Members phkrause Posted July 17, 2024 Author Members Posted July 17, 2024 July 17, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the Democratic Party’s unresolved Biden dilemma — as well as the Republican convention, a Senate conviction and California’s new gender law. President Biden last week. Doug Mills/The New York Times Self over party What happens when a politician’s interest diverges from his party’s interests? That’s the question facing the Democratic Party, and it is the subject of today’s newsletter. President Biden has survived the initial fallout from his shocking debate performance last month, and the momentum against him within the Democratic Party appears to have slowed. But the party’s basic problem is unchanged: His presence on the ballot seems likely to hurt the Democrats’ chances of beating Donald Trump this fall — and hurt the party’s chances of controlling Congress. Among the evidence: In public appearances, Biden continues to confuse facts, and he struggles to make clear arguments for his candidacy. About 75 percent of voters say he is too old to be president, polls show. Most Democratic voters don’t want him to be the nominee, polls also show. His approval rating is below 40 percent, worse than any modern president who has gone on to win re-election. Notably, in every battleground state that has a Senate race this year, the Democratic Senate candidate is winning, and Biden is losing: Source: RealClearPolling | By The New York Times In an earlier era, when the country’s political parties were stronger, Democratic officials might have forced Biden from the race. In 1974, senior Republicans famously persuaded Richard Nixon to resign. In 1944, when Franklin Roosevelt was ailing, Democratic power brokers ousted his Soviet-friendly vice president, Henry Wallace, from the ticket and replaced him with Harry Truman. Today, the parties are weaker, and Democratic officials seem loath to confront Biden. (Daniel Schlozman, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins, argued in a recent Times Opinion essay that Democratic delegates do have the power to replace Biden.) For now, Democrats find themselves with a nominee whom most of them don’t want, and they don’t know what to do about it. Polls, misrepresented Near the end of Biden’s press conference last week, he gave an answer that highlighted the difference between his own interests and his party’s. It came after a reporter asked him about the possibility that Vice President Kamala Harris would replace him on the ticket. “If your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former President Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?” the reporter, Haley Bull of Scripps News, asked. Biden replied: “No, unless they came back and said, ‘There’s no way you can win.’ Me. No one is saying that. No poll says that.” Vice President Kamala Harris at a town hall in Philadelphia on Saturday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times It’s worth unpacking that response. Biden did not reply that he was the Democrat most likely to win. Indeed, he suggested he might remain in the race even if it helped Trump. He named an impossibly high bar — certainty of defeat — for quitting. Four years ago, Biden probably was the Democrat with the best chance to beat Trump. Polls showed that Biden was a stronger candidate than his main primary rivals. But his standing has significantly weakened since then, as my colleague Nate Cohn has documented. The 2024 Biden no longer represents the promise of change. He is an unpopular and visibly aged incumbent. Another telling sign is that Biden tends to misrepresent polls when he talks about them. He claimed in last week’s press conference that he beats Trump “all the time” in polls of likely voters. That is false; Trump tends to win polls of likely voters. Biden has also described the race as “a tossup”; most analysts disagree and consider Trump the favorite. At other times, Biden alleges that the polls are simply wrong, without explanation. (Related: My colleagues report that Biden’s circle of confidants has shrunk in the past few weeks to a tiny group of loyalists.) With all this said, there is at least one very good argument for why Biden should remain the nominee. He won the primaries, in a rout. “Look, 14 million people voted for me to be the nominee,” he told NBC News this week. His critics can make counterarguments, though: that Biden minimized his public appearances before the primaries to hide his aging — and that Americans can’t unsee his debate performance. These changed circumstances explain why 20 congressional Democrats have called on him to quit and many more privately hope he does. “If he is our nominee, I think we lose,” Adam Schiff, a House Democrat running for Senate in California, said at a fund-raiser last weekend. R.B.G. syndrome Many Democrats are haunted by a recent experience with another member of their party who refused to retire. Early in Barack Obama’s second term, Ruth Bader Ginsburg could have resigned from the Supreme Court and allowed Obama (and the Democratic-controlled Senate) to replace her. But she rejected pleas to do so, sometimes using dubious justifications. She claimed, for instance, that a similarly liberal justice couldn’t have been confirmed, even though the first justice Obama named to the court — Sonia Sotomayor — was arguably more liberal than Ginsburg. The real explanation seemed to be that she enjoyed her powerful job, much as Biden does. She prioritized her personal interests over her political values. She risked policy changes she abhorred — like the demise of Roe v. Wade, causing the loss of abortion access for millions of women — to keep her job well into her 80s. For Ginsburg’s fellow progressives, the result was tragic. Biden is evidently hoping that his similar decision leads to a different outcome. More on Biden Democratic officials are divided about whether to nominate Biden before their convention or allow potential challenges. Biden is considering endorsing changes to the Supreme Court, including term limits and a binding ethics code. The proposals would need congressional approval, making them a long shot. Illegal border crossings dropped sharply in June after Biden restricted asylum, falling to the lowest monthly total since he took office. THE LATEST NEWS Republican Convention Nikki Haley Kenny Holston/The New York Times Crime and immigration were common themes on Night 2 of the Republican convention. “We are facing an invasion on our southern border — not figuratively, a literal invasion,” Senator Ted Cruz said. (Here is a fact check.) The party has tried to project a theme of national unity since the shooting, but the pivot has been uneven. Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia said the country would “become totally unhinged” if Trump didn’t win. While Justice, who is running for Senate, delivered his speech, his 60-pound bulldog Babydog sat onstage in an armchair. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis both spoke, showcasing Republican Party unity. Haley made a pitch to Trump-skeptical voters, saying, “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him.” Some attendees wore white bandages on their right ears, mimicking Trump’s. More on the Campaign Many Hispanic voters support Trump’s immigration plan, though some don’t believe he would carry out his furthest-reaching pledges, such as placing undocumented people in camps. In a leaked phone call with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump voiced anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and described his phone call with Biden after the shooting as “very nice, actually.” The Trump Shooting The Butler Farm Show grounds in Pennsylvania. Kristian Thacker for The New York Times Local police officers were stationed inside and around the warehouse complex from which a gunman shot Trump, the head of the Secret Service said. Before last weekend’s shooting, U.S. intelligence agencies warned the Trump campaign of an unrelated Iranian plot to assassinate him. In Trump’s survival, some Republicans see God’s handiwork. Menendez Trial A federal jury convicted Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, of participating in an international bribery scheme. Top Democrats called for him to resign. Menendez used the power of his office to help Egypt’s government and two businessmen in exchange for lavish gifts like gold bars and a Mercedes for his wife. The jury also convicted the businessmen. Menendez is the first sitting senator to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent. He’ll be sentenced in October. He could face years in prison. Israel-Hamas War Hamas military commanders are pressuring the group’s leader in Gaza to accept a cease-fire and release hostages, the C.I.A. director said. Israeli strikes killed more than 20 people in separate parts of Gaza. Israel said militants had been operating inside a former U.N. school that it struck. A high-risk Israeli hostage rescue last month led to one of the war’s deadliest days. See how it unfolded, moment by moment. More International News Clashes in the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters Bangladesh deployed its border guard to quell violent student protests over a job quota system that young people say limits opportunities. The Justice Department charged a former C.I.A. analyst with aiding South Korean spies in exchange for luxury handbags and clothing. Six people, including two Americans, were found dead in a hotel room in Thailand. The police initially said they appeared to have been poisoned, but later walked that back. Other Big Stories California banned schools from forcing educators to notify parents when students use different names or pronouns. Elon Musk said he would move the headquarters of X and SpaceX from California to Texas in protest. Home and auto insurers are losing money to wildfires. They want new construction standards — and they’re burning buildings to prove their point. A fireball, then a boom: A meteor about the size of a toaster passed over Manhattan and exploded high in the sky. Opinions Biden’s poll numbers look bad, but Democrats’ doomsday thinking goes too far: This election is not a foregone conclusion, writes Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster. Let’s appreciate anchovies, which have transformed simple dishes and gourmet food since the Roman Empire, Christopher Beckman writes. Here are columns by Bret Stephens on Trump’s success and Michelle Goldberg on Trump’s shooter. MORNING READS Ko Maung Saungkha holds a book of poetry. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times Artists at war: A rebel commander in Myanmar has raised an army of 1,000 soldiers. But his background is not military — it’s poetry. Flying ant day: Every summer, winged insects swarm Britain. Their moment is coming. Here be dragons: A journey across Switzerland following strangers’ hand-drawn maps. Lives Lived: The actor James B. Sikking specialized in comically and threateningly stern men, most notably on “Hill Street Blues” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” He died at 90. SPORTS M.L.B.: The American League won the All-Star Game, thanks to relentless pitching. But the highlight of the night was Shohei Ohtani’s home run. See it here. M.L.B. draft: Boston added a familiar face: D’Angelo Ortiz, son of the Red Sox legend David Ortiz. N.F.L.: The San Francisco 49ers’ star wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, requested a trade just a week before training camp begins. Read a recap. Soccer: The U.S. women’s national team scuffled to a 0-0 draw against Costa Rica in its last match before the Olympics. Why aren’t the Americans scoring? ARTS AND IDEAS Jonathon Heyward Braylen Dion for The New York Times Jonathon Heyward, the 31-year-old maestro known for his Converse sneakers, is trying to make classical music more approachable. Heyward has led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to expand its repertoire and appeal. A recent performance paid tribute to the victims of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, with a program that combined somber classical works and pieces by local artists including the hip-hop performer Wordsmith. “We want everyone to feel welcome here,” Heyward told The Times. Next up for him: taking over Lincoln Center’s summer ensemble. More on culture The country singer Ingrid Andress, whose rendition of the national anthem before the Home Run Derby this week was widely panned, said she was drunk at the time and would be going to rehab. Jack Black announced that his band, Tenacious D, was canceling the rest of its tour after a bandmate joked about the Trump shooting onstage in Australia. Marvel changed an Israeli superhero’s back story, describing her as a “high-ranking U.S. government official” for its upcoming film. On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart razzed his guest (and longtime foil) Bill O’Reilly. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Grill shrimp with this simple recipe. Watch these hidden gems on streaming services. Find the jeans that fit you best. See the most popular Prime Day deals according to Wirecutter readers. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was wizardry. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David P.S. After 12 years, Pete Wells is moving on from his role as The Times’s restaurant critic. He reflected on the job — and showed his face — in a farewell column. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 19, 2024 Author Members Posted July 19, 2024 July 18, 2024 By German Lopez Good morning. We’re covering Republicans’ false claim about immigration and crime — as well as growing momentum against Biden, a mayor’s swim in the Seine and Emmy nominations. Migrants waiting to be taken to a shelter in Chicago. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times Immigrants and crime Throughout the first three days of the Republican National Convention, officials have highlighted a surge in what they call “migrant crime.” President Biden “has welcomed into our country rapists, murderers, even terrorists, and the price that we have paid has been deadly,” Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas claimed last night. The day before, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said, “Every day, Americans are dying” in crimes committed by migrants. Donald Trump has made similar remarks on the campaign trail. But there is no migrant crime surge. In fact, U.S. rates of crime and immigration have moved in opposite directions in recent years. After illegal immigration plummeted in 2020, the murder rate rose. And after illegal immigration spiked in 2021 and 2022, murders plateaued and then fell. Over a longer period, there is no relationship between immigration and crime trends. The number of foreign-born Americans has increased for decades, while the murder rate has gone up and down at different times, as these charts by my colleague Ashley Wu show: Source: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey; Jeff Asher, F.B.I. | By The New York Times Yes, some migrants have committed violent crimes. There are more than 45 million immigrants in the U.S., and invariably some of them — just like people of any other group — will do bad things. Similarly, thousands of native-born Americans commit violent crimes in any given week. Trump and other Republicans have suggested that immigrants are especially likely to be criminals. They point to a few anecdotes. But the data shows the opposite: Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. There are genuine issues with the border and illegal immigration, but more crime is not one of them. More migrants, less crime If more immigration led to more crime, you would expect that crime rates would spike along with immigration flows, locally and nationally. The statistics would show that migrants were disproportionately likely to commit criminal or violent acts. Instead, the opposite is true. New York, Chicago and Denver have had an influx of immigrants in the past couple years. Over that same period, murder rates in those cities have fallen. Similarly, border counties in Texas have lower violent crime rates than the state and country overall, the crime analyst Jeff Asher has found. The individual crimes committed by migrants that Trump and his allies highlight simply do not add up to a bigger trend. In reality, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S. Immigrants have had lower incarceration rates — a measure for crime — than native-born Americans for at least 150 years, a recent study concluded. Undocumented immigrants have lower felony arrest rates than legal immigrants or native-born Americans, another study found. Why? Consider migrants’ motives. Many risk their lives by crossing dangerous jungles, rivers and deserts through Latin America to reach the U.S. so they can find better jobs that offer higher pay. In many cases, they are fleeing crime and violence back home. If they came here illegally, they have an incentive to avoid trouble with the law so they do not get caught by the authorities and deported. The bottom line People have legitimate reasons to be frustrated with illegal immigration and to worry about what happens at the border. Liberal mayors have learned as much in the past few years; the surge of illegal immigrants to their cities has drained public resources, particularly housing. A porous border also contributes to security concerns, such as the flow of fentanyl and the risk of terrorism. When an undocumented immigrant does commit a crime, it can lead to a sense of lawlessness and chaos. But more immigration has not caused more crime. The myth that crime is up can perpetuate stereotypes and racism. Immigrants who arrived in New York recently told The Times that local residents were often hostile. They make rude comments under their breath or move away in subway cars. One Venezuelan lamented that people now saw all migrants in the same way: “violent.” Related: The brother of a woman killed on a scenic trail — a crime in which an undocumented immigrant has been arrested — spoke at the Republican convention. More from the Republican convention Senator J.D. Vance Todd Heisler/The New York Times Accepting the vice-presidential nomination, Senator J.D. Vance recounted growing up poor in a working-class Ohio town that he said had been “cast aside” by Biden and other politicians. “I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” he said. Vance also sounded economically populist notes, criticizing big corporations and praising “the working man, union and nonunion alike.” Here are more takeaways from Night 3. The speech didn’t mention abortion. Vance has supported a national ban and opposed exceptions for rape and incest. Usha Vance, his wife, spoke about meeting him in law school, poked fun at his beard and described him as a “meat and potatoes kind of guy” who nevertheless learned to cook Indian food for her mother. Donald Trump Jr., who spoke before Vance, aggressively criticized Biden. He has become a major figure in the party, building what he calls a “MAGA bench for the future.” Antisemitism was another theme of the night. A Harvard graduate endorsed Trump’s call to deport foreign students who harass Jewish students. The parents of a Hamas-held American-Israeli hostage chanted “bring them home.” How well do you know Milwaukee, the city hosting the convention? Take our quiz. The late night hosts joked about Vance and Nikki Haley backing away from their opposition to Trump. THE LATEST NEWS President Biden President Biden Eric Lee/The New York Times Biden tested positive for Covid while campaigning in Nevada and has mild symptoms. “Doing well,” he said after flying back to Delaware. Biden has become more open to hearing arguments about why he should leave the race, after Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic congressional leaders, privately expressed lawmakers’ concerns. In an interview, Biden said he’d consider stepping aside if his doctors told him he had a medical condition. The Democratic National Committee delayed an expedited plan to nominate Biden. Representative Adam Schiff said Biden should drop out. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats say Biden should step aside, according to a new poll. Jeffrey Katzenberg, a co-chairman of Biden’s campaign, told the president that donors had stopped giving. Some are calling lawmakers to persuade Biden to drop out. The Trump campaign declined to agree to a date for a vice-presidential debate, saying that doing so before the Democratic convention would be unfair to “whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate.” The Trump Shooting The gunman who tried to assassinate Trump searched for the dates of Trump events and the Democratic National Convention, the F.B.I. told Congress. The F.B.I. has found no evidence that the shooter held strong partisan views. A former classmate said he disdained politicians in both parties. Local police at Trump’s rally saw the gunman acting suspiciously and circulated a photo of him, though they did not know he had a weapon. The Secret Service let Trump go onstage despite the threat. A Times investigation, constructed from videos and photos taken at the rally, shows how law enforcement failed to stop the shooting. International Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris. James Hill for The New York Times The mayor of Paris swam in the Seine, to prove that the river was clean enough to host Olympic events. Milan’s main airport is now named after Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-prone former prime minister. Left-leaning lawmakers are protesting. Officials in Spain hoped an algorithm could predict how much danger victims of domestic violence were in. Some women they sent home on its recommendation were killed. Other Big Stories Damage from storms in Rome, N.Y. Cindy Schultz for The New York Times Four tornadoes swept through upstate New York, destroying buildings and killing at least one person. Vaccines significantly reduce the risk of long Covid, researchers reported. Here’s what you need to know. Two Canadians died, and 10 others fell sick, from listeria in plant-based milk substitutes. The authorities recalled products from two brands, Silk and Great Value. The police arrested a Brooklyn councilwoman who they said had bitten a police chief during a protest. The Navy posthumously exonerated hundreds of Black sailors who were punished in the 1940s because they objected to unsafe conditions after a port explosion. A spade-toothed whale washed ashore dead in New Zealand. It’s the world’s rarest whale species: Scientists have never seen one alive. Opinions The New York Times As Americans consider electing Trump to a second term, Times Opinion created a timeline of his first four years — an era of lies, violence and chaos. The Olympics should reverse its decision to welcome Afghanistan, whose female athletes live in exile, Friba Rezayee writes. In the 1990s, tabloids tore apart Shannen Doherty. In hindsight, she wasn’t volatile or difficult; she was just a young women enjoying fame, Jennifer Weiner writes. Here are columns by Carlos Lozada on Trump’s call to “Fight!” and Nicholas Kristof on Biden loyalists. MORNING READS Michelle Groskopf for The New York Times Matter of taste: In an era of viral hybrid pastries, the plain croissant is still the best croissant. Swirls of color: Scientists scanned the brains of people on psychedelic drugs. The results were trippy. City with a female face: A community in Vienna was designed specifically to benefit women. Lives Lived: Renauld White walked the runways for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan and was the first Black American model to appear on a GQ cover. He died at 80. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: Caitlin Clark set a league record with 19 assists against the Dallas Wings. Soccer: Philadelphia Union’s Cavan Sullivan, 14, became the youngest player to appear in an M.L.S. game. Golf: The Open Championship teed off this morning at Royal Troon, Scotland. All eyes are on Rory McIlroy, whose recent collapse at the U.S. Open was crushing for fans — especially those in his hometown. ARTS AND IDEAS Hiroyuki Sanada in a scene from “Shogun.” Katie Yu/FX, via Associated Press Two FX series topped this year’s Emmy nominations. “Shogun,” a period drama set in Japan, received 25 nods, while the tense restaurant workplace comedy “The Bear” had 23. Some other highlights: The 23 nominations for “The Bear” are the most ever for a comedy, beating a record that “30 Rock” set in 2009. HBO trailed Netflix and FX in total nominations. It hasn’t been third since 1996, before “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City” had premiered. See the full list of nominees, and the shows that our critic felt got snubbed. More on culture Sotheby’s sold an unusually complete stegosaurus fossil for $44.6 million — 10 times the estimated price. A new album from Childish Gambino, Donald Glover’s rap project, comes out tomorrow. It will be his last under that name. The armorer on the film “Rust,” sentenced to 18 months over a fatal shooting on the set, is requesting a new trial after the collapse of the case against Alec Baldwin. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Combine a few pantry staples for a satisfying angel hair pasta. Celebrate “summerween,” an excuse to get spooky in July. Pack for a three-day trip with one small bag. Grow a lush garden using these steel tubs. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was uninvited. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —German Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 21, 2024 Author Members Posted July 21, 2024 July 19, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. Today, we’re covering Trump’s speech and Biden’s candidacy — as well as a global tech outage, Bob Newhart and a young chess prodigy. Donald Trump onstage at the Republican National Convention. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times A tumultuous day American politics was more stable for the past half-century than it had been for most of the country’s history. Incumbent presidents often won re-election. No major political figure was assassinated. The two parties’ basic ideologies and coalitions remained similar. But yesterday’s remarkable events — in both Washington and Milwaukee, among both Democrats and Republicans — showed how unstable our politics have become. During the day, attention focused on the turmoil in the Democratic Party, as senior Democrats intensified their efforts to push President Biden out of the presidential race, believing that he is too visibly aged to win re-election. Biden himself has begun to accept the idea that he may have to drop out of the race, people close to him told The Times. At night, Donald Trump took the stage to accept the Republican presidential nomination — only five days after he was nearly killed by a gunman, two months after he was convicted of 34 felony counts in New York and three and a half years after he attempted to overturn the last presidential election. Trump gave a speech that was both personal and rambling and that highlighted how different he is from any other recent president. He also demonstrated how he transformed the party over the past decade into a populist-sounding, antiwar, immigration-skeptical movement that Ronald Reagan would hardly recognize. (Watch my colleague Maggie Haberman break down the speech in this short video.) It remains unclear how much Trump would govern as a populist, of course. His proposed policies are a mix of actually populist (like trade restrictions) and laissez-faire (like a large tax cut for the affluent). But these questions underscore the new political uncertainty. On the Democratic side, the short-term turmoil is greater yet. The chances that Biden will drop out have clearly surged in the past couple of days. But the outcome remains uncertain. If he does quit the race, will the party quickly support Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee? Or will the situation be more typical of historical conventions when the nominee was unclear, with a messy, competitive process in which multiple candidates make their cases to delegates? President Biden in Nevada this week. Eric Lee/The New York Times Regardless, it now seems likely Biden will not be the person who takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2025. That would mean that two consecutive presidents — Trump in 2020, Biden in 2024 — left office before they wanted to, when they were eligible to serve another four years. The last time the country experienced such back-to-back presidencies was more than 40 years ago, with Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, during the chaotic years of Watergate and oil crises. In the rest of today’s newsletter, we’ll highlight the key moments from Trump’s speech and update you on the latest Biden developments. Trump’s speech: Trump began his speech by recounting the attempt on his life in detail. He also called for unity and pledged to be “president for all of America, not half of America.” But he soon reverted to stoking divisions and attacking rivals. Trump accused Democrats of “destroying our country,” compared migrants to Hannibal Lecter, praised autocratic leaders and called Nancy Pelosi crazy. He also falsely claimed that Democrats “used Covid to cheat” in the 2020 election. Here’s a fact-check of the speech, and a full transcript. Onstage were a firefighter’s jacket and helmet that belonged to Corey Comperatore, the rally-goer killed in the shooting. During the speech, Trump walked over to the helmet and kissed it. More on the convention: Kenny Holston/The New York Times The wrestler Hulk Hogan, who spoke before Trump, ripped open his shirt to reveal a “Trump-Vance” tank top. Tucker Carlson, who amplified 2020 election conspiracy theories before Fox News fired him, said in an unscripted speech that Trump aimed to “return democracy to the United States.” Much of the convention sought to project a softer image of Trump. Multiple speakers — including his eldest granddaughter — described him as compassionate and focused on others. Times Opinion writers picked the best and worst moments from Trump’s speech. The move against Biden Some senior Biden officials say that other Democrats’ growing doubts have made his exit inevitable, even as his campaign still insists he will be the nominee. Biden has argued privately that he has a better chance of beating Trump than Harris does, though he has recently seemed interested in how she could win. More Democrats are defecting. Jon Tester, a vulnerable senator, urged Biden to drop out. Representative Jamie Raskin sent him a letter this month comparing him to a tiring baseball pitcher. Joe Scarborough, a Biden ally who hosts “Morning Joe,” suggested Biden’s aides should push him out. The Biden campaign has reached out to Democratic convention delegates to ensure their support. Some remain privately concerned. Biden remained in Delaware with Covid yesterday. He was taking the drug Paxlovid and had respiratory symptoms, his doctor said. THE LATEST NEWS More on The Trump Shooting The F.B.I. is sorting through digital remnants of the man who tried to assassinate Trump, including phone data that shows he may have scoped out the scene of the rally days earlier. Speaker Mike Johnson said Biden should fire Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, over security failures before the shooting. Read a profile of her. Hundreds of people attended a public visitation for Comperatore, the Trump supporter killed at the rally. Tech Outage A crowd at Berlin Brandenburg Airport this morning. Christoph Soeder/DPA, via Associated Press A tech outage has disrupted computer systems around the world. Several major airlines, including American, United and Delta, grounded all flights. The outage interrupted 9-1-1 services around the U.S., and disabled computers at some hospital systems, including Britain’s National Health Service. News broadcasts in France, Australia and Britain were knocked off the air. Follow live updates. Middle East A drone struck a building in central Tel Aviv overnight, killing at least one person. The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, claimed responsibility for the attack. Before the attack, the U.S. imposed sanctions on people and businesses that it said had enabled Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Rafah crossing, which links Gaza and Egypt, has been closed since May. Doctors say the closure endangers Gazans who need outside medical care. More International News A journalist in Italy was found guilty of defaming the country’s prime minister, whose height the journalist had mocked on social media. Germany’s chancellor has vowed to overhaul the military, but his government has proposed only modest increases in military spending. In a deadly start to Japan’s climbing season, five people have died on Mount Fuji this month. Other Big Stories A federal appeals court blocked the Biden administration’s student loan repayment plan, known as SAVE. Eight million people had enrolled. Ben Sasse is stepping down as president of the University of Florida. Sasse, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, said he needed to devote more attention to his wife, who was diagnosed with epilepsy. Lou Dobbs, the cable news host whose conservative, business-focused programming embraced conspiracy theories and lies over the years, died at 78. Ford will produce gasoline trucks at a Canadian plant, reversing a plan to make electric vehicles there. A fugitive from Oregon was arrested in Georgia, where he had lived for more than a decade under a dead child’s identity. Sixty Siamese crocodiles hatched in the wild last month, a milestone for a species that was nearly extinct in the 1990s. Opinions Treat Trump with compassion. There is a difference between critiquing his policies and dehumanizing him, David French writes. By watering down its stance on abortion, the Republican Party has abandoned the pro-life movement in the name of electoral success, Patrick T. Brown writes. The Republican Party looked youthful at its convention, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes. Here are columns by David Brooks on how Democrats can win, Michelle Goldberg on Biden’s loss of support and Paul Krugman on J.D. Vance. MORNING READS Bodhana Sivanandan Sam Bush for The New York Times Prodigy: A 9-year-old girl who learned chess during the pandemic has become one of England’s best players. Great reads: Times readers chose their own 100 best books of the 21st century. Forgery: A woodblock maker convinced thousands that his art was the work of old masters. But there was one man he couldn’t fool. An ocean office: A Hawaiian surfboard maker’s native knowledge and passion have made his hand-carved creations into works of art. Lives Lived: Cheng Pei Pei trained in ballet and traditional Chinese dance, but found her calling in martial arts films. She was a star of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Cheng died at 78. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: The All-Star Game tomorrow night has an intriguing format: Team W.N.B.A., featuring Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, versus the U.S. Olympic team. Who’s the favorite? N.B.A.: The Denver Nuggets are a front-runner to sign the former M.V.P. Russell Westbrook, who struggled last season with the Los Angeles Clippers. ARTS AND IDEAS An image circulated by Jawliner to promote its gum. Jawliner Young men are buying stiff chewing gum from brands that claim their products will build jaw muscles. The gum — in flavors like Muscle Mango and Jacked Watermelon — has caught on with teenage boys who hope to look more masculine by bulking up their jawlines. Dentists aren’t happy about the trend. More on culture 20th Century Fox Television Bob Newhart, the pioneering comedian whose soft-spoken Everyman routine made him a stand-up sensation and a sitcom mainstay, died at 94. The Kennedy Center announced this year’s honorees, including Bonnie Raitt, Francis Ford Coppola and the Grateful Dead. A French fashion house has released a miniature version of a renowned avant-garde sculpture in the form of a pendant necklace. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Julia Gartland for The New York Times Make a simple tuna pasta, showered with herbs and scallions. Try this 12-minute foot workout. It might make a big difference for how you walk. Keep your houseplants healthy when you’re away. Create shade with a sturdy beach umbrella. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was baptize. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 21, 2024 Author Members Posted July 21, 2024 July 20, 2024 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. When the sequel to a movie you adore comes out, it can be an occasion to reaffirm why you love the original. María Jesús Contreras Plot twist It recently came to my attention that several people I count as good friends have been engaged for decades in quietly impassioned romances with the same 1996 summer disaster movie. That movie is “Twister,” the story of a lovably eclectic band of tornado chasers who follow soon-to-be-divorced Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt right into the eye of many storms. It featured a 29-year-old Philip Seymour Hoffman, a storm-tracking device named “Dorothy” and a flying bovine, the sight of which inspires one character to get off the phone with the line: “I gotta go, Julia. We got cows.” One friend said she watched it every single time she happened upon it on cable. Another said he engaged in an annual viewing. A third said it’s her comfort movie when she’s sick or hung over. Each was eager to extol the merits of the film: its all-killer-no-filler action, its special effects, its talented secondary cast (which, in addition to Hoffman, includes Alan Ruck, Jami Gertz, Lois Smith and the Tár director Todd Field). I rewatched “Twister” and was surprised by how much I loved it, how content I was to witness a terrifying series of disasters and still walk away with the warm feeling I’d just watched a movie with a lot of heart. As Janet Maslin wrote in The Times when the movie came out, “Somehow ‘Twister’ stays as uptempo and exuberant as a roller-coaster ride, neatly avoiding the idea of real danger.” This week, “Twisters,” a sequel to “Twister,” directed by Lee Isaac Chung, arrived in theaters. I was nervous to see it. I didn’t have a deep-rooted relationship with the original film, but, fresh off my positive viewing experience, I didn’t feel like I needed another chapter. I wasn’t particularly curious about how today’s technology could make the tornadoes even more realistic — extreme weather and its attendant destruction isn’t a boogeyman, but a daily phenomenon. I was a little skeptical of the other phenomenon featured in the film, the actor Glen Powell, who, coming off buzzy performances in “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Anyone but You” and “Hit Man,” seems to be everywhere at once, like it or not. Why does everything good need to be rebooted? I asked myself on the way into the theater. Why can’t we just make one good thing and then make another new thing that’s also good? Why do we keep reanimating “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”? Why does everyone have to make their own recording of “Landslide”? Maybe it’s because I was feeling newly smitten with the original movie, or maybe it was Chung’s gorgeous depiction of the Oklahoma landscape near where he grew up, or the fact that the new movie shares the same big heart as the old one, but I fell for “Twisters.” As with the first film, I rooted for science over profit. And I rooted for Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones’s inevitable romance as I did Paxton and Hunt’s. As Alissa Wilkinson wrote in her review, “The old-school formula feels refreshing: This is an action-adventure-disaster film filled with ordinary people trying to accomplish extraordinary things.” I’m still not sold on the notion that a sequel or a reboot of a thing we love is always a good idea — I’m still bitter about “Arthur 2: On the Rocks,” and don’t get me started on the 2011 remake with Russell Brand. But I’ll admit to some cautious curiosity about “Freaky Friday 2,” and some real excitement about the upcoming “Spinal Tap II.” Even a sequel that’s sort of terrible can reinforce the love we have for the original thing. That protective feeling we have for works of art that we adore is lovely, a reminder of the joy we get from culture and our ability to engage wholeheartedly with the stuff that moves us. For more “He goes full-on Cracker Barrel as a former bull rider who dodges airborne farm equipment while recklessly driving straight into tornadoes. He then shoots fireworks into the funnel clouds for beer-drankin’ pals to record on video and post online.” Glen Powell is absolutely willing to play the Hollywood game. Judson Jones, The Times’s resident meteorologist, joined researchers chasing tornadoes across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. From 2019, “The Rise of the Summer Sequel.” “The majority of remakes of classic films have been disasters, financially and artistically.” From 1977, “What Are We to Make of Remakes?” THE WEEK IN CULTURE Emmy Awards FX “The Bear” earned 23 Emmy nominations, a record for a show in the comedy category. But some fans are asking: Is “The Bear” really a comedy? The Times interviewed several nominated actors, including Jon Hamm, for both “Fargo” and “The Morning Show”; Jessica Gunning, for “Baby Reindeer”; and Elizabeth Debicki, who played Princess Diana on “The Crown.” Our TV critics discussed a few shows they were excited to see on the list (““Reservation Dogs”), and others they felt were snubbed (“The Curse”). Read their chat. More Culture Phyllis Kao, a Sotheby’s auctioneer. Sotheby's A stegosaurus fossil sold at a Sotheby’s auction for nearly $45 million. For the crowd watching online, the auctioneer, Phyllis Kao, was as captivating as the bids. Bob Newhart, who died this week at 94, was a founding father of stand-up comedy. But his material isn’t just influential; it’s still funny all these years later, our comedy critic writes. At the Lehmann Maupin gallery in Manhattan, two new exhibitions push the form of street art forward. Documentaries in which people climb very tall things have a strange appeal. Our critic recommends two new entries in the genre. Pete Wells is stepping down as The Times’s food critic. In this audio chat with Melissa Kirsch, he talks about his health, the highs and lows of his beat and leaving a dream job. THE LATEST NEWS President Biden Biden said he planned to return to the campaign trail next week. He is frustrated with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, who he believes are coordinating to push him aside. Behind the scenes, his advisers are discussing the timing of an announcement if he decides to leave the race. Several more House Democrats and two more Democratic senators, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio, called on Biden to drop out. Here’s what they said. Pelosi told colleagues that she favors a “competitive” process to pick a new nominee if Biden drops out, rather than automatically anointing Vice President Kamala Harris. In an hourlong Instagram livestream, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Democrats against replacing Biden, saying they were discounting his electoral strengths and courting “enormous peril.” A Democratic group urging Biden to drop out will begin airing ads in Washington and Delaware, where he’s isolating with Covid. “You saved democracy in 2020,” the ad says. “Now you have a chance to do it again.” Donald Trump Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times The Republican convention showcased a party unified behind Trump, capping his unlikely political resurrection; 25 million people watched his speech. This one image exemplifies his sway over the party. The gunman who shot Trump tried out for his high school’s rifle team but didn’t shoot well enough to make the squad, a former classmate said. Elon Musk has transformed himself into a fierce Trump ally. Months ago, he told conservative donors that a Biden win would be the end of American democracy. Republicans running for Congress are weighing how to adjust their messaging if Biden drops out. Other Big Stories Malfunctioning kiosks at San Francisco International Airport. Jim Wilson/The New York Times Airlines, banks and other businesses were slowly recovering from a global technology outage. A flawed software update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused the disruption. A cease-fire deal to free Hamas-held hostages held in Gaza is close, Biden administration officials said, though it’s unlikely to happen before Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, addresses Congress next week. Israel’s military is investigating how a Houthi drone evaded its air-defense systems and struck a Tel Aviv apartment building. In a nonbinding opinion, the International Court of Justice said that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violated international law. A Russian court sentenced Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to 16 years in a penal colony on espionage charges widely considered fabricated. Sheila Jackson Lee, a House Democrat from Texas who announced last month that she had pancreatic cancer, died at 74. CULTURE CALENDAR By Andrew LaVallee 📚 “The Book of Elsewhere” (Tuesday): Keanu Reeves wrote a book? With the sci-fi novelist China Miéville? Excellent. 🎬 “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Friday): Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman talked to us about how playing Deadpool and Wolverine has changed their lives. While they’ve appeared in movies together, this one puts the two characters front and center. All signs indicate that they’ll be clawing, scratching, shooting and wisecracking to the top of the box office. Snikt! REAL ESTATE Sierra Nguyen in San Francisco. Marissa Leshnov for The New York Times The Hunt: A young woman aimed to buy her first apartment in San Francisco, with a budget of less than $1 million. Which home did she choose? Play our game. What you get for $400,000: A Tudor Revival in Oklahoma City; a condo in a converted warehouse in Mobile, Ala.; and a 1915 American Foursquare house in Omaha, Neb. LIVING Jun Michael Park for The New York Times Lost and found: A writer lost his wallet in London, and received it in the mail in South Korea. Why is it that kind strangers go to such lengths to return wallets? Heat wave: Summer can be a dangerous time. Here are the signs of heat exhaustion, and how to treat it. Cookout: A grill can bring out the best in vegetables. Ali Slagle has five recipes that build on charred veggies. Internet lingo: A once-obscene term has, almost overnight, become a common way to describe performing an activity without a buffer. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Keep houseplants alive while you’re away You’re about to embark on a vacation. But what about your houseplants? Wirecutter’s experts have advice for keeping them alive when you’re away, and it’s easier than you might think. Water them before you leave, but no more than you usually would. To help them retain moisture, move them a few extra feet away from sources of heat and light, like windows. They may look a little parched upon your return, but as many green-thumb newbies have learned the hard way, many houseplants prefer neglect to being overly cared for. If you’re gone longer than 10 days, though, it’s a good idea to hire some help. — Rose Maura Lorre GAME OF THE WEEK Jack McDonald of Scotland hits out of a bunker at Royal Troon. Tom Shaw/R&A, via Getty Images The Open Championship: The Open (perhaps you know it as the British Open) unfolds this weekend across the narrow fairways — or the in shrubby rough and steep bunkers — of Royal Troon in Scotland. The weather at the Open is often gray, rainy and windy, presenting a challenge for even the best golfers. But this course’s greatest test may be the green on Hole 8, which is so tiny that it’s known as the Postage Stamp. Today and tomorrow at 7 a.m. Eastern on NBC NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were dwelling, welding and wielding. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. —Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 21, 2024 Author Members Posted July 21, 2024 July 21, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. Today, for a change of pace, we’re answering readers’ questions about this newsletter, and the news in general. We’re also covering the latest from the presidential campaign. Haruka Sakaguchi for The New York Times You ask, we answer We recently asked you — the readers of The Morning — to submit questions to us about this newsletter, recent news or anything else on your minds. We’re devoting today’s edition to some of your questions and our answers. We have room for only a small selection in today’s email, but we’ve posted a longer selection online, including answers from Times journalists who cover a range of subjects, whether it’s Moscow or personal fitness. We enjoyed this project so much that I expect we’ll do it again soon. About The Morning I love The Morning. Every morning when I get up, I make a cup of coffee and open the newsletter. I have one wish: Please resist using the awful phrases “modern history” or “recent history.” They are too vague to mean anything. Be precise! — Mark Matassa David: Thank you. And noted! We try to avoid vague language, and we will think twice before using these phrases now. I grew up surrounded by discussion of language — my mom was a copy editor, my dad a high school French teacher — and I appreciate it when readers write to us with grammar and usage critiques. Keep ’em coming. I would like to see key business/finance news included each morning. — John W. Morris III David: My colleagues and I agree that the newsletter has probably been too light on business news recently. We will aim to change that. Thank you for the nudge, John. I enjoy the mix of information you provide in The Morning. Wondering as an addition if you could add a “Good News” section. — Genie MontBlanc David: I, too, worry that we journalists suffer from bad-news bias. I don’t think The Morning will add a section devoted to good news, but we make a concerted effort to cover both good news and bad news. A couple examples: My colleague German Lopez has written about both rising crime and falling crime. During the Covid pandemic, I argued that the vaccines were a marvel of science whose effectiveness was sometimes underestimated. I should note that good-news stories can lead to criticism. Some readers worry that reporting a positive trend reduces the urgency to address larger problems. But I promise you that we will continue to do our best to report all kinds of news. I would love to know why the sports section is primarily men’s sports. — Kathryn David: It’s almost as if you’ve been listening to our daily meeting, Kathryn. We have recently included more stories about women’s sports. Still, we are nowhere near parity. Some of that reflects the major U.S. sports leagues, which are mostly male. But this is a personal priority for me, partly because I spend many hours watching women’s basketball. We can do better. How do you deal with and guard against criticism that your coverage favors one party or ideology over another? — Thomas K. Moore David: Independence is a core value of The Times. We don’t always get the balance right, but we try hard. I recommend reading this essay on journalistic independence by our publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. President Biden’s age is a relevant case study. Earlier this year, some Democrats criticized The Times for covering his aging and voters’ deep concerns about it. In retrospect, it’s pretty hard to argue that coverage was a mistake. Politics and more The U.S. Capitol. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Will The Morning do a letter discussing national debt ahead of the election? — Lia Robinson David: My colleague German has written a newsletter on precisely this topic. I’d note that the two presidential candidates are quite different on this issue: Donald Trump’s proposed policies would significantly increase the deficit, while Biden’s proposals would reduce it somewhat. Power is never given away freely; it must be taken. Is the browning of America causing more fanatical behavior by Trump and his supporters? — Mark Shoenfield David: Thanks for the sharp question, Mark. The short answer is yes. Trump has used the language of white nationalists, and he has won a large share of the white vote. But I think Trump’s critics are wrong when they suggest his appeal is entirely racial. Since Trump entered politics, voters of color — Asian, Black and Latino — have also shifted toward the Republican Party. If the Democratic Party wants to win back some of those voters (and some white voters, too), it probably needs to be more introspective about why it has become an increasingly affluent party that turns off many working-class people. Too often, Democrats suggest that anyone who doesn’t vote for them is being irrational or ignorant. How do we make people care about the state of our environment? It seems like no one cares, and I often feel frustrated that no one does. — Julia Adams David: I do think many people care, Julia. But you’re right that the environment isn’t a major issue for some voters, including many lower-income voters. One reason, I think, is that the economic and social trends have been pretty disappointing for them over the past few decades. If you’re struggling to get by, it can be difficult to focus on a long-term threat. For more How does The Morning staff make this newsletter every day? How did the WordleBot create its word list? What coffee does Wirecutter recommend? Get the answers to those questions — and insights from Times writers on electric vehicles, Amazon’s labor union, Modi’s India, the changing English language and more — by clicking here. (Note: We edited some questions for brevity.) THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Eric Lee/The New York Times As Biden weighs whether to drop out of the race, another question follows: Should he endorse Kamala Harris, or open the door for a wider contest? Donald Trump’s campaign is preparing to run against Harris if Biden steps aside, conducting polls to find her weaknesses and creating ads about her record. At his first rally since he was shot, Trump seemed to abandon his pivot to a more unifying message. He insulted his opponents repeatedly, calling Biden stupid and Harris crazy. The Secret Service acknowledged that it had turned down requests for more resources from Trump’s security detail in the two years before his shooting. Trump and the Republican Party raised more money than Biden and the Democrats did last month for the first time in this election. Other Big Stories An oil facility in Yemen. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Israeli fighter jets bombed a port in Yemen controlled by the Houthi militia in retaliation for a drone attack in Tel Aviv. The airstrikes hit a power station, as well as gas and oil depots. A celebration of a Catholic ritual drew more than 50,000 people to Indianapolis. Leaders hope the gathering — the first of its kind since the 1940s — will revive excitement around the church. Texas’ governor has bused more than 119,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities over the past two years. These maps show where they went. A fire destroyed the sanctuary of First Baptist Dallas Church, a landmark in the city’s downtown. In basketball, Team WNBA defeated Team USA in the women’s All-Star Game, thanks to a record-setting 34 points from Arike Ogunbowale. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Donald Trump in Michigan on Saturday. Doug Mills/The New York Times Did Trump’s speech at the Republican convention convey unity? No. While Trump did show some humility, his speech was self-absorbed and frequently attacked Democrats. “His party’s advocacy around unity was built entirely — and cynically — on sand,” Timothy L. O’Brien of Bloomberg writes. Yes. The assassination attempt clearly tempered Trump’s boisterous tone and unified the Republican Party. “They said it would be a different Donald Trump, and it was,” Mark Davis writes for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. FROM OPINION Trump tells Americans they are in constant danger. Biden tells Americans everything is fine. Both are creating an environment where conspiracy theories thrive, M. Gessen writes. Republicans are split between those who want Trump to lead a revolution, and those who want a calmer Trump presidency, David French writes. Go on a journey this summer: Learn a new language, Mark Vanhoenacker writes. Here are columns by Lydia Polgreen on J.D. Vance as a D.E.I. candidate, and Ross Douthat on Trump’s speech. MORNING READS Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in western New York. Lauren Petracca for The New York Times On the loose: When two cows — Hornee and Blackee — strayed from their pasture, they set off a chaotic chain of events involving death threats, chicken rustlers and Joaquin Phoenix. Wartime writing: A manuscript buried under a cherry tree helped prompt a flourishing interest in Ukrainian literature. Vows: They met through a “Sex and the City” Instagram account. And just like that, they felt a spark. Lives Lived: Thomas Neff, an M.I.T. physicist, had an idea: What if the Soviets, in need of cash, sold their unused nuclear warheads to the U.S. to use for energy? His proposal went on to convert some 20,000 nuclear arms into electricity. Neff died at 80. THE INTERVIEW Joel Embiid Philip Montgomery for The New York Times By David Marchese This week’s subject for The Interview is the N.B.A. superstar Joel Embiid. A citizen of Cameroon, France, and the U.S., Embiid explained his decision to play for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. A lot of people thought you were going to play for the French team. You ultimately decided to play for the American team. Can you tell me how you wound up making that decision? It was tough. Obviously, I got my home country, Cameroon, which I love, and the U.S., where I’ve been for 14 years now, and then France, where I have a lot of family. I wanted to take as much time as possible, and it didn’t help that France had put an ultimatum on when the decision had to be made. What was the timeline? I didn’t know. I saw it on Twitter, and I was like, ‘Whoa, where did this come from?’ But one thing that was always known was that Cameroon is the first choice, and if they qualify I’m playing for my home country. I had the opportunity to talk to the French president [Emmanuel Macron] about what was going on, and I told him one thing that was kind of bothering me a lot was the relationship between France and Cameroon and the African continent in general. Historically, you mean? Yeah, and even right now. There’s a lot of pushback as far as basically kicking out the French because it’s been so many years of oppression. So that was my mind-set. I still got my family living in Cameroon, and I don’t want to put them through any of that stuff. Given the tension between you and French basketball officials, what reaction do you expect from French fans in Paris? I expect a lot of boos. But I actually love it. It’s not going to be anything I haven’t seen. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Jamie Chung for The New York Times. Source photograph: Kaye Maze. Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. BOOKS J.D. Vance at the Republican convention. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times “Hillbilly Elegy”: Trump’s running mate was a best-selling author before he was a senator. A.O. Scott, our critic, looks at how Vance’s views of America have changed. Relationship drama: Miss the Showtime series “Couples Therapy”? These 11 books let you peer into others’ love lives. By the Book: Suzanne Nossel, head of PEN America, says “Roctogenarians” by Mo Rocca and Jonathan Greenberg was the last book that made her laugh. Our editors’ picks: There are six new books recommended this week, including “Cue the Sun!,” a history of reality TV. Times best sellers: “True Gretch,” a memoir by Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s governor, is new this week on the hardcover nonfiction best-seller list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Test your focus: Can you spend 10 minutes with this one painting? Dip into the stream of local life — grocery stores, swimming pools, barbershops — on your next vacation. Watch a stand-up comedy special that resembles a solo version of “The Wire.” Stream five horror movies from around the world. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For The Tour de France concludes today. The director of the Secret Service testifies tomorrow on Capitol Hill. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is scheduled to address Congress on Wednesday. The Olympic Games begin Wednesday with men’s soccer and rugby. Women’s soccer begins Thursday. The Olympics’ opening ceremony is Friday. Meal Plan David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Emily Weinstein loves the Yiddish word “schmaltzy,” whether it’s being used in the literal sense (slicked with poultry fat) or conveying an over-the-top, showbiz quality. That’s why a recipe for skillet chicken thighs with schmaltzy tomatoes tops her list this week. She also recommends a basil-butter pasta and grilled shrimp with spicy slaw. Get the recipes. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were chariot, haricot and thoracic. Can you put eight historical events — including Alexander the Great’s conquests, the construction of the Sydney Opera House and the naming of the color orange — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. 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. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 22, 2024 Author Members Posted July 22, 2024 July 22, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering Biden’s exit and Harris’s entry — as well as JD Vance, heat in Egypt and “SpongeBob SquarePants.” President Biden has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Doug Mills/The New York Times What next? With President Biden having dropped out of the race, I’m devoting today’s newsletter to four big questions about what happens next. My colleagues and I will also give you the latest news about the campaign. Four questions 1. Is the Democratic nomination race already over? It may be. Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be in a commanding position. Some top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, favor a competition to choose a new nominee. And an open process would have some big advantages. It would test whether Harris was a stronger politician than she had been during her failed 2020 campaign. If she won the competition, she would emerge from it looking like a winner who was more than Biden’s No. 2. But a competition obviously requires more than one competitor, and Harris was the only top-tier Democrat to declare herself a presidential candidate yesterday. Many other Democrats endorsed her in the hours after Biden’s withdrawal. Her list of backers include both progressives and moderates in Congress, as well as Biden, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and two governors who had been considered potential presidential candidates themselves: Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. The party’s nominating delegates from three states — North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee — unanimously voted yesterday to endorse Harris. Overall, the hours after Biden’s exit went about as well as Harris could have hoped. 2. What will the Harris-Trump polls say now that they’re not hypothetical? Polling experts frequently caution against trusting hypothetical survey results. People don’t always know how they will respond to a scenario that hasn’t yet happened, such as a sitting president’s departure from a campaign. That said, the recent hypothetical polls about a race between Harris and Donald Trump have suggested he leads her, although more narrowly than he led Biden. A CBS News poll conducted this month, for example, showed that Trump had support from 51 percent of likely voters, compared with 48 percent for Harris. As new polls emerge in coming days, it will be worth watching whether a Harris-Trump race effectively starts as a tossup — or something else. 3. How will Trump campaign against her? For starters, Trump will emphasize the same unpopular parts of Biden’s performance that were already the central message of Trump’s campaign, including inflation and immigration. Given that Harris helped oversee Biden’s immigration policy, that subject will continue to play a central role. But there are some uncertainties about how Trump and his aides will campaign against a Harris-led ticket. Among the questions: Will Republicans emphasize the candidates’ obviously different racial and gender profiles, much as Trump used gender-based messages against Hillary Clinton in 2016? Or will Trump tread more carefully now that he hopes to win a meaningful share of Asian, Black and Latino voters? It does seem likely that Trump will emphasize some of Harris’s most liberal past positions, including her support in 2020 for Medicare for All, a policy that would effectively eliminate private health insurance. 4. How will Harris campaign differently from Biden? Harris has one huge advantage over Biden: She isn’t 81 years old. She is an energetic campaigner, with a strong history as a debater. She has some other advantages, too. Harris is more comfortable criticizing the Republican Party’s unpopular position on abortion than Biden has been. Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, points out that recent polling data suggests she is also better positioned than Biden to hold onto support from some groups that have historically supported Democrats but soured on Biden, such as younger voters and voters of color. At the same time, Harris is starting with some disadvantages relative to Biden, Obama and other recent nominees. Nate notes that the same polling data suggests Harris is weaker than Biden among voters over 65 and white voters without a college degree. Above all, Harris has little track record of winning the type of swing voters who decide presidential elections. She comes from California, a liberal bastion. In her only Senate campaign, which she won, no Republican even qualified for the general election. Harris beat another Democrat. If she is the nominee, I think the biggest question is: How she will appeal to swing voters in states like Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin? Many of these voters are working-class Americans dissatisfied with the country’s direction. Many do not follow politics obsessively. Most are less liberal on social issues than prominent Democratic politicians, including Harris. Many have been attracted to feisty populist and patriotic messages, from both Trump and from Democratic Senate candidates. (Harris is likely to choose a running mate with a stronger history of winning swing voters.) Harris will no doubt devote much of her campaign to an anti-Trump message. But a message organized almost entirely around Trump seems less likely to succeed than one that also focuses on her vision of the future — including how it differs from Biden’s vision and why even voters who are often skeptical of the Democratic Party should support Harris this year. More on Biden’s decision Biden did not tell most of his staff about his decision until a minute before he announced it publicly. Some White House staff members were in shock, while others were relieved. Biden summoned top advisers to his Delaware beach house on Saturday afternoon to write the letter announcing his withdrawal and finalized it Sunday morning. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president.” Read Biden’s full letter. In the last 75 years, only two Democratic presidents — Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson — decided during an election year not to run again. “Overjoyed,” “too late”: Here’s how Democratic voters reacted to Biden’s withdrawal. Several top Republicans — including JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, and Speaker Mike Johnson — called on Biden to resign as president. Trump said that Biden had “quit the race in COMPLETE DISGRACE!” Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times More on Harris “We have 107 days until Election Day,” Harris said in a statement yesterday. “Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.” Democratic donors quickly mobilized around Harris. One Silicon Valley bundler raised over $1 million in 30 minutes. Yesterday was the single biggest day for Democratic online fund-raising since the 2020 election, with more than $50 million donated. Many Democrats think Harris will pick a white man as her running mate. Possibilities include governors — like Roy Cooper of North Carolina or Andy Beshear of Kentucky — and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. As vice president, Harris defended Biden’s economic agenda. But in the past, she’s pushed for more progressive policies, like universal health care and generous tax benefits for working-class Americans. While many Democrats have coalesced behind Harris, she doesn’t start the campaign as the kind of broadly acceptable candidate Democrats have put forward during the Trump era, Nate Cohn writes. Commentary “Right now, most Democrats can see Biden only as a millstone, but history will remember him as one of the most effective presidents of his era,” Franklin Foer, who wrote a book about Biden’s presidency, argues in The Atlantic. “Do Americans share enough disgust over Trump this year to forget their traditional misogyny when it comes to the top job?” Robin Epley asks in The Sacramento Bee. “Really cannot overstate how problematic this is for Trump’s operation. Everything they built was customized for a contest with Biden,” The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, who has written about Trump’s campaign, wrote on X. “If you think Biden’s only problem was age, then Harris is a good choice,” The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle wrote on X, adding: “If you think that voters disliked Biden for other reasons, then Harris is the worst choice, because she’s shackled to that baggage.” “Anyone who tells you they know how this is going to play out is lying or deluded,” Jacob Rubashkin of Inside Elections wrote on social media. THE LATEST NEWS More on the Election JD Vance Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Vance’s biography propelled his career, but his first campaign rally as Trump’s running mate made his position clear: When Trump is around, he is the warm-up act, Shawn McCreesh writes. The House oversight committee is scheduled to question the Secret Service director about security at the rally during which a would-be assassin wounded Trump. The homeland security secretary announced the members of a panel — which he described as bipartisan — that would review security failures at that rally. Trump’s criminal conviction and Biden’s debate performance sent a flood of donations into the presidential race. International In Cairo. Mohamed Hossam/EPA, via Shutterstock Egypt’s government has imposed daily power cuts during a hot summer, leaving millions without air conditioning for hours each day. In Bangladesh, deadly protests prompted by a quota system for government jobs revealed resentment about inequality. Other Big Stories A grocery store in Montgomery, Ala. Devin Lunsford for The New York Times “We’re all afraid”: In Montgomery, Ala., Latino-owned businesses have been the targets of violent robberies. Some health care providers hope to overcome issues with the distribution of methadone — a drug used to treat opioid addiction — with a fleet of mobile vans. Senator Bob Menendez’s lawyers plan to appeal his bribery conviction. They have reason to be optimistic: For years, the Supreme Court has narrowed the legal definition of corruption. Opinions “Mr. Biden has now done what Mr. Trump never will: He has placed the national interest above his own pride and ambition,” The Times’s editorial board writes, endorsing a competitive process to pick a new nominee. Now that Biden is out, Harris is the only choice to replace him, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes. Democrats should give their support to Harris. As the highest elected Black woman in American history, she will face attacks unlike anything we’ve ever seen, Al Sharpton writes. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss whether Harris can win. Here is a column by Nicholas Kristof on how Biden just reshaped America. MORNING READS Andreas Meichsner for The New York Times Night train: A reporter rode a new overnight rail route to Paris from Berlin. It wasn’t always comfortable, but the retro-romantic train journey was an experience. Too much fun: She danced naked at Woodstock and dated Serpico. At 93, she’s not done. Olympics: Hosting the games costs billions. What does a city get in return? Metropolitan Diary: Double sausage, extra bacon. Lives Lived: Bernice Johnson Reagon was an original member of the Freedom Singers, a vocal group that provided anthems of defiance for civil rights protesters in the 1960s. She went on to become a cultural historian and a Smithsonian curator. Reagon died at 81. SPORTS Golf: Xander Schauffele won the Open Championship, his second major victory of the season. Is he the world’s best golfer? Cycling: Tadej Pogacar won his third Tour de France, beating his rival Jonas Vingegaard by 6:17. ARTS AND IDEAS via Nickelodeon “SpongeBob SquarePants” premiered on Nickelodeon 25 year ago — meaning some who watched the show as kids are now the parents of ”SpongeBob” fans. To mark the milestone, The Times’s culture desk has created a quiz. Test your knowledge here. More on culture “Twisters” — a loose follow-up to the 1996 action movie “Twister” — was on track to earn far more in its opening weekend than box office analysts had predicted. Popular sports video game franchises like NBA 2K and FC encourage players to spend on in-game purchases. Critics say it’s ruining the games. Sean Kingston, best known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls,” was indicted alongside his mother in a $1 million fraud scheme. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Rachel Vanni for The New York Times Layer warm chickpeas and tomatoes atop crunchy cucumber yogurt. Fit twice as much in your luggage with packing cubes. Make cooking easier with a good pair of oven mitts. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was megabit. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter described incorrectly the Trump campaign’s recent fund-raising efforts. The Trump campaign out-raised the Biden campaign for the first time in this election cycle in April, not June. The information we cited, and the linked article, were from May. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 23, 2024 Author Members Posted July 23, 2024 July 23, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re covering the start of the Harris campaign — as well as the Trump shooting, Soviet nostalgia and the Tesla Cybertruck. Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times Harris’s opportunity Kamala Harris has an opportunity that would not have been available to President Biden if he’d been the Democratic nominee. She can reintroduce herself to voters in ways that address their biggest complaints about Biden’s record and the Democratic Party. It won’t be easy. She is Biden’s vice president, after all. Yesterday, a Republican political group urged candidates to criticize Harris as a radical, while JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, told a rally, “The Biden record is the Kamala Harris record.” Still, Harris is not Biden, and she can subtly distance herself from his record and emphasize what she would do differently. There is a long history of vice presidents who did so when running for president. George H.W. Bush suggested in 1988 that he was “kinder and gentler” than Ronald Reagan. Al Gore portrayed himself in 2000 as more ethical than Bill Clinton (and came within a few hundred butterfly ballots of victory). Hubert Humphrey surged in the 1968 race after he belatedly separated himself from Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam policies. In today’s newsletter, I’ll examine some of the Democratic Party’s biggest weaknesses now. They offer Harris an opportunity to argue that she isn’t an ordinary politician. Why moderation works Democrats often describe Donald Trump and other Republicans as radical. And today’s Republican Party is indeed radical in important ways. Many Republicans still claim that Trump won the 2020 election. Their party favors unpopular abortion restrictions and deep tax cuts for the rich. But many voters also see the Democratic Party as radical. In fact, the average American consider the Democratic Party to be further from the political mainstream than the Republican Party. A Gallup poll last month, for example, asked Americans whether they agreed with Biden or Trump “on the issues that matter most to you.” Only 37 percent said Biden, compared with 49 percent who said Trump. Similarly, a 2021 poll by the Winston Group asked people to rate themselves — as well as Democratic and Republican politicians — on an ideological scale from 1 to 9, with 1 being very liberal and 9 being very conservative. Most people placed themselves closer to Republicans than to Democrats: Source: Winston Group | By The New York Times This chart helps explain why successful presidential candidates reassure voters that they are more moderate than their party. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden all did in their own ways. Even Trump did in 2016, by supporting Social Security, opposing trade deals and endorsing same-sex marriage. The strategy works because most voters see themselves as less conservative than the Republican Party and less liberal than the Democratic Party. Five Democratic vulnerabilities A rally in San Francisco in support of Ms. Harris. Jim Wilson/The New York Times An early question about candidate Harris is whether she will signal that she’s more mainstream than other Democrats. How could she do so? Polls suggests that each of the following is a Democratic vulnerability: Crime may be the most natural way for Harris to show moderation. She is a former prosecutor who won elections partly by promising to crack down on crime. Today, many Americans are worried about crime. Immigration is an even bigger concern. Most Americans are deeply dissatisfied that Biden initially loosened immigration rules, which contributed to a surge at the southern border. He has since tightened the rules, and migration has fallen. I’ll be fascinated to see whether Harris — Biden’s point person on some immigration policies — tries to persuade voters that she’ll be tougher than he was. Inflation isn’t a classic left-right issue, but it is a problem for Harris. Democratic Senate candidates have had some success addressing the problem by promising to fight for lower prices and good jobs — and to fight against greedy corporations and China. Harris, delivering a speech to her campaign staff yesterday, mostly made typical Democratic arguments, but she did add a dose of populism that echoed those Senate campaign messages. She talked about having taken on big banks and for-profit colleges as a prosecutor. “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” Harris said. U.S. liberals have adopted some positions on gender issues that are out of the mainstream. Doctors in Europe, for example, believe the scientific evidence doesn’t support gender transition hormone treatment for many children. Most Americans agree — while also opposing discrimination against trans people. Many prominent Democrats are well to the public’s left on this subject. If Harris took a moderate position, she could undermine Republican claims that she is an elite cultural liberal. During Vance’s speech at the Republican convention last week, he celebrated free speech and described Republicans as “a party unafraid to debate.” There is a reason for that: Many Americans view liberals as intolerant — quick to judge people with opposing ideas as ignorant or hateful. Obama combated this problem by talking about his respect for conservative ideas, while Biden described Republicans as his friends. Obama and Biden were sending a larger message. It was the same one Clinton sent when he called himself “a new Democrat” and George W. Bush did with his talk of “compassionate conservatism.” It was also the one Trump recently tried to send by saying he opposed a national abortion ban. All these politicians were asserting their independence from their own parties. It’s hard to get elected president without doing so. THE LATEST NEWS More on Harris Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic convention delegates to become the party’s nominee, with her home state of California helping put her over the top. See which delegations have backed her so far. Nancy Pelosi, who previously favored a competitive process to pick a new nominee, was among the top Democrats who endorsed Harris yesterday. Harris, standing in for Biden at a White House event for college athletes, praised him in emotional terms and spoke of “his big heart.” See a video of her speech. During a visit to her campaign’s headquarters — formerly Biden’s — in Wilmington, Del., Harris spoke in person, while Biden called into the event. “The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” he said. Harris’s campaign said that it had raised $81 million — a one-day record for presidential fund-raising — after Biden withdrew from the race. More than 28,000 people signed up to volunteer. Not every Democratic donor was immediately on board. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, urged Democrats to “take the pulse of voters” and “determine who is best positioned to win.” Some Silicon Valley donors also favored an open process. Harris picked Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general, to oversee her search for a running mate. See some of the contenders. The Trump Campaign Donald Trump in Michigan. Doug Mills/The New York Times Over the years, Trump’s rhetoric on gender and race has alienated many college-educated voters and suburban women. The Harris candidacy could bring out his harshest instincts, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write. Trump has called Harris nasty, mocked her laugh and promoted a false claim that she’s ineligible to be vice president, echoing his false “birther” claims about Obama. Trump donated to Harris’s campaigns to become California’s attorney general in 2011 and 2013, campaign finance records show. The Trump Shooting Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director. Kenny Holston/The New York Times The Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, told Congress that the attempted assassination of Trump was the agency’s “single greatest operational failure” in decades and said that she had called Trump to apologize. Cheatle declined to talk about some specifics, including how many agents were protecting Trump when the shooting took place. Lawmakers seemed frustrated, and members of both parties called on her to resign. A Republican questioning Cheatle misstated the Secret Service’s diversity goals, while a Democrat improperly characterized what happened after an attempt on Reagan’s life. The Times recreated, in 3-D, the lines of sight for the three countersniper teams that failed to see the would-be assassin in time to stop the shooting. International Chiatura, Georgia. Natela Grigalashvili for The New York Times While most Georgians support closer ties with Western Europe, many in industrial areas are nostalgic for the stable incomes of their Soviet past. Russia sentenced a Russian American editor to six and a half years in a penal colony for her work on an antiwar book that the government said spread false information about the Russian Army. Ukraine struck a deal with private creditors to restructure more than $20 billion of debt, freeing the country to spend more on its military. Two more hostages have died in Hamas captivity, the Israeli military said. Britain’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda cost $900 million and moved only four people. Business Wiz, a four-year-old cybersecurity start-up, walked away from Google’s $23 billion offer to buy the company. It would have been the largest acquisition in Google’s history. Silicon Valley’s plans for a start-up city on farmland 60 miles from San Francisco is being delayed by at least two years to assess the environmental impact of the project. Other Big Stories Californians are frustrated with the rates of shoplifting and public drug use. In November, they will decide whether to impose stricter laws. The U.S. Olympic Committee sued the YouTube personality Logan Paul for using the trademarks “Olympic” and “Team USA” to promote his sports drink. Opinions When Kamala Harris ran for president four years ago, her background as a prosecutor hurt her with liberals. Trump’s legal woes have changed that, Nicole Allan writes. Republican populists are responding to real problems. But they lack a base of technocrats able to solve them, Julius Krein writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on Democratic euphoria and Paul Krugman on Trump’s claim about “Black jobs.” Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS A Cybertruck. Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times Big truck energy: More than any other Tesla, the Cybertruck, with its love-it-or-hate-it aesthetic, represents Elon Musk himself. Ask Vanessa: “What should I wear to the Olympics?” Frugal traveler: Spend a week in Chicago. Social-media diet: Conservative content is flourishing on TikTok, where younger people find strong opinions outside the mainstream. 8-bit ball: Times readers shared memories of their favorite sports video games. Lives Lived: Abdul Fakir, who was known as Duke, was the last remaining original member of the Four Tops. He sang tenor on hits like “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).” Fakir died at 88. SPORTS N.F.L.: The Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is refusing to practice until he signs a new contract. The team does not seem worried. Olympics: LeBron James led the U.S. men’s basketball team to a win over Germany in its final tuneup before the Paris Games. Read a recap. ARTS AND IDEAS Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in “Barbie.” Warner Bros. Pictures “Barbie” — directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie — was a phenomenon. It seemed to some that the film might herald a new era of movies made and led by women, but little has changed in the 12 months since its release. “Ask around Hollywood and the consensus seems to be that ‘Barbie’ is a singular success,” Nicole Sperling writes. “Translation: Don’t expect a lot of movies like that in theaters anytime soon.” More on culture Eminem’s “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce),” ended Taylor Swift’s 12-week run at the top of the Billboard album chart. It’s his 11th No. 1 album. “On Sundays, everyone thinks about quitting their job, but Biden is the first person to actually go through with it,” joked Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Dot juicy blueberries in cinnamon-scented batter for this pecan crunch cake. Take a quiz about movies based on Shakespeare’s plays. Consider a purse for your water bottle. Slow down your morning by hand-grinding your coffee. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was honeymooned. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David P.S. The Times politics reporter Reid Epstein was at his son’s birthday party when Biden announced his withdrawal from the race. Read about how he reacted to and covered the news. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 25, 2024 Author Members Posted July 25, 2024 July 24, 2024 By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s V.P. options — as well as the Secret Service director, Sicily’s drought and horror movies. At the Harris campaign headquarters in Delaware. Erin Schaff/The New York Times The Harris-______ campaign Kamala Harris’s choice of a running mate probably won’t decide this year’s presidential campaign. It’s hard to argue that a vice-presidential nominee has swung even a single state over the past 60 years. Why not? The country’s polarization means that people increasingly base their vote on salient national issues. The media landscape has nationalized, reducing the influence of local news organizations and political parties. And vice presidents receive a fraction of the attention that presidents do. These factors help explain why Paul Ryan, then a Wisconsin congressman, didn’t help Mitt Romney win that state in 2012 and why John Edwards didn’t help John Kerry win North Carolina in 2004. Not since Lyndon Johnson helped John F. Kennedy narrowly win Texas in 1960 has a running mate arguably made a difference. But Harris’s choice could still matter very much for other reasons. She will be picking a partner who would help her govern. Most important, she will be elevating a potential future president. Think back to four years ago. For his running mate, Joe Biden was choosing among Harris, Tammy Duckworth, Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren, Gretchen Whitmer and a few others. By selecting Harris, Biden effectively chose the 2024 Democratic nominee. We’ve chatted with our colleagues covering the Harris campaign, and today we offer a breakdown of the leading possibilities. Most analysts expect Harris to pick a white man, as a form of demographic balance, much as Biden picked a woman of color four years ago. The swing-state candidates Despite the poor track record of swing-state running mates, they remain tempting possibilities. Given the expected closeness of the election, even a tiny boost could make a difference. Harris has two such options: Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Kristian Thacker for The New York Times Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s popular governor, has wowed many Democrats with a forceful speaking style and center-left record that helped him beat a Donald Trump ally in a landslide two years ago. Shapiro emphasizes abortion rights — but also supports fracking and school vouchers. He could help Harris combat Republican claims that she’s too liberal. “Shapiro makes a lot of sense on paper,” our colleague Adam Nagourney said. Perhaps Shapiro’s biggest downside is that he could inflame divisions between moderate and liberal Democrats over the war in Gaza. Shapiro, who speaks proudly of his Jewish faith, has criticized both Israel’s right-wing government as an obstacle to peace and some anti-Israel protests in the U.S. as antisemitic. Mark Kelly, a senator from Arizona, has a résumé from swing-state central casting, even if he’s not the orator that Shapiro is. Kelly is a Navy veteran and a former NASA astronaut. He represents a border state and has criticized Biden’s immigration policies. Kelly is married to Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who became a gun-control activist after being shot in 2011. A downside: If Harris chose him and won, it would trigger a special election in Arizona in 2026, potentially costing Democrats a Senate seat. Whitmer, Michigan’s governor who would otherwise fall into this category, has said she doesn’t want the job. (Interviews with Democratic delegates found more support for Shapiro and Kelly than any other candidates.) The red-state governors Some people may consider North Carolina a purple state, but no Democratic presidential or Senate candidate has won it in more than 15 years. Roy Cooper, however, has won back-to-back governor’s races. He would help Harris project a pragmatic image nationally. He and Harris have known each other for years, having worked together when each was a state attorney general. Cooper, 67, has never lost an election. His signature achievement as governor has been expanding health insurance through Obamacare. But he is not considered exciting. “Cooper’s not given to soaring oratory or impassioned stemwinders,” Jeffrey Billman, a reporter for The Assembly, a North Carolina publication, has written. Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky. Natosha Via for The New York Times Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s governor, has an even more impressive electoral record than Cooper does. In a state that Trump won by 26 points four years ago, Beshear has been elected governor twice. “Beshear’s talent for projecting compassion, including to Republicans, helps explain how the Democrat pulled off 2023’s most impressive political feat,” Molly Ball of The Wall Street Journal wrote. A deacon at his church, Beshear won praise for his handling of Covid and natural disasters. He says that American politics have become too angry. And he has criticized other Democrats for suggesting that working-class people are dumb for voting Republican. The second tier Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s transportation secretary, would be a Democratic version of Trump’s running mate, JD Vance — a youthful military veteran with a talent for making his party’s case on television. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay vice president. Tim Walz, Minnesota’s populist governor, might help Harris appeal to working-class voters. Wes Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor, is considered a potential future presidential candidate. JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is a billionaire who could help finance Harris’s campaign. Gina Raimondo has accomplished more than most secretaries of commerce and is a favorite of moderate Democrats. “Chemistry matters,” said Jennifer Medina, a colleague of ours who’s covering the campaign. “Harris obviously knows the job of vice president and is likely to look for someone who she can work well with in this fast sprint and beyond — someone who is unlikely to cause a lot of drama or be too focused on their own prospects for 2028 or 2032.” More on the campaign Trump accused Harris of enabling the “willful demolition of American borders.” He said he was willing to debate her multiple times. “I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said at a rally in suburban Wisconsin, contrasting her background as a prosecutor with his criminal convictions. More people attended the speech than were at any of Biden’s campaign events this year. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic congressional leaders, endorsed Harris in a joint press conference. Policy issues have played little role in the 2024 campaign so far. Harris’s entry could change that, Nate Cohn writes. Biden, who returned to the White House after testing negative for Covid, will speak from the Oval Office tonight about his withdrawal. For much of Harris’s vice presidency, internet memes mocked her. Now liberals are sharing them triumphantly, the critic Amanda Hess writes. (Read an explanation of Harris’s “brat summer” rebrand and the coconut tree emojis.) THE LATEST NEWS The Trump Shooting Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, resigned over security failures related to the shooting. Biden said he would appoint a new director soon. The Pennsylvania police asked the Secret Service about a warehouse roof two days before a gunman used it to shoot at Trump, a state police colonel told Congress. Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, and Jeffries announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt. Trump accused Biden and Harris of failing to “properly protect me,” writing on social media that he “was forced to take a bullet for Democracy.” Israel-Hamas War The two main rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, jointly endorsed a temporary government for Gaza and the West Bank, in a show of unity that China brokered. Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress today. Some Democrats, including Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, plan to boycott the speech. Biden will meet with Netanyahu at the White House tomorrow. Trump and Harris will also meet with Netanyahu during his visit. International In Sicily. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times Parts of southern Italy are experiencing one of their worst droughts in decades. The authorities in Sicily are working to at least save tourism. Landslides in Ethiopia devastated a village and killed at least 229 people, including volunteers who had raced to help. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, rejected a coalition of left-wing parties’ pick for prime minister, saying he would not appoint anyone until after the Olympics. A plane crashed while taking off from an airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, killing 18 people. Business Tesla’s profits fell in the last three months as electric car sales weaken. Alphabet’s profits jumped, but its stock price fell after an earnings report showed its ad sales slowing, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Transportation Department opened an investigation into Delta Air Lines over its treatment of passengers, including unaccompanied minors, after a global tech outage. Other Big Stories Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat recently convicted of corruption, will resign next month. The state’s Democratic governor will appoint a temporary replacement. An Army reservist who fatally shot 18 people in Maine last year had homicidal thoughts beforehand. His commanders missed the signs, an investigation found. At Yellowstone National Park, tourists raced for safety after a hydrothermal explosion shot boiling water and rock into the air. Opinions Like many women in politics, Kamala Harris is underestimated. But she is well prepared for this moment, Hillary Clinton writes. Harris is unpopular, a bad campaigner and anchored to Biden’s record. Nominating her is a mistake, Bret Stephens argues. Trump lies about his presidential record, as Steven Rattner shows in these charts. Nancy Pelosi was unapologetically ruthless in ending Biden’s presidential campaign. She showed that powerful women don’t have to be likable, Jessica Bennett writes. Here’s a column by Thomas Friedman on Netanyahu. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS At the Olympic Village. James Hill for The New York Times Bon appétit: Food is the centerpiece of Paris’s Olympic Village, where six restaurants will serve 15,000 Olympians. Wellness: How healthy is sweet corn? D.C.: The home of a former Washington Post publisher was once a hub for the powerful. A battle has left it empty for 22 years. Lives Lived: The ethnic studies professor Robert Allen wrote a book about Black U.S. sailors unfairly convicted of conspiracy to commit mutiny during World War II. Allen, who campaigned for the sailors’ exoneration, died at 82 — a week before the Navy cleared them of wrongdoing. SPORTS Spying? The Canadian Olympic Committee apologized after a member of its support team was said to have flown a drone over the New Zealand women’s soccer practice. Suspension: A top British equestrian won’t compete in Paris because a video showed an undisclosed “error of judgment.” Read more about her exit. An exit: A Japanese gymnast withdrew from the Olympic Games after violating her team’s rules against smoking and drinking. ARTS AND IDEAS “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a movie from 2022. A24 In the era before mass cellphone use — before the late 1990s — isolation in horror movies was easier to parse. Now, filmmakers struggle to work around smartphones with GPS and internet access. Some solutions appear clichéd or perfunctory, but others use the unreliable cellphone as a key element of the terror. See examples of the ways horror cinema navigates the problem. More on culture John Mayall, a pioneering British bandleader whose mid-1960s blues ensembles incubated some of the biggest stars of rock’s golden era, died at 90. Chappell Roan, a rising pop star, has scored two big hits recently. The venues her team picked out months ago for her tour are struggling to fit her audience. Stephen Colbert discussed Charli XCX’s claim that Harris is “brat.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Rachel Vanni for The New York Times Make spaghetti with tuna with items already in your pantry. Test your fitness. Protect your ears at concerts. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was talkative. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David and Ian P.S. Jeremiah Bogert, a Times photo editor who has worked on this newsletter, co-directed a documentary about Chinese surfers challenging their country’s rigid sports culture. Watch it here. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 26, 2024 Author Members Posted July 26, 2024 July 25, 2024 By German Lopez Good morning. We’re covering a significant economic change and its effect on American politics — plus Biden’s speech, Kamala Harris and lab-grown meat. A Trump rally in Michigan. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Falling behind A common theory about Donald Trump’s appeal is that working-class white people feel they fell behind as other groups pulled ahead. He recognized the sentiment and spoke to those voters’ concerns. It turns out that those concerns are grounded in real economic changes, a new study from Harvard researchers shows. The researchers analyzed census and tax records covering 57 million children to look at people’s ability to rise to the middle and upper classes — their mobility — over two recent generations. They found that it had improved among Black people and deteriorated among poor white people, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows: Source: Opportunity Insights | By The New York Times The study’s full findings are nuanced, as Ashley and I explain in a story that The Times published today. Black people still, on average, make less money than white people, and the overall income gap remains large. But Black Americans who were born poor have gained ground while their white counterparts have lost some, narrowing the longstanding gap. That shift can help explain why some voters’ attitudes have changed over the past couple of decades. Cutting in line After Trump won in 2016, many journalists — myself included — turned to the sociologist Arlie Hochschild’s book on the American right, “Strangers in Their Own Land,” to try to understand what had happened. Hochschild provided a helpful analogy, one that resonates with the Harvard study’s findings. It goes something like this: White working-class people in red states saw the American dream as a queue moving people to prosperity. Over the past several decades, thanks to globalization and other changes, the queue stopped moving. And other groups have moved to the front of the queue. As a result, working-class white Americans often believe that their shrinking mobility is the result not just of outside forces like globalization but also of other groups that supposedly cut ahead. The Harvard study suggests that white working-class conservatives were right when they felt their own mobility had slowed, or even reversed, compared with that of Black Americans. (The researchers did not find significant changes for other racial groups.) The study also found that white people born into high-income families have seen their mobility improve — meaning the drop in mobility is restricted to the white working class. Trump has benefited from that reality. He has tapped into the resentment many white voters feel toward people of other races with his inflammatory and at times racist rhetoric, such as when he suggested Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. He has also criticized rich elites — which includes people who gained mobility as the working class lost out. As a result, some working-class white voters flipped from the Democratic Party to Trump between 2012 and 2016. Trump continues to have strong support from those voters, polls show. Of course, the evidence does not justify racial resentment. Economists say the queue analogy doesn’t reflect how the economy actually works. A growing, healthy economy creates more queues to prosperity; it’s not zero-sum, as the analogy suggests. In fact, the Harvard study found that white mobility had diminished least in the places where Black mobility had improved most. And while Black mobility has improved, it has not improved anywhere near enough to eliminate wide racial gaps between Black and white people. Gaps have narrowed, not closed. Still, Trump has tapped into many white voters’ fears that they have been left behind while other lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have focused on policies that help minority groups. The Harvard study helps show why Trump has been able to do that. Insights for both sides The new research can also help explain changes among Black voters. They have slightly shifted toward Trump since 2020, polls show. One possible explanation is that some Black voters’ economic gains have allowed them to focus more on noneconomic issues — such as abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights — on which they are more conservative than typical Democrats. Experts not involved with the study said that it would reverberate across the political spectrum. “The left and the right have very different views on race and class,” Ralph Richard Banks, a law professor at Stanford, told me. “The value of the study is that it brings some unimpeachable evidence to bear on these questions.” For more Type in your county to see how economic mobility has changed near you. Read our full story to learn more about how mobility has become more about class than race. THE LATEST NEWS Biden’s Speech President Biden Pete Marovich for The New York Times In an Oval Office address, President Biden said he withdrew from the 2024 election to unite his party and protect American democracy. “I revere this office, but I love my country more,” he said. See his speech. Biden added that he had chosen to “pass the torch to a new generation” and praised Kamala Harris: “She’s experienced, she’s tough, she’s capable.” He cited accomplishments — including on climate change, infrastructure, health care, the economy, NATO and gun safety — and said he would call for reforms to the Supreme Court. Trump watched Biden’s speech from his plane after a campaign rally in North Carolina. On social media, he called it “sooo bad!” The speech, The Times’s Peter Baker writes, “was all Joe, love him or hate him — the paeans to American exceptionalism, the evocations of family, the selective boasting.” Read a transcript. Kamala Harris Harris called Trump’s agenda “an outright attack on our children, our families and our future” at an event for a Black sorority in Indianapolis. Read how she took command of the Democratic Party in 24 hours. At a rally, Trump repurposed his criticisms of Biden against Harris, falsely accusing her of leading the prosecutions against him. Trump also stumbled over the word “abortion.” Veepstakes: In a frenzy of attention, contenders are going on cable news. Black voters greeted Harris’s candidacy with enthusiasm — but they worried about how a polarized country would respond. Harris loves to cook, and she has leaned into it in a way no other candidate has. More on the 2024 Election While in the White House, Trump suggested that disabled people “should just die,” and in the 1970s, he used the N-word, his nephew Fred C. Trump III claims in a coming memoir. A Trump spokesman called the account “completely fabricated.” Trump’s convention speech this year was twice as long as his 2016 speech. The number of falsehoods he told also doubled, a Times analysis found. Netanyahu’s Speech On Capitol Hill. Kenny Holston/The New York Times Benjamin Netanyahu called the war in Gaza “a clash between barbarism and civilization” in a speech to Congress. Netanyahu outlined his postwar vision for a “demilitarized and de-radicalized” Gaza with Palestinian civilian leaders “who do not seek to destroy Israel.” He said Israel did not want to “resettle” the enclave but should have indefinite “security control” over it. The Israeli prime minister praised both Biden and Trump but did not mention Harris. He called pro-Palestinian protesters “Iran’s useful idiots,” Politico reports. Netanyahu received long standing ovations led by Republicans and often including Democrats. But some remained seated, and Senator Chuck Schumer did not shake Netanyahu’s hand. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, held a sign that said, “Guilty of genocide.” Roughly half of congressional Democrats skipped Netanyahu’s speech, according to Axios. The Trump Shooting The gunman visited the rally site and searched online for details of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, apparently typing, “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?,” Christopher Wray, the F.B.I. director, told Congress. Answering a question from Representative Matt Gaetz, Wray said that he hadn’t noticed any “cognitive decline” in Biden. On social media, Trump called for Wray’s resignation, Axios reported. International In Manila. Lisa Marie David/Reuters Typhoon Gaemi is churning toward China. Rescue workers are searching for nine sailors who went missing when a cargo ship sank in bad weather near Taiwan. Government and religious leaders in New Zealand physically and sexually abused more than 200,000 people under their care, according to a six-year investigation. Germany’s Interior Ministry banned a prominent Shiite Muslim organization, calling it extremist. Other Big Stories Rupert Murdoch is in a secret legal battle against three of his children over the future of the family’s media empire. Nashville reopened cases on three unsolved bombings during the Civil Rights era after a local author named possible suspects. Sunday was the hottest day recorded on Earth — until Monday beat its record. Opinions The U.S. should call China’s bluff and increase its military presence in the South China Sea, Oriana Skylar Mastro argues. “One of the great joys of a long marriage is how the personal and pragmatic moosh together,” Gail Collins writes about the death of her husband, Dan. Here are columns by Thomas Edsall on Trump and Vance, and Pamela Paul on Ivy League Republicans. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Fulton Fish Market in New York. Daniel Terna Fish-eating town: Here’s an inside look at America’s biggest fish market, where 3 a.m. is prime time. Sharks on drugs: Researchers found that 13 sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro had high levels of cocaine in their systems. Before Bum Bum Cream: Here’s a look at 80 years of teen beauty trends. Social Q’s: A woman is frustrated she isn’t getting her mother-in-law’s help with child care. Should she say something? Finance: Paper checks refuse to die. Lives Lived: Born into a patrician family, Lewis Lapham used Harper’s Magazine, where he was an editor for more than 30 years, to denounce what he saw as the hypocrisies and injustices of a spoiled United States. He died at 89. SPORTS Soccer: Emma Hayes will coach her first competitive match with the U.S. women’s national team today when the Americans play Zambia in the Olympics. Competition: A record-setting soccer player is leading the Zambian team. She only started playing seven years ago. Opening ceremony: The tennis star Coco Gauff, 20, will become the youngest Team USA flag bearer in Olympic history when she joins LeBron James at tomorrow night’s festivities. Protest: Russia is banned from participating in the Olympics, and the Games won’t be shown on TV there. N.B.A.: The league announced lucrative new rights agreements with Disney, Comcast and Amazon. ARTS AND IDEAS In Singapore. Ore Huiying for The New York Times Singapore, which subsists on imported food, is letting a grocery store sell lab-grown meat — although it is expensive. Other countries are watching to see if Singapore’s experiment is successful. Read more about it. More on culture Two brothers became famous online as high-flying real estate brokers. Now they face accusations that they drugged and sexually assaulted women. A contestant on a New Zealand reality show apologized after eating a protected bird. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is rebounding after the pandemic. But international visitors aren’t coming like they once did. Stephen Colbert wants a Kamala Harris-Glen Powell ticket. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Make ratatouille with summer vegetables. Read four great new graphic novels. Clean your water flosser the right way. Use “I” statements. They work, experts say. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was unkindly. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —German Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 26, 2024 Author Members Posted July 26, 2024 July 26, 2024 By David Leonhardt Good morning. We’re making three points about the Harris-Trump race — and also covering drug cartels, arson in France and “underconsumption core.” Donald Trump in Michigan. Doug Mills/The New York Times The coming campaign With 101 days until Election Day, I want to use today’s newsletter to frame the coming campaign. No doubt, more surprises lie ahead. But there is now enough stability — and enough polling since President Biden’s exit — to make three points about the race. 1. Trump’s lead Donald Trump has led the 2024 race all year, and he leads Kamala Harris today. In The Times’s national polling average, Trump is ahead of Harris by one point, 47 percent to 46 percent. That’s narrower than Trump’s recent lead over Biden, but similar to Trump’s lead over Biden before last month’s debate, as my colleague Nate Cohn points out. The race has in some ways reset to where it was. There are also a couple of important differences. Harris is a far stronger campaigner than Biden. She’s a fiery, skilled speaker who can describe her own agenda and make the case against Trump in ways that Biden could not. She has more potential to make gains than Biden did. That said, polls point to a potential weakness, too: Harris appears to be a worse fit with the Electoral College than Biden. She is stronger among younger voters and voters of color but weaker with older voters and white working-class voters. Because swing states are disproportionately old, white and working class, Harris is likelier to win the popular vote and lose the election than Biden was. Think of it this way: It’s a bad trade for a Democrat to win more votes in California and fewer in Pennsylvania. As a result, Trump’s narrow national lead is probably a bit stronger than it looks. 2. Trump’s focus Trump doesn’t seem to be focused on swing voters. His speech at the Republican convention started effectively, political analysts thought. He told the story of having almost been murdered five days earlier. He thanked Secret Service agents and honored Corey Comperatore, the former fire chief killed that day. It was a version of Trump that he rarely projects. Then he returned to the more familiar version — the one that Trump’s fans adore and that most Americans don’t. He focused on himself. He lashed out. He lied. He rambled through the longest convention acceptance speech on record. “You read a lot of stuff about what this guy says, but to actually sit down and hear it and sit through it, it was just insane to me,” Arnel Ramos, 21, a food service worker in Milwaukee who is an undecided voter, told The Times. “It made me uncomfortable,” she said. In the days since the convention, Trump has kept it up. Republicans are nervous he is squandering a chance to win over Americans who are open to supporting him. These voters liked the pre-Covid Trump economy, and they don’t like that inflation and immigration surged under Biden. “The 2024 election is Donald Trump’s to lose, and he may yet manage it,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote. 3. Harris’s focus So far, Harris doesn’t seem focused on swing voters, either. Like Biden before her, Harris has organized her initial campaign message around Trump. She emphasizes that she was a prosecutor, and that he is a convict. At a Wisconsin rally this week, she offered a contrast between “freedom, compassion and rule of law” and “chaos, fear and hate.” In an ad released yesterday, called “We Choose Freedom,” she shows Trump’s mug shot and headlines about his conviction. She is echoing Biden’s argument that the future of democracy is at stake. But polls have repeatedly shown that this message resonates more with committed Democrats than swing voters. Swing voters care more about pocketbook issues. Blueprint, a Democratic polling group, tested 15 potential Harris messages. The one that voters liked best began, “Vice President Harris understands the struggles of working families.” It went on to say that she would be tough on corporate price gouging and that she supported an “all of the above” energy policy to lower gas prices. The worst-performing message began, “Vice President Harris is a champion of American democracy.” A Times/Siena College poll found a similar pattern. Look at the differences between the issues that matter most to Democrats and to undecided voters: Note: Chart shows all answers that at least 5 percent of registered voters gave. Poll was conducted before President Biden dropped out. | Source: Times/Siena Poll, July 2024 | By The New York Times Abortion’s low rank in the poll is also notable. Harris has signaled that she will try to increase the issue’s salience, and that approach could win over some swing voters. But it may not be as easy as Democrats hope. In the 2022 midterms, after Roe fell, not a single incumbent Republican governor or senator lost re-election. Other evidence also points to the primacy of economic issues. There are seven battleground Senate races this year — in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and elsewhere — where the Democratic candidates have been running ahead of Biden. All seven are offering populist messages focused on pocketbook issues. None talk much about democracy. To see the difference yourself, you can watch their ads here. Harris talks about economic issues, to be sure. (Speaking to a teachers’ union yesterday, she accused Trump of favoring trickle-down economics and union busting.) But these issues remain secondary. I’ll be curious to see whether she can make the freedom-versus-chaos argument more effectively than Biden did — or whether she starts sounding more like those Senate candidates. She will have an opportunity that Trump does not. Her convention, and the attention that comes with it, is still ahead. It starts Aug. 19. A programming note: I won’t be writing this newsletter frequently between now and the convention. You’ll be in good hands with my colleagues. More on the election Barack Obama endorsed Harris. Harris narrowed the gap against Trump to one point in a head-to-head matchup, the latest Times/Siena College poll found. Earlier this month, Biden trailed by six points. Read more poll analysis. Now facing Harris, Trump changed his commitment to a debate in September. Americans may not agree on much, but they agree Biden made the right decision to withdraw. There is high consensus in polling. Usha Vance, JD Vance’s wife, is an accomplished, Yale-educated lawyer who has left her job to become a high-profile political spouse. Read more about her. The next president is poised to inherit a strong economy, low inflation and lower interest rates. G.D.P. grew faster than expected this spring. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Shooting A Times analysis suggests it was a bullet that hit Trump during his attempted assassination, not debris. People have speculated about what hit him because his campaign has not released official medical reports, and his current physician has not weighed in. Drug Cartels The U.S. arrested two of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers and accused them of being responsible for the growing presence of fentanyl in the country. They were leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the dominant criminal organizations in Mexico. One was the son of El Chapo. Read more about the cartel. Arson in France Arson disrupted service on three of France’s four main high-speed train lines, the national railway company said. The attacks caused travel chaos on the day of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. Many trains were canceled, and delays are expected into the weekend. Politics A homeless encampment in Oakland, Calif. Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California officials to dismantle homeless encampments. The Supreme Court recently gave governments greater authority to do so. The Senate advanced bipartisan legislation to strengthen privacy protections for minors online. Justice Elena Kagan called for a way to enforce the Supreme Court’s ethics code, The Washington Post reported. Jennifer Wexton, a House Democrat who has a neurological disorder, spoke about disability rights using an A.I. device that mimics her voice. Israel-Hamas War Biden welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House and met with relatives of Hamas-held hostages. Harris, after meeting with Netanyahu, expressed support for Israel but said she would “not be silent” about Palestinians’ plight. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering,” she said. Earlier yesterday, Harris criticized pro-Palestinian protesters who burned flags and committed vandalism during Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, calling their actions unpatriotic, pro-Hamas and abhorrent. Trump said Israel must end the war quickly, saying it was “getting decimated” by negative publicity. He’s set to meet with Netanyahu today. The Israeli military said it had retrieved the bodies of five Israelis held in Gaza from a tunnel in an area it previously designated as a humanitarian zone for Palestinian civilians. Martin Indyk, who served as Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Israel and worked with the Biden administration to try to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, died at 73. International Refugees from Darfur arrive in Adre, Chad. Ivor Prickett for The New York Times Sudan is at risk of famine, but the military has refused to let U.N. aid convoys through a border crossing. The Russian defense minister called the U.S. defense secretary to claim that Ukraine was plotting an attack on Russia with America’s blessing. The U.S. denied it. A U.S. grand jury charged a North Korean man with hacking into American military computers to steal data. Other Big Stories The Park fire in Northern California became the state’s largest so far this year. Wildfire smoke from the West reached the Northeast, lowering air quality. New York City is cracking down on landlords who are behind on water bills. One family with medical conditions got a bill for $58,000. Southwest Airlines will end its 50-year policy of letting passengers choose their seats when they board. Opinions Venezuela’s president needs to accept the people’s will and negotiate a peaceful transition of power, María Corina Machado, the opposition leader, writes. Armando Iannucci, who created the political satire “Veep,” is worried — not about Harris, but about politics coming to resemble entertainment. Here’s a column by Michelle Goldberg on Vance’s father figures. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Joshua Bright for The New York Times 0.006 m.p.h.: While Olympians gather in Paris, an English village played host to its own competitors: dozens of garden snails. Sharks on drugs: Researchers found that 13 sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro had high levels of cocaine in their systems. (We apologize that yesterday’s link to this story didn’t work.) Modern Love: A letter from the past (“I’m reckless for you”) made her regret things hadn’t worked. Lives Lived: Sylvain Saudan, known as the “skier of the impossible,” inspired a generation of extreme skiers with his audacious, life-threatening descents of the world’s steepest and least accessible slopes. He died at 87. SPORTS Soccer: Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman helped the U.S. women’s team beat Zambia 3-0 to open the Olympics. Spying scandal: Canada removed the head coach of its women’s soccer team from the Olympics over accusations about using drones to watch rivals’ practice sessions. M.L.B.: The San Diego Padres’ right-hander Dylan Cease threw the second no-hitter in the franchise’s history, beating the Washington Nationals 3-0. ARTS AND IDEAS A TikTok user. Meghan Pexton, via TikTok After years of trends encouraging people to buy things, some TikTok users are telling followers to embrace minimalism. They’re calling it “underconsumption core,” the latest move away from influencer culture. Instead of pristine fridge shelves, makeup bags with the latest products and fashion fads, users are sharing their simplified closets and minimal makeup collections. More on culture Mattel unveiled Blind Barbie, part of the toymaker’s effort to be more inclusive. Stephen Colbert mocked Trump for recycling insults. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Kelsey Cherry Eat trifle, the dessert of the summer. Roast paprika chicken with potatoes. Pick the best drugstore makeup and skin care products. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were delight, delighted, highlighted and lighted. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 28, 2024 Author Members Posted July 28, 2024 July 27, 2024 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. The Olympics begin this weekend. Here’s to becoming an instant fan for a fortnight. María Jesús Contreras Golden opportunity It has been only three years since the last summer Olympics: the 2020 Tokyo Games, you’ll recall, were held in the summer of 2021. Time has been slippery since the pandemic began, anyway, even without reliable milestones moving around. Three years feels simultaneously like an eternity (think of how much has happened in the last three weeks) and a heartbeat (I’ve been just about to check out this playlist of “frat rock” recommended by Bruce Springsteen … for the past three Julys). Now the Olympics return with untold opportunities to geek out on sports you haven’t thought about for several years, or ever. This is my favorite promise of the Games: You can pick an event — Canoe slalom? Surfing? Breaking? — and get up to speed in short order on the rules, the athletes, the gossip, the stakes. You can become a superfan instantly. Broadcast coverage of the Olympics makes this transformation easy. I’m a total sucker for a hyperemotional documentary featurette on that gymnast whose family sacrificed everything for her Olympic dreams. Take my attention and my heart, give me the thrill of sticking the landing and the agony of one tiny wobble on the beam. I’ll admit I haven’t been following the American swimmers that closely since Tokyo, but I’ve spent the past week reading up on Katie Ledecky’s preparation for Paris — she’s “trying to improve her kick” — so I can cheer her on with a fan’s zeal. I never thought I could get excited about dressage, but after hearing the awe with which my colleague Alex Marshall talked about watching a gelding named Jagerbomb perform a move called a flying change, wherein the horse switches its lead leg in midair, I went straight to YouTube to see it for myself. “One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen an animal do,” Alex had told me, and I concurred. I’ll add that it is also strange and wonderful to see a horse perform such moves to a medley of songs by Tom Jones that includes “Sex Bomb.” Alex wasn’t a fan of dressage before he started reporting on it, but his enthusiasm was enough for me to add it to my roster of Olympic sports I’ll follow with interest. I’ve tried to become a football fan for the Super Bowl, a basketball fan for March Madness, but there’s always so much lore to catch up on, so much multiseason intrigue I’ve missed that true instant fandom seems out of reach. The Olympics make it easy to get on board. There are so many events and so many teams competing that it would be impossible to be a completist; this density rewards the passionate dilettante and the aficionado alike. The easiest way to become a fan fast? Ask a die-hard. My colleague Elisabeth Vincentelli played team handball as a child in France, and her knowledge of the sport is a little intimidating. But she gave me some rookie tips for how to get into it: As far as the mechanics of the game, think of it like dry water polo; keep an eye out for powerhouse teams from France and Denmark; watch the ball — players shoot it at the goal at an average of 80 miles per hour; and go to the bathroom before the match begins because the game moves so fast you won’t want to look away for a second. Related: I spoke with Times reporters about how to become a fan of dressage, handball and artistic swimming. Have a listen. WEEKEND OLYMPICS GUIDE In Paris. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The first weekend has a fairly busy schedule. Because of the time difference, events will generally begin before most of the U.S. is awake and run until 4 or 5 p.m. Eastern, with prime-time events, like the swimming finals, taking place in the midafternoon U.S. time. Here’s what to look for (and how to watch😞 Saturday Beach volleyball has always been a strong event for the United States. The main attraction for this one, though, is the stadium, which offers perhaps the best view in the city. The women’s 400-meter freestyle final is expected to be a thriller. Ledecky, the U.S. star, holds the Olympic record, but two swimmers — Summer McIntosh of Canada and the world-record holder, Ariarne Titmus of Australia — posted faster qualifying times than she did. Surfers will compete from Tahiti today. Sunday The qualifying round for the artistic gymnastics competition offers the first look at Simone Biles and her U.S. gymnastics squad. The U.S. men’s basketball team — with an all-star roster — debuts against Serbia and Nikola Jokic, the N.B.A.’s reigning most valuable player. More on the Games Paris prosecutors are investigating arson attacks that sabotaged three high-speed rail lines, disrupting travel to the opening ceremony. No one has yet claimed responsibility. Under rainy skies, more than 90 boats ferried nearly 7,000 athletes down the Seine in an opening ceremony that blended history and art. Celine Dion, who has a rare neurological disorder, performed publicly for the first time since 2020. The N.B.A. star LeBron James and the tennis star Coco Gauff carried the American flag. Abandoning the traditional format — a parade of athletes marching into a stadium — made the ceremony both more entertaining and more bloated, our T.V. critic writes. Team U.S.A. wore Ralph Lauren-designed navy blazers and jeans, an ensemble “suffused with somewhat outmoded prepster déjà vu,” our chief fashion critic writes. Take a quiz to guess the speeds in eight sports. (Does the javelin, the discus or the badminton birdie travel faster?) A dirty secret of Olympic swimming? Everyone pees in the pool, The Wall Street Journal reports. Dorie Greenspan has the perfect French snack suggestions for your watch parties. Read The Times’s full coverage of the 2024 Paris Games. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Brat Summer A Kamala Harris meme. via Aly McCormick Charli XCX’s album, “Brat,” is everywhere. Kamala Harris used the trend in her campaign and went viral. The album’s lime green is the color of the summer, and it’s bigger than Barbie pink was last year, Callie Holtermann writes. “I will aspire to be brat,” Jake Tapper said on CNN. Watch newscasters learn about the trend (and look old while doing so). Music Billy Joel performed his 150th show at Madison Square Garden. Fans bought a lot of merch. Olivia Rodrigo excited fans in Lexington, Ky., by bringing the country artist Tyler Childers onstage. They sang one of his songs, Billboard reports. Art Native modern art is on display at the Met. Our critic calls it “symphonically bicultural.” The artist Helen Marden’s new paintings at the Gagosian show her working through the loss of her husband. Loren Long has illustrated children’s books by Barack Obama and Madonna. His new best seller, “The Yellow Bus,” went in a different direction. Other Big Stories The internet has recently become obsessed with a hot weatherman in New York. See photos of him in The Cut. Hollywood has been happy about the strong box office performance of “Twisters.” The opera singer Klaus Florian Vogt’s voice is a phenomenon, Jeffrey Arlo Brown writes. He is returning to the Bayreuth Festival to sing in the “Ring.” A fourth woman accused Oren Alexander, a top luxury real estate agent, of drugging and sexually assaulting her years ago. Alexander has denied the previous allegations. THE LATEST NEWS Mexican newspaper headlines report the capture of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia. Rodrigo Oropeza/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The U.S. arrested Ismael Zambada Garcia, a founder of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel, after his criminal ally’s son lured him onto a plane and delivered him to U.S. officials. In years-old emails to a transgender friend, JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, called Trump a demagogue, described attending a Pride parade and wrote “I hate the police.” The friendship later ended over Vance’s criticism of gender-transitioning care for minors. Trump called Harris’s remarks about the suffering of Palestinian civilians “disrespectful to Israel” after meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, at Mar-a-Lago. He later called her “a bum.” The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation continued to cool in June, setting the central bank up to cut interest rates later this year. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. CULTURE CALENDAR By Alexis Soloski 🎥 “Trap” (Friday): What’s more frenzied: Murder or fandom? In the new thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, there are uvula-shredding screams — the sound of thousands of teenage girls seeing their pop idol in concert. (That idol, Lady Raven, is played by Saleka Shyamalan, M. Night’s daughter, who also composed the songs.) That concert is the backdrop to a serial killer plot, in which a doting dad (the former teen dream Josh Hartnett) with a very disturbing hobby begins to suspect that all that arena security might just be for him. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Johnny Miller for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Peach Crisp A bubbling, syrupy fruit crisp is the perfect way to make the most out of seasonal produce, and it’s an easy treat to throw together on a summer weekend. Yossy Arefi’s peach crisp is a paragon of the form, with a crunchy oat and brown sugar streusel covering the fragrant filling. Yossy calls for peeling the peaches with a vegetable peeler (no pots of boiling water needed) to ensure the silkiest texture. But feel free to skip that part if it seems like a step too many (I never peel my peaches); the crisp will still be excellent, skins and all. REAL ESTATE Sierra Nguyen Marissa Leshnov for The New York Times The Hunt: She defied her parents and worked in art. Soon, she had enough money to buy an apartment in San Francisco. Which one did she pick? Play our game. What you get for $3.3 million in California: A 1927 Spanish-style house with a guest cottage in Los Angeles, an Arts and Crafts bungalow in Sonoma or a four-bedroom home with a guesthouse in Torrance. A diva of a staircase: After a lifetime of renting, they became buyers in London. See their home. LIVING In Tasmania. Anna Pihan Visit: Tasmania, an Australian island with wild saunas and pagan festivals. Bites: Avoid chiggers with these expert tips. Breast cancer: A large study found that for most patients, having both breasts removed after cancer was detected in one made no difference in their survival. Travel: Spend 36 hours in Nice, France. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER The case for a backpack cooler Coolers have come a long way in the last decade. As a result, there’s really no excuse for warm drinks or spoiled food. A well-insulated backpack cooler makes it even easier to carry your vittles long distances while keeping them cold. It may not sound like much, but being able to throw a pack of cans on your back and trek them out to friends far down the beach on a hot day can feel almost magical — a true act of kinship. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were conductor and nonconductor. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. —Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 28, 2024 Author Members Posted July 28, 2024 July 28, 2024 SUPPORTED BY APPLE Good morning. We’re covering how your body can adapt to the heat. We’re also covering JD Vance, Simone Biles and slow fashion. In Seattle. Justin J Wee for The New York Times Don’t get scorched By Megan Thielking I edit stories about health and well-being. It has been hot outside. Very, very hot. It’s the kind of hot that can make you miserable. It can make you sick. For older adults and outdoor workers, it can be deadly. As an editor on the Well desk at The Times, I work on stories about health issues like extreme heat every day. I’m always looking for practical advice that people can use to live healthier lives. For many health issues we report on, my thinking is: Well, that’s terrible. What are we supposed to do about it? I thought I knew the answer when it came to heat. Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay alert to the signs of heat illness. Those are all important. But I was surprised to learn there’s another approach that has largely been overlooked. It’s called heat acclimatization, and The Times published a story about it this morning. It’s about teaching your body to deal with the stress of heat. Right now, the people who try to do so are often outdoor laborers, athletes, soldiers and others who have to be outside all the time. But many other people might benefit from giving it a shot. How acclimatizing helps Heat taxes the body. You sweat more, and your heart beats harder. Both help keep you cool. But in very high temperatures, your heart rate can jump too high. Your blood pressure can drop. You can sweat so much you can become dizzy or dehydrated. Pushing the body too hard in extreme heat without preparation can be deadly. Almost half of all heat-related deaths among workers occur on their first day on the job, and more than 70 percent occur within the first week, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Once bodies are used to the heat, they start to adapt within days. To build up your tolerance, you can undertake increasingly longer periods of strenuous activity in hot conditions. You’ll perspire sooner, and more. You retain more salts, so you don’t sweat out as many electrolytes. Your body’s core temperature stays lower. Your plasma, the liquid part of blood, expands. This allows the heart to beat less to circulate oxygen — and allows more blood to be sent toward the skin, where it can be cooled. Your body produces more proteins that help protect against heat stress and repair the damage from it. Those changes will let you do more without feeling fatigued in the heat. Doing it yourself In the first few days, you might do light or moderate activity for half an hour. When you feel ready, four or five days in, you can start doing more intense activity. The goal is to ramp up to about 90 minutes to two hours of activity over two weeks. That’s about how long it takes your body to fully adapt. Health officials have more specific recommendations for people who work in hot conditions. You should be doing short bursts of whatever it is you want to do — weeding your garden, walking, running — for longer. You adapt only to what you train for: Light exercise in the heat builds your tolerance only for light exercise. Once you’re acclimatized, keep doing what you’re doing to stay that way. Otherwise, you’ll lose those abilities within about a month. The best time to start acclimatizing is when temperatures are moderate. Don’t wait for the heat wave. The right amount of strain will depend on your health and what you’re trying to accomplish, experts said. Pay attention to how you’re feeling. Stay hydrated. (Experts recommend drinking a cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes when working in the heat.) And stop if you experience any signs of heat-related illness. You don’t want to overdo it. For more This is what extreme heat does to the body. It also affects the brain, making us aggressive, impulsive and dull. A MESSAGE FROM APPLE Mac does that Super security is standard on Mac, with hardware and software that protect your data out the box. Learn more THE LATEST NEWS Middle East The Israeli military said it had conducted overnight strikes in Lebanon, hours after a rocket fired from there killed at least 12 people in an Israeli-controlled town. Israel blamed Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that has been attacking Israel in solidarity with Gaza, for the deadly rocket attack. 2024 Election Donald Trump and JD Vance. Doug Mills/The New York Times JD Vance has stumbled in his debut as Donald Trump’s running mate. People have criticized his comment from 2021 that “a bunch childless cat ladies who are miserable” run the country. Vance formed a close bond with a transgender classmate — one who shared their private emails and messages with The Times to show how Vance had changed. At a rally, Trump escalated his attacks on Kamala Harris and called her “evil.” Trump has also mocked Harris’s laugh. It is one of her most effective weapons, our comedy critic writes. Harris is Asian American but is not widely known for that identity, even though she speaks often about her Indian mother. Wildfires Near Chico, Calif. Daniel Dreifuss for The New York Times The Park fire in Northern California has grown to become the largest active blaze in the country. Firefighters are racing to contain it and other fires across the American West. Some people are defying evacuation orders. Other Big Stories Russian forces have made rapid gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, capturing a few villages. A plane crash in rural Wyoming killed three members of the gospel band the Nelons and four other people on board. OLYMPICS Simone Biles Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast in history, returned to the Olympics. Three years ago, she withdrew from most of her events at the Tokyo Games. Read about her comeback. Sunisa Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, may try a new skill. If she’s able to do it, the move will be called “The Lee.” See it slowed down. The U.S. men’s basketball team will face Serbia today. (Here’s what else to watch.) THE SUNDAY DEBATE Was JD Vance the right choice as Trump’s running mate? No. Trump chose Vance because he was sure he’d beat President Biden, a hubristic error now that he faces Kamala Harris, Brian Tyler Cohen argues for MSNBC. Yes. Vance can meet expectations. “Veeps make a difference only if they are catastrophic mistakes, and Vance seems unlikely to be one,” The Washington Post’s Ramesh Ponnuru said. A MESSAGE FROM APPLE Mac does that Super security is standard on Mac, with hardware and software that protect your data out the box. Learn more FROM OPINION Alma Haser Our warming planet has thrown agriculture into crisis. We need to reimagine it, David Wallace-Wells explains. Vance is right: America is a homeland, Farah Stockman writes. To help people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental health crises, send unarmed civilians instead of police officers, Tahir Duckett argues. Vance’s comments make Trump look enlightened about women, Maureen Dowd writes. Here are columns by Ross Douthat and Lydia Polgreen on Harris. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Manhattan’s Chinatown. Janice Chung for The New York Times Slow fashion: Some young people have become obsessed with learning old-fashioned crafts like leather-making and lacework. It’s shark season: How worried should you be? Retirement: These are the three biggest mistakes you can make with your 401(k). Space: NASA did not say it found life on Mars. But it’s very excited about this rock. Patriot Party News: A right-wing forum spreads disinformation — and a deep sense of community. Vows: She swore off dating. Then she took a walk with him. Lives Lived: Gail Lumet Buckley wrote two multigenerational books about her ambitious Black middle-class family. She died at 86. THE INTERVIEW Pete Buttigieg Photo illustration by Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By Lulu Garcia-Navarro This week’s subject for The Interview is the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg. This time last week, Buttigieg was a prominent surrogate for President Biden’s re-election campaign. Now he is making the case for Kamala Harris, while demurring when asked about his interest in becoming her vice president. We talked about all of that, plus whether Harris should debate on Fox News, whether Biden stayed in the race too long, and the Democrats’ new messaging on Donald Trump. I want to ask you about a specific shift in messaging I’ve noticed this week from the Democrats. The Harris campaign is leaning into the idea that Trump is, quote, weird. It’s very different from the way Democrats framed him before, which is that he’s an existential threat to democracy, this terrifying figure that is going to take away people’s rights. “Weird” seems, you know, a different tack from that. What do you think of that strategy, of basically laughing at him? Well, to be clear, I think we’re doing both. We’re talking about the implications for democracy and noting that he is obviously a strange person who’s getting stranger, and you’ve got to ask yourself, is that the kind of person you want in charge of the country? Part of the promise of a Kamala Harris presidency is actually the prospect of a comparatively normal Republican Party. What I mean by that is: Beating Donald Trump the first time in 2020 ended his term, but it did not end his grip on the G.O.P. Beating him twice would, I think, have a different effect on a lot of people in the G.O.P. who know better than to be onboard with him. He goes against their values too, not just my values, but they’ve gone along with it because they think it’s the path to power. And it would become abundantly clear that that is not true if we beat him, not just the way we beat him in 2020, not just the way we indirectly beat him in 2022 in the midterms, but beat him a second or, so to speak, third time. What I’m hearing you say, and please correct me if I’m wrong, is if Donald Trump is defeated in this election, then perhaps the Republican Party can be freed from his grip? I think so. I made myself watch the first couple Republican presidential debates, and we had a lot of Republican candidates this cycle. There were still some things that I thought were pretty fringe, and just about everything I heard I disagreed with, but apart from some of the darkness of Vivek’s populism, you could be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a more normal Republican Party … If he leads this party to defeat a third time, I believe that the self-interest, just the internal power dynamics of the G.O.P., the very power dynamics that have kept them enthralled to him, even though so many of them know better (notably including, by the way, JD Vance, who, back when he was speaking truthfully and for himself, referred to Donald Trump as an idiot and compared him to an opioid, which is an exceptionally dark thing to say about somebody if you are from or connected to Appalachia as JD Vance is, right? And that was in public. In private, comparing him to Hitler, and now turning around and supporting him) — all of that finally breaks loose if they realize that attaching yourself to Donald Trump doesn’t just destroy your character; it destroys your access to power. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Philip Montgomery for The New York Times Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. BOOKS “Long Island Compromise”: Based on a true story, this novel follows a dysfunctional suburban family decades after the father, a prominent businessman, is kidnapped from his driveway. See other books we recommend. Pick your next book: Use our tool to find a great book, like “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar, to read next. “The Secret Lives of Numbers”: This book highlights the overlooked contributions to math by ancient thinkers, non-Westerners and women. Times best sellers: “The Black Bird Oracle,” the fifth book in Deborah Harkness’s All Souls series, is on the hardcover fiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Bring the best gear — bags, towels — to the beach. Buy a good camping tent. Adventure with an excellent dry bag. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For The U.S. presidential election is in 100 days. Venezuela’s presidential election is today. The Federal Reserve is expected to discuss lowering interest rates starting on Tuesday. The Lollapalooza music festival begins on Thursday. Meal Plan Christopher Testani for The New York Times This week, Emily Weinstein recommends revisiting angel hair noodles — she thinks it’s the perfect pan of pasta for a high-summer dinner tossed with olive oil, butter, garlic, herbs and blistered cherry tomatoes. She’s also encouraging you to try a chicken and herb salad with nuoc cham, made with fish sauce and lime, and a pearl couscous salad with shrimp and feta. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were checkable and hackable. Can you put eight historical Olympics moments — including Jesse Owens, Nadia Comaneci and the Dream Team — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. 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. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 29, 2024 Author Members Posted July 29, 2024 July 29, 2024 By German Lopez Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s impact on congressional races — the Venezuelan election, Israel and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Ahead of a speech by Kamala Harris in Houston. Erin Schaff/The New York Times The race for Congress With President Biden out of the 2024 race, Democrats aren’t just hoping to win the presidency. They also believe they have a better chance to take the House of Representatives and keep the Senate. Biden was a drag on the ticket. He ran behind congressional Democrats in polls. He could have cost his party otherwise winnable House and Senate races by causing Democratic-leaning voters to stay home. “Those voters were saying they really did want to vote for a Democrat, but they were super uninspired by Biden,” said Amy Walter, who tracks congressional races at The Cook Political Report. “And so they might not have shown up.” Much of what Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would do as president depends on which party controls Congress. The race for the House is very close. The race for the Senate favors Republicans, but if Democrats forestall a wipeout, they could at least limit the G.O.P.’s agenda. Today’s newsletter will break down the state of these consequential races. The House House Republicans have an advantage in this year’s elections, but it is very small. According to The Cook Political Report, Republicans are favored in 210 seats. Democrats are favored in 203. A party needs 218 to control the House. Source: Cook Political Report | credit: By The New York Times Among the 22 House seats considered tossups, Democrats and Republicans each currently control half. Republicans face a relatively easier task: They have to keep eight of their 11 tossup seats, without losing districts in which they’re favored, to win the House. These 22 races will likely be very close, within as little as one or two percentage points. The difference between Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries as speaker could come down to a few thousand voters across a few congressional districts. The size of the majority matters, too. Consider the current House. Republicans control it, but they need almost every one of their 220 members to do anything. If a few backbenchers disagree with the rest of the party on a bill or a decision, they can effectively veto it. That has led to weeks of votes just to decide on a speaker — typically a routine issue — and to the brink of a government shutdown. Such chaos could continue if Republicans won without expanding their majority in the chamber. The Senate For Democrats, the Senate is daunting. It is currently divided 51 to 49 in their favor. But one of those 51 seats — West Virginia’s — will almost certainly flip Republican, because Senator Joe Manchin is not running for re-election and the state is deep red. That leaves Democrats with a 50-50 Senate to start. (In an even-split scenario, control of the White House matters more; the vice president breaks tie votes.) Source: Cook Political Report | credit: By The New York Times Then, the only tossups are seats that Democrats currently control: Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Nevada. Republicans have to flip only one of these seats to take the chamber. That seems very doable. Ohio and Montana, in particular, have consistently voted Republican in statewide and federal races since the current Democratic incumbents last won in 2018. Again, though, margins matter. In his first year in the White House, Biden hoped to pass $2.2 trillion in new spending through the Build Back Better bill. But because Democrats had a thin Senate majority, two moderates — Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — were able to force a smaller bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, that spends a fraction of what Biden wanted. Similarly, three moderate Senate Republicans blocked Trump’s attempt to repeal Obamacare in 2017. If he won, would Trump be able to impose his most severe immigration restrictions? Or deeper tax cuts for corporations and the rich? Could he cut programs like Medicaid and food stamps? The answer may hinge on whether Republicans win one Senate seat or five. What comes next We won’t know the effect of replacing Biden on the ticket for at least weeks, until we get more polling. But many congressional races are so close that the slightest electoral shift could flip them. Even if Harris loses in November, she could limit how much Trump can get done in a second term by boosting House and Senate seats more than Biden would have. More on 2024 The New York Times Several men are vying to be Harris’s running mate. Some of them, like her, served as state attorneys general. The Harris campaign says it has raised $200 million in about a week — more than Biden did in the first three months of the year. Texts obtained by The Times revealed that Trump’s would-be assassin aroused police suspicion more than 90 minutes before the shooting, earlier than was previously known. A new fault line: A majority of men under 30 support Trump and Republican control of Congress, while young women favor the Democrats, The Wall Street Journal reports. Liberal social media creators are seeing their posts being shared widely as the Harris campaign resonates online. The announcement of Harris’s candidacy excited Democrats. Now she faces a harder task: maintaining that enthusiasm, Kellen Browning and Maggie Astor write. THE LATEST NEWS Venezuela Election In Venezuela. Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times Venezuela’s government-controlled election authority declared the nation’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, the winner of the presidential election. Officials at some voting centers refused to release paper tallies of the electronic vote count, and there were reports of fraud and voter intimidation. An opposition leader called the results impossible and Antony Blinken said the U.S. had serious concerns. The outcome could mean protests and a new period of political unrest. Read more takeaways. More International News The aftermath of a strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times Diplomats are trying to prevent an escalation in fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border. After an attack on an Israel-controlled area this weekend, stores were closed and weddings were postponed. Japan initially welcomed inflation as a way to shake its sluggish economy. But there are signs that things are not going to plan. People across Germany are using plug-in solar panels on their balconies, prompted by low prices and looser regulations. Politics Biden is expected today to propose a Supreme Court overhaul that includes term limits. His effort would need to pass the Republican-controlled House, a significant hurdle. Mayor Eric Adams blocked elements of a law that would have banned solitary confinement in New York City jails a day before it took effect. Iowa’s six-week abortion ban is set to take effect today. Last month, the state’s Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that the ban could be enforced. Other Big Stories In California. Loren Elliott for The New York Times Thousands of people in Northern California are under evacuation orders prompted by the Park fire. Some of the displaced wonder if they’ll have a home to return to. During the early days of the pandemic, police traffic stops fell across the U.S. In many places, enforcement hasn’t returned. A blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90 percent of the time, a study found. Opinions The Republican Party used to be hawkish and welcoming of immigrants. Trump has now replaced the party with the worst traits of populism, Peter Wehner writes. Trump should make abortion “illegal and unthinkable,” Kristan Hawkins says in an interview with Jane Coaston. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Harris and JD Vance. Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof on A.I.-designed diseases and David French on masculinity. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Nasushiobara, Japan. Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times Rude customers: Japan is famous for its service culture, where the customer is always right. But how demanding is too demanding? Health: Bone loss is a natural part of getting older, but prioritizing certain foods can help slow down the process. Vermont: These young farmers are experimenting with ways to mitigate the effect of extreme weather. Metropolitan Diary: Noticing the quiet. Lives Lived: Edna O’Brien was a prolific Irish author whose evocative and explicit stories of loves lost earned her a literary reputation that matched the darkly complex lives of her tragic heroines. She died at 93. OLYMPICS Léon Marchand Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times Swimming: Léon Marchand of France won the men’s 400-meter individual medley and set a new Olympic record, breaking the one set by Michael Phelps in 2008. Speed: Some swimmers, inspired by a math professor at the University of Virginia, are using statistics and fancy gear to shave fractions of a second from their time. Simone Biles: The American gymnast returned to the Olympic stage with a dazzling show — and an injury scare. Read a recap. Soccer: The U.S. women’s national team defeated Germany, and secured a place in the knockout round. Basketball: Kevin Durant had a near-perfect performance as the U.S. men’s team defeated Serbia. Today: The Games will have five swimming finals, the first game for the U.S. women’s basketball team and the men’s gymnastics team final. ARTS AND IDEAS Illustration by Nicolás Ortega In dating, a yellow flag is something that makes you pause. Social media is full of examples, like overusing emojis while texting and wearing a bad outfit. We spoke to experts about what yellow flags you should take seriously. Here are a few: They call all their exes “crazy.” Your inner circle doesn’t approve. They are inconsistent. Read more examples. More on culture Method dressing is in style. Zendaya has brought it to the Olympics, wearing an outfit covered in Olympic rings, Harper’s Bazaar reports. Robert Downey Jr. will return to the Marvel cinematic universe as the villain Dr. Doom in two upcoming movies. He was once Iron Man. “Deadpool & Wolverine” was set to have a record opening for an R-rated movie. There are a lot of cameos in the film. See a guide to them all. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times Bake a sheet pan chicken dinner inspired by patatas bravas. Escape from the crowds in Tuscany. Get an early start on back-to-school shopping. Read how Wirecutter approaches sustainability. Order a good frame online. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was variform. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —German Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 30, 2024 Author Members Posted July 30, 2024 July 30, 2024 Good morning. Today, we’re covering the rules that allow labor abuses to flourish overseas — as well as Supreme Court reform, Israel and speed puzzling. In Pawarwadi, India. Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times Serious labor abuses By Megha Rajagopalan I’m an investigative reporter based in London. In the 1990s, more U.S. companies began manufacturing abroad, where labor was cheaper. But soon, they had a problem. Journalists, consumers and human rights groups noticed that, away from the eyes of American unions and regulators, these multinationals sometimes used brutal cost-saving measures, such as sweat shops and child labor. Executives — in garments, mining and agriculture, for instance — found a solution. Companies would hire outside inspectors to scrutinize their supply chains. These inspectors would visit their suppliers’ factories, investigate abuses and determine whether everyone was following the rules. Major companies signed on, sending a message that they could clean up their own supply chains. There was no need, they argued, for governments to intervene. But my reporting over the last year has shown how flawed these audits can be. I visited sugar mills in India, the world’s second-largest producer, that supply multinational companies. Their sugar sweetens cans of Coke and cups of tea. In the state of Maharashtra, I met dozens of women who were pushed to have hysterectomies, often as a consequence of routine gynecological problems made worse by an absence of bathrooms, menstrual products and running water in the fields. Sometimes they borrowed money for the surgery from their employers, who forced them and their families to pay it back through more work. Many farm laborers also said the contractors who hired them had saddled them with enormous debt — for salary advances, health care and other costs — that would prevent them from ever leaving their jobs. Women described working in the fields as children. Our photographer, Saumya Khandelwal, saw kids cutting cane. The Times published my investigation into these farms this morning. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why, despite some scrutiny, serious labor abuses still lurk in major companies’ supply chains. A cursory inspection Most major companies have policies that ban labor and environmental abuses. To enforce them, they rely on a process known as social auditing. Factories pay social auditors to visit for a few days, during which they look at corporate paperwork and interview workers and managers. These observers look for anything that might be amiss: unsanitary work stations, underpaid or underage employees, illegal chemicals, unsafe conditions. The problem is that auditors only capture a small period of time, and factories usually know they are coming. So managers have a chance to temporarily clean things up — and to stage-manage the interviews. Sugar mill executives also told me they steer auditors to farms that have the fewest problems. “Sometimes audits can act as subterfuge,” said Justine Nolan, the director of the Australian Human Rights Institute. “They can hide the real problems or give a sense that everything is fine without actually delving into what’s going on in this factory or field.” In today’s story, I reported on the nonprofit Bonsucro, which certifies farms and sugar mills as being free of labor and environmental abuses. An auditor working for Bonsucro told me that, in two years, she had found no abuses at any of the sugar mills and farms she had examined in Maharashtra. We interviewed sugar cane cutters for those mills who told us many stories about how they’d been mistreated. Bonsucro counts major corporations among its members, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and General Mills. These brands use certifications like Bonsucro’s to reassure consumers that the products they buy are ethically made. Cracks in the system Problems like these are not unique to India. Social auditors around the world depend on the access they get from factories, which have few incentives to open up. Companies seek to profit and serve their shareholders first. They worry that oversight and regulation could raise costs. What’s more, auditors like Bonsucro are beholden to the companies that hire them. Their members can vote on what they do and don’t do. They’re not allowed to publish their findings. So far, it has been tough for the U.S. government to police overseas supply chains. American companies can’t import goods made with forced labor, but there are many other abusive practices abroad about which the U.S. law says nothing. The European Union hopes a new directive will force large companies to rid their supply chains of human rights abuses. But, for now, these abuses aren’t going anywhere — and the system meant to catch them lacks teeth. For more: Read my story about the labor practices that social auditors miss. THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Elections Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina. Erin Schaff/The New York Times Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s Democratic governor, withdrew from consideration to become Kamala Harris’s running mate. Two other governors — Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — campaigned for Harris. “I want to look the 47th president of the United States in the eye and say, ‘Madam President,’” Shapiro said. Governing experience, geographic advantages and fund-raising chops: Here’s what Harris may be looking for in a vice president. Donald Trump and his allies are resurfacing progressive stances Harris took when she ran for president in 2020. “Failed. Weak. Dangerously Liberal”: Trump’s first major attack ad against Harris focused on immigration and claimed she was responsible for millions of border crossings. In Silicon Valley, the election has pitted tech billionaires who support Trump against those who support Harris. The Justice Department plans to monitor today’s House and Senate primary elections in Arizona to safeguard voters’ rights. Supreme Court President Biden proposed changes to the Supreme Court. He said the justices had undermined civil rights protections with “extreme” rulings on issues including voting rights and abortion. Biden called for 18-year terms for the justices, a binding ethics code and a constitutional amendment to limit the court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity. The proposals require congressional approval. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the plan “dead on arrival.” If the changes were adopted, presidents would appoint a new justice every two years. If that had happened in recent decades, today’s court would have six liberal justices and three conservatives, rather than the opposite. The Trump Shooting Trump agreed to an interview with the F.B.I. as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt against him. House leaders appointed 13 lawmakers to investigate the shooting. One of the Republican members has spread conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Middle East In northern Israel. Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times “Our response is coming, and it will be severe,” Benjamin Netanyahu said after a rocket attack in Israel near the border with Lebanon killed 12 children. The Israeli military detained nine reservists over the suspected sexual abuse of a Palestinian detainee. Crowds supporting the reservists broke into two military bases in protest. Junior congressional staff members created a website where they can anonymously publish memos criticizing U.S. policy toward Israel. More International News In Caracas, Venezuela. Alejandro Cegarra for The New York Times The U.S. and several Latin American countries said that Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, could not claim victory in last weekend’s election without releasing the full vote count. Ukraine, after months of fighting, recently lost two villages in the southeast to Russia. The Times pieced together the loss in conversations with Ukrainian soldiers. Two children were killed and another nine were wounded, along with two adults, in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in northern England. The police arrested a 17-year-old on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Other Big Stories A retiree thought he was helping the police catch thieves who were after his savings. The investigation was a ruse: He lost $740,000 to scammers. Read how the son of the drug lord known as El Chapo abducted a fellow cartel leader and forced him onto a plane bound for the U.S., delivering him to American officials. The police in Nebraska charged a teenager with intentionally derailing a train and posting video of the crash online. William Calley, the only American convicted in the murder of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the atrocity known as the My Lai Massacre, died at 80. Opinions “I am so sorry”: Brian Wharton, a former assistant police chief, helped put a man on death row. He believes he was wrong, and he is now trying to help save his life. The Supreme Court’s decision to weaken the oversight of agencies like the E.P.A. shows how our leaders have given up on protecting our environmental health, Erin Brockovich writes. Biden’s proposed changes to the Supreme Court are an assault on judicial independence, The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes. Here are columns by Paul Krugman on JD Vance and crypto, and Jamelle Bouie on Harris and Gaza. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Times Square. Paola Chapdelaine for The New York Times Street wars: Using data on benches and trash cans — as well as people — a researcher measured just how claustrophobic New York City sidewalks are. Ask Vanessa: “Why does my teenager insist on wearing used clothes?” Wildlife: A crisis for vultures in India led to more than half a million excess human deaths, a study found. Swish, spit, repeat: Proponents of oil pulling say it can reduce cavities and whiten teeth. Dental professionals are skeptical. Lives Lived: Francine Pascal conjured up a literary universe among the blue-eyed cheerleaders and square-jawed jocks of suburban Los Angeles, most notably in her best-selling “Sweet Valley High” series of young-adult novels. She died at 92. OLYMPICS Stephen Nedoroscik Abbie Parr/Associated Press Men’s gymnastics: The U.S. team earned bronze in the team all-around final. The pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik delivered in his biggest moment. Women’s gymnastics: Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles will lead the U.S. in today’s team final, competing in all four events. Basketball: The U.S. women’s team, led by Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, defeated Japan. Read a recap. Tennis: Novak Djokovic defeated his longtime rival Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Swimming: Two elite Chinese swimmers who tested positive for steroids in 2022 were cleared by the Chinese authorities, who concluded that they could have ingested the drug unwittingly when they ate hamburgers. Science: See the delicate mechanics behind six Olympic events, including weight lifting and trampoline. Winning: Who leads the medal count? It depends how much you value a gold. This tool from The Upshot breaks it down. ARTS AND IDEAS Is that a side piece? Hannah Cauhepe for The New York Times This year, in a Spanish city, speed puzzlers from 75 countries will race to complete puzzles for a modest cash prize and bragging rights. Puzzling has been around for more than 250 years, but the competition — the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, started in 2019 — has renewed its popularity. Read about the tournament, and the competitors’ most common strategies. More on culture The Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died last week, provided “searing portraits of an oppressive, violent society seen through the prism of female friendship,” Lucy Scholes writes. Many Russian artists who oppose the war in Ukraine have been driven into exile. Those who remain are compelled to echo the government’s nationalist zeal, The Washington Post reports. “In the span of a week, Democrats have gone from the despair of a certain Trump presidency to the joy of a statistical tie,” Jon Stewart said on “The Daily Show.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Bryan Gardner for The New York Times Replace beef with eggplant and mushrooms in this hearty vegetarian pasta. Get kids excited about the Paris Games with these 11 children’s books. Watch two meteor showers reaching their peak this week. Gift a bibliophile one of these items. Watch the Olympics in 4K. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were arching, chagrin, chairing, charging, charring and ranching. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted July 31, 2024 Author Members Posted July 31, 2024 July 31, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering the fallout from Venezuela’s election — as well as the Middle East, Kamala Harris and ultra-processed foods. In Caracas, Venezuela. Alejandro Cegarra for The New York Times A dubious re-election By Julie Turkewitz I’m The Times’s bureau chief for the Andes region. Venezuela is on fire. After a vote on Sunday, its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, claimed victory in his re-election campaign. But few believe he truly won, and he has not produced a vote count that verifies the result. The opposition says its candidate scored at least 3.9 million more votes than Maduro did. Now protesters are surging in the streets of this oil-rich nation, exasperated by a generation of leaders they can’t get rid of. They are toppling statues of the man who founded the country’s socialist movement. At least 16 people have died, including one soldier, and about 750 have been detained by security forces. Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday in the capital, Caracas,to support the opposition. In some places, the authorities responded with tear gas. The day before, government-aligned gangs had responded with bullets. It’s another chapter in a national saga of crisis, despotism and penury. Nearly eight million have fled the country, according to the United Nations; you’ve probably seen photos of Venezuelan families trudging toward the U.S. border. That migration has strained not only Venezuela’s neighbors but even the United States, where the presidential election turns partly on a spike in immigration in recent years. Just 25 years ago, Venezuela had a functioning, if flawed, democracy. Then it elected Hugo Chávez, who helped pioneer a new form of Latin American socialism. His style antagonized Western powers but inspired hope among millions at home — and, at first, he helped many out of poverty. Then things began to change. How did the country fall so far? I’ve been covering the country since 2019, including the mass exodus of frustrated Venezuelans. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what happened here, and what’s happening now. The descent In the 1970s, Venezuela prospered from an oil boom. Politics were stable, as two major parties competed in democratic elections. But a decade later, petroleum prices dropped. As the cost of living rose, voters came to see the two-party system as entrenched and self-serving. Hugo Chávez in 1998. Jose Caruci/Associated Press, via Associated Press In 1998, Chávez, a charismatic former military officer, ran for president as a popular insurgent. He promised his followers a more inclusive democracy, a system that would transfer the levers of power from the political elite to the people. He started building a system of direct democracy. A new Constitution added the referendum as a political tool. He created programs to deliver aid, and encouraged citizens to go directly to him for help. Thousands wrote him letters every year pleading for a home, a job, a scholarship. Chávez answered their pleas on his television program, “Aló Presidente.” Eventually, he began to call his movement a socialist revolution — and it was enormously popular. Oil prices had rebounded by the 2000s, and the country was flush with cash. The state expanded free education and medical care. Poverty declined. His movement won election after election. In 2013, Chávez died. But he left behind a hollowed-out democracy. I’ve spent recent months speaking to political analysts and former officials in his government to understand what went wrong. They all cite a few problems. Chávez’s quest to remove the barriers between himself and his people helped erect a cult of personality. If he made all the decisions, then the other mechanisms of government didn’t matter. The bodies that would once have made policy and enforced laws were weakened. He ended term limits and essentially took control of the Supreme Court. “It’s populism,” one of Chávez’s former communications ministers told me. The aftermath Maduro took over after Chávez. But the movement’s luck had run out. The price of petroleum was plummeting, and the economy spiraled. People lost faith. Rather than allow democracy to run its course, Maduro cracked down. His government jailed dissidents, crushed protests and eventually crafted a parallel legislature that would compete with the opposition-held National Assembly — and implement the laws he wanted. In 2018, he barred major political parties and some opposition figures from running for office. The United States responded by issuing harsh sanctions that strangled what was left of the economy. “That’s when Venezuela approached dictatorship,” Steve Levitsky, an expert on democracy at Harvard, told me. Levitsky, co-author of the book “How Democracies Die,” called Maduro’s claim of victory in Sunday’s vote “one of the most egregious electoral frauds in modern Latin American history.” Maduro has weathered major protests before, and he has survived isolation from the United States and its allies by strengthening ties to Russia, China and Iran. It’s unclear if this time will be different. Before the election, polls showed that as many as a third of Venezuelans were interested in migration if Maduro stayed in power. But that’s not a realistic alternative for everyone. Those who remain face a choice: acquiesce in the immiseration of their country or speak up. Which is why so many are hitting the streets. More on Venezuela Our colleague Anatoly Kurmanaev, who lived in Venezuela for years, is in Caracas reporting on the protests. He describes what it’s like on the ground. An opposition figure, María Corina Machado, built the most significant voter mobilization since Hugo Chávez. Many Venezuelans told pollsters they’d leave the country if Maduro won. They explained why. THE LATEST NEWS Middle East Ismail Haniyeh Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times A senior Hamas leader was assassinated in Tehran. Both Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for the killing, Israel has not yet commented. The strike amplified fears that war in the Mideast could spread. The official, Ismail Haniyeh, led Hamas’s political operations in exile from Qatar and was a key figure in cease-fire negotiations. He was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that Iran was duty-bound to avenge the assassination. Separately, Israel struck a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, in retaliation for a deadly rocket attack. Israeli officials said the strike in Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander. Lebanese officials said the Israeli strike killed at least four people, including two children. The site of the attack is a densely populated neighborhood that is home to Hezbollah’s headquarters. More International News While most Ukrainians still oppose ceding any territory to Russia, more are opening up to the idea of a negotiated peace deal. Japan’s central bank raised interest rates for only the second time since 2007, a move that could lift the value of the struggling yen. A former BBC News anchor, Huw Edwards, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. He was a high-profile TV figure who announced the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022. 2024 Election Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times During a rally in Atlanta, Kamala Harris called on Donald Trump to commit to a presidential debate. The rally featured a crowd of around 10,000 people and a performance by the rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Harris plans to start campaigning with her pick for running mate in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The director of Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint prepared for the next Republican president, is departing. Trump has tried to distance himself from the project. On Fox News, Trump repeated his assertion that Christians “won’t have to vote anymore” if he wins. He declined to rebut criticism that he was pledging to end elections. In a radio interview, Trump said that Harris — whose husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish — “doesn’t like Jewish people” and seemed to agree with the host’s claim that Emhoff was a “crappy Jew,” The A.P. reports. More on Politics The Senate passed bipartisan legislation to protect minors’ privacy online. Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t committed to giving it a vote in the House, and some liberals oppose it because of censorship concerns. Kari Lake, who lost her 2022 campaign for Arizona governor after echoing Trump’s false election-fraud claims, won the state’s Republican Senate primary. She’ll face Ruben Gallego, a House Democrat. See more results from last night’s primaries. The Secret Service expected local snipers to cover the roof where Trump’s would-be assassin was positioned, the agency’s acting director said. A local official said his unit was not asked to do so. Other Big Stories In California. Loren Elliott for The New York Times The Park fire has grown to become the fifth-largest wildfire in California history. Scientists say an exceptionally hot and dry summer has fueled the blaze’s growth. Nearly 1,000 Native children died while attending boarding schools founded by the U.S. government, according to an Interior Department report that also detailed widespread sexual and physical abuse. Meta agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle claims that the company had illegally collected facial recognition information on millions of users. Opinions Today’s section is devoted to a project in which columnists wrote about one thing they think everyone else is getting wrong. People say L.G.B.T.Q. people are born that way, but it’s more complicated than that, Charles Blow argues. A.I. isn’t going to be as powerful as many of its supporters think it will be, David Brooks argues. Mothers are told natural childbirth is best. It isn’t, Michelle Goldberg argues. Cats are better than dogs, Pamela Paul argues. Conservatives think the market always gets it right. It doesn’t, Bret Stephens argues. Politicians say we’re more divided now than ever, but it could be worse, Zeynep Tufekci argues. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Testing breakfast foods. Lexey Swall for The New York Times Health: Why are ultra-processed foods so hard to resist? This study is trying to find out. Free beer: Some travel destinations are rewarding tourists for good behavior. Expect the unexpected: Here’s how to garden in a changing climate. Mangia: Olives encased in Jell-O. Deconstructed lasagna. Italian food in New York is getting weirder. Renewables: Energy companies are short on workers to build solar farms. So they’ve turned to robots for help. Lives Lived: Tom Porton, a renowned teacher in the Bronx, inspired students to embrace the arts and engage with the world through AIDS programs and other community service projects. He died at 74. OLYMPICS The victorious Team USA. James Hill for The New York Times Gymnastics: Simone Biles and Team USA comfortably won the women’s team final. Rugby sevens: The U.S. women’s team took bronze after beating Australia. The win marked the American program’s first Olympic medal in the sport. Tennis: The American flag-bearer Coco Gauff lost to Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the third round of the women’s singles. Soccer: The U.S. men’s team advanced to the Olympic knockout rounds for the first time in 24 years after a 3-0 win over Guinea. Read a recap. ARTS AND IDEAS At the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Eleanor George Museum guards stand beside works of art for hours each day. That time allows them to form intimate relationships with the works, to understand the technique and emotion behind them. And it means that many guards develop favorites — often pieces that are not their museum’s best-known works. The Times asked five guards in five renowned museums, including the Met, the Picasso Museum in Spain and the Victoria and Albert Museum in Britain, to share their favorite pieces. More on culture Six American novels, including ones by Percival Everett and Rachel Kushner, were nominated for the Booker Prize, a British award. Just two works by British authors were nominated. YouTube has become one of the biggest streaming apps on TV, where it has more viewers than Netflix or Disney+. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Kelly Marshall for The New York Times Fill your kitchen with the rich fragrances of this one-pot chicken and rice dish from Nigeria. Travel with your pet in the right carrier. Try a natural deodorant that actually works. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was walkout. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 2, 2024 Author Members Posted August 2, 2024 August 1, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering the intensifying violence across the Middle East — as well as Donald Trump, wildfires and “The Matrix.” Pictures of Ismail Haniyeh at a rally in Tehran yesterday. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times Another round of violence By Vivian Nereim I cover the Middle East and am based in Saudi Arabia. This week was supposed to bring a rare moment of amity in the Middle East. Iran inaugurated a new president, and its regional rival, Saudi Arabia, dispatched a royal to Tehran with a jovial letter from its king, sending his best wishes. The United Arab Emirates, attacked by the Iranian-backed Houthis just two years ago, published photos of its smiling foreign minister shaking hands with Iranian officials. And a White House spokesman had said that a cease-fire deal in Gaza was “close.” Instead, the region now seems to be even further away from peace. Yesterday, Iran and Hamas accused Israel of killing Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most senior leaders of Hamas, while he was in Tehran. (Haniyeh was Hamas’s lead negotiator in cease-fire talks to end the Gaza war, which began with the Oct. 7 attacks.) The day before, Israel killed a leader of Hezbollah in Beirut after a rocket launched from Lebanon had killed 12 children in Israeli-occupied territory. Diplomats around the world are telling these parties to keep a lid on it. And the groups themselves say they do not want a wider regional war. Israel’s defense minister repeated the message on Wednesday. Iran has said the same thing, and so has Hezbollah. (Hamas has said it wants a wider war, but it is depleted from nearly 10 months of conflict in Gaza.) Yet the violence persists, as each party claims its attacks are reactions to previous ones. That’s why, in the span of a few months, Israeli bombs have hit Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen. It’s why Hezbollah and Houthi fighters have repeatedly targeted Israel (and also ships passing through the Red Sea, disrupting global trade). It’s why American airstrikes have pummeled Yemen for nearly seven months. The reality When I speak to sources in the Middle East, they often struggle to process this contradiction. To them, the calls for peace during what already looks like a regional war can sound strange. Bader Al-Saif, a historian at Kuwait University, lamented “the amount of denialism surrounding this basic fact.” Pretending as if the actual conflict is yet to arrive, he said, risks “normalizing death, violence, fear, dispossession, hunger and lack of dignity across the Middle East.” True, de-escalation may be wanted — and it may even be possible. Analysts say that Iran and Hezbollah, despite vengeful rhetoric, could keep their responses measured. Israeli assassinations abroad are nothing new, and some top Israeli generals believe a truce, not more war, would free captives still held by Hamas. Israel could seek to limit its response to any counterattack by Iran. Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said yesterday that he was still intent on reaching a cease-fire in Gaza. But recent events suggest that peace is not close. Hezbollah has been launching regular rocket attacks since Oct. 7. Israel continues a military campaign that has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry — even as its allies push for it to make a cease-fire deal. Haniyeh’s assassination is a blow to Hamas, but it is unlikely to truly destabilize it. And Israeli strikes against a port controlled by the Houthi militia, which attacked Tel Aviv by drone last month, are likely to worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis. A stalemate? After the Haniyeh strike, Qatari officials — who help moderate Gaza peace talks — threw up their hands. “How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” the Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, wrote on social media. Israel suggests that it, too, feels locked in a cycle of violence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel faced threats “from everywhere” and said that he refused to “surrender” to voices telling him simply to “end the war.” It’s sensible for diplomats around the world to insist on peace and restraint. Combatants do often put their grudges aside; that’s how wars end. But there’s another possible future, too. In that scenario, enmities between Israel and its neighbors are growing only deeper. Officials and scholars I’ve spoken to say they worry that an entire generation could be radicalized by the current war. The events of this week won’t help. More on the Middle East Israel said it killed the head of Hamas’s armed wing last month in Gaza. He was believed to be a leader behind the Oct. 7 attacks. Iran held a funeral for Haniyeh. Haniyeh’s killing was a humiliating security breach for Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has issued an order for a direct retaliatory strike against Israel in response. Some Palestinians in Gaza worried that Haniyeh’s death could further stall hopes for a cease-fire. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas’s leadership. Here’s what we know about the top officials believed to be still alive. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed two journalists from Al Jazeera. The network said their car had been marked as a press vehicle. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Interview Donald Trump Akilah Townsend for The New York Times Donald Trump, in a contentious interview at a conference for Black journalists, questioned Kamala Harris’s racial identity and suggested falsely that she only recently began to identify as Black. Harris, the daughter of an Indian American mother and Jamaican father, has consistently identified as Black in public life. She went to a historically Black college. Read a fact check. Trump repeatedly chided one of the reporters on the panel, Rachel Scott of ABC News, as “rude” and “nasty” for reading a list of his past comments about Black people. Watch a video recap. More on the 2024 Election The United Automobile Workers union endorsed Harris after initially withholding its support so it could assess her approach to manufacturing jobs and the war in Gaza. A group of pro-Palestinian activists are trying to derail Gov. Josh Shapiro’s nomination as Harris’s running mate. They see Shapiro, an observant Jew, as a face of support for Israel. Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, a contentious set of conservative policy proposals. But JD Vance’s contribution to a book by the project’s chief architect has made that complicated. International Outside a voting station in Venezuela. Marian Carrasquero for The New York Times Partial results in Venezuela’s election, analyzed by The Times, suggest an opposition candidate beat President Nicolás Maduro — who declared victory — by over 30 percentage points. Disinformation fed a far-right riot after a deadly stabbing of children in Britain. Guinea convicted a former president of crimes against humanity for overseeing a massacre at a pro-democracy rally in 2009. Africa has the world’s youngest population — and many of its oldest leaders. Some citizens want them to follow President Biden’s lead and step down. Climate Nearly 50 large wildfires are burning across the western U.S. The number threatens to overwhelm firefighting resources. One scientist wants to block the sun to cool the Earth. Many others think such a plan could result in unpredictable calamities. Officials in Iceland warned of a volcanic eruption in the coming days; it would be the country’s eighth since 2021. “We’re going through a volcanic crisis,” one expert said. Flooding caused by a storm in northeastern Vermont destroyed and damaged dozens of homes. The state has experienced a string of severe floods since last summer. Other Big Stories The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged but hinted that it might cut rates in September. South Carolina’s top court ruled that death by electrocution and firing squad were legal forms of execution. Troops that work around large weapon blasts have the highest suicide rates in the U.S. military, a Pentagon report found. Boar’s Head recalled seven million pounds of deli meat after a listeria outbreak killed two people. At Guantánamo Bay, the man accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks and two of his accomplices pleaded guilty to conspiracy and murder charges. Opinions As we did yesterday, we are sharing entries from a project in which columnists write about one thing they think everyone else gets wrong. People hate on the D.M.V., but it’s great, Tressie McMillan Cottom argues. Some people think what you preach matters more than what you do. It doesn’t, David French argues. We should accept that we can all be hypocritical, Lydia Polgreen argues. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Idaho. Sasha Arutyunova for The New York Times Art of craft: This cowgirl’s saddles are beautiful. If you’d like one, the wait list is around six years. Near death: After a couple were swept away while diving and spent days drifting at sea, they were rescued. Their first meal was a pastrami sandwich. Fast asleep: How much do you know about dreams? Take our quiz. Social Q’s: “Can I confront the woman who stole my late sister’s evening gowns?” Most clicked in July: See the 100 best books of the 21st century so far. Lives Lived: Alma Powell was a quiet force alongside her husband, Colin Powell, the military general, secretary of state and national security adviser. She played a crucial role in his decision not to run for president in 1996. She died at 86. OLYMPICS Katie Ledecky Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Swimming: Wins by Team USA’s Katie Ledecky and France’s Léon Marchand headlined a night worthy of Olympic lore. Soccer: The Canadian women’s team, despite its steep penalty for using drones to spy on opponents, reached the quarterfinals with a win over Colombia. Basketball: The U.S. men’s team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating South Sudan. Tennis: Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain lost to the American doubles specialists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. Read a recap. Still watching: For the first time in four decades, Russia, which is banned from the Games, isn’t airing the competition. But Russians are finding ways to tune in, The Wall Street Journal reports. Dance lessons: A dressage rider explains how she and her horse, Jagerbomb, made it to the Olympics. Surfing: The competition is being held in the waters off Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Residents are still suffering the effects of a French nuclear test that poisoned the village in the 1970s. Today: Simone Biles goes for more gold. There’s also golf, swimming and tennis. ARTS AND IDEAS Influencers in China. Sun Kissed Bucket List and World Nomac, via YouTube Travel vlogs from foreigners visiting China are finding large audiences on YouTube and Instagram. But they’re even more popular in China, where the videos go viral and the creators are interviewed in state media. For China, the vlogs do more than encourage tourism: They counter what many see as an anti-China sentiment in the West. More on culture A scene from “The Matrix.” Ronald Siemoneit/Sygma, via Getty Images “The Matrix” was released 25 years ago. One scene illustrates why the film — in our age of A.I. and fake news — is as relevant as ever. Colin Jost, a “Saturday Night Live” writer and Weekend Update anchor, will host the new game show “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” on Amazon Prime Video. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Pair the spicy flavors of mapo tofu with the creaminess of scrambled eggs. Stream the best in Black cinema. Eat at the 25 best restaurants in Los Angeles. See the cardboard beds Olympic athletes are sleeping on. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was inclemency. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 4, 2024 Author Members Posted August 4, 2024 August 2, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s path to electoral victory — as well as Evan Gershkovich, Venezuela and Taylor Swift. Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times The Harris electorate By Nate Cohn Chief political analyst Kamala Harris inherited a Democratic coalition that was badly frayed. In polls, young, Black and Hispanic voters abandoned President Biden in droves. And for the first time in years, more Americans said they leaned Republican than Democratic. To win, the vice president will need to win back the deserters without alienating the anti-Trump moderates who put Democrats over the top in 2020. It won’t be easy. Although it’s still early, polls suggest she has already made some progress. But while she’s running ahead of where Biden stood when he left the race, she’s still short of hitting traditional Democratic benchmarks. Young, Black and Hispanic voters Democrats have long assumed overwhelming support from young, Black and Hispanic voters. For many strategists, the only question was whether these voters would vote, not whom they’d vote for. This year, though, enough of them lost faith to give Donald Trump the lead in national and battleground state polls. And it raised questions about why, exactly, Biden was so weak. Figures are based on two-party vote shares. The New York Times Already, recent polls signal that Harris is not so weak. It’s too soon to tell how strong she really is among young and nonwhite voters. Some polls — like New York Times/Siena College polling last week — find her running far ahead of Biden, while others show little change. But either way, even her best tallies still fall short of typical Democratic margins over the last 15 years. She doesn’t even fare as well as Biden did in 2020, and his performance among these groups was relatively weak for a Democratic presidential candidate. With the Harris campaign barely one week old, it would be a mistake to assume that her early gains will be her only gains. Her candidacy has already generated a lot of enthusiasm. But her ability to exceed Biden’s last performance might depend on why, exactly, he was doing so poorly. Biden had so many problems that it’s hard to say what was really behind the collapse in his support. Was it that young voters were more bothered by his appearance than older voters? Was it the rising cost of living and housing? Was it a new social media environment and fading memories of Trump’s conduct? Was it an unmet desire for change? Or was it something bigger — the belated extension of Trump’s breakthrough among white working-class voters to populist anti-establishment voters of all races? The Times/Siena data offered evidence to support all of these possibilities, but almost nothing to untangle their relative import. Depending on the exact answer, Harris might find additional gains easy, or stubbornly hard. Nicole Craine for The New York Times Older white moderates To win, Harris will also need to reassure older and white voters, especially those without college degrees. This group has been the source of Democratic successes in the Trump era. It was enough — in many congressional and presidential races — to overcome a decline in support among voters of color. Harris hasn’t won over this group in polls since Biden’s exit. In a way, it’s not surprising that Harris — a 59-year-old Black and Asian American woman from California — polls worse among older, white working-class voters than an 81-year-old who describes himself as “middle class Joe” from Scranton. But there’s a deeper challenge. Harris is not the kind of candidate Democrats have nominated to great success during the Trump era. She has a lengthy progressive record. In the 2020 primary, she embraced Medicare for all and opposed fracking, and she now has to defend the administration’s record on the border. Will anti-Trump moderate and conservative voters come around to this kind of candidate? That simply hasn’t been tested. So far, the Harris campaign seems to understand its task: reassure these people while focusing them on Trump’s liabilities. She’s backed away from her earlier positions on fracking, the border and Medicare for all. Her emphasis on her experience as a prosecutor might work. Her vice-presidential selection could help, too. On the other hand, reassuring classic swing voters risks a possible trade-off with re-energizing young, Black and Hispanic voters. When Democrats could take young, nonwhite and progressive voters for granted, it was much easier to run to the center. Now, Harris will have to pull off a delicate balancing act. That’s the challenge when coalitions fray. More on the election At an event for a Black sorority, Harris condemned Trump’s remarks about her racial identity. But she also made it clear she would not engage in a debate with a white man critiquing her Blackness. Trump continued to raise false questions about Harris’s racial identity, and some Republicans worried he was driving his campaign in a more divisive direction. Trump’s comments this week about Harris’s ethnicity recall an ugly history in which white America sought to define racial categories and who could belong to them, write Lisa Lerer and Maya King. Harris began the final phase of an accelerated search for a running mate. See who she is considering. THE LATEST NEWS Russian Prisoner Swap Evan Gershkovich Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter convicted on dubious espionage charges in Russia, was freed as part of a seven-country prisoner exchange. See a video of him arriving in the U.S. Russia released 16 prisoners, including Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine held since 2018, and several pro-democracy activists. Western countries returned eight prisoners to Russia, including a convicted assassin and several spies. Here’s a look at all 24 prisoners in the exchange. The negotiations that led to the prisoner swap included secret messages and diplomacy. Read how it happened. As part of his release, Gershkovich wrote a required letter to Vladimir Putin. He added his own twist: requesting that Putin sit for an interview with him, The Journal reported. International In northern Tehran. Provided to The New York Times Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed by a bomb that operatives had planted in his guesthouse months earlier, according to Iranian and U.S. officials. The United States recognized Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González, as the winner of the country’s disputed election. Turkey passed a law that requires municipalities to shelter the country’s millions of stray dogs. The legislation allows them to euthanize dogs that are aggressive or ill. Politics A local officer spotted the gunman who shot Trump half a minute before the attack and called “long gun!” into his radio. But Secret Service agents never heard him because of flaws with their technology. The Senate rejected a bill that would have restored tax breaks for businesses and expanded the child tax credit. Other Big Stories Sarah Kate Ellis, the chief executive of GLAAD. Illustration by Mel Haasch; Photographs by Nathan Bajar for The New York Times, Clara Tuma for The New York Times GLAAD, a major American L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group, spent lavishly on travel and executive pay, possibly in violation of I.R.S. regulations, a Times investigation found. The Transportation Department proposed a rule that would require airlines to allow families to sit together on flights without paying extra fees. The day before a police officer shot and killed Sonya Massey, her mother made a 911 call and reported that her daughter was having mental health issues. She asked that officers not hurt her. The head of an elite New York school resigned after turmoil over the war in Gaza. It shows how contentious the issue has become among parents and faculty. Opinions When Belle Boggs needed a bat out of her house and rabies tests for her family, she used public services. Lives are at risk if Project 2025 takes away those services, she writes. The far right is misconstruing “Lord of the Rings.” We need to read it correctly, David French writes. Here are columns by Thomas Friedman on Iran and Israel, and Paul Krugman on the politics of cryptocurrency. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Gouda, the Netherlands. Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times Climate change: The small Dutch city of Gouda is sinking. Its cheese industry might not survive. New life: A ranger spotted tiny sprouts at the stump of the fallen Sycamore Gap tree in Britain. Deepfakes: Trolls used a rising political star’s face to make fake porn. There was nothing she could do. How did roses get their thorns? A new study sheds some light. Lives Lived: Randy Kehler’s opposition to the Vietnam War moved Daniel Ellsberg to leak the Pentagon Papers, a set of top-secret documents whose exposure changed the course of the war. Kehler died at 80. SPORTS Sunisa Lee of the U.S., Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and Simone Biles of the U.S. Graphic and composite image by The New York Times Gymnastics: Simone Biles soared to her second Olympic all-around gold medal. These photos of her midair explain how she won. A return: Suni Lee, the defending gold medalist, earned a bronze to complete an improbable comeback. Swimming: Katie Ledecky became the most decorated woman in American Olympic history with her 13th medal, this one a silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Basketball: The U.S. women’s team passed its biggest test of the group stage with a win over Belgium. Read a recap. Tennis: The career of the British great Andy Murray ended yesterday with a loss to an American pair in men’s doubles. Here’s what he meant to the sport. Fractures and surgeries: Read how the Olympics break athletes’ bodies. Changing formats: NBC is trying to provide wall-to-wall coverage of the Paris Games. On your phone. ARTS AND IDEAS In London. Toby Melville/Reuters Costumes and memorabilia from Taylor Swift’s personal archive are on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The curators have scattered some of her most famous items — like the gown from the back cover of her album “Speak Now” — in displays throughout the museum, with music piped in that corresponds to the items nearby. More on culture James Baldwin Bettmann/Getty Images From Harlem to Selma to Paris: Today would have been James Baldwin’s 100th birthday. See his life in pictures. The actor Adam Driver, known for “Girls” and “Star Wars,” will return to Broadway in a revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s “Hold On to Me Darling.” Carrie Underwood will take Katy Perry’s “American Idol” judge’s seat, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Britney Spears is getting a biopic, The Cut reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times Use ripe summer tomatoes to make this classic sandwich. Listen to a summer Olympic playlist. Try a lazy workout. Swim with prescription goggles. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were flipflopping and flopping. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 5, 2024 Author Members Posted August 5, 2024 August 3, 2024 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. The best conversations — to participate in or listen to — are the ones where people forget about the outcome and manage to just connect. María Jesús Contreras Easy listening After my recent flight from Maine to New York was canceled, I found myself with the bounty of six hours alone in a rental car. I considered the headway I could make in the audiobook of “Demon Copperhead,” but quickly abandoned that option for several episodes of the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” I wanted company. If I couldn’t chat away the hours with a passenger in the seat beside me, I wanted to listen to other people hitting it off. Most episodes of the show run about an hour. Conan and his sidekicks shoot the breeze for a while, before he brings on a celebrity guest for an interview. The tone of the podcast is buoyant, full of comedic bits and good-natured teasing. It’s a fizzy soft drink, fun and weird and straightforward enough that you can follow along while keeping one eye on the GPS as you navigate the traffic around Worcester. I listen to a lot of conversation-style podcasts — interview programs and panel discussions and shows where friends sit around and talk about whatever’s on their minds. What am I looking for in these podcasts? When celebrities are in the mix, there’s the thrill of getting a glimpse into the personal life of a public figure. When an expert is interviewed, I’m hoping to learn something. But I think what I’m really listening for is connection. The shows I love aren’t the ones where a host tees up questions and a dutiful guest answers. They’re the ones where you feel like you’re eavesdropping on real people getting closer, closer to each other or closer to a conversational destination that they didn’t know they were headed for when they set out. Conan O’Brien has been having conversations professionally for most of his career. On his late-night shows, stars came on to promote their latest film projects, and he brought enough warmth and humor and weirdness to their repartee that viewers didn’t mind that they were being advertised to. His podcast feels much more intimate. I don’t delude myself that the sweet, affectionate chat Conan had with Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson on “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” is identical to the one they’d have if they weren’t creating entertainment for public consumption. But somewhere outside Hartford, I found myself so thoroughly entertained I stopped doing that thing where you keep pushing the speed limit a little more, hoping you’ll be able to knock a few minutes off your E.T.A. I didn’t care how long I had to go; I just wanted to keep listening and laughing along. I’ve been making some conversation-style audio with The Times lately, and it’s made me listen to podcasts differently. It’s made me listen to other people differently. Is what makes a conversation interesting to take part in the same as what makes one interesting to listen to? My favorite conversations with friends, the ones in which I feel most connected, are sprawling, digressive, even repetitive. They go on for hours and often fail to reach a coherent conclusion. But they have a key ingredient in common with the podcasts that I love: presence. In the best conversations, whether they’re between you and your mom on a marathon phone call or between a professional chat host and his comedically gifted guest, everyone is listening closely. They’re curious about each other, asking what my friend Aliza calls “generous questions.” They’re reacting authentically in the moment without a script or an agenda. They’re allowing the conversation to happen without muscling it toward any predetermined outcome. For more Read Jason Zinoman’s recent interview with Conan O’Brien. Recently on “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend”: Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, James Corden, and Carol Burnett. “If we are going to accompany someone well, we need to abandon the efficiency mind-set. We need to take our time and simply delight in another person’s way of being.” David Brooks has a bunch of excellent advice on how to be present in conversation. From 2020, seven celebrity podcasts worth listening to. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Theater Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. Magdalena Wosinska for The New York Times Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, who played the titular slackers in the “Bill and Ted” movies, will reunite next year on Broadway in a revival of “Waiting for Godot.” Lin-Manuel Miranda revealed his next project: a concept album based on “The Warriors,” the 1970s film about roving gangs in New York City. This week was the centennial of James Baldwin’s birth. A writer explored “Blues for Mister Charlie,” his debut Broadway play about the murder of a Black man. Film and TV More than a dozen participants in “Beast Games,” a new reality show by the popular YouTuber MrBeast, told The Times that they had not received adequate food or medical care. Read how the producers of “House of the Dragon,” the “Game of Thrones” prequel series, made dragons believably bigger and more prominent. Making fun of superhero movies used to be the Deadpool signature. But the latest installment, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” is just another formulaic Marvel film, Maya Phillips writes. In court filings, the creator of Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” said that while he had been stalked by the woman who claims she inspired the show, the series was a fictionalized account. Maya Rudolph will reprise her Emmy-winning depiction of Kamala Harris on “Saturday Night Live” through the 2024 election, Deadline reports. Other Big Stories From left, Alex Durand and Tom Carles of AT Frenchies and Kristy Scott of The Scotts. Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times NBC, in an effort to reach a younger audience, has recruited online content creators to work with the network on the Paris Olympics. Some athletes in Paris are winning gold. Others — like two charismatic pistol shooters and Pommel Horse Guy — are winning the internet. JD Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” has sold 750,000 copies since Donald Trump picked Vance as his running mate. Cleopatra and Lucrezia Borgia: National Geographic highlighted rebellious female historical figures who embody the “brat” persona, inspired by Charli XCX. Yemenat in Brooklyn offers Yemeni delights rarely found in New York City. Read Pete Wells’s review. THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday. Eric Lee/The New York Times Vice President Kamala Harris won enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Donald Trump’s focus on Harris’s identity has pushed a timeworn political tactic — presenting an opponent as somehow “other” — to a different level, Adam Nagourney writes. Should Harris talk more about her race? Many voters say no. “Obviously, we have eyes,” one said. Other Big Stories The U.S. is sending more combat aircrafts and warships to the Middle East, in response to growing tension since the assassination of a Hamas leader this week. Iran has arrested more than two dozen people, including senior intelligence officers and military officials, after an embarrassing security lapse led to the assassination. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal the U.S. had recently reached with the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and two accomplices. The U.S. job market significantly slowed in July, and the unemployment rate rose. Stocks fell sharply after the job report was released. Parts of Florida are under a hurricane watch. The forecast shows heavy rain, gusty winds and possible flash flooding. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. CULTURE CALENDAR By Desiree Ibekwe 🎥 “It Ends With Us”: Even if you think you haven’t heard of Colleen Hoover, you’ve probably seen one of her books if you’ve entered a bookstore in the last few years. She is incredibly popular: In 2022, her books outsold the Bible; she has a dedicated fan base (known as the CoHorts) turbocharged by BookTok; and now, one of her books has become a feature film. This movie, which stars Blake Lively, is about a florist named (improbably) Lily Bloom, who moves to Boston and falls for a neurosurgeon. Whatever one might think of Hoover, the movie is sure to be a cultural moment. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Armando Rafael for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Grilled Tofu As we slide into these languid last weeks of summer, it’s time to ask yourself: Have you spent enough time at the grill? If the answer is no, fear not! The team at Wirecutter is here to help with their August Grilling Challenge, which starts next week. Every Tuesday for the rest of the month, you’ll get an email with our favorite grilling recipes, along with Wirecutter’s recommendations for the best grilling gear — and exclusive discounts. (Sign up here.) In the meantime, why not make Kay Chun’s tangy-sweet grilled tofu? This easy recipe calls for soaking the tofu in a hot marinade spiked with ginger, black pepper and soy sauce, which is absorbed by the tofu in three hours instead of overnight. And if you don’t have a grill, a grill pan or broiler will work just as well. REAL ESTATE Javier Herrera JJ Geiger for The New York Times The Hunt: A young schoolteacher in California wanted a three-bedroom home for $350,000. Which house did he choose? Play our game. What you get for $675,000: A 2008 three-bedroom house in Weston, Vt.; an 1854 cottage in New Orleans; or an 1896 Queen Anne Revival house in Ocean Grove, N.J. Pandemic fallout: An office tower in Midtown Manhattan sold for $8.5 million. It was once worth 40 times that. LIVING Kainoa Gruspe weaves with lau. Daeja Fallas for The New York Times Tradition: On the Hawaiian islands, artisans have been reviving the age-old practice of turning tree leaves into mats. Birthrates: Many Americans are choosing not to have children — and it’s not, experts say, because of selfishness. The Ethicist: “Can I ask straight women to stop calling their pals their ‘girlfriends’?” Celebrity coffee: Household names including Tom Hanks and The Weeknd are betting big on brew, hawking it with their own labels. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Don’t let sweat damage your tech While modern devices like smartphones and earbuds are designed to withstand everyday wear and tear — including exposure to small amounts of moisture — they’re not invincible, especially when summer rolls around and life gets sweatier. Perspiration can deteriorate your tech over time. Fortunately, there are easy measures you can take to ensure your sweat doesn’t do any lasting damage. Wirecutter experts recommend limiting how much your devices come into contact with your skin, cleaning them at least once a week and keeping silica-gel packs where you stash your tech, which helps to soak up moisture. And no matter how wet your phone gets, don’t put it in a bag of rice. — Rose Maura Lorre OLYMPICS GUIDE Sha’Carri Richardson won her heat on Friday. Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Saturday Track: It’s been more than two decades since an American held the title of world’s fastest woman. Sha’Carri Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Games after she tested positive for marijuana, has a shot at the crown today. She’s a favorite in the 100 meters. Gymnastics: Simone Biles goes for gold in the vault, an event she won at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Swimming: Katie Ledecky has another shot at history. If she wins the 800-meter freestyle, she will become only the second swimmer — along with Michael Phelps — to win four gold medals in the same event. Sunday Table tennis: You’ve almost certainly played table tennis. Watch this final, between Truls Moregardh of Sweden and Fan Zhendong of China, to understand just how much better Olympians are at it than the rest of us. Track: If Richardson wins the women’s 100 meters on Saturday, anticipation will be high for Noah Lyles to complete the U.S. sweep. Lyles is also a favorite in the 200 meters. The last American man to win both events was Carl Lewis. Tennis: The men’s gold medal match is a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon final, with Carlos Alcaraz, the 21-year-old Spanish phenom, facing Novak Djokovic. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was hackney. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 5, 2024 Author Members Posted August 5, 2024 August 4, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering a doping scandal at the Paris Games — as well as the Middle East, wildfires and dating in Ukraine. In Paris. Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Troubled waters By Michael S. Schmidt I’m an investigative reporter in Washington When you sit down to watch the Olympics, you expect that you’re seeing the world’s best athletes competing on a level playing field. The organization that runs the Olympics prides itself on that promise, and it presents the Games as being tougher on dopers than any other sporting competition. It claims to have the most rigorous drug testing. Those who test positive face serious punishments, including multiyear bans. And an independent entity — known as the World Anti-Doping Agency — has global authority to enforce a strict antidoping code. But that system’s shortcomings have been on display at the Paris Games. Over the past few months, my Times colleagues and I have uncovered a troubling pattern of positive doping tests in the Chinese swimming program. Twelve members of the Chinese Olympic team tested positive in recent years for powerful performance-enhancing drugs but were cleared to keep competing. Until our stories, none of the positive tests had been publicly disclosed, as required by the rules. Concerns have spilled over to the pool deck in Paris, where some swimmers said the antidoping authorities had failed to ensure that these Games were fair. “I don’t really think they’ve given us enough evidence to support them with how this case was handled,” said Caeleb Dressel, one of the senior leaders on the U.S. team. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how the Olympic drug testing system is supposed to function, and why, in some of the most high-profile cases, like this one involving the Chinese swimmers, it may not be working. And now the Justice Department and F.B.I. are investigating. How it’s supposed to work Each country is in charge of policing its own athletes. That means that the United States Anti-Doping Agency takes the lead in testing and investigating American athletes, the China Anti-Doping Agency does the same in its country, and so on. Critics say this process gives too much leeway to countries — especially authoritarian ones, where the government has a hand in everything — in holding their own athletes accountable. To make sure that countries are not skirting the rules, there’s a backstop: the World Anti-Doping Agency, known as WADA. It’s supposed to step in when countries fail to properly police their athletes. It aims to keep doping athletes off the field. And the system does often work. Perhaps the best example of this was in 2022, at the Winter Olympics, when the Russian figure-skating sensation Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned drug known as TMZ. Valieva claimed that she had unwittingly taken the drug when she ate a strawberry dessert her grandfather made for her. But under the strict antidoping rules that govern the Olympics, athletes are essentially presumed guilty until they can prove themselves innocent. The Russians exonerated her. So WADA appealed the case to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, and she ultimately received a four-year ban. The Paris problem There are times, though, when the system doesn’t work. Twelve members of the Chinese swimming team at the Paris Games have had positive drug tests in recent years. None of them have ever been disciplined. The Chinese antidoping authorities — with the help of their country’s security services — concluded the swimmers were all unwitting victims of contamination from food. In one of the cases, the Chinese officials claimed that traces of a prescription heart medication had been found in the kitchen of a hotel where swimmers had been staying for a meet. In another, they claimed that two swimmers’ positive tests were probably triggered by hamburgers they ate at a restaurant in Beijing. Among the many problems with how these positive tests were handled, antidoping experts and authorities say, is that in all those cases, the Chinese were unable to prove how the drugs got into the food. They also did not announce the results of the investigations publicly, as is required. That rule is important because it warns other athletes to stay away from certain foods (Watch out for the burgers in Beijing!), and it encourages transparency with the public. WADA reviewed how the Chinese handled all of these cases. But instead of stepping in — as it did with the teenage Russian figure-skating sensation — WADA declined to take any action, paving the way for the athletes to keep competing. When a reporter asked Katie Ledecky, the American swimming great, whether she trusted that the competition in Paris was fair, her response was not enthusiastic. “We’re going to race whoever’s in the lanes next to us, and we’re not the ones paid to do the testing. So we hope that the people that are, follow their own rules,” she said. But, Ledecky added, “We want to see some change for the future so that you don’t have to ask us that question.” For more: The International Olympic Committee recently awarded the 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, but it came with an extraordinary demand: that officials push back on Justice Department, F.B.I. and Congressional investigations into doping by Chinese athletes. THE LATEST NEWS Middle East The skies over northern Israel. Jalaa Marey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Israel and Hezbollah said they had fired at targets in each other’s territory. Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel; Israel said it had responded by hitting the launch site. Two Israeli airstrikes hit a town in the occupied West Bank. Hamas said that the strikes killed three members of its military wing and six other fighters. The U.S. will send more combat aircraft and warships to the Middle East after Iran and its proxies threatened revenge against Israel for the killing of a top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh’s death has increased tensions between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden has said the killing has thrown cease-fire talks into doubt. Netanyahu rejects that idea. The killings of Haniyeh and another Hamas leader will hurt the group in the short term, experts say, but won’t be enough to prevent it from re-emerging. More International News In Bristol, England. Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A mass stabbing that left three young girls dead has sparked violent protests involving far-right groups in cities across Britain, fueled by disinformation about the attacker’s identity. “It’s a love crisis”: The war has shattered the dating scene for women in Ukraine. Myanmar’s military junta, unable to defeat rebels on the ground, is increasingly bombing civilian targets. China is using smugglers and front companies to evade America’s efforts to keep it from obtaining microchips used in artificial intelligence. 2024 Election Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times Kamala Harris will meet with potential running mates today, including Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Harris, who has South Asian heritage, has reignited engagement among Asian Americans in Georgia. See video of voters discussing her candidacy. Other Big Stories Julien Alfred Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times Julien Alfred beat Sha’Carri Richardson for gold in the Olympic 100 meters. See how she did it. The long friendship between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett appears to have fractured. The world of philanthropy is feeling the tension. Wildfires have burned over 4.5 million acres in the U.S. this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Tropical Storm Debby is expected to make landfall in Florida late today as a hurricane-strength storm. Cristeta Comerford, the first woman and person of color to serve as the White House executive chef, retired after three decades. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Should Democrats call Republicans “weird”? Yes. The political buzzword isn’t elitist or able to be co-opted like authoritarian, racist or a threat to democracy. “It shows yet again that while Republicans can dish out nasty names for their political opponents, they can’t stand being called them,” The Boston Globe’s Renée Graham writes. No. Casting Republicans as “weird” downplays the threat that Trump poses for immigrants, for women and for the country. “There is a long, sad history of writing off fascists as buffoons,” The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin writes. FROM OPINION Climate change brings us closer to a world without vanilla — and there is no real substitute, Aimee Nezhukumatathil writes. The idea that any physical contact with fentanyl can cause an overdose is a myth that risks delaying treatment for victims, Dr. John Woller writes. Feminist legislation passes more easily when women decide to get angry, Veronica Raimo writes. Here’s a column by Michelle Goldberg on support for Harris. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Palermo, Sicily. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times Goddess of Sicily: Palermo has a long history of cultural melding. Hindu arrivals from Sri Lanka have embraced its Catholic patron saint, Rosalia. Cosmic closure: An observatory kitchen that served elegant meals to astronomers is shutting its doors. Escaping the hustle: Some young people in China pretend to be birds on social media. We can explain. Exercise: The mayor of a village known for Prosecco started walking to counter alcohol calories. It’s become a sensation. Vows: They united their Muslim and Jewish families, but didn’t stop there. Lives Lived: Alexander Waugh was the son and grandson of famous English writers, but carved out his own space as a composer, critic, columnist and historian. He died at 60. THE INTERVIEW Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By David Marchese This week’s subject for The Interview is the actor Vince Vaughn, who stars in the new Apple TV+ series “Bad Monkey.” Vaughn, who made his name in R-rated comedies, talked about why Hollywood now struggles to make those kinds of films. Do you think the culture has changed such that the kinds of movies that were your bread and butter are just not in vogue anymore? Not at all. Look at the stand-up comics. Why is the audience gravitating to those comics that are challenging with the things that they’re doing? You have people that are pushing the envelope, and people are watching. The people that got timid knew better. It wasn’t like they felt righteous. It was just the pressures of the moment. What do you mean? The culture didn’t change. Part of storytelling and songs is to explore ideas and allow certain feelings or emotions to come to the forefront because they exist in all of us. The Shel Silverstein song “A Boy Named Sue” that Johnny Cash made famous: the want to kill your parent because of something they did with a name is something that could exist inside people. I don’t know that we have to boycott that song because Shel Silverstein or Johnny Cash are encouraging the murdering of parents for mistakes. I don’t think anybody is trying to cancel “A Boy Named Sue.” But the thing you’re dancing around is the cancel-culture impulse. Do you think there are stories that are not getting told that should be? No, I’m not dancing around it. There was a moment of certain people feeling like they could be the judge and jury of what is a story or what’s too far. It’s a crazy thing as human beings to think that my ideas are the best and if I can just force people to do what I believe, the world will be great. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Stefan Ruiz for The New York Times Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. BOOKS Jennifer Croft, Bruna Dantas Lobato and Anton Hur. From left: Nathan Jeffers; Ashley Pieper; via Anton Hur Their own words: A growing cohort of literary translators are becoming authors. By the Book: Deborah Harkness has never read Jane Austen. Restricted reading: In some states, new rules will make it difficult for young people to access books that could be considered obscene or harmful. Our editors’ picks: “The Garden Against Time,” from Olivia Laing, about gardens as refuges and ideals of democratic inclusiveness, and five other books. Times best sellers: Keanu Reeves and China Miéville’s “The Book of Elsewhere” debuts on the hardcover fiction list. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Answer your food safety questions. Exercise to improve your mood. Clean your stinky workout clothes. See everything the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders use to stay sweat-proof. THE WEEK AHEAD What to Watch For The deadline for Democratic Party delegates to complete a roll call to nominate a presidential candidate is tomorrow. Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington hold congressional primaries on Tuesday. Hawaii holds congressional primaries on Saturday. Meal Plan Bryan Gardner for The New York Times Tomatoes are the crown jewel of summer. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests putting them to work with gingery meatballs, salmon and butter, and roasted shrimp and okra. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were convivial and volcanic. Can you put eight historical events — including the publishing of Darwin’s theory of evolution, the painting of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and the development of health insurance — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. 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. 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 6, 2024 Author Members Posted August 6, 2024 August 5, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering America’s high drunk-driving limit, as well as Bangladesh, global markets and Joe Rogan’s comedy special. A D.U.I. checkpoint in Miami Beach. Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald, via Associated Press A higher standard By Dana G. Smith I cover personal health and have a Ph.D. in the psychology of addiction. Drunk driving is illegal almost everywhere. But what counts as drunk? Nations answer that question differently. Most say you can’t get behind the wheel when the concentration of alcohol in your blood (commonly known as B.A.C.) is 0.05 percent or more. Only a quarter of countries enforce a limit above that. The United States is one of them: Its limit is set at 0.08. Experts say that’s one reason for the 13,500 drunk driving deaths here every year, according to the most recent data. Note: Percentages are from 109 countries which had available data from 2019. | Source: World Health Organization | By The New York Times When I read about America’s outlier status in a recent report, my jaw dropped. As a reporter for The New York Times’s Well section, I sometimes write about how alcohol affects our health. Learning about our high blood-alcohol limit sent me down a rabbit hole to find out how it was established and whether people are trying to lower it. They are: “It’s one of our highest priorities,” Thomas Chapman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told me. The Times published my article on the effort this morning. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why the United States has such a high limit, why it matters and whether that might change. Outlier nation Everyone learns in drivers’ ed that drinking and driving is unsafe. Cognition, particularly sustained attention and multitasking, becomes impaired at or even below 0.05. On driving-simulator tests, people perform worse with any amount of alcohol in their system. Looking at how booze affects driving in the real world, one study reported that people with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 were 38 percent more likely to crash than sober drivers. States have always set their own drunk driving limits. In the 1990s, some were as high as 0.10, and drunk driving deaths were even more frequent than they are today. So Congress voted to set a national standard in 2000. The bill it passed said states couldn’t receive federal highway funds if they allowed people to drive with a B.A.C. above 0.08, so that concentration became the norm. Even at the time, some experts thought it was too high. “The 0.08 was pretty much a compromise,” said Linda Degutis, a public health lecturer at Yale. The high limit is costly. A 2017 analysis estimated that lowering the nation’s legal limit to 0.05 would reduce alcohol-related fatal crashes by 11 percent, saving nearly 1,800 lives per year. Drunk driving deaths have increased by nearly a quarter since that estimate was published, suggesting even more lives could be saved today. In light of this data, one state took action: In 2018, Utah lowered its legal limit to 0.05. In the year after the law took effect, fatal car crashes in the state dropped by nearly 20 percent. It wasn’t because people became expert at imbibing the exact right amount. Instead, the law discouraged people from driving after they’d had a drink, said James Fell, a traffic-safety expert at NORC, a research organization. “All they know is that the limit for drinking has been lowered and they’d better be careful,” he said. A sweeping change? Other states — including Connecticut, Hawaii, New York and Washington — are now considering similar legislation to lower their legal driving limits. Several national groups, such as the National Transportation Safety Board, back the change. Even AB InBev, the largest beer company in the world, has said it isn’t opposed. But experts I spoke with during my reporting say not everyone is on board — and they point to the hospitality industry as the main opponent. The worry is that new rules will hamper alcohol sales and hurt restaurants and bars. (None of the national or state alcohol and restaurant groups I contacted responded to my requests for comment.) But the Utah law had no effect on alcohol, restaurant or tourism revenue, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Instead of drinking less in response to the law, people just got a ride home. For more Recent research makes it clear that even moderate amounts of alcohol can damage your health. Is driving while high on marijuana as dangerous as driving drunk? Here’s what the data says. Older Americans are drinking more than they did before the pandemic. THE LATEST NEWS Bangladesh Protests In Dhaka, Bangladesh. Abu Sufian Jewel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and went to the airport as protesters stormed her official residence. The army chief said an interim government would be formed. Crowds have been rallying against Hasina’s long rule, which had become increasingly authoritarian. Read about the protests. Nearly 100 people were killed at protests this weekend during clashes with the police. Middle East An Israeli airstrike on a shelter in Gaza City killed at least 30 people, Palestinian officials and media said. Israel said it had targeted Hamas command centers; it was unclear if any of those killed were militants. International airlines have suspended flights to Israel ahead of expected attacks by Iran and Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of Israelis can’t get home. Israel’s reservists are exhausted. That has made Israeli officials hesitant to launch an all-out war against Hezbollah, The Wall Street Journal reports. More International News Rioters attacked a hotel in northern England that has housed asylum seekers after the far right spread false claims that the suspect in a stabbing was a migrant. With its population aging, Japan needs foreign workers. But politicians there are reluctant to create pathways for them to stay. Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro remains in power after a dubious election victory. The only thing that could topple him, history suggests, is a betrayal by his security forces. 2024 Election Kamala Harris Erin Schaff/The New York Times Kamala Harris is expected to announce a running mate soon. Behind closed doors, Democrats are divided about the choice. “We have to get pretty wild”: In recent years, JD Vance has said he would break norms and test constitutional limits to execute his ideas. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted that, in 2014, he dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park. Donald Trump has suggested Harris’s Black identity is contrived. But in America, Harris has never had that choice, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes. Lots of campaigning for Harris happens on Zoom. Kevin Roose, a Times tech columnist, explains why. Candidates can go viral by embracing memes. But it can turn cringe fast, Joseph Bernstein writes. Weather The storm Debby strengthened into a hurricane. It’s expected to hit Florida today. Forecasters warned of flooding in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. See Debby’s likely path. Other Big Stories In Nagoya, Japan. Kyodo, via Reuters Stocks tumbled in Asia and Europe. Investors are concerned about signs of a slowing U.S. economy. The Chicago White Sox have lost 20 straight games, the longest losing streak in the M.L.B. since the 1980s. The Pentagon canceled a plea deal for three men at Guantánamo Bay accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks. Read how the deal came undone. Opinions Progressives should worry about population decline and support policies that encourage families to have children, Victor Kumar writes. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Harris’s strong start and Evan Gershkovich. Here are columns by David French with Justice Neil Gorsuch and Nicholas Kristof on dogs. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Lino Lakes, Minn. Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times Identity: A proposed “Muslim-friendly” community near Minneapolis was called segregationist. The backlash was called Islamophobic. Nature: Every summer, a Queens beach closes to protect endangered piping plovers. Some residents want it back. Ask Vanessa: “Why do grown men insist on wearing baseball caps everywhere?” Fridgescaping: Home influencers are coming for your produce. Metropolitan Diary: One suit, worn once. No returns. Lives Lived: Anton van Dalen was a socially conscious artist, dedicated pigeon keeper and longtime assistant to the illustrator Saul Steinberg. His own works documented the Lower East Side’s evolution from dereliction to gentrification. He died at 85. OLYMPICS Noah Lyles Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times Track and field: Noah Lyles took gold in the men’s 100 meters. See how he came from behind to win by a fraction. Women’s swimming: The U.S. women’s 4x100-meter medley relay team won gold and set a world record. Men’s swimming: Bobby Finke also set a world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle final. Losing their cool: Parisians wear their aloofness like a badge of honor. Yet, for the last week, the city has given itself over to the spirit of the Games. Photo finish: See our photographers’ best images from the Games. Today: Simone Biles will compete in the beam and the floor exercises to conclude her Olympics. ARTS AND IDEAS Esrey Park in Michigan. Nate Bett “Hiking and kayaking in the daytime? Fun and invigorating. But under a full moon, those activities can be transcendent,” Amy Thomas writes. She suggests five nocturnal adventures to add a dose of awe to your next vacation, including a full-moon goat hike in Connecticut, a river float in Oregon and snorkeling in Dominica. Read more of her suggestions here. More on culture Joe Rogan Troy Conrad/Netflix In Joe Rogan’s live comedy special, he jokes about the idea he has any responsibility for the information on his podcast. Read our comedy columnist’s review. The Reverend Vince Anderson is a mainstay of the Brooklyn music scene. He dedicates his Sundays to worship, the Mets and his houseplants. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times Try meatballs with a secret: They’re half vegetable, half chicken. Play one of the best card games. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was inhibitor. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 7, 2024 Author Members Posted August 7, 2024 August 6, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering the stock market chaos around the world — as well as Google’s antitrust case, the Democratic veepstakes and Tropical Storm Debby. In New York. Ava Pellor for The New York Times A cooling job market By Ben Casselman I cover the economy with a focus on the labor market. Yesterday was the worst day for U.S. stocks in nearly two years. Markets around the globe fell sharply; the S&P 500 index was down 3 percent. Stock markets are fickle, and their movements can’t tell you much about the health of the economy. Today, the S&P 500 could fall another 3 percent — or it could erase yesterday’s losses. But yesterday’s tumult reflects an underlying reality: The job market is cooling. That cool-down was expected, even necessary, after a wild four years: The early pandemic brought astonishing job losses, followed by a frenetic recovery. Now, the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, is basically back to normal. But some recent data has alarmed economists, and it helped spark yesterday’s sell-off. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain. The wild ride Nearly 22 million workers lost their jobs after Covid struck. By April 2020, the unemployment rate — which had been at a five-decade low of 3.5 percent — jumped to nearly 15 percent. Businesses thought many of those layoffs would be temporary. They expected to reopen quickly and bring workers back. Instead, the pandemic dragged on. By the time vaccines became widely available in early 2021, many businesses found that the employees they had let go were no longer available. Some had found other jobs, changed industries or started businesses of their own. Some didn’t yet feel safe returning to work or couldn’t find child care. Some had retired or returned to their home countries. Some had been killed or disabled by Covid. The result was a scramble to hire from a limited pool of workers. There were soon two available jobs for every available worker. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis |Notes: Data is seasonally adjusted | By The New York Times That gave workers tremendous leverage. Especially in the service sector, they jumped between jobs in search of better pay and working conditions. Wages soared, with the lowest-paid workers winning the fastest gains — a reversal of the longstanding trend of rising inequality. Over time, though, supply and demand came into better balance. More Americans returned to work, joined by an influx of immigrants. Job openings are now back roughly to where they were before the pandemic. Wage growth and job turnover have both slowed. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | Notes: Data is seasonally adjusted and it is not adjusted for inflation | By The New York Times A reset, not a slowdown A cooling labor market might sound like a bad thing — and in most circumstances, it is. But the labor market of late 2021 and early 2022 was perhaps too hot. Businesses raised pay and still couldn’t find the workers they needed, leaving customers frustrated with poor service and long waits. Workers complained that, for all their supposed leverage, staffing shortages left them exhausted and burned out. The hot labor market also posed a problem for the Federal Reserve, which has been trying to bring down inflation. Wage growth didn’t cause the initial surge in prices. But if businesses kept seeing their labor costs rise, they were likely to keep raising prices, too. So the recent cool-down has been something of a relief. Even better, it has happened with hardly any increase in job losses. That is remarkable because job openings and unemployment usually move in opposite directions: When demand slows, companies post fewer jobs and lay off employees. Many economists expected the same this time around. They were wrong. This time, openings fell — not because companies needed fewer workers but because there were finally enough workers to fill positions that had been sitting open, in some cases for years. Wages stopped rising as quickly, but so did prices, which meant workers were in many cases better off than at the height of the boom. Jerome Powell, the Fed chair. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images What comes next That has been the story: a surprisingly painless return to normal. But job data released on Friday offered a warning: The unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent — still quite low, but the highest in more than two and a half years. Layoffs haven’t yet picked up, but workers who do lose their jobs are having a harder time finding new ones. That risk is part of the reason that Fed officials are likely to begin cutting interest rates soon. (In a story The Times published this morning, I weigh the likelihood of a recession.) The prepandemic labor market was the best in at least a generation, with low unemployment, strong earnings growth and declining wage inequality. We could still get back there. But the latest jobs numbers suggest there is now little if any room for the labor market to cool further without causing pain for workers. For more Stocks in Asia rebounded today as investors reclaimed a measure of calm. Donald Trump seized on the market news to attack Vice President Kamala Harris. The Fed is unlikely to lower interest rates before its meeting in September, Jeanna Smialek writes. THE LATEST NEWS Google Case Sundar Pichai, the Google C.E.O. Jason Henry for The New York Times Google lost a major antitrust case. The judge, who ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in search, could now force it to sell parts of its business. The decision, much like one against Microsoft in 2000, will likely shape new rules for the tech industry. Read how. More on Business Regulators around the world are scrutinizing Nvidia, which holds more than 90 percent of the A.I. chip market. The company is racing to respond. A South Korean chip company will build a factory in Indiana with help from Biden administration grants. X plans to shut its San Francisco office. Elon Musk has said he wants to move the company’s headquarters to Texas. 2024 Election Harris plans to announce her running mate this morning. The two will campaign in Philadelphia tonight. Adin Ross, a 23-year-old influencer, interviewed Trump and gave him a Tesla Cybertruck decorated with a photo of him after the assassination attempt. A 100-day sprint to Election Day seems to be benefiting Harris. It’s thrown Trump off balance and given the media less time to scrutinize her. More on Politics Records show that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose more flights on a conservative donor’s private jet, a Senate Democrat revealed. The Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit that sought to delay Trump’s sentencing in his Manhattan hush-money case until after the election. Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington have congressional primaries today. Cori Bush, a House progressive, faces a serious challenge from a more mainstream Democrat. Tropical Storm Debby In Steinhatchee, Florida. Dustin Chambers for The New York Times Debby arrived on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane. At least five people died. “All of my children’s baby books got flooded”: A couple in a tiny fishing town in Florida reckoned with the destruction. Forecasters expect the storm to pass over Georgia and out to sea, before returning to the coast on Thursday. See the track. Partly because it’s moving slowly, the storm is expected to bring historic rain to the southeast, with flood warnings in Georgia and the Carolinas. More International News In Toretsk, Ukraine. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times Ukraine and Russia are fighting for Toretsk, a city in the east where Ukrainian defenses had long held. A rocket attack targeting a base in Iraq wounded several American service members. Iranian-backed groups in Iraq have launched similar attacks in the past. Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladeshi prime minister who fled yesterday, was brought down by years of repressive rule, Mujib Mashal writes. A rebel army battling Myanmar’s junta seized a military headquarters near the border with China. The U.S. handed control of its last military base in Niger to local forces, ending a yearslong counterterrorism mission. Other Big Stories In Lahaina, Hawaii. Philip Cheung for The New York Times Community leaders in Hawaii want to rebuild the town of Lahaina after the wildfires on Maui last year. First they must decide how to preserve its history. A fast-moving brush fire in the California city of San Bernardino destroyed homes and forced evacuations. Two hundred firefighters are battling the blaze. Opinions Kentaro Takahashi for The New York Times Before the world engages on a course to repeat the horror of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, it should listen to the few remaining survivors, Kathleen Kingsbury, W.J. Hennigan and Spencer Cohen write. Here are columns by Paul Krugman on recession risks and Michelle Goldberg on a book that JD Vance endorsed. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In São Paulo, Brazil. Larissa Zaidan Not-so-solo geniuses: See the big teams it takes to make a new thing, whether it’s a woven chair or a leather handbag. “Step gap”: Adult children are less likely to help an aging stepparent than a parent, studies show. Experts are worried. Natural gas or renewables? The way America produces power has shifted a lot over the past few years. See how your state has changed. Health: Worried your manicure might damage your nails? Here are signs you need to take a break. Lives Lived: Barbara Howar was a gleefully nonconformist fixture of the Washington social scene when her uninhibited 1973 memoir, “Laughing All the Way,” made her a star and set her on a path to a career in television. She died at 89. OLYMPICS Women’s gymnastics: Simone Biles earned a silver medal in what could be her final Olympic competition. Surfing: America’s Caroline Marks won gold in Tahiti, becoming the second U.S. woman to win top honors in the relatively new event. Celebrity: The rapper Snoop Dogg — who has carried the Olympic torch, danced with Biles and swam with Michael Phelps — is a star of the Games, The A.P. reports. Perseverance: Ukraine has collected medals in Paris, but at home its sports pipeline is in ruins. ARTS AND IDEAS Influencers at an event for “The Great Gatsby.” Ye Fan for The New York Times Broadway shows still sell fewer tickets than they did before the pandemic. To attract new fans — in particular, younger and more diverse ones — show are turning to influencers on TikTok and Instagram. Theater content creators tend to have smaller followings than food or beauty accounts, but their reach is more targeted. The strategy seems to be paying off: “The Great Gatsby,” a new show this season, saw traffic to its website increase notably in the two weeks after it began a collaboration with theater influencers. More on culture The director David Lynch said that he had emphysema and would only be able to direct remotely. The writer of “M. Butterfly,” David Henry Hwang, is working on a Broadway musical about particle physics. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Make adobo, a perfectly salty, sweet and tangy Filipino chicken dish. Make great pizza at home. Write with the best pen. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was competed. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 8, 2024 Author Members Posted August 8, 2024 August 7, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering Kamala Harris’s running mate — as well as Cori Bush, Bangladesh and “cortisol face.” In Philadelphia. Erin Schaff/The New York Times Why Tim Walz? By Reid J. Epstein I’m a national politics reporter and a native Midwesterner. Tim Walz is going to bring big Midwestern dad energy to the presidential campaign. Minnesota’s governor won’t deliver a key state or bring key policy experience that Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, lacks. She picked him to run as her vice president for one reason above all others: His biography and his demeanor make him a familiar figure for voters who might not be attracted to a Black and South Asian woman from California. The Walz vibes are very different from those of recent top-of-the-ticket Democrats. The party is used to national candidates who’ve spent decades, if not their entire lives, preparing for the big stage. Walz was teaching social studies and geography, not climbing the ladder, 20 years ago. In the last two weeks, as Harris shortlisted him to be her running mate, Walz referred to himself privately as “the dog that caught the car,” seemingly shocked by his own luck. Walz is a former small-town high school football coach who spends his free time hunting and fishing. He wears a camouflage hat while campaigning and speaks with the nasal accent native to the Upper Midwest. I grew up in Central Illinois and spent years living and working in Wisconsin. Hearing Walz speak reminds me of what it sounds like to hear another English speaker while traveling abroad — a familiar, comforting sound. “He brings with him a vast understanding of the Midwest,” Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota told me yesterday. “This will be a vice president who has stood in deer stands in the middle of 10-degree weather and has fished across Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes.” A political arc Walz has had a bit of a journey on the ideological spectrum. He was first elected to Congress as a moderate who represented a rural district. While he was a reliable vote for the House Democrats’ agenda, Walz received A ratings from the National Rifle Association and didn’t present himself as a cultural progressive. In 2016, he won re-election in his rural district by less than one point — at the same time that Donald Trump won there by almost 15 points. When he ran for governor in 2018, Walz embraced gun control measures and disavowed his past N.R.A. support. In his first term, he presided over a divided State Legislature and had a productive working relationship with Republicans. Walz in 2007, speaking at the high school where he once taught. T.C. Worley for The New York Times Then came 2023. Democrats had won full control of Minnesota’s statehouse for the first time in a decade. Walz pushed through a raft of progressive laws. His state codified abortion rights, enacted new gun control laws, provided free lunch to public-school students and implemented a child tax credit. That cemented his reputation as a progressive populist, a winning label in a party that has spent years anointing centrist candidates for president and vice president. Walz is particularly in sync with Harris when it comes to abortion, where he has a compelling personal story to tell. His two children were conceived through in vitro fertilization, the fertility treatment a few conservatives — including a majority of the Alabama Supreme Court — have hoped to ban. During the raucous rally last night where Harris introduced Walz as her running mate, he paused for an emotional moment. He talked about how he and his wife suffered through years of infertility treatments before their first child was born. “It wasn’t by chance,” he said, “that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope.” The Walz vibe Politicians by their nature can be strivers, willing to elbow rivals to get ahead. They are not always popular with their own peers. But Walz seems to be well liked by nearly everyone who interacts with him. As the vice-presidential search played out over the last two weeks, I received unsolicited feedback from multiple House Democrats who served with Walz. They wanted to vouch for him. Even Paul Gazelka, a Republican who battled him as the Minnesota Senate’s majority leader during Walz’s first term as governor, said in an interview on Sunday that Walz was an honest broker who worked well in what was then a divided government. Gazelka described himself as social friends with Walz despite having run against him for governor in 2022. Last summer, I spent some time with Walz at the Iowa State Fair, where he came to watch the Republicans who at the time were vying to win their party’s presidential nomination. He said nice things about his neighbor governor, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, hammed it up with the few local Democrats on the fair’s midway and ate a pork chop. It was the sort of stuff that gave birth to the backslapper cliché about politicians. The Walz personal touch helped get him the job. People close to the vice-presidential selection process said the connection Harris felt with Walz mattered more than the prospect he would energize the party’s progressive base. The task for Walz now is to translate the good vibes and folksy demeanor that made him popular in Minnesota and in Congress to an electorate that is unhappy with the direction of the country. Harris has proved she can generate enthusiasm with young voters and people of color who congregate in cities. It will fall to Walz to excite Democrats in small towns and rural areas that can help turn purple states blue. More on Walz Walz grew up on a Nebraska farm, served in the Army National Guard and prefers Diet Mountain Dew to coffee. Read more about his background and about his record. Harris picked Walz after the two forged an instant connection. Read the inside story of the selection process. Harris called Walz “coach” during their first joint rally. Walz peppered his remarks with phrases like “holy hell” and “damn sure.” Walz showed his ability to attack Trump and JD Vance, again calling them “weird.” (“The Daily” explained Walz’s sudden stardom after using that catchphrase.) Trump’s campaign criticized Walz as “dangerously liberal,” accusing him of mishandling violent protests in 2020. Vance said Harris “bent the knee” to progressives. In Walz, Harris sees a battleground strategy dressed in Carhartt, Lisa Lerer writes. Commentary Times Opinion writers discussed Walz’s strengths (“Joe Biden, 20 years ago”) and weaknesses (“his celebrity is primarily regional”). As a former football coach, Walz speaks America’s common language, Howard Wolfson argues. “Tim’s ability to listen, collaborate and find pragmatic solutions earned him respect from not just Democrats but also Republicans like me,” Charles Djou, who served with Walz in the House, writes for Fox News. New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait called the pick “a missed opportunity to claim the middle” and “turn a coin-flip election into a safe one.” Harris’s choice relieved some Republicans, who saw Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s moderate governor, “as the stronger opponent,” The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter and Jessica Taylor write. “Much of Walz’s actual record — such as signing a law that allows undocumented immigrants to receive a driver’s license, and his response to the George Floyd protests — will be easily pilloried,” Matt Lewis argues in The Hill. THE LATEST NEWS More on Politics U.S. Rep. Cori Bush embraces her father, Errol Bush. Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via Associated Press Representative Cori Bush, a member of the progressive Squad, lost her primary in Missouri. Pro-Israel groups spent millions to support her opponent. Elissa Slotkin, a House Democrat, and Mike Rogers, a Republican, will compete for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. The Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with trying to hire an assassin to kill U.S. political figures. Trump may have been a target. The F.B.I. seized a phone from Andy Ogles, a House Republican from Tennessee, apparently as part of a campaign-finance investigation. Georgia’s Republican-controlled State Election Board approved a rule letting local officials conduct “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certifying them. Long Island Republicans passed a measure to prohibit masks in public, except for health or religious reasons, after some protesters wore them to hide their identities. Israel-Hamas War Hamas picked Yahya Sinwar, an architect of the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new political leader. Israel has subjected Palestinians detained since Oct. 7 to systemic abuse and torture, an Israeli rights group said. More International News Muhammad Yunus Mahmud Hossain Opu/Associated Press Bangladesh’s president appointed a Nobel laureate to oversee an interim government, after the authoritarian prime minister fled. Ismael Zambada García, the Mexican drug lord flown across the border into U.S. custody last month, is expected to face trial in Brooklyn. Ukraine has “work to do” to reduce corruption, the Biden administration’s special representative for the country’s economic recovery said. Tropical Storm Debby Floodwaters trapped people in their homes in Savannah, Ga., as Tropical Storm Debby moved out to sea. It’s expected to make a second landfall in South Carolina tomorrow. Heavy rains could extend hundreds of miles north in the coming days, stretching from Baltimore to Boston. About $1 million worth of cocaine washed up on a Florida beach during the storm. Other Big Stories Sadness among teenage girls has fallen in the last few years, according to the C.D.C., though many more still report depressive symptoms than do boys. The federal government suspended use of a weedkiller linked to serious health risks in fetuses. It’s been commonly used on crops like broccoli and onions. Scientists in Indonesia found a tiny arm bone of an ancient relative of humans, part of a species nicknamed “hobbits,” who were about three and a half feet tall. Opinions Kentucky organizers want to mobilize low-income residents to create a tenants’ union. Racial divisions are a major obstacle, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes. Here are columns by Bret Stephens with questions for the next president and Thomas Edsall on Trump and Black Lives Matter. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS In Los Angeles. Stella Kalinina for The New York Times Look up: To discover L.A.’s neighborhoods, let the trees be your guide. “Cortisol face”: Can stress really give you rounded features? Experts weigh in. Pleasure gap: A study found that straight women have fewer orgasms than lesbian and bisexual women, and fewer still than men. Lives Lived: Lorenza de’ Medici, the descendant of a storied family in Italy, became an author, TV host and cooking school director to show that Italian cuisine was about more than tomatoes, pizza and pasta. She died at 97. OLYMPICS Men’s track: The American Cole Hocker stunned in the 1,500-meter final, beating the favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen. His massive kick in the homestretch earned an Olympic record. Women’s track: Gabby Thomas won the women’s 200-meter dash. Boxing: The Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, the subject of a global frenzy regarding her gender over the last two weeks, will fight in the gold medal bout. Soccer: The U.S. women’s national team advanced to the gold medal match with an extra-time win over Germany. Basketball: The U.S. men’s team defeated Brazil in what’s likely to be its final easy game of this tournament. ARTS AND IDEAS In Washington, D.C. Jennifer Chase for The New York Times A sign reading “Every detail matters” hangs above the kitchen door at Bread & Butterfly in Atlanta. And the kitchen at Addison, a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Diego, has a plaque engraved with “All in, all the time,” a Navy SEAL call and response. Both are part of a quirky tradition in the world of fine dining, which the TV series “The Bear” has helped bring to public attention: Its love affair with inspirational quotes. More on culture A “Stranger Things” prequel, set 24 years before the Netflix series, is coming to Broadway. Philippe Petit walked a high wire between the Twin Towers 50 years ago. The Times watched him rehearse his next act, at age 74. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times Top chilled tofu with gochujang sauce. Wear white this fall. Activate your core with these exercises. Master the basics of grilling. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was crimping. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 9, 2024 Author Members Posted August 9, 2024 August 8, 2024 Good morning. Today, we’re covering the mental health struggles of young people — as well as the 2024 campaigns, Taylor Swift and artistic swimming. In Nevada. Bridget Bennett for The New York Times A national struggle By Ellen Barry I cover mental health. It is no mystery why rates of anxiety and depression in the United States climbed in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. But then life began a slow return to normal. Why haven’t rates of distress returned to normal, too? Self-reported anxiety and depression have declined from the peak they reached in November 2020, when 42.6 percent of adults said they had symptoms, according to the Household Pulse Survey, a Census Bureau tool that measures well-being. Since then, that figure has declined to 20.7 percent. That’s still double the 11 percent of Americans who said the same thing before the pandemic. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why. Researchers say a big reason for this stubbornly elevated distress is young people, whose low mood was not linked to the pandemic. A youth epidemic The share of young adults reporting anxiety and depression had been rising for about a decade before Covid struck. That continued throughout the pandemic — and did not ease as quickly when vaccines became available. This is likely because their symptoms were tied to problems other than the virus, like economic precarity, the housing crisis, social isolation and political turmoil, said Emma Adam, a psychologist at Northwestern. “There’s so many things affecting adolescents and young adults that are about uncertainty with their future,” Adam said. “And that hasn’t changed.” Age, of course, tracks with income. Adam’s team found that people between the ages of 18 and 39 were half as likely to live in their own home as their counterparts over 40. That means they were especially vulnerable to inflation, rent increases and job loss — just as they faced big decisions like whether to have children or own a home. But it wasn’t just about the economy. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found measurable declines in mood after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished the federal right to abortion. Women in states where abortion bans took effect had reported more anxiety and depression compared with counterparts in other states. There was no such difference for men. Even though politics, law and the economy affect everyone, the young may pay more attention to social conditions, said Ludmila Nunes, who tracks research for the American Psychological Association. So they are both more exposed to the consequences and more aware of them. “These events affect them more than older people,” Nunes said. “So it’s normal that they are going to respond more.” The older, the happier The good news is, by some measures, distress is gradually declining. In November 2020, when vaccines were announced, “we see what almost looks like an exhale” among people in midlife or older, said Sarah Collier Villaume, another researcher at Northwestern. There are various ways to measure mental distress, and not all of them reflect that exhale. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national survey conducted by the C.D.C. that asks subjects how many days of poor mental health they experience per month, shows an unbroken upward trend. But that metric, too, shows that age boosts mental health. While older people show declines in attention and memory, they seem to gain more control over their emotions. Some research suggests that older people learn to focus more on positive memories — or what one team of psychologists called “emotionally gratifying memory distortion” regarding the past. Researchers at Boston College set out to test this hypothesis by surveying people between the ages of 18 and 80 about their memories from the early part of the pandemic. They found something paradoxical: The older their subjects were, the more positive memories they had of the pandemic, even though they were physically more at risk. This puts young people at a disadvantage when facing traumatic events. And if their stress was driven by economic and political uncertainty, rather than fear of illness, then there is no reason to expect it to recede. Adam said her best guess is that older Americans would continue to recover faster than younger ones. “We can’t answer the fundamental question” of when, and if, Americans’ moods will return to a prepandemic norm, “except to predict very strongly that the age disparities will still be there,” she said. More on mental health: A psychiatrist livestreamed a conversation with a troubled video game champion. Did that cross an ethical line? THE LATEST NEWS Democratic Campaign Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz. Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times In Wisconsin, Kamala Harris blamed corporations for inflation and the cost of living. She vowed to make lowering prices “a Day 1 priority.” Harris stopped the crowd from chanting “lock him up” about Donald Trump, saying: “The courts will take care of that. We’re going to beat him in November.” Pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “We won’t vote for genocide” interrupted Harris in Michigan. “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” Harris, who spoke with pro-Palestinian activists before the rally, said. “Otherwise, I am speaking.” Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, and his aides crafted a strategy more than a year ago to inject him into national politics. It worked. Republican Campaign Trump suggested he would debate Harris, whom he called “nasty,” days after pulling out of a planned debate on ABC News. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate who is a former Marine, accused Walz of quitting the Army National Guard to avoid going to Iraq. A fellow veteran said Walz had decided to run for Congress months before the unit got its orders. Trump’s campaign accused Walz of mishandling the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder. But at the time, Trump said he was “very happy” with Walz’s response, ABC News reported. Trump wants to end taxes on tips and Social Security benefits. The plans, meant to appeal to service workers and retirees, would cost the government trillions of dollars. Vance wrote the foreword to a book by the head of the conservative group that coordinated Project 2025. The author now plans to delay the book until after the election. Middle East Ten months of conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border has transformed the landscape and nearby towns. See satellite images of the destruction. Iranians are watching, worried, to see if their government will retaliate against Israel for killing a Hamas leader in Iran. Other countries are urging restraint. More International News In Sudzha, Russia, after a Ukrainian attack. Acting Governor Of Kursk Region Alexei Smirnov, via Reuters Ukraine launched a surprise ground assault inside Russia, putting Ukrainian troops and armored vehicles across the border. After anti-immigrant riots, thousands of counterprotesters gathered across Britain. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s diplomatic trip to Asia ended in Mongolia, where the prime minister gave him a horse. Mongolia loves to do that. Climate and Weather Tropical Storm Debby gained strength over the Atlantic and returned to shore, pounding the Carolinas with heavy rain. See the latest. Extreme temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef are at their highest levels in at least 400 years, researchers found. The world’s largest iceberg has been spinning in place for nearly a month. No one knows when it will stop. After a wildfire devastated the island of Maui last year, Hawaii officials have come up with a plan to prevent another one. Other Big Stories Taylor Swift Matteo Bazzi/EPA, via Shutterstock Taylor Swift canceled her tour in Austria after officials arrested two men suspected of plotting terrorism in Vienna — including at her shows. The Education Department announced that the FAFSA form, for federal student aid applications, would come out late for a second year in a row. The C.D.C. updated its guidance on IUDs, the contraceptive device, to include more pain-relief options for patients. Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station in June for a brief mission may be stuck there until next year because of problems with their Boeing spacecraft. Baltimore refuses to release details about its response to an epidemic of fatal opioid overdoses, citing a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry. Opinions The U.S. wants to kill a half million owls to save a different, endangered species. That is misguided, Avram Hiller, Jay Odenbaugh and Yasha Rohwer write. Miguel Macias has some regrets over having a child. Acknowledging them taught him to accept uncertainty, he writes. Here are columns by Charles Blow on the Harris-Walz campaign and Pamela Paul on identity politics. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Spot the camera. Nathan Angelakis Go, pros: Sea lions with cameras are helping map the ocean floor. Silicon Valley: Therapists are becoming coaches for executives. New York City: Eighth Avenue is a thoroughfare for tourists and a hub for Broadway shows. It’s also trash-strewn chaos. Health: Hearing and vision loss can increase the risk of dementia. Fixing them — with surgery and hearing aids — can reduce that risk. Screenland: “Stop asking celebrities to sing our national anthem.” Vials and syringes: People are overdosing on Ozempic alternatives. Lives Lived: Billy Bean, an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, retired in 1995 because he thought baseball was not ready for an openly gay player. Years after he came out, he returned to the sport as the M.L.B.’s first ambassador for inclusion. Bean died at 60. SPORTS The Chinese team. James Hill for The New York Times Artistic swimming: The U.S. team won its first medal in 20 years, taking silver in a field that lacked Russia. The athletes in the sport are demanding more respect. Track and field: Quincy Hall snapped an American drought in the men’s 400 meters, shocking the fastest Olympic field ever with a comeback win. Final results: U.S. figure skaters received their gold medals for the team event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics after a 912-day delay. They weren’t the only athletes being awarded belated medals. Women’s basketball: The Americans routed Nigeria, 88-74, in the quarterfinals. Next up? A familiar Australian team. ARTS AND IDEAS Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times We are in a new era — the Age of the Sandal. Men in particular are flaunting their toes all over New York City, and our Styles reporter isn’t thrilled about it. Read more about the trend. More on culture Utah banned 13 books, including works by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood, from all public schools because they have content considered pornographic or indecent. Dress codes in workplaces have become more relaxed. Some D.C. interns have come overdressed for their first day, The Washington Post reports. In 1999, audiences questioned whether “The Blair Witch Project” was real. It’s a feeling that permeates our age of misinformation. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Make the crispiest, cheesiest zucchini bites in an air fryer. Test your knowledge of book titles. Prepare for fall with a paper planner. Make great pizza at home. Read an oral history of second-wave feminism. Collect your food scraps with a kitchen compost bin. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was infantry. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 11, 2024 Author Members Posted August 11, 2024 August 9, 2024 Good morning. We’re covering the state of the 2024 race — as well as markets, Israel’s offensive and portable fans. Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in Philadelphia. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Race reset By Lisa Lerer I’m a national political correspondent. Everything seems different now. A campaign that once felt like a death march has become a dance party for Democrats. Tens of thousands flock to rallies in battleground states and Zoom confabs online — White dudes! Cat ladies! Even venture capitalists for Harris! The campaign coffers are overflowing. And President Biden’s dark warnings about a “battle for the soul of America” have been replaced with a brat-infused pursuit of “the joy.” Political campaigns, of course, are the art of telling a story that enough American voters will embrace. Donald Trump has his story about a nation in decline, and so far he’s sticking with it. At her rallies and online, Kamala Harris has crafted a tale of exuberant political opportunity. But the more significant electoral question is whether the change at the top of the Democratic ticket has remade the fundamental dynamics of the contest. Nineteen days into the new Harris operation, a growing amount of data suggests that both campaigns face a changed political environment. While the contest remains tight, the momentum seems to have swung in Democrats’ favor. At least for now. In today’s newsletter, I’ll examine three ways that Democrats have gained a sudden — and surprising — advantage. The base is back In Philadelphia. Erin Schaff/The New York Times I’ve covered presidential campaigns since 2008, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the kind of energy I observed at Harris’s kickoff rally in Atlanta last week. Beyoncé’s music was booming. The crowd of nearly 10,000 supporters was dancing and cheering. And Harris was loving every minute of it. Rallies and media “vibes” don’t determine election outcomes, but they do signal enthusiasm. For months, Biden struggled to maintain support among his own party. Large numbers of Democrats told pollsters they’d prefer another candidate. When they got their wish, they went all in. A New York Times/Siena College poll taken in the days after Biden exited the race showed Harris with 93 percent support from Democrats. Her numbers are also stronger among key segments of the party’s coalition, including young and Black voters. Exciting a party’s base, by itself, is not enough to win the presidency. But no candidate can win without those voters. Even if this level of enthusiasm can’t be sustained, record-breaking fund-raising hauls have erased Republicans’ cash advantage. Now, Democrats can spend more on advertising and organizing to shore up their already-sizable operation in key swing states. A more robust field staff could help Democrats turn support into actual votes. Trump’s operation, by contrast, has outsourced most of its turnout operation to loosely coordinated conservative groups — relying on a largely untested strategy made possible by new loopholes in campaign finance rules. The map has shifted In the final weeks of Biden’s campaign, his path to victory had narrowed to the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Harris has re-expanded the map for Democrats. She appears to be competitive across all seven presidential battlegrounds. The New York Times’s tracker for polling averages shows her locked in a neck-and-neck race in the three blue wall states. Yesterday, The Cook Political Report shifted three Sun Belt swing states — Arizona, Nevada and Georgia — from leaning Republican to being “tossups.” It’s also possible the third-party threat — long a source of anxiety among Democratic operatives — might not loom as large for Harris as it did for Biden. In a head-to-head Wisconsin matchup, for instance, Harris and Trump are nearly tied, according to a new statewide poll by Marquette Law School. But in a multicandidate contest, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to siphon more from Trump’s pool of voters than from the Democratic coalition. Trump is playing defense Donald Trump Doug Mills/The New York Times For months, the Trump campaign seemed untouchable. Through criminal indictments, courtroom appearances and criminal convictions, Trump’s hold on the race seemed only to grow. His attack was clear and effective: The nation was worse off under Biden. Now, Trump faces a very different opponent who is younger and more energetic and a Black woman. And his team has struggled to update its message. Yesterday, in his first press conference since Harris won the nomination, Trump recycled a series of attacks, casting Harris as part of the “radical left,” “incompetent” and weak on inflation. He repeatedly mispronounced her name, resurrecting the same kind of racially charged attacks that failed to defeat President Barack Obama. Perhaps the old tropes can work against Harris. But so far they have done little to undercut her fresh momentum. Yet he also appeared fixated on Biden’s sudden departure from the race, even as his insisted little had changed. “I haven’t recalibrated strategy at all,” he told the reporters gathered at Mar-a-Lago yesterday. “It’s the same policies: open borders, weak on crime.” But whether Trump believes it or not, the race has changed. His ability to adjust may determine whether the Harris honeymoon is a summer vacation — or a journey to the White House. More on Trump’s press conference Trump and Harris are set to debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News. Trump also proposed two other debates, on NBC and Fox. He said Democrats, including Harris, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, had “taken away” the nomination from Biden. Trump claimed to have spoken to a bigger audience on Jan. 6, 2021, than Martin Luther King Jr. did for his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Read a fact-check of his other claims. Asked about his recent claim that Harris, who is multiracial, “became” Black, Trump said, “Whether it’s Indian or Black, I think it’s very disrespectful.” Trump told an untrue story about riding in a helicopter with Willie Brown, a former boyfriend of Harris, apparently confusing him with former Gov. Jerry Brown. Trump also incorrectly claimed the helicopter had an emergency landing. More on the Democrats Harris isn’t giving interviews. She does not support blocking weapons shipments to Israel, an adviser said. Pro-Palestinian activists in Michigan had asked her to meet with them to discuss an embargo. As running mates, Tim Walz and JD Vance are presenting different versions of small-town America, based on their childhoods. THE LATEST NEWS U.S. Economy A wild week in markets made investors question the strength of the economy. Read what comes next and what to do with your portfolio. Mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in more than a year — good news for prospective home buyers and sellers. New data shows weekly jobless claims falling more than expected, a positive development as the Federal Reserve considers lowering interest rates. Trump, at his press conference, said presidents should have a say in setting interest rates, another sign that he might try to end the Fed’s history of political independence. Middle East Fleeing the Khan Younis area of Gaza. Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press Israel said it had launched another offensive in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The attack involved fighter jets and helicopter gunships. In a joint statement, Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations over a cease-fire deal. The U.S. charged two Iranians with smuggling missile parts for the Houthi militia in Yemen. More International News The Austrian authorities accused two teenagers of conspiring to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. A suspect confessed to a plot using explosives and other weapons to kill as many attendees as possible, security officials said. In Liverpool, England, residents delivered a resounding message to far-right rioters: Not here. China is stressing science education in schools. That has given the country advantages — and is crucial to its lead in electric vehicles. Other Big Stories New footage from the Trump assassination attempt shows a frantic police effort to reach the gunman. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts that there will be more hurricanes than average this season. Three Columbia deans resigned after sending text messages that the university’s president called antisemitic. A glacial lake overflowed and damaged homes in Alaska. It keeps doing that. Opinions In Paris. Giulia Frigieri for The New York Times A public school in Paris has found success teaching hip-hop dance. The U.S., which invented the art form, should offer similar school programs, Jeff Chang argues. We should advance pro-family policies like child tax credits even if they don’t improve birthrates, David French writes. Here are columns by Paul Krugman on free school lunches, and Jamelle Bouie on calling Trump and Vance “weird.” Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. MORNING READS Towers under the sea. D. Kelley/M. Elend, via UW, via URI-IAO, via NOAA, via The Lost City Science Team “Lost City”: Did life on Earth once spring from these rocks underwater? Little houses: Artists are preserving urban architecture by recreating it in miniature — dumpsters, graffiti and all. Today’s Great Read: A glamorous family’s life seemed picture-perfect on Instagram. Behind the scenes, though, it was a financial disaster — one that led to tragedy. Fertility: A woman challenged a rule in China that barred unmarried women from freezing their eggs. She lost. Lives Lived: Duane Thomas was a powerful and elusive running back who led the Dallas Cowboys to their first Super Bowl victory. Before that, he engaged in a well-publicized contract dispute during which he called his coach “plastic.” He died at 77. OLYMPICS Nikola Jokic and LeBron James. Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Basketball: The U.S. men’s team survived a scare from Nikola Jokic and Serbia in a semifinal. The Americans will meet France and Victor Wembanyama in the title game. Water polo: The U.S. women’s team, seeking a fourth straight gold, lost to Australia in a shootout in the semifinals. Track: The American star Noah Lyles took bronze in the men’s 200-meter final and revealed shortly after that he had tested positive for Covid two days earlier. Closing ceremony: The swimmer Katie Ledecky and the rower Nick Mead will be the U.S. flag bearers for Sunday’s closing ceremony at the Stade de France. Today: Highlights include track and field, soccer — and the debut of breaking. ARTS AND IDEAS In New York City. Jonah Rosenberg for The New York Times With temperatures rising, small portable fans have become a go-to accessory at bars, restaurants and even the post office. “I definitely have it on me all the time, because even in the subway, just waiting for the train, it’s very stuffy down there,” Adrienne Black, a 32-year-old New York City resident, said. Read more about the trend. More on culture Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr are set to star in a Broadway revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Steve Martin declined Lorne Michaels’s offer to play Walz on “Saturday Night Live,” The Los Angeles Times reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Julia Gartland for The New York Times Marry tamarind with the calabash nutmeg and ginger in this cake. Exercise while on vacation. See the super shoes Olympic runners are wearing. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was fixable. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
Members phkrause Posted August 11, 2024 Author Members Posted August 11, 2024 August 10, 2024 Good morning. Today, we’ve got a guide to an exciting new event at the Olympics — as well as Kamala Harris’s Arizona rally, Swifties in Vienna and a new work by Banksy. Dominika Banevic, A.K.A. B-Girl Nicka, competing in Paris yesterday. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Throw-down in Paris By Jonathan Abrams I cover the intersection of sports and culture. Breaking is a new sport at this year’s Summer Olympics — at least we’ll call it a sport for the sake of the Games. You probably know it as break dancing, the art form in which performers spin, pose, glide and dance across the floor with incredible athleticism and charisma. The event debuted yesterday in Paris with the women’s, or B-Girls’, competition. Ami Yuasa of Japan, known as B-Girl Ami, bested Lithuania’s Dominika Banevic, or B-Girl Nicka, to win breaking’s first gold medal. The men, or B-Boys, are competing today. This week, I published an article that explores the history of breaking. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how breaking made its way from the streets of New York to the Olympic stage, and what you can expect from the competition. I’ll also show three moves that are at the core of many breakers’ routines. Three questions 1. How did breaking get into the Olympics? Innovative Black and brown youth in the Bronx invented breaking in the 1970s as one of the core elements of hip-hop, along with lyricism, graffiti and D. J.ing. The dance spread nationally and globally through movies like “Beat Street” and pioneering crews providing demonstrations in countries like Japan and England. Breaking has always centered on competition. Individuals and crews battled with dances that involved style, flair, confidence and one-upmanship. Competitions grew more popular in Europe in the 1990s, and the art form took a turn toward sports in 2001, when Red Bull sponsored the first Lords of the Floor, a tournament featuring crews from around the world. The International Olympic Committee has not hidden its intent to attract a younger and more diverse audience with new events like breaking and skateboarding. It added breaking to the Paris program in 2021, after the sport made a splashy introduction at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Still, some pioneers and purists are skeptical about breaking at the Olympics. 2. How is the competition being judged? How to objectively assess an art form was one of the most vexing questions around bringing breaking to the Olympics. The answer? With judges. A lot of them. Nine judges score the competition, using five criteria: execution (the ability to land moves cleanly), musicality (syncing the moves with the beat), originality (capacity for improvisation and creativity), technique (maintaining physiological control) and vocabulary (the range and quality of moves). The breakers do not know what music they will be dancing to beforehand, which allows for spontaneity. The battles are divided into best of three rounds, which last up to a minute each. Win and advance. Lose and you’re out. The scoring does not resemble anything else we’ve previously seen at the Games. Judges use sliders to decide the leaders of a battle. And they have “misbehavior buttons” that can deduct up to 10 percent of the final score for a severe infraction like overt crassness. 3. Who is competing? You might expect that, having invented the sport, the U.S. would be at the forefront, as it was in basketball with the Dream Team in 1992. Not necessarily. Within the U.S., breaking has dipped and risen in popularity since its birth nearly 50 years ago. Globally, though, it has remained more popular, especially in countries like the Netherlands, Japan and France. The field is diverse, reflective of breaking’s reach. Banevic, a 17-year-old prodigy from Lithuania, learned breaking from YouTube videos. The veteran Korean B-boy Hong 10, who is 40, has been around long enough to have moves named after him. Some of the American competitors began in other sports — Sunny Choi was a gymnast — while others, like Victor Montalvo, have been breaking since they can recall. Three moves The New York Times Top Rock: The opening salvo of a routine, in which breakers stand and dance before getting to the meat of their routine. The moves were originally meant to clear space on the dance floor and allow room to operate. The New York Times Freeze: When a breaker stops on a dime in a difficult, gravity-defying pose and holds the shape for a few seconds. Freezes usually signify the end of a combination of moves and coincide with the music’s beat. The New York Times Windmill: If you know one power move, it’s likely this popular one, where breakers rotate their body in a constant circular motion with their legs splayed in a V-shape while supported by their back, arms and shoulders. WEEKEND OLYMPICS GUIDE Saturday Women’s 4x400-meter relay: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set a world record in the 400-meter hurdles, said she was ready to run in this final, “if they need me.” They might not; the U.S. was by far the fastest team in the qualifying heat. Men’s 10-meter platform: There have been seven diving events so far, and China has won gold in all seven. A win today would complete the sweep. Men’s basketball: After a thrilling comeback against Serbia in the semifinals, the star-studded U.S. squad goes for gold against the home team, France, and its 7-foot-4 center, Victor Wembanyama. Sunday Women’s volleyball: The U.S. won its first-ever gold in this event at the Tokyo Games. To make it two in a row, they’ll have to get past the world’s top-ranked team, Italy. Women’s basketball: It’s not just that the U.S. team has won every gold medal since the 1996 Games; it hasn’t lost an Olympic game since then. The team faces France in the finals. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Music Swifties in the streets of Vienna on Thursday. Louisa Off/Reuters After a terror plot canceled a run of Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna, the city tried to console legions of grieving fans. Museums offered free entry, restaurants offered free drinks, and a 16th-century church invited fans inside with a sign: “Dear Swifties, we sympathize.” The pop hitmaker Post Malone made his name with genre-bending songs. On his latest album, he goes country. This season, Lincoln Center’s summer orchestra has a new name and a new musical director. Its recent concerts have been refreshingly casual. Suga, a member of the K-pop group BTS, apologized for illegally driving an electric scooter while under the influence of alcohol. His label said he will face disciplinary action. Film and TV Josh Hartnett David Billet for The New York Times Josh Hartnett, currently starring in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap,” spoke with The Times about playing a sociopath in the movie, and the arc of his career. The season finale of “House of the Dragon” ended with several cliffhangers. Here are five questions to ponder as you await Season 3. The cast of the new action movie “Borderlands,” based on a video game series, includes two Academy Award winners. If you haven’t played the games, here’s a primer. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” turns 50 this year. Eli Roth, Paul Feig and other directors discuss how the movie inspired their work. The Netflix dating show “Love is Blind” is getting a British remake. Its creators sought to challenge English stereotypes. Art A new Banksy work, featuring a goat perched atop a thin wall, has appeared in southwest London, The Guardian reports. The Whitney named the two curators who will organize its 2026 Biennial. One is known for elevating Latin American artists, and the other is a photography specialist. Fashion An Hermès designer shared her inspirations, including rock music, bridge architecture and John Waters. Shopping malls may be dying, but mall brands like GAP and Abercrombie & Fitch are still thriving, Highsnobiety reports. Other Big Stories George Clooney, Mia Farrow and other Hollywood celebrities are set to appear on Broadway. Some producers see in their stardom a safer bet than musicals. Pete Wells has reviewed restaurants for 12 years. In his final column, he reflects on how technology has changed the dining experience. The injury lawyers Ross Cellino Jr. and Stephen Barnes were New York billboard royalty. Their rise and fall has inspired an Off Broadway play. Costlier tickets, pricey transit and difficult-to-navigate apps have Disney lovers rethinking vacations at its theme parks. THE LATEST NEWS 2024 Election Tim Walz and Kamala Harris in Glendale, Ariz., last night. Erin Schaff/The New York Times At a 15,000-person rally in Arizona, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for having “tanked” a bipartisan immigration bill and said she supported “strong border security.” After pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted her, Harris reiterated the need for an immediate cease-fire deal in Gaza and added, “I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race.” Trump’s proposed tax cuts could add almost $4 trillion to the national debt. Harris has yet to propose specific tax or spending plans. Former players and coaches remember Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate who was an assistant high-school football coach in the 1990s, as encouraging, competitive and content with the No. 2 job. Other Big Stories A domestic flight crashed near São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 61 people on board. The airline, VoePass, said it did not yet know the cause. Ukrainian forces pressed deeper into southwestern Russia, battling to take control of a border town. Russia sent in more troops and armored vehicles to try to repel the attack. Susan Wojcicki, who became one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent female executives with her leadership of YouTube, died at 56. The F.D.A. declined to approve MDMA — also known as Ecstasy — to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, and said more testing was needed. The police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., supercharged the Black Lives Matter movement. Ten years later, it has also incubated a generation of local Black leaders. Subscribe Today The Morning highlights a small portion of the journalism that The New York Times offers. To access all of it, become a subscriber with this introductory offer. CULTURE CALENDAR By Alexis Soloski 📺 ‘Bad Monkey’ (Wednesday) Carl Hiaasen’s comic novels set in Florida are bright and caustic, the literary equivalent of a daiquiri laced with DEET. They make for ideal beach reads (if your beach allows for occasional alligators), but the TV and film adaptations have mostly failed. Cue Bill Lawrence, the sitcom whiz behind “Scrubs,” “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking.” His 10-episode version of Hiaasen’s “Bad Monkey,” for AppleTV+, is perhaps less grotesque than the source material, but just as wildly atmospheric in its tale of fraud, greed and some very bad chowder. Vince Vaughn stars as a Keys detective bumped down to restaurant inspector. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Bryan Gardner for The New York Times By Mia Leimkuhler Grilled Salmon August is not the time to be indoors next to your stove. You should be outside, grilling, soaking up these last carefree summer evenings. (You are signed up for our August Grilling Challenge, yes?) Ali Slagle’s grilled salmon is clever and considerate: The skin is coated with mayonnaise to both insulate your fish and keep it from sticking. And there’s no flipping involved — really!— so you don’t lose any fish to the fiery grates. REAL ESTATE Tracy and Thomas Forzaglia Katherine Marks for The New York Times The Hunt: A couple wanted to downsize, with a $700,000 budget, on the East Side of Manhattan. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $800,000: A Queen Anne Revival house in Galveston, Texas; a midcentury-modern bungalow in West Palm Beach, Fla.; or an 1890 house in Iowa City. LIVING Kezia Gabriella Life and art: Mental health professionals say the success of the “Inside Out” movies has been helpful for their practice. Style secrets: Debbie Harry took inspiration for a new collection from her personal wardrobe. Fefé: Dolce & Gabbana has released a fragrance specifically for dogs. Veterinarians are raising red flags. Feeling cool: Portable fans are the accessory of the summer. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER How to find a good laptop Shopping for a computer can be overwhelming. Wirecutter experts suggest starting with a few considerations: how often you’ll use it, what you’ll use it for and your budget. From there, narrow down whether you’re looking for a Windows PC, a Mac or a Chromebook. (It’s too soon to upgrade for fancy A.I. features, our experts say.) And you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a great laptop. Our top picks range from bare-bones models under $500 to high-end, thin ultrabooks with all-day battery life that cost between $800 and $1,500. — Kimber Streams NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was antagonizing. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: 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 Read Isaiah 10:1-13
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