Author: Lance Garrison
To the Editor:Re “On U.S. Roads, Dark Is Deadly. That’s a Puzzle” (front page, Dec. 23):Thorough though this article may be, it does not note that the upward trend in pedestrian deaths coincides with the introduction of LED headlights around 2006. LED bulbs, four times brighter than halogen ones, blind oncoming drivers and pedestrians alike.David OstwaldNew YorkTo the Editor:The article suggests remaking infrastructure to slow vehicles because “distracted drivers are safer at lower speeds.” The problem is not the speed nor the roads for the most part; it is the distraction!Drivers are not supposed to be distracted. Ever. Drivers’ focus…
You may remember the constant discussion, while Trump was in office, over the effect his chaos and corruption might have on voters. Would they care? Where this “they” often meant the blue-collar voters associated with Trump’s victory. And if they didn’t care, could we say with any confidence that the American people cared?They did!What’s been lost — or if not lost then obscured — in the constant attention to Trump’s voters, supporters and followers is that the overall American electorate is consistently anti-MAGA. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. The MAGA-fied Republican Party lost the House of Representatives in…
In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels, a “psychohistorian” in a far-flung galactic empire figures out a way to predict the future so exactly that he can anticipate both the empire’s fall and the way that civilization can be painstakingly rebuilt. This enables him to plan a project — the “foundation” of the title — that will long outlast his death, complete with periodic messages to his heirs that always show foreknowledge of their challenges and crises.Until one day the foreknowledge fails, because an inherently unpredictable figure has come upon the scene — the Mule, a Napoleon of galactic politics, whose advent…
Personalized celebrations have become an indelible part of football, so when Tommy DeVito, the third-string quarterback for the New York Giants, threw one of his first touchdowns in November, he raised a right hand and pinched his finger and thumb together in an Italian gesture that means, roughly, “Whaddya want?”People noticed.A few weeks later, when DeVito was leading the Giants to a thrilling 24-22 victory over the Green Bay Packers at home, thousands of fans joined in by pinching their fingers and waving the backs of their hands toward the field. The gesture was trumpeted on sports broadcasts, adapted to…
When you control your diabetes, your entire body benefits — including your kidneys. This pair of bean-shaped organs cleans your blood and does other important jobs.But if you have diabetes that’s undiagnosed or uncontrolled, it can damage your kidneys over time without causing any symptoms. And that could lead to a serious problem: diabetic kidney disease. Your doctor may call it chronic kidney disease (CKD). About 1 in 3 adults with diabetes have this condition.CKD gradually causes your kidneys to have trouble filtering waste and extra water from your blood. If it goes untreated, your kidneys may eventually fail, which…
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.My name is Jeneen Interlandi and I’m a writer for the New York Times editorial board.[MUSIC PLAYING]I wanted to write about addiction because I see it really as one of the leading public health crises facing the country. You have some 48 million Americans struggling with addiction, and only like 5 percent of them are getting any kind of help for that condition.We lose 100,000…
At the outset of this election year, with Donald Trump leading the race to be the Republican presidential nominee, Americans should pause to consider what a second Trump term would mean for our country and the world and to weigh the serious responsibility this election places on their shoulders.By now, most American voters should have no illusions about who Mr. Trump is. During his many years as a real estate developer and a television personality, then as president and as a dominant figure in the Republican Party, Mr. Trump demonstrated a character and temperament that render him utterly unfit for…
These are the men that try The Times’s soul.With the disreputable Donald Trump challenging the disfavored President Biden, the 2024 race has become the embodiment of Oscar Wilde’s witticism about fox hunting: “the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.”Bleeding young and nonwhite voters, the president finally heeded Democrats urging him to “get out there,” as Nancy Pelosi put it, and throw some haymakers at Trump.Biden flew to Pennsylvania on Friday to visit Valley Forge and make a pugnacious speech invoking an earlier moment when we were fighting against despotism and clinging to a dream of a democracy.In a discontented winter…
Jan. 5, 2024 – U.S. regulators on Friday approved a plan to allow Florida to import medicines, describing this as a step toward allowing the state to purchase medicines directly from Canada at a lower cost.The FDA authorized Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration’s drug importation program. The state must next fulfill several obligations, including showing that the drugs it seeks to import have been tested for, among other things, authenticity and compliance with FDA specifications and standards, the agency said.This is the first approval of a state drug importation plan. It marks a win for lawmakers in both parties who…
Jan. 5, 2024 — Eli Lilly, maker of the anti-obesity drug Zepbound, announced this week the launch of LillyDirect, a direct-to-patient portal, allowing some patients to obtain its drug for as little as $25 a month.The move is seen as a major shift in the way these popular medications can reach patients. For many of the 42 million Americans with obesity, weight loss medications such as Wegovy, Saxenda, and the brand-new Zepbound can be a godsend, helping them lose the excess pounds they’ve struggled with for decades or a lifetime.But getting these medications has been a struggle for many who are eligible.…