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Culture

Learning from Ross Douthat

Learning from Ross Douthat Ross Douthat’s departure from the op-ed page of The New York Times to join 60 Minutes at Bari Weiss’s revamped CBS News has generated different reactions in different ideological quarters: a collective wave of “good riddance” from the liberal and progressive Catholic left, and, among his fans, a wistful combination of something like grief and shared pride in the project he carried out as a columnist for the “paper of record.” The latter sentiment was expressed in an...

United States
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Politics

Politics and the Limits of Language

Politics and the Limits of Language In 2008, Barack Obama’s opponents in the Democratic primaries sniffed at his rhetoric. He was talking more about hope than his policy preferences, they complained. In response, he quoted famous lines from monumental speeches in a tone of passionate disbelief. “‘I have a dream.’ Just words?” “‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words? Just speeches?” At a rally in Wisconsin, he ignited the crowd with a new refrain: “Don’t tell me words don’t matt...

United States
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Society

A Terrible Thing to Ask

A Terrible Thing to Ask I once stopped a man from killing himself. There was nothing noble in what I did, though the story might seem admirable from a distance—the kind of thing some people share on Facebook, with lines about never giving up on the people you love. What I actually did was prevent a person from doing something he desperately wanted to do. And afterward, I left him at a hospital while I went on with my life. I’m sorry this is happening, I hope you get better, but I have to go. ...

United States
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Society

The Hounding of Jason Arday

The chancellor of Cambridge University today has condemned the "racist feeding frenzy" around Jason Arday. Arday was found dead on Friday after a relentless slew of articles querying the veracity of his academic work and life story. Was it really in the public interest to scrutinise every aspect of his life - even after he'd resigned from his post? Or did the controversy around Jason Arday's appointment become a bloodsport for the British media? Would he have faced anything like the same leve...

United Kingdom
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Geopolitics

AI and the New Age of Bioweapons

The article explores how advancements in artificial intelligence are transforming the landscape of bioweapons, raising new ethical and security challenges for global governance.

Global
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Geopolitics

America’s Missing Military Revolution

The article explores the stagnation in U.S. military innovation, arguing that a lack of transformative change in strategy and technology could undermine national security and global influence.

United States
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