Opinion & Politics: Reason Magazine – December 2023

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REASON MAGAZINE (DECEMBER 2023) – The latest issue features The Endangered Species Act at 50 – Why have so few species been taken off the endangered species list?; Dobbs and the abortion debate is reshaping American Politics; Will Russia ever be free?, and more…

The Endangered Species Act at 50

An illustration of animals among green leaves | Illustration: Joanna Andreasson

Why have so few species been taken off the endangered species list?

The Abundance Agenda Promises Everything to Everyone All at Once

Illustration of two statues | Illustration: Joanna Andreasson; Source images: BWFolsom/iStock, Creative Market

Some progressives want to remove bureaucratic obstacles to growth—in the service of Democrats and big government.

CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI

Dobbs Is Reshaping American Politics

Pro-life and pro-choice protesters yelling at a protest | Alex Wong/Getty

A wave of ballot measures reminds us most Americans are moderate on abortion.

ELIZABETH NOLAN BROWN

Will Russia Ever Be Free?

An illustration of a bust sculpture of Vladimir Putin dissected | Illustration: antipolygon-youtube/Unsplash

Promise and peril in post-Putin Russia

CATHY YOUNG

News: Israel-Gaza Ground War, Biden Urges Funding, U.S. House Speaker Chaos

The Globalist Podcast (October 20, 2023) – The latest from the Middle East; why the US battle for the next House Speaker has descended into chaos; and a look ahead to the weekend’s elections in Argentina.

Plus: we discuss Russia’s nuclear presence in Belarus and get the theatre news from critic Matt Wolf.

The New York Times — Friday, October 20, 2023

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Deal Lays Groundwork for Aid to Reach Desperate Gazans, Officials Say

People looking through the rubble of a home in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, that was destroyed by an airstrike on Thursday.

Trucks loaded with food and medicine are lined up tantalizingly close to people who need it, separated only by border gates that war and diplomatic wrangling have kept closed.

Biden Lays Out Stakes for America as He Seeks Aid for Israel and Ukraine

“American leadership is what holds the world together,” President Biden said in his Oval Office address on Thursday.

In a prime-time address, the president said the United States and the world bear the costs “when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression.”

Biden’s Moment: A President Convinced of America’s Role in the World

In a fractured political moment at home and abroad, it is unclear whether President Biden can bring many Americans along.

Republican Tempers Flare as Speaker Fight Continues, Paralyzing the House

G.O.P. lawmakers spent Thursday fighting privately as one faction refused to back Representative Jim Jordan for speaker and another balked at an interim solution to allow the House to operate.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – Oct 20, 2023

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Science Magazine – October 20, 2023: The new issue features Copious Cicadas – Mass emergence alters food webs; A giant European telescope rises as U.S. rivals await rescue; Probe of Alzheimer’s studies finds ‘egregious misconduct’, and more…

A giant European telescope rises as U.S. rivals await rescue

ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction at sunrise in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
In August, the Sun rose behind the Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile.

Past the halfway point, Extremely Large Telescope prepares to receive first mirrors

A web of steel girders is rising from the flattened summit of Cerro Armazones, 3000 meters above sea level in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The dome it will support will be vast—with a footprint as big as a soccer field and almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty— and unexpectedly nimble: It will smoothly rotate on rails as a giant telescope inside tracks stars through the night.

Probe of Alzheimer’s studies finds ‘egregious misconduct’

Co-developer of biotech’s drug couldn’t supply original data

U.S. hands out $7 billion for hydrogen hubs

Gas could replace fossil fuels and fight climate change—if it is made cleanly

Reviews: The 2024 Pebble Flow Electric RV Trailer

CNET (October 19, 2023) – The Pebble Flow electric trailer boosts towing efficiency, parks itself with remote robotics and can even power your house in an emergency thanks to its big battery and electric motors.

Video timeline: 00:00 Pebble Flow RV 00:10 Development of the Pebble Flow 00:48 Dual Electric Motors 01:36 App-controlled Remote Parking 02:02 45 Kilowatt-hour Battery 02:31 Magic Hitch 03:10 Instant Camp Feature

Previews: History Today Magazine – November 2023

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HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE (NOVEMBER 2023) – This issue features The murder John F. Kennedy 60 years on, the dirty secrets of medieval monks, what the Nazis learnt from the Beer Hall Putsch, Christianity’s bloody history in Japan, and deaf expression in Renaissance art.

What Killed Kennedy?

John F. Kennedy in the presidential limousine before his assassination on 22 November 1963. Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline sits next to him; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, are in front. World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.

Was it the mob? A coup? Cuban dissidents? War hawks? 60 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the theories are still debated. Do any of them hold up?

The Beer Hall Putsch: What Hitler Learnt

Adolf Hitler in Landsberg Prison following the Beer Hall Putsch, 1924. Shawshots/Alamy Stock Photo.

In the aftermath of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, Hitler was in prison and the Nazi Party banned. But its failure taught him valuable lessons.

The Flies, Fleas and Rotting Flesh of Medieval Monks

Jakob von Wart taking his bath, from the Codex Manesse, Switzerland, c.1305-40. The Protected Art Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Repulsive revelations of bodily infestations were viewed by some in medieval Europe as proof of sanctity. But for most, parasites were just plain disgusting.

‘Confinement’ by Jessica Cox review

A nursing mother in ‘The Third Class Carriage’ by Honoré Daumier, c. 1862-64. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Jessica Cox looks at the engine of the Victorian population boom: motherhood.

Exposition: A Tour Of The ‘Paris+ Par Art Basel 2023’

ART VISION TV / C&B JOURNAL (October 19, 2023) – The inaugural edition of Paris+ par Art Basel brought together 156 premier galleries from 30 countries and territories – including 61 exhibitors with spaces in France – in a new flagship event that further amplifies Paris’s international standing as a cultural capital.

Paris+ par Art Basel Paris 2023

Paris+ par Art Basel Paris 2023

A strong line-up of galleries from France was joined by exhibitors from across Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East for a global showcase of the highest quality. Reaching beyond the Grand Palais Éphémère, the fair presented an active cultural program from morning to night, all week, and throughout the city, through a robust program of collaborations with Paris’s cultural institutions and its city-wide sector Sites.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Oct 21, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (October 21, 2023): The latest issue features ‘Where will this end?’ – Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink; Are American CEO’s overpaid?; The holes in export controls; Argentina’s radical option, and more….

The stakes could hardly be higher in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Only America can pull the Middle East back from the brink

America’s Republicans cannot agree on a speaker. Good

How the GOP could yet, inadvertently, further the national interest

Poland shows that populists can be beaten

A victory for the rule of law in the heart of Europe


Moon Missions: Launch Of The New ‘Lunar Economy’

Financial Times (October 18, 2023) – The rush back to the Moon has begun. The US and China are planning permanently crewed bases on the lunar surface. Billions of dollars in contracts are up for grabs as companies are launching ambitious new support projects, from growing food in space to a new lunar internet.

The FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if the next great leap forward in space is a lunar economy?

#space #moon #spaceexploration

News: Gaza Protests & U.S. Aid Deal; Germany-Egypt Mediation, House Speaker

The Globalist Podcast (October 19, 2023) – Journalist Stefanie Glinski brings us the latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict from Jerusalem.

We also take a look at Olaf Scholz’s trip to Egypt and an attack on a synagogue in Berlin. University College Dublin’s Scott Lucas talks us through the chaos in Congress as Jim Jordan scrambles for enough support to be the next US House Speaker. Plus: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to North Korea.