to Indigenous and enslaved people. Opinions Mayor Eric Adams of New York has asked a court to suspend the city’s mandate to shelter migrants. But even when the migrant crisis fades, a housing crisis will remain, Mara Gay writes. The central cause of Gaza’s misery is Hamas, and Hamas deserve the blame for the deaths in this war, Bret Stephens writes. Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof on Gaza and Ross Douthat on Ukraine and Israel. Gain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all by subscribing today. MORNING READS Jim Lorge and supporters. Todd Heisler/The New York Times “I want to be forgiven”: Inside a meeting of the Minnesota Board of Pardons, where supplicants have 10 minutes to make their case. The Piccirillis: How six stone-carving Italian brothers shaped the story of New York through sculpture. Waiting: With much of Hollywood on strike, many actors have slid back into restaurant work. Metropolitan Diary: Worst. Whale watch. Ever. Lives Lived: Rudy Perez was a pioneer of postmodern dance who challenged notions of what dance is, and isn’t, through minimalist choreography. He died at 93. SPORTS Sunday Night Football: The Buffalo Bills narrowly defeated the New York Giants, 14-9. The Bills’ running back, Damien Harris, sustained a neck injury in the second quarter. Around the N.F.L.: The league’s two unbeaten teams both lost. The San Francisco 49ers missed a last-minute field goal in their 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, and the Philadelphia Eagles were stifled by the New York Jets defense, losing 20-14. Here are takeaways from the weekend. M.L.B. playoffs: The Texas Rangers are still undefeated in the postseason after beating defending-champions the Houston Astros, 2-0, in Game 1 of the A.L.C.S. W.N.B.A. finals: The New York Liberty fended off the Las Vegas Aces, 87-73, in Game 3 of the league finals, forcing a Game 4. ARTS AND IDEAS The National Museum of Women in the Arts. Niki Charitable Art Foundation/ARS, NY, ADAGP, Paris; Photo by Lexey Swall for The New York Times New beginning: The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., is set to reopen this week after a two-year, nearly $68 million renovation. The social context has shifted since the museum first opened in 1987, and women today are better represented in museums surveys and gallery shows. Is the museum, then, still relevant? “People in the art world always think we’re achieving parity faster than we are,” said Susan Fisher Sterling, the museum’s director since 2008. “We’re not even close to there.” More on culture Madonna opened her global Celebration Tour — a spectacle of her hits across four decades — at a 20,000-capacity arena in London. “She understands her power”: Read a review from the critic Wesley Morris of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” movie. (The Washington Post shows how much she has made from the tour.) THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Elevate a roasted vegetable salad with creamy coconut dressing. Wear cowboy boots without feeling like you’re in a costume. Bake on an inexpensive and durable baking sheet. Make smoothies in a blender that has been Wirecutter’s top pick for nearly a decade. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was gravity. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — German Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 17, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2023 October 17, 2023 By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick Good morning. We’re covering Biden’s objectives in the Middle East — as well as a gag order for Trump, a drought in the Amazon and census categories. Photographs in Tel Aviv of Israelis believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times Bad choices President Biden will visit Israel tomorrow after accepting an invitation from Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden will be following his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who was in Israel yesterday for the second time in the past week, after already having visited Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. In today’s newsletter, we’ll explain what the U.S. is hoping to accomplish with this flurry of diplomacy over the past few days. 1. Support Israel The U.S. is not trying to prevent an Israeli invasion of Gaza. Any country attacked as Israel was on Oct. 7 — with Hamas’s killing of more than 1,400 people and kidnapping of at least 199 — would be likely to respond militarily. Israel is no longer willing to accept Hamas’s control over Gaza, given that Hamas is a terrorist group, according to the U.S. and E.U., and has refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist. “Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust,” Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview. “Israel has to respond.” A major Israeli response is important partly to send the message that terrorism doesn’t pay, American officials believe. Israel would like to repeat the experience of 2006, when the leader of Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed militia that controls southern Lebanon — said he regretted kidnapping two Israeli soldiers because of Israel’s fierce response. “If I had known,” Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, said later that year, “would I do it? I say no, absolutely not.” The New York Times Dennis Ross, a Middle East adviser to U.S. presidents of both parties, told The Times that part of Blinken’s task when talking with Arab governments was “to remind everybody that Hamas can’t be seen as winning. Hamas must be seen as decisively losing.” In this case, losing probably means the capture or death of many top Hamas officials. 2. Avoid escalation A wider Middle Eastern war is among the Biden administration’s biggest fears. It would lead to even worse loss of life and could draw equipment and attention away from Ukraine as well as cause a global economic downturn through higher oil prices. The most plausible route to a wider war would involve fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, along Israel’s northern border, and maybe even direct fighting between Iran and Israel. Much of recent U.S. diplomacy seems aimed at avoiding this outcome. Blinken has spoken with the Qatari government and others about urging Iran not to get more involved. The Biden administration has also moved several warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The ships are meant to make Iran and Hezbollah fear that the U.S. could decimate Hezbollah in the event of a wider conflict. “That’s a very significant show of force,” Natan Sachs, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, told us. For now, U.S. officials believe that Nasrallah, who remains Hezbollah’s leader, does not want an all-out war with Israel. But these maps show where tensions are rising in the region. 3. Put strategy before emotion Even if Israel destroys Hamas’s leadership, nobody knows what would come next. And some Israeli officials now seem too angry to think about this question. “I used to say: ‘Think then act,’” Jacob Nagel, a top former Netanyahu aide, told The Wall Street Journal. The Hamas attacks “changed all the rules of play,” he added. If Israel pursued a maximal war with little concern for Palestinian casualties, it could create such anger in the region that other Arab governments would refuse to work with Israel — just as Hamas hopes. Many experts think that one aim of Hamas’s attacks was erasing the recent progress between Saudi Arabia and Israel toward a diplomatic agreement. “The trick here is that the U.S. has to embrace Israel and acknowledge their need for vengeance, self-defense and deterrence while at the same time prevent them from overreacting in a way that hurts them long-term,” Michael Crowley, a Times correspondent, said. A tangible example of U.S. lobbying appears to be the delay in Israel’s ground invasion, which will give more Gazans time to flee south, away from important Hamas bunkers and weapons caches. (The Israeli military allowed a Times journalist to view a cellphone-tracking system of the evacuation, hoping to show that it was doing what it could to reduce harm to civilians.) Longer term, there will be more difficult choices. Many steps that Israel could take to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, such as advance warnings of attacks, would also weaken its attempts to destroy Hamas’s control. And it remains unclear who will run Gaza if not Hamas. Still, some analysts can imagine a future that’s better than the past, as The Washington Post’s David Ignatius has noted. This future might involve the Palestinian Authority — which does recognize Israel’s right to exist — running Gaza, with help from Saudi Arabia and other Arab governments, as well as the United Nations. “It’s not impossible for seemingly intractable conflicts to find solutions,” Emma Ashford wrote in Foreign Policy. “The surge in U.S. support to Israel now gives Washington leverage that it hasn’t had in a long time, and the Arab states would be thrilled to find a way out of this mess.” At a border crossing in southern Gaza. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times 4. Rescue hostages “I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” Biden said last week. Of the roughly 200 hostages that Hamas is holding, a handful or more may be American. U.S. officials are making diplomatic efforts to win the hostages’ release and would celebrate any successes. But many experts believe that Hamas is unlikely to release many, if any, hostages. In that case, the U.S. will likely advise Israel on rescue missions. Related: Biden’s trip is a gamble. It is both dangerous and will tie him to the Israeli ground invasion that seems almost certain to follow. More on the war The U.S. said it was nearing a deal that would allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Netanyahu, once seen as risk-averse, is embracing his role as a wartime leader. Hamas posted a hostage video of a young woman abducted from a music festival. See images of the hostages’ families. People with foreign passports in Gaza gathered at the only border crossing into Egypt, only to find it still closed. Mourners at a funeral remembered Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Muslim boy stabbed to death in Chicago, in an attack linked to the war. He loved Lego and soccer. France fears a new wave of terrorism after the Hamas attack. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 trial imposed a partial gag order, barring Trump from attacking witnesses and prosecutors. Representative Jim Jordan won over several Republicans but remained short of the support he needs to become House speaker. Votes are planned for today. Justice Amy Coney Barrett endorsed a Supreme Court ethics code. Two of her conservative colleagues — Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — have faced recent scrutiny. “Converts welcome!” The Biden campaign has joined Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform. Oprah Winfrey pitched Mitt Romney on the idea of running for president as an independent in 2020 with her as a running mate, according to a coming biography. Migration After a lawsuit, thousands of families whom the Trump administration separated at the border were given a path to legal residency. Massachusetts will no longer guarantee emergency housing for new migrant arrivals beginning next month. China High-speed trains in Indonesia. Ulet Ifansasti for The New York Times China has invested close to $1 trillion for influence abroad, often by paying for development projects. Xi Jinping is rethinking the strategy, called the Belt and Road Initiative. Vladimir Putin will meet with Xi at the Belt and Road conference in Beijing. More on International The police in Brussels killed a man suspected of having shot two Swedish nationals to death in an attack that the Belgian prime minister described as terrorism. Liberal parties appear to have won a majority of seats in the Polish Parliament. Read more about the election. Four Ukrainian children who were abducted to Russia returned to their families after mediation by Qatar. The Sinaloa cartel is prohibiting fentanyl production after pressure from U.S. law enforcement, The Wall Street Journal reports. A severe drought in the Amazon rainforest is drying out major rivers and has fueled wildfires. Business A salon student learning to straighten hair. iStock/Getty Images The F.D.A. plans to ban some chemical hair straighteners, marketed largely to Black women, a decade after experts declared the products unsafe. Consumers, faced with high prices at grocery stores, are purchasing more store-brand foods and beverages. Other Big Stories A group of scientists suggested some cases of long Covid might be caused by remnants of the coronavirus lingering in the gut. Four men, including one accused of murder, escaped from a jail in Georgia. Opinions After Israel defeats Hamas, it will have to rebuild Gaza. Start by creating an economy and school system the locals can trust, Thomas Warrick, a former U.S. official, writes. Student organizations that blamed Israel for Hamas’s attacks showed a major problem with U.S. universities, Ezekiel Emanuel writes. The language of some Israeli leaders toward Palestinians has become murderous, Michelle Goldberg writes. Here are columns by Thomas Friedman on regime change, David French on Iraq and Gaza and Paul Krugman on declining U.S. foreign influence. Gain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all by subscribing today. MORNING READS A census question. The New York Times An American puzzle: Census categories for race and ethnicity have shaped how the nation sees itself. Read how they have changed over the last 230 years. #MentalHealth: What happened when academics collaborated with influencers to inject more mental health content into TikTok feeds? Ask Well: Dogs can enrich our lives, but they can also make us sick. Here’s how to reduce your risk. Work and play: Meet a man who spent decades creating New York City playgrounds beloved by children. Hall of shame: A glassy building in Manhattan is notorious for deadly bird collisions. Residents are trying to fix the problem. Lives Lived: The Finnish statesman Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his diplomatic efforts to end conflict in places such as Namibia and Northern Ireland. He died at 86. SPORTS N.F.L.: The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, 20-17. Before the game, the teams got into a fight. M.L.B.: The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-3. The Texas Rangers continued their playoff run with a 5-4 win over the defending champion, Houston Astros. A Departure: Kim Ng, the first female general manager in M.L.B. history, will leave the Miami Marlins after reports of internal conflict. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Nintendo A trippy new adventure: Nintendo’s flagship star, Mario, has always been a little boring. The power-ups — mushrooms that make him grow, feathers that allow him to fly — make Mario’s games exciting. This week, the company is releasing “Super Mario Bros. Wonder,” and its power-ups turn the game into a “carnival of bizarre delights,” The Times’s Zachary Small writes. Among them: a fruit that transforms Mario into an elephant and a flower that sends him on something akin to a psychedelic trip. More on culture John Legend is starting an app for food and travel recommendations called “It’s Good,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Only positive reviews are allowed. Women are underrepresented in conducting and design jobs at U.S. operas, a study found. Miffy, a cartoon bunny beloved in Europe and Asia, is finding fame in the U.S. thanks to her Gen Z superfans. “Good luck getting Donald Trump to stop talking”: Late night hosts discuss Trump’s court-issued gag order. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Julia Gartland for The New York Times Use leftover rice to create a stir-fry dish that takes under 30 minutes. Watch concert movies recommended by Times culture writers. Finish training for fall marathon season with these expert tips. Regulate home temperatures with this smart thermostat. Achieve your podcasting dreams with an affordable microphone. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was inexact. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Ian Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated New York’s congressional delegation. Republicans control 11 of the 26 seats, not Democrats. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted October 18, 2023 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2023 October 18, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY Instacart Health By the staff of The Morning Good morning. We’re covering Biden’s arrival in Israel after a deadly explosion at a Gazan hospital — as well as Jim Jordan, China and “The Exorcist.” President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel today.Kenny Holston/The New York Times A war-zone visit President Biden landed in Israel this morning as the world waited for evidence of whether a Hamas-linked group or Israel caused a devastating explosion yesterday at a hospital in Gaza City. The explosion, evidently from a missile, killed hundreds of people and injured hundreds more. (This video, verified by Times journalists, shows the moment the blast destroyed the hospital.) Both Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed the other side for the carnage. Gazan health authorities said it was an Israeli airstrike. Israeli officials said it was a failed rocket attack by Islamic Jihad, an armed group aligned with Hamas. After Biden landed, he seemed to endorse Israel’s denial of responsibility. “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” he said. “But there’s a lot of people out there not sure.” The explosion added even more uncertainty to an already unusual trip by a U.S. president to a war zone. In response to the explosion, Arab leaders canceled meetings with Biden as protests spread across the region. In Jordan, a crowd lit fires outside the Israeli Embassy. In Lebanon, large demonstrations shook Beirut. In the rest of this newsletter, we will walk through Biden’s visit as well as what we know — and don’t know — about the explosion. The hospital blast The bodies of those killed in the explosion. Abed Khaled/Associated Press The explosion occurred last night at Ahli Arab Hospital. The death toll is expected to rise. Rescuers found a charred, gruesome scene in the rubble. “The shreds of the bodies have overlapped,” said a doctor treating the wounded. The hospital has a history of operating during conflict. Over this past weekend, rocket fire injured four staff members. Read more about the hospital. The response At the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza.Abed Khaled/Associated Press The question of responsibility is likely to dominate the news today. It is the subject of intense dispute and regional unrest. Around the world, supporters of both sides are blaming the other for hundreds of civilian deaths. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” today to protest the blast, and Jordan declared three days of mourning for the victims. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said “the barbaric terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the hospital in Gaza,” not Israel. The unrest has raised fears of a wider war. Iran’s foreign minister warned of an escalation in response to civilian deaths in Gaza. The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for this morning. Biden’s visit Arab allies, including the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, canceled meetings with Biden. He will now meet only with Netanyahu, whom he hugged after landing in Israel this morning. Biden will likely try to de-escalate the conflict and secure humanitarian aid for Gaza. A White House spokesman said that Biden had directed his national security team to “gather as much context as possible” about the hospital blast. Many Arabs are critical of the U.S. for its support of Israel. “The Americans have zero moral standing in this region,” one Middle East expert said. More on the war A wider conflict with Hezbollah would create challenges for Israel. It would have to fight on two fronts and defend against the group’s guerrillas. Israel’s armed forces announced the establishment of a humanitarian region in the south. Hamas said its head of military intelligence was killed in an Israeli strike. During the initial attack, Hamas members stole victims’ phones to broadcast violent messages. A New York law firm rescinded job offers to three students who they said led groups at Harvard and Columbia that blamed Israel for the attack by Hamas. Vladimir Putin is in Beijing for meetings while Biden is in Israel, highlighting the world’s new divisions. Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM Instacart Health Bringing healthy food to more families than ever With Instacart Health, we’ve brought SNAP online in all 50 states, powered virtual food drives for over 120 food banks, and much more — and we’re just getting started. Learn More THE LATEST NEWS Congress The House of Representatives yesterday. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Representative Jim Jordan lost a vote to become House speaker after 20 Republicans opposed him. He plans to try again today. Biden-district Republicans and loyalists of Kevin McCarthy: Here are the 20 G.O.P. lawmakers who voted against Jordan. Jonathan Nez, a former Navajo Nation president, is running to become Arizona’s first Native American member of Congress. China China’s economy grew more than expected last quarter, but the real estate market continued to suffer. The U.S. imposed more limits on American companies selling advanced computer chips that power A.I. to China. More International News Ukraine struck Russian air bases using American long-range missiles. Here’s why Biden decided give the weapons to Ukraine. India’s Supreme Court rejected a plea to legalize same-sex marriage, saying that doing so was up to the country’s legislature. An expected liberal coalition in the Polish Parliament could lead to a reversal of the nation’s deeply conservative policies. Other Big Stories In Kirkland, Wash.Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Parking lots around the country have become home to Americans who live in their cars, too poor to rent but not poor enough for government aid. The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force have struggled to attract recruits. But with a marketing strategy based on swagger, the Marines have plenty. In a plan to speed up boarding, United Airlines will allow economy passengers in window seats to board before those in middle and aisle seats. A man was wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years. After being exonerated, an officer in Georgia shot him to death during a traffic stop. Opinions It’s OK to withhold your opinions on the Israel-Hamas war, Elizabeth Spiers writes. Here are columns by Pamela Paul on a Palestinian author and Jamelle Bouie on Jim Jordan. Gain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all by subscribing today. MORNING READS Alice TravisMaansi Srivastava/The New York Times Oprah before Oprah: Alice Travis became the first Black woman to host her own national talk show in 1977, with Toni Morrison among her guests. Reopening: Rains and flooding devastated Vermont this summer. A tourism campaign called “Very Much Open” seeks to reassure visitors. Runaways victory: Joan Jett was an early fan of the New York Liberty. This week she attended her first game in 10 years. Lives Lived: Roland Griffiths helped pioneer a new era of research on psychedelics, which he saw as a way to alleviate suffering and even reach a mystical state. He died at 77. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-0, in Game 2 of the N.L.C.S. Soccer: Gio Reyna, who recently returned to the U.S. men’s national team after an injury, scored two goals in the Americans’ 4-0 win against Ghana. A.I. and football: Technology from Amazon allows viewers of N.F.L. broadcasts to identify potential blitzes before a play. ARTS AND IDEAS A still from “The Exorcist.”Warner Bros-Getty An anniversary: “The Exorcist,” the classic horror film about a girl possessed by a demon, turns 50 this year. Times culture writers explored the movie’s legacy — and how it touches on faith, queerness and womanhood. “It’s fitting that the biggest, most contested film to open in 1973 is about a life-or-death struggle over a female body,” writes the Times film critic Manohla Dargis, “a fight that was also at the center of the Supreme Court’s biggest, most contested decision that year: Roe v. Wade.” More on culture Britney Spears had an abortion during her relationship with Justin Timberlake, according to excerpts from her coming memoir. A grand jury will consider a new manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the 2021 film “Rust.” At book fairs, Scholastic will separate books dealing with race and gender. Schools can opt to display these books — or not. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Whip up a pistachio pesto for this sandwich. Watch “The Sugarland Express,” Steven Spielberg’s first theatrical release, on Amazon Prime. Cut down on food waste with these tools and tips. Create an ergonomic workstation. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was potently. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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