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Freedom for the Wolves
Neoliberal orthodoxy holds that economic freedom is the basis of every other kind. That orthodoxy, a Nobel economist says, is not only false; it is devouring itself.Any discussion of freedom must begin with a discussion of whose freedom weâre talking about. The freedom of some to harm others, or the freedom of others not to be harmed? Too often, we have not balanced the equation well: gun owners versus victims of gun violence; chemical companies versus the millions who suffer from toxic pollution; monopolistic drug companies versus patients who die or whose health worsens because they canât afford to buy medicine.
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The Conservative Who Turned White Anxiety Into a Movement
Pat Buchanan made white Republicans fear becoming a racial minority. Now Donald Trump is reaping the benefits.In May 1995, Pat Buchanan appeared at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce an immigration policy that would become the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. âWe have an illegal invasion of this country,â Buchanan warned. To resist it, he called for a âBuchanan Fenceâ patrolled by the military along the southern border, a five-year moratorium on legal immigration, and a constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents.
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What Donald Trump Fears Most
Donald Trumpâs biographers all seem to agree that he didnât get a lot of love from his father. But what Fred Trump did impart to his son was an indelible lesson: There are two kinds of people in the worldâkillers and losersâand like his father, Donald had to be a killer.In Fred Trumpâs dark vision, all of life was a jungle in which the strong survive and prosper and the weak fall away. The killers take what they want, however they need to take it. Rules? Norms? Laws? Institutions? Theyâre for suckers. The only unpardonable sin in Trumpworld is the failure to act in your own self-interest.
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Trump’s Misogyny Is on Trial in New York
To read through the court filings is to be plunged back anew into the dizzying chaos of those last few weeks before the 2016 election.A specter is haunting Donald Trumpâs criminal trial in New York state courtâthe specter of the Access Hollywood tape. The tape does not itself feature in the charges against Trump, which allege that the former president falsified business records as part of covering up payments to the adult-film actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence over a past sexual encounter. But according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the tape is âcentrally relevantâ in explaining Trumpâs alleged motives behind orchestrating the payments to Daniels. Still, jurors will not hear audio of Trumpâs voice bragging about grabbing women by their genitals. Following a ruling by Justice Juan Merchan, prosecutors will be able to introduce evidence of Trumpâs notorious comments, but not play the audio itself.
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The Politics of Pessimism
It had been clear for years that China was rising and risingâbuilding rail lines and airports and skyscrapers at a rate that put the United States to shame, purchasing the favor of poorer countries, filling the world with its waresâwhen, in April 2014, I happened upon a bit of news. CNBC, citing a ânew study from the worldâs leading statistical agencies,â reported that Chinaâs rapidly growing economy would rank first in the world, surpassing the United Statesâ, by as soon as the end of the year. Our century-plus reign as the worldâs wealthiest nation was over, or about to be. What a run weâd had!But the study, which used debatable methodology, turned out to be wrong. It interested me less than something else I learned when I began poking around the internet to put it in some sort of context. I discovered that most Americans thought that China already had become our economic superior. And theyâd thought thatâerroneouslyâfor several years.
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The Accidental Speaker
You could be forgiven for thinking it was Mike Johnsonâs idea to host the House Republicansâ annual policy retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, though in fact the conference has gathered there for several years. Step into the upper lobby, red staircase runner giving way to gleaming black-and-white tile, symmetrical furnishings, George Washington gazing east from his gilded-frame portrait above a marble fireplace, and for a moment Johnsonâs fantasy of what Congress once was, what it could beâwhat he tries to convince himself it actually still isâseems suddenly more plausible.When House Republicans met there in March, Johnson was in his fifth month as speaker of the House, and his victory of this past weekend, in which he secured funding for the Ukraine war, seemed completely improbable. In fact his whole tenure seemed improbable back in March, defined almost entirely by Republican infighting. But here at the Greenbrier: How could one not aspire to civility?
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For Earth Day, a Photo Appreciation of Birds
On this Earth Day, a day set aside to remember and appreciate the environment and our responsibilities and roles within it, I wanted to gather a selection of images of the incredibly diverse bird life that we share this planet with. Tens of billions of individual animals are divided among some 10,000 species, inhabiting nearly every environment on Earth. These fascinating creatures are at home on land, at sea, or in the sky, from our polar regions to the tropics. On a day meant for us to care for our environment, it seemed appropriate to feature some of those we share it with. A rufous-crested coquette seeks out nectar from porterweed, photographed in Panama. #
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A Dentist Found a Jawbone in a Floor Tile
Recently, a man visiting his parentsâ newly renovated home recognized an eerily familiar white curve in their tile floor. To the man, a dentist, it looked just like a jawbone. He could even count the teethâone, two, three, four, five, at least. They seemed much like the ones he stares at all day at work.The jawbone appeared at once very humanlike and very old, and the dentist took his suspicions to Reddit. Could it be that his parentsâ floor tile contains a rare human fossil? Quite possibly. Itâs âclearly hominin,â John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who also blogged about the discovery, told me in an email. (Hominin refers to a group including modern humans, archaic humans such as Neanderthals, and all of their ancestors.) It is too soon to say exactly how old the jawbone is or exactly which hominin it belonged to, but signs point to somethingâor someoneâfar older than modern humans. âWe can see that it is thick and with large teeth,â Amélie Vialet, a paleoanthropologist at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, wrote in an excited email to me about the jawbone. âThatâs archaic!â
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It’s the End of the Web as We Know It
The web has become so interwoven with everyday life that it is easy to forget what an extraordinary accomplishment and treasure it is. In just a few decades, much of human knowledge has been collectively written up and made available to anyone with an internet connection.But all of this is coming to an end. The advent of AI threatens to destroy the complex online ecosystem that allows writers, artists, and other creators to reach human audiences.
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Last Weekend’s Political Mirage
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.The passage of the Ukrainian aid package by the House this past weekend is an extraordinary sign of political courage. But in the party of Donald Trump, this win for democracy may soon seem like a mirage.
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Thursday 25th April 2024
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