Author: Lance Garrison
Madison and his like-minded allies — the Pennsylvanians James Wilson and Gouverneur Morris, for example — favored a national popular vote to choose the president. Direct election by “the people” (for the most part, property-owning white men) would guarantee executive independence and filter for men of “distinguished character, or services.” On the other side were Southern delegates who thought a popular vote would put them on the losing side of presidential contests; the free population of the North was, of course, larger than the free population of the South. Still other delegates wanted the legislative option to prevail.As the historian…
By around 2 p.m., just after lunch, activity at the critical care unit of the Jayadeva hospital in Bengaluru, India, is at an ebb. No one is running down the halls with X-rays, bills or samples of body fluids to be tested. The morning rounds are over. The doctors are gone, and the nursing shift has just changed.That’s when Girish Balakrishnappa walks in. He is a staff nurse but has the demeanor of a teacher. He starts off by asking everyone to put their phones on silent and gather around. Patients who can walk drag chairs toward him. Those who…
On Thursday, I went over to South Bundy Drive in Brentwood, where the double murder happened. O.J. Simpson was dead at 76. And that famous scene of violence was eerily quiet on a shimmering spring day in Los Angeles.I had written nearly 30 years ago about the barbaric slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman at Ms. Simpson’s condo, and the infamous trial that drilled into the most sensitive parts of the national psyche, exposing conflicting views about race and policing and celebrity and legal equality.There were farcical elements of O.J. Simpson’s “trial of the century,” from…
Jim never had to say anything to me, but with those kinds of slight gestures he taught us how to do our jobs. He communicated: This is how we do things on the “NewsHour”; these are our standards. Jim is gone, but the standards and moral ecology he helped create live on. Morally healthy communities habituate people to behave in certain ways and make it easier to be good.Being hyperattentive. The poet Mary Oliver wrote: “This is the first, wildest and wisest thing I know: that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness.” The leaders…
To understand the remarkable moral, political and intellectual collapse of the pro-life movement, look to the Alabama Supreme Court, not just to Donald Trump’s recent pledge not to sign a national abortion ban or Kari Lake’s flip-flop on Arizona’s reinstated 1864 anti-abortion law.When the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that I.V.F. embryos were subject to the state’s wrongful death statute, it forced the pro-life movement to fully examine the cultural and political implications of its position on unborn children, and pro-life Republicans blinked. They caved, almost instantly, on a core philosophical element of the movement — the incalculable value of every…
What standing ovations, exclamation points and “irregardless” have in common.
It’s not unusual to have mixed feelings about your child’s diagnosis with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). The behaviors that led to it may create stress in your family and social life for quite a while. You might worry about how your child (and others) will react to being “labeled,” on top of all your other challenges. Don’t let that keep you from talking with your kid about it. Discovering together how your child’s brain works can be a first step toward improving their symptoms.Jen Mackay found out her son, James, had ADHD when he was 6 years old. “[It]…
To the Editor:Re “Can We Engineer Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?” (“Buying Time” series, front page, March 31):The fact that the fossil fuel industry is seeking to rebrand the concept of geoengineering with terms that sound more palatable should tell us all we need to know about the validity of these foolish, unworkable false solutions to our climate crisis.“Carbon capture and storage” and “direct air capture” may sound like pleasant, productive endeavors. But the truth is, they are indeed a wasteful distraction, doing more harm than good.Recent analysis from Food & Water Watch indicates that direct air capture…
When you think of treatment for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in children, medication probably comes to mind. That, or maybe therapy to work on school and social skills. In truth, the recommended first line of treatment isn’t a pill or training for your child — but rather training for you. “There are effective parenting strategies that are known to specifically help with behaviors that are due to ADHD symptoms,” says Maggie Sibley, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “After the diagnosis, if a parent switches…
The great 2024 exodus is all about Trump-era discord and dysfunction.