Category Archives: Opinion

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – February 2023

Harper’s Magazine – February 2023 issue:

Is Liberalism Worth Saving?

Where once disagreements concerned differing interpretations of liberalism’s demands or balancing liberalism’s conflicting goals of freedom and equality, now populist movements on both the left and the right are challenging the legitimacy of liberalism itself.

Swamplandia

The money behind Ron DeSantis’s populist façade

Falling Like Leaves

The war in Ethiopia and its crimes against civilians

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Jan 23, 2023

A truck seen through fog drives down a city street.

The New Yorker – January 16, 2023:

Can 3-D Printing Help Solve the Housing Crisis?

A row of houses being printed by a large machine.

Standard construction can be slow, costly, and inefficient. Machines might do it better.

A Reporter at Large

The Getty Family’s Trust Issues

A family tree with with colorful coins as leaves, sprouting out of a base of tax forms.

Heirs to an iconic fortune sought out a wealth manager who would assuage their progressive consciences. Now their dispute is exposing dynastic secrets.

Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism?

tiny books all stacked up to create a scholarly looking building

Literature departments seem to provide a haven for studying books, but they may have painted themselves into a corner.

Opinion: Global Order In Danger, Insurrection In Brazil, Prince Harry Book

January 16, 2023 Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist: the destructive new logic that threatens globalisation, how Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection (11:55) and a review of Prince Harry’s autobiography (16:45).

Culture: New York Times Magazine – Jan 15, 2023

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The Fed May Finally Be Winning the War on Inflation. But at What Cost?

There’s a good chance that the Fed could push the economy into recession. The pain will not be shared equally.

How Montana Took a Hard Right Turn Toward Christian Nationalism

What happened to a state known for its political independence?

How Danhausen Became Professional Wrestling’s Strangest Star

Danhausen backstage before an All Elite Wrestling “Rampage” event in September.

What’s the best way for a not-particularly-athletic barista-slash-wrestling geek to go pro? Act really weird.

Danhausen backstage before an All Elite Wrestling “Rampage” event in September.Credit…Evan Jenkins for The New York Times

Previews: The Guardian Weekly – January 13, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (January 13, 2023) – In Washington, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives took 15 attempts just to fulfil its primary duty of appointing a speaker. Kevin McCarthy eventually squeaked through by four votes, after quelling a days-long revolt from a bloc of far-right conservatives. But, with a wafer-thin majority, and few powers, Nancy Pelosi’s successor looks set to be one of the weakest speakers in history.

For our big story, Washington bureau chief David Smith examines the chaos within Republican ranks and what it means for the party. It’s a theme picked up for this week’s cover by illustrator Justin Metz, who took the traditionally harmless-looking motif of the Republican elephant and turned it into something altogether more confrontational.

In Brazil, meanwhile, supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed congress buildings in scenes eerily reminiscent of Washington on 6 January 2021. Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips reports on a dark day for Brazilian democracy, while Richard Lapper considers the potential fallout for the new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and a deeply fractured nation.

There’s a feast of great writing elsewhere in this week’s magazine. British food writer Jack Monroe, who taught us how to eat well on a shoestring, opens up to Simon Hattenstone about her struggles with addiction.

And Chris Stringer, who has received a CBE for his work on human evolution, tells how his remarkable quest as a young researcher transformed understanding of our species.

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine- January 16, 2023

A portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. smiling with his four children.

The New Yorker – January 16, 2023 issue:

How Should We Think About Our Different Styles of Thinking?

A person writing their thoughts on paper.

Some people say their thought takes place in images, some in words. But our mental processes are more mysterious than we realize.

The Crisis of Missing Migrants

A shadow of a boat looms over the scene of a pathology lab.

What has become of the tens of thousands of people who have disappeared on their way to Europe?

Can UPS Still Deliver a Middle-Class Life?

Antoine Andrews pushes a collection of packages on wheels, in Bay Ridge.

The company offers steady jobs and is enjoying record profits. So why is a strike looming?

Opinion: China Reopens & Disrupts World, Britain-EU, Indo-Pacific Revived

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, how China’s reopening will disrupt the world economy, a realistic path to a better relationship between Britain and the EU (8:54) and reinventing the Indo-Pacific (17:35).

Political Views: U.S. House Speaker Vote, Jan. 6 Attack

PBS NewsHour – New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the political fight in the House unlike any seen since the Civil War and the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – January 7, 2023

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The Economist – January 7, 2023 Issue:

A realistic path to a better relationship between Britain and the EU

The question of Europe has caused a decade of turmoil. Here’s how to use the next ten years better

What the Kevin McCarthy saga means for America’s Congress

Power struggles, public humiliation and a government shutdown may follow

Previews: New York Times Magazine – January 1, 2023

Photograph by Rafael Pavarotti for The New York Times.

The New York Times Magazine – January 1, 2023 Issue:

Inside the Jan. 6 Committee

Power struggles, resignations and made-for-TV moments — the untold story of the most important congressional investigation in generations.

What Does It Take to Become the No. 1 Lumberjack?

For Jason Lentz, being a world-class competitive lumberjack was fated in his family tree.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Power Was Contingent on Belief

Operating in shadows, he was a hero; in the light, he quickly became a villain.