Author: Lance Garrison

The idea for this film began when a friend was planning an exhibition featuring Congolese artwork. She was considering including the documentary “Under the Black Mask” (1958), by the Belgian filmmaker Paul Haesaerts, but was unsure how to present the piece, which contains voice-over and images that stereotype and exoticize Congolese culture. How could we adequately contextualize a work by a filmmaker from Belgium created in the final years of that country’s decades-long, brutal colonial occupation of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo?Even if the original film were presented with commentary, such critique typically appears offscreen, only available…

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions.There is a concept in Judaism called “Chillul Hashem.” It’s one of the greatest sins that a human being can commit. And it is to do something that would bring God’s name itself into disrepute. It seems to me that forcing Palestinians in Gaza into a situation where their choices are either death or expulsion is Chillul Hashem, a sin for which there, actually, in…

If these mothers and their children manage to survive the war, they will grapple with its effects for the rest of their lives. Health research into multiple areas of armed conflict (such as Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Kosovo) reveals that these kinds of conditions are linked to an increase in miscarriages, congenital abnormalities, stillbirths, preterm labor and maternal mortality. Other studies of armed conflict from 1945 to 2017 show that children exposed to war are more likely to suffer from poor living conditions and sanitation, and multigenerational poverty caused by the loss of educational and economic infrastructure.“Gaza has simply become…

The outcome of the 2016 presidential election was such a shocking event that for people of a certain cast of mind, Donald Trump is less a politician than a force of history.To this class of observer, Trump is something like the world spirit made flesh, where the “world spirit” is a global tide of reactionary populism. He may not have ushered in the furious effort to defend existing hierarchies of status and personhood, but he seems to represent its essential qualities, from the farcical incompetence that often undermines its grand intentions to the unrelenting, sometimes violent, intensity that has sustained…

The immigration problem Congress faces is large and complex. Let’s break it down. Between October 2022 and September 2023, there were 3.1 million attempted crossings along the U.S. southern border. Of that, an estimated 600,000 migrants were able to cross the border undetected, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Over half a million migrants were expelled under Title 42, a policy enacted during the pandemic that allowed border officials to expel migrants without a deportation hearing. The Biden administration lifted the policy in May 2023. Most were processed under Title 8 immigration law, which covers a wide range of…

Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’Being on the internet just doesn’t feel as fun anymore. As more of our digital life is driven by algorithms, it’s become a lot easier to find movies or TV shows or music that fits our preferences pretty well. But it feels harder to find things that are strange and surprising — the kinds of culture that help you, as an individual, develop your own sense of taste.[You can listen to this episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google or wherever you get your podcasts.]This can…

That’s fundamentally what the 2024 election is about. But even though Romney appears to agree with Biden about the existential danger of another Trump presidency, he, like many others, seems worried that when it comes to the future of American self-government, a cynical and exhausted populace can’t be made to care.This fear could easily become self-fulfilling, as commentators treat Trump’s plot against America as a given instead of a major, still-unfolding story. On Saturday, CNN’s Chris Wallace analyzed Biden’s speech, in which the president noted, correctly, that Trump’s rhetoric about migrants echoed “the same exact language used in Nazi Germany.”…

Interest rates are heading down. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of this year (at least).Why? Because there are very good reasons for the Federal Reserve, which controls short-term interest rates — that’s how it makes monetary policy — to start reversing the sharp rate hikes it carried out beginning in March 2022. There’s a vigorous debate about whether those rate hikes were excessive, which I’m not going to litigate here. Whatever you think about past policy, the case for cuts going forward is very strong, and I hope the Fed will act…

If you’re looking for advice, you can call friends and family. You can speak with a spiritual leader or life coach. But if you ask your therapist, you may be disappointed if you hope to leave the appointment with a specific to-do list.Melba Vasquez, PhD, a psychologist in independent practice in Austin, TX, has heard the plea a number of times throughout her career: “Why don’t you just tell me what to dooo?” she says. “Because they’re so frustrated, because they’re so confused and struggling.”But she knows that telling them what to do isn’t her role. One of the goals…

When a man gets a cold, everything shuts down. They’re on the couch in misery — unwilling to do anything (even go to the doctor). But a woman with a cold just bucks up and goes on about their day.Or so the myth of the so-called “man cold” goes.“If a woman has a viral infection or cold, so to speak, she’ll go on with her day’s activities and maybe mention it to a friend,” says psychology expert William Pollack, PhD, explaining the stereotype. “Men will fuss about it and feel like it’s getting in their way, or be angry or irritable that…