Author: Lance Garrison

In Rock Hill, S.C., last weekend, the biggest boom of a reaction came when Nikki Haley told the crowd, “Everybody’s telling me: Why don’t you just get out?” People basically responded with one long “no,” with one woman’s “Don’t give up!” sounding out above it. Ms. Haley responded instantly, “I will never give up,” and a big cheer went up.Ms. Haley’s events last weekend in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s Republican primary were populated with people in Gamecocks hats and Clemson sweatshirts; older blond women in quilted vests and jackets; dads in preppy eyeglasses with teen daughters; old men in…

Imagine a short story from the golden age of science fiction, something that would appear in a pulp magazine in 1956. Our title is “The Truth Engine,” and the story envisions a future where computers, those hulking, floor-to-ceiling things, become potent enough to guide human beings to answers to any question they might ask, from the capital of Bolivia to the best way to marinade a steak.How would such a story end? With some kind of reveal, no doubt, of a secret agenda lurking behind the promise of all-encompassing knowledge. For instance, maybe there’s a Truth Engine 2.0, smarter and…

“The Golden Bachelor” showed that sex is not just for spring chickens. Hearing aids and making out in a hot tub can go blissfully together.Now comes the Golden President. Even though fretful questions about his age have engulfed Joe Biden’s campaign, one thing is clear: His romance with Jill is still crackling.I have observed that myself. At a party at his house at the Naval Observatory when he was vice president, he told me about the frisson of watching his wife come down the stairs, dressed up for a special occasion.They had been married for decades, he said, “but my…

Like “Lost” and its various imitators, “True Detective” is a “puzzle box” show, with a sprawling mythology for fans to obsess over, scrutinizing every frame for clues and secrets. As with “Lost,” “Game of Thrones” and many others, its mythological reach exceeded its grasp, with loose ends sprawling, red herrings everywhere and an ending that disappointed true believers by leaving crucial mysteries unsolved. And like many prestige-era shows, not just supernatural puzzle-boxers but also more realistic dramas like “The Sopranos” (with its near-death experiences and visions of the Virgin Mary), it has a strong post-secular vibe, playing around with magic…

Black people in the U.S. are more likely to have a stroke than people who are White, Hispanic, Native American, or Asian – and with worse outcomes. The odds of dying of a stroke are 3 to 4 times higher for Black Americans, compared to White Americans. Many things affect someone’s chances of having a stroke, including social factors. Eseosa Ighodaro, MD, PhD, is a stroke fellow at Emory University/Grady Hospital in Atlanta and advocates for initiatives that address racial disparities in neurologic health, particularly in stroke outcomes. She founded Ziengbe, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending neurological health disparities facing the Black…

To the Editor:Regarding the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children (news articles, Feb. 20-23):I considered this dilemma more than 40 years ago when I was trying to get pregnant. In vitro fertilization was new, expensive and not often successful. I was desperate to have a child. I was also Catholic and believed that life began at conception.What about all those embryos that would be thrown away or frozen forever? In my mind, they became angels, every one of them helping the one embryo that would become life.I did not become pregnant with I.V.F., but my…

Feb. 23, 2024 – Is shorter better? Or just more practical? The CDC is reportedly going to cut its COVID-19 isolation recommendations down from 5 days to 24 hours starting in April. The agency appears to be walking a fine line between reducing COVID transmission, including the JN.1 variant, and the reality that many people struggle to forgo work or school for days at a time. The agency is expected to recommend 24 hours on two conditions: as long as a person remains fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are mild and improving. But where does this leave those at higher risk…

Gordon: Yeah, Ezra, you threw a bit of a grenade into the world, and now it is time to take a little bit of fire. And our first question is from MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes.Voice-mail recording: I mean, I think a lot of people share this acute sense of Biden’s campaigning ability, like his candidate quality, to be significantly diminished, even if they think he’s not diminished in the actual office. But my big question about all of these scenarios — and there’s been many about Biden not, you know, being the nominee — is: It seems like there’s one…

Here is a proposal for the environmental movement: Pool philanthropic funds for a day, buy a small plot of land in Washington, D.C., and put up a tall marble wall to serve as a climate memorial. Carve on this memorial the names of public figures actively denying the existence of climate change. Carve the names so deep and large, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren need not search the archives.This is not a metaphor. The problem with climate change is the disconnect between action and impact. If politicians vote against construction standards and a school collapses, the next election will be their…

Despite the lofty and expansive rhetoric of his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito insisted throughout the text that the actual decision was more modest than it might appear. The end of Roe, he said, was not the end of abortion access as much as it was the beginning of a new era of democratic deliberation and decision-making. No longer shackled by a prior dictate of the Supreme Court, the people were free to choose. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito…