Members phkrause Posted Tuesday at 12:25 AM Author Members Posted Tuesday at 12:25 AM May 31, 2026 Good morning. What happens when a reporter who has interviewed some of the biggest names in Hollywood sits down with the first A.I. actress? Tilly Norwood Daniel Stier for The New York Times Scene stealer By Taffy Brodesser-Akner I’m a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. This spring, I went to London to interview an actress, which is something I’ve done before. However, the actress I interviewed was a robot, which is something I haven’t done before. First, some background: Last summer, it was announced that the “first” A.I. actress, a … screen presence? … named Tilly Norwood, had been created, and thus launched a thousand think pieces on the terrors of the job-stealing, dead-eyed A.I. that was coming for Hollywood. But behind the scenes at studios — many of which are now owned by tech companies — there were different questions: In a world where it now costs astronomical amounts to make anything, is adding A.I. to the mix the answer? If the audience’s (or just my) constant complaint is that we’re being fed low-risk, dead-body-forward algorithmic slop for the sake of churn, would making production far less expensive enable a studio to take more chances? Is it good or bad to be able to cast an actress who can work whenever you want her to, never age, never get fat, film nude scenes without hesitation, give you the performance you ask for, do reshoots on a moment’s notice? And for writers and directors who spoke to me off the record for fear of becoming pariahs in their industry, the question surrounded the economics of A.I., which is fast and cheap: What if this is the next indie revolution? And yet, as I interviewed Tilly and wrote my story, which was published in The Times Magazine this morning, it became clear to me that Tilly wasn’t the most interesting part; no, her creator was. Eline van der Velden, who grew up pursuing the performing arts but also got a safety-net degree in physics and ended up marrying those two things, put a few publicly available apps together to bring Tilly to what the limits of the English language would call life. Eline gave her a name and called her the first A.I. actress. That’s when the trouble began. Eline tries to square an altruistic impetus to “notify” the creative community that, quite suddenly, the tech exists for the replacement of human actors — she calls the technology “dangerous” and “terrifying” — with her for-profit business that will benefit from people’s use of it. The more she explains, the more podcasts and think-pieces appear. Eline van der Velden Daniel Stier for The New York Times For all the actual back-and-forth conversation I had with Tilly that was eerie and funny and profound and workaday and boring (and truly scary for all those reasons), it was much more exciting to speak with Eline, who, like all us mere humans, contains the vast kaleidoscope of emotions, of contradictions, of being a regular person. Remember people? It was the people I’ve interviewed whom I was thinking about during my time with Tilly. The people who said wild things, who laughed inappropriately, who dodged my questions, who charmed me, who burst into tears, who dragged my name through the mud later. As I made my way through this story, I longed for each of them. A great thing happens when you get to do an in-depth interview with someone. If you listen carefully, they begin to tell you what’s been on their minds. In the dozens of profiles I’ve written, what I’ve learned is that questions don’t necessarily yield the best story. I have some colleagues who are terrific at asking probing questions, and the results are revealing and incredible. But my own method has mostly been to sit with someone and make myself quiet in a way I never am in my real life. If you do that, people start to talk. They can’t help it; the quiet is too much, and someone needs to fill it. If you give them space and time and you listen, they will confess and reveal everything about themselves. They’ll tell you secrets, philosophies, jokes. They’ll share gossip and childhood memories. They’ll tell you the meaning of life if you let them. All that will equal a full meal, an entire experience, a whole galaxy. The best way I can tell you about what happened this spring in London is to say that if you make yourself quiet and still and just wait, Tilly waits, too. She just sits, unprompted. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have anything to say. If I haven’t depressed you, I hope you’ll read the story and maybe meet me in the comments. No bots, please. THE LATEST NEWS Elections In Selma, Ala., this month. Wes Frazer for The New York Times Redistricting in the South has led to postponed primaries and changes in candidates, leaving voters confused and concerned. OpenAI and Anthropic are spending big on the midterms. They’re mostly attacking each other. The Trump Administration An agreement to set up a $1.8 billion fund likely to benefit President Trump’s allies and to grant tax benefits to him was brokered by a tight-knit group of lawyers with close ties to the president. Trump hasn’t committed to anointing Vice President JD Vance as his successor. It’s adding a layer of tension to their relationship. Trump’s repairs to the reflecting pool in Washington do not address long-term structural problems, like leaky pipes and inadequate water treatment. Around the World Declan Walsh, Estelle Caswell, Thomas Vollkommer and Arlette Bashizi Ebola is raging in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the video above, our chief Africa correspondent, Declan Walsh, goes inside an Ebola ward where adults and children are being treated. Click to play. In Cuba, the U.S. oil blockade has cut off supplies of gas for garbage trucks, producing enormous trash piles. Lithuania was occupied by Germany in both world wars. Now it’s welcoming German soldiers. Other Big Stories Demonstrators clashed with the police outside a New Jersey immigration detention center after a week of intense protests over living conditions there. The U.S. boat strike campaign in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean has now killed over 200 people. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Does Pope Leo’s encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” offer a compelling vision for how institutions should deal with the risks of generative A.I.? Yes. Leo’s appeal to political leaders to establish legal guidelines and protect workers demonstrates a profound understanding of A.I.’s threats. “Pope Leo is a prophetic voice crying in the wilderness, even if amoral politicians and avaricious corporate bosses refuse to listen,” David Horsey writes in The Seattle Times. No. The pope’s defense of human dignity is welcome, but his call for greater regulation of the technology is misguided. “While A.I. isn’t without risk, government control is likely to result in an even greater concentration of power,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes. FROM OPINION Students are thriving at an A.I.-themed high school in Georgia — but it’s not because of the technology, Jessica Grose writes. Magdalene J. Taylor makes the case for “hetero-optimism” in contemporary dating. Here are columns by Nicholas Kristof on factory pork farming and Ross Douthat on the great crime drop. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS Alice Zoo for The New York Times Riding a “beast”: The Undercroft at the Southbank Center in London has been a destination for skateboarders since the early 1970s. A friend in need: More homeless shelters are making room for pets, recognizing that many people would rather sleep on the street than leave their animals behind. Small but mighty: Think a 10-year-old can’t pump serious iron? These fitness influencers might change your mind. Grandfather of French intellectuals: Edgar Morin’s experience in the Resistance during World War II informed his work as a sociologist, anthropologist, ecologist, philosopher and filmmaker. He died at 104. SPORTS N.B.A.: The San Antonio Spurs eliminated the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. Up next: a high-powered matchup between the Spurs and the New York Knicks. French Open: Coco Gauff’s French Open title defense ended with a defeat by Anastasia Potapova in the third round. It wasn’t the only upset on an exciting day at Roland Garros. Soccer: The Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal came down to penalty shots. We broke down every nerve-tingling attempt of PSG’s 4-3 victory. World Cup: The Iranian soccer players, still awaiting visas to the U.S., are practicing in Turkey and making backup plans. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “The Land and Its People,” by David Sedaris: Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook of Sedaris’s latest essay collection, which is not only funny and irreverent, but made even better thanks to his impeccable timing and signature nasal voice. (How many people can pull off nasal as a positive?) As always, Sedaris covers aging, everyday annoyances and complicated family dynamics — this time with additional insight into his relationship with his late father. “The author is older, the world seems weirder; he hates it and loves it,” Roddy Doyle wrote in his review. “And this is another reason I love reading Sedaris: He knits the present to the past so that they become the same thing; for him being alive has always been strange and atrocious, contradictory, unfair and hilarious.” THE INTERVIEW Philip Montgomery for The New York Times By Lulu Garcia-Navarro This week’s subject for The Interview is Laurie Santos, a cognitive scientist and professor who teaches a popular class on happiness at Yale University and is the host of the podcast “The Happiness Lab.” Do you worry that this idea of pursuing happiness, always striving, actually creates unhappiness? Definitely. There’s really lovely research on this from Iris Mauss at the University of California at Berkeley. She has a paper about the paradox of the pursuit of happiness, that the simple act of pursuing happiness often makes us feel unhappy. But that gets back to this fact that we just don’t get happiness right. When we think about the pursuit of happiness, we think of hedonic stuff. We think “good vibes only.” And when things go wrong, we tend to have a different set of emotions — what nerdy psychologists like me call meta-emotions. Those are emotions about emotions. So you go on some really cool trip to Rio de Janeiro and you’re like, I’m annoyed with the sand, it’s a little too sunny, I’m not feeling happy. That’s Emotion No. 1. Then the meta-emotions come in. You’re ashamed: How can I be in Rio de Janeiro and not feeling happy? You’re disappointed: I spent all this money. Those emotions come up whenever we feel like we’re off the path of the pursuit of happiness. And the problem is, the more you value happiness, the more you think you’re supposed to get there, the more these negative emotions come up whenever you feel like you’re off track. Is there anything about our happiness that you think is uniquely American? Oh, for sure. We’re such weirdos when it comes to happiness. We are really into happiness, first of all. We’re also focused on optimizing. This feels very TikTok, but it’s something Americans have been thinking about for a long time. Rewind to the early 19th century, and you have scholars like Alexis de Tocqueville, who came over to the U.S. as this anthropological experiment, like, What’s going on with the new country? And what he remarked upon was that Americans weren’t just constantly pursuing happiness — they were never satisfied. My guess is if de Tocqueville showed up today, he’d be like, Oh, man. Read more of the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE The New York Times Read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Decorate with wallpaper by putting it on a big canvas instead of on your walls. Learn how to manage panic attacks while traveling. Enjoy summer concerts and protect your hearing with these earplugs recommended by Wirecutter. RECIPE OF THE DAY Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. This pasta salad from Kay Chun is loaded with two pounds of zucchini, roasted until golden and caramelized and then tossed in a tangy garlic-tahini dressing. Roasted sunflower seeds bring crunch and nuttiness. (Pepitas, slivered almonds or chopped walnuts are other great options.) Golden raisins add unexpected pops of sweetness that round out the tart lemon. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were innovational, invitational, violation and volitional. Can you put eight historical events — including the creation of the Crab nebula, the first Tony Awards and the invention of Bubble Wrap — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, 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. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren 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 Tuesday at 11:46 PM Author Members Posted Tuesday at 11:46 PM June 1, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. Happy Pride Month. Let’s start at sea. Images from social media posts by President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the U.S. Southern Command. The New York Times Death from above The videos are eerily similar. There’s a small go-fast boat on a sun-dappled sea. Then there’s a soundless explosion of light. When it fades: The boat’s in splinters, burning, about to sink, gone. American forces have been attacking small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for nearly nine months in black-ops missions that surface on social media when they’re done. Secret attack planes and armed MQ-9 Reaper drones have hit more than 60 boats. They’ve killed at least 200 people. The Trump administration says, without providing evidence, that the boats were smuggling drugs. Specialists in the laws of conflict have called the strikes illegal extrajudicial killings — Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s president, called them “murder” — because the military is not allowed to target civilians, even criminals, if they don’t pose an imminent threat of violence. The White House says the killings are lawful. It says that the United States is in a legally recognized armed conflict with drug cartels — and that the crews of the boats are “combatants” in that conflict. We are tracking the boat strikes here. Increasing pressure The boat strikes are just part of an expanded military campaign that the administration is pursuing in the region, backed by the largest U.S. military deployment in Latin America in decades. The White House has designated more than a dozen Latin American and Caribbean groups as terrorist organizations and has enlisted Guatemala and Ecuador to assist the United States in striking them. Eric Schmitt, who covers national security, said Honduras may be next. He and Maria Abi-Habib reported that the moves were part of a broader strategy: “to normalize an American military presence across Latin America.” Trump also wants boots on the ground in Mexico, which has refused to cooperate. The whole campaign comes in part from Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security adviser, Eric said. Miller has a bimonthly meeting, called a “wins” meeting, where government agencies report on recent successes. The Pentagon’s death toll from boat strikes is a regular “win.” The White House, for its part, denied the characterization of the meeting and released a statement to The Times: “The administration continues to work to carry out the president’s agenda.” Supply and demand Is the idea that blowing up boats thousands of miles away from the United States will keep the drugs they’re purportedly carrying out of this country? If so, it’s not working. Cocaine is just as easy to get here as it was before the strikes began, reports my colleague Simon Romero. In Colombia. Federico Rios for The New York Times “Cocaine remains highly available, highly prevalent and relatively inexpensive,” one professor of public health told him. Epidemiologists and public-health researchers said that if the boat strikes were actually slowing the flow of cocaine into the United States, street prices for the drug would have gone up. That hasn’t happened. They also said there’d be a decline in the drug’s purity, as dealers added fillers to stretch their supply. That hasn’t happened either. “Boat strikes aren’t the answer,” the head of the military’s Southern Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March. Cartels are also finding new ways to smuggle drugs. Evidence of that lies in large cocaine shipments recently uncovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Here’s Simon: While large seizures might initially look like a sign that law enforcement is successfully stopping the flow, researchers view seizures as a proxy for tracking the total volume of trafficking. If border agents were to find significantly less cocaine, that could imply less cocaine flowing to the United States. But that isn’t happening. Instead, C.B.P. seized 47,808 pounds of cocaine in the eight months since the strikes began, more than the 43,227 pounds the agency seized in the eight-month period before the campaign, according to official data. “They’re not moving the needle at all,” one researcher said. “Is that worth killing all these people?” THE LATEST NEWS War in the Middle East Near the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters The United States and Iran traded strikes over the weekend. The U.S. military has helped around 70 commercial ships go through the Strait of Hormuz in the past three weeks, an official said. The Lebanese government was edging toward disarming the militant group Hezbollah. That ended with the Iran war. Trump’s declaration of an easy win against Iran has given way to a stalemate. The pattern is familiar from Ukraine and Gaza. Politics Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, pushed back against reports that he had exchanged sexual messages with women other than his wife. Trump-backed candidates’ success in Republican primaries doesn’t necessarily point toward wins in the midterms, when the party will need the support of voters worried about the economy and Iran. Around the World In Beijing. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times China: An A.I. company is working to develop technology that could predict who might become critical of the government. Colombia: The presidential election headed to a June runoff. A far-right populist who surged in the polls will face a senator from the outgoing president’s left-wing party. Nicaragua: Brooklyn Rivera, an Indigenous rights leader, died in custody after nearly three years of imprisonment. He was 73. Other Big Stories The New York Times A new all-electric aircraft made a test flight in New York City. In the video above, our transportation reporter Niraj Chokshi asks if the design could displace commercial helicopters. Click to play. The University of Notre Dame failed to take action against a former priest accused of sexual misconduct, a report found. Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., blaming and shaming people for their health problems is making a comeback. LEGAL TROUBLE Source: Office of Personnel Management | by Martín González Gómez/The New York Times Roughly one in five lawyers who worked in the government at the end of 2024 were gone by this past March. Some left over policy disagreements. Others lost their jobs in staffing cuts. The lack of lawyers is creating a backlog of cases across government agencies. “There are a lot of things that just can’t get done without lawyers — appearances in court, reviewing of regulations,” one former government attorney said. The government recently started a recruiting network for legal talent. So far, that outreach has drawn the interest of just 300 people. OPINIONS Marco Rubio has defined and driven his political rise by shape-shifting and reinvention, Manuel Roig-Franzia writes. A.I. trained on human knowledge is a public resource and the wealth it generates should be public wealth, Senator Bernie Sanders writes. Here are columns by Ezra Klein on the best public uses for A.I. and by David French on how polarization fuels conspiracy theories. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS In Kyiv, Ukraine. Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times Camo chic: The hottest fashions in Kyiv echo military fatigues. Ukrainians say it’s a show of solidarity, not a fad. Slithering specimens: A 101-year-old farmer in Ecuador spent a lifetime catching and preserving snakes. A young scientist helped him turn his collection into a scientific survey of one of Earth’s most diverse snake habitats. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was an interview with an A.I. actress. Metropolitan Diary: Hamburger helper. TODAY’S NUMBER $7,388 — That’s how much a woman spent for a business class seat on a 14-hour flight from San Francisco to Beijing. It was meant to recline into a lie-flat position, but the buttons didn’t work. A flight attendant wrenched the seat down but could not bring it back up, so the passenger remained recumbent for almost all the rest of the flight. She complained to the carrier. How much did she get? SPORTS French Open: João Fonseca, a 19-year-old Brazilian, is through to the quarterfinals after a win over Norway’s Casper Ruud that included a disputed line call. World Cup: The vibes have been pretty bad for the U.S. men’s national team. But the squad had some sensational moments against Senegal in a tuneup, winning 3-2. RECIPE OF THE DAY Craig Lee for The New York Times Here’s a classic Mark Bittman recipe: minimalist, easy, packed with flavor. It’s for crispy chickpeas with ground beef, a cousin to chili but more bean-forward. You can riff on it endlessly, using garam masala, say, in place of the cumin, or turmeric, or saffron, and using chopped tofu or ground lamb in place of the beef. Make it the first time Mark’s way. And then make it your own. SAYING GOODBYE Sam Levinson Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times Addiction has consequences. For Sam Levinson, the writer, director and creator of “Euphoria,” the finale of show’s third season had to tell that story. It also meant that HBO’s buzzy hit came to an end last night — for good. The story is “a tragic one in the end — but it’s also the truth,” Levinson said in an exclusive interview with Popcast. “If you are experimenting or taking drugs today, it’s very possible it’ll kill you.” More on culture There’s a lot of virtual sex work on TV this season. “There’s definitely a conversation there about the times we live in,” said Brandon Flynn, who plays a cam boy on “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.” “How far does capitalism push us, that we start giving up parts of ourselves?” Take a 10-day trip to Thailand, if only in your mind. You can go on a budget — or if it’s only imaginary, you can pull out all the stops. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS The New York Times Read lots of novels this summer. The Book Review has a preview of its editors’ favorites. Get into birding. These seven podcasts can help. (You don’t have to listen to all of them!) Bed down with the best pillows tested by the sleepyheads at Wirecutter. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was godchild. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren 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 Wednesday at 01:59 AM Author Members Posted Wednesday at 01:59 AM June 2, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. President Trump is backing away from his plan for a $1.8 billion fund to pay people he says have been victimized by the federal government. Opposition to the plan was staunch. And there are primary elections in six states today. (We’ll be keeping a close eye on California for many reasons.) We’re going to start, though, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where my colleague Declan Walsh is reporting on a terrible outbreak of the Ebola virus. Declan spoke this week with Katrin Bennhold, host of our newsletter “The World.” In Congo. Arlette Bashizi for The New York Times Inside the epidemic The Ebola virus has stalked Congo since at least the mid-1970s, when a major outbreak on the banks of the Ebola River gave the disease its name. The latest eruption, which the Congolese Health Ministry announced on May 15, has already become the third largest on record. It’s a particularly dangerous strain of Ebola this time, with no cure and no vaccine. Declan, our chief Africa correspondent, recently visited an Ebola ward in Ituri Province, the epicenter of the epidemic, where underequipped health workers have been trying to treat multiple patients with little outside support. Katrin spoke to him about what he saw. Katrin: Where exactly are you, and what is it like? Declan: I’m in Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province in Congo, and have been reporting in Mongbwalu, a town 50 miles north of here, where the outbreak is believed to have started. Driving there told us quite a lot about the outbreak. There were soldiers and checkpoints all along the way, a product of the long history of ethnic violence in this area. It’s also a gold-mining area with thousands of migrant workers from other parts of Congo. All of that makes this an ideal launchpad for a virus. How are locals coping? In Mongbwalu. Arlette Bashizi for The New York Times The doctors and health workers do heroic work. But they’re completely swamped. The Ebola ward in Mongbwalu was disturbingly unsecured: people wandering in and out, nobody wearing much protection. It was lacking in all forms of equipment, medicine, basic supplies. And it had almost no testing kits, which are crucial to reducing the spread of the disease. How bad is this outbreak compared with past ones? It’s already the third-largest outbreak — and it’s still early days. Congo has had many Ebola outbreaks, but a few factors make this one different. One is that it is being caused by a different species. The main Ebola virus is known as the Zaire virus, and there are now several vaccines for it. But this virus — the Bundibugyo virus — has no approved vaccine or treatment yet. The mortality rate can be as high as 50 percent. This outbreak was also discovered late. There was an enormous lag between the apparent start, possibly as early as March, and the first identified case on May 15. We wrote last week that this outbreak was bad but unlikely to spread across the world. Does that remain true? Yes, according to experts. It’s an extremely serious outbreak here. It has spread into at least two other Congolese provinces, into neighboring Uganda and potentially into South Sudan. But, for now, it has been largely contained within this region. That’s no consolation, of course, to the people who live here and are really struggling. Fighting this outbreak is not just a matter of money and medicine. It’s also about combating perceptions and customs that are inadvertently helping the virus to spread. Conspiracy theories have been circulating that health workers and foreign nongovernmental organizations somehow conspired to either bring this virus to the area or use it to kill the population. I cannot tell you the number of conspiracy theories we’ve heard. But aren’t people used to Ebola outbreaks by now? Well, this is a town that escaped the last outbreak, so locals don’t have a common memory of dealing with Ebola. From their perspective, there was this wave of mysterious deaths all through April into early May until Ebola was finally declared. When people get sick here, they often go first to a traditional healer. That means that by the time they go to the hospital, the illness is at an advanced stage, and they often die within days. People have come to associate the hospital with death, not survival. They see loved ones going in to be treated and then they see coffins coming out. On top of that, one of the main vectors for transmission has been funerals. People here tend to embrace the dead as they say goodbye. But the body of an Ebola victim is extremely contagious, and so traditional funerals effectively become superspreader events. How do you stop that from happening? In Mongbwalu. Arlette Bashizi for The New York Times You have to educate people and convince communities that it’s in their interest to ensure they bury their loved ones in a safe manner. What really struck me was that even in this chaotic, dangerous, difficult situation, local volunteers were throwing themselves into the line of fire. These are people who only a week ago were farmers and gold miners and traders. They signed up as volunteers with the Red Cross. They undertook some very hasty training. They were given protective equipment. And since then, they’ve been going into these communities, helping to disinfect bodies and to persuade people to engage in safe burials. It’s incredibly inspiring. More on the outbreak Read Declan’s reporting from the epicenter of the outbreak, and see his video on the conditions of Mongbwalu’s Ebola ward. Scientists are scrambling to find vaccines and drugs that might stop the Bundibugyo virus that’s causing this outbreak. TRUMP’S PAYOUT FUND President Trump Allison Robbert for The New York Times For days, people close to Trump say, the president has been leaning toward scrapping his plan to establish a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim to have been victims of unfair government prosecution. The retreat went public yesterday. The Justice Department announced it would abide by a federal judge’s temporary order not to activate the fund — at least until June 12, when a hearing is scheduled. Critics of the plan, including prominent Republicans, have characterized it as a scheme to lavish the president’s friends with public money. And some administration officials privately expressed relief that the judge’s ruling gave them a way out of what they saw as a self-inflicted mess. Still, Republicans last night were skeptical that the president would actually abandon the fund. THE LATEST NEWS War in the Middle East Israel appeared to back off threats to strike Beirut after pressure from Trump. Trump said that talks with Iran were starting to get “very boring,” and that he “couldn’t care less” if they broke down. Midterm Elections There’s a closely watched race today in New Jersey’s Seventh District. The Republican incumbent, Tom Kean Jr., hasn’t been seen since March. James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, has connected his liberal politics to his Christian faith. Ruth Graham, who covers religion, explains how his outlook differs from the conservative Christianity that dominates his state. Click to watch. The New York Times The Trump Administration Federal judges are questioning the honesty of Justice Department lawyers, saying some withheld information or made misleading assertions. The Trump administration is dismantling an ocean monitoring network that scientists use to track climate change and marine health. Business Doctors are seeing more children with whooping cough, bacterial infections and other serious illnesses as vaccination rates fall. At an explosive “60 Minutes” staff meeting, the correspondent Scott Pelley accused Bari Weiss, CBS News’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the Sunday news program. Around the World In Alberta. Amber Bracken for The New York Times Canada: A campaign to turn the western province of Alberta into its own country was fringe but is becoming more mainstream. Laos: Thousands of big stone urns have mystified archaeologists for years. A new study offers evidence that they are “death jars”; one stored the remains of dozens of people. UNDERSEA CACOPHONY The New York Times Fewer than 100 Rice’s whales remain on Earth. They live in the Gulf of Mexico, where noisy air guns are used to survey the ocean floor for oil and gas. That noise is trouble, since its low frequency drowns out the whales’ calls — jeopardizing not just their communication but, researchers say, their existence. Listen to the sounds and you’ll understand the problem. OPINIONS Times Opinion brought together 14 baby boomers to talk about generational differences and how politics have changed. Tax exemptions make the system more complicated and the government less functional, Natasha Sarin writes: “Without taxes, society falls apart.” Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS In Rio de Janeiro. María Magdalena Arréllaga for The New York Times Bone of contention: The street dogs known as “caramelos” are part of Brazil’s culture. Now Mexico has claimed the breed. A sea of blondes: Over 1,000 Marilyn Monroe impersonators gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about trying to get reimbursed for a broken $7,300 plane seat. TODAY’S NUMBER Nacho, left, and Trixie. Leigh Percasky/The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust, via AFP — Getty Images 55 — That is how many chicks a pair of critically endangered parakeets in New Zealand have produced in two years, increasing the population of their species by more than 10 percent. There are only about 450 orange-fronted parakeets left in the world. SPORTS Tennis: Serena Williams will return to the court next week in doubles at Queen’s, the warm-up for Wimbledon. She’s 44, and it will be her first tournament in almost four years. N.F.L.: The Cleveland Browns dealt the star pass rusher Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in a blockbuster deal that included picks in the next three drafts. RECIPE OF THE DAY David Malosh for The New York Times I like Sue Li’s new recipe for a halloumi souvlaki bowl, simple and sophisticated. Top a bowl of yogurt-slicked rice with seared cheese, sautéed chickpeas, halved cherry tomatoes and a fan of thinly sliced Persian cucumbers. Then squeeze some lemon juice over the top and inhale. THE OBAMALISK Lyndon French for The New York Times The Obama Presidential Center is opening on the South Side of Chicago, a campus built around a blocky, granite-clad museum tower that Barack Obama wanted to look like four upraised hands. “Maybe it’s me but I don’t see it,” writes Michael Kimmelman, our architecture critic. “I see a boulder in a park.” Here’s his review. More on culture George Gene Gustines, our comics reporter (really!), picked out nine comic books and graphic novels to celebrate Pride. The talk show host Mark Consuelos, 55, made his Broadway debut this spring in “Fallen Angels.” So did his son Joaquin Consuelos, 23, in “Death of a Salesman.” They spoke to The Times about the shared experience. Late night hosts updated America on the lineup for its 250th birthday bash. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Matt Chase Make art or practice craft. Go to a museum. Take in a concert. Culture is good for your health. 🎨 Remove that stain from your shirt more effectively with advice from the laundry experts at Wirecutter. Read “Maintenance: Of Everything,” by Stewart Brand. It’s a great argument for a life of constant upkeep, of terminal repair. (Brand spoke with our Ezra Klein recently.) GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was inexact. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren 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 yesterday at 12:50 AM Author Members Posted yesterday at 12:50 AM June 4, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. In Washington, the House voted to rein in President Trump’s war in Iran. Israel and Lebanon renewed their cease-fire — though Hezbollah was not part of the discussions. And the Knicks took Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals. There’s more news below. I’m going to start, though, with protest and photography. Near Delaney Hall in Newark. Vincent Alban for The New York Times Look closely Protests against federal immigration policy have erupted across the nation since the start of President Trump’s second term, when he signed a series of executive orders to close the border with Mexico, block refugees and asylum seekers from entering the country, end birthright citizenship and detain and deport those in the country illegally. Many of those protests have been at immigration detention centers, where the government holds the people it apprehends until they can appear in court, or are deported. We’ve seen demonstrations in Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, California and, recently, in New Jersey, where protesters at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark have clashed, sometimes violently, with federal agents and the state police. At issue: conditions inside the center, which is overseen by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Detainees and their families and supporters say that, among other things, the food’s rotten and the medical care’s poor. They want out. The most recent confrontations occurred over the weekend, with fights, chemical spray, rubber bullets and arrests. Vincent Alban, a photojournalist for The Times, was there: 15 hours on Saturday, and then all day on Monday and Tuesday. He captured images that do a great deal to illuminate the emotion, chaos, fear and defiance of the clashes. Yesterday I asked him what he saw beyond his camera’s lens. “There’s a consistent level of anger that is not going away,” he said. Vincent Alban for The New York Times Vincent made all those photographs above. Here’s what we’re seeing in them: a rare instance of peace and relief, after a man was released from detention; the breathless moment when the state police staged their front line on Saturday night; the terror that came afterward as their horses moved, not slowly, into the crowd; and the exhaustion and pain that follows a protester’s adrenaline rush. Other photographers for The Times were at Delaney Hall as well. On May 25, Dakota Santiago captured an attempt by Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey to de-escalate tensions between protesters and federal agents. Instead, they escalated, and the agents used pepper balls and mace to clear the crowds. Dakota Santiago for The New York Times And Todd Heisler discovered a remarkable moment of beauty on May 28: inmates standing in windows above a crowd of protesters. Look closely. The person in the window on the left holds a paper heart up to the translucent glass. The one on the right uses their fingers to make a heart of their own. “It shows that none of this is an abstraction,” Todd told me. “There are real people in there. There’s humanity.” Todd Heisler/The New York Times More on immigration An internal watchdog found that officers at a Louisiana ICE detention facility mistreated immigrants. Markwayne Mullin, the Homeland Security secretary, said he was reinstating regular training standards for ICE agents. They were cut during a hiring push last year. THE LATEST NEWS War Powers Vote Four House Republicans joined Democrats in voting for a resolution that directs Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran or get Congress’s approval to continue. The measure now goes to the Senate. Even if it passes there, it’s not clear how it would be enforced. The vote shows that Republicans in Congress are increasingly willing to defy Trump, Katie Rogers writes. War in the Middle East At Kuwait International Airport yesterday. UGC, via Reuters Iran fired missiles and drones at Kuwait, setting a terminal at its international airport on fire and killing at least one person. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress that the U.S. military operation against Iran “has concluded,” despite both sides’ continuing attacks. The Trump administration has been trying to convince Iran to turn over its nuclear material. Here’s where the highly enriched uranium may be. Trump Administration In the Oval Office yesterday. Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump said he still loved the idea of a $1.8 billion fund to pay allies who claimed to have been politically persecuted, which his administration said it was dropping. Nearly 8,000 federal workers became easier to fire after Trump signed an executive order to strip job protections from policy-making roles. Trump said that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio should run on the same presidential ticket in 2028. He didn’t say who should be at the top. Around the World Europe: The E.U. released a plan to reduce its dependence on American tech. Colombia: The right-wing candidate for president is also a U.S. citizen. He’s not legally required to renounce his joint citizenship if he wins. Congo: Our chief Africa correspondent, Declan Walsh, reports from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak on how families, medical workers and local volunteers are grappling with losses of life. Click below to watch. The New York Times Other Big Stories SpaceX set a price for its initial public offering of $135 a share. That would value the whole company at $1.77 trillion, making it the largest I.P.O. ever. The Obama Presidential Center, which opens this month in Chicago, offers a trip to a parallel America, Peter Baker writes. GETTING KIDS HOOKED Social media companies are working to keep children glued to their screens during the school day, according to company documents obtained by The Times. Among their strategies: Snapchat sent phone alerts urging students to share what was happening in their classrooms. Meta paid “teen ambassadors” to hand out swag to their friends at school. TikTok gave the National PTA millions of dollars to throw events and provide favorable comments to journalists. This push has overshadowed concerns from parents, teachers and even the companies’ own trust and safety teams, all of whom have argued that such tactics are bad for kids’ mental health. OPINIONS The New York Times Nadja Spiegelman discusses the pervasiveness of nihilism in the United States with Tressie McMillan Cottom and Brock Colyar. Women deserve better menopause care, Melinda French Gates writes. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times; DANNIJOPRO Bedazzled: Some fans need more than basic tees and hoodies to show love for their teams. Bring on the crystals, patchwork and crochet. Dotcake: The latest viral food trend is basically a cup of cake and sprinkles. Grieving: Some influencers are building large followings on TikTok by sharing their experience with unimaginable loss. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was the California primary election results. Many races remain too close to call. “Voice of Love”: Peabo Bryson dominated the soul and R&B charts for nearly two decades with his romantic ballads and Disney duet hits. He died at 75. TODAY’S NUMBER 1977 — That was the last time a tennis Grand Slam had no former major winners reach either its men’s or women’s semifinal. Until yesterday, when it became true for this year’s French Open. SPORTS Jalen Brunson of the Knicks shooting during Game 1. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images It’s just one game, but the New York Knicks are up 1-0 in the N.B.A. finals after last night’s 105-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Karl-Anthony Towns was excellent against the Spurs wunderkind Victor Wembanyama. Towns finished with 26 points, but it came on 6-of-21 shooting. Jalen Brunson scored 30 points for the Knicks, including 13 in the fourth quarter. An absurd fadeaway jumper with 37 seconds left sealed the win. This is the first time the Knicks have led the finals since they won Game 5 in 1994, on the night of the O.J. Simpson White Bronco chase. Game 2 is set for tomorrow in San Antonio. Sign up for The Bounce newsletter to keep up with all the N.B.A. action. 🏀 RECIPE OF THE DAY Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times Tejal Rao is a restaurant critic for The Times who also happens to be an exceptional cook. Try her recipe for baked rajma, a Punjabi-style stew of red beans in a thick, spicy tomato gravy, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Delicious! TRUE CRIME The spot where Kenneth Rex McElroy was killed in Skidmore, Mo. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Kenneth Rex McElroy was a bully, a small-town Missouri hood accused of crimes as varied as assault and hog rustling. He was murdered in broad daylight 45 years ago, shot in his truck outside a local bar. There were loads of witnesses. No one saw a thing. The mystery is now a play, “Kenrex,” which got its start in London and has since come to New York. It stars Jack Holden, who recently won an Olivier Award, England’s equivalent of the Tony, for portraying not only McElroy, but also dozens of other characters, most of whom are based on real people from the case. Jesse McKinley, who has covered theater for years, talked with a lot of them. It’s quite a tale. More on culture We need just five minutes to get you to fall in love with Charlie Parker’s saxophone. Meet Carley Fortune, the best-selling romance novelist with an incredible name (it’s real). Late night hosts commented on the reality star Spencer Pratt’s run for L.A. mayor. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Read Ann Patchett’s new novel, “Whistler,” which our critic says makes the case that there’s a place in serious literature for kind, happy characters and kind, happy stories. The review. Investigate. Your router may be due — or overdue — for an upgrade. The technologists at Wirecutter have some helpful advice. Jump rope and get stronger. Here’s a beginner’s routine. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were adaptivity and vapidity. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren 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 22 hours ago Author Members Posted 22 hours ago June 5, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. Senate Republicans rammed through their $70 billion bill to fund President Trump’s immigration crackdown this morning, after defeating efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to block Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund. (The bill still needs to go to the House, which is expected to pass it.) And multiple women who dated Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, told The Times he was a volatile boyfriend. There’s more news below. But first, let’s go to the theater. “Schmigadoon!” Sara Krulwich/The New York Times News from the rialto New York’s theater district is in The Times’s physical backyard, stretching north along Eighth Avenue from our newsroom on 41st Street to 54th Street, and east to Sixth Avenue. It’s thrilling to walk through it, past the dozens of theaters that make up Broadway’s ecosystem, and to consider how closely related the business of live theater is to the one of publishing newspapers: both centuries-old activities, still performed daily by people on stages, by people with keyboards, right in the heart of New York City. That’s neat. Michael Paulson, our theater reporter, bridges the two worlds. Broadway’s his beat and he covers it as if it were a small city — or a polytheistic religion. And he’ll definitely see it in thrall to the theater gods this weekend, with the 79th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday night. (The ceremony will air on CBS at 8 p.m. Eastern and stream on Paramount+. We’ll be covering it, too.) The new musicals “The Lost Boys” and “Schmigadoon!” are at the top of the leaderboard with 12 nominations apiece, and a revival of the musical “Ragtime” is close behind with 11. It’s going to be cool to see numbers from the musicals performed during the ceremony. “Death of a Salesman,” with nine, is the most nominated play. Who will win? Tony voters have been taking in the performances for months. (Here’s how you can see contenders yourself, if you’re in New York or planning to visit.) And as he’s done for years, Michael has talked to a huge number of them about how they’re planning to vote. His predictions of winners in past years have been eerily accurate for just that reason. Of course, past performance offers no guarantee on future return, he reminded me yesterday. But here’s Michael’s ballot for 2026, based on emails and phone calls he traded with about 175 of the roughly 850 Tony voters. Helen Shaw, our chief theater critic, saw these shows herself, and has decided opinions about who should win and informed notions about who will win as well. Her picks are here, and she spoke about them with Wesley Morris on his “Cannonball” podcast. “Liberation.” Sara Krulwich/The New York Times On the boards Michael and Helen’s colleagues on the theater desk have put together an impressive collection of pieces that’ll help prepare you for the ceremony, introducing you to a season’s worth of people, moments and performances. Among them, you can: View portraits of 38 of the nominees. They include Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf from “Salesman,” John Lithgow from “Giant,” Daniel Radcliffe from “Every Brilliant Thing,” Ana Gasteyer from “Schmigadoon!” and Rachel Dratch from “The Rocky Horror Show.” See how actors in six of the shows get into character. Thrill to scene-stealing highlights of the season’s best shows. It’s supposed to be fun Maybe you don’t follow Broadway, though. Perhaps musicals or plays are not your thing. Yesterday afternoon, I asked Michael why you should care about the Tony Awards anyway. Here’s what he told me: The Tony Awards matter in part for the obvious reason — they’re a chance to celebrate the best work staged on Broadway over the previous year. But they matter for other reasons, too. First, and most important, the awards broadcast, despite declining viewership, remains the biggest audience Broadway draws at any one moment, and is an enormous marketing opportunity for the industry and the art form. The song-and-dance numbers performed on the show, when they’re good, lead directly to ticket sales. The broadcast helps remind people of what theater has to offer, and can inspire viewers to go see plays and musicals — in New York, on tour, in their local communities. Second, the show offers inspiration to aspiring theater artists. Over and over again I meet actors and other theater makers who tell me that watching the Tony Awards when they were young helped clarify for them that they wanted to pursue this art form when they grew up. See you onstage! THE LATEST NEWS Congress Senate Republicans swallowed their concerns about Trump’s payout fund and his ballroom project, rejecting efforts to tie their immigration crackdown bill to votes on those issues. Trump says he plans to nominate the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, for the permanent position. Blanche could face a bruising confirmation battle in the Senate. Eighteen House Republicans joined Democrats to approve new aid for Ukraine and fresh sanctions on Russia, defying Republican leaders. Jan. 6 Fallout A Justice Department photo shows Elias Irizarry in a conference room at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a pole across his lap. A friend videotaped him. Justice Department A Jan. 6 rioter who pleaded guilty to climbing through a broken window at the Capitol has been hired to work at the Pentagon. A Pentagon spokesman called him a “qualified, patriotic young professional.” At least 97 of the nearly 1,600 people who were charged in connection with the Capitol riot have been accused of new crimes, a study found. Trump Administration A planning commission led by Trump’s allies advanced his proposal for a 250-foot triumphal arch, despite an overwhelmingly negative response from the public. Trump announced $700 million in new federal funding for the U.S. coal industry. The administration has quietly continued to kill people aboard boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and The Times has continued to track the toll. In the video below, Eric Schmitt explains what we know about the campaign. Click to play. The New York Times More on Politics John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, reached a deal to plead guilty to mishandling classified information used in a book. He faces up to five years in prison. The Supreme Court let federal regulators fine Verizon and AT&T millions of dollars for failing to protect customer data. War in the Middle East Less than a day after Israel and Lebanon announced a new cease-fire deal, Hezbollah and Israeli forces traded strikes. Hezbollah’s leader said his group rejected the deal. Ultra-Orthodox extremists in Israel rioted outside a judge’s home to protest the country’s military draft. Health In a breakthrough, scientists at Columbia University precisely edited the DNA of early human embryos. That could pave the way to genetically engineered babies. Scientists identified a promising strategy to predict and prevent lung cancer, which kills more people worldwide than any other cancer. TREASURE HUNTERS Metals worth trillions of dollars sit at the bottom of the ocean. The New York Times At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean lies a vast expanse of critical minerals like nickel, cobalt and manganese, in the form of fist-size nodules. These metals are used in electric vehicles, weapons and lots of other tech. That makes them extremely valuable. But harvesting them is a challenge. One company has tested a solution: sending a rover two miles below the surface to, essentially, suck nodules up through a very long straw. A new story from our Climate desk explains how the process works — and the potential damage it could do to deep-sea creatures still undiscovered by humanity. OPINIONS Young people are right to boo A.I. at graduation ceremonies, Molly Jong-Fast writes. They should also organize to rein it in. The effort to destroy Black political power in the South is among the greatest betrayals of Black Americans by the federal government in living memory, Mara Gay writes. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS Costume party: This weekend, fans get a chance to shop the Paris Opera’s closet (it has ballet costumes, too). Prayer and care: Black churches are helping educate the African American community on how to recognize and treat dementia. Going retro: ChatGPT’s new ad campaign emphasizes humans and downplays tech. Will it make A.I. less frightening? Your pick: The most-clicked link in The Morning yesterday was an Opinion discussion about mourning the American dream. A pioneering novelist: Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel series “Persepolis,” which followed a girl through the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, helped millions around the world understand the plight of ordinary Iranians. Satrapi has died at 56. TODAY’S NUMBER $225 — That is what it will cost to park for the day at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J., when Brazil and Morocco meet in the World Cup on June 13. The lot is roughly a mile from MetLife Stadium, where the game will be played. You can take NJ Transit instead. A ticket is $98. Big numbers. SPORTS Stanley Cup: The Carolina Hurricanes overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime, bringing the finals to 1-1 so far. French Open: It is men’s semifinals day. First, Alexander Zverev (the favorite) faces Jakub Menšík. Follow live. College softball: Texas won its second straight Women’s College World Series, defeating Texas Tech. N.B.A. finals: Game 2 between the Knicks and Spurs is tonight. A Times reporter watched Game 1 with the Knicks legend (and former U.S. senator) Bill Bradley. RECIPE OF THE DAY Davide Luciano for The New York Times The weekend plan: portobello patty melts, a taste of an imaginary Los Angeles where Tiny Naylor’s drive-in serves vegetarian burgers alongside the shakes and fries. You’ll like this sandwich very much. HALF FAMOUS Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times Pommelien Thijs is a huge pop star in Belgium, at least in the Dutch-speaking northern part of the country. Down south, where they speak French, she is hardly known. Although she’s taking French lessons now, Thijs told The Times she doesn’t feel the urge to compromise to gain fans. “If that would mean completely flipping my language, I wouldn’t know how to start,” she said. More on culture Dataland, which says it’s the first museum dedicated to art generated by A.I., opens this month in Los Angeles. Ferdinand the bull turns 90 this year. It’s time to smell the flowers. Late night hosts sized up Trump’s ambitions for the reflecting pool. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Read “Polar Star,” Martin Cruz Smith’s 1989 thriller about a murder investigation aboard a Russian fishing ship. The plot, The Times’s critic declared, “is so complicated that I’m not sure I could explain it even if I wanted to give the story away.” It’s so good. Wash your face. How often? The aestheticians at Wirecutter can help. Text a child who means a lot to you. Or leave an audio message. Seriously: There is no need for a long phone call! Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was dalmatian. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam P.S. I wrote about this amazing Todd Heisler photograph from Delaney Hall in Newark yesterday, and pointed out how the detainee on the right was using their hands to make the shape of a heart. Unfortunately, a crop of the image removed that part of the picture. Here it is in full. Todd Heisler/The New York Times Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated which player scored 26 points in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals. It was Victor Wembanyama, not Karl-Anthony Towns. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren 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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