Author: Lance Garrison
To some on the left, Levin’s combination of deep Michigan roots and defense of Palestinian rights made him seem like a uniquely promising vehicle for antiwar energies. In the left-wing magazine In These Times, University of Chicago historian Gabriel Winant floated the idea of drafting Levin to run against Biden, writing, “The relationship between Israeli militarism and political authoritarianism here at home is one that he understands intimately.”Levin, however, was uninterested. “I’m supporting Joe Biden. I’m super proud to have served with him,” he told Politico, comparing this moment in American politics to the political climate in Germany in 1932,…
Listen to and follow ‘Matter of Opinion’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicWhy does the economy look so good to economists but feel so bad to voters?The Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman joins the hosts this week on “Matter of Opinion” to discuss why inflation, interest rates and wages aren’t in line with voters’ perception of the economy. Then, they debate with Paul how big of an influence the economy will be on the 2024 presidential election, and which of the two presumed candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, it could benefit. Plus, Ross Douthat’s lessons on aging, through Michael…
As the rest of the world watches the Gaza war with horror, one community is following it with a particular kind of anguish: the Palestinian citizens of Israel.They are connected by family ties, language, culture and history to their fellow Palestinians in Gaza — while living, working and studying side-by-side with Jewish Israelis in the very country that caused their people’s misfortune.Palestinian citizens of Israel are no strangers to seeing their country of citizenship bring force to bear on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and their own history is rife with systematic discrimination and little recognition of their…
The economic news in 2023 was almost miraculously good. Not only did America’s economy defy widespread predictions of recession, it also defied claims that only a significant rise in unemployment could bring inflation under control. Instead, we got a combination of strong growth, unemployment near a 50-year low and plunging inflation.But last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that both the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in January, more than most analysts expected. And the usual suspects — inflation perma-bears, political enemies of the Biden administration and economists who wrongly predicted that disinflation…
To understand whether Wegovy should be used as part of the solution for childhood obesity, you first have to understand the problem. Megan Kelsey, MD That’s not always easy, even for a doctor, says Megan Kelsey, MD, medical director of lifestyle medicine and adolescent bariatric surgery at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Kelsey admits that early in her career she didn’t fully understand the complexities of childhood obesity, writing it off to personal choices that could be reversed with willpower and exercise. It took time to understand how genetic, physiological, socioeconomic, and environmental factors contribute to childhood obesity and how misconceptions stigmatize the disease…
In a recent commentary for Nature Medicine, the Georgetown University biologist Colin Carlson used a decades-old formula to calculate that warming had already killed four million people globally since 2000 just from malnutrition, floods, diarrhea, malaria and cardiovascular disease. As Carlson notes, this means that, since the turn of the millennium, deaths from climate change have already exceeded those from all World Health Organization global-health emergencies other than Covid-19 combined. “Vanishingly few of these deaths will have been recognized by the victims’ families, or acknowledged by national governments, as the consequence of climate change,” he says.Going forward, most estimates suggest…
To the Editor:In “Fighting Trump, Some Voters Are ‘Burned Out on Outrage’” (front page, Feb. 20), you claim that Democrats and nonpartisan groups that work to preserve democracy in America are tired of fighting.That’s not what I see. I see deepening expertise, expanding networks and steely resolve. Organizations like mine that were created by amateurs intent on doing what they could to save democratic institutions are now seasoned and hard at work. And there are a lot of us.Do not write us off.Claire UllmanNew YorkThe writer is co-founder and co-director of Students for Voting Justice, founded in 2020 to involve…
If you’ve become a caregiver for a family member or friend with schizophrenia, it’s tough to go it alone. The demands on your psychological and physical well-being, and on your personal life and finances, can be heavy.“A lot of caregivers experience uncertainty about what the future will look like, not just for their loved one but for themselves,” says Christine Crawford, MD, MPH, associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).”All their expectations about holding a job and relationship kind of get shifted after the schizophrenia diagnosis. It’s a period of adjustment.”But you can tap rich resources…
Feb. 22, 2024 — Injectable weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Saxenda, and Zepbound have been getting all the glory lately, but they’re not for everyone. If you’re looking to drop a few pounds or prevent obesity, research suggests there’s another way. It might not produce results as dramatic as regular injections, but you can get everything you need in a grocery store for far less money — and this approach has the potential to improve your health in numerous ways. In theory, all you have to do is boost your gut microbiome.“There are a lot of different factors naturally in weight…
Hospital food isn’t known for tasting good or even being all that good for you. But some U.S. hospitals are teaming up with farms to change that.You probably think of hospital food as premade, prepackaged, bland, and colorless — except for the Jell-O, of course. Maybe you’ve brought a friend or relative soup or a sandwich to their hospital room because the place where you most expect a healthy meal is one of the places you’re least likely to get it.So you might be surprised to know that some hospitals are teaming up with local farms to offer healthier, tastier…