Do jokes express our otherwise taboo wishes? Or does everyone just need a pie in the face? By Emma Allen
The semi-serious science of why we laugh. By Tad Friend
Chaplin’s epochal fame has tended to obscure the influences and instincts that infused his art with childlike purity.
The Darién Gap was once considered impassable. Now hundreds of thousands of migrants are risking treacherous terrain, violence, hunger, and disease to travel through the jungle to the United States.
Some say a big war will help the country’s enemies. But is anyone listening?
Tightwads drag around a phantom limb of poverty, no matter what their bank account says.
Corporate news media too often miss the pervasive influence of unaccountable election spending.
As framed by corporate news media, presidential elections have become as formulaic as a Hallmark holiday movie.
Social media has the power to influence voters.
President Biden has proposed radical changes to the Court. Reviewing them is a reminder of why reform is so hard, despite dissatisfaction and a wealth of ideas.
By Amy Davidson Sorkin
Julie Benko, who hit it big after going on in place of Beanie Feldstein in “Funny Girl,” has a lot of advice for the Vice-President, now that she’s done with waiting in the wings.
By Zach Helfand
The third-party Presidential candidate has a troubled past, a shambolic campaign, and some surprisingly good poll numbers.
By Clare Malone
Their expansion abroad holds important lessons for Western incumbents
Stepping back starts with a ceasefire in Gaza
Visitors are a boon, if managed wisely
Peaceful protests and judicious diplomacy offer some hope
Expect lots of booze, sweat and plexiglass
Fifty years after Shirley Chisholm ran for the Presidency, we find ourselves yet again questioning the durability of outmoded presumptions about race and gender. By Jelani Cobb
In Milwaukee, with a candidate who had just cheated death, the resentment rhetoric of Trump’s 2016 campaign gave way to an atmosphere of festive certainty. By Anthony Lane
She became famous playing buttoned-up Agent Scully. But in midlife her characters often have a strong erotic charge—and now she’s edited “Want,” a book of sexual fantasies. By Rebecca Mead
Joe Biden’s vice-president has an extraordinary opportunity. But she also has a mountain to climb
Fans may be cooling on the Olympics, but elsewhere technology is transforming how sport is watched
Don’t stop the buck
It is hard to cast America as a victim of the global financial system
Biden imperilled his candidacy at the debate because of his inability to speak coherently. At the convention, Trump was doing something similar, and couldn’t stop. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Months of fighting at the border threaten to ignite an all-out conflict that could devastate the region.
Our carceral system is characterized by frequent brutality and ingrained indifference. Finding a better way requires that we freely imagine alternatives. By Adam Gopnik
The Drift Magazine (July 19, 2024): The latest issue features Maybe fortresses come to violence like an addiction. Maybe the water is just water. The tide abandons what it leaves. We have absolutely no way of controlling the cane toad. “I love anyone who hears my screams.” You ever cry with that knowledge? Do they kiss on the mouth? What will the bears say? I am not yet a trampoline. No doors exist and nobody’s home. Simply because they are eternally young, beautiful, and dead.
The anti-globalist MAGA enthusiast is more consequential than the average veep pick
Investors’ exuberance in the face of political ructions is unlikely to pay off
Researchers are figuring out how large language models work
What does Labour’s win mean for British foreign policy?
Joe Biden is failing to silence calls that he step aside
France is desperately searching for a government
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