Category Archives: Opinion

The New York Times – Saturday, April 26, 2025

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Voters See Trump’s Use of Power as Overreaching, Times/Siena Poll Finds

Skepticism has grown of his efforts to expand his authority and of his handling of issues long seen as strengths for him, including the economy and immigration.

Trump Budget to Take Ax to ‘Radical’ Safety Net Programs

A draft document outlines steep cuts or the elimination of funding for programs that provide child care, housing assistance, foreign aid and health research.

Hegseth’s Personal Phone Use Created Vulnerabilities

The phone number used in the Signal chat could also be found in a variety of places, including on social media and a fantasy sports site.

Mangione Pleads Not Guilty as U.S. Seeks Death Penalty

The judge warned Attorney General Pam Bondi to temper her statements about Luigi Mangione to ensure a fair trial on charges of killing a health insurance executive.

Reason Magazine – June 2025 Opinion Preview

Reason Magazine - Free Minds and Free Markets

REASON MAGAZINE (April 25, 2025): The latest issue features ‘What If’ – The president doesn’t want to spend money…

What if the President Doesn’t Want to Spend Money?

Impoundment, line-item vetoes, and the tricky problem of cutting spending through the executive branch

What if the President Tries to Annex Greenland and Canada?

Trump’s new imperialism makes neither economic nor geopolitical sense.

Are the News Media in Their Onion Era?

The lessons “America’s Finest News Source” could offer the rest of the press

How Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s Perverse Pardons Undermined the Rule of Law

Biden’s pardons for friends and Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 participants set terrible precedents.

The New York Times – Friday, April 25, 2025

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Red Line on Crimea Isn’t Just Zelensky’s. It’s Ukraine’s.

In Ukraine, memories of Russia’s annexation are fresh and resentments run high, leaving the country’s president few choices on the latest American peace plan.

Russia Pummels Kyiv, Prompting Rare Rebuke From Trump

The attack, which killed at least 12 people, was the deadliest on Ukraine’s capital in nearly a year. President Trump called on President Vladimir V. Putin to “STOP!” in a post on social media.

Trump Challenges Migrants’ Due Process Rights, Undercutting Bedrock Principle

White House officials are eschewing normal legal processes as they rush to ramp up deportations, saying there is no time to afford unauthorized immigrants any rights — and that they don’t deserve them anyway.

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

President Trump has said his punishing tariffs would force companies to build factories in the United States. But it is far from clear that they will have the effects he predicted.

The Economist Magazine – April 26, 2025 Preview

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE (April 24, 2025): The latest issue features Trump’s first 100 days, and beyond….

Trump is a revolutionary. Will he succeed?

He has already done lasting harm to America

President Trump’s attacks on the Fed are not over

Jerome Powell wins a reprieve. But expect more showdowns between the White House and the Fed

Africans need jobs. The rest of the world needs workers

Migration from Africa is a mega-trend that transcends today’s populist surge

How to keep AI models on the straight and narrow

Interpretability techniques are powerful, but must be used with care

The New York Reviews Of Books – May 15, 2025

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (April 24, 2025): The latest issue features the Art Issue—with Susan Tallman on warp and weft, Ingrid D. Rowland on Vitruvius, Jerome Groopman on antivaccine lunacy, Martin Filler on the new Frick, Julian Bell on art in an age of crisis, Lisa Halliday on Claire Messud, Heather O’Donnell on the Morgan librarian, Noah Feldman on the rule of law, Jarrett Earnest on fancy furnishings, Madeleine Thien on Fang Fang, Coco Fusco on Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jed Perl on Surrealism, poems by Ben Lerner and Carmen Boullosa, and much more.

String Theory

Two exhibitions focused on weaving go beyond the functional, the folkloric, and the feminine, tracking fiber’s escape from the connotations of the grid.

Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction – an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, April 20–September 13, 2025

Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art – An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Vitruvius & the Warlords

Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture was not only a manual of the building arts but a treatise on how to extend and consolidate the Roman Empire, and lent itself all too well to the autocratic ambitions of Renaissance princes.

All the King’s Horses: Vitruvius in an Age of Princes by Indra Kagis McEwen

Measles Gone Wild

During a burgeoning measles outbreak, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to make contradictory remarks, publicly endorsing the measles vaccine while raising doubts about its safety.

Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health by Adam Ratner

So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs—and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease by Thomas Levenson

The Frick Reinvigorated

In an ambitious and long-overdue renovation, the architect Annabelle Selldorf attempted to harmonize with the Frick’s Classical aesthetic while asserting her Modernist credentials.

A Century of Surrealism

One hundred years after André Breton launched the Surrealist movement, we’re still trying making sense of its aims and effects.

Surrealism – an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, September 4, 2024–January 13, 2025, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 8, 2025–February 6, 2026

Manifestoes of Surrealism by André Breton, translated from the French by Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane

Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton, Revised and Updated Edition by Mark Polizzotti

Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School by Martica Sawin

Surrealism and Painting by André Breton, translated from the French by Simon Watson Taylor, with an introduction by Mark Polizzotti

The New York Times – Thursday, April 24, 2025

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Trump Pressures Ukraine to Accept a Peace Plan That Sharply Favors Russia

The U.S. proposal would freeze territory along the current front lines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which Ukraine has rejected.

Cuomo’s Campaign Strategy: Limit Appearances and Avoid Confrontation

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is embracing a so-called Rose Garden strategy in his tightly controlled campaign for mayor of New York City.

N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race Is Jolted by 4 Major Endorsements of Adrienne Adams

Ms. Adams, the City Council speaker, won endorsements from Letitia James, the state attorney general, and from three major unions including District Council 37.

China Has an Army of Robots on Its Side in the Tariff War

Enormous investments in factory equipment and artificial intelligence are giving China an edge in car manufacturing and other industries.

The New Republic ———- May 2025 Preview

THE NEW REPUBLIC MAGAZINE (April 23, 2025): The latest issue features ‘How the Radical Right Captured The Culture’…

Who Were Those Gullible People Who Believed Donald Trump’s Bullsh*t?

His campaign promises, from peace in Ukraine to “beautiful” tariffs, were truly unbelievable. And yet, somehow, many people believed him.

Will Trump Finally Kill the Bretton Woods System?

For better and often for worse, the U.S.-led IMF and World Bank have dominated the post–World War II international economy. Project 2025 and the Trump administration could change that.

Times Literary Supplement – April 25, 2025 Preview

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (April 23, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Blakean Spark’ – The artist’s ‘Imaginative Eye’…

The New York Times – Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon

The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.

Francis’ Death Silences a Voice for the Voiceless

As democratic values and alliances were being turned upside down, the pope was a consistent moral guidepost. Who can play that role now?

He Was a Prophet of Space Travel. His Ashes Were Found in a Basement.

During his life, Willy Ley predicted the dawn of the Space Age with remarkable accuracy. How did his remains end up forgotten in a co-op on the Upper West Side?

Foreign Affairs Magazine – May/June 2025 Preview

Semafor Flagship: A launchpad, not a destination | Semafor

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE (April 22, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Committee to Run the World?’….

The Rise and Fall of Great-Power Competition

Trump’s New Spheres of Influence by Stacie E. Goddard

The Return of Great-Power Diplomacy

How Strategic Dealmaking Can Fortify American Power by A. Wess Mitchell

The Russia That Putin Made

Moscow, the West, and Coexistence Without Illusion by Alexander Gabuev

The Once and Future China

How Will Change Come to Beijing? by Rana Mitter