With the U.S.-led attacks in Yemen, there is no longer a question of whether the Israel-Hamas war will escalate into a wider conflict. The question is whether it can be contained.
On the Ballot in Iowa: Fear. Anxiety. Hopelessness.
As Monday’s caucuses approach, voters casually throw around the prospect of World War III and civil unrest, anxious of divisions they fear are tearing the country apart.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (January 12, 2024): The latest issue features ‘What Happens When Writers Embrace Artificial Intelligence as Their Muse? by A.O. Scott…
The robots of literature and movies usually present either an existential danger or an erotic frisson. Those who don’t follow in the melancholy footsteps of Frankenstein’s misunderstood monster march in line with the murderous HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” unless they echo the siren songs of sexualized androids like the ones played by Sean Young in “Blade Runner” and Alicia Vikander in “Ex Machina.”
We fantasize that A.I. programs will seduce us or wipe us out, enslave us or make us feel unsure of our own humanity. Trained by such narratives, whether we find them in “Terminator” movies or in novels by Nobel laureates, we brace ourselves for a future populated by all kinds of smart, possibly sentient machines that will disrupt our most cherished notions of what it means to be human.
For Álvaro Enrigue, a novelist fascinated with historical detail, the first meeting of the Aztecs and Spanish conquistadors is the obsession of a lifetime. He brings it to life in “You Dreamed of Empires.”
By Benjamin P. Russell
The Aug. 13, 2021 edition of The New York Times failed to mention the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the erstwhile Aztec capital out of which Mexico City was born. Álvaro Enrigue noticed. Of course.
The 54-year-old Enrigue, who grew up in Mexico City, believes that early meeting between Europe and the Americas changed the trajectory of global commerce, urbanism, industry and much else besides. Modernity itself, he argues, was born in the moment the Aztec emperor Moctezuma and Hernan Cortés, the Spanish conquistador, first looked each other in the eye in 1519, a clash of empires that set in motion the city’s capture two years later.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (January 12, 2024): The new issue features ‘Why Are American Drivers So Deadly’ –After decades of declining fatality, dangerous driving has surged again….
After decades of declining fatality rates, dangerous driving has surged again.
By Matthew Shaer
In the summer of 1999, a few years after graduating from medical school, Deborah Kuhls moved from New York to Maryland, where she had been accepted as a surgical fellow at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Founded by a pioneer in emergency medicine, Shock Trauma is one of the busiest critical-care facilities in the country — in an average year, doctors there see approximately 8,000 patients, many of them close to death.
Andy Reid’s diligence and sense of mischief have made him one of the game’s best-ever coaches. Can he get his struggling Chiefs back to the Super Bowl?
By Michael Sokolove
Andy Reid, the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, has won more than 250 games in his career, fourth all-time, which puts him high on any list of the N.F.L.’s greatest coaches. Most of the others in that pantheon are men who personify the sport’s militaristic soul — Vince Lombardi, for example, the fabled coach of the 1960s-era Green Bay Packers, or Reid’s contemporary, the grim Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. But Reid is no Lombardi or Belichick; he’s Steve Jobs. He’s a designer, a tinkerer, a product engineer who imbues his football with creativity and even an occasional touch of whimsy.
The American-led strikes came in response to more than two dozen Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war began.
A U.N.-affiliated panel said the territory could tip into famine very soon. International laws to protect people from human-made famines offer little help.
They are not just the churchgoing, conservative activists who once dominated the G.O.P.
Trump’s Argument for Immunity in 2024 Is the Opposite of His Stance in 2021
During his second impeachment trial, the former president argued that criminal prosecution was a more appropriate way to seek accountability since he had left office.
A three-judge panel appeared unlikely to grant the former president’s request that it throw out federal criminal charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election.
Saudi-Israel Ties Depend on Steps Toward a Palestinian State, Blinken Says
In meetings with Israeli leaders, the U.S. secretary of state held out the prospect of Saudi recognition to prod Israel to curb combat operations in Gaza and accept a path to Palestinian statehood.
To Win Iowa, Trump Turns to Allies Like Marjorie Taylor Greene
With the former president busy defending himself in court from 91 felony charges, his campaign has deployed high-profile conservatives to help fill the gaps in Iowa.
A Glimpse Inside a Devastated Gaza
In the ruins of two Gazan towns, New York Times journalists witnessed the sheer destruction that Israel’s war has wrought and the devastation of Hamas’s operations.
The latest strikes across Israel’s northern border came as the U.S. secretary of state made another trip to the Middle East in efforts to prevent a wider war.
With its proxies attacking from many vantage points and its nuclear program suddenly revived, Iran is posing a new challenge to the West — this time with Russia and China on its side.
As Gaza Losses Mount Under Strikes, Dignified Burials Are Another Casualty
“The lucky are those who have someone to bury them when they die,” Dr. Mohammad Abu Moussa, a radiologist at one Gaza hospital, said of those killed by Israeli airstrikes.
With Shutdown Looming, House and Senate Leaders Agree on Spending Levels
Despite the deal, time is short to assemble and pass legislation putting the agreement in force before a Jan. 19 deadline.
Marijuana Buyers From Texas Fuel a ‘Little Amsterdam’ in New Mexico
Sunland Park, along the Rio Grande, has joined the ranks of U.S. cities transformed by state cannabis laws. But the good times may not last forever.
The former president keeps careful watch over his endorsements from elected Republicans, aided by a disciplined and methodical behind-the-scenes operation.
How Harvard’s Board Broke Up With Claudine Gay
Claudine Gay, the first Black president of Harvard, resigned only six months into her job amid accusations of plagiarism and her response to campus antisemitism.Credit…Sophie Park for The New York Times
Facing intense pressure, it went from standing behind her as the university’s president to pushing her out within weeks.
Who Was the Mysterious Woman Buried Alone at the Pet Cemetery?
At Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, Ed Martin III had become accustomed to unusual requests. Then came Patricia Chaarte.
U.S. News Makes Money From Some of Its Biggest Critics: Colleges
U.S. News sells “badges” to colleges, so they can promote their rankings — whether they are 1st, 10th or much, much lower.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
Boomers Daily 