Author: Lance Garrison
Science alone won’t stop the planet from overheating. But science coupled with political science just might.That’s the theme of a new book, “Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time.” It’s by Thomas Hale, an American political scientist who teaches at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.Hale argues that people are too quick to throw up their hands because the political will to stop climate change is lacking. For political scientists, he writes, “this is not the end but rather the start of the intellectual challenge.”Hale has specific ideas for how to change institutions and…
To the Editor:Monday is a historic day, as a former United States president goes on trial on charges of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments. This is the first time a former president has been tried in criminal court.But more than the historical significance of the trial, this is a test of our democracy and the rule of law. What’s at stake here is not just whether or not the disgraced former president is guilty, but whether he is above the law.There is clear and compelling evidence showing that Donald Trump committed the crimes he is charged…
Until Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones against Israel, the two countries had avoided open military intrusions into each other’s territory. Tehran most often acted through proxies, and Jerusalem via bombing runs and unacknowledged assassinations in the region.Iran’s unprecedented attack this weekend, which failed to kill a single Israeli, has perhaps now opened the clerical regime to a major reprisal. The White House clearly does not want Jerusalem to undertake such a response, fearing escalation that could bring the United States into a regional war.But the chances are good that Israel will strike back to deter future direct attacks. And…
What can feel more frustrating than having a cough? Having a cough that happens more often or gets worse at night. It affects how much you can relax, fall and stay asleep, and get much-needed rest for recovery. “During sleep, the body regulates our production of cytokines, signaling proteins our immune systems produce to fight off invading pathogens such as viruses and bacteria,” says Vontrelle Roundtree, MD, associate chief medical officer at MDLIVE of Evernorth. “If you have a nagging cough that causes you to wake up often throughout the night, it compromises sleep quality, potentially affecting your body’s cytokine regulation…
If Donald Trump has been clear about anything, it is this: “I cannot get a fair trial in New York.”By New York, he means Manhattan, where he won slightly less than 10 percent of the vote in 2016 and about 12 percent in 2020 and where, as one of his lawyers argued last week, “In terms of prejudicial pretrial publicity in this county, this case stands alone.”Of course, Mr. Trump doesn’t want a fair trial. Like any other criminal defendant, he wants a jury that is biased in his favor. But can he get a jury that is able and…
It’s true that it’s not an easy time for trust-building exercises; the current level of mistrust between Chinese and American military intentions is deep. Speaking to Congress in March, Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of all U.S. nuclear forces, suggested that China’s rapid nuclear expansion indicated its no-first-use policy was no longer credible. The Pentagon wrote in an October report that, despite China’s rhetoric, Beijing might consider using nuclear weapons first anyway during a crisis if it came down to the survival of Mr. Xi’s regime, such as defeat in a war with Taiwan. It also remains unclear how exactly China…
In late March, after two years of withering attacks on Ukraine, Russia knocked out half of Ukraine’s power supply. Up to that point, Russia’s missiles and kamikaze drones had mostly targeted the Ukrainian substations that push electricity from power plants to consumers. But this time they hit the plants themselves, severely damaging and destroying hydroelectric and fossil fuel stations — all of which are difficult to repair or replace.When power stops, life grinds to a halt. Lights go out. Sewage treatment stops. Clean water stops. Electric cars, buses and trolleys stop. Elevators stop, trapping older and disabled people. For many,…
Spring is proceeding apace in this yard, despite my worst fears. For 28 of the 29 years that my husband and I have lived in this house, the elderly widow next door mostly shared our commitment to a natural yard. And because her house backed up to a little patch of woods, too, between us we managed to create a miniature wildlife sanctuary. I could sit outside in springtime and hold very still while a tufted titmouse pulled hairs from my head and carried them to her nest in the yard next door.After my neighbor’s death last year, a backhoe…
On Saturday afternoon I drove out to eastern Pennsylvania, one of the big battlegrounds between President Biden and Donald Trump in this election, to attend Mr. Trump’s final rally before his criminal trial starts Monday. I was curious about the mood of Trump voters as this historic case gets underway. Were they feeling angry? Worried? Frustrated? Ready to go all civil war?Instead, I found young women in sequins, older ladies in tutus, men sporting all manner of red-white-and-blue combos, and most everyone reveling in MAGA fellowship. It felt a little like the Whos down in Whoville gathering to sing after…
After several days during which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei repeatedly vowed that “the evil Zionist regime” would be punished for its April 1 attack on Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus that killed seven Iranian military advisers, including three top commanders, the Islamic Republic struck. More than 300 drones and missiles launched from Iranian soil took aim at Israel on Saturday. Nearly all of them were intercepted, mainly by Israeli or American defenses, with a report of just one Israeli casualty, a girl from a Bedouin community wounded by shrapnel.Will that be the end of it?It’s no secret that Israel and…