This weekend we celebrate the creation of the United States, though that project remains substantially incomplete. This year of crises has underscored the distance between the lofty rhetoric of our founding documents and the persistent inequalities of American life. This nation began as a set of promises that it has yet to keep. Millions of […]
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“It’s hard to separate what’s good for the United States and what’s good for Bank of America,” said its former chief executive, Ken Lewis, in 2009. That was hardly true at the time, but the current crisis has revealed that the health of the finance industry and stock market are completely disconnected from the actual […]
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Here’s a thought experiment. You’re John Roberts, not only the chief justice of the United States but the head of the entire federal judicial branch. After 15 years on the job, you find yourself in an exquisitely tough spot. On the one hand, you’re confronted with a rogue court — the United States Court of […]
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CHICAGO — Protesters marched on the State Capitol in Texas, holding signs declaring that masks equal “medical tyranny.” Lawsuits filed in Florida courts argue that mask laws violate constitutional rights. President Trump mocked former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for wearing a mask and has rarely worn one himself. But even as some conservatives […]
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When 17-year-old Darnella Frazier filmed the police killing of George Floyd on her phone in May, her video reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide protests, even prompting one supporter to name her “the Rosa Parks of her generation.” In addition to setting off policy debates about police reform, the protests have also renewed […]
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As the coronavirus rages out of control across much of the United States, Americans are acting curiously helpless. If we had been this passive in 1776, we would still be part of Britain. Yet even as we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July, we don’t seem willing to assert independence from a virus that […]
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In the early morning hours of May 30, Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman were arrested in Brooklyn after a night of citywide protests in response to the killing of George Floyd. They are charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail through the broken window of an unoccupied police car. No one was hurt. Both have plead […]
Read More In the early morning hours of May 30, Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman were arrested in Brooklyn after a night of citywide protests in response to the killing of George Floyd. They are charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail through the broken window of an unoccupied police car. No one was hurt. Both have plead […]
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The nascent restart of America’s economy has begun to stall as a surge in new coronavirus cases dampens consumer and business activity across states like Florida, Texas and Arizona. After weeks of a pandemic-induced contraction, the economy had begun rebounding faster than many economists expected from mid-April into June, as infection rates stabilized or fell […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump’s promised rewrite of trade terms between the United States, Canada and Mexico officially goes into effect on Wednesday. But while the president claims victory in reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement, putting its provisions into practice is far from done. Company executives, government officials and union leaders around the continent […]
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BRUSSELS — After the devastating financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the United States recovered much more quickly than Europe, which suffered a double-dip recession. This time, many economists say that Europe may have the edge. The main reason America did well was the rapid response of the government and the flexible nature of the […]
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ImageA police officer in Hong Kong on Tuesday standing guard near protesters opposing Beijing’s new national security legislation for the city. The law criminalizes, among other things, threats to China’s national unity, including calls for Hong Kong to become independent from the mainland.Credit…Vincent Yu/Associated Press After many years of rejecting the people of Hong Kong’s […]
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has long tried to convince Taiwan that unification was a historical inevitability, alternately enticing the democratic island with economic incentives while bluntly warning that any move toward formal independence would be answered with military force. Now, the incentives are gone and the warnings seem more ominous following Mr. […]
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When the economy is in crisis, who do we turn to for help? Not corporations — it’s governments. But when the economy is flourishing, we ignore governments and let corporations soak up the rewards. This was the story of the 2008 financial crisis. A similar story is unfolding today. Governments have spent trillions on stimulus […]
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America is, in principle, a democracy, in which every vote counts the same. It’s also a nation in which income inequality has soared, a development that hurts many more people than it helps. So if you didn’t know better, you might have expected to see a political backlash: demands for higher taxes on the rich, […]
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HAMBURG, Germany — Maybe it was no coincidence that the German government chose Leipzig as the location for the special E.U.-China summit, scheduled to take place later this year. After all, Leipzig’s citizens were the first to turn out in droves in 1989 to protest the East German Communists’ despotism and contempt for freedom. Many […]
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I almost — but not quite — feel sorry for Donald Trump. He’s at war with two “invisible enemies” at once — the coronavirus and Joe Biden — and both remain highly elusive, the pathogen by nature and the politician by design. Biden, who made a rare public appearance on Tuesday, has been wise to […]
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A year after protesters in Hong Kong jubilantly defied Chinese rule, the national leader, Xi Jinping, has opened a long-term counteroffensive in the territory, signing a new security law on Tuesday that sets obedience to Beijing above the former British colony’s civil freedoms. Conceived in secrecy and passed with intimidating speed, the law has ignited […]
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When a major explosion lit the skies on the edge of Tehran last week, the Iranian government was quick to dismiss the episode as a gas explosion at the Parchin military base, which was once the focus of international nuclear inspectors. It turned out that was false: Satellite photographs show the explosion happened at a […]
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BRUSSELS — The European Union will open its borders to visitors from 15 countries as of Wednesday, but not to travelers from the United States, Brazil or Russia, putting into effect a complex policy that has sought to balance health concerns with politics, diplomacy and the desperate need for tourism revenue. The list of nations […]
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Even as states reopen, Covid-19 continues to lay waste to the elderly and those who care for them. This country has a long tradition of banishing ailing seniors, and this neglect extends to the workers who help them eat and dress and nourish their minds and souls. The home health aides and certified nursing assistants […]
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On a night filled with platforms booting out controversial forums and accounts, game streaming platform Twitch temporarily banned US President Donald Trump from the platform. The Amazon-owned company said that Trump‘s account was banned for broadcasting “hateful content” on his Twitch channel. The company said the content of two streams in particular lead to the ban. The first was […]
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Political messaging can have a huge impact on public responses to crises. In the US, academics warn that divisions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers are wrecking efforts to contain the virus. Now, a new AI tool has shown just how fractured their rhetoric has been. Researchers from Ohio State University trained the algorithm to guess which political party […]
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In a continuation of China and the United States’ diplomatic tit-for-tat over Hong Kong, China announced on Monday that it is imposing visa restrictions on U.S. officials who have “behaved badly” in regards to the semi-autonomous territory. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian revealed the restrictions at a press conference, with the state-run tabloid Global […]
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The coronavirus is still raging, particularly in states like Texas, Arizona and Florida. We already know what it takes to beat it. We just need to do it. As infection rates rapidly rise in many red states, Senate Republicans can and should legislate to protect their constituents and their country. It’s good politics to save […]
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In the early months of 2020, Americans were engaged in the perennial election-year debate over how best to reform the nation’s health care system. As usual, the electorate was torn and confused. Polling indicated that a small majority of likely voters favored a new universal system that would cover everyone. But that support evaporated when […]
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On the issue of American slavery, I am an absolutist: enslavers were amoral monsters. The very idea that one group of people believed that they had the right to own another human being is abhorrent and depraved. The fact that their control was enforced by violence was barbaric. People often try to explain this away […]
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Like other crises in the past, the coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for communities to act on their most exclusionary impulses. This summer, private pools and beach clubs, as well as public facilities in wealthier areas, are reopening with new measures to ensure that the general public stays out: hiring more security, aggressively checking […]
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Listen to This Op-Ed Audio Recording by Audm To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Whatever his wobbles, Joe Biden has, from the start of his presidential campaign, got one thing exactly right: The 2020 election is a battle for the soul of America. […]
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WASHINGTON — Evelina Reese has been a poll worker for 40 years. And for the last six decades, she says, she has never missed a chance to vote. “We’re all dedicated citizens as far as voting goes,” Ms. Reese, a retired social services worker from the Atlanta suburb of Riverdale, said this past week. But […]
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Regarding statues, monuments, and other public tributes to those once deemed great — which to do away with and which to keep — four familiar words can guide our choices: a more perfect union. Did Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee fight for a more perfect union? No. They fought for disunion. Outside of museums, […]
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