Members phkrause Posted February 27 Author Members Share Posted February 27 February 26, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering Biden’s forthcoming immigration policy — as well as Michigan, Israel and “Abbott Elementary.” President Biden at the border in 2023. Doug Mills/The New York Times An about-face President Biden has come to recognize that the surge of undocumented immigration during his presidency is a threat to his re-election. He knows that most voters are unhappy about the increase. So are mayors and governors who have been left to deal with an expensive and often chaotic situation — such as in Denver, the subject of a recent Times story. Biden and his advisers have already settled on one strategy to reduce his political vulnerability. They plan to remind voters that congressional Republicans this month blocked a bipartisan bill that would have strengthened border security. Even though many Republicans favored the bill’s policies, they defeated it at Donald Trump’s behest, largely to avoid solving a problem that has hurt Biden politically. Given the blatantly partisan nature of the Republicans’ decision, it’s reasonable for Biden to emphasize it during his campaign. But I would be surprised if he could eliminate his vulnerability on immigration merely by criticizing Republican intransigence. Why? Biden is the president, after all, and a president has significant authority to shape immigration policy even without new legislation. Biden himself has been aggressive about using this authority — albeit to loosen immigration policy rather than tighten it. During his first months in office, he expanded asylum and paused deportations. He also expanded a policy known as parole, which the law says should be used “only on a case-by-case basis.” Last year, Biden used parole to admit more than 300,000 people. These policies, combined with Biden’s welcoming rhetoric during the 2020 campaign, contributed to the migration surge. (John Judis went into more detail in a recent Times Opinion essay, as did David Ignatius in a Washington Post column.) The changes signaled to migrants that their chances of being able to enter and remain in the U.S. had risen. Many migrants, as my colleague Miriam Jordan has written, are “certain that once they make it to the United States they will be able to stay. Forever. And by and large, they are not wrong.” Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection | By The New York Times At times, Biden administration officials have tried to downplay or even deny that their policies have contributed to the migration increase. Yet the officials’ recent actions suggest that they may not even believe their own denials. The clearest sign is that the administration is now considering policies that would undo some of its initial loosening of immigration rules. One potential policy would restrict people’s ability to claim asylum if they first crossed into the U.S. illegally, rather than using the established asylum process. To justify the policy, Biden would likely cite the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to suspend immigration for anyone “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” Whatever Biden decides, I suggest you keep in mind three pieces of context. Presidential power First, recent history suggests that a president’s immigration policies are significant enough to matter. Migration surged after Biden took office — and it has fallen when he has put in place more modest policies to restrict undocumented immigration. One example: After the Biden administration persuaded Mexico to enforce its own immigration laws more forcefully in December, the number of people illegally crossing the southern border fell 50 percent in January. Policy changes like these have both direct and indirect effects on migration. When migrants believe they are unlikely to be able to enter the U.S. and remain in the country, fewer attempt to do so. Legal challenges Second, if Biden acts to restrict migration, advocates for a more open immigration policy will probably challenge him in court. Many of these advocates believe that the U.S., as a rich country, has a moral obligation to admit migrants from poorer countries even if the migrants don’t have legal permission to enter. The outcomes of these legal challenges would be uncertain, but there is reason to believe at least some of Biden’s actions would stand. The Supreme Court, when upholding some Trump immigration restrictions in 2018, ruled that the 1952 law “exudes deference to the president in every clause.” Even if judges block some measures, the initial announcement of the policies could still slow migration by signaling to people that the Biden administration had become more serious about border security. Republican claims Third, you should still be skeptical of Republican claims that Biden can do whatever he wants about the border. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, has suggested as much on several occasions. In truth, while a president has significant flexibility to set immigration policy, that’s not the same as complete autonomy. The policies passed by Congress matter, too. The bipartisan bill that Republicans defeated would have paid for, among other things, the hiring of border agents and immigration judges who could have reduced the enormous backlog of cases. These resources would have allowed the government to evaluate asylum applications more quickly — and reject applicants without good claims. Without the additional resources, more migrants will remain in the U.S. for months or years while their cases slowly wind through the courts. The bottom line: Biden does have the power to reduce the very high migration levels of the past three years. And it’s true that he has been slow to do so. It’s also true that an enduring solution to the country’s immigration problems will require Congress to pass legislation. Related: Last fall, “The Daily” went to Texas to explain how people who live near on the border think about immigration. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Politics The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in two cases on free speech. Justices could define what rights social media companies have to limit what their users post. The White House staff is divided over the administration’s Israel policy and concerned by questions about Biden’s age. Read Peter Baker’s reporting from the West Wing. Ronna McDaniel, the leader of the Republican National Committee, said she would step down next week. Congressional leaders failed to pass legislation to keep the government funded past Friday and avoid a partial shutdown. Most voters, including Republicans, said protecting access to contraception was “deeply important” to them, a poll found. “Cop city”: Georgia has charged protesters who oppose the construction of a police training center with domestic terrorism offenses. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Erin Schaff/The New York Times This year, Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, faces an electoral test that could be critical for her future: delivering her battleground state for Biden. Michigan Republicans, in a new hybrid system, will use tomorrow’s primary and a nominating convention on Saturday to award presidential delegates. Here’s how it works. Some Arab Americans and longtime Democrats in the state are turning against Biden because of the war in Gaza. New York City Sury Espine with her son at their new apartment in Central Islip, New York. Jeenah Moon for The New York Times New York City’s $25 million plan to house 1,250 migrant families has barely eased the burden on its shelter system. Flaco, the owl who became a beloved sight in the city after escaping Central Park Zoo last year, died after apparently striking a window. About a billion birds will die that way in the U.S. this year. War in Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war with Russia. The U.S. estimates the total is more than twice that. A Senate aide is under investigation after he made frequent visits to Ukraine and provided what he said was $30,000 in sniper gear to its military. Israel-Hamas War The Israeli military said that its raid of a major hospital in southern Gaza was over and that it had detained 200 people. Benjamin Netanyahu said that any cease-fire deal would delay but not prevent an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah. He framed the operation as essential to eliminating Hamas. An active-duty Air Force airman set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Other Big Stories The New York Times Most people of Middle Eastern and North African descent are classified as “white” in U.S. census data. These graphics show how many actually identify. With its pandemic funding gone, America’s child care industry is struggling with inflation and staff shortages. The morality of I.V.F. divides conservative Christians: Catholic teaching expressly forbids it, while Protestants tend to be more open to it. An American couple went missing while sailing off the coast of Grenada. The authorities there are investigating whether escaping prisoners might have harmed them. AT&T will offer a $5 credit to customers affected by an outage that left thousands without service last week. Opinions Texas is right in its Supreme Court case: Tech giants need to be regulated, Tim Wu writes. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Trump’s big South Carolina primary win and Biden’s State of the Union address next week. Here are columns by David French on Christian nationalism and Michelle Goldberg on the Michigan Democratic primary. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS At the first-ever Florida Man Games. Jason Andrew for The New York Times Florida Man Games: The competition featured a mullet contest, a mud duel and an “evading arrest” obstacle course. Fashion: What does it mean to dress like an American? Trick shots: TikTok creators work for hours, sometimes days, on seconds of content. Metropolitan Diary: The salad worm. Lives Lived: Lee Hoyang, professionally known as Shinsadong Tiger, wrote and produced upbeat, catchy hits that defined the style of K-pop in the early 2010s. He died at 40. SPORTS Women’s sports: For the first time, female professional softball players in Latin America have their own league. N.F.L.: Russell Wilson told the “I Am Athlete” podcast that he hopes to remain with the Broncos, despite being benched for the final two games last season. M.L.B.: Cody Bellinger is set to return to the Chicago Cubs on a three-year, $80 million contract, ending his free agency. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS “The Adoration of the Kings.” via Sotheby's What’s in a name?: “The Adoration of the Kings,” a 17th-century Nativity scene, was sold in 2021 by Christie’s for $992,000. Two months ago, the work fetched $13.8 million at Sotheby’s, based on expert opinions that it was painted by Rembrandt. The price rise is illustrative of how authenticity trumps aesthetics when it comes to the value of a painting and the power of connoisseurs. See why some experts believe “Adoration” is a work by the Dutch master — and why others aren’t convinced. More on culture A classroom scene. Gilles Mingasson/Disney Unlike other scripted TV shows, “Abbott Elementary” uses its child actors sparingly and lets them, right or wrong, act like themselves. Two weeks into his stint, Jon Stewart has done what seemed impossible: He has made “The Daily Show” relevant again, Jason Zinoman writes. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Throw together this warming spicy tomato white bean stew in only 30 minutes. Read an updated guide to Covid symptoms and treatments. Game with these headsets. Drink water out of a filtered bottle. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were alligator and litigator. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted February 28 Author Members Share Posted February 28 February 27, 2024 Good morning. Donald Trump talks a lot about inflation while campaigning. Today, my colleague Jeanna Smialek looks at how his policies might affect inflation if he wins. — David Leonhardt By Jeanna Smialek Economics Reporter We’re also covering Gaza, NATO and the moon. Donald Trump Doug Mills/The New York Times The up and up If there is a simple political truth, it’s that voters hate inflation. If there’s another, it’s that they also hate the policies that snuff it out. Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign highlights the tensions between these two truths. The former president has blasted President Biden for the rise in prices over the past few years. But Trump also criticizes high interest rates — the Federal Reserve’s key tool for lowering inflation. And the second-term agenda he is proposing contains few policies that economists believe would reduce inflation. In fact, some would risk pushing prices higher. Those include higher tariffs, which could raise costs for American consumers. Trump has also pledged to deport many undocumented immigrants, which could cause labor shortages that lift prices on food and other items. And while Trump has not laid out his plans in sufficient detail for economists to judge how his agenda as a whole would affect inflation, there’s little to suggest that his policies would stamp out price increases. “I certainly don’t think it’s a disinflationary agenda,” said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Inflation solutions? The White House is not primarily responsible for controlling inflation. That’s the Fed’s job. The central bank uses interest rates to keep inflation low: Higher rates can cool the economy and bring down prices, and vice versa. Fed officials make decisions independently of a president’s administration. But government taxing, spending and regulatory decisions can influence how quickly prices rise, partly by stoking — or slowing — demand. Research suggests that pandemic relief packages contributed to the recent inflation burst by elevating consumption, for instance. Trump has said that inflation would be lower under his watch and that more gas production could curb inflation, suggesting that America should “drill, baby, drill.” But U.S. crude oil production already reached record levels last year, and oil drilling permitted on public land is up under Biden. Beyond that, pump prices are driven by big global forces rather than by administration policy. “The president doesn’t have a lot to do with what happens in the oil patch,” said Tom Kloza, a founder of Oil Price Information Service. Inflationary plans Some of Trump’s plans could push prices up. Take tariffs. Trump has floated tariffs of 60 percent or more on Chinese goods, along with a 10 percent markup for imports from around the world. It’s hard to guess exactly how tariffs would act on consumer prices: Foreign producers could eat some of their cost, and currency adjustments could dim their impact. But if U.S. importers bear cost increases — which seems to have happened during the first Trump administration — they could pass them onto consumers by raising prices on affected goods. Trump’s proposed tariffs are much more extensive than those imposed during his presidency, making them a big economic wild card. Still, they could bring just a one-time price bump, some economists said, rather than ongoing increases — which is what we mean when we say “inflation.” Another Trump campaign pledge risks a more ongoing effect: “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” The details and feasibility of the plan remain unclear, but the disruption could be big. An estimated eight million undocumented workers in the U.S. make up a substantial chunk of the work force in sectors like field work and hospitality. If companies encountered sudden and gaping labor shortages, they would face a choice: either produce less (which would lift prices as consumers competed for fewer goods) or raise wages to attract employees (which could in turn prod companies to charge more). “This would definitely have an inflationary impact,” said Thierry Wizman, an economist at Macquarie, though how much “really depends on the extent.” Silver lining If there’s one way Trump could reduce inflation, it could be through deregulation, a few Republican economists told me. Businesses facing less red tape might pass their cost savings along to consumers. But it’s unclear how much of an impact that would have, because regulation cost estimates vary and Trump’s plans are not fleshed out. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment. If there’s good news here, it’s that inflation is already receding: After jumping to 9.1 percent in the summer of 2022, consumer prices climbed a much more modest 3.1 percent in the year that ended last month. American consumers may not be as spooked by inflation when November’s winner takes office. But based on what Trump has proposed so far, there’s little to suggest that his policies would alleviate price increases — and some reason to think that they could exacerbate them. For more The Fed is expected to cut interest rates this year. That’s already becoming an election issue. Stubborn housing inflation complicates the Fed’s decision about when to lower rates. There’s not much that Biden can do unilaterally to cut the prices of consumer staples. But the Federal Trade Commission is bolstering his efforts. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Middle East Biden said negotiators were close to a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a pause in the fighting in Gaza. Israeli officials signaled that the agreement could involve releasing some Palestinians convicted of major terrorism charges. The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority tendered the resignation of his government. The U.S. and Arab states have encouraged the authority to overhaul itself to persuade Israel to let it govern Gaza after the war. After American strikes, Iran’s proxies in Iraq and Syria have limited their attacks. NATO and Russia Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, in Parliament. Denes Erdos/Associated Press Sweden will join NATO after Hungary’s Parliament voted to accept it. Vladimir Putin may not have calculated that his war could lead to a bigger NATO. Read Steven Erlanger’s analysis. The Russian military is willing to absorb huge losses to make small gains in Ukraine. 2024 Election Both parties have presidential primaries in Michigan today. Here’s what to watch for. Manhattan prosecutors asked a judge for a gag order on Trump to protect jurors and witnesses in his hush-money criminal trial. “He’s about as old as I am”: Biden joked about Trump’s age during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” Supreme Court The Supreme Court heard challenges to laws in Florida and Texas that would limit internet companies’ ability to moderate content. Several justices seemed receptive to tech companies’ argument that the laws — enacted after Facebook, Twitter and YouTube banned Trump and other conservatives — violate the First Amendment. Courts have blocked the laws for now. Most Supreme Court justices seemed open to returning the cases to lower courts and keeping the laws on hold in the meantime. Read more takeaways. More on Politics The Federal Trade Commission sued to block Kroger from buying Albertsons, another grocery chain, saying it would hurt competition. Without a spending bill, federal agencies will start shutting down this weekend. Biden and congressional leaders will meet today. New Mexico’s attorney general will examine how Meta’s paid subscription service attracts predators, a move prompted by a Times investigation into girl influencers on Instagram. A Venezuelan migrant was arrested over the death of a nursing student. The arrest made a Georgia community the latest flashpoint in immigration politics. Health Lead-tainted applesauce poisoned hundreds of children in the U.S. last year. The contaminated snack slipped through gaps in the food-safety system, our investigation found. A cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a major insurer, has disrupted prescriptions at pharmacies across the U.S. and for military service members overseas. Education Ruth Gottesman, the donor. David Dee Delgado for The New York Times Tuition at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx will be free for all students after a former professor donated $1 billion. Mayor Eric Adams abandoned plans to expand free preschool for 3-year-olds in New York City, leaving many families with huge child care costs. Other Big Stories An image captured by Odysseus during landing. Intuitive Machines Odysseus — the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972 — is likely to die soon. It touched down sideways, limiting its ability to send images back. Japan’s birthrate fell to a new low last year, Reuters reports. Opinions We don’t yet know why a nonbinary teen died in Oklahoma. But we do know right-wing leaders in the state have vilified people like them, Margaret Renkl writes. Marriage is more important than ever for individuals and for the country, Brad Wilcox argues in a conversation about modern conservatism. Here are columns by Paul Krugman on rural decline and Pamela Paul on impeachment. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Jen Gorgano and Mike Stillman outside her childhood home in Commack, N.Y. Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Moving back: Some first-time homeowners are buying their childhood houses. Tipping and Gen Z cooks: The Times spoke to 30 chefs about the challenges of running a restaurant today. Lives Lived: Roni Stoneman was a virtuoso banjo player in the renowned Appalachian string band led by her father. But her greatest claim to fame came in the 1970s, when she joined the cast of “Hee Haw” and proved herself to be a rustic comedian. Stoneman died at 85. SPORTS Women’s soccer: Mexico stunned the Americans, 2-0, in the final group game of the Gold Cup last night. The goals were the first Mexico has scored against the U.S. team since 2010. N.B.A.: The Detroit Pistons’ coach, Monty Williams, criticized league referees after a close loss against the New York Knicks, calling the officiating “an abomination.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Dronme Davis, a formerly plus-size model who lost weight. Amandla Baraka for The New York Times Body talk: Plus-size influencers are a source of affirmation for their followers, helping them embrace their own bodies. What happens, then, when these influencers lose weight? Followers, especially younger ones, can sometimes feel disillusioned and betrayed. “If you’re going to be out there using your body to make a living, and position yourself as a brand,” one follower said, “I think you can’t expect the community around you to not react.” More on culture Olivia Rodrigo fans. OK McCausland for The New York Times At opening night of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour, her fans wore lavender and screamed. See pictures. A music producer accused Sean Combs, once known as P. Diddy, of sexual misconduct. It is the latest in a series of allegations against the hip-hop mogul. Jon Stewart discussed the Israel-Hamas war on “The Daily Show.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Matt Taylor-Gross for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Cook creamy chicken and noodles in one pot. Read out loud. It may improve your memory, focus and mood. Learn origami. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was billboard. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. P.S. Conor Dougherty, who covers housing for The Times, is asking to hear from readers: What kinds of housing pressures do you face, and how have they affected your life? Share your stories here. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted February 29 Author Members Share Posted February 29 February 28, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the new clarity about college admissions — as well as Michigan, Gaza and nepo models. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Kenny Holston for The New York Times Diversity before the court After the Supreme Court banned race-based affirmative action last year, many people in higher education worried that it would be only the first in a series of decisions that reduced diversity at selective schools. In particular, university administrators and professors thought the court might soon ban admissions policies that gave applicants credit for overcoming poverty. Such class-based policies disproportionately help Black, Hispanic and Native students. For now, though, these worries appear to be misplaced. And the future of admissions at selective colleges and high schools has suddenly become clearer. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain. The Texas model The situation has become clearer because the Supreme Court last week declined to hear a lawsuit against a public magnet school in Northern Virginia — Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, known as T.J. Until recently, T.J. admitted students based on a mix of grades, test scores, student essays and teacher recommendations. This process led to a student body that looked very different from the area it served. About 5 percent of T.J. students were Black or Hispanic, even though the surrounding area is about 37 percent Black or Hispanic. The school also enrolled few low-income students of every race, as Richard Kahlenberg of Georgetown University has noted. Only 2 percent of Asian students at T.J. came from low-income families, compared with 20 percent of Asian students in the surrounding area. In 2021, though, T.J. switched to a new admissions policy. It was modeled after a bipartisan plan that Texas created in 1997, under Gov. George W. Bush. In T.J.’s version, the school filled most of its freshman class by accepting the top 1.5 percent of students at every public middle school in the area. The underlying idea is simple enough. Many communities in the U.S. are economically and racially homogenous. But a policy that accepts the top students from every community can create diverse classes. The policy is defensible on meritocratic grounds because it rewards teenagers who excel in every environment — and on political grounds because it gives all communities access to desirable schools. Once T.J. changed its policy, the school became much more diverse. The share of students from low-income families rose to 25 percent from 2 percent. Racial diversity also increased: Source: Fairfax County Public Schools | By The New York Times “I love T.J.,” Kaiwan Bilal, one of the students accepted under the new policy, told The Washington Post. “It’s even better than I expected, better than my parents told me it would be.” Bilal also said that he was struck by the school’s diversity. The SAT connection Not everyone favors these changes, of course, and a group of parents and conservative legal activists sued to stop them. Their argument revolved around intent: They said that because T.J. had adopted the new policy with the goal of increasing racial diversity, it was illegal, even though it did not use racial preferences. In higher education, many people viewed the lawsuit with alarm. If the Supreme Court ruled against T.J., almost all class-based programs would have been at risk. Racial diversity would most likely plummet, especially in the wake of the ban on race-based policies. But the court didn’t rule against T.J. Instead, it effectively endorsed class-based programs by refusing even to hear the T.J. case. Only two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented. The news has a connection to another story in higher education: the return of the standardized test requirement at some colleges. Last week, Yale announced that it would again require test scores from applicants, joining Dartmouth, M.I.T., Georgetown and Purdue, among others. At selective colleges like these, standardized test scores predict academic performance better than high school grades, research shows. A crucial part of the test requirement, however, is that colleges give applicants credit for overcoming disadvantage. The colleges don’t expect top students from struggling high schools to do as well on the SAT as private school students. Lower-income students, after all, have been running with the wind in their faces. “We know society is unequal,” Sian Beilock, Dartmouth’s president, told me. “We’re looking for the kids who are excelling in their environment.” Last week’s announcement by the Supreme Court means that schools (including those that don’t require test scores) can feel comfortable taking economic disadvantage into account. Matching public opinion There is also a broader significance. In these politically polarized times, I know that many liberals distrust the motivations of conservatives (and vice versa). After the Supreme Court — which is dominated by conservative justices — banned racial preferences, some liberals assumed that it might start a yearslong campaign against diversity. For now, though, cynicism seems unjustified, at least on this issue. Most justices are neither universally in favor of nor universally opposed to diversity programs. Context matters. As it happens, the court has also chosen a position that matches public opinion: Most Americans support class-based admissions policies and (as my colleague German Lopez has explained) oppose race-based policies. T.J.’s new policy, as Kahlenberg wrote in the journal National Affairs, is “doing what America has been pining after for a quarter-century: pursuing racial and economic diversity without the use of racial preferences.” Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Michigan Primary Donald Trump beat Nikki Haley in the Republican primary, 68 percent to 27 percent. President Biden won the state’s Democratic primary. Read takeaways. The war in Gaza influenced voting. About 13 percent of Democratic voters cast ballots for “uncommitted” after activists suggested doing so to protest Biden’s policies. (By comparison, about 11 percent voted “uncommitted” when Barack Obama ran for re-election.) The figure suggests that many Arab and Muslim voters may oppose Biden in November. They’re a small share of the electorate, but every vote matters in a close election, The Times’s Nate Cohn writes. More on Politics At the White House. Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times After meeting with Biden, congressional leaders expressed optimism about averting a partial government shutdown this weekend. An effort to disqualify the prosecutors leading the case against Trump in Georgia hit a possible setback: A witness said he didn’t know when the two lawyers had started a relationship. New York Democrats rejected a congressional map drawn by a bipartisan commission. They put forward their own, which would strengthen Democrats’ chances in the House. The U.S. Army is cutting 24,000 positions as it shifts from fighting terrorism to countering threats from China and Russia. Israel-Hamas War Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu differ in how they’re describing the war. Biden implies peace is possible; Netanyahu says the war will be long. Hamas officials suggested that they were not close to agreeing to release some hostages in exchange for a cease-fire in Gaza. Biden said earlier that he hoped for a deal by the weekend. The U.S. will provide more humanitarian funding in Gaza and the West Bank as part of the push for a cease-fire. Janet Yellen, Biden’s Treasury secretary, urged Netanyahu to reinstate Palestinians’ work permits and restore economic ties with the West Bank. War in Ukraine Russia warned NATO against a ground intervention in Ukraine after provocative comments from Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, on the topic. The Russian military is willing to accept a high death toll among its own soldiers. Russia may have lost more troops taking Avdiivka, a small city, than died in more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan. More International News In India, a zoo official gave two lions the names of a Hindu goddess and a Muslim emperor. He was punished. See photos from a European sauna marathon in The Washington Post. Health More gay men are taking H.I.V. prevention medication, but fewer are using condoms. Four eye ointments sold at Walmart and CVS are being recalled because of a potential risk of infections. Other Big Stories Macy’s will close about 150 stores in the coming years but expand its upscale Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury chains. Severe weather briefly grounded flights in Chicago. Track the storms. Wildfires prompted evacuations in Texas and Oklahoma. Opinions New York City is scary for birds like Flaco the owl. But so is freedom, Carl Safina writes. We publish new editions of old books to appreciate their place in history, Apoorva Tadepalli writes. Here are columns by Bret Stephens on why Nikki Haley is right to stay in the race and Thomas Edsall on falling birth rates and future voters. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Scotland. Stuart Sinclair Not-so-golden ticket: A company promised families an immersive Willy Wonka experience. They got an empty warehouse and a few jelly beans. Today’s Great Read: What makes your favorite TV characters tick? Look to their mothers. Recycling: Personal medical devices like inhalers, EpiPens and Covid-19 tests can easily accumulate. See if they can be recycled. Fashion pioneer: Meet a man who built a business selling undergarments to male cross-dressers and transgender women in the 1970s, when doing so was more taboo. Lives Lived: Bruce Newman oversaw Newel Galleries, a go-to destination in Manhattan for antique hunters with deep pockets. His customers included Jackie Kennedy and Barbra Streisand. He died at 94. SPORTS N.B.A.: Max Strus hit a 59-foot buzzer beater to give Cleveland an important win over Dallas. Men’s college basketball: The unranked B.Y.U. upset No. 7 Kansas on the road. It was the Jayhawks’ first home loss of the season. Soccer: The U.S. men’s team will play a friendly against Brazil. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Lennon Gallagher, son of the Oasis rocker Liam Gallagher, in a Burberry show. Henry Nicholls/Getty Images Nepo models: Scarlet Stallone, a daughter of Sylvester, walked her first runway for Tommy Hilfiger. Eve Jobs, a daughter of Steve, has modeled for Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors. Lila Moss, the daughter of Kate, is a Victoria’s Secret recruit. The casting of celebrities’ children — long common for Hollywood — seems to be catching on in fashion, Elizabeth Paton writes, as luxury brands find that big names can increase online engagement. More on culture “Mary Poppins” Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images The British film authorities raised the rating of “Mary Poppins” to PG because it contains racist language. A jury in New York found two men guilty in the 2002 killing of Jam Master Jay, the D.J. of Run-DMC. Late night hosts chided Biden for talking about Gaza while eating ice cream. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Michelle Gatton. Add liquid to this pasta gradually, the way you would for risotto. Create a room so cozy, it feels like a hug. Subscribe to a wine club. Move your home office outside. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was unzipped. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted February 29 Author Members Share Posted February 29 February 29, 2024 Good morning. The last few years have been great for energy production. In today’s newsletter, my colleague Jim Tankersley, an economics correspondent in Washington, explains why you don’t hear President Biden talking much about the boom. — David Leonhardt By Jim Tankersley We’re also covering the Supreme Court, Mitch McConnell and surrealism. A natural gas flare near Pecos, Texas Paul Ratje A muffled boom A junior White House economist made a chart last year — the sort of chart that previous presidents might have put in a campaign ad. It shows that U.S. energy production, from wind and solar to oil and gas, has boomed under President Biden. The nation is closer than ever to a goal that presidents have pursued for decades: true energy independence. The Times has recreated the chart, using the same data: Source: Ryan Cummings, Energy Information Administration | Data goes through November 2023. | By The New York Times The Biden administration has never published that chart. The president isn’t bragging about record oil and gas production. His reluctance highlights a political problem for him and other Democrats. Biden wants to phase out oil and gas eventually to fight global warming. But domestic oil and gas production is expanding on his watch. That brings political benefits: It helps reduce energy costs, and polls show Americans largely support it. But more drilling also means more pollution — and more fury from young progressive voters. “It is a tough balancing act,” said Ryan Cummings, the economist who created the energy chart. “You want to reduce emissions, but you need a bridge to get there.” Frack, baby, frack Republicans and fossil-fuel groups have accused Biden of waging “war” on American energy because he wants to halt America’s greenhouse gas emissions in a quarter century. But no president has overseen energy production like Biden has. He loves to talk about part of that story: how the United States is producing more power from renewables, including a surge in solar power accelerated by the climate law he signed in 2022. It’s the other half of the story he shies away from: the increased production of oil and natural gas. For decades, America’s oil wells seemed to be slowly drying up. The country’s daily oil production fell by half from the early 1970s to the 2008 financial crisis. Oil imports rose. Hydraulic fracturing — fracking, a process that allows drillers to access oil and gas reserves that were previously too expensive to tap — changed that. Production rebounded. It reached record highs when Donald Trump was president. The United States was suddenly selling more oil than any other country and exporting more than it imported. Under Biden’s watch, the U.S. broke that record last fall. The country also set records for natural gas output. In the first half of 2023, the United States was the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Those developments have strengthened Biden’s hand in foreign policy: Europe has been able to replace much of the gas it once imported from Russia during the war in Ukraine. And oil prices have stayed relatively low, even as Saudi Arabia and other countries cut production to increase profits. The political bind But all that production has brought Biden grief from environmental groups, which successfully pushed America to join nearly 200 nations last year in agreeing to phase out fossil fuels. Climate activists are a key plank of Biden’s liberal base. So are young voters — and polls show that climate change is among the most important issues motivating them this year. Under pressure from those groups, Biden said last month that he would pause approval of new natural-gas export terminals. But other Democrats, including a new Democratic polling group called Blueprint, have pushed Biden to tout record drilling. They say it will help him attract independent voters — the sort of people past candidates wooed with promises of energy independence. In one way, Biden has embraced the drilling boom: gasoline prices. He released oil from America’s strategic reserve around the invasion of Ukraine. He has since boasted that the move helped reduce gas prices that hit $5 a gallon in June 2022. In private conversations, Biden and his team can be frank. They say that keeping oil and gas flowing in the short term can ease the path to a no-emission energy future by shielding working-class consumers from high prices that might turn them against climate policies. Biden told me as much in 2021, when I asked at a news conference about the tension between his efforts to lower gas prices and emissions at the same time. He said it was important to keep gas prices down because they had a “profound impact” on working-class families. “So,” he added, “I don’t see anything inconsistent with that.” Related: Conservatives want the next Republican president to end restrictions on emissions and repeal Biden’s signature climate law. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Supreme Court The Supreme Court agreed to hear Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution, delaying a federal criminal case involving his actions on Jan 6. The court scheduled arguments for late April. The court’s decision to hear the case reduces the chances of a verdict in the criminal trial before Election Day. Trump’s actions suggest he wants to delay the trial. Read Alan Feuer’s analysis. In a separate case, an Illinois judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the state’s primary ballot over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Supreme Court’s ruling on whether states can disqualify Trump is pending. The court seemed split over a challenge to a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, attachments that let semiautomatic rifles fire at speeds rivaling machine guns. Mitch McConnell Senator Mitch McConnell Kenny Holston/The New York Times “It’s time for the next generation”: Mitch McConnell will step down after November as the Senate Republican leader, a position he has held for a record 17 years. McConnell had a serious fall last year and has had episodes where he momentarily froze in front of the media. His support for more aid to Ukraine, leadership style and relationship with Trump have left him out of step with his party. Three Johns — Thune, Cornyn and Barrasso — top the list of his potential replacements. The late night hosts discussed McConnell’s decision. Congress Congressional leaders reached a deal on a short-term spending bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend. Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would protect I.V.F. and other fertility treatments nationwide after Alabama’s top court ruled that frozen embryos are children. Migration The border in Arizona. Rebecca Noble for The New York Times Illegal crossings have fallen in the last month, but the migrant crisis still defines life on the border. Read about residents and workers in Arizona. Trump and Biden will both visit the Texas border today, a rare convergence on the campaign trail. Republican lawmakers in Georgia are pushing to toughen immigration detention laws after the murder of a college student. More on Politics A judge rejected Trump’s offer of a $100 million bond as he tries to pause the $454 million penalty in his civil fraud case. Trump said he might have to sell properties to pay. Hunter Biden denied involving his father in his business and criticized Republicans’ impeachment inquiry as a “political pursuit” in closed-door testimony. Biden’s allies are optimistic that no other Democratic primary will present the same challenges as Michigan, where the “uncommitted” option drew over 100,000 votes after a protest campaign over his handling of the war in Gaza. Israel-Hamas War The Gazan health ministry said more than 30,000 people had been killed in the war since Oct. 7. The ministry’s toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Many experts say it may be an undercount. Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas began a four-day march from the Gaza border to Jerusalem, pushing for Israeli leaders to reach a deal to release them. Israeli reservists are returning from the war to a divided country. Inspired by the unity they experienced in the army, many are organizing for political change. A U.S. airman lit himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy this week to protest the war. Read about his road from an isolated Christian community to leftist and anarchist activism. International Near Avdiivka, Ukraine. Lynsey Addario for The New York Times Russia’s capture of the city of Avdiivka shifted the front line in Ukraine westward. Nearby, farmers, miners and their families are poised to flee. Ghana’s Parliament passed a bill that would jail people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups. Business Apple spent a decade working on a car before the project was killed this week. Internal disagreements meant the effort sputtered for years. Biden has ordered an investigation into security threats from Chinese electric cars with internet connectivity. The F.A.A. asked Boeing for a “comprehensive action plan” on quality control after a panel came off one of the company’s jets in flight last month. Other Big Stories Older Americans should get a dose of the latest Covid vaccine this spring, the C.D.C. recommended. Wildfires in Texas have consumed houses, burned vast ranch lands and forced evacuations across the Panhandle. Opinions Carlos Lozada read the 880-page plan that would guide a second Trump term. It treats the law as an obstacle to conservative power, he writes. Here is a column by Jamelle Bouie about the pressure on Trump to nationalize fetal personhood. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Josephine Carozzo celebrated her 100th and 24th birthday on Feb. 29, 1996. Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images Happy birthday: Leap day babies get to celebrate once every four years. Today is their day. Font nerds, rejoice: After 17 years of Calibri, Microsoft Word has a new default typeface: Aptos. Ice cream, oils and drinks: So many products were once infused with the cannabis-derived compound CBD. Has its moment passed? Lives Lived: The outsider artist Melvin Way began his career in the basement of a notorious and violent New York City homeless shelter. Some of his drawings are now in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He died at 70. SPORTS College basketball: Caitlin Clark has broken the A.I.A.W. large school scoring record with a career total of 3,650. M.L.B.: The Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto impressed in his first spring training appearance. College football: The new playoff system could change again in two years; officials are homing in on a 14-team bracket. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS James Baldwin Jean-Regis Rouston/Roger Viollet via Getty Images A guide to Baldwin: James Baldwin wrote with grace across genres: essays, novels, short stories, songs, children’s literature, drama, poetry, even screenplays. The author Robert Jones Jr. has advice for those seeking an entry point. His picks include: “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” a semi-autobiographical account of the Black American journey from the South to the North. “Nearly biblical in its tenor, it is a kind of gospel.” “Sonny’s Blues,” a novel about two brothers in Harlem, a teacher and a jazz pianist. “Baldwin explains to us, in ways that are wholly astonishing, the nature of music itself.” “The Devil Finds Work,” Baldwin’s most underrated book, an essay collection about his love affair with movies. Read more recommendations. More on culture Surrealism revolutionized culture. This year, exhibitions around the world celebrate the movement’s 100th birthday. The comedian Richard Lewis, known for his sarcastic stand-up and his starring role on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” died at 76. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for the New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Stir together a high-comfort, low-fuss lemony pearl barley soup. Play a game with the family. Buy a smart smoke detector. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was backroom. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. P.S. Today’s print front page is the last to be drawn by Tom Bodkin, The Times’s chief creative officer, who is retiring after 46 years. Tom has regularly designed the paper’s front page over the decades, always by hand, using pencil on green paper. Here is today’s version: Tom Bodkin/The New York 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 3 Author Members Share Posted March 3 March 1, 2024 By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick Good morning. We’re covering the Republican fascination with Vladimir Putin — as well as the U.S.-Mexico border, Gaza and the subway. Vladimir Putin Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Enemy or ally? Large parts of the Republican Party now treat Vladimir Putin as if he were an ideological ally. Putin, by contrast, continues to treat the U.S. as an enemy. This combination is clearly unusual and sometimes confusing. It does not appear to stem from any compromising information that Putin has about Donald Trump, despite years of such claims from Democrats. Instead, Trump and many other Republicans seem to feel ideological sympathies with Putin’s version of right-wing authoritarian nationalism. They see the world dividing between a liberal left and an illiberal right, with both themselves and Putin — along with Viktor Orban of Hungary and some other world leaders — in the second category. Whatever the explanation, the situation threatens decades of bipartisan consensus about U.S. national security. Already, House Republicans have blocked further aid to Ukraine — a democracy and U.S. ally that Putin invaded. Without the aid, military experts say Russia will probably be able to take over more of Ukraine than it now holds. If Trump wins a second term, he may go further. He has suggested that he might abandon the U.S. commitment to NATO, an alliance that exists to contain Russia and that Putin loathes. He recently invited Russia to “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t spend enough on their own defense. (Near the end of his first term, he tried to pull American troops out of Germany, but President Biden rescinded the decision.) Trump has also avoided criticizing Putin for the mysterious death this month of his most prominent domestic critic, Aleksei Navalny, and has repeatedly praised Putin as a strong and smart leader. In a town hall last year, Trump refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war. There are some caveats worth mentioning. Some skepticism about how much money the U.S. should send to Ukraine stems from practical questions about the war’s endgame. It’s also true that some prominent Republicans, especially in the Senate, are horrified by their party’s pro-Russian drift and are lobbying the House to pass Ukraine aid. “If your position is being cheered by Vladimir Putin, it’s time to reconsider your position,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said last month. But the Republican fascination with Putin and Russia is real. The Putin-friendly faction of the party is ascendant, while some of his biggest critics, like Mitch McConnell, who announced this week that he would step down this year as the Republican Senate leader, will soon retire. (We recommend this article — in which Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, explains that while McConnell sees the U.S. as the world’s essential force, a growing number of Republicans do not.) In the rest of today’s newsletter, we’ll walk through the evidence of this shift. Ukraine aid The Senate has passed an additional $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, with both Republican and Democratic support. But the House, which Republicans control, has so far refused to pass that bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is close to Trump, has not allowed a vote on the bill even though it would likely pass if he did. A few Republicans have gone so far as speak about Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in ways that mimic Russian propaganda. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Ukraine of having “a Nazi army,” echoing language Putin used to justify the invasion. Military experts say that if Ukraine does not receive more U.S. aid, it could begin losing the war in the second half of this year. “Not since the first chaotic months of the invasion, when Russian troops poured across the borders from every direction and the country rose up en masse to resist, has Ukraine faced such a precarious moment,” wrote our colleagues Andrew Kramer and Marc Santora, who have been reporting from Ukraine. (Related: Ukrainians who live to the west of the recently captured Avdiivka are poised to flee in the face of a Russian onslaught.) Alexander Smirnov House Republicans hoping to impeach President Biden have repeatedly promoted information that appears to have been based partly on Russian disinformation. One example: The Republicans cited an F.B.I. document in which an informant accused Biden and his son, Hunter, of taking $5 million bribes from the owner of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. But federal prosecutors have now accused the informant, Alexander Smirnov, of fabricating the allegation to damage Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Smirnov has told the F.B.I. that people linked to Russian intelligence passed him information about Hunter Biden. A federal judge has ordered Smirnov detained and called him a flight risk. Tucker Carlson Tucker Carlson is not a Republican Party official, but he is an influential Trump supporter, and Carlson has often echoed Russian propaganda. At least once, he went so far as to say he hoped Russia would win its war against Ukraine. Last month, Carlson aired a two-hour interview with Putin in which Putin made false claims about Ukraine, Zelensky and Western leaders with little pushback from Carlson. In a separate video recorded inside a Russian grocery store, Carlson suggested life in Russia was better than in the U.S. (Watch Jon Stewart debunk those claims here.) Republican voters The shift in elite Republican opinion toward Russia and away from Ukraine has influenced public opinion. Shortly after Russia invaded, about three-quarters of Republicans favored giving Ukraine military and economic aid, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Now, only about half do. Republican voters are also less likely to hold favorable views of Zelensky. In one poll, most Trump-aligned Republicans even partly blamed him for the war. Republicans also support NATO at lower rates than Democrats and independents, a shift from the 1980s. More on the war “Donald Trump views himself as a Putinesque, dictatorial figure,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, has said. “We should believe him that he wants to go down this road.” Jeffries also told The Times how he hoped Ukraine aid could pass. The Biden administration is considering giving Ukraine weapons from Pentagon stockpiles even though it lacks money to replace them, a short-term bid to aid Ukraine until Congress acts. Putin warned that direct Western intervention in Ukraine would risk nuclear war, alluding in a speech to the French president’s recent comments about sending NATO troops there. Trump plans to meet next week with Viktor Orban, Hungary’s right-wing prime minister. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS The Border At the border. Kenny Holston/The New York Times; Doug Mills/The New York Times President Biden and Donald Trump each visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Speaking in Brownsville, Biden urged Republicans to “show a little spine” and pass a bipartisan border security bill, inviting Trump to join him in supporting it. “The United States is being overrun,” Trump said in Eagle Pass, about 300 miles away. He also blamed Biden for the death of a Georgia nursing student; the authorities have charged an undocumented immigrant with her murder. The two events were about more than immigration policy; they spoke to the competing visions of power and presidency at stake in November, Shane Goldmacher writes. A federal judge blocked a Texas law that would let state and local police expel migrants, siding with the Biden administration. More on Politics Congress passed a short-term spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend. Biden is expected to quickly sign it. Katie Britt, Alabama’s first elected female U.S. senator, will deliver the G.O.P. response to Biden’s State of the Union address next week. A former U.S. ambassador who is accused of working for decades as a secret agent for Cuba said he would plead guilty. Israel-Hamas War In Gaza City. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Gazan officials said that more than 100 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 injured near a convey of aid trucks. Palestinian and Israeli officials gave differing accounts of the events. Gazan officials said that Israeli forces opened fire at a crowd waiting for aid. The Gazan health ministry called it a “massacre.” The Israeli military attributed most of the deaths to a stampede. A spokesman said that soldiers fired warning shots in the air before firing only “when the mob moved in a manner which endangered them.” This map shows where the chaos unfolded. More International News In Moscow. Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Mourners gathered in Moscow for the funeral for the Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Colombia’s main international airport has become a hub for African migrants hoping to reach the U.S. Some Iranian voters, disaffected and angry at the government after violent crackdowns, are vowing to boycott this week’s elections. Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada who helped negotiate NAFTA, died at 84. Climate In Texas. Desiree Rios for The New York Times More than one million acres have burned in the Texas Panhandle — the state’s largest wildfire on record. Judges in Idaho, Montana and Nevada have recently given their states more power to protect dwindling groundwater supplies. The Biden administration said it would, for now, exempt existing gas-fired plants from new regulations that would require plants to capture their carbon dioxide emissions before 2040. Business Nine grandchildren of Walt and Roy Disney publicly expressed support for Disney’s C.E.O. and its current board, as an activist investor wages a proxy battle for board seats. Oprah will step down from the board of Weight Watchers, months after she revealed she was taking weight-loss medication. The news of her departure sent the company’s shares into a tailspin. Other Big Stories An administrator at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center was accused of plagiarizing large sections of his doctoral dissertation. The City of Ferguson, Mo., agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit that accused it of wrongfully jailing people for traffic tickets and other minor offenses. Opinions Black Americans often can trace their ancestry back only a few generations. Genealogy now has the tools to go back further, Edda Fields-Black writes. Here are columns by John McWhorter on why Black English shouldn’t be only for Black people and Michelle Goldberg on Gretchen Whitmer’s political success in Michigan. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Tending to an “end destination” sign. Christopher Payne for The New York Times TLC: Inside the repair shop where New York City subway cars go to get a makeover. Preservation: Alcatraz is facing deterioration. A new 3-D map could help preserve its history. “Who TF Did I Marry?”: A 50-part TikTok series about a woman’s short-lived marriage is made for TikTok’s middle-aged users. Lives Lived: Richard Abath was a night watchman whose decision to allow two thieves disguised as Boston police officers into the Gardner Museum in 1990 enabled the greatest art heist in history. He died at 57. SPORTS Women’s basketball: Caitlin Clark announced that she would enter the W.N.B.A. Draft and forgo the opportunity to return to Iowa for a fifth year. N.F.L. Draft: A player who spent much of his childhood homeless is expected to be drafted this April. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Zendaya as Chani in “Dune: Part Two.” Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Return to Arrakis: “Dune: Part Two” is in theaters this weekend. The film is the second part of a trilogy directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the epic sci-fi series by Frank Herbert. The first installment was a hit with critics and at the box office, and Manohla Dargis, The Times’s chief critic, has high praise for “Part Two.” She writes: Set in the aftermath of the first movie, the sequel resumes the story boldly, delivering visions both phantasmagoric and familiar. Like Timothée Chalamet’s dashingly coifed hero — who steers monstrous sandworms over the desert like a charioteer — Villeneuve puts on a great show. The art of cinematic spectacle is alive and rocking in “Dune: Part Two,” and it’s a blast. Read Manohla’s review here. More on culture Sally Rooney will publish a new novel, titled “Intermezzo,” in September, The Cut reports. Late night hosts discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to consider Trump’s immunity claim. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Kate Sears for The New York Times Make a simple, five-ingredient Turkish yogurt cake. Stream movies on Mubi, an art-house alternative to Netflix. Ride out the end of winter with these video games. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was plaudit. 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 the length of the book detailing conservatives’ plans for Trump’s second term. It is 887 pages, not 880. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 4 Author Members Share Posted March 4 March 2, 2024 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. We know that happiness is to be found in taking our time and being present. How can we slow down and stop rushing our way through life? María Jesús Contreras Hurry up and wait Racing to catch a subway train recently, I tripped on the stairs leading to the platform, steadying myself only barely by grabbing the arm of an unsuspecting and rightfully alarmed fellow passenger. I sustained no major damage — a scraped knee, a bruise on my thigh I’d discover a week later. These injuries were, I told myself in the aftermath, well deserved. I’d disregarded one of my precepts for personal happiness, the one that stipulates, “Most misery is caused by rushing.” My fall was the most basic evidence of this, a frying-pan-over-the-head reminder that running late and reckless from one place to the next puts one at risk of a spill. But there was also all the incidental unhappiness I’d incurred and inflicted in the lead-up: I’d been rushing to get out of the house, which put me in a foul mood. I’d been impatient with everyone I encountered on the way to the subway, adding some measure of unpleasantness to their mornings. We rush because we’re late. We also rush because we want to move quickly away from discomfort. We rush to come up with solutions to problems that would benefit from more sustained consideration. We rush into obligations or decisions or relationships because we want things settled. Worrying is a kind of rushing: It’s uncomfortable to sit in a state of uncertainty, so we fast-forward the tape, accelerating our lives past the present moment into fearsome imagined scenarios. A friend and I remind each other regularly of a radio news segment she heard years ago. The reporter concluded the story, about a mess of delays on the Long Island Rail Road, with the line, “These commuters are ready for this day to be over, once and for all.” Of course the message was the commuters wanted to get home and have dinner and go to bed already. But the finality of “once and for all” made it sound as though the commuters were so fed up that they wanted to end that day and all days. Or, as my friend wrote: “Certainly at one point the day will definitely be over once and for all for each of us. Is that what we’re rushing toward?” This obsession with being done with things, of living life like an endless to-do list, is ridiculous. I find myself sometimes having a lovely time, out to dinner with friends, say, and I’ll notice an insistent hankering for the dinner to be over. Why? So I can get to the next thing, who cares what the next thing is, just keep going. Keep rushing, even through the good parts. In Marie Howe’s poem “Hurry,” she describes running errands with a child in tow. “Hurry up honey, I say, hurry,” she urges, as the little one scampers to keep up. Then she wonders: “Where do I want her to hurry to? To her grave? / To mine? Where one day she might stand all grown?” This is not novel advice, to stop and smell the roses, to be here now, to slow down. But it’s not easily heeded. Our culture, now as ever, rewards hustle. The Silicon Valley maxim “Done is better than perfect” can be constructive when applied to procrastination. But we bring it to bear on situations in which “done” is not necessarily a desirable goal. Since my subway incident, I’ve been trying to notice when I’m rushing, physically and psychologically. “Where are you going?” I ask myself. “And why are you in such a hurry?” That pause helps put a little space between here and there, and might, with any luck, avert future misery. For more “It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this, any more than any one person wants to be part of a traffic jam or stadium trampling or the hierarchy of cruelty in high school — it’s something we collectively force one another to do.” From 2012, Tim Kreider on the trap of busy-ness. The art of slowing down in a museum. One way to slow down: observe without documenting. “There is so much to be done, and yet the temptation is to just sit in the sun and listen to the hickory nuts falling.” Nature makes a good argument for ceasing our rushing. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV The comedian Richard Lewis in 2014. Michael Schwartz/WireImage Richard Lewis died this week at 76. He delivered jokes with rollicking energy, giving his Jewish neurotic persona a nervy cool, The Times’s Jason Zinoman writes. Lewis and Larry David, born days apart at the same Brooklyn hospital, became archrivals, then best friends, before playing frenemies on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Leah McSweeney, a former star of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” sued the show’s network and Andy Cohen, a top producer. She claimed that “dark secrets,” “psychological warfare” and frequent cocaine use created a “rotted workplace culture.” Arts Two filmmakers criticized Israel at the Berlin International Film Festival last weekend, stirring a debate about antisemitism in Germany’s arts sector. Joan Jonas’s work combines video, performance, folklore, sculpture and ecology. At 87, she is still working, and still defying categorization. Almost 40 years after the artist Ana Mendieta died in a fall from a New York City apartment window, writers and filmmakers continue to revisit the tragedy. Her family would rather focus on her art. Fashion Iris Apfel was in her 80s when the fashion world took notice of her brash bohemian style, and her eclectic wardrobe formed a hit exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She died at 102. Spotted on the runways (and streets) of Milan Fashion Week: surprising celebrities and flashes of red. A new campaign for the fashion brand Reformation stars Monica Lewinsky. In the Fashion Chatter column, Ruth La Ferla spoke with Lewinsky about her new gig. More Culture The soprano Lise Davidsen, who has triumphed in works by Tchaikovsky and Strauss, cements her stardom in a new production of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” at the Metropolitan Opera, the Times critic Zachary Woolfe writes. At 70, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth is releasing a blistering new solo LP, finding new fans on TikTok and making art that continues to surprise. A remastered version of Star Wars: Dark Forces, a popular 1995 video game, came out this week. It will remind players that before “Star Wars” became a corporate empire, it was a rich source of gaming creativity, Calum Marsh writes. Goo Hara was one of South Korea’s most popular musical artists. Her suicide, one of several among young Korean stars in recent years, has exposed a darker side to the country’s entertainment industry. THE LATEST NEWS Outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The U.S. will airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza, President Biden said. He lamented the “tragic and alarming” deaths of scores of Palestinians near a convoy of aid trucks this week. Thousands of Russians attended the funeral service of the dissident Aleksei Navalny, with some chanting “no to war” and “peace for Ukraine,” in a major display of dissent. A Colorado paramedic convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man, received a five-year prison sentence. Oregon is recriminalizing hard drugs, only three years after the state removed penalties for drug possession. Lawmakers hope the change will reduce overdose deaths, which have surged. CVS and Walgreens, the largest U.S. pharmacy chains, will start selling the abortion pill mifepristone this month, easing access for patients in states where abortion is legal. A businessman pleaded guilty to trying to bribe Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, by giving his wife a Mercedes-Benz. Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to bribery charges. Elon Musk sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profits ahead of the public good in developing artificial intelligence. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. CULTURE CALENDAR By Alexis Soloski 📺 “The Regime” (Sunday): “Mildred Pierce” and “Mare of Easttown” crowned Kate Winslet the queen of HBO mini-series. Now she can add another title: despot. In this absurdist show from Will Tracy, a “Succession” writer, Winslet stars as the ruler of a Central European principality, a bleach-blond autocrat in an endless parade of bodycon dresses. 📚 “The Hunter” (Tuesday): Thriller obsessives like me might pine for another entry in Tana French’s “Dublin Murder Squad” series (the last one, “The Trespasser,” was published in 2016). But French, a consummate suspense writer, has traded the city for the countryside: Her new book, a companion to her 2020 novel “The Searcher,” returns to the village where a former Chicago detective is pursuing an eventful retirement. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT RECIPE OF THE WEEK Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. By Melissa Clark Slow Cooker Honey-Soy Braised Pork With Lime and Ginger The end of February doesn’t necessarily signal the end of blustery cold nights, and in much of the country, March is still prime time for simmering cozy winter stews. Sarah DiGregorio’s honey-soy braised pork with lime and ginger is made in a slow cooker, which means you’ll be able to savor its meaty perfume all day long as it gently bubbles away. The meat emerges fall-apart tender, with a rich, caramelized sauce zipped up with lime and freshly grated ginger. Serve it over rice or noodles or in lettuce cups for a satisfying, warming weekend meal — and then be grateful for the leftovers. They’ll make for a deluxe and instant midweek dinner to fight the chill. REAL ESTATE Connor Krone with Harry near his new apartment in the city. Andrea Mohin/The New York Times The Hunt: He tested his $450,000 budget all over New York. Would it be Williamsburg, Hell’s Kitchen or the South Bronx? Play our game. What you get for $2 million: A Beaux-Arts mansion in St. Louis, a Spanish-style home in Pasadena and a stone house in Washington. Where to start: Irondequoit, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester, topped a study of the best places in the U.S. for younger buyers. LIVING Cole Brauer Samuel Hodges Solo sailing: As Cole Brauer speeds to the finish of a solo race around the world, she is using Instagram to blow up sailing’s elitist image. Prenuptial party: A three-day pre-wedding ceremony for the son of one of India’s richest men raises the bar for extravagant festivity. (Rihanna was in attendance.) All she wrote: A German manufacturer rereleased a much-celebrated limited-edition ink. The fanfare soon turned into drama in the fountain pen community. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Start your spring cleaning Spring cleaning looks great on paper: a chance to delve into the messiest corners of your life and emerge with a completely fresh space, just in time for sunnier skies. But in practice, it can be overwhelming. Our advice? Start by decluttering. Take inventory of your things and cull the excess now, so that you’re streamlining the actual cleaning come spring. Wirecutter’s experts have recommendations for closet-organizing gear, a storage system for your car, and more. Or join our Decluttering Challenge for six days of tips to help you tidy your busiest spaces. — Brittney Ho GAME OF THE WEEK Max Verstappen at a race in Japan last year. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Bahrain Grand Prix: The Formula 1 season begins this morning. The Athletic’s experts expect Max Verstappen to dominate the field again this year. Even if he does, though, there are plenty of story lines to follow, including a potential breakout year for the sport’s only American racer, Logan Sargeant, and a new team for the fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo. And if you’re new to the sport — perhaps drawn in by an addictive documentary series — Madeline Coleman’s series “Between the Racing Lines” is helpful for understanding race day, including why D.R.S. is so controversial and how drivers get in physical shape to compete. Today at 10 a.m. Eastern on ESPN. More on sports LeBron James is already the leading scorer in N.B.A. history. Tonight he has a shot to become the first player to reach 40,000 career points. Ahead of the N.H.L. trade deadline next week, The Athletic highlighted one change each team could make. Scott Van Pelt’s late-night “SportsCenter” is a safe harbor from the endless manufactured outrage of modern sports media, Jonathan Mahler writes in The Times Magazine. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were ineffable and infallible. 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 Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 4 Author Members Share Posted March 4 March 3, 2024 By Desiree Ibekwe Good morning. Travelers are racing to see parts of the world that may soon vanish. A gondola at the Mer de Glace. Darren S. Higgins for The New York Times Melting away A lot of climate discussion revolves around time. Lines rise across charts predicting the next century. Scientists set deadlines for the coming decades. Each month seems to bring news of a new heat record. The sense that time is running out can be heady. As the Earth warms, natural wonders — coral reefs, glaciers, archipelagos — are at risk of damage and disappearance. This has motivated some travelers to engage in “last-chance tourism,” visiting places threatened by climate change before it’s too late. “For thousands of years, humans have raced to be the first to scale a peak, cross a frontier, or document a new species or landscape,” Paige McClanahan writes in a piece for The Times. “Now, in some cases, we’re racing to be the last.” A vanishing glacier One such destination is the Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in the French Alps, where thousands of people go each year to ski. (Early tourists included Mary Shelley and Mark Twain.) The glacier, like many others, is melting rapidly. A new, higher lift opened recently to stay closer to the retreating ice. And a study published in the journal Science last year found that around half of the world’s glaciers will have melted by the end of this century, even if nations stick to the goals of the Paris climate agreement. “For someone who doesn’t know how it used to be, it’s a beautiful scene,” a visitor to the glacier told Paige. “But when you know the difference, it really is sad.” Pros and cons There is some evidence that visiting an ecosystem threatened by climate change could lead people to become more aware of their impact on the environment. In a 2020 survey conducted by researchers at the Mer de Glace, 80 percent of visitors said that they would try to learn more about how to protect the environment, and 77 percent said they would reduce their water and energy consumption. Some tourist spots have leaned into education. In Peru, officials renamed a trek to the Pastoruri glacier “La Ruta del Cambio Climático,” or “The Route of Climate Change.” And at the Mer de Glace, an exhibit about climate change — called the Glaciorium — is set to open later this year. There are some, however, who question of the value of last-chance tourism. Visiting fragile environments can do more harm than good. Some people travel to Antarctica because they fear it is being destroyed. But, as Sara Clemence highlighted in a piece in The Atlantic last year, travel there requires a lot of fuel, while visitors can introduce disease and damage wildlife. And research by Karla Boluk, an academic from the University of Waterloo, found that a majority of last-chance tourists to two sites in Canada were unwilling to pay extra to offset the carbon footprint of their trip. “There’s an ethical paradox of last-chance tourism,” Boluk told The Times, “and it involves the moral question of whether travelers acknowledge and respond to the harm they promote.” Read Paige’s full story here. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election Trump supporters. Veasey Conway for The New York Times Donald Trump leads President Biden by 5 percentage points among registered voters nationwide, according to a new Times/Siena poll. Only a quarter of voters think the country is moving in the right direction, the poll found, and a majority think the economy is in poor condition. Biden’s age also poses a threat: Most voters who supported him in 2020 now believe he is too old to lead the country effectively, the poll found. Trump won Republican caucuses in Michigan, Missouri and Idaho. Texas’ governor and attorney general hope to bring down incumbent Republicans in Tuesday’s primary and shift the state further right. More on Politics Trump has said little about the war in Gaza, a reflection of the anti-interventionist shift he has brought to Republican politics — and his personal feelings about Benjamin Netanyahu. Local politicians in recovery for drug addiction are embracing honesty about their pasts. Israel-Hamas War U.S. Air Force cargo planes dropped 38,000 ready-to-eat meals into Gaza. An Israeli airstrike near a hospital in Rafah killed at least 11 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel is reluctant to fill the leadership vacuum in northern Gaza. Experts say that gangs or Hamas members could fill the gap. Read Patrick Kingsley’s analysis. International A greenhouse in Gasan-myeon. Jun Michael Park for The New York Times South Korea is increasingly dependent on foreign workers, who routinely face predatory employers and inhumane conditions. Pakistan’s Parliament chose a former prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, to fill the role again. His government faces questions of legitimacy after accusations of military interference in elections. After years of declining vaccination rates, Britain is experiencing a measles outbreak. The authorities in Russia long sought to portray Aleksei Navalny as inconsequential, while vilifying him in a way that suggested the opposite. Little has changed since his death. Education The University of Florida has terminated all positions associated with diversity, equity and inclusion to comply with new state regulations. The University of Idaho, preparing for a drop in the college-age population, plans to take over the University of Phoenix, a for-profit online school known for misleading claims and low graduation rates. Weather In Miami, Texas. Desiree Rios for The New York Times Cattle ranchers across the Great Plains face an uncertain future after wildfires. Thousands are without power after a winter storm brought snow to California and Nevada. Rains in California have temporarily resurrected a lake in Death Valley, The Washington Post reports. Other Big Stories New York City trash. DeSean McClinton-Holland for The New York Times Trash in New York City blocks sidewalks, feeds rats and spills into the street. Fixing the problem requires trade-offs. A firefighter in Kentucky rescued a driver from a truck that was dangling off the side of a bridge. See a video. LeBron James became the first player in N.B.A. history to score 40,000 career points. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Should Michigan’s protest vote worry Biden? Yes. That 100,000 Michigan voters vented their discontent with Biden, many over his handling of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, is a problem for him. “The Biden campaign has to deal with how the president’s policy could impact his re-election effort,” USA Today’s Sara Pequeño writes. No. There are more moderates who agree with Biden’s policies than there are progressives who disagree with him. “It would be a mistake to think that shifting his policy to the left would be a net gain for him,” John Halpin writes for CNN. MORE OPINIONS Josephine Sittenfeld has been journaling for decades. Apple’s new Journal app is a weak substitute for the real thing, she writes. Much of Israel’s war is what a justifiable campaign against a terrorist enemy inevitably looks like, Ross Douthat argues. Here are columns by Maureen Dowd on the speech she hopes Biden gives this week and Nicholas Kristof on the U.N.’s double standard for Israel. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT MORNING READS In Alderney. Cristina Baussan for The New York Times Hidden history: Alderney, a windswept island in the English Channel, feels like a remote haven. During World War II, it was a site of Nazi atrocities. Thank you very much: As a boy in Pakistan, Airaj Jilani idolized Elvis. Decades later in the U.S., he still has his passion — and his impeccable impersonation. Vows: Their corporate speak turned into a language of love. Lives Lived: Nancy Wallace helped transform the Bronx River from a watery graveyard for automobiles and appliances into an urban greenbelt for New York City. She died at 93. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Tonje Thilesen for The New York Times Why go to a great steakhouse? For the food, sure, but also for the dinner theater. Criterion has succeeded in Hollywood by creating the anti-algorithm: Film lovers trust its heavily curated catalog to show them beautiful, strange, complex movies. The Ethicist: My dad cut my brother out of his will. Should I secretly split my inheritance? TALK | FROM THE MAGAZINE Yejin Choi Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado By David Marchese The A.I. industry continues to boom, and to poke at our anxieties. In late 2022, I spoke with the pioneering researcher Yejin Choi, who works on developing common sense and ethical reasoning in A.I. Can you explain what “common sense” means in the context of teaching it to A.I.? It’s the unspoken, implicit knowledge that you and I have. It’s so obvious that we often don’t talk about it. You and I know birds can fly, and we know penguins generally cannot. So A.I. researchers thought, we can code this up: Birds usually fly, except for penguins. But in fact, newborn baby birds cannot fly, birds covered in oil cannot fly. The point being, exceptions are not exceptional, and you and I can think of them even though nobody told us. It’s not so easy for A.I. What’s most exciting to you right now about your work in A.I.? I’m excited about value pluralism. Another way to put it is that there’s no universal truth. A lot of people feel uncomfortable about this. As scientists, we’re trained to be very precise and strive for one truth. Now I’m thinking, well, there’s no universal truth — can birds fly or not? Moral rules: There must be some moral truth. Don’t kill people, for example. But what if it’s a mercy killing? Then what? How could you possibly teach A.I. to make moral decisions when almost every rule or truth has exceptions? A.I. should learn exactly that: There are cases that are more clean-cut, and then there are cases that are more discretionary. Instead of making binary, clean-cut decisions, it should sometimes make decisions based on This looks really bad. Or you have your position, but it understands that, well, half the country thinks otherwise. Read more of the interview here. BOOKS Franco Zacha New fiction: “Wandering Stars,” the follow-up to Tommy Orange’s “There There,” follows the descendants of a massacre on Native Americans over a century and a half. Our review calls it a towering achievement. Our editors’ picks: In “The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels,” readers sift through texts, emails and more to discover the story behind a series of occult deaths. Times best sellers: “The Chaos Agent,” the 13th book in Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series, is new this week on the hardcover fiction best-seller list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Check in on your emotional well-being. Clean your dog’s bed. Feel safer with a smart security device. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For North Dakota holds Republican caucuses tomorrow. Then it’s Super Tuesday. Sixteen states have primary elections or caucuses, including California, where Representatives Katie Porter and Adam Schiff are competing for a Senate seat. Biden will make the State of the Union address on Thursday. International Women’s Day is Friday. Congress’s deadline to avert a government shutdown is Friday. Trump is scheduled to host Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. What to Cook This Week Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Sue Li. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making Eric Kim’s five-ingredient peanut butter noodles, which she calls “a Parmesan-tossed classic in the making.” Her other suggestions include an orange-glazed baked salmon, a one-pan crispy chicken and chickpeas and a cheesy and spicy black bean bake. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was grownup. Can you put eight pieces of history — including the printing press, chemotherapy and Frida Kahlo — 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 4 Author Members Share Posted March 4 March 4, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the Trump campaign and the Supreme Court — as well as Kamala Harris, tech regulation and the “Dune” popcorn bucket. The Supreme Court Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times A question of timing For six weeks in June and July 2022, a House committee held public hearings about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. During those hearings, millions of Americans heard new details about the efforts by Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn the 2020 election result. Less than four months later, Americans voted in the midterm elections — and rejected many of Trump’s favorite candidates. Republicans whom he had backed in primaries performed about five percentage points worse on average in the general election than other Republicans, a Times analysis found. The difference was large enough to decide several races. The message seemed clear. Americans may be politically divided and (as I’ve written before) dissatisfied with both the Democratic Party’s liberalism and President Biden’s performance. But when voters focus on the anti-democratic behavior of Trump and his allies, a small but critical slice becomes less willing to vote for them. This history feels particularly relevant after the Supreme Court issued a decision last week that will delay Trump’s federal trial for election subversion. The court agreed to hear Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution because the alleged crimes occurred while he was president. The justices scheduled arguments about his immunity claim for April, which is likely to push back the start of any trial until at least September. The court’s move reduces the chances of a trial verdict before Election Day. A benefit to Trump In doing so, the court has almost certainly helped Trump’s campaign. He has made clear that delay is central to his strategy for fighting the cases against him. And for obvious reason: If he becomes president again, he can order the Justice Department to end any federal case against him. The delays also make it more likely that he will become president again. The public will be less focused on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election if he isn’t on trial for them. Polls have also found that a significant share of Trump’s current supporters claim they will not vote for him if he is convicted. As Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, said to me: “The possibility that Trump would be convicted of federal crimes by the election was one of the better reasons to think the race could shift toward Biden. That’s looking less likely now, especially as the D.C. case seemed like the fastest and clearest path to a conviction.” And as my colleagues Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman wrote, “Trump’s delay strategy seems to be working.” (Two other cases — a Georgia trial involving his attempts to overturn the result and a federal trial involving his handling of classified documents — have moved even more slowly. The charges in a fourth case — a New York trial set to start this month, involving hush money to conceal a sexual affair — may not seem as serious to many voters.) The Supreme Court is not the only reason that the cases are moving slowly. Prosecutors in both federal cases and the Georgia case have moved with less urgency than some legal observers thought was savvy. And the Supreme Court justices will no doubt argue that they are merely following a reasonable timetable for an important case. But the court has acted very quickly when dealing with past cases related to elections, including in Bush v. Gore in 2000. This year, by contrast, the justices have made two different decisions that have pushed back Trump’s trial for election subversion. No, then yes First, the justices rejected a request in December from Jack Smith, the special prosecutor, that they immediately consider Trump’s claim of immunity. The case was so important, Smith said, that only the Supreme Court could resolve it and should not wait for an appeals courts to hear it first. The justices said no to Smith. Second, after the appeals court ruled against Trump, the justices agreed last week to hear his challenge — and scheduled the hearing for late April, almost two months from now. “The schedule the court set could make it hard, if not impossible, to complete Mr. Trump’s trial before the 2024 election,” Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, wrote. (I recommend this article by Adam, in which he explains the relevant history, such as Bush v. Gore.) In a newsletter last week, I argued that the Supreme Court’s recent decision on diversity and high school admissions offered a reason for Americans to be less cynical about the court. On that subject, the justices seemed to be following a consistent principle across several cases. Sometimes that principle disappointed the political left, and sometimes it disappointed the right. Last week’s decision feels different. When urgent action could help a Republican presidential candidate in 2000, the court — which was also dominated by Republican appointees at the time — acted urgently. When delay seems likely to help a Republican presidential candidate in 2024, the court has chosen delay. The combination does not make the court look independent from partisan politics. For more The Supreme Court looks poised to rule today on Trump’s eligibility to hold office. In his civil cases, Trump has at times ignored his lawyers’ advice. At his upcoming criminal trial, the stakes will be higher. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Middle East Kamala Harris Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, saying that Hamas should agree to a deal for a six-week pause. Harris is expected to meet with Benny Gantz, a top Israeli war cabinet official, at the White House today to discuss the deal and humanitarian aid. Aid trucks coordinated by Israel failed to deliver most of their supplies to northern Gaza after people in central Gaza overwhelmed and emptied them. A leaked report by the U.N.’s aid agency for Palestinians accused Israel of abusing hundreds of Gazans captured during the war. A British cargo ship sank in the Red Sea, weeks after being damaged by a Houthi missile attack. The fertilizer it carried poses an environmental risk, U.S. officials said. The war is changing the relationship between secular Israelis and the ultra-Orthodox, some of whom are now considering military service. Business A global wave of regulations is forcing tech companies like Meta, Microsoft and Google to change their products. Apple’s App Store now looks different from country to country. Many Americans now live roughly twice as far from their offices as they did before the pandemic. Remote work is partly responsible, a study found. A looming election at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga could be pivotal in the United Automobile Workers’ effort to organize the whole industry. Regulators in Ohio fined CVS more than $1.5 million over problems including understaffing and improper drug security. 2024 Elections Super Tuesday and the State of the Union are this week. Expect a preview of the tone of the general election. Nikki Haley won the D.C. Republican primary. It is her first primary win. “The two most different candidates”: In North Carolina, a mild-mannered Democrat and a Republican firebrand are running for governor. The race is expected to be close. International In Punjab, India. Atul Loke for The New York Times India launched a cricket league for women, allowing girls to dream of a career in sports. Gangs attacked two of Haiti’s prisons, including the largest, and let inmates escape. Mexican forensic specialists came to the U.S. to learn about testing corpses for a fentanyl overdose. Many Colombians still use “sumercé”— a relic of colonial times meaning “your mercy.” They say the term signifies respect. Other Big Stories Kacey Poynter’s 2-year-old son was born with significant brain impairment. Kaiti Sullivan for The New York Times States like Indiana are ending or curtailing programs that pay relatives of seriously ill people to care for them. The former president of Honduras is facing drug trafficking charges in New York. For Hondurans, the trial is a rare chance for national justice. Opinions Tim McDonagh A brilliant flash, screams, and then darkness: W.J. Hennigan imagines what dropping a nuclear bomb today would mean for the world — and how world leaders can alleviate the threat. (Hennigan’s essay is the start of a series called At the Brink. Read an introduction by Kathleen Kingsbury, The Times’s Opinion editor.) Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Mitch McConnell and 2024 election polling. Here’s a column by David French on why Elon Musk is so important to Trump supporters. Discover more of the insight you value in The Morning. The Times is filled with information and inspiration every day. So gain unlimited access to everything we offer — and save with this introductory offer. MORNING READS At Rancho Cucamonga High School. Najee Gordon for The New York Times Teens and taxes: At a high school in California, students help run a tax-return clinic. Origins: Scientists are fascinated by Denisovans, a group of humans that split from the Neanderthal line and then, after thousands of years, went extinct. Peak millennial: 1990 and 1991 babies are shaping the U.S. economy. Forty floors of graffiti: Skyscrapers in Los Angeles were a financial failure that many people had ignored — until graffiti artists tagged their windows. Odysseus: Why is it so hard to land upright on the moon? Metropolitan Diary: Alone on a bench after 51 years. Lives Lived: Robert M. Young’s subjects as a documentary director included civil rights sit-ins, sharks and the war in Angola. He died at 99. SPORTS Caitlin Clark Matthew Holst/Getty Images Another record: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has scored the most points in N.C.A.A. history — men’s or women’s. She scored her 3,668th with a free throw. Broadcasting: The sports journalist Chris Mortensen was, for N.F.L. watchers of a certain age, the defining insider of his generation. He died at 72. College softball: The Oklahoma Sooners lost after a 71-game winning streak. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Iris Apfel at home in 2011. Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times A full life in full looks: Iris Apfel, who referred to herself as a “geriatric starlet,” died on Friday at 102. Apfel, an interior designer, came to the fashion world late in life and went on to set trends in her 80s and 90s with her irreverent ensembles. “She did not have much truck with stealth wealth or quiet luxury or the old axiom that elegance is refusal,” the Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman writes. “She believed, rather, in the virtues of muchness, of giving free rein to your inner extremism and letting your fashion freak flag fly.” See more images of Apfel’s looks. More on culture The “Dune” popcorn bucket is supposed to look like a sandworm. It looks like something else. Shane Gillis hosted “S.N.L.,” years after it fired him. Kanye West has topped the Billboard charts. Are pop culture pariahs making a comeback? THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Beatriz Da Costa for The New York Times. Food Styling: Rebecca Jurkevich. Make the mega-viral feta pasta recipe in one pan. Follow expert tips for cooking chicken. Go key free with a smart lock. Store dry foods in these containers. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were elephant and pentathlete. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 5 Author Members Share Posted March 5 March 5, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering Big Tech and a trans-Atlantic crackdown — as well as Donald Trump, Israel and Jupiter’s ocean moon. At an Apple Store in Manhattan. George Etheredge for The New York Times The new trustbusters In today’s newsletter, I want to help you understand the emerging crackdown on big technology companies. The European Union yesterday imposed a $2 billion fine on Apple, and regulators in the U.S. are pursuing cases against Amazon, Google, Facebook and perhaps Apple. These legal cases are often complex, and I know that some readers find them hard to follow. But the underlying ideas can be clearer than the details. My goal today is to give you a framework for making sense of a major economic and political story. The cycle Almost 15 years ago, a law professor named Tim Wu published a book called “The Master Switch” that helped me to understand this issue. In the book, Wu used a term — “the cycle” — to describe what happened after a new form of communication arrived, be it the telephone, radio or internet. Initially, he explained, new communication industries are diffuse, dominated by small players. The barriers to entry are low. In the early days of radio, amateur stations proliferated, much as the early internet was quirky and offered few opportunities for profit. Over time, though, the new industry tends to become concentrated for a reason: Almost every form of communication depends on a network of users. And larger networks are inherently more valuable than smaller networks. Once a radio station becomes popular, more people want to listen to it so they can know what other people are hearing, and more companies want to buy advertisements. The same is true with the internet: If all my friends have an Instagram account, I’ll want one, too. This cycle is reinforcing, causing large companies to grow even larger. It’s part of what economists call “increasing returns to scale.” But consolidation brings a major downside for a society. Communication businesses can become monopolies, with the power to set prices and control society’s discourse. For most of the 21st century, regulators in the U.S. and other countries allowed technology companies to grow ever larger. (Consider this statistic: The combined stock market value of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and the parent companies of Facebook and Google has more than doubled since just the end of 2019.) Only recently have regulators have begun to step in. The Biden administration has made antitrust enforcement in the technology sector a top priority. “The president knows that vibrant capitalism depends on strong competition,” Lael Brainard, Biden’s top economic adviser inside the White House, said yesterday. “Competition lowers prices, raises wages and levels the playing field for small businesses.” One sign of the change is Wu himself. When he published “The Master Switch” in 2010, he was a professor at Columbia University. Four years later, he ran a doomed campaign for lieutenant governor as a critic of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and concentrated corporate power. Since then, however, both Democratic and Republican policymakers have become more concerned about Big Tech — and Wu is no longer just a gadfly. After President Biden took office in 2021, he appointed Wu as an adviser. Bipartisan concern The new U.S. and European regulatory efforts focus on the power that technology companies derive from the vast networks they run. The E.U.’s $2 billion fine on Apple, for example, cites the company’s practice of charging fees of up to 30 percent to other companies that sell services through the App Store. Apple has sometimes refused to allow these companies, like Spotify, to advertise cheaper alternatives to the same services. Apple has the power to do so because it knows that many consumers are loath to leave the iPhone network. As part of the E.U.’s actions, Apple has agreed to make some changes. Other companies are promising changes as well, many tied to a new E.U. law, the Digital Markets Act. The Biden administration has also sued Amazon, Google and Facebook. For more explanation, I recommend this article by my colleagues Adam Satariano and David McCabe. The antitrust crackdown on Big Tech has bipartisan appeal at a time when few issues do. William Barr, who was attorney general under both Donald Trump and George H.W. Bush, has accused Apple of using an arsenal of anticompetitive tactics. Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, has praised Lina Khan — Biden’s most prominent antitrust regulator — as “one of the few people in the Biden administration that I actually think is doing a pretty good job.” The technology companies generally deny that they have behaved anti-competitively (and Apple is appealing the E.U.’s $2 billion fine). The companies argue that the solution to any monopoly is the free market and that they remain vulnerable to new rivals that can disrupt their networks. This argument has some validity, because new technologies can sometimes break open dominant networks. Television did it to radio, and TikTok may do it to Instagram. But history isn’t entirely on the companies’ side. Frequently, dominant companies eliminate threatening rivals by buying them, as Google did with YouTube and Facebook did with Instagram and WhatsApp. That’s why the only entity with the power to tame a monopoly is often a national government. It happened with the railroads and oil trusts more than a century ago and with AT&T in the 1980s. It’s too early to know whether a new era of trustbusting has begun, but governments are trying harder to confront Big Tech than they were a few years ago. More on antitrust As Google confronts two Justice Department antitrust cases, it is settling smaller lawsuits. 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