History usually happens at a leisurely pace, with major events months or even years apart. But this year, it seems like someone has pushed fast-forward, with significant events coming on a weekly or even daily basis. One company is now selling a T-shirt declaring “THIS IS MY LIVING IN UNPRECEDENTED TIMES SHIRT.”
The Conversation
Already Vile, GOP Attacks Against Kamala Harris Are About to Get Worse
The anti-Harris rhetoric is part of what a report by the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank, described as a broad pattern of gendered and sexualized attacks on prominent women in public discourse.
HIV Breakthrough: Injection Could Prevent Infection
A large clinical trial in South Africa and Uganda has shown that a twice-yearly injection of a new pre-exposure prophylaxis drug gives young women total protection from HIV infection. The trial tested whether the six-month injection of lenacapavir would provide better protection against HIV infection than two other drugs, both daily pills. All three medications are pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) drugs.
Just One Drink a Day Can Bump Up Your Breast Cancer Risk by 5% to 9%
Did you know that casual drinks with friends or having a “wine mom” moment to unwind could actually be nudging up your risk for breast cancer? It sounds like a buzzkill. But it’s a truth that many might not know: Alcohol actually causes breast cancer.
The Free Market Myth: How the US Manipulates Global Markets for Economic Supremacy
For years, Democratic and Republican administrations in the US have touted the virtues of free trade to the rest of the world, working towards establishing a multilateral trading system that limits the use of protectionist policies. But it’s hypocritical.
Trump’s Strategic Nostalgia for America’s More Racist and Sexist Past
Trump’s nostalgia is more than simple retrospection. Trump’s appeal isn’t just about a better economic past or a more stable society. It serves as an evocation of a time in America when women and minorities had less power.
Abortion Bans Are Changing What It Means To Be Young in America
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision, more than half of U.S. adolescents, ages 13-19, now live in a state with severely restricted or no legal abortion access. As a result, today’s young people are coming of age in what one expert in health law and bioethics has termed an “era of rights retractions.”
Ignore Most Articles About Vice Presidential Picks
Veepstakes media coverage deserves its poor reputation as little more than an electoral parlor game. Too bad: Given the vice presidency’s importance and the media’s opportunity to educate Americans about who could be next to serve in the office, it should be so much more than that.
‘One Inch from a Potential Civil War’: the Trump Near Miss Was a Close Call for U.S. Democracy
If Donald Trump would have suffered fatal injuries, the level of violence witnessed so far will be nothing in comparison to what would have happened in the next couple of months. It would have unleashed a new level of anger, frustration, resentment, hostility that we haven’t seen for many, many years in the U.S.
We’re Losing Wetlands at an Accelerating Pace. Can Private Sector Help?
The U.S. is losing wetlands, mainly to development and agriculture, at an accelerating rate. With Congress polarized and gridlocked, new federal wetland protection laws are unlikely to be enacted in the next several years.Some states have stepped up to fill the gap, but others have instead chosen to roll back their existing protections despite the fact that people across the U.S. strongly favored more protection for wetlands.
Once Non-Partisan School Boards Are Getting Mired in Culture Wars
In more than 90% of U.S. public school districts, school board elections are nonpartisan and have been for centuries. But that long tradition may well be changing – and putting at risk the quality of the country’s education system by introducing divisive national political issues into the process by which a local community governs itself.
Behind One of the Most Active Tornado Seasons on Record
More than 1,100 tornadoes were reported through May − a preliminary number but nearly twice the 30-year average at that point and behind only 2011, when deadly tornado outbreaks tore across the southeastern U.S. The U.S. experienced several multistate outbreaks in 2024.
The Raised Fist from Fascists to Black Athletes to Socialists to Trump
The raised fist is is full of meaning and has a long and varied history: It’s been used by fascists, socialists, communists, Black Power advocates and even golfer Tiger Woods. Will the world see that same gesture as Trump formally clinches the GOP nomination at the party’s Milwaukee convention? And if Trump does indeed raise a clenched fist at the convention, what will it mean?
The Collapse of the Romance Writers of America
The Romance Writers of America, once the world’s largest and most powerful authors’ association, filed for bankruptcy on May 30, 2024. In its filing, the nonprofit blamed “disputes concerning diversity, equity and inclusion” for its membership declining by a jaw-dropping 80%. It shows how quickly organizations can collapse if they don’t serve the needs of all their members. This debacle could serve as a warning to universities, companies and other groups now abolishing and scaling back inclusion efforts.
Joe Biden and the Dangers of Death Denial
When Biden ran against Trump successfully in 2020, the selling point he made to those already concerned about his age was that he would be a bridge to the future, perhaps only serving one term. So why is Biden still clinging to power, even after broadcasting his frailty to the 50 million people who tuned in to the first debate?
What Frederick Douglass Learned: Agitate, Agitate, Agitate
Even before Douglass arrived in Ireland in 1845, he was aware of the rich tradition of Irish men and women involved in the transatlantic movement to bring an end to the U.S. system of enslavement. In particular, he was an admirer of the Irish nationalist leader Daniel O’Connell. A vocal critic of enslavement, O’Connell had played an important role in bringing it to an end in the British Empire in 1833.
Unmasking the Lonely Incel Who Designed the World’s Most Popular 3D-Printed Firearm
The first 3D-printed firearm emerged in May 2013 with the release of the Liberator, a handgun created by Cody Wilson, a University of Texas law student and libertarian pro-firearms activist. Essentially a proof of concept, Wilson let the BBC film him firing the gun before releasing the open-source design for anyone to download.
France’s Surging Far Right: Forming a Government Is a Tall Order
France’s extreme-rightist National Rally was ahead after the first round, but alliances are likely to coalesce between the leftist, centrist and moderate right political parties to form a united front against far-right candidates in most electorates in the second round of voting. This would likely make it difficult for National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella to secure enough seats in the National Assembly to win an absolute majority after Sunday’s vote.
Americans Once United Over Tragic Events. No Longer.
Public tragedies have contributed to the increasing political polarization and the sectarian tone of political rhetoric today because the public’s understanding of tragic events has changed. After a tragedy, accounts now focus on assigning blame, typically centering on social blame, in which societal institutions such as the government, industry, civil society and even American culture are held responsible.
End of Chevron: How Courts, Not Executive Agencies, Will Have the Final Word on Many Regulations
Federal Chevron deference is dead. On June 28, 2024, in a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court overturned the 40-year-old legal tenet that when a federal statute is silent or ambiguous about a particular regulatory issue, courts should defer to the implementing agency’s reasonable interpretation of the law.
Understanding the Supreme Court’s Purdue Pharma Decision
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against an estimated US$6 billion Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan on June 27, 2024, that would have shielded the Sackler family – which owned and controlled the company – from legal liability. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from opioid-related overdoses since Purdue rolled out OxyContin in 1996. The company helped spur a public health crisis through its deceptive marketing and aggressive sales of OxyContin, a prescription opioid painkiller.
How Sovereign Citizens Threaten the Rule of Law
Sovereign citizens have long been active in the U.S. and other countries. At the core of their beliefs is the denial of the government’s legitimacy. They commonly do not register their vehicles, acquire driver’s licenses or car insurance, or pay taxes. And they pose a significant threat to the public.
For the Homeless, ‘Stay Awake or Be Arrested’
In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court rejected the claim that criminalizing sleeping in public by those with nowhere to go violates the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The decision, disappointing but not surprising, will not lead to any reduction in homelessness, and will certainly result in more litigation.
The Supreme Court Makes It More Difficult to Prosecute Trump and Insurrectionists
The indictments – and in some cases, the convictions – of hundreds of people charged with participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will have to be reconsidered, and possibly dropped, because of a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 28, 2024. Among those charged using a broad interpretation of the obstruction law now narrowed by the high court: former President Donald Trump.
Biden Crashes, Trump Lies
The earliest-ever general election debate featured a lot of bitter personal attacks. Joe Biden’s universally acknowledged poor performance surprised and even panicked Democrats; Donald Trump gave a more forceful – if not truthful – performance.
Should We Care About Cricket?
In what has been dubbed “one of the biggest shocks in cricket history”, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup co-hosts USA beat Pakistan in a pulsating game on June 6. With seven runs needed off the last ball of a “super over” tiebreaker, Pakistan could only manage a single. Cricket is also hardly a mainstream sport in the US. Indeed, the New York Times suggested that many Americans were “oblivious to the magnitude” of the victory.
The Strange History of Journalistic Blackface
A peculiar desire seems to still haunt some white people: “I wish I knew what it was like to be Black.” This is a presumptive, racially imaginative desire, one that covets not just the rhythm of Black life, but also its blues. Canadian-American journalist Sam Forster is one of those white people.
At Columbia, You May Not Criticize Israel Without Getting Punished
After Editors of Columbia Law Review, a prominent journal run by students from the prestigious university’s law school, published an article critical of Israel, the board, which includes Columbia Law School faculty members and alumni, had the law review’s website taken down. The board soon relented and allowed the website back online on June 6, including the article in question. But it issued a statement accusing the student editors of failing to properly review the article prior to publication.
France’s Snap-Election Dare to Right-Wingers: What’s At Stake
French president Emmanuel Macron told French citizens he had “decided to give [them] back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote”. These words, pronounced in reaction to the historic surge of the far-right National Rally at the European elections, triggered the dissolution of France’s parliament and snap elections on 30 June and 7 July.
How Machine Learning Can Violate Your Privacy
Machine learning has pushed the boundaries in several fields, including personalized medicine, self-driving cars and customized advertisements. Research has shown, however, that these systems memorize aspects of the data they were trained with in order to learn patterns, which raises concerns for privacy.
Blue Whales Beyond the Mysteries
Blue whales are fascinating animals. At 24-30 metres in length (longer than a basketball court) they are the largest creatures on Earth. They are also among the rarest. Estimates suggest that there are only around 5,000 to 15,000 blue whales left in the world.
America’s Duplicitous Hostility Toward the International Criminal Court
President Joe Biden condemned the ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israel’s and Hamas leaders as “outrageous” and accused the ICC of drawing false moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel. just a year ago, when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official for alleged international crimes in the Ukraine war, US officials were full of praise for the court. Biden welcomed the action, calling it “justified.”
Descartes, the Deep State, Trump and QAnon
Radical doubt or scepticism was famously articulated by the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes in his Meditations on First Philosophy. Realising that many of his previous beliefs were mistaken, Descartes suggested that an all-powerful “evil genius” could be systematically deceiving him about his most basic beliefs – much like how the supposed deep state is apparently deceiving those who believe in QAnon.
A Final Goodbye to Willie Mays
Mays, who died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 93, was not only the greatest baseball player of the last 80 years, and quite possibly ever, but he was an enormously important figure in American sports, culture and history. His journey from the segregated Deep South of his childhood to being honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom spans much of America’s racial history in the 20th and early 21st century.
If Israel and Hezbollah Go to War
The Israeli military is reported to have signed off on a major offensive against Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia, prompting fears that the situation could spiral into a full-blown war. The two sides have been exchanging fire since the conflict in Gaza began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. But in recent weeks this has escalated considerably.
The Benefit of Biden’s Order Protecting Undocumented Immigrant Spouses of Citizens
Immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status but are married to U.S. citizens, will now have protection from deportation, President Joe Biden announced on June 18, 2024. In order to qualify, they must have arrived 10 or more years ago and be married to a U.S. citizen. Those who meet these criteria will be able to get work permits and can get on the pathway to citizenship while working and living in the U.S. legally.
A Step Closer to Normalization With Cuba
The U.S. State Department removed Cuba from its list of countries “not fully cooperating” with anti-terrorism efforts in mid-May 2024, but you would be forgiven for not noticing. Taking Cuba off the list is a big deal. This latest move is a potential step toward a rapprochement between Washington and Havana.
Palestinian Writers’ Familiarity With Amputation
Though the current scale of pediatric amputations is unprecedented, the loss of limbs and the dividing of territories have been all-too-common features of the Palestinian experience since the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced off their land or fled from it. For this reason, amputation has long played an important role in Palestinian literature: Lost limbs represent both physical and metaphorical loss.
Louisiana Lawmakers Require 10 Commandments Displayed in Schools
The Louisiana bill that cleared the legislature would require officials in public schools, including colleges and universities, to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments. The text is similar to the King James translation of the Bible used in many Protestant churches.
France’s Narrow-Minded Headscarf Ban in the 2024 Summer Olympics
In September 2023, the International Olympic Committee, upholding freedom of religious and cultural expression for all athletes, announced that athletes participating in the 2024 Paris Games can wear a hijab without any restriction. French athletes, however, are bound by France’s strict separation of religion from the state, called laïcité.
The Broader Strategy to Push Out Homeless People
Advocates for unhoused people argue anti-camping laws targeting the homeless effectively make homelessness a crime. Depending on its ruling, the Supreme Court could intensify cities’ efforts to treat the unhoused as criminals.
Anger Over Vietnam Ignited Violence in 1960s. It Could Happen Again Over Gaza.
This summer, the Democratic National Convention will again be in Chicago. The parallels with previous events in Chicago, such as the Battle of Michigan Avenue in 1968 and the Days of Rage in 1969, are intriguing to consider – especially given the strong divisions in the country now over the Israel-Hamas war. There are also, of course, major differences, including the fact that students in the U.S. do not have a legitimate fear of being drafted – and there are not U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza.
On Liars
Prominent cases of purported lying continue to dominate the news cycle. Hunter Biden. George Santos. The rapper Offset. There are a number of variables that distinguish these cases. One is the audience: the faceless government, particular donors and millions of online followers, respectively. Another is the medium used to convey the alleged lie: on a bureaucratic form, through intermediaries and via social media.
Biden and Trump Are Forgetful Of Some Details. But Here’s What Matters More.
Presidents need to use both intuitive and deliberative decision-making. The ability to make smaller decisions effectively using intuitive decision-making frees up time to concentrate on larger ones. However, the decisions that make or break a president are exceedingly complex and highly consequential, such as how to handle climate change or international conflicts. Here is where deliberative decision-making is most needed.
State Laws Like Florida’s Are Threatening Academic Freedom
Over the past few years, Republican state lawmakers have introduced more than 150 bills in 35 states that seek to curb academic freedom on campus. Twenty-one of these bills have been signed into law, several of them in Florida. Taken together, this legislative onslaught has undermined academic freedom and institutional autonomy in five distinct and overlapping ways.
Germany Lowers Voting Age to 16 for European Election
Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote. Austria, Belgium and Malta have already enfranchised 16 and 17-year-olds, and Greece is to allow anyone turning 17 in 2024 to participate in the June vote.
The Anti-Democratic Tactic Behind Trump’s Post-Conviction Rhetoric
Rhetoric strengthens or erodes democratic institutions and can prime an audience to expect or accept violence. Regardless of how someone feels about the legal arguments made during Trump’s trial, Trump’s attempts to prevail in the court of public opinion continue his campaign to discredit democratic institutions and threaten anyone who gets in his way.
The Divided, Violent Country Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s 1st Woman President, Has Inherited
This was the largest election in Mexico’s history, with more than 98 million citizens registered to vote. It was also the most violent election, with more than 30 politicians killed. The new president will now face two major challenges: confronting the rampant violence in Mexican society and increasing militarisation of public life, and the deterioration of checks and balances on executive power.
Rangers Led the Way in the D-Day Landings 80 Years Ago
Among the 150,000 soldiers who landed on and fought across the hostile beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, were 1,000 members of a new, specially trained unit – the U.S. Army Rangers. Most of them fought across the German beachfront defenses, supported by nearly 7,000 naval vessels and 11,000 Allied aircraft. More than 200 Rangers fought vertically – up the sheer cliff face of Pointe du Hoc.
Yes, Donald Trump Has a Point About Political Prosecution
New York’s prosecution of Donald Trump can be, and has been, characterized long before today by some as a “political prosecution” because of the strong belief that a case on an allegedly false record would never have been brought if Trump were not running for president. Justice Jackson warned that such a case, without an apparent victim, could undermine the public’s perception of the prosecution’s legitimacy.