Members phkrause Posted April 19, 2025 Author Members Posted April 19, 2025 April 18, 2025 Good morning. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. might abandon efforts to end the Ukraine war. A Democratic senator met with a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador. Google broke the law to maintain an advertising monopoly, a judge ruled. More news is below. But first, our colleague Ruth Graham explains how conservative Christians have gained sway in the White House. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times A growing influence By Ruth Graham I cover religion, faith and values. Today is Good Friday, part of the holiest week in the Christian calendar. President Trump is using this week to make a dramatic gesture to the conservative Christians who heard his campaign promise last year to “bring back Christianity.” This week, the White House issued an extraordinary statement — a presidential Easter greeting that was more directly evangelistic than those in the past. Trump and the first lady said they were celebrating “the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.” (By contrast, the White House’s much shorter Ramadan statement last month sent “warmest greetings.”) The White House spent much of this week celebrating, including at a live-streamed Easter prayer service and a dinner attended by the president. Trump told attendees he hoped it would be “one of the great Easters ever.” Trump has significantly expanded the power and influence of conservative Christians in government, as my colleague Elizabeth Dias and I have been reporting on for years. This week is a visible demonstration of just how powerful people advancing conservative Christian causes have become inside this administration. The language and rituals of the White House are changing. The first Cabinet meeting opened with prayer “in Jesus’ name.” Prayer sessions and even hymn-singing have broken out in the West Wing, in public and in private. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what this week’s events reveal about conservative Christians’ influence in the White House. An ambitious faith office President George W. Bush established the first White House faith office in the early 2000s, and versions carried on under later administrations, often working to direct some federal money to faith-based groups providing social services. This term, Trump has given the office a higher stature and a broader mandate. The new faith office is led by Trump’s longtime personal pastor, Paula White-Cain, and by Jennifer Korn, who worked in his first administration. They have promised a more ambitious agenda to end what they see as Christian persecution in America and to challenge the notion that church and state should be separate. Paula White-Cain Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Elizabeth and I sat down with White-Cain and Korn this week in their office in the West Wing, a prime piece of real estate that symbolizes Trump’s blessing of their mission — even if it is on the basement level. White-Cain and Korn said they were focused on all forms of anti-religious bias, not just those affecting Christians. But if atheist groups and abortion rights groups have had a voice in government, “why shouldn’t pastors, priests and rabbis?” Korn told us. “We’re telling them the door’s open.” ‘Unprecedented access’ In the new organizational structure, the faith office is now able to weigh in on any issue it deems appropriate. White-Cain said the office works closely not just with Trump and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, but also with officials in intelligence, domestic policy and national security. White-Cain and Korn have also hosted multiple briefings, listening sessions and other events with faith leaders over the last few months. One regular attendee at events hosted by the office, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who has visited the White House in previous administrations, said the new structure meant “unprecedented access” for faith leaders. Evangelical Christians are by far the most prominent presence. These events are also communicating a clear message across the country. Many of the pastors have returned home to their large congregations in states like Colorado and Pennsylvania and shared photos of them with Trump. They’ve also recounted praying with him. Clips of faith leaders singing and praying in the White House have gone viral in conservative Christian circles. “Even the White House shall be called house of prayer,” a pastor from Alabama wrote online in February, sharing a video clip of Christian leaders singing an impromptu a cappella version of the hymn “How Great Thou Art” in the Roosevelt Room. He added, “Would you join me in praying for President Trump and our United States of America?” Influence without ‘rails’ While the influence of conservative Christians is visible in the White House, it’s also emerging in federal policy. Trump has already taken several actions that have delighted his conservative Christian supporters. He has signed executive orders that establish a task force, spearheaded by the Justice Department, to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” and that declare there are “two sexes,” male and female. But the pastors with access to the White House these days have many other goals. Many who have been attending events hosted by the faith office told us they have been invited to share their own policy priorities, which have included adoption and foster care, the struggles of young men, human trafficking, urban poverty, antisemitism and beyond. Rodriguez and others see an opportunity to influence all sorts of policies. “I don’t see rails,” he said. “I’ve never even heard of the rails.” Read our story on the access conservative Christians have to Trump in the White House, and watch Elizabeth’s video on our reporting below. By Elizabeth Dias, Claire Hogan, Zach Wood and Ruru Kuo THE LATEST NEWS War in Ukraine The U.S. will abandon efforts to end the Ukraine war unless there is meaningful progress in the next several days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” Rubio said as he departed meetings in Paris. Florida State Shooting At Florida State University. Kate Payne/Associated Press A 20-year-old student killed two people and wounded six others in a shooting at the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee. Officials said the gunman was the son of a local sheriff’s deputy. He was arrested after being shot by the police. Some of the students who took shelter during the shooting had also endured the Parkland, Fla., school massacre in 2018. Wrongful Deportation Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, met with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. A panel of federal appellate judges expressed exasperation that the White House had refused to help free Abrego Garcia. More on Immigration The Supreme Court announced that it would hear arguments in a few weeks over Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. Two federal judges handling cases arising from deportation flights announced they had reason to believe that Trump officials acted in bad faith by failing to comply with their orders. The Trump administration has threatened to block Harvard University from enrolling international students unless the school hands over records about the student body. The Trump Administration Jerome Powell Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Trump lashed out at the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting interest rates and posted on social media, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump met with a former Fed official in recent months to discuss the possibility of firing Powell, The Wall Street Journal reports. It’s not clear if the president has that authority. During a visit from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Trump declared that he planned to reach a trade deal with the E.U. An administration official asked the I.R.S. to look into whether Mike Lindell, pillow entrepreneur and Trump ally, had been wrongfully targeted for an audit. The Trump administration said it would take over the renovation of Penn Station, the bustling, dingy transit hub beneath Madison Square Garden. Tech Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in some online advertising technology, a federal judge ruled. Another judge ruled last year that the company had a monopoly in search. New Jersey’s attorney general accused the messaging platform Discord of recklessly exposing children to graphic violent content and exploitation. Testifying at Meta’s antitrust trial, Sheryl Sandberg, a former executive, said the company nurtured Instagram after buying it. Those comments countered accusations that Meta stifled rivals. International Christine Lagarde, the European Central Bank president. Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The European Central Bank cut interest rates as it grapples with heightened economic uncertainty in the face of Trump’s tariffs. The U.S. is withdrawing hundreds of troops from Syria. Trump has expressed deep skepticism about keeping any American soldiers in the country. As the U.S. struggles to contain a resurgence of measles, Canada and Mexico are responding to their own outbreaks. Other Big Stories A daily pill may be as effective in lowering blood sugar and aiding weight loss as injectable drugs like Ozempic, according to the results of a clinical trial. The Texas House of Representatives approved a plan to create a $1 billion taxpayer-funded private-school voucher program. A federal grand jury indicted Luigi Mangione, who is accused in the killing of a health care executive in Manhattan. Opinions A Supreme Court hearing over parents’ ability to opt their kids out of classes with L.G.B.T.Q. themes asks important questions. But I deeply resent the division it has brought, Megan Stack writes. Rolling back regulations on the cryptocurrency market may benefit Trump. But it puts the financial system at risk, John Reed Stark and Lee Reiners argue. Here is a column by David Brooks on defending American universities. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Cuddly? Or a menace? Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times Capybaras: The world’s largest rodent is multiplying in — and dividing — one of Argentina’s most exclusive gated communities. Need a small treat? Twenty-one creative people shared their tiny joys for tough days. Psych 101: Do small rejections feel to you like the end of the world? Read about “rejection sensitive dysphoria.” Most clicked yesterday: For the second day in a row, the most popular story was late-night hosts joking about Harvard rejection letters. Trending yesterday: The “Fantastic Four” trailer was released, and people were searching on Google for Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer look, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Lives Lived: Elaine Wynn, who built a glamorous casino-and-resort empire with her former husband, Steve Wynn, helped transform Las Vegas into a global destination. She went on to become a powerful education advocate, arts patron and Democratic fund-raiser. She died at 82. SPORTS College football: Lee Corso, 89, is retiring from ESPN’s “College GameDay.” Relive his best moments. Aaron Rodgers: The 41-year-old quarterback criticized the way the New York Jets handled his release this offseason. He also said that he was “open to anything and attached to nothing” regarding his playing future, including retirement. N.H.L.: The New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin and Madison Square Garden Sports, the company that owns the team, paid financial settlements to a Rangers employee last year after she alleged that Panarin sexually assaulted her. ARTS AND IDEAS A gallery in the Frick Collection. Adrianna Glaviano for The New York Times Inside the Frick Collection in Manhattan, after a nearly five-year closure, the gallery lights are, at last, back on. Its low-slung vault of a building has been undergoing a $220 million renovation and expansion, inside and out. Our art critic went room-by-room through New York’s Gilded Age house museum to see the changes, including new upstairs galleries. Take his guided tour here. More on culture Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, the star and director of “Sinners,” have worked together for more than a decade. They spoke with The Times about their connection. Jonathan Anderson, former designer for Loewe, is Dior’s new artistic director of men’s collections. Late-night hosts joked about Trump discussing Italian tariffs. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Pickle eggs with beets. Transform your kitchen for less than $25. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was viaduct. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 20, 2025 Author Members Posted April 20, 2025 April 19, 2025 Good morning. I’m off this week, so my colleague A.O. Scott is taking over today to make a case for why you should read (or reread) “The Great Gatsby.” —Melissa Kirsch Getty Images Say, Old Sport By A.O. Scott I’m a critic at the Book Review. “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tale of a tragic Long Island millionaire, was published 100 years ago to tepid reviews and disappointing sales. Since then, especially in the decades since World War II, it has become a staple of English classes and a fixture in popular culture. The novel has been memed, mocked, tweaked and reimagined countless times, a multifarious afterlife that I wrote about recently in The Times. In my article, I explored some of the reasons for this longevity. But I didn’t focus on the most obvious one. In spite of what many critics of the 1920s thought, it’s a good book! Let me be clear: I don’t mean a Great Book, though “Gatsby” may also be that. We tend to approach literary masterpieces in a spirit of deference and duty. They’re assigned in school or placed on authoritative lists of what we have to read before we die, which can be more off-putting than enticing. “The Great Gatsby” is profound and important, but it’s also all kinds of fun. Here are some of the kinds. It’s a short, quick read. At under 200 pages, “Gatsby” can be finished in the course of a rainy afternoon or a long plane ride. There’s a bit of wheel-spinning at the beginning, as our narrator, Nick Carraway, indulges in some philosophizing, but as soon as he mentions Jay Gatsby, whose name arrives in a cloud of mystery, glamour and foreboding, our interest is piqued. And Fitzgerald teases that interest, keeping the title character shrouded in an enigmatic aura until the very end of the book, revealing him — through Nick’s eyes — by means of a series of riddles, glimmerings and sideways glances. It’s romantic. Or at least Gatsby himself is. Nick describes him in the opening pages as possessing “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” But modern life — crass, dishonest and materialistic — betrays those promises and destroys Gatsby’s life. Even though he’s a rich man with underworld connections, his motives remain pure. Above all, he’s driven by his love for Daisy, his former sweetheart, now married to the repellent Tom Buchanan. The tension between Gatsby’s noble spirit and the tawdry decadence of his surroundings brings the book to life. If Fitzgerald’s social criticism were less astute, the love story might seem corny; if the romance didn’t sing, the satire would collapse into cynicism. It’s funny. The Jazz Age reviewers who liked the book admired it as an acid-etched portrait of the times. Fitzgerald’s eye for hypocrisy and buffoonery and his ear for puffed-up speech remain sharp. Tom Buchanan, whose awfulness has a serious, violent side, is at the same time a brutally comic takedown of a certain kind of know-it-all blowhard, still familiar a century later: “I read somewhere that the sun’s getting hotter every year,” Tom said genially. “It seems that pretty soon the earth’s going to fall into the sun — or wait a minute — it’s just the opposite — the sun’s getting cooler every year.” F. Scott Fitzgerald could write. Almost too well! “Gatsby” often shifts from brisk comedy to swooning lyricism to philosophical rumination within the space of a single page, somehow keeping a steady, conversational, modern tone. Fitzgerald knows when to accelerate the narrative with clipped, telegraphic sentences and when to draw it out in flights of elaborate description. The last sentence (“And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly back into the past”) is justly famous, but it follows a score of others that are at least as evocative, or even more so. It has so many great characters … Meyer Wolfsheim, the gangster who fixed the 1919 World Series. Jordan Baker, Nick’s feline sort-of girlfriend. Old Mr. Gatz, who shows up at the end to clear up the mystery of Gatsby (but really to deepen it). And of course the central triangle of Daisy, Tom and Jay. … and so much to talk about. There’s a reason English teachers love this book. But even if you only read it in school — or never did — there is endless fodder for discussion and debate, much of it still remarkably current. The state of the American dream, the bedazzling and corrupting power of money, the green light at the end of the dock. THE LATEST NEWS The Trump Administration Eric Lee/The New York Times The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a group of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act. The head of the I.R.S. is being replaced after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained that he had been installed without his knowledge and at the behest of Elon Musk. President Trump has publicly lashed out at Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman. But privately, the president is aware that trying to oust him could inject more volatility into jittery financial markets. The Trump administration’s letter of demands to Harvard, which set off the confrontation between the White House and the university, was sent in error, several officials told The Times. Immigration Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, said that the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador had been moved out of a notorious prison. Lawyers from the A.C.L.U. raced yesterday to halt another round of deportation flights for Venezuelan migrants. Two top DOGE operatives were transferred to the Justice Department’s immigration enforcement unit as part of a White House effort to use personal data to target undocumented immigrants. The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to prevent Judge James Boasberg from opening a contempt inquiry into whether the White House violated his order on deportation flights. International News The effects of Trump’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. are apparent in Sudan, where the closure of American-funded soup kitchens cut off residents from their only food source. Officials from Iran and the U.S. plan to meet again today for diplomatic talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. China has stopped buying liquefied natural gas from the U.S. after imposing a 15 percent tariff on these shipments in February, ship tracking data shows. U.S. airstrikes on the port of Ras Isa, a major fuel depot in a Houthi-controlled province in Yemen, killed at least 74 people, the health ministry said. Other Big Stories Capital One and Discover, two of the country’s largest credit card companies, are poised to merge after banking regulators approved the deal. Almost all power has been restored in Puerto Rico, two days after a blackout left the entire island without electricity. Two former Shen Yun dancers sued the traditional Chinese dance company, accusing it of relying on a “army of child laborers.” THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Prime “#1 Happy Family USA,” an animated series co-created by Ramy Youssef, depicts a Muslim family in New Jersey during the fraught period after 9/11. Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone star in “The Wedding Banquet,” about queer friends who plan a sham marriage to solve their problems. The actress Michelle Trachtenberg, a star of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” who was found dead in February, died from complications of diabetes. Movies and television productions are leaving Hollywood to film outside the U.S. That has consequences for the industry’s thousands of middle-class workers. More Culture Adali Schell and Ariel Fisher for The New York Times In a new crop of albums, comedians including Jordan Firstman and Kyle Mooney are using songs as vehicles for bits and earnestness. At this year’s Coachella, clever billboards advertising artists’ sets have exploded in popularity. See them here. As climate change makes intense weather events more common, there’s a growing demand for conservators who can save art from water and smoke damage. Temu and Shein plan to raise their U.S. prices next week because of Trump’s tariffs, The A.P. reports. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. CULTURE CALENDAR ? “Sinners” (in theaters now): Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan have formed one of the most reliable partnerships in Hollywood. For his latest film, Coogler has again turned to his favorite actor, this time calling on Jordan to inhabit two characters — the twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who encounter supernatural resistance at the juke joint they run in Jim Crow-era Mississippi. Our critic calls it “a genre-defying, mind-bending fantasia overflowing with great performances.” Read the review. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Linda Xiao for The New York Times By Mia Leimkuhler Chocolate Easter Egg Nests If you need a last-minute Easter dessert — or an excuse to buy candy-coated chocolate eggs — you could hardly do better than these darling treats, whose “nests” are crunchy cornflakes held together by golden syrup and melted butter and chocolate. They’re easy to make, too, just some stirring and chilling, perfect for keeping tiny hands busy. REAL ESTATE John Casey, Eleanor Buscher and Sarah Buscher. Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times The Hunt: Siblings sought a homestead in the Hudson Valley that could house three generations. Which did they choose? Play our game. Living in: Tucson, Ariz., has desert beauty and relatively affordable homes. What you get for $275,000: A rowhouse built in 1970 in Bordentown, N.J.; a 1920 cottage in New Orleans; or a Craftsman bungalow in Little Rock, Ark. LIVING The Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour. Zack Wittman for The New York Times Travel: Spend 36 hours in Orlando, Fla. A celebrity guide: See the actress Olivia Munn’s five favorite places in Tokyo. Get fit: Here’s a 10-minute barre workout you can do at home, using only a chair and a mat. The city that sleeps? New York bar owners say 4 a.m. liquor licenses are increasingly difficult to obtain. No more “eat and flee”: Day trippers will have to start paying a fee to enter Venice. Party inspiration: This chef celebrated her birthday by cooking for family and friends, and even making her own cake. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER How to cut energy costs What used to be called energy vampires — lights, appliances and electronics that guzzle more power than they really ought to — don’t quite exist in the same way anymore. Most of the things you turn on every day in your home are already pretty efficient and use much less energy than their predecessors from 10 or 20 years ago. That also means a lot of the old tricks for trimming your utility costs don’t do much anymore. For example, lightbulbs have become so efficient that even if you constantly leave them on, you’ll probably only waste a few dollars of electricity per year. But there are still a few simple ways to eke out some savings, including automating your A.C. and setting your water heater to the right temperature. — Liam McCabe GAME OF THE WEEK Stephen Curry of the Warriors and Amen Thompson of the Rockets earlier this month. Cary Edmondson/Imagn Images Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets, N.B.A.: The playoffs begin this weekend, and this series is a highlight of the first round. The Warriors were flailing midway through this season. Then the team traded for Jimmy Butler, and everything turned around. Don’t be fooled by their No. 7 seeding: The Warriors are hot right now. Key to this series will be how Stephen Curry manages the relentless defense of the Rockets’ Amen Thompson. Game 1 is Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was multimillion. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 21, 2025 Author Members Posted April 21, 2025 April 20, 2025 Happy Easter. Today, we’re sharing “Believing,” a yearlong project from The Times exploring how people experience religion and spirituality now. We’re also covering deportations, Ukraine and our colleagues’ reporting inside Syria. Iris Legendre Believing By Lauren Jackson Americans believe. Most people are wary of the government, the future and even each other, but they still believe in astonishing possibilities. Almost all Americans — 92 percent of adults — say they have a spiritual belief, in a god, human souls or spirits, an afterlife or something “beyond the natural world,” as we reported earlier this year. The country seems to be acknowledging this widespread spiritual hunger. America’s secularization is on pause, people have stopped leaving churches, and religion is taking a more prominent role in public life — in the White House, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and even at Harvard. It’s a major, generational shift. But what does this actually look like in people’s lives? I have spent the past year reporting “Believing,” a new project for The Times. This project is personal to me. I was raised a devout Mormon in Arkansas. I’ve left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I understand how wrestling with belief can define a life. I hoped to capture what that journey looked like for others, too — both inside and outside of religion. I interviewed hundreds of people, visited dozens of houses of worship and asked Times readers for their stories. More than 4,000 responded. In my reporting, I found that there are many reasons for this shift in American life. Researchers say the pandemic and the country’s limited social safety nets have inclined people to stick with (or even turn to) religion for support. But there is another reason, too: Many Americans are dissatisfied with the alternatives to religion. They feel an existential malaise, and they’re looking for help. People want stronger communities, more meaningful rituals and spaces to express their spirituality. They’re also longing to have richer, more nuanced conversations about belief. Unsatisfying alternatives Iris Legendre Over the past few decades, around 40 million Americans left churches, and the number of people who say they have no religion grew to about 30 percent of the country. Many people turned to their jobs, gym classes (yoga, CrossFit, SoulCycle) and mysticism (astrology apps and meditation) for answers on how to live well. Some stopped speaking about their past faith — it was unfashionable, in big cities and on college campuses, to do so. Studies provide a sense of how that’s going: “There is overwhelming empirical support for the value of being at a house of worship on a regular basis on all kinds of metrics — mental health, physical health, having more friends, being less lonely,” said Ryan Burge, a former pastor and a leading researcher on religious trends. People who practice a religion tend to be happier than those who don’t, a study by the Pew Research Center found. They are also healthier: They are significantly less likely to be depressed or to die prematurely from suicide, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular illness or other causes, multiple studies from Harvard found. This isn’t true for everyone, of course. Many people have built happy, healthy lives outside of faith, and about a third of Americans who have left religion appear to be doing just fine, according to a new study from Burge. But in aggregate, religion seems to help people by giving them what sociologists call the “three B’s” — belief in something, belonging in a community and behaviors to guide their lives. Religion fills a psychological need, Michele Margolis, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, told me. “We want to feel connection,” she said. “We want to feel like life makes sense.” Finding these things alone or creating them from scratch is “really hard,” she added. A new conversation Now, something is shifting. Most Americans identify as religious (around 70 percent of adults), and many are very committed to their faith (44 percent of Americans say they pray at least once a day). For the first time in decades, America’s religiosity is remaining stable. This may change, of course, in the coming years, especially as young people age. But for now, many “nones” — people who have no religious affiliation — that I spoke to seem to have a dawning recognition that, in leaving faith, they threw “the baby out with the baptismal water,” as my Opinion colleague Michelle Cottle said. Some are even converting to a religion. Depressed and doomscrolling during the pandemic, Matt McDonough, a 39-year-old in Minnesota, said he found a “profound” community in a men’s Bible study. “I got baptized as an adult. My mental and physical health improved dramatically.” Most say they aren’t going back to religion. But many people told me they want new spaces to discuss and explore their spirituality. “My inner life is rich with spiritual reflection, and I sometimes yearn for a more open dialogue about it,” said Doris Andújar, 42, from Ponce, P.R. Looking for belief Conservatives seem to be better at naming this longing. They speak to “civilizational” renewal and a restoration of moral values. They promise deliverance through politics. They use the infrastructure of evangelical Christianity to communicate their vision. It’s working for them. But is this the only way? Successful alternatives haven’t emerged at scale, and many liberals have ignored American spirituality — this longing — at their party’s peril. This data reveals that finding a way forward may require acknowledging that Americans want to wrestle with hard questions about how to live. They’re looking to heady concepts — confession, atonement, forgiveness and sacrifice — for answers. In short, they’re looking to believe in something. Read more in my article, “Americans Haven’t Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion.” For more Iris Legendre What moments shape belief? A former Orthodox rabbi told me about his first kiss, with a stranger on a plane. Orlando Bloom described chanting. Hannah Neeleman, of Ballerina Farm, discussed her decision not to use birth control. Read more here. Why is it so hard to talk about belief? I interviewed Krista Tippett, the longtime host of “On Being,” about how people talk — and struggle to talk — about religion and spirituality. Sign up to receive the latest installments of “Believing” in your inbox. THE LATEST NEWS Deportations The Supreme Court issued an unusually speedy order to temporarily block the deportation a group of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. In doing so, the court busted through its protocols, Adam Liptak writes. The government’s efforts to deport the Venezuelans raised questions about whether it was trying to sidestep a previous Supreme Court order. The administration asked the justices to dissolve their temporary block and let lower courts consider the case. Tariffs Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, was sidelined during the first Trump administration. This time, he’s upending global trade. American businesses’ playbook to manage the chaos of Trump’s tariffs includes discontinuing products and cutting costs. China relies on the U.S. for soybeans. Tariffs could be bad news for American farmers who grow them and the Chinese farmers who buy them. More on the Trump Administration Kash Patel is a different kind of F.B.I. chief: Where his predecessors did the job with little fanfare, Patel loves the limelight. “Shame!”: Thousands of demonstrators across the U.S. took to the streets to protest Trump. A draft executive order calls for an overhaul of the State Department that would eliminate almost all Africa operations. Middle East In Baniyas, Syria. David Guttenfelder/The New York Times A sectarian-fueled killing spree exposed the fragility of peace in Syria as the country emerges from 13 years of civil war. Our colleagues went to the scene and found evidence of a massacre. The latest Israeli attacks in Gaza killed dozens of Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. U.S. and Iranian diplomats set an agenda for rapid talks over Iran’s nuclear program. War in Ukraine Vladimir Putin said he was ordering a 30-hour cease-fire in Ukraine for Easter. Ukraine said that attacks continued. Many Russians believed Trump could end the war. That hope is dwindling. Other Big Stories Barbara Lee, a progressive Democrat, won the mayor’s race in Oakland, Calif. She represented the city in Congress for years, and is known for her lone vote against military force after 9/11. More than 400,000 wireless phone chargers made by Casely have been recalled over fire hazard concerns. A small plane crashed into a river in eastern Nebraska, killing three people on board. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Was the backlash against the all-women Blue Origin flight fair? Yes. The event, framed as female empowerment, felt tone deaf as rich celebrities celebrated themselves in a climate where women’s rights are attacked. “White billionaire men using women to showcase their technological prowess … is completely cringe,” HuffPost’s Kimberley Richards writes. No. The public is jealous of these women’s success and ignores the representation the flight offers to a younger generation. “The women are part of a generation that are breaking the norm, that are changing the traditional pathway to space,” argues Vanessa O’Brien for Britain’s Times Radio. FROM OPINION The egg industry gasses or grinds up newborn male chicks, but technology could end the gruesome practice, Sy Montgomery writes. Here’s a column by Ross Douthat on how to survive the digital revolution. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Todd Heisler/The New York Times One if by land…: 250 years ago, Paul Revere sped across Massachusetts warning of the British approach. The Times retraced his route. The American diet: After years in which “plant-based” was the mantra, meat is back. Most clicked yesterday: A brother and sister sought a homestead that could house three generations. See which home they chose. Vows: He saw her on a billboard. Then fate brought them together. Lives Lived: Mike Wood, prompted by his son’s struggles with reading, founded LeapFrog Enterprises, which in 1999 introduced the LeapPad, a child’s computer tablet that was a kind of talking book. Wood’s toys taught a generation. He died at 72. THE INTERVIEW Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By David Marchese This week’s Interview subject is Nate Bargatze, whose low-key, G-rated stand-up has made him a mainstream star while still earning the respect of comedy snobs. Self-deprecation is one of his trademarks — his new book is titled “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind” — but he also harbors some huge ambitions, on the business level and the spiritual one. You joke in your book about not being much of a reader, and to help your readers, you threw in some blank pages. For people to keep their head above water. Now that you’ve written one, are you feeling any differently about books? I did think last night, as I was watching TV, “This is when you should be reading.” I was thinking about trying to get into a fun book. Start with something superfun and get into a habit. What would that book be? I looked up the most popular books. It was Christina Agathie? Is that her name? Agatha Christie? I was backward. I think I’m dyslexic so that should count as I said it correctly in my head. That wasn’t a bit? Christina Agathie? No, I thought that’s what it was. I’m sorry. I ride the line: You don’t know what’s a bit, what’s not a bit. No one can really tell what’s going on, and then, depending on who I’m talking to, I can decide if it was dumb or not. Read the full interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Illustration by Todd St. John. Source photograph: Rob Lewine/Tetra Images, via Getty Images. Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Listen to songs you didn’t know were big hits right now. Haggle on vacation. Here’s how. Streamline laundry day with these tips. MEAL PLAN Ghazalle Badiozamani for The New York Times In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Genevieve Ko suggests affordable recipes that taste like a billion bucks, including citrus-soy chicken ramen, salmon with radicchio and anchovy sauce, and narjissiya with asparagus, halloumi and sumac. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were ineffable and infallible. Can you put eight historical events — including the rise of McCarthyism, the invention of the zipper, and the hiding of the first videogame Easter egg — 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. Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated a quote from “The Great Gatsby.” The line is “borne back ceaselessly,” not “borne ceaselessly back.” Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 21, 2025 Author Members Posted April 21, 2025 April 21, 2025 by Lauren Jackson and Claire Fahy Good morning. Pope Francis has died at 88. Below, we look at his life and his influence on more than one billion Catholics. Pope Francis Damon Winter/The New York Times A groundbreaking pontificate Pope Francis, the Catholic church’s first Latin American pope, has died at 88. He rose from a humble childhood in Argentina to become the leader of the world’s largest and most powerful church. Francis died at about 7:30 a.m. Rome time, the Vatican announced. He had recently spent five weeks in a hospital for pneumonia. Still, he appeared yesterday in a wheelchair to bless tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Sunday. Last week, he went to a prison in Rome and told the inmates he wanted “to be close to you. I pray for you and your families.” Asked by reporters at the prison how he was doing, he said: “As best I can.” For 12 years, Francis led more than one billion Catholics and reshaped the faith to make it more inclusive. He clashed with traditionalists as he reached out to migrants, gay Catholics and victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. He sought to improve relations with Muslim clerics. He criticized the powerful for their role in climate change and called for an end to wars. He filled Catholic leadership with bishops who reflected the worldwide congregation. No matter the state of global politics, he never changed his approach. “Francis believed that the church’s future depended on going to the margins to embrace the faithful in the modern world rather than offering a cloister away from it,” our colleague Jason Horowitz writes. Read his obituary here. Below, we explore the pope’s life and influence. An extraordinary ascent Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio on a train in 2008. Pablo Leguizamon/Associated Press The boy who would become Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936. Bookish, intelligent and deeply religious, he also played basketball and loved to dance the tango. Just before his 17th birthday, he was rushing to meet his friends when he was moved to enter the Basilica of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires. He said that he “felt like someone grabbed me from inside” and that “right there I knew I had to be a priest.” Bergoglio was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969. The Jesuit tradition emphasizes humility, helping the poor and respecting Indigenous peoples. As he rose through the ranks to become a cardinal, he practiced that humility: He cooked for himself and took the bus to work from his apartment. He also gained a reputation as a tough but effective manager. That reputation helped him become an unexpected pope. In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI suddenly resigned, becoming the first pope to do so in six centuries. The Vatican was in crisis, and cardinals wanted someone with firm management to steer the church. They elected Bergoglio, a surprising successor, who was far more progressive than the conservative Benedict. He took his papal name from St. Francis of Assisi, the humble friar who dedicated his life to piety and the poor. A makeover Pope Francis in Canada. Ian Willms for The New York Times Francis faced major challenges as he took office: The church was in the middle of a sex abuse scandal and fewer people were attending church. He attempted to address the issues plaguing the church and advocate for social justice. But he also continued to uphold divisive stances, such as the church’s strong opposition to abortion. He framed himself as an approachable figure. Still, his charm and easy smile belied his reputation inside the Vatican as a steely — his opponents said ruthless — administrator as he brought greater transparency to church finances and overhauled the Vatican’s bureaucracy. In moves to address the needs of the modern church, he expressed support for same-sex civil unions and allowed priests to bless gay couples even while the church continued to bar gay marriage. He said transgender people could be godparents and that their children could be baptized. Francis also expanded the church’s definition of sexual abuse to include adults — the first change to Vatican law since 1983 — explicitly acknowledging that adults, and not only children, could be victimized. His impatience with the status quo earned him enemies. He demoted conservatives in Vatican offices, restricted the use of the old Latin Mass and opened influential meetings of bishops to laypeople, including women. What’s next? Francis’s death launches a series of rituals and procedures. His papal ring will be destroyed and his rooms will be sealed; he will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica; and cardinals will be invited to Rome from across the world to attend the funeral and choose the new pope. The cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel for a conclave and vote by secret ballot. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope. Votes are repeated until enough support emerges for the top candidate. The cardinals face a decision: Will they follow Francis’s vision of a more progressive church or return to the traditionalist approach of his recent predecessors? Read his full obituary and what happens when a pope dies. The world responds Mourners are gathering, some crying, in St. Peter’s Square. On his last day of life, Francis met briefly with Vice President JD Vance. Vance said Francis “was obviously very ill” during their meeting. Emmanuel Macron described Francis as a leader who “wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest” in a post on social media. “This holy man of God was also very human,” Stephen Cottrell, the Anglican archbishop of York, said. “He was witty, lively, good to be with, and the warmth of his personality and interest in others shone out from him.” Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said a “great man and a great pastor have left us. I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings.” Soccer matches have been canceled in Italy following the pope’s death, Reuters reports. See the pope’s life in photos. For more: The face of Catholicism in the U.S. is changing: The number of Catholics has been buoyed by growing immigrant communities, while younger priests tend to be more conservative. In “Believing,” The Times is exploring how people experience religion and spirituality now. Sign up to receive the latest in your inbox. THE LATEST NEWS Signal Group Chat Pete Hegseth Doug Mills/The New York Times The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, shared sensitive information about strikes on Yemen in a second Signal group chat in March. This one included his wife, brother and personal lawyer. The attack details Hegseth shared on the group — which he created — were essentially the same as the information he sent to another Signal group chat, one that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic. Deportations Four Democratic lawmakers arrived in El Salvador to press for the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a Salvadoran prison. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia last week, accused the Trump administration of defying court orders to return him. Justice Samuel Alito dissented in the Supreme Court’s 1 a.m. order blocking the deportation of a group of Venezuelans, calling the decision premature. El Salvador’s president offered Venezuela a deal: He would free Venezuelans deported to his country by the U.S. if Venezuela released the same number of prisoners, including opposition figures. More on the Trump Administration The White House is assessing ideas to boost America’s birthrate, including a $5,000 baby bonus to be given to women after delivery. Trump raised about $240 million for his inauguration, more than double the record he set in 2017. More on Politics Public safety, congestion pricing and homelessness: The Times asked the Democrats running for New York mayor where they stand on these issues and more. See the answers. Republicans in half a dozen states, including Idaho and Michigan, have introduced resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reconsider same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court will consider tomorrow whether parents have a religious right to withdraw their children from classes in which books with L.G.B.T.Q. themes are discussed. Google A three-week hearing about how to fix Google’s monopoly in online search begins today. The government wants Google to sell its Chrome browser. The company would prefer to restrict deals that give its search engine prime placement on browsers and smartphones. Other Big Stories From a cellphone video taken by a paramedic moments before he and other rescue workers were killed by Israelis. via Associated Press Israel’s military said soldiers’ deadly attack on medics in Gaza last month had involved “professional failures” and that it would dismiss a commander. Giant waves battered Sydney and other places along Australia’s east coast, killing at least six people. After the end of a five-year pause in penalties, millions of student loan borrowers are behind on payments and watching their credit scores drop. Harvey Weinstein has complained about his treatment on Rikers Island. He has become an unlikely voice in the push to close the jail. Opinions In a satirical essay, Larry David imagines dinner with Hitler. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Democrats’ future and the Fed. Here is a column by David French on faith and fear. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Iris Legendre Soccer as sacred: “Like the religiously zealous, people subsume themselves in their fandom.” Read the latest essay from “Believing.” Ask Vanessa: “What do I wear to a spring outing with co-workers?” Smells like gentrification: When artisanal bakeries move into New York City neighborhoods, the perfume Bond No. 9 sometimes follows. Most clicked yesterday: Thousands of protesters across the U.S. rallied to condemn Trump. Trending online yesterday: “The Last of Us” viewers were reeling from last night’s twist. Read our recap. Metropolitan Diary: Musical chairs on the E train. Lives Lived: Max Romeo’s earliest reggae hits dripped with sexual innuendo, but he switched to a soulful, politically engaged message that provided a soundtrack to the class struggles of 1970s Jamaica. The singer died at 80. SPORTS N.B.A.: Golden State won decisively over Houston in Game 1. Read more about the postseason’s second day. N.H.L.: In the renewed Battle of Ontario, the Maple Leafs routed the Senators, 6-2. It was a win that could define the series. ARTS AND IDEAS Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas. Jason Andrew for The New York Times With Trump back in office, the bro culture that helped him get elected feels like the dominant culture. As liberals try to get their groove back, some Democrats are being encouraged to embrace a new attitude, one that is provocative and edgy (but not too much). Online, this approach has a name: “Dark woke.” More on culture Blaire Fleming Preston Gannaway for The New York Times She was a little-known college player. Then, she became a symbol of injustice. Read how the war over trans athletes tore a volleyball team apart. Ryan Coogler’s horror “Sinners” is a box office success — but it’s still a long way from being profitable. “Black Mirror” showed a dystopian near future. Some of it is here now. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times Make cheesy ham and potato soup with leftovers. Bird-watch on vacation. Stop using so much laundry detergent. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was boxlike. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 22, 2025 Author Members Posted April 22, 2025 April 22, 2025 By German Lopez Good morning. The world is mourning Pope Francis. Harvard sued the Trump administration over its threats to cut funding. Trump stood by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the latest group chat revelations. More news is below. But first, I explain why the government is trying to break apart big tech companies like Google and Meta. Xavi Torrent/Getty Images Big Tech’s troubles Yesterday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to break up Google. The judge had already declared that the company has a monopoly in online search, and the government argues that the solution is to take apart one of the biggest corporations in the world. The government’s position reflects its increasingly aggressive approach toward Big Tech. In a separate case on Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Google had acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online advertising. And a federal trial against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, began last week. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg took the stand to defend the company, and more executives are expected to testify in the coming months. Not so long ago, Washington was smitten with Silicon Valley. But then tech companies consolidated power, and lawmakers grew skeptical. Over time, members of both parties decided they had to dismantle what they felt were monopolies. Now Big Tech faces two important issues in these cases: a broader policy debate over monopolies, and President Trump’s personal feelings toward the companies. Today’s newsletter explains both. Bigger business First, the policy debate. The federal lawsuits argue that tech companies use their size to stifle competition. (My colleague David McCabe broke down the major cases here.) Exhibit A: Google’s handling of online search. The company has made itself the default search option on its products, such as the Chrome web browser and the Android operating system. It also pays Apple and others to use its search engine as the default on their phones. Similarly, Meta has bought competitors, like Instagram and the messaging app WhatsApp, to consolidate its power. Meta says that it still faces plenty of competition, including from newer apps like TikTok. My colleague Mike Isaac pointed to a telling line from Zuckerberg’s testimony last week in which he quoted a former Intel executive: “Only the paranoid survive.” That remark acts as a sort of Rorschach test for both sides. “For the government, it means Zuckerberg and his lieutenants were constantly monitoring the competitive landscape and were willing to quickly snuff out even the faintest threat to his business,” Mike said. “For Zuckerberg, it means that his position as king of the social media hill is always tenuous. One day you’re on top, like Myspace. The next you’re in the gutter — like Myspace.” All of this reflects a broader trend, one that isn’t unique to the tech industry. Over the past several decades, big business has become bigger. The largest companies have gobbled up more of their industries, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows: Source: “100 Years of Rising Corporate Concentration” by Spencer Y. Kwon, Yueran Ma and Kaspar Zimmermann | By The New York Times For everyday Americans, less competition can mean lower wages, higher prices and worse products. The classic example is internet service. Across much of the country, people have only one or two options for internet. Providers get away with higher prices, spotty coverage and bad customer service because they know their users don’t have better alternatives. Corporate consolidation across all industries costs the typical American household more than $5,000 a year, one economist estimated. Trump’s choice The most important factor in these cases, though, might be Trump. Yes, his administration and his supporters have advanced the antitrust cause. But Trump sometimes puts his personal opinions over policy interests. He could do the same here — and get his administration to drop the cases against Google, Meta and others. Knowing this, tech giants have tried to gain Trump’s favor. The companies’ leaders appeared at Trump’s inauguration, smiling and clapping as the president delivered his speech. Zuckerberg stopped fact-checking at Facebook and Instagram, agreeing with Trump and other critics that it was biased against conservatives and calling it “something out of ‘1984.’” Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, met recently with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to hear about Republicans’ concerns, Politico reported. So far, the overtures haven’t persuaded Trump to drop the lawsuits or settle them. But the cases still have weeks or months left — maybe more with appeals. The tech giants hope they can change Trump’s mind by then. POPE FRANCIS Mourners in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times He was, as our Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz put it, “a pope of surprises.” Jason — who covered Pope Francis from the day of his election a dozen years ago through his death from a stroke at age 88 yesterday morning — was on vacation in Tuscany when the news broke. He started writing from the car back to Rome and filed several dispatches throughout the day. Francis “kept the church he led, the world he cared so much about and the reporters who followed him on their toes,” Jason wrote. “I covered him in unexpected destinations — Mongolia, Iraq, Myanmar — where he drew attention to humanitarian plights that were off the global radar.” Among those trips was one to Bangladesh in 2017, where the pope was “visibly moved, his voice tight,” as he met with members of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group. “That hammered home how much Francis cared about the plight of migrants, the displaced victims of war and the most forgotten and marginalized among us, no matter their religion,” Jason wrote. “For him, their suffering was real.” On the papal plane, Jason says, Francis was “an easygoing guy with a good sense of humor, better at glad-handing the news media” than most politicians. “He willingly compared notes with me on getting stuck in elevators after a week in which we had both gotten stuck in elevators,” Jason added. “I saw him accept enough sweets to feed an army.” Jason was one of five Times journalists working on the ground in Rome yesterday, according to our Europe editor, Adrienne Carter. She said that number would likely double in coming days for Francis’ funeral and the conclave to choose his successor. When the Vatican announced the pope’s death, it was Adrienne who set into motion a plan crafted years before and updated when Francis landed in the hospital with pneumonia in February. “Day 1 is in many ways the straightforward part — it’s what comes next that requires the deeper thinking and the richer reporting,” she said. “How do you get behind the scenes of this secretive moment, the conclave? How do you get the inner workings of this sometimes impenetrable institution? How do you understand the politics of the moment, the different influences factions may have?” It’s a story our global newsroom will be covering intensely over the coming days and weeks. Read highlights of our report below. Related: Francis’ death deprives the world of a consistent moral guidepost. There is no obvious alternative to fill the void, Jason writes. More on Francis People across the world mourned the loss of the pope. “I am not a believer, but what Francis said always touched my soul,” one woman in Rome said. “I felt his humanity.” After his recent hospital stay, Francis’ doctors told him to isolate. He resumed some duties instead. In his will, Francis asked to be buried in a simple tomb inscribed only with “Franciscus.” His funeral will take place on Saturday. Who will be the next pope? See some possible contenders. An unlikely movie star: Our critic on six films inspired by Francis, history's “most cinematic pope.” The Daily podcast is also on Francis and his legacy today. Search for it on your podcast app. Ask the Morning: Send us your questions about the pope’s death and what happens next. We’ll tap our newsroom experts and publish answers in future newsletters. THE LATEST NEWS Harvard Harvard sued the Trump administration, fighting its threats to cut billions of dollars from the school’s research funding. The university, the world’s richest, can afford a battle with Trump — but losing could change it fundamentally. Read about the state of Harvard’s finances. Pete Hegseth Trump said he wasn’t concerned about his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, after The Times reported that Hegseth had shared military details in another Signal group chat. The Pentagon is in disarray under Hegseth: His inner circle are fighting and distrust has grown among civil servants and senior officials. Deportations Ricardo Prada Vásquez isn’t on the list of Venezuelans sent to El Salvador, but the U.S. has deported him somewhere. His friends and family don’t know where. The wife of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University activist detained in Louisiana, gave birth to their first child. ICE refused to let Khalil attend the birth. More on the Trump Administration Trump continued to attack the Federal Reserve. Stocks fell in response. The administration is set to cancel grants to study environmental hazards faced by children in rural America. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to direct food manufacturers to phase out eight common food dyes. The government watchdog for federal workers’ rights will drop its inquiry into the mass firing of probationary employees. A handbag belonging to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, was stolen at a Washington restaurant. It contained her passport and $3,000 in cash. In One Map Source: March 2024 federal payroll data from the Office of Personnel Management | By The New York Times The federal government employs about 2.3 million civilian workers, and many of them are far from Washington, D.C. The map above shows where employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including physicians and nurses, work across the country. The Trump administration has proposed cutting up to 80,000 jobs at the agency. Zach Levitt, a graphics editor, is using government payroll data to show how federal workers were dispersed before recent layoffs and buyouts. See more maps here. International Ronen Bar, the chief of Shin Bet. Pool photo by Gil Cohen-Magen The head of Israel’s domestic security agency said that Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly pressed him to spy on antigovernment protesters. In Canada, after Meta blocked news organizations from posting articles on Facebook and Instagram, misleading right-wing content filled the gap. Other Big Stories A state judge temporarily blocked Eric Adams, New York’s mayor, from allowing ICE and other federal agencies to open offices at the Rikers Island jail complex. A jury found Nadine Menendez, the wife of the former senator Robert Menendez, guilty of participating in a bribery scheme. He was convicted last year. The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber, claiming it used “deceptive billing and cancellation practices” to support its premium subscriptions. Opinions The age of imperial papal power over the Catholic Church ended with Pope Francis’ death. The new era might bring new converts to Catholicism, Ross Douthat writes. To address dueling views of the church, cardinals must come together with respect and care when choosing the new pope, Austen Ivereigh writes. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Behind a trap door in Rome. Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Hidden cherubs: While inspecting a villa in Rome, an electrician stumbled across long-lost frescoes by Carlo Maratta, a 17th-century painter. Earth Day: What’s the single best thing you can do for the planet? Here are experts’ answers. How? George Clooney said again that he and his wife, Amal, have never had a fight, The Cut reports. Most clicked yesterday: “My Dinner with Adolf,” a satirical essay by Larry David. Trending online yesterday: Francis’ death got people talking about “Conclave,” a movie about the secretive process choosing a new pope. Lives Lived: Chuck Connelly was a prolific Neo-Expressionist artist with an uncompromising personality whose paintings depicted scenes like Noah’s Ark breaking apart in a storm and a huge candy-cane-colored funnel cloud looming over a rural landscape. He died at 70. SPORTS John Korir of Kenya. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Boston Marathon: John Korir won the men’s elite (his brother Wesley claimed the title in 2012). Sharon Lokedi won the women’s title with a record-setting time of 2:17:22. N.B.A.: The Pistons and Clippers won their playoff games, evening their series against the Knicks and Nuggets. These may be the best first-round series of the postseason. ARTS AND IDEAS Nathan Bajar for The New York Times In New York City, where costs run high and making friends can be hard, a free board game night has become a hit. Hundreds of people, many of them new to the city, gather once a month in an office building food court to play games old (chess and mahjong) and new (Exploding Kittens and Wavelength). Read about the night here. More on culture Celebrities appearing on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” shimmy down a hallway to a customized hype song. The videos have become an online sensation. “Is there anything more Catholic than waiting until Monday to die so you don’t upstage Jesus Christ?” Jimmy Kimmel joked on late night. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Rachel Vanni for The New York Times Chop six cloves of garlic for these hoisin garlic noodles. Read a good romance novel. See a preview of the Nintendo Switch 2. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were graphing, harping and paragraphing. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 23, 2025 Author Members Posted April 23, 2025 April 23, 2025 Good morning. Elon Musk said he would spend less time in Washington after Tesla reported a fall in profits. Trump said undocumented migrants shouldn’t be entitled to trials. And our reporter Christina Goldbaum interviewed Syria’s president in Damascus. More news is below. But first, we answer five questions you had about the news. Sophie Park for The New York Times, Doug Mills/The New York Times, Amir Hamja for The New York Times and Focus Features. Our questions, and yours By the staff of The Morning Today, we’ve answering five questions about the news unfolding in Washington, the Vatican and Harvard Square — with help from beat reporters across the newsroom. Many of these questions came from you. Send us your questions about the news with this form. 1. Can Trump fire the Fed chair? The leader of America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, is supposed to guard against rising inflation, which economists say may be imminent. For that reason, he won’t lower interest rates to boost economic growth (which would speed up inflation). That frustrates President Trump — every president looks better when the economy booms. Trump has mused in recent days about ousting Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, although yesterday the president said he had “no intention” of firing him. Trump’s talk infringes on the central bank’s longstanding political independence, writes Colby Smith, who covers the Fed. When Congress set up the Federal Reserve, lawmakers hoped to shield it from political influence so it could make difficult decisions that might cause short-term economic pain. In the 1980s, for instance, the Fed deliberately tanked the economy to get inflation under control. Still, the president can fire board members of independent agencies “for cause.” Trump could try to argue that Powell has failed at his job and fire him. In the end, the markets might hold back Trump more than the law does. When investors worldwide put their money into the United States, they’re committing an act of faith — that the economy will continue to grow and prosper through proper leadership. Trump has challenged that faith by threatening the Fed’s independence. That’s why stocks fell after Trump’s initial comments. For more: Markets rebounded after Trump said he had no plans to oust Powell. 2. Is ‘Conclave’ accurate about selecting a pope? Carlos Diehz in “Conclave.” His character, Cardinal Benitez, is clearly reminiscent of Pope Francis. Focus Features In yesterday’s newsletter, we asked readers to share questions they had about Pope Francis’ funeral and the process of electing his successor. Crystal Siegel in St. Paul, Minn., asks: “How realistic is the movie ‘Conclave’? Is there as much politicking as the movie portrays?” The dramatized papal election in “Conclave” is quite accurate, experts told our colleague Talya Minsberg. The film depicts many of the actual rituals, including how cardinals count votes by reading paper ballots aloud, weaving them along a single thread and then burning them. The details of the politicking are harder to know, because so much happens behind closed doors, and the Vatican remains a very secretive place. But the experts say there is certainly politicking. That begins in earnest after the pope has died, in a period known as “sede vacante” — the papal vacancy we have now. Some cardinals speak to the media to raise their profiles. Groups gather for informal chats, as well in formal meetings to discuss the state of the church and potential successors. As for the film’s wilder moments — which including a vaping cardinal, a break-in at the pontifical bedroom and ecclesiastical sabotage — we aren’t so sure. For more: Pope Francis’ coffin was carried in a solemn procession from his Vatican residence to St. Peter’s Square. 3. Can Trump make universities comply? The Trump administration has asked several schools to alter their policies as a condition to receive research grants they had already been awarded. It sent Harvard a demand letter saying the university should report on students who had faced discipline, alter its curriculum and let the government audit the faculty to ensure it represents diverse political views. Harvard said no and sued. The suit, which contests Trump’s funding freeze, hinges on the wonky Administrative Procedure Act. The law is a road map of bureaucratic timelines and processes for federal agencies. It tries to ensure due process as the government doles out punishments. Harvard argues that the administration didn’t follow these processes in its rush to punish the school, Alan Blinder and Michael Bender wrote. In other words, Trump has to slow down. It also says the administration has violated the First Amendment by trying to force specific viewpoints and ideologies on the university. Conservatives point to a Supreme Court case — Bob Jones University v. United States — to argue that the government can revoke tax-exempt status if the school is at odds with public policy. (Bob Jones forbade interracial relationships, a form of discrimination.) The administration could claim that Harvard failed to protect Jewish students, which goes against federal bans on discrimination. Ultimately, the courts will decide who’s right. For more: More than 220 university leaders signed a statement against Trump’s efforts to control them. Still, some of Harvard’s biggest donors want the school to strike a deal. 4. How would a reorganization change the State Department? Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office. Eric Lee/The New York Times Yesterday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed major cuts to the State Department, calling the government’s diplomatic agency “bloated, bureaucratic” and “beholden to radical political ideology.” The most drastic change is the elimination of the under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, an office that advances American values around the world. The Trump administration says it is a hotbed of liberal activism. The plan would also reduce the number of U.S.-based employees by 15 percent. Officials say that Rubio and his aides will introduce plans later to close down some embassies and consulates and fire staff members overseas. That would affect services to both U.S. citizens abroad and foreign citizens, and it would mean less contact outside world capitals between American diplomats and their counterparts. As Rubio tries to make these cuts, “China has been expanding its diplomatic presence and influence around the globe. It has even overtaken the U.S. in number of global diplomatic missions,” said Edward Wong, who covers diplomacy. “The cuts could make it harder for the United States to compete with China, the main superpower rival to the U.S.” For more: Critics of Rubio’s reorganization say it’s a blow to U.S. values. 5. How do you pick a piano? The Frick needed a piano. The museum on the Upper East Side of New York City had just completed a renovation, and its small concert hall would host chamber music performances. Officials invited a famous pianist to try out a few Steinway grands and give his opinion — and they let a Times critic, Joshua Barone, listen in. All the instruments were nine-foot-long Model Ds. One piano from 1882 had an “eloquent” timbre but stiff keys, said the pianist. A 1965 model had a bright sound but lots of reverb — which could create a muddled echo in performances. A 2017 piano had come all the way from Germany. It had “a nice singing tone” but played loud and might not accompany other performers well. You can watch videos of each instrument here. Vote for your favorite and see which one the Frick selected. THE LATEST NEWS Deportations In remarks from the Oval Office, Trump said that undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be entitled to trials and that his administration should be able to deport them without going to court. A judge accused the government of a “willful and bad faith” refusal to answer questions about Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador. Congressional Democrats visited two graduate students, including Mahmoud Khalil, who have been detained by federal immigration authorities in Louisiana. U.S. Foreign Policy Rubio will skip the next stage of Ukraine cease-fire talks, while Volodymyr Zelensky said he wouldn’t accept any deal that legally recognized Russian control of Crimea. Trump promised deals on Ukraine and Gaza. Delivering on those promises has been tough. Airstrike details that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, shared on Signal came from a government system designed for sending classified information. The Trump administration told diplomats in Vietnam not to participate in events marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. A judge blocked Trump’s effort to dismantle Voice of America and two other government-funded outlets. Elon Musk Elon Musk Jim Vondruska for The New York Times Elon Musk said he would spend less time in Washington after Tesla reported that its profit fell 71 percent in the first three months of the year. Polls suggest Americans largely support the idea of DOGE but don’t like Musk’s involvement. One bright spot for Musk: Voting is underway on launching Starbase, a new Texas town in which he hopes to house SpaceX and its employees. More on Politics Women in Army combat roles will now have to pass the same “sex-neutral” physical as men. Three federal prosecutors who worked on the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams resigned after being asked to admit wrongdoing in refusing to abandon the case. International Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s new president. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times In Damascus, the Times reporter Christina Goldbaum interviewed Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara. He urged the U.S., which has been wary of his jihadist past, to lift sanctions and alluded to an alliance with Russia. Militants shot and killed at least 24 tourists in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, according to local media reports. Many of Francis’ supporters expected him to be a pope of radical, progressive change. Instead, his papacy favored debate over action, Jason Horowitz writes. Business The E.U. fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of dollars each for violating its new digital competition law. The executive producer of “60 Minutes” is resigning, saying he has lost his journalistic independence. The show has faced pressure from both Trump and corporate executives. A jury ruled against Sarah Palin in her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. Other Big Stories Security lapses and negligence contributed to a surge in killings in the jails of Riverside County, Calif., a Times investigation with The Desert Sun found. The Department of Education will resume collections on defaulted student loans on May 5, ending a five-year pause. Opinions Francis publicly championed progressive policies but never changed church doctrine. The next pope could wipe away his legacy, Philip Shenon writes. Here are columns by Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s authoritarian fantasy and Lydia Polgreen on Mexico’s attraction for migrants. You have free access to NFL Draft coverage. Read it in The Athletic section of The New York Times app, now through April 27. Download app MORNING READS The brazen suspect in question. Billy Hickey for The New York Times Angry bird: An unusual vandal has laid siege to a New England town for more than a month. To the stars: The super at a Manhattan apartment building found an old tin can in the basement. It held the remains of a prophet of space travel. Most clicked yesterday: For Earth Day, experts shared advice on how to be a good planetary citizen. Trending online yesterday: Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé, revealed her breast cancer diagnosis in her new memoir, “Matriarch.” Lives Lived: Like many feminist artists, Eunice Golden took the body as her subject. But while others explored their own bodies, she painted the male anatomy. She died at 98. SPORTS N.B.A.: Luka Dončić and the Lakers tied their series against the Timberwolves with a 94-85 win. N.H.L.: The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 series lead over the neighboring Senators with Max Domi’s overtime winner. N.F.L.: A Nevada woman is suing Shannon Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end and media personality, accusing him of rape. He denies the allegation. ARTS AND IDEAS Talking Heads, with a Japanese amp, in 1980. Gie Knaeps/Getty Images The latest issue of T Magazine is devoted to Japanese culture and how it changed food, fashion and even our morning caffeine rituals. In this story, the Times critic Jon Pareles explores how Japanese technology — like the 808 drum machine — helped define the sound of Western music. More on culture The viral Ice Bucket Challenge helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for A.L.S. research. A decade later, it’s back as a vehicle to raise mental health awareness. “Flamboyantly dressed cardinals will gather to pass judgment on a series of aspiring candidates”: Jimmy Kimmel likened the selection of a new pope to “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Smother chicken breasts in a creamy spinach sauce for this chicken Florentine. Embrace gray hair. Keep your yard mosquito-free. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was expectant. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 24, 2025 Author Members Posted April 24, 2025 April 24, 2025 Good morning. The U.S. is urging Ukraine to take a deal that favors Russia. People in Chinese factories are hawking goods on TikTok to avoid tariffs. The White House wants American women to have more babies. Near where a Russian strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, killed 19 civilians, including nine children. Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times Ukraine’s concessions By German Lopez Russia invaded Ukraine, but you wouldn’t know that from the peace negotiations. At every step, President Trump has pushed the victim to give ground, while the aggressor has given little of substance. Yesterday brought the latest example. Vice President JD Vance laid out a peace proposal that sharply favors Russia, my colleagues David Sanger, Michael Shear and Mark Landler wrote. Ukraine would have to give up the territory that Russia took during the war as well as any chance to join NATO. Vance said the Trump administration would walk away if both sides didn’t accept its terms. The comments clearly targeted Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who said this week that he would not preemptively cede Crimea, the region Russia invaded a decade ago. Trump echoed Vance on social media. Zelensky “can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump said. This is now a familiar pattern in the American-led peace process: The administration frames its terms as demands for Russia and Ukraine, but only Ukraine has to give up something meaningful. And if Ukraine refuses, the White House lashes out. After Trump took office, he demanded that Ukraine surrender its mineral wealth to the United States in exchange for continued support. After an Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelensky, the United States cut off Ukraine aid. To make amends, Ukraine said it would accept a cease-fire if Russia did as well. Russia did not. Yet Trump didn’t punish Moscow; he rewarded it. He exempted Russia from his so-called reciprocal tariffs. Last week, the United States voted with Russia on a U.N. resolution about the war. These are unusual circumstances. The United States is ostensibly Ukraine’s ally against Russia. Friends don’t typically demand more from friends than enemies in peace talks. Today’s newsletter will explain — with help from my colleagues who cover diplomacy, security, economics and international affairs — why the Trump administration takes this approach. What Trump wants Trump has two main goals when it comes to Ukraine. First, he wants “to normalize the relationship with Russia,” David Sanger wrote. “If that means rewriting the history of Moscow’s illegal invasion, if it means dropping investigations of Russian war crimes or refusing to offer security guarantees that would keep Putin from finishing the job in Ukraine later, then Trump, in this assessment of his intentions, is willing to make that deal.” Second, Trump wants to force European nations, not the United States, to handle problems in Europe. Trump criticizes NATO allies for spending little money on their militaries and, in his view, free-riding on U.S. security guarantees. By suggesting he won’t support Ukraine — or NATO — much longer, Trump is telling Europe that it should counter Russia on its own. On both goals, Trump can claim some successes. The United States and Russia have discussed restoring embassy staffing. And Russia and Ukraine have signaled, for the first time, that they’re open to direct peace talks. Meanwhile, European leaders have promised to spend more on their militaries and weapons, including for Ukraine. “The new emphasis on arms production is evidence of a broader generational shift in Europe,” Lara Jakes and Bernhard Warner wrote. Still, those wins are limited. The war in Ukraine persists. Fighting continued during Easter despite a truce. America’s relations with Russia remain strained; even U.S. companies that once benefited from Russian business are skeptical of going back, Anton Troianovski, Niraj Chokshi and Ivan Nechepurenko reported. And a more independent Europe may not be good for America. The continent’s leaders could, for instance, use their independence to cozy up to China. Earlier this month, Spain’s prime minister met with China’s president to strengthen trade ties with Beijing, Liz Alderman wrote. All to say: Trump’s moves might not work as he hopes. In the meantime, Ukraine suffers. So far this year, it has lost more territory than it has gained. Related: At least nine people died in Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, Ukraine said. THE LATEST NEWS Tariffs Selling goods from China. People in Chinese factories are filming videos on TikTok and urging viewers to buy luxury goods directly to avoid tariffs. See the videos. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said that the tariff levels between the U.S. and China were not sustainable. The Trump administration is racing to make deals with countries around the world like Japan and India before a deadline Trump set. More on Politics Senator Richard Durbin Kenny Holston/The New York Times Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, announced that he would not seek re-election next year. An Indonesian man with a student visa and an American wife thought he would soon get a green card. Now he’s in a county jail and facing deportation. A website promoting Trump’s cryptocurrency is offering a private dinner with the president to the top 220 investors. Students — particularly those without U.S. citizenship — are asking to remove their names from articles in college newspapers because they fear backlash by immigration officials, The Wall Street Journal reports. Trump’s Approval Rating The New York Times Trump’s job approval rating has fallen steadily during his first three months in office, according to a New York Times average of polling. Elon Musk After three users on X feuded with Elon Musk, their reach on his social platform plummeted. See charts. As Musk considers stepping away from the White House, Lisa Lerer assesses what he has achieved in Washington — including tanking his car company and collecting lots of data. Late night hosts joked about Musk’s plans to “get out of DOGE.” Other Big Stories In Amman, Jordan, yesterday. Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters Jordan said it would enforce a far-reaching ban on the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed in several other Arab countries. The police identified the bodies of a woman and her 2-year-old daughter found years ago near the site of the Gilgo Beach serial murders in New York. The chief executive of the chat app Discord stepped down as the company looks to go public. A Southern California judge was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting of his wife. In One Image In St. Peter’s Square. Tomas Munita for The New York Times Look closely at this image of Pope Francis being carried to lie in state. You can see continuity at the Vatican: The guards still wear the colors of the Medici family, 420 years after the last Medici pope. You can also see change: Francis specified a single, plain coffin, rather than the three nested caskets of past popes. See the image up close. OPINIONS Databases of suspected gang members are an effective tool that the left should support, Rafael Mangual writes. Trump’s military actions in Yemen are leading the U.S. into a new forever war and diverting attention from China, W.J. Hennigan writes. Here is a column by Thomas Friedman on advancing manufacturing in America. THE CONVERSATION Emma Waters, a conservative policy analyst seeking to increase U.S. fertility. Rebecca Kiger for The New York Times By Caroline Kitchener The White House wants more babies. This week, I wrote a story about how the Trump administration is assessing proposals that it hopes would get more people to procreate, including a $5,000 payment for new moms. Activists and policy experts have warned about the declining U.S. birthrate for years — and now they have allies in the White House. My piece kicked off a lively discussion and was Monday’s most-commented story. One reader with a 2-year-old noted the prohibitive cost of day care. “We want another kid but can’t afford it because full-time day care costs nearly $20,000 a year per child (if you’re lucky enough to find one with open spots),” the reader writes. “A $5K baby bonus or education about menstrual cycles won’t change this.” Day care is an issue that divides many conservative pro-family voices from those on the left. Instead of funding child care programs — some of which have been slashed by DOGE — many conservatives are pushing policies that make it easier for one parent to stay home, saying that children do best when they spend more time with their family and less time with paid caregivers. Another reader said he thought the “baby bonus” idea might present an opportunity for bipartisanship: “Giving more money to mothers is an idea both the right and left could probably get behind,” the reader writes. Democrats are eager to help families, including with an expanded child tax credit. But they might be squeamish about the “baby bonus” idea, which is associated with a conservative “pronatalist” movement to counter falling birthrates. I’m covering these issues as part of a new beat at The Times. There’s a lot to talk about, and I love hearing from readers. You can reach me at caroline.kitchener@nytimes.com. You have free access to NFL Draft coverage. Read it in The Athletic section of The New York Times app, now through April 27. Download app MORNING READS Viral: YouTube turned 20 yesterday. See a timeline of its biggest moments. Track star: This Kenyan runner wants to become the first woman to break a four-minute mile. A study suggests she can do it. Worry journals and mouth tape: Experts weighed in on the best and worst social media sleep trends. Today’s Great Read: How a botched kidnapping led investigators to a $243 million crypto heist. Better brew: Physicists say they have devised an optimal way to make pour-over coffee. Most clicked yesterday: A woodpecker vandalizing cars. Trending online yesterday: Target and Best Buy’s websites crashed under the rush of people trying to pre-order a Nintendo Switch 2, The New York Post reports. Social Q’s: “My fiancé wants a prenup after we decided we didn’t need one. Help!” Lives Lived: After being named The Village Voice’s editor in chief in 1994, Karen Durbin waged a fervent campaign to attract young readers, partly by tilting toward often incendiary coverage of feminism, gay rights and avant-garde culture. She died at 80. SPORTS N.F.L.: The league’s annual draft begins tonight, with a focus on quarterbacks. N.B.A.: The Warriors fell to the Rockets, 109-94, and lost their star Jimmy Butler to a pelvic injury in the process. Soccer: The former U.S. men’s national team coach Bruce Arena criticized the current coach, Mauricio Pochettino, suggesting that hiring a non-American for the role was a mistake. ARTS AND IDEAS Luis Conriquez Medios y Media, via Getty Images Mexico is in the midst of a battle over narcocorridos, a style of song that celebrates drug cartels. Artists within the genre have become international stars. But the law is turning against them. In the past month, several cities and states criminalized playing music that glorifies the drug trade, and the U.S. government revoked visas from members of a band that displayed a cartel leader’s face onstage. Read more about the crackdown. More on culture Tiger Woods Photo illustration by Celina Pereira Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., made their relationship Instagram official. They make sense together, Elizabeth Nelson writes. Michelle Obama explained why she skipped Trump’s inauguration on her podcast, The Cut reports. William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were thought to have lived mostly apart in an unhappy marriage. New research challenges that idea, The Washington Post reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Jim Wilson/The New York Times Make Zabar’s famous egg salad sandwich (you’ll need more yolks than whites). Reduce your risk of stroke, dementia and depression. Find calm with these poetry collections. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was ductile. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 25, 2025 Author Members Posted April 25, 2025 April 25, 2025 Good morning. Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number created national security risks, analysts say. Trump criticized Putin. Israel is using A.I. in the war in Gaza. More news is below. But first, we cover the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific research. Inside a lab at the Harvard School of Public Health. Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times Trump vs. science By Alan Burdick I’m an editor and occasional reporter of health and science news. Late yesterday, Sethuraman Panchanathan, whom President Trump hired to run the National Science Foundation five years ago, has quit. He didn’t say why, but it was clear enough: Last weekend, Trump cut more than 400 active research awards from the N.S.F., and he is pressing Congress to halve the agency’s $9 billion budget. The Trump administration has targeted the American scientific enterprise, an engine of research and innovation that has thrummed for decades. It has slashed or frozen budgets at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NASA. It has fired or defunded thousands of researchers. The chaos is confusing: Isn’t science a force for good? Hasn’t it contained disease? Won’t it help us in the competition with China? Doesn’t it attract the kind of immigrants the president says he wants? In this edition of the newsletter, we break out our macroscope to make sense of the turmoil. An investment American research thrives under a patronage system that funnels congressionally approved dollars to universities, national labs and institutes. This knowledge factory employs tens of thousands of researchers, draws talent from around the world and generates scientific breakthroughs and Nobel Prizes. It’s a slow-moving system, because science moves slowly. Discoveries are often indirect and iterative, involving collaboration among researchers who need years of subsidized education to become expert. Startups and corporations, which need quick returns on their investment, typically can’t wait as long or risk as much money. Science is capital. By some measures, every dollar spent on research returns at least $5 to the economy. President Trump is less patient. He has defunded university studies on AIDS, pediatric cancer and solar physics. (Two prominent researchers are compiling lists of lost N.I.H. grants and N.S.F. awards.) The administration has also laid off thousands of federal scientists, including meteorologists at the National Weather Service; pandemic-preparedness experts at the C.D.C.; black-lung researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. A next-generation space observatory, already built with $3.5 billion over a decade, awaits a launch that now may never happen. Alienating scientists Administration officials offer various reasons for the crackdown: cost-cutting, government efficiency, “defending women from gender ideology extremism.” Many grants were eliminated because they contain words, including climate, diversity, disability, trans or women. Some drew the administration’s ire because the applications included D.E.I. statements required by the previous administration. It doesn’t take a telescope to see where this leads. American leaders have historically seen science as an investment in the future. Will this administration foreclose it? One-third of America’s Nobel Prize winners have been foreign-born, but an immigration crackdown has swept up scientists like Kseniia Petrova, a Russian who studied aging at Harvard and now sits in a Louisiana detention center. Australian academics have stopped attending conferences in the U.S. for fear of being detained, The Guardian has reported. Now some American scientists are looking for the exits. France, Canada and other countries are courting our researchers. In a recent poll by the journal Nature, more than 1,200 American scientists said they were considering working abroad. The journal’s job-search platform saw 32 percent more applications for positions overseas between January and March 2025 than during the same period a year earlier. Redefining ‘science’ President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Eric Lee/The New York Times These are mechanical threats to science — who gets money, what they work on. But there is a more existential worry. The Trump administration is trying to change what counts as science. One effort aims at what science should show — and at achieving results agreeable to the administration. The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants to reopen research into a long-debunked link between vaccines and autism. He doesn’t want to study vaccine hesitancy. The National Science Foundation says it will no longer fund “research with the goal of combating ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation’ that could be used to infringe on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens.” A Justice Department official has accused prominent medical journals of political bias for not airing “competing viewpoints.” Another gambit is to suppress or avoid politically off-message results, even if the message isn’t yet clear. The government has expunged public data sets on air quality, earthquake intensity and seabed geology. Why cut the budget by erasing records? Perhaps the data would point toward efforts (pollution reduction? seabed mining limits?) that officials might one day need to undertake. We pursue knowledge in order to act: to prevent things, to improve things. But action is expensive, at a moment when the Trump administration wants the government to do as little as possible. Perhaps it’s best to not even know. One sure way to shut down knowledge is to question who can gather it. The administration is painting scientists with the same liberal brush it has applied to academics more broadly — what Project 2025 describes as “the ‘enlightened,’ highly educated managerial elite.” The N.I.H. is controlled by “a small group of highly paid and unaccountable insiders,” the Project 2025 authors write. The regulatory work of the Environmental Protection Agency “should embrace so-called citizen science” and be left “for the public to identify scientific flaws and research misconduct.” In science, as in a democracy, there’s plenty of room for skepticism and debate. That’s what makes it work. But at some point, calls for “further research” become disingenuous efforts to obscure inconvenient facts. It’s an old playbook, exploited in the 1960s by the tobacco industry and more recently by fossil-fuel companies. Now it’s being weaponized by the government against science generally. Facts are elite, facts are fungible, facts are false. And once nothing is true, anything can be true. For more Trump ordered government agencies to prepare for mining the ocean floor. Nearly all other countries oppose such industrial activity in international waters. Below, Alan Blinder, who covers education, describes the scientific research at stake in Trump’s fight with Harvard. Click the video to watch. THE LATEST NEWS Pete Hegseth Pete Hegseth Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number, the one used in a recent Signal chat, was easily accessible on the internet and public apps as recently as March. This could have exposed national security secrets to foreign adversaries, analysts say. Read more here. War in Ukraine The Trump administration’s plan to end the war in Ukraine proposes American recognition of Crimea. That would change a decade of U.S. policy. “Vladimir, STOP!” Trump issued a rare rebuke of Vladimir Putin after a deadly Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital. “Not necessary, and very bad timing,” he said. Trump said Russia’s “big concession” for peace was not taking all of Ukraine. Government Overhaul The Trump administration replaced lawyers who said they had accidentally released a document detailing flaws in their own legal battle against New York City’s congestion pricing program. A federal judge limited the Trump administration’s ability to withhold federal funds from public schools in states that refused to sign an anti-D.E.I. pledge. The small government agency responsible for programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the health department’s overhaul. More on the Trump Administration Trump plans to direct the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the fund-raising platform that powers virtually every Democratic candidate and cause. The administration asked the Supreme Court to let it enforce a ban on transgender troops in the military, which lower courts had blocked. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to retrieve another deported migrant, a 20-year-old Venezuelan man who was sent to El Salvador last month. More International News Coffee beans imported from Brazil. Meridith Kohut for The New York Times A watchdog group petitioned the Trump administration to block coffee imports that it says are produced with forced labor in Brazil, the world’s largest coffee grower. Israel developed new A.I. tools to gain an advantage in the war in Gaza. The technologies have helped target Hamas leaders; they’ve also led to civilian deaths. A high schooler in Nantes, in western France, stabbed four other students, killing one. India said it would suspend its participation in a water-sharing agreement with Pakistan, a punitive measure that could devastate Pakistan’s agriculture and economy. Other Big Stories A sign that consumers are feeling anxious about the economy: They’re spending less on snacks. The man who opened fire on an Illinois Fourth of July parade in 2022 was given seven life sentences, one for each person he killed. Billy McFarland, who went to prison after his ill-fated Fyre Festival in 2017, said he was selling the Fyre brand and its “cultural capital.” Spot the Difference Tony Cenicola/The New York Times In our news meeting yesterday, the Times’s business editor alluded to a treacly smell emanating from her corner of the office. Why? Julie Creswell, who reports on the food industry, was writing a story on food dyes, and the business staff had opened boxes of Froot Loops from Canada and the United States. The bowl on the left contains the cereal Canadians eat. Its colors come from the juices of blueberries, watermelon and other fruits. The one on the right, for Americans, is colored with synthetic dyes that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to ban. “Everybody was shocked at the difference in colors,” Julie said. The natural dyes are muted. “They’re slight variations of beige, and blues are completely gone.” The duller hues fooled our staff, including one who said: “Your mind thinks it won’t be as strong — it might be a little stale.” But business reporters tasted the samples and agreed the flavors were indistinguishable. Read Julie’s story about how hard it is for food companies to switch dyes. — Adam B. Kushner OPINIONS Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comments about autistic children not becoming independent rang painfully true for Emily May. A severe form of autism restrains her daughter’s life. Here’s a column by David Brooks on Trump’s true strength. You have free access to NFL Draft coverage. Read it in The Athletic section of The New York Times app, now through April 27. Download app MORNING READS Cornell University and Virginia Tech-Shandong University International Laboratory Multitasking: How can bats drink water while flying? Ask the Therapist: “I hate my parents’ politics. Should I keep my son away?” Most clicked yesterday: How to cut your risk of stroke, dementia and depression. Trending online yesterday: Alijah Arenas, a top U.S.C. basketball recruit and the son of N.B.A. start Gilbert Arenas, is in a coma after a car crash. Lives Lived: Gretchen Dow Simpson was an acclaimed Rhode Island painter whose moody, highly geometric images of seaside cottages, snow-covered farms and other totems of New England life drew comparisons to the works of Edward Hopper. They also graced the covers of 58 issues of The New Yorker. She died at 85. SPORTS N.F.L. Draft: The Tennessee Titans selected Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick. Travis Hunter, a Heisman winner, is going to Jacksonville. N.B.A.: The top-seeded Thunder completed the largest halftime comeback in playoff history to take a 3-0 lead against the Grizzlies. The Knicks and Clippers also won their games. ARTS AND IDEAS Theo Von Theo Von is a comedian and host of “This Past Weekend,” a video podcast that routinely garners millions of views and listens. It is one of the most watched shows in the country. But what are his politics? He keeps it more ambiguous than his “bro-cast peers.” That may be why he’s so successful, our critic Jon Caramanica writes. Read more about him. More on culture When a technical problem disrupted the sound system at “Sunset Boulevard” on Broadway, the show’s star, Nicole Scherzinger, entertained the crowd by singing through a bullhorn. Phoebe, the youngest and most stylish of Bill and Melinda Gates’s children, is the founder of an online shopping tool. Jimmy Kimmel mocked Hegseth’s rumored makeup studio in the Pentagon. Ask the Morning St. Peter’s Square. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times After Pope Francis died Monday, we invited Morning readers to submit questions about our coverage and what happens next. Jody Mower, who lives in Alpine, Utah, wrote in about this image, which she said “moved me with its beauty and symbolic framing.” How, she asked, did Gianni Cipriano “get permission to photograph from such a location?” Gianni, who lives in Naples, has been a freelance photographer for The Times since 2008. He climbed up to the terrace of the Charlemagne Wing out of desperation, only after security forces told him he could not work near the front of St. Peter’s Square. “I was like, where the heck am I supposed to go?” He knew about the terrace from prior work at the Vatican, including the 2013 conclave that selected Francis, so he made his way up the dark, narrow spiral staircase. (Check out his video on Instagram.) It was about 7:30 p.m. The Rosary prayer was beginning, and the sun starting to set. At first, Gianni was disappointed the square was not full. “But the light was magical,” he said. He framed the image so that one of the 140 statues that line the square — we’re 99 percent sure it’s Saint Andrew Corsini, who died in 1374 and was canonized in 1629, but email us if you know differently — is overlooking the crowd as a pope might. “It did feel like a metaphor of what had happened that day,” he said of the image. It gave “that sense of sobriety and sadness,” he said, “and I think it did convey a moment of silence and of recollection.” Gianni is one of three photographers covering the pope’s funeral for The Times. We’ll have a live dispatch from the Vatican in tomorrow’s edition of The Morning. — Jodi Rudoren THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Put salmon in a food processor to form juicy burgers. Clean your carpets. (It’s time.) Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was megabyte. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 26, 2025 Author Members Posted April 26, 2025 April 26, 2025 Good morning. The open-air funeral for Pope Francis has just finished in St. Peter’s Square. His body is now on its way to be placed in a tomb. We’ve got a live dispatch from our Rome bureau chief, Jason Horowitz, and other Times journalists on the ground. Melissa Kirsch will be back in your inbox next Saturday. In St. Peter’s Square. Eric Lee/The New York Times ‘A pope among the people’ By Jason Horowitz I’ve covered Francis since he was selected in 2013. VATICAN CITY — A patchwork of clergy in red, white, purple and black vestments. World leaders including President Trump seated on the stairs of St. Peter’s Basilica for an outdoor ceremony. A simple cypress casket. Haunting chants and some 200,000 faithful embraced by Bernini’s colonnade. In a solemn and majestic funeral that ended moments ago, the Roman Catholic Church laid to rest Pope Francis, the first South American pope, whose humble style and pastoral vision both reinvigorated and divided the institution that he led for a dozen years. He was 88. It’s warm and clear here in Rome. A group of refugees and homeless people, like those Francis advocated for around the world, joined presidents, prime ministers and the church’s cardinals — one of whom will be the next pope — to bid the Holy Father farewell. During the funeral. Eric Lee/The New York Times “He was a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in the homily. “The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.” He spoke in Italian. Texts were also read in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Portuguese. Before the service, priests from Myanmar talked about how Francis had energized their small church when he visited and elevated their bishop to a cardinal. Pilgrims from Ecuador said he had made them feel seen. Conservative clerics from the Czech Republic said they still weren’t sure what to make of him. But as bells tolled a death knell, the piazza fell silent except for the sound of sea gulls. Pallbearers carried the pope’s coffin through a corridor of cardinals in their brilliant red vestments, and a choir sang a psalm. His plain coffin was laid near the giant statue of the very first pope, Saint Peter. A slight breeze lifted the pages of an open Gospel placed on the casket. The bright sun made it hard for mourners to see the screens broadcasting the service across the vast expanse. Mourners at the open-air ceremony. James Hill for The New York Times During the “sign of peace,” President Trump shook hands with President Emmanuel Macron of France, as well as several other world leaders in his vicinity. Scores of priests scattered through the crowd to distribute communion. People clapped as the pallbearers carried the coffin back into the basilica. Some held signs: “Thank you Francis.” “Goodbye Father.” Francis requested that the traditional pomp and pageantry be pared back for his final Mass. But for a pope, simplicity is relative. After the service, the popemobile, which carried Francis thousands of time around St. Peter’s Square and to meet the faithful around the world, drove his body to St. Mary Major, a church he loved. The Vatican said a group of “poor and needy” people would greet him at the steps before a private burial in a tomb with a frieze of a cross and the one-word inscription “Franciscus.” As the caravan moved slowly through Rome, huge crowds formed on the sides of the road. It was strange to not see the pope waving back. Read the pope’s obituary. Plus: the homily, the music (mostly Gregorian chant) and the biblical readings from the Mass. World leaders President Trump met with Volodymyr Zelensky, a handout photo from the Ukrainian government shows. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine before the funeral, their first face-to-face since a televised blowup in the Oval Office two months ago. Seating chart: Among the visiting dignitaries were sworn enemies — a minister from Iran and an ambassador from Israel, for example. The Vatican handled it by making the seating alphabetical. Partisan divide: Two decades ago, President George W. Bush gave two of his predecessors, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, a ride to Pope John Paul II’s funeral on Air Force One. Not this time: Joe and Jill Biden flew in on their own. The mourners Young people wait in line to access St. Peter’s Square. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times A good view: There are many young people in St. Peter’s Square this morning. CNN talked to a group that slept in a nearby church to secure prime spots at the funeral. Seeking miracles: A nun from Egypt said she prayed to Francis, who suffered from knee ailments, to relieve her own leg pain so she could make it to St. Peter’s Square. She did. Deep feelings: Norah O’Donnell of CBS News got emotional as a couple told her why they’d made the trek from Miami. Watch the video on Instagram. Hungry reporters: Some 2,700 journalists were registered to cover the funeral, and they had devoured almost everything in the vending machine near the Vatican press office. Still available at 8 a.m.: a bag of crackers, a pack of gum and five chocolate bars. Addio, Holy Father: Motoko Rich, who will soon take over from Jason as Rome bureau chief, spent 2.5 hours in line Friday with the throngs waiting for a final viewing of Francis. She met a sheriff’s deputy from Michigan whose partner was killed in the line of duty, a woman from Taiwan who had spent the last several months exploring death and a baby wearing a suit. What’s next Conclave: After the burial, the focus will turn to the election of the next pope by the College of Cardinals. Several names have surfaced as possible successors. Vatican finances: The new pope will inherit a church with an $89 million deficit. Bernhard Warner, a Rome-based correspondent for our DealBook newsletter, looks at what Francis did to root out corruption, create transparency and develop big donors for the church. (Sign up here to get DealBook delivered to your inbox.) Ask the Morning: Laura Murphy of New York wondered, “Can a pope be made a saint?” Elisabetta Povoledo, one of our Rome-based correspondents, reports that a “pontiff is not a shoo-in.” Overall, 80 of history’s 266 popes have been canonized, including 48 of the first 50 and two of the last five before Francis. FRANCIS’ FAVORITE Caravaggio’s “Calling of St. Matthew,” completed in 1600. Mauro Magliani/Getty Images Pope Francis’ favorite painting was Caravaggio’s “Calling of St. Matthew,” which hangs in a chapel near where he would stay in Rome before he became pope. The painting depicts Matthew, third from left, in a black velvet hat. Jesus is in the doorway, pointing at Matthew. Based on his expression, Matthew seems to question his appointment, as he points to his own chest in disbelief. “It is the gesture of Matthew that strikes me,” Francis said shortly after his elevation to the papacy. “This is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pontiff.” See the painting up close, with descriptions from our critic Jason Farago. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration The Trump administration appears to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process” and against the wishes of her father, a judge said. F.B.I. agents arrested a county judge in Milwaukee and accused her of shielding an immigrant from federal authorities. The Trump administration abruptly walked back its cancellation of more than 1,500 international students’ visas. Trump, in an effort to soothe jittery financial markets, said the United States was meeting with China over tariffs. Chinese officials say no talks have taken place. Trump is preparing to unveil a budget that includes steep cuts or the elimination of funding for programs that provide child care, housing assistance and health research. Other Big Stories George Santos Adam Gray for The New York Times George Santos, whose lies and fraud led him to be expelled from Congress, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Luigi Mangione, accused of killing a health insurance executive in Manhattan, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge that could bring the death penalty. Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged fire along the Kashmir border. The clash came days after a terror attack killed 26 people on the Indian side of the disputed region. Deep sleep is essential to a healthy brain. Read how to get it. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Ben Affleck Kobe Wagstaff for The New York Times In “The Accountant 2,” Ben Affleck returns as a neurodivergent bookkeeper for the criminal underworld. He spoke with The Times about the movie’s origins. “Andor,” a “Star Wars” series on Disney+, is back for its second and final season. It shows how resistance is built one brick at a time, our TV critic writes. New York officials shut down Lorde’s impromptu show in Washington Square Park before it even started. Later that day, though, she showed up to dance for the crowd while her song played. See a video. Paloma Picasso, daughter of Pablo Picasso, has helped to organize a show of her father’s work, some of which has never been seen by the public. She spoke to The Times about his legacy. “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” an origin story on Broadway, is “big, loud, often ingenious and occasionally breathtaking,” our critic writes. You have free access to NFL Draft coverage. Read it in The Athletic section of The New York Times app, now through April 27. Download app CULTURE CALENDAR By Desiree Ibekwe ? “Thunderbolts*”: An admission: I haven’t watched a Marvel movie in some time. If you have, perhaps you entered with some trepidation, with fingers crossed, hoping for some of the old M.C.U. magic. “Thunderbolts*,” it seems, might offer some hope to the despondent: Early reactions have been largely positive. The movie stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour and centers on an assemblage of antiheroes. One more chance, Marvel. One more chance. REAL ESTATE A.B. Barnes and Cecily Barnes The Hunt: A couple, seeking more space for their growing children, combed the San Fernando Valley for a single-family home. Which did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $800,000: An Italianate house in Martinez, Calif.; an industrial condo in Denver; or a renovated 1890 farmhouse in Shelburne, Vt. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Want to use less single-use plastic? Start here. The global plastic pollution problem isn’t on individuals alone to solve, but small lifestyle changes do add up. You could start in the kitchen: Cooking from scratch more often can save money and cut back on single-use waste. If you shop online regularly, try grouping your deliveries. And swapping liquid shampoo for solid shampoo bars can reduce plastic in the bathroom. — Katie Okamoto Join me for Wirecutter’s 3-part plastics challenge, where I’ll share more tips to cut down on waste. GAME OF THE WEEK Morgan Rielly, left, battling Michael Amadio. Marc Desrosiers/Imagn Images, via Reuters Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators, N.H.L. playoffs: These intraprovincial rivals are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The Leafs are up 3-0, though it hasn’t exactly been a blowout; two of the three wins came in overtime. Over the past decade, Toronto has made a habit of reaching the playoffs and then flaming out early. Will this season be different? 7 p.m. Eastern tonight on TBS For more: The Athletic has an oral history of the Battle of Ontario, as the Toronto-Ottawa rivalry is known, featuring players from some of the fiercest games. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were calamity, climactically and climatically. 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. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 27, 2025 Author Members Posted April 27, 2025 April 27, 2025 Good morning. A man in Vancouver drove a car into a crowd celebrating Filipino heritage, killing at least nine people. Trump said Vladimir Putin might not want to end the war in Ukraine. And we have a closer look at who attended Pope Francis’ funeral. More news is below. But first, our colleague Zachary Small explains how a few big players wield enormous influence in the art world. At the Guggenheim Museum. DeSean McClinton-Holland for The New York Times Art and power By Zachary Small I cover the worlds of art and money. Museums provide the first draft of art history. They decide which artists get to share wall space with masters like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso. Choosing which artists to exhibit requires museums to consider ultrasubjective questions about, say, the artistic merit of a painting or the historical relevance of a sculpture. The task has traditionally fallen to curators, who maintain their scholarly independence and grapple with the complexities of mounting shows. But in recent years, museums have increasingly turned to another source for logistical and, at times, financial support for their shows: major commercial art galleries. The scale of these partnerships was largely unexamined until now. This morning, The Times published an analysis by my colleague Julia Halperin and me of more than 350 solo exhibitions by contemporary artists in New York’s biggest art museums over the last six years. We found that nearly a quarter of those exhibitions featured artists who were represented by just 11 major galleries. These were no ordinary mom-and-pop dealerships but “mega-galleries,” as professionals call them — an elite slice of the art world that accounts for a sizable chunk of the $57.5 billion art market. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how the increasingly close relationship between museums and commercial galleries is shaping whose work is shown to the public. Painting by numbers Mega-galleries emerged as a phenomenon of the ascendant market for contemporary art in the early 2000s, when wealthy collectors became less interested in buying up old masters and more interested in cozying up to living artists like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Some dealerships rapidly expanded as a result. The best known today is owned by Larry Gagosian, whose global network of galleries represents more than 100 artists and estates. Museums have typically downplayed their relationships with mega-galleries. But as traditional corporate sponsors pull back and attendance has yet to rebound from the pandemic, they are increasingly turning to galleries for support. Some experts said that the overlap between mega-galleries and major museums was to be expected, considering both groups are eager to spotlight the field’s most influential figures. But others warn that such collaborations can raise questions of a conflict of interest, since museum shows typically lift the reputations of artists and the prices that their works command — which can help their gallerists profit handsomely. A New No. 1 The spring season offers a particularly stark example of how a single gallery can dominate New York’s major museums. Four of the city’s most prestigious museums are mounting exhibits showcasing artists who are represented by a single gallery: Hauser & Wirth, a Swiss juggernaut with 19 locations around the world, including three in Manhattan. Their artists are now being shown at some of the buzziest exhibits of the season: the Whitney Museum of American Art’s survey of works by Amy Sherald, the painter behind Michelle Obama’s official portrait the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Rashid Johnson show the Museum of Modern Art’s Jack Whitten retrospective and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s upcoming Lorna Simpson show. Some in New York’s art world have taken to calling this “Hauser spring.” The gallery has provided logistical support to most of those shows and financial support to some — only the Museum of Modern Art said it had a policy of not accepting funding from art galleries. Gallery officials said that museum support was a key part of their long-term strategy to promote artists. That strategy has clearly been successful. Our analysis found that Hauser & Wirth is now the most influential gallery in New York’s museum scene, despite the fact that most Americans would be unable to identify its founders, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, from a lineup. Marc Payot, the gallery’s president, struck a humble tone when I asked him about the development. “It is way less about our influence but really a testament to the artists,” he said, explaining that the artists had their own relationships with each of the museums. “It’s easy to be cynical, but it’s sincere.” THE LATEST NEWS Pope Francis’ Funeral Eric Lee/The New York Times Pope Francis’ funeral, which took place on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, was solemn and majestic, Jason Horowitz writes. A homily by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, captured Francis’s humility and inclusivity. “He was a pope among the people,” Cardinal Re said. “He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the times.” World leaders and monarchs descended on Rome to pay their respects. Zoom in on an annotated photo for a closer look at who was in attendance. International A man plowed a car into a Filipino street festival in Vancouver, killing at least nine people. The police have taken the driver, who is 30 years old, into custody. A large explosion at a port in southern Iran killed at least 25 people and injured over 1,000. After a terrorist attack in Kashmir last week, India appears to be building a case to strike Pakistan. The world’s major powers are distracted and doing little to reduce tensions. Immigration In Florida, ICE and state law enforcement officials arrested nearly 800 migrants in a four-day operation. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, defended the arrest of a Wisconsin judge accused of shielding an immigrant from federal agents. Read what we know about the arrest. More on the Trump Administration President Trump, hours after meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, said he was concerned that Vladimir Putin might not want to end the war in Ukraine. Putin “has to be dealt with differently,” Trump wrote on social media. Academic leaders were initially reluctant to challenge Trump. A recent joint statement showed that they are beginning to unite. State officials and small businesses are fighting Trump’s tariffs in court. Their cases are the latest test of the president’s expansive claims to executive power. Other Big Stories A Times investigation revealed how complex failures led to a fatal plane crash above the Potomac River in January. A Florida judge sentenced a former Disney World employee to three years in prison for hacking menus to change prices and remove allergen warnings on some items. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Did Francis’ modern approach help the Catholic Church? Yes. His liberal speeches presented a more tolerant and open church. He also sought to forcefully tackle child sex abuse. “Francis was something new and, for the church, badly needed — a man who saw clearly that a new century had dawned and that the world had evolved,” The Washington Post’s editorial board writes. No. He focused on modernizing the institution at the expense of traditional faith, which weakened the church. “The church should go back to the beginning, shift from modernity to eternity, ask the world to train its eye on Christ,” The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan writes. FROM OPINION In Turkey, protests against the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political opponent have filled the streets. World powers must speak up as well, the Editorial Board argues. Here’s a column by Ross Douthat on “blackpilling,” a nihilistic worldview. You have free access to NFL Draft coverage. Read it in The Athletic section of The New York Times app, now through April 27. Download app MORNING READS Hasan Piker Adali Schell for The New York Times Progressive mind, MAGA body: The streamer Hasan Piker deals in a particular brand of masculinity — it has been a useful vehicle for his socialist politics. Vows: For New York Nico, a wedding party at Katz’s Deli with all the fixings. Most clicked yesterday: Deep sleep is essential to a healthy brain. Here’s how to get it. Trending online yesterday: Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring who sued Prince Andrew for sexual assault, died by suicide at 41. Lives Lived: Jed Gould was an influential Los Angeles disc jockey, known as Jed the Fish, who used his off-kilter sensibility and deep musical knowledge to shine a light on artists like the Cure at the groundbreaking New Wave and alternative rock station KROQ-FM in the 1980s and ’90s. He died at 69. BOOK OF THE WEEK Penguin Random House By Elisabeth Egan “Hope,” by Pope Francis: Pope Francis’ death was all over the news this week, as was analysis of his legacy, his funeral, his blind spots and his connection with believers of all faiths. But if you want to know what the pontiff made of his own life, look no further than his best-selling memoir, which came out in January. The book opens with the story of his grandparents’ emigration from Italy to Argentina in 1929, a legacy of struggle and tenacity that imprinted itself upon Francis until the end of his life. “I too could have been among the outcasts of today,” he writes, “so that one question is always lodged in my heart: Why them and not me?” He weighs in on war, environmental crisis, social policy, technology and the future of the church with humility and candor. More on books In “More Everything Forever,” Adam Becker scrutinizes Silicon Valley’s “ideology of technical salvation.” Read our review here. BELIEVING Iris Legendre By Lauren Jackson I am reporting on how we believe now. A passage from a book has lingered with me for a decade. In the National Book Award winning “Let the Great World Spin,” Colum McCann writes of a character named Corrigan who wants “a fully believable God, one you could find in the grime of the everyday.” I’ve always wondered whether that was something McCann wanted himself. His description was too real, too knowing. I was curious what life experiences had enabled him to write that line — what moments had shaped his beliefs. So when I set out to report “Believing,” a project about how religion and spirituality shapes people’s lives, I asked him. He wrote an essay in response. It’s about biking across America, searching for a faith. In the essay, “The Church of the Open Road,” he writes of a “quarrel with God under the bullet-holed stars.” He also describes what he found in the dust and grime of his own journey. Read the essay here. For more: Sign up to receive the latest installments of “Believing” in your inbox. THE INTERVIEW Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times This week’s subject for The Interview is the writer Isabel Allende, whose new book, “My Name Is Emilia del Valle,” will be published on May 6. Allende talked to Gilbert Cruz, who is filling in for Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week, about writing as an act of remembering her mother, her daughter who died young and her home country of Chile. You had to go to Venezuela, because there was a military coup in Chile. What was the moment you knew, “It’s time for me to go”? Although things happened very quickly in Chile, we got to know the consequences slowly, because they don’t affect you personally immediately. So you think: Well, I can live with this. Well, it can’t be that bad. So you are in denial for a long time, because you don’t want things to change so much. And then one day it hits you personally. For me, it was several things. At the beginning, I was hiding people in my house, because we didn’t know the consequences. We had no idea that if that person was arrested and forced to say where they had been, I would be arrested. Maybe my children would be tortured in front of me. But you learn that later. By the time I was directly threatened, I said, OK, I’m leaving. And my idea was that I was going to leave for a couple of months and then come back. So I went alone to Venezuela. And then a month later, my husband realized that I shouldn’t go back. And so he left. He just closed the door, locked the entrance door of the house with everything it contained and left to reunite with me in Venezuela. We never saw that house again. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photograph by Preston Gannaway for The New York Times. Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. IN THE COMMENTS The culprit. Billy Hickey for The New York Times By Neil Vigdor My story about a woodpecker who has broken the side-view mirrors on at least 20 vehicles in a small New England town captivated readers, many of whom have themselves encountered pesky birds. They offered all manner of D.I.Y. hacks for residents of the Squam Hill section of Rockport, Mass., who have resorted to wrapping plastic bags, towels and sweatshirts around mirrors. Some even dabbled in avian psychology. “It is so refreshing to hear from people who understand and appreciate the foibles of nature,” one reader wrote. “Rather than a demand to remove or kill, they are bonding together over a bully of a bird.” A reader from Virginia recalled their own experience with a towhee — a fancy name for oversized sparrow — “who decided our car mirrors were his enemy.” “Ended up putting hair bonnets over the mirrors and he gave up,” the reader said. “We still keep them under the front seats. Just in case.” A homeowner in Maine fretted about a pileated woodpecker that had drilled into an old maple tree and shared the wacky deterrents he found online, including “an electronic spider that drops down in front of the bird” and “a Mylar balloon with the image of an eyeball.” Some readers took the woodpecker’s perspective. “He is looking for food,” one noted in an email. “He is just doing it in the wrong place. Poor little bird.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Save time with these new phone features. Play a new, critic-approved video game. Shop more sustainably. MEAL PLAN Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Margaux Laskey shared some of her favorite recipes of late including mie goreng — sweet-smoky-salty Indonesian noodles — salmon burgers, and cheesy ham and tomato soup. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were haloing and hooligan. Can you put eight historical events — including the first papal conclave, the writing of Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” and the first rabbit pulled out of a hat — 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 28, 2025 Author Members Posted April 28, 2025 April 28, 2025 Good morning. Marco Rubio said that the U.S. will decide this week whether to continue pursuing Ukraine peace talks. Cardinals are politicking to be pope. Food banks are struggling. More news is below. But first our colleague Matina Stevis-Gridneff explains the stakes in Canada’s election. Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney. Pool photo by Christopher Katsarov Canada votes By Matina Stevis-Gridneff I’m the Canada bureau chief. Canadians vote today in an election strangely dominated by the United States. Until early this year, Liberals suffered in polls, and Conservatives held a huge lead. Then President Trump threatened to annex the country. He imposed tariffs so steep that some economists foresee a recession. And he enraged Canadians, reversing the fortunes of each party. Liberals made Trump the center of their campaign and rapidly took the lead. America’s shadow is also shaping the way many Canadians regard their ballot. Traditionally, voters elect their local representatives for Parliament, and then parties elect their leaders. The head of the biggest party is the prime minister. This time, though, everything is personal. Many voters say they are thinking less about party loyalty and more about the man they want in the room negotiating with Trump. The question for voters is: Which candidate can best defend Canada against what they see as the American menace? (The parties both oppose tariffs and annexation but criticize Trump with varying levels of intensity.) Today’s newsletter explains the stakes of a surprising race and introduces you to the two major candidates. The banker and the politician What do Canadians want to see in their next leader? The Conservative Party’s Pierre Poilievre, 45, is more moderate than Trump on important issues including immigration and the size of government. He wants to limit both but not radically cut them. Yet he holds other positions in common with the American president: He savors a culture war and denounces “woke ideology.” He likes cryptocurrencies. He has a sharp tongue. He antagonizes mainstream news outlets. He wants to defund the country’s national broadcaster. At a time when Trump looks like a threat to their country, this is too much for many Canadians. For several years, the Conservatives dominated in polls over the governing Liberals, led then by an unpopular prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Poilievre crafted a popular line of argument. He said he’d cut taxes, fight crime, add housing and tackle an affordability crisis. Then came Trump — and, soon after, Trudeau’s resignation. It was the perfect opportunity for the Liberal Party’s Mark Carney, who positions himself as the antidote to Trump and the best person to make a deal with him. Carney, 60, is a career central banker and boardroom executive. He calls himself a pragmatic and experienced crisis manager. Under different circumstances, Carney would have what people in politics call a “boring” problem. He can come across as professorial and stiff. His critics complain that he spent much of his adult life overseas running in rarefied circles like the World Economic Forum in Davos; they call him an elitist. But his supporters say the very same attributes have prepared him to confront Trump. With Trudeau gone and Trump on the march, Carney’s fortunes rose quickly. In March, the Liberals elected him leader and he became prime minister. Voters began turning against Poilievre immediately, and his 20-plus-point lead evaporated. Now Carney’s Liberals have a four-point advantage in polls as the country heads to the ballots. Source: Ipsos | Data is from September 2021 to April 27, 2025 | By The New York Times The real question Poilievre can’t run as another anti-Trump, so he has a different pitch: He pledges to reverse a decade-long period of national decline. That message resonates with voters who believe that Trudeau inherited one of the world’s greatest nations and left it a shadow of its former self. They blame the Liberals for stagnant growth, high inflation and spiraling living costs. Polls show that young men in particular have responded to this pitch. Partly for that reason, Carney has distanced himself from Trudeau, whom he advised on the economy in recent years. The election may come down to Trump and how important Canadians think he is to their future. Will centrist voters want to hold Liberals accountable for a recent period of malaise? Or do they think it’s more important to protect their economy (and perhaps their sovereignty) from the bully next door? We’ll know tonight. For more Many Canadians believe this election is the most important of their lifetime. Read more about the issues. Carney’s experience working with Chinese business and leadership was once an asset. In this election, it’s a liability. THE LATEST NEWS War in Ukraine Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said the U.S. would decide this week whether to continue Ukraine peace talks or focus on other issues. Trump’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome raised hopes among some Ukrainians that his negotiating position might shift in their direction. Kim Jong-un ordered a monument to North Korean soldiers killed fighting for Russia. It’s the first time the North has acknowledged being involved in the war. If Vladimir Putin drafted a list of what he wanted from the U.S., it would be hard to beat what he was offered in the first 100 days of Trump’s term, Peter Baker writes. Immigration Two children with U.S. citizenship were deported to Honduras alongside their undocumented mother. Their lawyer said the mother was given no choice but to take the children, which the government denies. In Colorado, federal agents raided a nightclub and detained more than 100 people they said were undocumented migrants. More than a dozen active-duty members of the U.S. military were detained as well. More on Politics At a food bank in West Virginia. Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times Food banks are struggling. In one of the country’s poorest areas, the quantity and quality of government deliveries have dropped. See inside. Congress returns from recess today. Republicans are preparing to outline spending cuts. The Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, railed against the “simpering timidity” of some Democrats. Some in the party see him as a presidential contender. Papal Transition At meetings this week, cardinals will jockey to become the next pope. But not too loudly: Transparent politicking is considered taboo. In the cardinals’ maneuvering, “unity” has become a conservative slogan. The conclave is full of confusing language. The Times defined the key terms to know. Middle East In six weeks, the U.S. military hit more than 800 targets in Yemen in its air campaign against the Houthis. Israeli forces struck a residential suburb south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital. They said they were targeting Hezbollah. Benjamin Netanyahu accused Israel’s security chief, whom he’s seeking to fire, of lying to the country’s top court. In One Diagram Sources: U.S. International Trade Commission; Observatory of Economic Complexity; U.S. Customs and Border Protection | By The New York Times How many things in your home were imported from China? Your toaster almost certainly was. So were your pillows, probably, but most likely not your TV. Times journalists analyzed import data to create this room-by-room tour. Look at the red items: They will likely cost more, or be harder to find, because of tariffs. Other Big Stories At the India-Pakistan border. Atul Loke for The New York Times In response to a terrorist attack in Kashmir, India told almost all Pakistanis to leave the country. The order divided mixed families. On “60 Minutes,” the journalist Scott Pelley chastised the show’s parent company, Paramount, explaining why the executive producer resigned. He said Paramount “began to supervise our content in new ways.” “It’s just us”: The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner didn’t have a comedian or the president in attendance. The mood was more serious than in years past. Opinions A group of 35 legal scholars, with diverse viewpoints, spoke to Times Opinion about Trump’s first 100 days of lawlessness. Gail Collins and Bret Stephens bring their “Conversation” to an end. Here’s a column by David French on Harvard’s fight against Trump. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS In Marfa, Texas. Jessica Lutz for The New York Times Travel: Spend 36 hours in Marfa, Texas. Emojis, matcha, sushi: These 10 Japanese innovations shape our daily lives. Chiropractors: Instagram has made neck cracking look appealing. Some experts say it’s dangerous, The Cut reports. Child influencer: Evan Lee still had baby teeth when he became a YouTube star. Now he’s 19 and ready to reflect. Marriage: New data shows many Americans in their 20s don’t want to take their partner’s name, The Washington Post reports. Metropolitan Diary: Tattoos and opera. Most clicked yesterday: Zoom in on this photo for a closer look at who attended Pope Francis’ funeral. Trending online yesterday: A driver plowed into a Filipino street festival in Vancouver, killing at least 11 people. See video of a witness describing the attack. Lives Lived: Alexis Herman was a Democratic Party insider who grew up under segregation in Alabama and became the first Black secretary of labor. She died at 77. SPORTS N.B.A.: The returning Bucks star Damian Lillard left Milwaukee’s loss with a fresh injury. It highlighted a tough day for the league’s biggest names. Obituary: Only two Knicks teams have won N.B.A. championships. Dick Barnett, a guard with an unusual but effective jump shot, played on both. He died at 88. N.H.L.: Connor McDavid and the Oilers won, 4-3 in overtime, against the Kings. Read a recap. ARTS AND IDEAS Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1923. John Lofman, published with permission of The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society The Book Review has a challenge for readers this week. Can you memorize “Recuerdo,” a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay? A.O. Scott and Aliza Aufrichtig write: Why did we pick “Recuerdo”? We combed through our shelves like Goldilocks, looking for a poem that was just right: not too difficult, but not too simple; not obscure but not a chestnut; not a downer but not frivolous either. We didn’t want a poem that was too long, and we thought something that rhymed would be more fun — and easier — to memorize than a cascade of free verse. The challenge begins today with a simple task: Meet the poem and learn its refrain. You’ll learn more of it over the course of the week. You’ll also see videos of poets, novelists and actors reading along with you. Start the poetry challenge here. More on culture Labubu dolls. Pop Mart New lines of Labubu dolls, tiny fuzzy Nordic elves with mischievous grins, regularly sell out online. (Rihanna and Dua Lipa are admirers.) Read about the craze. Pedro Almodóvar will receive a Chaplin Award, Film at Lincoln Center’s highest honor. The Times asked nine actresses, including Julianne Moore, about working with Almodóvar. An exhibit at the National Museum of Women celebrates 40 years of the feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls. See some of the works on display. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Kelly Marshall for The New York Times Bake these miso chocolate chip cookies, which don’t need butter or flour. Squat correctly. See how. Pass some time with a jigsaw. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was painful. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 29, 2025 Author Members Posted April 29, 2025 April 29, 2025 Good morning. Mark Carney won a new term as Canada’s prime minister. Major power outages hit Spain and Portugal. And The Times interviewed Finland’s president about the Ukraine peace process. More news is below. But first, we have updates on two developing news stories: The Trump administration’s removal of U.S. citizens and the rising tensions between India and Pakistan. In Austin, Texas. Lynsey Addario for The New York Times Deporting Americans? By German Lopez Over the past week, President Trump has shown us what mass deportations look like. His administration sent three American children from two different families to Honduras along with their undocumented mothers on Friday. One of the kids, a 4-year-old boy, is in the fourth stage of a rare form of cancer. As Trump ramps up deportations, more sympathetic cases like these are likely to pop up. Trump wants to deport all undocumented immigrants. Some of them are genuine criminals who have done awful things while staying in the United States illegally. Most of them are not. They are people who came to this country looking for work or fleeing horrible conditions back home. They might be pregnant, as one of the deported moms is, or ill or parents of U.S. citizens. Still, they are undocumented, so they’re on Trump’s deportation list. The administration says that it has a mandate to carry out campaign promises and restore law and order. Most Americans, however, believe that only some unauthorized migrants should be deported, polling suggests. In the cases of the three American children, the courts may get a say. Avoiding separation Officials detained the families during routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The authorities took the mothers and their children — 2, 4 and 7 years old — hours away from the site of their appointments in New Orleans, the families’ lawyers said. Within days, they were gone. The lawyers couldn’t reach the mothers until after they arrived in Honduras. A Trump-appointed federal judge, Terry Doughty, issued a brief order in the case of the 2-year-old on Friday, setting a hearing to get more information. The 2-year-old’s father reportedly said that he wanted his daughter to remain in the United States. Doughty said that he had a “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.” The administration insists that it didn’t deport U.S. citizens. Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said that officials gave the mother of the 2-year-old a choice to leave her child in the United States or take the girl to Honduras. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the kids, but not the mom, could come back if their father or someone else took them. The administration is seemingly trying to avoid the kinds of family separations that drew widespread criticism during Trump’s first term, but it also doesn’t want to show mercy to unauthorized migrants. It criticizes migrants for using birthright citizenship to enter the United States and “anchor” themselves through a child born here. “Having a U.S. citizen child after you enter this country illegally is not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Homan said. For more Trump signed new executive orders related to his immigration crackdown, including one targeting “sanctuary cities.” Immigrant rights advocates sued the Trump administration, challenging a policy that allows ICE agents to operate in schools and churches. In Srinagar, India. Yawar Nazir/Getty Images Border battle By Anupreeta Das I cover South Asia. After a terrorist attack last week, India has unleashed a salvo of punitive measures against Pakistan. Most important, it pulled out of a water-sharing treaty. Pakistan quickly retaliated, closing off airspace to India. These two nuclear-armed countries are often at loggerheads, and it’s usually because of Kashmir, a picturesque Himalayan region that both claim but neither fully controls. They’ve fought three wars over the territory, and low-grade hostility simmers in perpetuity. Things got much worse recently, though, when the terrorist attack killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir on April 22. I wrote about what happened that day. India hasn’t blamed any group for the attack yet, but it implies that the perpetrators were linked to Pakistan. Experts believe that Pakistan has long sponsored terrorism in Kashmir. Pakistan denies any role in the attack. In addition to the water and airspace moves, both nations canceled visas for each other’s citizens. That separated family members at the border. (The Times told some of their stories here.) And Pakistan suspended its participation in the agreement that divides up Kashmir. Analysts worry things could get much worse. The attack last week caught the Indian government off guard, exposing a security and intelligence lapse. That’s embarrassing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government in 2019 took control of Kashmir, which had been guaranteed autonomy in the Indian Constitution. Now domestic pressure could push the Indian government to go further, according to analysts. India’s last major conflict with Pakistan happened in 2019, when a Pakistani militant used a van filled with explosives as a suicide weapon and killed at least 40 troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir. In response, India carried out airstrikes against Pakistan. Back then, the Trump administration worked to moderate tensions. This time, Trump said, “They’ll get it figured out.” Related: Here’s what you need to know about Kashmir. THE LATEST NEWS Canadian Election Mark Carney Cole Burston for The New York Times Mark Carney won a new term as Canada’s prime minister. It is not yet clear whether his Liberal Party will secure a parliamentary majority. The Liberals, who months ago seemed all but certain to lose, owe a large part of their success to Trump’s aggression. “President Trump is trying to break us so he can own us,” Carney said in his acceptance speech. “That will never, ever happen.” The leader of the Conservative opposition, Pierre Poilievre, lost his seat. Read takeaways from the election. Government Overhaul After Trump said he would reform the Justice Department’s civil rights division, hundreds of staffers decided to leave. The administration dismissed hundreds of scientists and experts who worked on the government’s flagship climate change report. Some labs may euthanize their animals, including monkeys, because of Trump’s cuts to research funding. More on the Trump Administration A crypto firm largely owned by a Trump family corporate entity has eviscerated the boundary between private enterprise and government policy. The government said it plans to ease the impact of tariffs on cars and car parts and give automakers more time to relocate to the U.S. To avert Trump’s tariff threat, Mexico has agreed to give the U.S. more water from shared rivers. After Trump denounced reporters at The Atlantic who asked to interview him, they called his cellphone. He picked up. Higher Education Harvard is revamping its D.E.I. office, an apparent effort to appease Trump even as it sues the White House. The Trump administration told the University of Pennsylvania to strip athletic records from Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who graduated in 2022. Default collections from student loans resume next week. Do you have questions about student debt? Ask The Morning here. Blackouts Power cut out for hours across Spain and in Portugal. The cause is unknown but officials reported no sign of foul play. The blackout disrupted daily life and halted trains and subways. See photos. The Vatican The conclave to elect the next pope will begin on May 7. About 130 cardinals can vote. In one of the last things he wrote, Pope Francis urged young people to “believe in love.” Read the full letter, a book foreword. More International News President Alexander Stubb Saara Mansikkamaki for The New York Times Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, has become an intermediary in Ukraine peace talks. In a Times interview, he warned Russia: “You don’t play with President Trump.” Vladimir Putin ordered a three-day cease-fire in Ukraine next month. Volodymyr Zelensky called it “another attempt at manipulation.” Israel’s spy chief agreed to step down. He clashed with Benjamin Netanyahu, who tried to fire him. Other Big Stories Amazon launched the first of thousands of internet satellites. But it has much to do before it can compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. The N.Y.P.D. is investigating a pro-Israel crowd’s attack on a woman in Brooklyn after a protest turned violent. Opinions A group of Times columnists wrote about how Trump’s first 100 days have transformed the country, from the arrest of protesters to the reshaping of U.S. alliances. Here’s a column by Thomas Edsall on how Trump handles defeat. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Birds of Panama. Toh Gouttenoire for The New York Times Natural beauty: Panama’s unique location — straddling two continents and two oceans — makes it a wildlife wonder. See stunning bird photos. Today’s Great Read: David Kaczynski turned in his brother, the Unabomber, to the F.B.I. He spent decades trying to explain. Most clicked yesterday: Can you memorize “Recuerdo,” a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay? Start the Book Review’s poetry challenge. Trending online yesterday: Beyoncé opened her Cowboy Carter tour in Inglewood. It included a chopped-and-screwed “Crazy in Love,” an L.A. Times critic wrote. Lives Lived: Beginning with a competition entry, Peter Lovesey wrote more than 40 mysteries — brainy whodunits in the classic English tradition. He died at 88. SPORTS N.B.A.: Jimmy Butler and the Warriors are up 3-1 in their first-round series against the Rockets after a 109-106 win. N.H.L.: Both the Stars and the Panthers, the defending champions, won. ARTS AND IDEAS A hot plate hero. Aaron Wojack for The New York Times Expenses are rising in the restaurant business. To save on rent, some restaurants are skipping a full kitchen. “They are constantly forced to focus and adapt,” Priya Krishna writes. “And their menus are all the more exciting for it.” In her article, Priya highlights five restaurants that are doing the most with the least, including an establishment in Oakland, Calif., that uses a panini press to sear onions, char cabbage and griddle onigiri. More on culture Ten people are on trial in Paris in connection with the 2016 robbery of Kim Kardashian. They’re called the “grandpa robbers." The late night hosts joked about Trump’s approval rating, which some polls put at 39 percent. “Even measles is polling at 40 percent,” Jimmy Fallon said. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Top a baked sweet potato with goat-cheese whipped cream and hot honey. Find cheap Broadway tickets with these expert tips. Improve productivity with a standing desk. GAMES A Special Puzzle The New York Times for Kids recently published a crossword by two very special constructors: Kaela Curry, who is 8 years old, and Nate Curry, who is 10. What — in a world where iPads exist — would motivate two children to spend time putting together a crossword? In an interview with Christina Iverson, a Times puzzle editor, they explained: Kaela: Our mom and dad were doing it, so I wanted to do it, too. Nate: Same. And I like solving puzzles. The puzzle is a bit more direct and simple than a typical Times puzzle, so it’s a great entry point for crossword-curious adults. But it will resonate with kid solvers, with clues that evoke the best of childhood (“‘I think ___, I think ___, I think ___’ — words repeated in ‘The Little Engine that Could’”) and the worst (“Finish your dinner, ___ you may have dessert”). Play their crossword here and get our Gameplay newsletter delivered to your inbox. Today’s Games Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was headwind. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted April 30, 2025 Author Members Posted April 30, 2025 April 30, 2025 Good morning. President Trump walked back some tariffs on carmakers. Canada’s Liberal Party narrowly failed to win a parliamentary majority. And today marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. More news is below. But first, we take a look at the first 100 days of Trump’s term. In the Oval Office. Eric Lee/The New York Times A furious start by Irineo Cabreros and Aatish Bhatia The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second presidency have been a study of extremes, especially when compared with the start of presidential terms over the last century. Today, The Upshot — a section of The Times focused on data and policy — published eight charts comparing Trump’s performance with that of his predecessors. Here are a few of them: He issued more executive orders than any other modern president … Source: Federal Register | Data for Trump 2025 as of April 29. | By The New York Times On his first day in office, Trump signed a record 26 executive orders — and he didn’t stop there. The executive order has become something of a hallmark of his governing style, a way to express clear policy directives without the bureaucracy of regulation or the horse trading of legislation. Some orders direct federal agencies to develop policy in particular areas, like oil drilling, prescription drug prices or the water pressure delivered by shower heads. Some mostly express the president’s sentiment on an issue. Some function as warnings or punishments for political enemies. But many — in key areas like immigration and tariffs — effectively carry the force of law. Compare the president’s output with that of Congress, which has passed only a handful of laws since Trump’s inauguration. … and was sued in federal court more, too Source: PACER | Data for Trump 2025 as of April 29. | By The New York Times Trump’s executive actions have already led to an explosion of lawsuits. In other recent administrations, the suits have come later, in response to laws and regulations that take months and years to develop. But Trump is moving quickly to cut funding, fire federal workers, impose tariffs, reshape immigration policy and more. Although the Supreme Court has begun considering aspects of a few cases, most of this litigation is in preliminary stages. Markets plunged Source: LSEG | Shifts are relative to the value on the day the president was sworn in. Data for Trump 2025 is as of April 29. | By The New York Times During his first term, Trump often referred to the stock market as a barometer of success for his presidency. This time, he seems less focused on it. And some of his proclamations — on tariffs or his views on the Federal Reserve and interest rates — have led to wild swings in recent weeks. The S&P 500 has fallen by more than 7 percent since Trump’s inauguration, on track for the worst performance for stocks in this period of a presidency since Gerald Ford in 1974. Trump’s popularity fell, too Source: New York Times average of presidential approval polls | Data for Trump 2025 is as of April 29. | By The New York Times When Trump entered office, voters said they trusted him to handle the economy and immigration. But 100 days into his second term, his approval is underwater. Partly it’s because he turned those long-term strengths on the economy and immigration into weaknesses. Read about how Trump fared in our recent poll here. Our charts also look at revenue from tariffs and the fate of the dollar. See them here. More on Trump’s first 100 days Trump has done more in his first 100 days to change the trajectory of the country than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, Peter Baker writes. Trump has altered foreign policy, gutted government agencies, undertaken a campaign of retribution and upended global trade. Read about the different ways he’s made his mark. Trump marked his 100th day with a rally in Michigan, where he celebrated his border crackdown and dismissed his falling poll numbers as rigged. The late night hosts also graded the government. The Daily is on Trump’s first 100 days. Below, Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent, explains Trump’s reliance on executive orders. Click the video to watch. HARVEY WEINSTEIN’S (NEW) TRIAL Harvey Weinstein at a Manhattan court. Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times The disgraced Hollywood producer whose downfall propelled the #MeToo movement is back in a New York courtroom. That’s because New York’s top court overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape and a criminal sexual act. What happens now? I asked Hurubie Meko, who is covering his new trial for The Times. — Adam B. Kushner Why is Harvey Weinstein on trial again? New York’s Court of Appeals said Weinstein had been deprived of a fair trial, because several women accused him of doing bad things to them even though they were not named in the charges against him. Now he’s being retried — this time with a new indictment. The charges are different this time? Yes, partly. A jury convicted Weinstein of rape and a criminal sexual act but acquitted him on three other charges, including accusations that he was a sexual predator. On those acquittals, he can’t be retried. This case is about sexual crimes against three women (two from before, plus a new one). They, but no other victims, will testify about Weinstein’s behavior toward them. Could he get out of prison if he wins this case? No. Weinstein was also convicted in California on sex-crime charges and sentenced to 16 years there. (He is appealing.) If he is acquitted in New York, he’ll begin his prison sentence there. THE LATEST NEWS Tariffs Trump reduced some auto tariffs after U.S. carmakers complained that the levies would squeeze their profits. General Motors abandoned a previous forecast for solid profit growth this year because of uncertainty created by Trump’s policies. Trump’s tariffs have already slowed manufacturing activity in China. The White House attacked Amazon after a report that the company planned to display tariff costs in its listings. Amazon denied it. By the end of the day, Trump was praising Jeff Bezos. Immigration The Trump administration sent the mother of a 2-year-old girl to Venezuela and the father to a Salvadoran prison. The toddler is now in foster care in the U.S. In an ABC interview, Trump said he is able but not willing to bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the wrongly deported Maryland man, back from El Salvador. More on the Trump Administration The Trump administration fired Biden appointees — including Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’s husband — from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum board. A judge ordered the government to pay grant money it withheld from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a news organization that reports in countries with limited press freedom. Lawyers for Trump and Paramount are to begin mediation over Trump’s lawsuit accusing “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with Harris. Vietnam War Anniversary The Vietnam War officially ended 50 years ago today. Photojournalists captured the conflict’s horror and destruction. Their images reshaped politics — and how America saw itself. Damien Cave, The Times’s current Vietnam bureau chief, guides you through some of the most memorable photographs of the era here. For more: Vietnam has transformed in recent years. Poverty has dramatically declined, globalization has created both pressure and opportunity, and optimism is high. Canada Election Mark Carney’s Liberal Party narrowly failed to win a majority of seats in Canada’s Parliament. He’ll be in power, but he will need help from smaller parties to pass legislation. Carney won a rare fourth term for the Liberals by persuading Canadians he was the right person to stand up to Trump. Now he has to deliver — and quickly, Matina Stevis-Gridneff writes. More International News After the terrorist attack in Kashmir, Indian Muslims are bracing for an intensified campaign of oppression. “My children ask when their father will come home”: Pakistan has deported thousands of Afghan refugees, breaking families apart. In Syria, at least 12 people were killed in clashes after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Education Harvard’s president apologized and promised changes after the university released reports on antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. Colleges targeted by Trump are spending much more on lobbying, a Times analysis found. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, announced a budget agreement that includes an all-day ban on cellphones in schools. Other Big Stories A cardinal had threatened to crash the conclave even though Pope Francis had stripped him of the right to vote. He now says he’ll sit it out. A U.S. Navy fighter jet fell off an aircraft carrier and sank into the Red Sea after the crew lost control of it. Opinions Congress needs to act now to prevent DOGE from using Americans’ information to create a surveillance state, Julia Angwin writes. Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s 100 days of destruction. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS Sister Monica Clare Lila Barth for The New York Times Sister Monica Clare: She aspired to a career in comedy. Now, she’s a nun with a popular TikTok account. The kids are … : Not as happy as they used to be, a study finds. Most clicked yesterday: This kids’ crossword, constructed by 8-year-old Kaela Curry and Nate Curry, 10. Trending online yesterday: UPS plans to cut 20,000 jobs this year and wants to halve the number of Amazon packages it delivers. Lives Lived: Jane Gardam’s novels captured with wit and concision the last rays of the sun setting on the British Empire and the lifestyles that were extinguished with it. She died at 96. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Pacers eliminated the Bucks in an overtime win. This could signal the end of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee. N.H.L.: For the second straight game, the Senators avoided elimination with a huge win over the playoff-weary Maple Leafs. The Battle of Ontario is tense again. ARTS AND IDEAS Luann de Lesseps and her suitors. Ana York/Bravo Last year, it felt like movies about romantic relationships between older women and younger men were everywhere, “Babygirl” and “The Idea of You” among them. Now reality television is catching up. This summer’s “Bachelor in Paradise” will feature a wide range of ages dating alongside each other. And on Bravo’s “Love Hotel,” three women over 50 search for love among a group of men from their 30s to their 60s. More on culture The latest it accessory is the cross necklace, which has been seen on pop stars and White House staffers alike. Millennials helped make tattoos more commonplace. As they approach middle age, some want their body art gone, GQ reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Try this beef fried rice, a perfect weeknight meal. Avoid these toxic relationship habits. Get an umbrella for your patio this summer. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was fidgety. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 1, 2025 Author Members Posted May 1, 2025 May 1, 2025 Good morning. The United States and Ukraine reached a minerals deal. The private statements of El Salvador’s president on deportations don’t match his public persona. Kamala Harris is back in political life. More news is below. But first, a Supreme Court reporter and an education reporter explain religion’s new role in schools. A girl in Nevada leads her class in the Pledge of Allegiance with her hand on a Bible. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times Faith in schools By Adam Liptak I cover the Supreme Court. In just the last month, the Supreme Court has heard three important religion cases, culminating in yesterday’s argument over a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. Judging from the justices’ questioning, the side pressing religious-freedom claims seemed likely to prevail in all three. That would extend a remarkable winning streak for religion at the Supreme Court. Since 2012, the pro-religion side has won all but one of 16 First Amendment cases about the government’s relationship with faith. (The exception: The court rejected a challenge to the first Trump administration’s ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.) The court has been especially active in cases involving religious education. It said if the government was helping private schools, it couldn’t exclude religious ones. It exempted religious schools from anti-discrimination laws. In one pending case, the justices seemed poised to let parents with religious objections withdraw their children during discussions of gay and transgender themes. Yesterday they seemed likely to let a Catholic organization start a charter school in Oklahoma — which would make it the first religious school to get state charter funds. A 2021 study of religion rulings since Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court in 2005 found that the Roberts court ruled in favor of religious people and groups over 83 percent of the time, compared with about 50 percent of the time for other courts since 1953. “In most of these cases, the winning religion was a mainstream Christian organization, whereas in the past pro-religion outcomes more frequently favored minority or marginal religious organizations,” the study’s authors — Lee Epstein, of Washington University in St. Louis, and Eric Posner, of the University of Chicago — wrote. If the court rules in favor of religious claims in all three of the pending cases, that figure will rise to 88 percent. A movement By Sarah Mervosh I cover education. Regardless of what the justices decide about yesterday’s Oklahoma case, state money is already helping faith bloom in American education. The main vehicle is via school vouchers, which have proliferated in Republican-led states. Vouchers allow you to use taxpayer money — funds the government would have spent on a public school — to pay for your kid’s private school (or home-school supplies). More than half of states have such programs, and more than one million students use them, double the number in 2019. The Supreme Court blessed vouchers for religious schools in a 2002 case, but their use took off after the pandemic as more states embraced them widely. In states like Florida, where vouchers have expanded to be available to all students, some religious schools now receive nearly all of their funding from state dollars, said Doug Tuthill, who helps manage Florida’s program. States are looking for other ways to expand religion in public schools, too. Oklahoma wants to put Bibles in its classrooms. Louisiana is in a legal battle to get the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Texas is considering a similar move. State lawmakers pushing to expand religion in public schools sometimes cite the Supreme Court rulings that my colleague Adam mentions above, such as a 2022 decision siding with a football coach who prayed at the 50-yard line after games. “There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in our Constitution, and recent Supreme Court decisions by President Trump’s appointees reaffirmed this,” said a lawmaker in Texas, who put forth a bill proposing prayer in schools. TRUMP’S DEPORTATION ALLY Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador. Eric Lee/The New York Times By Zolan Kanno-Youngs I cover the White House. In public, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is full MAGA. He swoons about President Trump. He trolls American judges who impede Trump’s immigration crackdown. He lets Trump ship deportees to a prison in his country designed for terrorists. He says he will not hand over a Maryland resident wrongly sent there. But in private, Bukele was more equivocal. My colleagues and I reported a big new story about the Salvadoran deportations and found that there are limits to his willingness to host Trump’s penal colony. During negotiations with the United States, Bukele told Trump’s advisers he would jail “convicted criminals” but not non-Salvadorans whose only crime was being in the United States illegally. Bukele worried about how that would look at home. He could not convince Salvadorans he was prioritizing their national interests if he turned their country into a dumping ground for U.S. deportees, he explained to Trump aides. This caused a problem almost immediately. The Trump administration sent 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, saying they were members of Tren de Aragua, a gang. Bukele wanted to see the evidence. U.S. officials scrambled to gather evidence. They sent the Salvadorans a scorecard created by the Homeland Security Department in which the men were assigned points for different attributes. Having a lot of tattoos was worth four points, for instance. If a deportee got a score of eight points or more, he was considered a gang member. That — and a coveted trip to the Oval Office — appeared to satisfy Bukele. The Salvadoran leader continued to accept U.S. deportees, whom the U.S. labels “violent criminals,” and he still enjoys a close bond with Trump. Mohsen Mahdawi Amanda Swinhart/Associated Press Related: A judge ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a green-card holder whom the Trump administration tried to deport because he helped lead pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia. THE LATEST NEWS Ukraine Minerals Deal The United States and Ukraine agreed to a deal that creates an investment fund to search for minerals in Ukraine, and set outs how revenues would be split between the countries. Zelensky proposed the deal last year, hoping to improve relations with Trump. The deal aims to give Trump a personal stake in Ukraine’s fate and to address his concerns that the U.S. has provided Ukraine with a blank check to fight Russia. The U.S. did not immediately provide details about the agreement, and it was not clear what it meant for the future of American military support for Ukraine. The Economy Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis | By The New York Times The economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, a sharp reversal from the previous quarter’s strong growth. The decline, however, may not be as bad as it sounds. It mostly reflects quirks in the way we measure economic activity. (Ben Casselman, The Times’s chief economic correspondent, explained those quirks in detail.) The data suggests that the economy would be solid if Trump’s tariffs didn’t fuel uncertainty and scare American consumers and businesses. David Sanger, a White House correspondent, explained how Trump’s own policies strike directly at his political appeal as a competent steward of the economy. The report doesn’t cover the period after what Trump called Liberation Day, when he announced tariffs that tanked stock markets and launched a trade war with China. In other words, tariffs could make coming reports worse. We just don’t know how much worse yet. — German Lopez, writer for The Morning The Senate rejected an effort to undo Trump’s tariffs. Toy makers, children’s shops and specialty retailers are preparing to pause their Christmas orders. (China produces most of America’s toys and Christmas goods.) In a televised cabinet meeting, Trump acknowledged the possible impact of tariffs: “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.” The S&P 500 has fallen 7 percent since Trump took office. That’s the worst start to a presidential term since Gerald Ford in 1974. Adidas said that its sneakers and sportswear would cost more in the U.S. Tariffs led Japan to slash its economic growth forecast. More on Trump In an interview, Trump insisted that the man his administration had mistakenly deported to El Salvador had a gang name tattooed on his hand. He was referring to a photoshopped image, and the White House couldn’t explain why. Late night covered the interview. “I don’t regret voting for him”: The Times asked seven Americans for their thoughts on Trump’s second term. Watch the video. International In Birmingham, England. Andrew Testa for The New York Times Nigel Farage, an ally of Trump, is bringing MAGA-style rallies to Britain. A tourist’s selfie video from a zip line captured a terrorist attack in Kashmir. See the video and read more about Kashmir. South Korea will use drones at airports to help prevent bird strikes, in response to a plane crash late last year that killed 179 people. International travel to the U.S. hasn’t changed much since Trump took office, a Times analysis found — though visits from Canada have dropped sharply. See the charts, which use airport data. Israel launched airstrikes on Syria and threatened to strike government forces there if clashes persist between pro-government fighters and the country’s Druse minority. Wildfires forced the Israeli government to close major roads, evacuate several towns near Jerusalem and call for international assistance. Other Big Stories Kamala Harris, who’s rarely spoken out since leaving Washington, delivered a major address. She warned of a constitutional crisis. Google’s chief executive told a federal judge that a government proposal to break up the company would harm innovation and hobble the business. Heavy rain and wind killed at least four people in Pennsylvania. OPINIONS Damon Winter/The New York Times Damon Winter photographed portraits of Trump’s cabinet. An accompanying essay by David French considers their devotion to the MAGA movement. The U.S. needs to increase its military spending to counter emboldened adversaries, Mackenzie Eaglen and Brady Africk write. Singapore is becoming an autocracy of a kind its founder did not envision, writes Lee Hsien Yang, one of his sons. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS Bridget Bennett for The New York Times The Tactical Games: It’s like CrossFit, but with guns. Gull Scream Championship: Bird imitators from all over Europe brought their best squawks and struts to a contest in Belgium. See a video. Social Q’s: “My girlfriend won’t introduce me to her children or friends. Help!” Most clicked yesterday: A video of Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent, explaining why Trump is signing so many executive orders. Lives Lived: Julia Parsons was a U.S. Navy code breaker during World War II, among the last survivors of a top-secret team of women that unscrambled messages to and from German U-boats. She died at 104. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Lakers’ season is over after a 103-96 loss to the Timberwolves last night, eliminating the league’s flashiest team after just one round. Trending online yesterday: People were searching for Rudy Gobert, who had a stellar game for the Timberwolves. College football: The North Carolina coach Bill Belichick, 73, criticized CBS after an interview that asked him about his 24-year-old girlfriend. M.L.B.: In Pittsburgh, a fan fell from the stands at PNC Park and was hospitalized. ARTS AND IDEAS The fallen whale. Jules Jacobs A diver visited a fallen whale. When he returned, it was gone. So how does an 18-foot-long, 2,000-pound carcass just disappear? That question has puzzled some divers who regularly plunge into the waters off San Diego. We called experts for an answer. More on culture Brain rot, Italian style. Created using A.I. by Susanu Sava-Tudor. Meet Ballerina Cappuccina: An absurd group of A.I.-generated characters are flooding TikTok, all vaguely — and inexplicably — related to Italian culture. And on that note: We know that the internet can be confusing. Trends spring up seemingly out of nowhere, and memes often feel impossible to parse. Send The Morning your questions about internet culture and we’ll answer them in a future edition. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Make a vegetarian pad Thai. Share your funniest (and most heartfelt) dad texts. See the world through a dog’s eyes in this documentary about truffle hunting. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were diagonal and loading. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 2, 2025 Author Members Posted May 2, 2025 May 2, 2025 Good morning. Zelensky’s fortunes may have turned in the White House. Trump signed an executive order seeking to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. Trump looms over Australia’s election. More news is below. But first, Ana Swanson explains how the U.S. is trying to negotiate new trade deals In Guangzhou, China. Qilai Shen for The New York Times Dealmakers? By Ana Swanson I cover trade. Today, President Trump ended a rule that let cheap Chinese goods bypass U.S. tariffs. The move closes a loophole, the “de minimis” exemption, that many U.S. businesses say gave China an unfair advantage. But it will also raise prices for American consumers on platforms like Amazon, Shein and Temu that took advantage of that provision. Now products on those apps face the same tariffs as other Chinese goods, a minimum of 145 percent. Trump says he is giving other countries a chance to avoid steep levies by making trade deals. His administration is negotiating with more than a dozen other nations before a self-imposed deadline of July 8. The president styles himself as a consummate dealmaker, but this will test even his abilities. U.S. trade negotiators, already short-handed, are negotiating simultaneously with India, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and others. Today’s newsletter is about how these talks might go. A long game Trump imposed, quickly withdrew and then threatened to bring back huge tariffs on dozens of countries. Immediately, they began calling and asking what they could do to stop him. “More than 100 countries have already come to the table looking to offer more favorable terms for America and our people,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said at a briefing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday. “There has never been a president who has created his own leverage like this president.” What can Trump get? For starters, some countries are offering to lower their own tariffs on American exports and cut red tape that keeps U.S. businesses out. India said it might lower its tariffs on U.S. farm goods, while Europeans may drop them on cars and machinery if Washington agrees to do the same. But finalizing granular deals with all these countries is unlikely, given that traditional agreements typically take more than a year to negotiate. Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, has calculated that, on average, trade deals signed by the United States take 18 months to negotiate and 45 months to implement. Government officials are chatting each day with a dizzying carousel of foreign governments, in person and in video calls, to solve trade spats that have persisted for decades. Longstanding trade fights between countries exist for many reasons: Europeans don’t want to import any U.S. meat treated with chlorine or hormones that they ban, for example. Which is why, instead of finalizing new agreements by July 8, the White House may be able to offer only a plan for future negotiations. And even if talks opened more markets for U.S. exporters, they probably would not solve another problem Trump has fixated on: trade deficits. That’s when one country buys more from another country than it sells to it. The United States has a big overall trade deficit that Trump officials are trying to eliminate, but it’s unlikely that a few limited trade deals will do the trick. Washington vs. Beijing The biggest challenge of all is Trump’s standoff with China. Because Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own, it got no relief when Trump suspended tariffs for everyone else. Thanks to the triple-digit levies, much trade has come to a standstill. Companies that depend on China are careening toward bankruptcy, my colleague Daisuke Wakabayashi reports. After watching stock markets and companies react badly to the tariffs, Trump officials would clearly like an amicable solution. But they’re reluctant to wind down tariffs without any concessions from Beijing. China’s position seems to be that this battle makes no sense and that giving way would only invite future blackmail. U.S. tariffs hurt Chinese exporters, but Beijing is also focused on winning a symbolic battle — and expanding its trade relationships with other countries around the world. So for now, the standoff continues, while losses pile up for companies that depend on trade. Related: How might today’s change affect your next online order? We explain here. THE LATEST NEWS Trump’s Cabinet Shake-up Mike Waltz. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Trump removed Michael Waltz from his role as national security adviser and nominated him as U.N. ambassador. Waltz’s standing in the White House has been precarious since March, when an editor at The Atlantic reported that Waltz had added him to a group chat about military strikes in Yemen. Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would serve as his interim national security adviser. Rubio now has four titles, including acting administrator of U.S.A.I.D. and acting archivist for the National Archives. Late night hosts joked about Waltz, and he was a trending topic on Google. Immigration A federal judge, whom Trump appointed, permanently barred the administration from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans from a Texas district. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it remove protections that have allowed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to remain in the U.S. A six-day immigration sweep in Florida resulted in the arrests of more than 1,100 people. More on Politics A minerals deal with the U.S. gave Ukraine new hope that the countries’ relationship could recover after a televised shouting match between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump signed an executive order that seeks to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. He accused them of “left-wing propaganda.” Demonstrators marched in big cities like New York and Chicago, and in smaller communities like Norman, Okla., and Hendersonville, N.C., for May Day protests denouncing the Trump administration. A Trump appointee at the Justice Department ordered an aggressive investigation into student protesters at Columbia University. Career officials and judges pushed back. The Justice Department lifted a ban on using court orders, warrants and subpoenas to obtain reporters’ phone records and notes in leak investigations. Federal health officials published a report, ordered by Trump, that said gender treatments for young people lacked scientific evidence. University Funding Cuts Source: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics | Note: Numbers are for fiscal year 2023. | By The New York Times The Trump administration has targeted a few elite universities with its threats of funding cuts. But, as the map above shows, many more schools are vulnerable to cuts: In 2023 alone, around $60 billion flowed from the federal government to universities in all 50 states. Here are more maps showing funding across the U.S. Related: Two professors at Rutgers called on universities to commit to defending one another from the administration’s threats. More than a dozen schools have joined them. International Nigel Farage Peter Byrne/Press Association, via Associated Press In England, Nigel Farage, the leader of an anti-immigration party and a longtime campaigner for Brexit, is again becoming popular. His party just won a parliamentary special election. Australians are voting in an election this weekend. This time, they’re thinking about Trump, not China. A Kenyan lawmaker was gunned down in Nairobi by a motorcycle-riding assassin. The police described the attack as “targeted and premeditated.” On YouTube, the C.I.A. is posting videos that aim to recruit Chinese officials to spy for the agency. Business General Motors cut its profit forecast for 2025 by more than 20 percent and said that Trump’s tariffs would increase its costs by up to $5 billion this year. The chair of Tesla’s board of directors denied a report that the company had begun to look for a replacement for Elon Musk, the chief executive. Americans are spending less money, even at McDonald’s. Quarterly sales at the fast-food giant dipped by 3.6 percent in the U.S. Kohl’s fired its chief executive because he had directed the company to conduct business with a vendor he had an undisclosed relationship with. Other Big Stories A streak of warm weather has been breaking records in London, though officials had to dismiss data from one location because of interference from a portable toilet. A Brazilian nun who was the world’s oldest person died at 116. OREGON DISPATCH Outside Bend, Ore. Michael Hanson for The New York Times By Rukmini Callimachi Reporting from the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon. Leaflets on the windows of beat-up R.V.s warned the more than 100 homeless people who live in this stretch of forest outside Bend, Ore., to get out by 12:01 a.m. Thursday, or else face a $5,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that cities could ban homeless encampments, even if there are no shelter beds available. Scores of cities have since enacted rules that penalize people who sleep outdoors or in their cars. As the deadline approached, people worked frantically to fix derelict vehicles. In the dark, they replaced dead batteries, busted tires, broken transmissions and faulty wiring. There are only around 500 shelter beds in Bend, which are nearly always full. Many of the people I interviewed in the forest told me they planned to move to a different patch of federal land on the north side of Bend — not because they want to, but because they have nowhere else to go. For more, read my full story on the removal, which one advocacy group called “the largest eviction of a homeless camp in recent history.” OPINIONS Americans need to build a broad coalition of diverse political affiliations to oppose Trump’s attack on democracy, the Editorial Board writes. Here is a column by David Brooks on keeping faith under Trump. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS What makes you happy? Take this quiz to find out which kind of well-being you tend to value most. Modern Love: We found intimacy in figuring out how to pay the rent. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about the mystery of a missing whale carcass. Trending online yesterday: Jill Sobule, the singer and songwriter whose hit “Supermodel” and gay anthem “I Kissed a Girl” were followed by three decades of touring, advocacy and a one-woman musical, died in a house fire in Woodbury, Minn. She was 66. SPORTS N.H.L.: Toronto beat its rival Ottawa in a first-round series win. Edmonton and Las Vegas also advanced, while Colorado forced a Game 7 matchup with Dallas. N.B.A.: The Knicks also advanced to the second round with a 116-113 win over the Pistons. The Clippers and Nuggets are heading to their own Game 7 after Los Angeles’ win. PAYING FOR COLLEGE By Ron Lieber I write the Your Money column. Yesterday was decision day, and most college-bound teens now know which school they will attend. They may have also figured out that financial aid doesn’t work the way it used to. Back in the day — when I was in college — financial aid generally went to people like me who needed it. Now, there’s a whole world of merit aid and “presidential” scholarships — discounts for people who, schools say, earned them because of how they’ve done in high school — that are much less predictable. At plenty of private colleges and universities, most applicants get five figures off the list price each year, even if their parents are multimillionaires. The average tuition discount is 56 percent. Here’s another way things are different: Most schools have consultants in the background giving them advice on how much of a discount to offer. They use data about your family to decide. In a new article, I explain exactly what these consultancies — many owned by private equity firms — know and do. They can start with where you live. That’s a good proxy for your income, even if you haven’t told the school how much you make. They may rank your teenager’s high school and use up to 200 other data points to assess their likelihood of saying yes to a certain price and staying for four years. Transferring out means lost revenue, after all. Then, once the consultants detect a teenager’s interest, they measure whether a prospect opens email, responds to texts, clicks links and explores college websites. Algorithms digest the data and suggest a discount for each student. The awards are designed to make adolescents feel just exalted enough to say yes while still extracting the maximum number of dollars from each family. ARTS AND IDEAS Sasha Arutyunova for The New York Times As a maker of prosthetic eyes, Christina Leitzel was told as an apprentice to treat her craft much as an expert art forger would: create a perfect match of one of nature’s most intricate canvases. Her designs, however, include pupils painted in the shape of a sunflower and the diamond slit of a beloved cat. More on culture In an unusually starry Broadway season, George Clooney, Mia Farrow, Sarah Snook and Sadie Sink all picked up Tony nominations. Russell Brand appeared before a London court today on multiple charges of sexual assault. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … David Malosh for The New York Times Make a simple mint julep at home. Save time and money at the airport. Add these barbecue sauces to your summer cookout. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was complete. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 4, 2025 Author Members Posted May 4, 2025 May 3, 2025 Good morning. Memorizing a poem is like taking a work of art that you love and letting it live and bloom inside of you. María Jesús Contreras Memory palace By Melissa Kirsch The first poem I memorized was “Pinkle Purr” by A.A. Milne. I was around seven years old when I encountered it and was immediately enchanted. It’s a children’s poem, four stanzas, all with the same hypnotic AA/BB/AA rhyme scheme. It’s a poem about a kitten, Pinkle Purr, and his mother, Tattoo, and their changing relationship as Pinkle Purr grows up, a sort of “Cat’s in the Cradle” for kids, but less sad. I don’t remember making any effort to memorize it; I just read the poem so many times that it worked its way into me, such that I knew it as well as I knew the theme songs to my favorite TV shows. I’d walk around muttering to myself, trying out different voices and syllable stresses: “Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr/A little black nothing of feet and fur;/And by-and-by, when his eyes came through,/He saw his mother, the big Tattoo.” It was meditative, comforting, an internal metronome that I naturally returned to when I returned to myself. Perhaps because I started memorizing poems early, before I was forced to do so in school, I never perceived the process as onerous, but rather as a fun challenge, a way to take something I loved and make it a part of me. As a graduate student, I memorized Galway Kinnell’s “Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight,” lines from which still regularly surface in my brain unbidden — “Kiss the mouth / that tells you, here, / here is the world” — even though I can’t recall the whole thing anymore. I love that, amid the practical information and persistent worries and memories good and bad, my mind’s archive contains these bits of beauty, lyrics that float up into consciousness, lovely echoes. This past week, The Times Book Review ran a weeklong challenge to help readers memorize Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Recuerdo,” replete with games and videos. (Ethan Hawke’s recitation of “We were very tired, we were very merry, / We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry” is delightful and dramatic; I’d like to hear him do “Pinkle Purr.”) I’m obviously the exact audience for this type of thing, but even if you’re the sort who thinks of memorizing verse as homework, I think this challenge will make you reconsider. The poem is dazzling, and the challenge’s structure makes it almost effortless to absorb it. I love what A.O. Scott and Aliza Aufrichtig write in their introduction: “At a time when we are flooded with texts, rants and A.I. slop, a poem occupies a quieter, less commodified corner of your consciousness. It’s a flower in the windowbox of your mind.” The flower in my mind’s windowbox that blooms most satisfyingly is “Spelt From Sibyl’s Leaves,” by the late-19th century English poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. I memorized it for the first time maybe 20 years ago, and I have made a point of re-memorizing it at regular intervals, whenever I go to recite it and find I can’t do it perfectly without hesitation. It’s a strange, propulsive poem whose rhythm, language and imagery I love so deeply — “Earnest, earthless, equal, attuneable, ‘ vaulty, voluminous, … stupendous / Evening strains to be time’s vást, ‘ womb-of-all, home-of-all, hearse-of-all night” — that reciting it is a sort of ecstasy. I found out only recently that Hopkins insisted that the poem should not just be read with the eye, but loudly performed, “almost sung.” In the shower. While driving to work or making dinner. On those insomniac nights when you can’t stop fretting and wish you had something, anything else to think about. This is when memorized poems are most valuable. You can run over the lines in your head, or you can open your mouth, call the verse up from the recesses of your memory, and sing. THE LATEST NEWS The Trump Administration President Trump at the White House on Thursday. Pete Marovich for The New York Times President Trump’s budget blueprint would cut $163 billion from housing, education, health and more, while increasing defense spending. The budget would cut nondefense funding to its lowest level since at least the 1960s. The C.I.A. plans to cut more than 1,000 staff positions over the next few years as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government. U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April, a steady hiring pace that showed that the labor market remained in good condition. Wall Street erased losses from April’s sharp sell-off as hope for trade talks dampened investors’ tariffs fears. Trump renewed his threat to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Harvard said there was “no legal basis” for the change. Robert Kennedy Jr. will direct federal health agencies to explore potential new treatments for measles, including vitamins, instead of urging vaccinations. International Germany’s domestic intelligence service has classified the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which some polls show as the most popular in the country, as extremist. Explosions crippled a ship carrying 16 people and humanitarian aid to Gaza. The source of the explosions has not been determined. Regulators in Europe fined TikTok $600 million for sending user data to China. In a BBC interview, Prince Harry said he would love to reconcile with his family and that he didn’t know how long King Charles, who has cancer, had left to live. Paramilitary forces killed more than 100 civilians in an attack on a city in southern Sudan, according to an association of doctors. Other Top Stories An Illinois judge sentenced a man to 53 years in prison in the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy. A pickup truck and a passenger van carrying a tour group collided near Yellowstone National Park, killing seven people. Google said it would make its A.I. chatbot available to children next week, and it warned families of potential risks. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios Florence Pugh stars in “Thunderbolts*,” the latest Marvel vehicle. Our critic calls the film “fitfully amusing, sometimes touching and resolutely formulaic.” Read the review. Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” was given a limited release, more than three years after its cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was shot and killed on the set. Many fans associate Nicolas Cage’s career with his most unhinged characters. Alissa Wilkinson, a Times critic, makes the case that his work is more soulful than he’s given credit for. Tony Nominations The Tony nominations were announced this week. George Clooney, Mia Farrow and Sadie Sink were all recognized for their work in an unusually starry Broadway season. Read a review of “Death Becomes Her,” which tied for the most nominations with “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Maybe Happy Ending.” See the full list of nominations. Music For decades, Sean Combs faced allegations of violence or serious misconduct, with few consequences. As he stands trial later this month, he faces the most serious challenge to his largely charmed life. Jack Black returned to the charts with “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” a 34-second song from “A Minecraft Movie.” (He has charted before, with a song from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”) The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. CULTURE CALENDAR By Alexis Soloski ? “Friendship” (Friday): It can be hard to make friends as an adult. It’s that much harder when you are as terminally awkward as Craig (Tim Robinson), a gormless digital strategist slogging through middle age in a grim suburb. On shows like “I Think You Should Leave” and “Detroiters,” Robinson has made a study of unhinged Everymen. Craig is one more. At the urging of his wife Tami (Kate Mara), a florist and cancer survivor, he makes overtures to an affable new neighbor (Paul Rudd). In Andrew DeYoung’s directorial debut, which has its dial set to maximum cringe, intimacy quickly cedes to light stalking and gun play. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Kelly Marshall for The New York Times By Melissa Clark Asparagus Ricotta Pasta It’s asparagus season in much of the country, and Christian Reynoso’s lemon-scented asparagus ricotta pasta is a perfect showcase for those grass-green stalks. The sauce is a snap to make: just a dollop of ricotta, thinned out with a little pasta cooking water, which gets tossed with the pasta and crisp-tender asparagus spears. Then a topping of garlicky toasted almonds is sprinkled on top, adding crunch, while a few dashes of hot sauce zips up everything. REAL ESTATE Steven Ferrier and Kelly O’Connell George Etheredge for The New York Times The Hunt: A couple left Queens for Manhattan with $600,000 and a short wish list. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $625,000: An American Foursquare house in Newburgh, N.Y.; an 1810 Saltbox in Sandwich, Mass.; or a 1908 Craftsman bungalow in Portland, Ore. Listed: The longtime Upper East Side home of Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary is up for sale. See inside. IN THE COMMENTS By Katherine Rosman I published a story this week about the collision between a 25-year-old TikTok influencer and a Reddit community that took aggressive measures to paint her as a fraud. In a voluminous collection of videos, the influencer, Sydney Towle, discussed her efforts to live a full life while she received treatments for a rare cancer. Her critics accused her of faking the illness. SydTowleSnark was one of innumerable Reddit “snark pages” or “snark subreddits,” forums where people congregate under the veil of anonymity to critique and mock influencers and celebrities. My article attracted hundreds of comments on The Times’s site, many about the perils of sharing one’s private life on the internet. “Social media is poison,” as one reader put it. “The cruelty and unkindness people inflict on one another under the guise of anonymity is breathtakingly awful” another person wrote, saying that the “litmus test” should be: “are you courageous enough to put your name and face to those thoughts?” Dozens of readers reflected on their own experiences with cancer and said that, like Towle, they did not always “look” sick. “I did not lose my hair, and most of the time you wouldn’t have known anything was amiss,” one reader wrote. “Cancer doesn’t always look like we assume it looks.” The comments also included gems like this piece of advice, which I plan to (try to) live by: “Don’t accept criticism from someone that you wouldn’t accept advice from.” Over on Reddit, the article kicked up a lot of dust. One moderator spilled 1,100 words in a takedown that criticized all the perceived problems with what I wrote, meaning that my article, fittingly, got the full snark page treatment. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Find a great Mother’s Day gift Nearly every Wirecutter mom with small children had the same answer for the best gift they have ever received: a few hours to themselves. Whether you’re shopping for a mother of toddlers or grown-ups, our gift experts say you can never go wrong with a bouquet of pretty flowers or a box of excellent chocolates. We have plenty of other more surprising and offbeat ideas, too, as well as some lovely options under $50. And don’t overlook the gift of something sentimental. “So often the labor of memory-keeping falls to moms,” our gifts editor, Hannah Morrill, says. Consider taking that off their plate with something meaningful — perhaps a piece of their kids’ art encased in a beautiful frame. — Haley Jo Lewis GAME OF THE WEEK Journalism training at Churchill Downs this week. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images The 151st Kentucky Derby: A horse named Journalism is the favorite in today’s race, with 3-to-1 odds. How on earth does a horse get a name like Journalism? Its co-owner, Aron Wellman, told LAist the name is partly a reflection of the horse’s lineage — its mother was named Mopotism — and partly his own, as a former sports editor of his high school newspaper. This isn’t the first newspaper-inspired horse name in the Derby, as Jason Frakes noted in the Louisville Courier Journal: Newsboy finished 11th in 1882, Media was fifth in 1975 and Editor’s Note came in sixth in 1996. Suddenbreakingnews (fifth in 2016) and Mr. Big News (third in 2020) were in the hunt in recent years. Third place isn’t bad. But, if you’ll allow us a little media bias, it would be nice to see Journalism get a win. Derby coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC; post time is 6:57 p.m. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was virology. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 4, 2025 Author Members Posted May 4, 2025 May 4, 2025 Good morning. The Trump administration accused Colorado and Denver in a lawsuit of impeding its immigration efforts. Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Russia’s three-day cease-fire proposal. And Warren Buffett announced that he will step down as the head of his trillion-dollar conglomerate. More news is below. But first, we look at how people are searching for belonging. Iris Legendre ‘Believing’ and belonging By Lauren Jackson I spent the past year reporting on how we believe now. Last week, Dwight from “The Office” called me to talk about God. Almost. It was the actor who played Dwight, Rainn Wilson. He’d read my essay that launched “Believing,” a project on how people find meaning in their lives — in religion, spirituality or anywhere. He’d written a best-selling book on the topic, one that was so self-aware and funny I actually laughed out loud. He just wanted to connect. That seems to be a theme. Since I published “Believing,” I’ve heard from thousands of Morning readers. Everyone has a story to share about belief, no matter how they come at the topic. My inbox is now a microcosm of the internet: MAGA bros, professors, wellness influencers, theologians, climate activists, pop psychologists, grandmothers and a source who sent me an unpublished letter from Pope Francis. I heard from people across America and around the world, including Brazil, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia. In the messages, a clear trend emerged that unites this very disparate group: People crave meaningful connection. In “Believing,” I explained that religion offers people three B’s: beliefs about the world, behaviors to follow and belonging in a community or culture. Readers seized on the last one. They said they wanted to belong — in rich, profound and sustained ways. It makes sense. A major, global study recently released by Harvard and Baylor universities affirmed what so much other data has shown: People flourish — they live happier, healthier and better lives — if they have strong social connections. It also found that religions, for all their reputational baggage, can provide people with robust communities. The power of belonging In “Believing,” I shared that I once belonged to a strong community — that I was raised Mormon in Arkansas but that I have since left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was vulnerable and weird and hard for me to talk about. Still, it seemed to be a catalyst for connection. Soon, my inbox was filled with personal stories. “She began with a personal testament of her own loss of faith, so forgive me if I too bare my soul,” Richard Dawkins, the famous advocate for atheism, replied in a letter to my article. I heard from Orthodox, secular and Messianic Jews; Catholics, lapsed and practicing; Muslims; Southern Baptists; Unitarian Universalists; Quakers; and Zen Buddhists. I heard from devotees of Alcoholics Anonymous and a secular-humanist organization in Houston. “I also grew up deeply faithful, as the son of a Presbyterian Minister,” the Rev. Duncan Newcomer wrote. “I had a deep love, like you, of the whole thing.” People said very little about God. The topic was simply a gateway to people’s most intimate worlds: childhoods, divorces, diagnoses, deathbed diary entries, unforgetten books and poems and passages. Bill Goodykoontz, from Maine, encouraged me to research “thin places” — spots in the world where people say they can feel something beyond themselves. All the messages point to something bigger. A structural issue People need to be in strong communities to flourish, defined as being in a state where all aspects of their lives are good. That’s what the Global Flourishing Study found last week. People are more likely to flourish in countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, where people report finding more meaning or purpose in their lives, than those in many more-developed nations. “The negative relationship between meaning and gross domestic product per capita is particularly striking,” they wrote. “We may need a reconsideration of spiritual pathways to well-being.” Kelsey Osgood, an author who was raised without religion, knows this. She converted to Orthodox Judaism in adulthood. She said people in her community offer support to one another reflexively — when someone is sick, hospitalized, grieving. “Everybody knows exactly what to do. Everybody knows where to go. You know what to say,” she said. Osgood said this makes the more taxing elements of religious practice “worth it” to her. The inverse is also true. When people feel exiled from their religious community — because of their politics, their sexuality or their beliefs — they often lose entire worlds. The grief that follows can be comprehensive. Many people stay away from faith communities, often for good. Others decide to come back, which seems to be contributing to the pause of secularization in America. Robert Stempkowski, a 62-year-old writer in Michigan, sent me a 36-page document about his journey with belief. He described a time when he was “shooting himself in the foot” as a “failed husband, absentee father and a drunken, former restaurant critic,” he said. “I was out of bullets and bylines.” He ultimately found his way back to church. I responded to his email and expressed my sincere gratitude that he took the time to write. He replied: “Thanks for letting me share.” Want to receive the next installment of “Believing” in your inbox? Sign up here. For more Iris Legendre A man’s friend was swept away on a beach in Lagos. It changed how he prayed. Read the latest essay from “Believing.” “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship,” David Foster Wallace once said. Tell us what you worship — whether you’re religious or not. PAPAL CONCLAVE Roman Catholic cardinals will gather in the Vatican to pick the next pope this week. We asked Emma Bubola, our colleague covering the conclave in Rome, which candidate is in the lead: “We are hearing lots of names, but the ones that keep coming up are Parolin, Pizzaballa and Tagle,” she said. From top: Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press; Brittainy Newman for The New York Times; Amir Levy/Getty Images For more: The conclave could be more fractious than usual. Pope Francis had appointed a record number of cardinals, which means unfamiliar faces with unfamiliar politics, Jason Horowitz and Emma write. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration The Trump administration sued Colorado and Denver, accusing the state and city of frustrating federal immigration actions. The lawsuit named Gov. Jared Polis as a defendant. The National Endowment for the Arts terminated grant offers to several arts organizations, hours after President Trump proposed eliminating the agency. The government has scrapped more than $800 million in research grants concerning the health of L.G.B.T. people, a Times analysis found. More on Politics “It feels like it is slipping away”: The Times interviewed people across the U.S. about the American dream. Congressional Republicans, making the most of their party’s governing trifecta, are using an obscure 1996 law to undo Biden-era regulations with a simple majority vote. Months before Joe Biden abandoned his re-election campaign, his aides had considered giving him a cognitive test but decided against it, according to a forthcoming book. War in Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a three-day cease-fire proposed by Russia, saying that such a short truce would not help negotiations for lasting peace. “There is no peace for the soul”: Russia lacks an organized system to track down its many missing soldiers, leaving relatives in limbo. Israel-Hamas War In Jabaliya, northern Gaza. Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza has led food and medical supplies to dwindle and preventable illnesses to surge. Israel, poised to expand its offensive in Gaza, plans to mobilize thousands of reserve soldiers. Other Big Stories Warren Buffett announced that he plans to step down as the head of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate he built into a $1.1 trillion colossus. Read about Gregory Abel, his chosen successor. A South Texas community, mostly made up of SpaceX employees, voted to formally establish a new city called Starbase. Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party, Reform U.K., is on the rise. After 100 years, it appears Britain’s two-party system may be crumbling, Stephen Castle writes. Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, did not position himself as an anti-Trump candidate. Anti-Trump sentiment helped him get re-elected anyway. THE SUNDAY DEBATE A hypothetical debate took over the internet last week: Who would win in a battle between 100 men and one gorilla? The men. Several coordinated and strategic waves of men charging at a gorilla would eventually wear the ape out. The gorilla would “certainly get tired, and probably fairly quickly,” because gorillas are “not endurance athletes” in the way humans are, Stacy Rosenbaum, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan, told Forbes. The gorilla. A mountain gorilla’s muscle mass, and its adaptations to live in high altitudes, would give the ape a clear advantage. The men would be “swatting at him like out-of-breath children, and a single one of his punches would floor them,” Cat Hobaiter, a primatologist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, told Rolling Stone. FROM OPINION When Spain went dark during a blackout, Paco Cerdà found comfort and joy in the community coming together for support and entertainment. Here is a column by Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s unpopularity. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS View from up high. Gordon Welters for The New York Times Travel: Spend 36 hours in Berlin. Most clicked yesterday: A couple left Queens for Manhattan with $650,000 and a short wish list. Which home did they choose? Play our game. Trending online yesterday: Sovereignty won the 151st Kentucky Derby. The favorite, Journalism, came in second. Vows: They kissed when the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Then they got to know each other. Lives Lived: Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a soccer-loving nun from Brazil, was believed to be the oldest person in the world. In the year she was born, the Model T was introduced by Henry Ford and insulin had not yet been discovered. Sister Inah died at 116. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “Matriarch,” by Tina Knowles: The hardcover of Knowles’s memoir is, like all books, a delight to hold. But the audio version is the best way to immerse yourself in this dishy, introspective best seller. Not only is it narrated by Knowles, we also get to hear Beyoncé, Solange Knowles and two “bonus daughters” talk briefly about what their mother means to them. In a nutshell: She’s a role model of faith and authenticity, to be underestimated at your peril. From her Galveston girlhood to the wings of the world’s stages, “Matriarch” drives home the fact that Tina Knowles is more than the sum of her famous daughters; she’s an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and an outspoken protector of all family members, born in and otherwise. More on books In the mood for a swoony romance novel? Let us help you. THE INTERVIEW Philip Montgomery for The New York Times By David Marchese This week’s subject is the poet and novelist Ocean Vuong. As a Vietnamese refugee whose childhood and young adult years were marked by low-paying work and alienation, Vuong seemed destined to stay on society’s margins. Until, that is, he discovered literature and his own enormous gift for writing. His new book, “The Emperor of Gladness,” will be published this month. It provided the occasion for one of the most emotionally intense interviews I’ve ever done. You also had the experience of being a caregiver for your mom when she was dying from cancer. I know that your mom had a sense of your accomplishments as a writer. But she was illiterate. Do you know if anyone ever read your work to her? I think it was hard for her to be in proximity of my reading and writing, because I was evidence of what she could have done if she had a normal life untouched by war. When I realized that, I stopped reading in front of her, because it was almost mocking. Also, where I’m from, reading itself is a class betrayal. Oh, you’re too good for us. You’re trying to read to go to college. You’re trying too hard to get out. How did becoming more educated and changing your social milieu affect your relationships with people? David, I still don’t understand it, because I’ve met so few people who’ve gone through it. I tried to explain this to my mother, the loneliness of class movement. It’s a lot of grief. Even with my colleagues, they’re all lovely, but I feel really alone in these spaces. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Skip a hangover with this lower-alcohol dirty martini. Loosen your hips. Try these bathroom-cleaning hacks. MEAL PLAN Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein recommends a new cauliflower Alfredo pasta from Eric Kim that’s already racking up five-star ratings. Emily also suggests making honey-garlic chicken with rice and something green, and slow-roasted citrus salmon with herb salad. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was technician. Can you put eight historical events — including the invention of the Tesla coil, the spread of paper, and the debut of “The Love Boat” — 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 5, 2025 Author Members Posted May 5, 2025 May 5, 2025 Good morning. Trump said he would impose a 100 percent tariff on movies made outside the U.S. The Brazilian police foil an attack on a Lady Gaga concert. And oil prices continue to fall. More news is below. But first, Stacy Cowley, a business reporter, answers readers’ questions about student loans. Columbia University. Marco Postigo Storel for The New York Times Your student loan questions By Stacy Cowley I cover consumer finance. For five years, more than 40 million Americans have not faced dire consequences if they failed to pay back their federal student loan debt. That ends today. As the coronavirus pandemic convulsed the economy, President Trump and Congress brought relief: They allowed borrowers to take a break from their payments. The government also froze the interest, meaning borrowers’ balances did not grow. People saved hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month. The measure was popular at the time. It let people improve their credit scores, pay down other debts and build savings. So officials extended the reprieve nine times — across the rest of Trump’s first term and most of former President Biden’s. But the government made those loans, and letting them go unpaid added to the deficit. Some economists also warned about sending the wrong message — that it was fine not to repay your debt. Eventually, the payment freeze ended, but policymakers said they wouldn’t penalize borrowers for late payments yet. Now even that break is gone, and late payments are showing up in credit reports for millions of people. Today, the government restarts collections on defaulted loans — first by docking tax refunds, then by garnishing paychecks and Social Security benefits. (Here’s what to know about it.) The Morning asked what you wanted to know about student loans. Today’s newsletter has the answers — and looks at what comes next. What happened to loan forgiveness? Soaring tuition prices and government cutbacks for state schools quadrupled federal student loan debt in the 21st century. American borrowers now owe more for their educations than they do for credit cards, car loans or any form of consumer debt other than mortgages. It is a life-altering encumbrance for many people. Source: College Board | Data is in-state tuition and cost of room and board in 2024 dollars. | By The New York Times Democrats have for years wanted to deal with the problem through mass debt cancellation. Biden tried it. His plan to wipe away up to $20,000 per borrower cited the pandemic emergency. But the Supreme Court killed the plan, ruling Biden didn’t have the authority. Then the president expanded other established pathways to loan forgiveness, including programs aimed at public service workers, disabled borrowers, people defrauded by for-profit schools and those who had been making payments for 20 years or longer. That effort worked for five million borrowers. Martha Wilson, from Phoenix, asked The Morning: “All my student loans were forgiven. Do I need to be concerned that they will come back and reinstate them?” Experts say that’s extremely unlikely. Biden’s effort relied mostly on longstanding federal laws and policies. What next? A second piece of Biden’s plan, though, seems doomed. To prevent borrowers from facing bills larger than what they can pay, the government can tie your monthly payment to your income. Biden’s new program to do that, called SAVE, cut some borrowers’ bills in half and allowed millions of low-wage workers to pay nothing at all. But several Republican-led states said in legal challenges that he couldn’t do that, and federal courts froze the plan. (Loan forgiveness has been especially unpopular on the right. College graduates are more likely to be Democrats, although many people with student debt started degrees and never finished.) Some eight million people who enrolled in the plan are now in limbo. “I am very confused,” says Reily Lynch, a reader from Chicago. “Is there any update on the SAVE plan?” The Trump administration intends to end the plan if courts don’t. For now, borrowers on SAVE can simply stay on pause — they won’t be considered delinquent — but that extension is nearly certain to end sometime this year. No one knows exactly when, which stresses borrowers out. Another point of confusion is Trump’s ambition to close the Education Department — the agency that owns and manages federal student debt — and move the loans to another agency. Supa Shah, from Las Vegas, asks how that would affect people: “Will it be a mess? What should student loan borrowers do to make sure their information isn’t lost or incorrect?” Moving all those records, including contracts with the companies that collect payments, would be complicated, and it can’t happen without Congress. Lawmakers and federal officials tell me there’s no plan for this. The best thing borrowers can do right now to protect themselves is go to StudentAid.gov and check on the status of their loans. The website will show you if your loan is current, in forbearance, delinquent or in default. It tells you whom to contact to make payments or request changes. What if the data gets lost in a transfer, or what if the government removes some of it outright, as it has done in some other agencies? It’s a good idea to download and make copies of the information you see on the website. Related: Here are more tips for navigating the chaotic loan-repayment system. THE LATEST NEWS Foreign Policy Trump called international film production a national security threat and said that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on movies made outside the U.S. Trump confirmed that he had asked Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, to let U.S. troops into the country to help fight drug cartels. Sheinbaum rejected the idea. A 2016 deal between Colombia and a rebel group ended decades of war. The U.S. government’s aid cutoff imperils that fragile peace. More on the Trump Administration Eric Trump in Doha, Qatar. Karim Jaafar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have spent the past two weeks traveling the world and announcing business deals, many of which will financially benefit their father. The president was asked on “Meet the Press” whether every person on U.S. soil was entitled to due process. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I’m not a lawyer.” Trump’s attacks on the Ivy League reflect a brew of resentment and reverence toward a club that has never accepted him, Elisabeth Bumiller writes. Clinicians at the Veterans Affairs Department say Trump’s return-to-office order has forced many to work in makeshift spaces that jeopardize patient privacy. Middle East Israel said it would add thousands of reservists to bolster its campaign against Hamas. It is unclear how this will fundamentally alter the dynamic of the war, Michael Shear writes. A visual analysis suggests that the U.S. was most likely behind a deadly strike last month on a migrant detention center in Yemen. More International News Unloading a U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system in Poland in January. Omar Marques/Getty Images The U.S. will move a Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine from Israel. Western allies are discussing the logistics of getting Germany or Greece to send another. The Brazilian police said that they had foiled a plot to detonate explosives at a Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro. Two hikers in the Czech Republic stumbled upon a trove of gold coins and jewelry. Historians are trying to figure out who buried the treasure. The Vatican At Sunday Masses across Rome, cardinals making their final public appearances before the conclave hinted at the kind of pope they might want — or want to be. Survivors of sexual abuse have urged the cardinals to make the issue a priority when considering who should become the next pope. “F R A NCISC VS”: Some designers are irked by the irregular spacing of the letters on Pope Francis’ tombstone. Other Big Stories In Iraq. Bryan Denton for The New York Times Oil prices fell again after the OPEC Plus oil cartel said it would increase its supplies. In oil producing nations, sliding prices could mean economic trouble and political unrest. New York City owes at least $1 billion in unpaid invoices to nonprofit groups that help vulnerable residents. As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, it’s producing more incorrect information. Even the A.I. companies don’t know why. IN ONE MAP By The New York Times Over the weekend, locals in the southernmost tip of Texas — most of whom work for SpaceX — voted to create a new city called Starbase. The city, which snakes around various parcels of land that the company owns, is still fairly small, with some housing in addition to a rocket factory and launchpad. But there are plans to add a school, a grocery store and a sushi restaurant. OPINIONS The U.S. wants to increase exports by weakening the dollar. But these policies could result in higher costs for American consumers and businesses, Rebecca Patterson writes. Listen to the last “Conversation” between Gail Collins and Bret Stephens. Aaron Retica joins to answer reader questions. Here are columns by David French on law enforcement impunity and Margaret Renkl on slowing down in spring. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS Kholood Eid for The New York Times Overwhelmed? Visit New York City’s cherry blossoms, our Big City columnist writes. In … and out: Deep breathing can be a game changer for anyone. Elite athletes agree. Near-death experiences: When the actor Jeremy Renner almost died two years ago he, like thousands of others, experienced an “exhilarating peace.” Why? A problem shared: Laid Off, a new Substack newsletter, serves as a support group for those who have lost their jobs. Metropolitan Diary: Bagels? Not like that. Most clicked yesterday: Tight hips? These moves can help. Trending online yesterday: Trump wants Alcatraz to be a prison again. Lives Lived: Will Hutchins had a comically genteel starring role during the craze for television westerns in the 1950s, playing a sheriff who favored cherry soda over whiskey on “Sugarfoot.” Hutchins died at 94. SPORTS N.H.L.: The Jets advanced to the second round after defeating the Blues in Game 7. It was an impressive finish: The Jets tied the game with 1.6 seconds left and won it in double overtime. N.B.A.: The Warriors won a 103-89 victory over the Rockets in their Game 7. ARTS AND IDEAS John Mulaney Ryan West/Netflix Late night television is at an inflection point. Ratings are down, as is advertising revenue. And despite other television genres — including the prestige drama and reality TV — making the transition to streaming, talk shows are yet to follow. (John Mulaney’s weekly Netflix show, “Everybody’s Live,” is a test of whether the format can survive the streaming era.) What, then, does the future of talk shows look like? According to some, it looks a lot like a video podcast. More on culture When a show kills off a beloved character or romance, some people are using fan fiction to “fix” perceived wrongs. Jury selection in Sean Combs’s case begins today. During the trial, jurors will have to decide if he led a typical celebrity entourage or a criminal enterprise. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times Mix chickpeas, feta and avocado for this chopped salad. Revive old wood furniture. Care for your hair with a silk pillowcase. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was touched. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 6, 2025 Author Members Posted May 6, 2025 May 6, 2025 Good morning. The Trump administration offered $1,000 to undocumented migrants who self-deport. Israel moved to escalate the war in Gaza. And jury selection began in Sean Combs’s federal trial. More news is below. But first, The Times’s Styles editor shows some of the best looks from fashion’s biggest night. Nina Westervelt and Amir Hamja for The New York Times A dandy night By Stella Bugbee I edit The Times’s Styles section. Early May means the world’s biggest celebrities are wearing outrageous clothes. It’s why we love covering the Met Gala, which raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s costume wing. The gala officially opens the Costume Institute’s exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” examining 300 years of Black fashion and the history of Black dandyism. Attended by the rich and famous and hosted, as always, by Anna Wintour, this year’s gala raised the most money ever in its history — $31 million. Yet the party and the exhibition about Black style have a different feel than its planners may have intended. The political landscape looked very different when the Met announced the show in October, The Times’s chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, explained. Back then, Kamala Harris, the first Black woman ever to top a major-party ticket, was in the final weeks of her campaign for the White House. Now, the federal government has targeted all things involving diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as programming related to race — especially in cultural institutions. The show has other political baggage, too. The Costume Institute has never had a Black curator, and the Met has its own history of racism. (This exhibition is the brain child of Andrew Bolton, the institute’s chief curator. It’s based on a 2009 academic text called “Slaves to Fashion” by Monica L. Miller, a Barnard professor who helped put the show together.) Despite many D.E.I. initiatives after 2020, the fashion world failed to make good on its promises; of the more than 15 recent appointments at the top of major brands, not a single one was Black. But if there were concerns last night, you wouldn’t have known as Wintour’s co-chairs, Pharrell Williams, ASAP Rocky, Lewis Hamilton and Colman Domingo, greeted guests like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Sha’Carri Richardson, Chappell Roan, Janelle Monáe, Kim Kardashian and Pharrell Williams. Harris skipped the red carpet but posed for photos before the event in her hotel room. She wore an asymmetric black silk gown with a choker neckline and one flowing white sleeve, designed by IB Kamara of Off-White. Celebrities sometimes struggle to interpret the dress code. But last night was a true celebration of Black designers, stylists and celebrities. See some of the most daring and memorable looks below. And if you’re so inclined, take a scroll through our slide show, which has every look you want to see. We added a new feature this year that allows readers to save their favorite looks and share them. It’s great fun. Nina Westervelt and Amir Hamja for The New York Times Tracee Ellis Ross and her mother, Diana Ross, whose 18-foot train required several people to assist her up the stairs. Amir Hamja for The New York Times Lupita Nyong’o, in a mint green Chanel three-piece suit, hit a lot of the evening’s trends: a tie, a cape, a boater hat and a brooch. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Serena Williams got in on the night’s dramatic train trend. Hers included a ruched top that also cut a dramatic, long shape. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Sculpted curls were also a trend. Bad Bunny’s swoop poked out from under his wicker boat hat. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Doechii in Louis Vuitton. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times FKA Twigs in Wales Bonner. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times André 3000 accessorized with a piano strapped to his back. Amir Hamja for The New York Times Megan Thee Stallion’s billowing white furry coat extended far behind her. Related: The Styles desk picked its favorite looks from the night. See them here. THE LATEST NEWS Immigration U.S. intelligence agencies rejected a claim that President Trump used to justify the deportations of Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador, according to a newly declassified memo. The Trump administration is offering undocumented immigrants $1,000 if they willingly leave the U.S. Trump said he wasn’t sure whether everyone on U.S. soil was entitled to due process, as guaranteed by the Constitution. His comments are a window into his belief that the legal system shouldn’t hinder his deportation efforts, Tyler Pager writes. Government Overhaul Nearly 20 states sued the Trump administration to block its cuts to grants and staff at the Health and Human Services Department. Another group of states sued over an executive order that seeks to halt wind-energy projects. Senior officials resigned from the National Endowment for the Arts after the administration began withdrawing grants from arts groups. More on the Trump Administration The administration asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that sought to restrict access to abortion pills, echoing a Biden position. The education secretary told Harvard not to apply for any new federal grants, accusing it of “disastrous mismanagement,” after it rejected government demands. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, asked Trump to work with him on a tax credit for Hollywood, a day after the president called for tariffs on foreign-made films. More on Politics The Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, said he wouldn’t run for Senate in 2026. Republicans had seen him as their strongest potential challenger against Senator Jon Ossoff. The Democrats have only a narrow path to retake the Senate next year. They’re seeking candidates who could pull off upsets in deep red states. A federal judge ordered North Carolina to certify a Democrat’s victory in a State Supreme Court race. The Republican candidate, who has disputed the result for months, could appeal. Other Big Stories India, in preparation for potential conflict with Pakistan, ordered officials to test air-raid sirens and teach civilians evacuation procedures. Air traffic controllers temporarily lost communication with planes at Newark Airport last week, the controllers’ union said. WAR RETURNS TO GAZA After an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Saturday. Amir Cohen/Reuters Over the weekend, Israel decided to call in military reservists and escalate the war in the Gaza Strip again. The news reflects a sharp turn of events. Earlier this year, Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire. That deal held for months, during which Israel halted operations in Gaza and Hamas handed over some Israeli hostages. But the cease-fire ended in March. Now, it seems the war is truly returning. Why escalate now? Israel has pressured Hamas to return all of the remaining hostages, especially the 24 who officials believe are still alive. Officials also say that Hamas must disarm as part of any future deal. But Hamas has refused. Before it makes further concessions, it wants the war over and Israel out of Gaza. Israel hopes escalation will get Hamas to capitulate and return all of the hostages — while giving its troops a chance to destroy the group’s remaining infrastructure. What is Israel’s plan? The generals are calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand operations in Gaza. They plan to occupy the region, forcibly relocate Palestinians in affected areas and oversee aid distribution. Israel has blocked all aid, including food and medicine, from entering the territory for more than two months. (Some aid workers are accused of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks, The Times explained, and a lawsuit claims that Hamas skimmed $1 billion in U.N. aid. But the blockade has led to starvation and the spread of diseases, as The Times documented.) With direct control, Israel says, it will allow distribution to resume. Will the plan work? Israeli leaders say that military pressure secured the release of hostages before. They hope to replicate that success. Critics argue that Israel has by now exhausted its ability to pressure Hamas with force. They worry more fighting will put the surviving hostages at risk. — German Lopez Related: Israel’s prime minister said the country was “on the eve of a forceful entry to Gaza.” OPINIONS Americans should take Trump’s comments about a third term seriously and push back, the Editorial Board writes. To compensate for higher education’s flaws, high schools should offer both college prep and in-demand vocational career pathways, Randi Weingarten writes. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more. MORNING READS At Atlantis Casino’s Sky Terrace. Emily Najera for The New York Times Reno: At a time of rising prices, the city remains — at least for now — a mecca of relatively inexpensive all-you-can-eat sushi. Focus challenge: Spend 10 minutes with Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” Most clicked yesterday: Designers took issue with the lettering on Pope Francis’ tomb. Trending online yesterday: Jury selection started in the federal trial of Sean Combs. The judge asked potential jurors about their exposure to details of the accusations. Lives Lived: As a lawyer, Sybil Shainwald represented women who had been irreparably, and often catastrophically, harmed by poorly tested drugs and medical devices. She died at 96. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Knicks pulled off a last-minute upset against the Celtics, as did the Nuggets against the Thunder. Read a recap of the games. N.H.L.: Toronto is up 1-0 over the defending champion Panthers after a narrow win. PULITZER PRIZES After he addressed the newsroom yesterday, Doug Mills took a photo of the crowd. Earl Wilson/The New York Times The shots were fired that summer Saturday in Butler, Pa., at 6:11 p.m. Doug Mills sent his first images back to the newsroom by 6:12. One frame Doug shot that day shows the bullet just after it grazed Trump’s ear. Yesterday, he won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. The Times won three others, for considerably slower and more deliberative work covering wars and drug overdoses. The four prizes were the most won by a single news organization this year. “There’s nothing faster than the instincts of Doug Mills, who is so often in the right place at the right moment, with the right camera at the right (very, very fast) shutter speed,” our executive editor, Joe Kahn, said in a newsroom celebration. “And there’s nothing quite like the long arc reconstruction of the longest of America’s foreign wars.” Besides Doug, our winners are: Azam Ahmed, Christina Goldbaum and Matthieu Aikins in explanatory reporting, for their investigation into how the U.S. sowed the seeds of its own downfall in Afghanistan. In local reporting, a collaboration between The Times and The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit news outlet, for an investigation that found Baltimore had become the drug overdose capital of the United States. Declan Walsh and a team of journalists won the international reporting prize for their coverage of the civil war in Sudan. In his speech, Declan recalled that when the government of Sudan retook its capital city, Khartoum, residents cheered the soldiers — and the reporters. When he asked why, he said a woman told him that “it was because we were the first outsiders they had seen in two years.” ARTS AND IDEAS Jake Michaels for The New York Times For nearly four decades, the north Hollywood prop house History for Hire has helped filmmakers recreate the past. In its 33,000-square-foot warehouse, you can find cereal boxes going back to the 1940s, a Sony Walkman from the ’80s and luggage used in “Titanic.” However, with fewer movies and TVs shows being shot in Los Angeles, the owners aren’t sure how much longer they can hang on. More on culture The YouTuber MrBeast is writing a novel with the best-selling author James Patterson. The late night hosts joked about Trump’s social media account posting an A.I.-generated image of him as pope. “He was like, ‘Feeling blasphemous, might delete later,’” Jimmy Fallon said. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi. Sprinkle sliced almonds and sugar on these buttery, fruit-filled scones for a crisp exterior. Watch “Flow,” the Oscar-winning Latvian animation, on HBO Max. Keep calm by building a Lego set. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was paranormal. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Correction: Friday’s newsletter said that the economist Torsten Slok had calculated the time it takes to negotiate and implement trade deals. In fact, those calculations were made by economists Caroline Freund and Christine McDaniel — and cited by Slok. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 7, 2025 Author Members Posted May 7, 2025 May 7, 2025 Good morning. India struck sites in Pakistan, two weeks after a terrorist attack in Kashmir. Trump said the U.S. would stop attacks on the Houthis in Yemen. And the U.S. plans to send some migrants to Libya. More news is below. But first, Elizabeth Dias, a religion correspondent, has a primer on the papal conclave. St. Peter’s Basilica. Francisco Seco/Associated Press The conclave begins By Elizabeth Dias I cover religion. The process of picking the next pope starts in a few hours. I’m in Rome reporting about it. Today’s newsletter answers questions I keep hearing about how the Catholic Church selects Pope Francis’ successor. How long does the conclave last? As long as it takes! Church rules require two-thirds of the eligible cardinals to agree on a pick, which this time means the new pope needs to earn 89 votes. One conclave in the 13th century took nearly three years. Others took just one day. Pope Francis was elected on the second day and the fifth ballot. White smoke billows from the Sistine Chapel chimney when the cardinals reach a consensus. What happens between votes? Cardinals are sequestered. They can’t use cellphones, the internet, television or other pipelines to the outside world. Votes take a long time, as each cardinal walks to the front of the chapel to cast his ballot. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told me he planned to bring a book — on Michelangelo — and read while he waits. In their downtime outside the Sistine Chapel, cardinals might talk with one another, pray or read. If they have not reached a consensus after four days, the cardinals get a day off, but remain sequestered. What do the prelates eat? They stay in isolation at Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where Pope Francis lived, so they eat whatever the cafeteria prepares. The Vatican kitchen staff and other employees swear oaths of secrecy. A cardinal arrives in Rome. Claudia Greco/Reuters What kind of pope do they want? Different factions and individuals all have different priorities. Some want a pope who will prioritize tradition and interpret church teaching strictly, more in the style of John Paul II or Benedict XVI. Others may want another leader like Pope Francis. Georgia Bernhard, a reader from New York, asked The Morning if the church would pick “a similarly progressive, humanitarian pope.” That is one of the biggest questions of the conclave. The College of Cardinals is more diverse than ever. At the same time, popes all have their own characteristics and priorities. We will have a hint of what kind of papacy the next one might be when the new pope appears on the balcony. Is there a front-runner? Not really. The election of Pope Francis in the last conclave surprised even the most astute Vatican watchers. Still, several contenders have emerged as top possibilities. There’s Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70, a longtime diplomat and the Vatican’s secretary of state. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, an Italian, is the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, from the Philippines, has been called the “Asian Francis.” Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary, 72, is an expert on canon law and a favorite of conservatives. (We give more background about some of the rumored contenders here.) Did Pope Francis change Catholic politics? Pope Francis tried to diversify and streamline the bureaucracy at the Vatican. Now, it’s not clear how secure some of those reforms are — or what his successor might try to change. Francis also elevated cardinals from regions of the world that weren’t represented before. But just because Pope Francis picked them doesn’t mean they share all of his views. Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco speaks to the press. Eloisa Lopez/Reuters How do you get to be a cardinal? The pope chooses! A cardinal is the highest clerical rank, and bishops and archbishops get the cardinal title at the pope’s discretion, based on a range of factors that might include pastoral leadership and political prowess. Other church leaders might advise the pope on good candidates, but it’s his call. Only men are eligible, according to church law. Why can’t cardinals over age 80 vote? Pope Paul VI established this rule in 1970, partly to make it easier for non-Italians to succeed him. The policy also compels cardinals to offer their retirement at age 75; the pope can keep them in service or accept their resignations. This time, 117 cardinals are not eligible to be electors. Some are in Rome. Others are too old to travel. None are allowed to be in the Sistine Chapel for the votes. More conclave coverage The vote for the next pope is also a referendum on Francis’ papacy — and there is plenty in his legacy to fight over, Jason Horowitz and Motoko Rich write. A college professor has run an annual simulation of the 1492 conclave, complete with costumes, for 15 years. This year’s was the first to be interrupted by the death of an actual pope. See photos. How much do you know about the conclave? Test yourself with this quiz. THE LATEST NEWS India-Pakistan Conflict In Muridke, Pakistan. Murtaz Ali/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images India launched strikes against Pakistan, two weeks after a terrorist attack killed 26 civilians in Kashmir. Pakistan, which has denied involvement in the attack, said it had begun a “measured but forceful” response. Kashmir, a valley wedged between the two nations, has been the central issue in decades of tensions and conflict between them. See a timeline. Yemen President Trump said the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthi militia in Yemen, after the group agreed to stop attacking American vessels in the Red Sea. It was unclear how fully the deal protects international shipping. Trump’s announcement caught the Pentagon off guard. Officials scrambled to figure out how military policy would change. Israel bombed Yemen’s main airport in retaliation for a Houthi missile attack, which had struck near Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv. More International News Friedrich Merz became Germany’s chancellor, but only after losing the first round of a confirmation vote in Parliament. Every previous modern chancellor won in the first round. Five top Venezuelan opposition figures have fled to the U.S. Immigration The U.S. plans to send some migrants to Libya on a military plane. Rights groups say conditions in the country’s migrant detention centers are “horrific.” New York police officers gave federal authorities the sealed arrest record of a woman detained at a Columbia protest. Officials are using the information to try to deport her. Tariffs Mattel, which makes Barbies, said it would raise prices because of tariffs. Trump suggested last week that children might have to make do with fewer dolls. The Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the U.S. could announce deals with major trading partners as soon as this week. He added that negotiations with China hadn’t started. The share of imports to the U.S. that came from China fell to its lowest point in over 20 years. More on the Trump Administration Mark Carney in the Oval Office. Eric Lee/The New York Times In the Oval Office, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada was “not for sale.” Trump responded, “Never say never.” Their joint appearance was otherwise cordial. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump could enforce a ban on transgender troops while challenges move forward in lower courts. The Senate voted to confirm Frank Bisignano, a former Wall Street executive, as Social Security commissioner. Republican lawmakers want to allocate $257 million to the Kennedy Center, roughly six times what the government usually gives it. Trump took over the organization in February. Other Big Stories DoorDash agreed to buy the British food delivery service Deliveroo. The deal would increase DoorDash’s presence in Europe and bring it to the Middle East. A half-ton Soviet spacecraft that has been adrift for 53 years will return to Earth this week. Experts don’t yet know where it will land. A DEADLINE TODAY Real ID is finally real: As of today, airports across the United States will now require passengers to have this more secure form of identification to clear security. If you’re not sure whether your ID is “real,” have a look: There will be a star or, in some cases, an American flag. Did you drop the ball? You’re not alone. More than half of Californians have a Real ID, but less than a third of Pennsylvanians do — and fewer people in New Jersey. I’m flying. What now? Bring your passport or another T.S.A.-approved document. If you don’t have one, you might be OK. But you’ll have to go through an extra screening, which “includes collecting information such as your name and current address,” according to the T.S.A.’s website. Fix it: Click here to apply for your Real ID. But fair warning: It may take a while. Lines have been long and appointments scarce as people rush to get their updated cards before the summer travel season. Here’s everything you need to know. — Adam B. Kushner OPINIONS “How much does the next pope matter?”: Three conservative Catholics, including Ross Douthat, discuss the conclave and the church’s future. Here’s a column by Thomas Edsall on the Trump family and corruption. The Games Sale: Play new puzzles every day. You can now save up to 75% on your first year of a New York Times Games subscription. It’s our best offer yet. Play all of our word and logic games (and discover the puzzle archives), track your stats, plus more. Time’s running out though, so subscribe today. MORNING READS Jennifer and Patty Lu. Carolyn Fong for The New York Times Family meals: Running a restaurant is hard enough. Try doing it with your mother. Living well: Our idea of happiness is shallow. Here’s how to deepen it. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about Kamala Harris’s surprise appearance at the Met Gala. Lives Lived: Lulu Roman brought her big-hearted Texas sass and full-throated gospel vocals to the enduring variety show “Hee Haw,” known for its corn-pone comedy sketches and for featuring a constellation of country stars. Roman died at 78. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Warriors beat the Timberwolves, 99-88, and the Pacers secured a 120-119 win over the Cavaliers. That means home teams have yet to win a game in the conference semifinals. Trending online yesterday: The Champions League match between Inter Milan and F.C. Barcelona grabbed attention as one of the best matches in the competition’s history. Inter defeated Barca, 4-3. THE MET GALA Style over comfort. Nina Westervelt and Amir Hamja for The New York Times During our staff meeting yesterday, the Morning team marveled over the Met Gala outfits. But we had a few — mainly logistical — questions. Times reporters had the answers. The rapper André 3000 showed up with a Steinway piano strapped to his back. Was it heavy? The replica weighed just a fraction of the real thing. It was made of plywood, foam and 3-D printed elements, coming in at only 30 pounds (about the weight of a medium-size dog). Do attendees take off the most unwieldy outfits when they get inside? According to Sandra Garcia, a Times reporter at the event: It depends. André shed his piano, and Diana Ross ditched her gown’s 18-foot train. But Pamela Anderson, who wore a bejeweled Tory Burch gown, stuck it out. “She seemed to be sitting sideways a little bit,” Sandra told me. — Desiree Ibekwe Related: Pop stars and the mayor of New York City kept bopping into the early hours. See photos from the after-parties. More on culture King Charles III and Queen Camilla unveiled their coronation portraits. See them here. “I think Donald Trump just got friend-zoned”: The late night hosts joked about the Carney meeting. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Pair nuggets of golden ground turkey with sugar snap peas and a mound of fresh herbs. Find the right effort level for a strength workout. Reduce your microplastic exposure. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was meowing. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. P.S. The Times’s first Well Festival is today, featuring conversations with experts on topics such as sleep, nutrition, happiness and aging. It begins at 8 a.m.; you can watch a livestream here. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 8, 2025 Author Members Posted May 8, 2025 May 8, 2025 Good morning. Cardinals are voting in the papal conclave. The U.S. and Britain are set to announce a trade deal. And Netflix redesigned its home screen. More news is below. But first, we explore why Hollywood recently got the Trump tariff treatment. Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times Watch this By German Lopez Hollywood recently got the Trump tariff treatment. On Sunday, the president announced a 100 percent tariff on movies made outside America. Filmmakers said the move would hurt U.S. filmmaking. Shares for Netflix and other entertainment companies fell. The next day, the White House said no tariff would take effect. We’ve seen this before for other sectors of the economy. But why would President Trump think Hollywood could benefit from more protectionism? Today’s newsletter looks at the headwinds the industry faces. Hollywood’s problems When Trump talks tariffs, he typically speaks about manufacturing. He invokes American industries that have fallen from grace — steel, coal, cars — and the physical goods that they once made for the world. He complains that the United States imports more goods than it exports, leading to a trade deficit. On set in Montana. Janie Osborne for The New York Times Hollywood doesn’t fit that description. It remains the world’s dominant moviemaking industry. American film exports are three times as high as imports, according to the Motion Picture Association. Movies are also a service; the product is entertainment, not a physical good. And unlike with goods, the United States has a nearly $300 billion trade surplus with services. Still, Hollywood has problems. For one, fewer movies are made in Los Angeles nowadays. Filming has moved to other states and, increasingly, overseas. Other countries offer cheaper labor and tax credits for filmmakers. This has erased jobs once held by Americans. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Trump posted online. Other fixes Tariffs, however, are a messy solution to Hollywood’s problems. A levy on a Chinese-made phone is simply applied to the value of that product. But what would a tariff on movies look like? Would it apply to the production costs? Box office earnings? Would it depend on how much of a movie is filmed and edited abroad? What about movies — think of “James Bond” or “Harry Potter” — that require overseas filming? Would the toll apply to TV shows? Filmmakers say that a 100 percent tariff will force them to halt production altogether. Tariffs could also backfire. Other countries could put their own levies on U.S. movies. That could hurt global ticket sales. Most studio revenue is now international, Axios noted. The industry says it prefers a carrot instead of a stick: America could lure back moviemakers with its own tax credits. This is the approach that California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, backed on Monday when he called on Trump to support a $7.5 billion federal tax break for films made in America. But that would cost money at a time when Congress is already struggling to find ways to pay for tax cuts the president wants. So Trump once again invoked tariffs as his favored fix. KASHMIR CLASH By Anupreeta Das I cover South Asia. Early yesterday morning, Indian planes struck Pakistan. The attack was retaliation against a neighbor and nemesis that, India claimed, aided in a terrorist attack last month that killed 26, mostly Hindu tourists. Pakistan, which denies involvement in the attack, said it had downed five Indian planes in response. What’s at stake? The terrorist operation targeted Kashmir, a region both countries have claimed since India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947. Today, each controls only parts of Kashmir. A border of roughly 460 miles, known as the Line of Control, divides Indian and Pakistani territory. In 2019, India stripped Kashmir of the autonomy it had enjoyed under the country’s Constitution and opened the region for more tourism. Visitors surged in, upsetting many Kashmiris. Source: Pakistani military (strike locations) | By The New York Times Could this conflict spiral? The two nations face off periodically over Kashmir. Over the decades, they’ve fought three wars and had innumerable skirmishes along their disputed border. Since both countries possess nuclear weapons, an escalation could get dangerously out of hand. How might it end? India may not want a war. Government officials described the airstrikes as “measured, nonescalatory, proportionate and responsible.” It’s less clear what Pakistan might do; officials there called the airstrikes an “unprovoked and blatant act of war” that violated the country’s sovereignty. Perhaps the latest tit-for-tat will satisfy both sides, as some analysts expect. But if each keeps responding, a wider conflict looms. The United States could end up playing mediator. Related: Pakistan’s defense minister said he welcomed U.S. efforts to help defuse the conflict. In the video below, Mujib Mashal, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief, explains how things escalated. THE LATEST NEWS Tariffs Trump indicated that he would announce a trade agreement with Britain today, his first deal since imposing tariffs on dozens of trading partners. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. Officials want to see the effects of Trump’s tariffs before taking any action. Toyota predicted that the tariffs would erase $1.3 billion from its profits just in April and May. China said its top trade official would meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Switzerland this week. The tariffs haven’t yet shifted major economic indicators like consumer spending and employment rates. But more subtle signals have emerged, including decreased spending at McDonald’s. Immigration Federal immigration agents are detaining and deporting criminal defendants before their trials. Local prosecutors say that denies justice to communities. Libya has two rival governments: After the U.S. said it would send migrants there, both denied agreeing to receive them. An American judge said deportations to Libya would violate a court order. More on Politics In a BBC interview, Joe Biden criticized Trump’s handling of the war in Ukraine and his dealings with global allies. Six months after Election Day, a State Supreme Court race in North Carolina is finally over: The Republican candidate, who had sought to invalidate thousands of votes, conceded. International Syria’s president said his country had held indirect talks with Israel, days after Israeli jets struck its capital. A monthslong Israeli operation has displaced tens of thousands of people in the West Bank. Some Palestinians fear Israel may be preparing for annexation. On the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Europe is contending with an American president who has taken a wrecking ball to the postwar order, Roger Cohen writes. Other Big Stories The terror of last week’s communication outage led air traffic controllers for Newark Airport to take a break from the job. Controllers say it was the culmination of months of technical problems. A jury acquitted three former Memphis police officers of murder charges in the death of Tyre Nichols, a FedEx employee who was brutally beaten during a traffic stop in 2023. Netflix is introducing a new home page design on televisions, its first significant makeover in more than a decade. PAPAL CONCLAVE The latest Black smoke from the Sistine Chapel today. Bernat Armangue/Associated Press Black smoke poured out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel this morning, signaling that cardinals had still not reached a decision on a new pope. There will be three more rounds of votes today, the second day of the conclave, and another four each day until a candidate achieves the required two-thirds majority. Thousands of the faithful, and the merely curious, assembled in St. Peter’s Square last night to watch the results of the first vote. The stove and the oath of secrecy: Read about the objects guiding the conclave. Drawing in the faithful By Lauren Jackson I spent the past year reporting on how we believe now. A papal conclave displays the Catholic Church’s might and majesty. With scarlet cassocks, the Sistine Chapel and smoke, the church reminds the world that its traditions and rituals persist, binding more than a billion people together. After more than a decade of decline, church attendance among Catholics in the U.S. has stabilized in recent years. Many are drawn to the rituals. Here are three stories from a year of reporting on how we believe now. A conversion: Erin Patrick’s path to Catholicism began on a treadmill in 2005. The gym TV was broadcasting live from the Vatican during the conclave that picked Pope Benedict. After she finished her run, Patrick, who works in sales in Atlanta, sat on the floor, transfixed, until white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. When it did, she “inexplicably burst into tears.” Patrick, 44, says she is now a devout Catholic. She has been praying for the church in the past week. “I’m already talking to Pope Francis and thanking him for everything,” she said. A reversion: Nick Woomer-Deters, a 45-year-old public defender in North Carolina, was a zealous atheist who swore he’d never go back to his Catholicism — until a few years ago, when he secretly started watching Father Mike Schmitz’s videos on YouTube while his wife slept. He began attending Mass, drawn by the “smells and bells,” he said — the robes, incense, hymns, liturgy. “It’s persisted for two millennia,” he said of the church. “I’m happy to be part of it.” A curiosity: Griffin Devine, 24, is a budget manager in Los Angeles who spends his day in spreadsheets. He identifies as agnostic but recently started attending Mass — inspired by friends from college and his girlfriend. He said the pope’s death made him feel connected to a global church. “Some see it as antiquated,” he said. “But I think it is very compelling and alluring.” In one map Source: The Vatican Pope Francis appointed about 80 percent of the cardinals who are sequestered to elect his successor. As the map above shows, his appointments shifted the balance of power toward Asia and Africa, where Catholicism is growing fast. But those appointees may not choose another pope like him: Many hail from areas with much more conservative views. OPINIONS Yaqiu Wang, a Chinese human rights advocate, shares advice for Americans who want to resist authoritarianism: Be brave. Here’s a column by Binyamin Appelbaum on charitable deductions for the Met Gala. Add friends to your leaderboard, now with more games. Follow daily scores for Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee and the Mini — and add celebrity puzzlers for a limited time. Learn more MORNING READS Ava Noe, 17. Tony Luong for The New York Times “Crunchy” teens: Young influencers are appealing to other health-conscious kids online. Some of their takes echo Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his supporters. Bricks on wheels: Lego built full-size F1 cars for the Miami Grand Prix driver parade. Read how the designers did it. Your pick: For the second day in a row, the most-clicked article in The Morning was about Kamala Harris’s appearance at the Met Gala. Trending online yesterday: Trump announced Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, as his new nominee for surgeon general. Lives Lived: Clarence Smith, a founder of Essence magazine, convinced skeptical mainstream advertisers of the power and worth of the Black female market. He died at 92. SPORTS N.B.A.: For the second straight game, the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to stun the defending-champion Celtics on the road. Read a recap. N.H.L.: The Hurricanes, also defending champions, are also down 2-0 after another close loss to the Maple Leafs. ARTS AND IDEAS Daniela Amato and her dog, Daisy. Graham Dickie/The New York Times Have you ever wanted to know, truly know, your pet? You’re not alone. On social media, people are posting videos of sessions with so-called animal communicators who claim to be able to relay messages from pets both living and dead. Some clients say they want real answers; others simply do it for entertainment. Either way, the videos are a hit online. More on culture Anthony Bourdain, the smoking ban and Covid sheds: The Times looked back on the moments that have defined dining in New York City over the past 25 years. See the timeline. Jimmy Fallon joked about the conclave: “The doors of the Sistine Chapel were sealed, and they debated over who should be pope and whether 100 cardinals could defeat a gorilla.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Add ricotta to ground turkey for light-yet-rich meatballs. See Hugh Jackman and Maya Hawke Off Broadway this month. Check out deals on Mother’s Day gifts. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was locomotion. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 9, 2025 Author Members Posted May 9, 2025 May 9, 2025 Good morning. The conflict between India and Pakistan is intensifying. The U.S. and Britain unveiled a trade deal. And Bill Gates announced plans to end his philanthropic foundation. More news is below. But first, meet Pope Leo XIV. Pope Leo XIV Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times An American pope By Tom Wright-Piersanti I’m an editor on The Morning. “The idea of an American pope was unimaginable for generations,” Jason Horowitz, our Rome bureau chief, noted yesterday. Why would church leaders pick a pope from a global superpower that shapes world affairs? Yet the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel chose Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He has adopted the papal name Leo XIV. He’s the first American to hold the job. Prevost has lived outside the U.S. for much of his life, and many in the Vatican view him as a churchman who transcends borders, Jason wrote. Today’s newsletter will guide you through The Times’s coverage of the new pope and his views. Chicago to Peru Robert Prevost, newly ordained, greets Pope John Paul II in 1982. St. Mary of the Assumption Prevost grew up in a suburb just south of Chicago. His father was a school principal. His mother, a librarian, was deeply involved in their local Catholic parish, St. Mary of the Assumption, on the city’s Far South Side. His maternal grandparents were Creole people of color who moved north from New Orleans. Julie Bosman, our Chicago bureau chief, interviewed Father William Lego, who has known Prevost since high school. “They picked a good man,” he said. “He had a good sense of right and wrong, always working with the poor.” Prevost earned a degree in math from Villanova University and then a divinity degree at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Not long after, he moved abroad. He lived for two decades in Peru as a missionary, priest, teacher and eventually a bishop — a role for which he became a naturalized citizen of Peru. Prevost led a diocese in Chiclayo, in a region of the country where flooding is common. He would often deliver food and other supplies to remote areas himself, sometimes carrying bags of rice on his back, one priest told my colleague Genevieve Glatsky. Father Pedro Vásquez, another priest in Chiclayo, told The Times that he was so excited about the news that “my heart is going to fail me!” Under Pope Francis, Prevost held one of the most influential Vatican posts, running the office that selects and manages bishops globally. His knowledge of the Vatican’s inner workings made him an attractive choice to the Roman Curia, the powerful bureaucracy that governs the church, our reporters in Vatican City wrote. But at least one element of Prevost’s American childhood has stuck with him: Those close to him say he’s a baseball fan, and he has been known to explain the rules of the game to his Italian friends. (Prevost’s brother said the new pope roots for the White Sox — and also told WGN, a TV station in Chicago, that he enjoys Wordle.) The pope’s politics Francis appointed Prevost as a cardinal in 2023, and the two share some views of the church. Prevost told the Vatican’s official news website last year that bishops were called to “suffer with” the people they served, echoing Francis’ focus on the poor. But the two may diverge on other points. In 2012, Prevost expressed concerns about what he called the “homosexual lifestyle.” A year later, the newly elected Francis made headlines when he said of gay people, “Who am I to judge?” More recently, a social media account under Prevost’s name has taken aim at President Trump, according to my colleague Lisa Lerer, who covers politics. In 2018, the account shared a post from Cardinal Blase Cupich that said there was “nothing remotely Christian, American or morally defensible” about the administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents. And in April, after Vice President JD Vance used a Catholic teaching to defend the Trump administration’s deportation policies, the account posted an article titled “JD Vance is wrong.” Vance did not seem to hold a grudge. “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election!” he wrote on social media yesterday. “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church.” The American faithful cheer the new pope. Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times A celebration in the square By Patricia Mazzei I was in Vatican City for the announcement. The tens of thousands of faithful who were crammed into St. Peter’s Square exchanged befuddled looks when Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was announced as pope from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. Who? People started searching his name on their phones. “I think they just elected an American pope,” said Nicole Serena, 21, a student who is in Rome studying marketing. Wait — an American? Some faces fell. “Maybe he’s a good guy?” said Catalina Zaza, 27, an Argentine art student in Rome. “We don’t know.” A little over an hour earlier, when white smoke billowed from the chimney, some people hugged. Others raised their hands to rejoice in prayer. When the new pontiff was announced as Pope Leo XIV, the crowd began to chant, “Papa Leone!” Then Leo stepped out. Onlookers shrieked with delight. “Peace be with you,” he said in Italian. Only once Leo paid homage to Francis did many of those gathered appear to relax. Zaza and her friend Sofía Basanes, 30, also from Argentina, started to nod at the new pope’s calls for peace, justice, dialogue and love. Next to them, a young priest sobbed and an older nun’s eyes glistened with tears. And when Leo began to speak in Spanish, the crowd broke into enthusiastic applause. “He lived in Peru!” one man yelled in Spanish. “Peruuuu!” Leo did not speak in English or mention the United States. By the end, Basanes was crying, along with quite a few others around her. “We have so much faith in Pope Francis’ legacy,” she said. More reactions Across the U.S., news of Leo’s election was greeted with surprise — and delight. “I never thought it would happen,” said Tom Keane in Boston. “Not in my lifetime.” On social media, Trump called Leo’s ascent a “Great Honor for our Country.” Two priests reflected on what it feels like to see an old friend, known to them as Bob, become pope. “The papacy is certainly not something that I could ever see Bob Prevost aspire to,” one said. “I think he was just doing what he felt God was calling him to do.” See photos from the moment Pope Leo emerged onto the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square. More on Leo Leo XIV celebrated his first mass as pontiff this morning in the Sistine Chapel. The pope’s choice of the name Leo XIV is a clear reference to the last Leo, who led the church from 1878 to 1903 and helped marshal it into the modern world. Leo’s priorities for the papacy seem to echo Francis’. He could turn out to be a countervailing voice against America’s newly powerful strain of right-leaning Catholics. THE LATEST NEWS India-Pakistan Conflict In Kashmir. Dar Yasin/Associated Press India and Pakistan are engaged in their most expansive military conflict in decades, with widespread accounts of attacks in each country well beyond their disputed Kashmir border. Fighting has escalated rapidly since Wednesday, when India launched airstrikes. It blames Pakistan for a terrorist attack in Kashmir; Pakistan denies involvement. Both countries have warned millions of schoolchildren to stay home. Airlines are avoiding flying over Pakistan and some of northern India. Fear is rising. “I have been stocking up on rations like rice and lentils and flour. I have withdrawn cash from banks,” a physiotherapist in Jaipur, India, said. Trump’s Nominations Trump revoked the nomination of Ed Martin to run the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, after a Republican senator said he would not vote for Martin because of his support for Jan. 6 rioters. In Martin’s place, Trump named the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former district attorney, to be the interim U.S. attorney for Washington. The Trump administration removed the acting head of FEMA one day after the official told lawmakers that the agency’s work was vital. The administration fired the head of the Library of Congress, Carla Hayden, the first Black woman to hold the job. She received a two-sentence dismissal email that did not give an explanation. More on the Trump Administration Trump said the U.S. would pare back tariffs on British steel and cars. Britain agreed to increase market access for American exports including beef and ethanol. Trump asked Speaker Mike Johnson to include a tax rise on the wealthiest Americans in the fiscal package that House Republicans are putting together. The president ordered federal agencies to abandon a legal tool used to assess whether policies discriminate against minorities. The U.S. could bring the first group of white South Africans it has classified as refugees to America next week. Trump claims they’re racially persecuted in their home country. Other Big Stories Bill Gates says his philanthropic foundation will close in 20 years. By then, he says, it will have given away more than $200 billion. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met for talks in Moscow. In a joint statement, they rejected what they described as Washington’s attempt to contain them. OPINIONS Leo is reputed to have a quieter, more disciplined personality than Francis. But he’s still likely to anger conservatives, David Gibson writes. Here’s a column by Michelle Goldberg on Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats. Add friends to your leaderboard, now with more games. Follow daily scores for the Mini, Spelling Bee, Wordle and Connections. Invite friends MORNING READS Marcella Hazan via Greenwich Entertainment Marcella Hazan: Twelve years after her death, the revered writer is still teaching us how to cook Italian, Pete Wells writes. Ask the Therapist: “I’m dating my friend’s ex. Is that wrong?” Your pick: For the third day in a row, Morning readers were most interested in Kamala Harris’s Met Gala appearance. Trending online yesterday: People were — understandably — interested in the new pope. Now that the conclave is over, read about what happens next. Lives Lived: The political scientist Joseph Nye wrote seminal books on foreign affairs, held top jobs at Harvard and in government and coined the term “soft power.” He died at 88. SPORTS N.B.A.: The Timberwolves defeated the Warriors, 117-93, to tie their series 1-1. The Warriors were without Steph Curry, who was ruled out of the game with a hamstring strain. N.H.L.: The Oilers took a 2-0 series lead against the Golden Knights. INTERNET DISPATCH Among the breakout stars of the Italian brain rot trend is Ballerina Cappuccina. Last week, we featured a story about Italian-themed A.I. images, an absurd and hard-to-explain trend on TikTok. It got us thinking about how confusing the internet can be. We asked readers what they wanted to know about weird things online. For each of the next few weeks, The Times’s internet culture reporter, Madison Malone Kircher, will answer one question. Tracey Harber from Lancaster, Pa., asked: How do you know when a picture is A.I.-generated or photoshopped, like the one Trump claimed showed Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a gang member? It’s getting harder to spot manipulated images as artificial intelligence improves. Your first and best defense is skepticism. Does an image seem designed to provoke a reaction? Too cute to be true? Completely defiant of the laws of science? In the case of the image shared by Trump, “MS13” had been superimposed over Abrego Garcia’s knuckles. (You can read more about that here.) From a technical standpoint, one thing to look at is shadow. Does a shadow fall where it should based on the light in the image? Has it been removed altogether? Also watch for repeating patterns, which can indicate that an image has been altered. Do all the clouds in the sky look exactly the same? Look for anything else that doesn’t seem quite right. Think of two eyes of wildly different sizes or a hand with six fingers. Images made by A.I. can also have a weird, hyperperfect smoothness to them. Some come with a watermark showing which platform made them. Any A.I. image published by The Times will come with a big label. ARTS AND IDEAS Getty Images Parents play a long game: They invest time and love, and then they wait up to 30 years for the results. Assessing progress can be difficult, but those once-a-year cards that children deliver on Mother’s and Father’s Day can serve as a kind of performance review. Nick Singleton from Atlanta got rave reviews in a card from his middle child. “You think it’s going to be because of the unconditional love I give them,” he said. Instead, “she drew a picture of me handing her tablet back to her on the couch.” Read more stories. More on culture The Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 caused prices for Black artists’ portraits of Black people to soar. Now, in a slower art market and a changed political climate, no one’s buying, Vulture reports. “The holiest man in the world probably knows all the words to the Chili’s Baby Back Ribs song,” Desi Lydic joked on “The Daily Show.” THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Make a moist lemon cake that sits atop a delicate custard. Transform a sad bun with this hair pin. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was practical. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misidentified the team that lost to the Maple Leafs in the N.H.L. playoffs. It was the Panthers, not the Hurricanes. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 11, 2025 Author Members Posted May 11, 2025 May 10, 2025 Good morning. The best art makes us question the received ideas we’ve internalized and, just maybe, offers us ideas for living differently. María Jesús Contreras Plot twists By Melissa Kirsch I’d just finished and loved Miranda July’s novel “All Fours” last year when my colleague Marie Solis wrote a profile of July with the headline, “She Wrote the First Great Perimenopause Novel.” This was the first time I’d heard the book mentioned in these superlative terms. “All Fours” is about a woman in her 40s who sets off on a road trip from California to New York but gets waylaid a few miles from home, rents a motel room and stays there for three weeks, during which time she reconsiders all the received ideas she’s internalized about being a wife, mother, woman, artist. I’d read the book the way I consume most of July’s work — quickly, excitedly, marveling at how her brain works, how she’s able to take seemingly ineffable experiences and make them explicit. “All Fours” spoke to me, but it didn’t dawn on me until I read Marie’s article that this was going to be such an important book to so many people. Soon, everyone I knew was reading it. It became “the talk of every group text — at least every group text composed of women over 40,” The Times said. The Book Review named it one of its 10 best books of the year. And the conversation has continued. July has since started a Substack. There’s a mini-series coming. Surely even more people will be reading and chatting about the book when it comes out in paperback on Wednesday. A couple of weeks ago, July was a guest on the Modern Love podcast. She reflected on the success of the book, how it was no accident that it became as big as it has. She deliberately set out to write a book that would “change our conception of older women and their sexuality and just their lived lives and what goes on in their heads.” I was struck by one portion of the interview in which she mentions that, when she was working on “All Fours,” she and her friend Isabel would “meet once a week and eat and talk about the idea that we were always changing.” This set my mind racing: I meet up regularly with friends, but we seldom have an agenda beyond catching up. How exciting and productive to have a regular meetup with a theme! July and Isabel specifically focused their get-togethers on the biological changes they were experiencing during perimenopause — “that we were actually pretty different at different times of the month and that we were kind of putting on an act of sameness” — but if that isn’t applicable to your own circumstances, you could just talk about how you’ve changed generally, your outlook or your routines or your tastes. Imagine inviting a friend to coffee and telling them you’d like to focus the date on how you’re “always changing.” It’s weird, but it would direct your conversation in a way that might be interesting. Who knows what you might discover? This is what I love about July’s work: She seems to see the world as a canvas for creativity, her life as a space of possibility where just because things have always been done a certain way doesn’t mean they have to continue along those lines. In the 1990s, she created a videotape chain letter of movies made by girls and women. In 2014, she created an app that allowed you to enlist a stranger in delivering an in-person message to a friend. And I was recently thrilled to find that one of my favorite pieces of July’s audio fiction, “School of Romance,” from the late, great WNYC radio show “The Next Big Thing,” is available on SoundCloud. It’s gorgeous, delightful, heartbreaking, and, like “All Fours” and her other fiction and films, it makes me want to live my life a little more creatively. Like all good art, it makes me want to question things. THE LATEST NEWS India-Pakistan Conflict Indian paramilitary soldiers patrolling a marketplace in Kashmir. Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Pakistan said it had fired missiles at military sites in India after accusing India of targeting its air bases. India said it had targeted the bases in response to Pakistani attacks. The two nuclear-armed nations have attacked each other for several days now, amounting to their most expansive military clash in decades. Leaders from the U.S. and Europe have called for calm, while Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have tried to mediate the conflict. Pope Leo XIV Two Americans — President Trump and Pope Leo XIV — now occupy positions of enormous global influence. Leo could offer the world a different view of U.S. values. In his first homily, Leo pledged to align himself with “ordinary people” and against the rich and powerful. The Times spoke with John Prevost, Leo’s brother, who still lives in the Chicago area, where they grew up. He said the new pope “has great, great desire to help the downtrodden.” Immigration A federal judge ordered the release of a Tufts student who had been detained for weeks on vague charges, apparently related to essay critical of Israel that she helped to write last year. Federal officials arrested the mayor of Newark during a protest of a new immigration detention facility in the city. Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest aides, says the administration is considering whether to suspend migrants’ right to challenge their detentions in court. More Politics David Souter in 2005. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press Former Justice David Souter died at 85. Though appointed to the Supreme Court by a Republican, he became a mainstay of the liberal wing over 19 years on that bench. A judge in California told two dozen federal agencies to pause their mass layoff plans, effectively halting a large piece of the Trump administration’s government overhaul. Melania Trump has spent fewer than 14 days in the White House since her husband was inaugurated. Other Big Stories An air traffic control facility that guides planes at Newark Liberty International Airport had another radar outage, this one lasting for about 90 seconds. Google agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle two lawsuits accusing it of violating the privacy of state residents. Kosmos-482, a half-ton spacecraft launched by the Soviets in 1972, is expected to fall back to Earth this weekend. Experts don’t yet know where it may come down. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Theater Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Hugh Jackman stars in “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes,” about a middle-age professor and his teenage student. Our critic called it “terrific, tightly plaited knot of a play.” Jeffrey Seller is the Broadway producer behind “Rent” and “Hamilton.” His new memoir, “Theater Kid,” is a combination coming-of-age and rags-to-riches story. The Brazilian director and performer Carolina Bianchi created a stir by drugging herself onstage as part of her play “The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella.” Her follow-up, “The Brotherhood,” asks what happens after assault. Film and TV “Friendship” stars Tim Robinson as a lonely suburban dad who develops an obsession with his effortlessly cool neighbor, played by Paul Rudd. It’s the kind of movie you watch from behind your hands, our critic says. For the second season of Netflix’s comedy crime show “Poker Face,” Natasha Lyonne called on her closest pals — including Melanie Lynskey — to guest star. More Culture An artist’s rendering of a planned Disney theme park in Abu Dhabi. Walt Disney Imagineering Disney announced plans to build a theme park in Abu Dhabi. Meet the 30-year-old artist from Dallas behind the most viral memes about the papal conclave. Hilaria Baldwin, Alec Baldwin’s wife, was a subject of internet scorn in 2020 over accusations that she spoke with a fake accent. In a new memoir, she uses medical research to defend herself. Percival Everett’s acclaimed novel “James” won a Pulitzer on Monday. But while many consider the award deserved, it turns out that the book wasn’t the top pick among the prize’s jury members. Add friends to your leaderboard, now with more games. Follow daily scores for the Mini, Spelling Bee, Wordle and Connections. Invite friends CULTURE CALENDAR By Tom Wright-Piersanti ? Doom: The Dark Ages (Thursday): The 1993 computer game Doom dropped players onto a Martian moon with just two objectives: Run fast and blast demons. It was wildly inventive, with graphics and gameplay that moved the medium forward. It was also, for its time, wildly violent; Germany restricted sales of the game for nearly two decades. The moral panic around video games has since subsided, and this new Doom is unlikely to cause much of a stir, even though its monster guts are far more detailed. But players who loved the original will be happy to find that, 32 years later, the objectives remain the same: Run fast. Blast demons. REAL ESTATE Jules Leichter and Carol Volk. Tony Cenicola/The New York Times The Hunt: After years overseas, a couple came home for a quiet life in upstate New York with an $800,000 budget. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $625,000: A 1930 American Foursquare house in Newburgh, N.Y.; an 1810 house in Sandwich, Mass.; or a 1908 Craftsman bungalow in Portland, Ore. LIVING Winnie Au for The New York Times A big green sofa and real plants: See inside Antoni Porowski’s Manhattan apartment. Travel: Spend 36 hours in Santa Fe. Touch grass and show vulnerability: This week the Well desk hosted the Well Festival, which brought together doctors, relationship experts, athletes, authors and celebrities to talk about maximizing happiness. Read takeaways here. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Sleeves that keep the sun at bay I’ve found that 15 minutes between meetings is plenty of time to pull out a few weeds (especially with my beloved stirrup hoe). It’s also plenty of time for me to get a sunburn. I rarely want to slather myself in sunscreen for these spontaneous outings. Enter: sun-protective gardening sleeves. These $20-ish sleeves not only prevent sunburn, but also offer scratch protection from the usual garden irritants. And the lightweight fabric is so pleasant to wear, I’ve even considered sporting them outside the garden, to baseball games or fishing. Best of all, I can easily slip them off when I return from the garden. I reassume my position at my desk with no evidence of my midday garden rendezvous. — Sebastian Compagnucci GAME OF THE WEEK Miles McBride of the New York Knicks scores in Game 2. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks, N.B.A. playoffs: Knicks fans were surprised when their team overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 1 to beat the Celtics in Boston. There may not be an adjective strong enough to describe their shock — and their glee — when the team did the very same thing in Game 2. Can Boston figure out its 3-point shooting woes and get back into the series? Or have the Knicks figured out the formula to shut down the defending champs? Today at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were rowdily and wordily. 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 11, 2025 Author Members Posted May 11, 2025 May 11, 2025 Good morning. India and Pakistan declared a cease-fire. A Tufts student returned to Massachusetts after six weeks in immigration detention. And King Charles continues to wrestle with a rupture in his family. More news is below. But first, we take a look at sibling relationships. Artwork by Kensuke Koike Brotherly shove By Adam B. Kushner I edit The Morning newsletter. Happy Mother’s Day. The cover story in today’s Times Magazine begins with an idea: While parents work hard to mold their offspring, those offspring just as often mold each other. Susan Dominus, who has written many moving pieces about children and families, looks at a growing field of research to see how kids’ personalities “spill over” onto their siblings. It’s not always the way you’d think. As the father of three boys (and as a sibling myself), I was rapt. You should read the story. In today’s newsletter, I ask Susan a few questions about her findings. What got you interested in this story? My older brother was extremely influential in my own life. When I was 14, and he was home on a break from college, he talked me into starting a school newspaper. He somehow knew before I did (and definitely before my parents did) what kind of work I would love doing. When I started interviewing people about the way their families influenced their lives, I was struck by how often siblings played a pivotal role in their careers — in making an introduction, giving a key piece of advice, setting the bar high. You tell the story of several high-achieving families. But the phenomenon isn’t necessarily strongest among the privileged, is it? Not at all. If anything, research suggests that what’s known as the “sibling spillover effect” (a measure of how much siblings influence each other, especially academically) is more powerful in disadvantaged families. In those families, the bond can be more influential — the siblings spend a lot of time together, either because their parents are so busy working, or because the family doesn’t have the resources to spend on tons of extracurriculars. My kids have wildly different personalities. Tell me what the research shows about birth-order psychology — the idea that your place among siblings shapes you? Most personality researchers will tell you that the qualities we associate with birth order don’t hold up in the best-conducted studies with the widest samples. Oldest children are not, for example, the most conscientious. They likely just seem that way because, as children, they were always the farthest along developmentally. Compared with the general population — and even compared with their own siblings at the same age — the oldest children are not unusually diligent or responsible. As a first child, I reject this finding. As the youngest child, I embrace it. But why does some research say that more competitive athletes are younger siblings? First-born children — who enjoy a brief window as only children, with plenty of enrichment — have a cognitive edge over their younger siblings, the research consistently shows. (The studies also compare them to their siblings when they reach the same age.) Some researchers theorize that younger children naturally gravitate toward a niche like sports to find a domain that they can conquer and call their own. One thing that freaked me out is that even attentive, well-meaning parents are sometimes poor judges of their own kids. Parents can make assessments about which of their children is the “academic” one — assessments that are not, in fact, accurate — that affect the grades their kids get and the extracurricular choices those kids make. The sibling they’ve decided is academically better then increasingly outstrips the others. I will endeavor to withhold judgment! Good luck with that! In addition to sibling relationships, you get into genetic determinants in your new book, “The Family Dynamic,” from which this story is adapted. What can genes tell us? The binary idea of genes versus the environment is too simplistic. People’s genetic inclinations elicit responses from the world that in turn shape their personalities and outcomes. And people’s genetic influences also likely lead them to certain environments — if available to them — that reinforce their natural leanings. Where do parenting choices fit into all of that? The answer is: less than most parents probably think. I recommend you read Susan’s story about siblings and how they shape each other. THE LATEST NEWS India-Pakistan Conflict Celebrations in Pakistan. Akram Shahid/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images India and Pakistan declared a cease-fire after four days of escalating cross-border attacks. Hours later, each country accused the other of violating the deal. The truce was mediated by the U.S. Trump officials didn’t want to get involved — then fears of a nuclear escalation grew. “Each thud sent a tremor through the walls”: A reporter spent a night under military bombardment in Kashmir. Read about his experience. Despite the cease-fire, danger has not passed: Entrenched religious nationalism on each side could mean more battles ahead, Mujib Mashal writes. Pope Leo XIV Some Catholics outside the U.S. were skeptical about an American pope. But Pope Leo’s Creole heritage and decades living in Peru helped put them at ease. See the historical records that document the pope’s Creole roots in New Orleans. Trade In New York. Andres Kudacki for The New York Times “How do I survive?”: Many Chinese medicine dispensaries in the U.S. are mom-and-pop shops that operate on razor-thin margins. Tariffs could spell their end. Officials from China and the U.S. will meet today in Switzerland for a second day of trade negotiations. Trump wants the E.U. to open its market further to American farmers, but the Europeans have a red line: hormone-raised beef and acid-washed chicken. Foreign Policy Trump has begun talks with Iran and agreed to stop attacking the Houthis. His relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, once congenial, is showing signs of division, Michael Shear writes. The president has floated changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf. Iranians are united against the idea. More on the Trump Administration Rumeysa Ozturk, a fifth-year doctoral student at Tufts, returned to Massachusetts after six weeks in an immigration detention center. The Trump administration said three Democratic lawmakers could face assault charges over a confrontation during the arrest of a New Jersey mayor. Witnesses appeared to contradict parts of the government’s account of events. The White House ordered federal agencies to stop estimating the economic impact of climate change when developing policies and regulations. Other Big Stories King Charles III Phil Noble/Reuters Prince Harry’s recent plea for reconciliation with his family resurfaced bitter ruptures. It’s a family rift that could define King Charles’s reign, Mark Landler writes. Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through her blood-testing company, Theranos. Now, her partner is starting a blood-testing company of his own. THE SUNDAY DEBATE The Real ID Act, enacted in 2005 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, finally took effect this week. Is Real ID still necessary? Yes. It standardizes the identification process across the country, making the ID system more secure. “There are no kind of bad actors issuing those ID cards, and the system is not penetrated by bad actors,” Magdalena Krajewska, political science at Wingate University, said in an interview on WBUR’s On Point. No. It impedes Americans’ right to travel within the U.S., creating a barrier for air travel that does not exist for trains or cars. “Those who comply with Real ID can access all modes of transportation, whereas those who don’t or can’t comply are restricted to radically slower modes of travel,” Patrick Eddington of the Cato Institute writes for MSNBC. FROM OPINION Trump should adopt a “more for more” approach to a nuclear deal with Iran, Philip Gordon writes: more sanctions relief in exchange for more restrictions on its nuclear program. Shaina Feinberg’s friendship with Joan Darling, a director and actress, gave her confidence to be both a filmmaker and a mother. Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof on why we shouldn’t trust porn companies, and Maureen Dowd on Barry Diller’s memoir. Add friends to your leaderboard, now with more games. Follow daily scores for the Mini, Spelling Bee, Wordle and Connections. Invite friends MORNING READS Iris Legendre Believing: After her dad’s death, Jodi Rudoren tried to learn to pray. A rabbi suggested a simple recipe: “Wow! Please? Thank you.” Paris: A correspondent for The Afro-American, a Baltimore newspaper, wrote a guidebook to the French capital for Black travelers. His grandniece follows in his footsteps, 75 years later. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about one couple’s hunt for a quiet life in upstate New York. Trending online yesterday: People were getting ready for Mother’s Day. Here are 25 questions to bring you closer to your mom. Vows: These food lovers fell for each other, one bite at a time. Lives Lived: Koyo Kouoh, a curator and art museum leader, was preparing to oversee next year’s Venice Biennale. She would have been the first African woman to curate the festival. Kouoh died at 57. BOOKS OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan Chances are, you’ve already heard of “James” by Percival Everett, which won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on Monday. This lively and surprising reimagining of “Huckleberry Finn” also landed a National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize; was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2024 by the Book Review. In other words, it’s the “Oppenheimer” of the book world, with good reason. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is also one to keep on your radar. Benjamin Nathans’s “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause” chronicles the Soviet dissident movement, dating it back to the death of Stalin and the rise of Khrushchev in the 1950s. Based on more than two decades of research into K.G.B. case files, unpublished diaries and private correspondence, the book illuminates a powerful legacy. More on books Need a (very) last-minute Mother’s Day gift? On your early-morning bookstore run, look for one of these new releases. Raising a kid in 2025: There’s an app for that. This memoir of millennial parenting tells you all about it. THE INTERVIEW Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By Lulu Garcia-Navarro This week’s subject for The Interview is the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd, who, after a year away, has returned to run the company she created. It’s a difficult time for the dating app industry, a difficult time for human connection, and a difficult time for women in tech. We talked about all of it. You had a lot of growth during the pandemic when everyone was stuck on their apps. You go public in 2021, ring the bell, baby on your hip, and the very next year user growth starts to slow down. What do you think was happening? My opinion is that I ran this company for the first several years as a quality over quantity approach. A telephone provider came to us early on. They said, “We love your brand, we want to put your app preprogrammed on all of our phones and when people buy our phones, your app will be on the home screen, and you’re going to get millions of free downloads.” I said, “Thank you so much but no thank you.” Nobody could understand what in the world I was doing, and I said it’s the wrong way to grow. This is not a social network, this is a double-sided marketplace. One person gets on and they have to see someone that is relevant to them. You’re not going to walk down the streets of New York City and want to meet every single person you pass. Why would you assume that someone would want to do that on an app? What happened was, in the pandemic and throughout other chapters, growth was king. It was hailed as the end all be all. You’re talking about the expectations from investors as one of the reasons this was a difficult period, but Gen Z grew up with the apps, and the data says they are very much over them. Seventy-nine percent report dating-app fatigue. I think the reason Gen Z has abandoned the apps is because they’re getting on the apps and they’re not seeing who they want to see and they’re feeling two things, which I take full accountability for at Bumble. They’re feeling rejected and they’re feeling judged. Read more of the interview here. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Try the new Army fitness test. Read a poem about Pope Francis’ favorite painting in Kismet Magazine. Deal with bad neighbors. See Conan O’Brien’s (mostly serious) travel tips. MEAL PLAN Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making pork chops with jammy-mustard glaze, a rich butter paneer, and a sheet-pan salmon and broccoli that’s perfect for a busy evening. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was phenomena. Can you put eight pieces of history — including the oldest known papyrus, the launch of Skylab, and the writing of “Crime and Punishment” — 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted May 12, 2025 Author Members Posted May 12, 2025 May 12, 2025 Good morning. The U.S. and China agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs. Hamas plans to release its last American hostage. And we have the inside story of the conclave. More news is below. But first, Kate Kelly explains the recent chaos at U.S. airports. Newark Liberty International Airport Dakota Santiago for The New York Times Flying blind By Kate Kelly I’m an investigative reporter in Washington, D.C. It has been a scary few months for air travel. Faltering technology in the air traffic control hub that watches over Newark Liberty International Airport has caused the radar system to fail at least twice in recent weeks. Airplanes have bumped wings in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. And a number of commercial flights have aborted landings at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport so far this month. On one occasion, it was because an Army helicopter was flying nearby — just months after a plane and a helicopter collided in the same airspace, killing 67 people. The Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic employees watch over nearly three million passengers and more than 45,000 flights per day. But the technology they rely on is in some cases wildly outdated. And it’s tough to find people who can operate it. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how we got here. Glitchy systems Air traffic controllers rely on two essential things: radar screens, which provide a visual representation of what’s going on in the air, and radio communications, which allow them to talk with pilots. In certain cases, copper wiring, first developed in the 19th century, is used to transmit data from one place to another. Some systems still rely on floppy disks and compact discs. Flight records are occasionally printed out on slips of paper rather than relayed electronically. The result is a hodgepodge network of software, parts and wires. Sometimes it works seamlessly; other times a single clipped wire takes out a controller’s radar entirely, leaving pilots with no means to be seen by the people who are supposed to be keeping them out of harm’s way. Officials said that archaic technology was to blame for the recent outages at Newark. On April 28, some of Newark’s controllers lost both radar and radio. Though the outage lasted just 90 seconds, its effects cascaded for days, causing more than 1,800 flights to be delayed or canceled. Additional equipment outages followed on Friday and again yesterday morning. Source: Flightradar24 | By The New York Times Newer technology would make a difference, controllers and government officials say. And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has called for upgrades. But his modernization effort, announced on Thursday, needs approval from Congress. And it must be installed without disturbing the delicate network of flight monitoring that guides pilots through U.S. airspace 24 hours a day. Low staffing Another part of the problem is that the F.A.A.’s air traffic control hubs are chronically understaffed, especially in busy and complex airspaces like New York and Washington. Newark Airport’s work force is no exception. Last year, in an effort to bulk up the F.A.A.’s staff, the agency moved 24 Newark controllers from their longtime base in Westbury, N.Y., to Philadelphia. The agency hoped the lower cost of living in that area might attract workers. But the relocation has so far been a bust, at least in part because of the equipment problems that are sidelining some workers. After the April 28 outage at Newark, the controllers were so shaken that they are now taking time off to cope with the stress, people familiar with the matter told me. A trainee who had been in the room during the outage was discovered trembling in a hallway afterward. A controller cried when he got to his car. The F.A.A. recently raised the starting salary for attendees of its controller training program, and it is offering a special $10,000 bonus to graduates who opt to work in “hard to staff” locations. But the preparations for overseeing an airspace like Newark’s are lengthy, controllers say; it takes years to train a newer employee, and a year or more for an experienced one. Is it safe to fly? As the summer travel season looms, a fix feels increasingly urgent. Of course, flying in the U.S. is still far safer than driving in a car. Thousands of pilots, controllers and other safety workers keep passengers out of harm’s way every day. The midair collision in Washington in January was devastating, but it was also the first accident of that scale since 2009. But considering the technological shortcomings, the uncertain path to making upgrades and the painful toll those glitches are taking on the controllers, it’s understandable that passengers flying in or out of Newark might now be taking a hard look at their upcoming flight plans. Related: I spoke about the problems plaguing air traffic control on a recent episode of “The Daily.” You can listen here. More coverage Ninety harrowing seconds: The inside story of the outage at Newark’s control center. The outage left hundreds of planes flying in circles, waiting for a chance to land safely. See a moving map of where they went. A NEW AIR FORCE ONE? The current Air Force One. Eric Lee/The New York Times President Trump could be about to receive a pretty big gift. The Trump administration plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747 from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One. Trump’s presidential library would get the plane when he leaves office, which could mean he can keep using it. A Qatari official said the proposal was still being discussed, and Trump called Democrats “losers” for raising ethics questions. THE LATEST NEWS Pope Leo XIV In his first meeting with journalists at the Vatican, Pope Leo urged a more harmonious, peaceful public discourse. He also spoke about the challenges of artificial intelligence, signaling that it will be one of the priorities of his pontificate. During the conclave, a swift consensus built around Leo, who had avoided obvious politicking. Read the inside story of how he was elected. Leo used his first Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square to plead for peace in Ukraine and Gaza. U.S.-China Trade Talks Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone, via Associated Press After a weekend of meetings in Geneva, the U.S. and China said they would temporarily cut the tariffs they have imposed on each other while they continue negotiations. The U.S. said its tariffs on Chinese goods would be 30 percent, instead of 145 percent. China’s rate on American goods will be 10 percent, down from 125 percent. The announcement delighted stock markets around the world. Trump in the Middle East Trump will tour the Gulf this week. He’s looking for business deals. America’s dominance over A.I. chips will be a powerful source of leverage in those talks. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest $600 million in the U.S. over Trump’s presidency. Trump wants $1 trillion. Economists say neither sum is realistic, Vivian Nereim writes. More on the Trump Administration Top buyers of a Trump family crypto coin could win a private dinner with the president and a White House tour. Some buyers said they hope for a chance to influence policy. Dozens of white South Africans, granted refugee status by Trump, are on their way to the U.S. They claim to have been victims of discrimination. Dartmouth is the only Ivy League university that has avoided Trump’s retribution. The school’s president has been careful. War in Ukraine After some European countries threatened additional sanctions on Russia unless it agreed to a 30-day cease-fire, Russia offered direct talks with Ukraine instead. Trump implored Ukraine to accept. Volodymyr Zelensky said that he would travel to meet with Vladimir Putin himself, but that he wanted an immediate cease-fire before negotiations. More International News Hamas said it would release Edan Alexander, the last American hostage alive in Gaza. The main Kurdish militia group that has fought Turkey for four decades said it would lay down its arms and disband. The cease-fire between India and Pakistan appeared to hold on its first full day. Both sides claim victory. Rodrigo Duterte, the former Filipino president, is being detained in The Hague, accused of crimes against humanity. He’s also set to win a mayoral election in his hometown. Other Big Stories House Republicans released a plan that would cause millions of poor Americans to lose Medicaid coverage. It also included large tax cuts and more military spending. Fewer cars, less honking: See what’s changed since New York City started congestion pricing. OPINIONS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is right about our food: A lack of regulatory oversight leads to more additives — and more long-term health problems, Julia Belluz writes. Trump’s education cuts could make classrooms worse for children with disabilities, Pepper Stetler writes. Here is a column by David French on the American pope. The Times Sale: Our best rate for readers of The Morning. Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year. MORNING READS Prof. Cris Hassold, left, taught art history. New College of Florida Final gift: After 50 years at New College of Florida, a professor left her life savings to her 31 favorite students. Fries for the table? Ozempic makes you less hungry. It can also make group dining awkward. Leopards on YouTube: Livestreamed safaris have turned elusive cats into internet stars. Substack: People are losing track of just how many newsletters they’re paying for. Metropolitan Diary: White coat meets city street. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about the ways siblings shape our lives. Trending online yesterday: WWE announced the death of Terry Brunk, known to fans as the wrestler Sabu, NBC News reports. He was 60. Lives Lived: Johnny Rodriguez became country music’s first Mexican American star, with hits including “I Just Can’t Get Her Out of My Mind” and “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico.” He died at 73. SPORTS N.B.A.: Indiana defeated Cleveland to take a 3-1 series lead. In the West, the Thunder evened their series with the Nuggets after a 92-87 win. N.B.A.: The draft lottery is tonight. Which team will win the opportunity to select Duke’s Cooper Flagg? Read what to know. ARTS AND IDEAS Matthew DeFeo for The New York Times America’s tech bros have gotten really into fighting. Silicon Valley’s newfound interest in martial arts is one part of a broader cultural shift: Many of these founders turned fighters are chasing a testosterone-heavy ideal of masculinity that is popular on social media and embraced by Trump. David Yaffe-Bellany followed one tech guy as he got ready for the ring. More on culture Abel Tesfaye Erik Carter for The New York Times Abel Tesfaye is leaving the Weeknd, his musical persona, behind. Read his interview with The Times. Warhol, Mondrian and Basquiat: Six artworks in this week’s spring auctions could reveal the state of the market. See them here. The Burberry bikini, an early 2000s status symbol, is making a comeback, Vogue reports. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Michelle Gatton. Transform your go-to deli order with a tortellini pasta salad. Download these apps for your vacation. Embrace your inner child with jelly shoes. Use a cloth diaper as a household rag. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were pancaked and kneecapped. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Sports 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: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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