When Marion Crawford, the nanny for then-Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, published a gentle, ghostwritten memoir in the 1950s about her life with the royals, it was an instant sensation. The book, “novelistic and carefully plotted,” as my colleague Caitlin Flanagan noted in 2006, cataloged all the kinds of details that might captivate an outsider: “of dress and of food and of housekeeping on the grandest level imaginable,” she wrote.
Whatever your views on “cancel culture,” one thing is certain: Search-and-rescue missions on behalf of the disappeared can take strange forms. Witness a 2020 New Yorker essay that was published online under the title “How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?” The question suggested the possibility that something as vile as racism might be calibrated—and that O’Connor’s case had moved from the verdict to the sentencing phase.
Sign up for David’s newsletter, The Third Rail, here.Few legal doctrines are contributing more to the culture war than the idea that America’s public-school teachers have no meaningful free-speech rights when they’re at work.
The landmark 1979 labor documentary, “The Wobblies,” has been restored and rereleased for May Day, International Workers’ Day.
Climate change is forcing animal migrations at an unprecedented scale, bringing many previously disconnected species into close contact and dramatically raising the likelihood of viruses leaping into new hosts and sparking future pandemics. That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature, which predicts that climate-driven disruptions to Earth’s ecosystems will create thousands of cross-species viral transmissions in the coming decades.
Nuclear watchdogs are expressing alarm over safety conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since early March after a fight that led to a fire near one of the plant’s reactors. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and located in the largest city in southeastern Ukraine still under Ukrainian control.
Choosing a baby name is one of the first major decisions you make as a parent, and it can be a stressful one. Should you pick a trendy, unique name? Honor a family member? Go gender neutral, or traditional? The questions can be dizzying, and the choices feel rife with meaning. Names, after all, are our introduction to the world and tend to make a statement.
There’s a lovely scene in Interstellar—one of the best space movies in history; don’t argue with me—when the NASA pilot tasked with saving the day hands a pair of headphones to his fellow space traveler, a physicist, who’s having a difficult time on their perilous journey through space. When the physicist puts the buds in, he and the audience hear the distinct sounds of Earth: crickets, rain, the low rumble of thunder.
The request comes a month after the drug company signaled its two-dose regimen generated immune protection in the youngest children comparable to young adults.
Less access could also prolong the pandemic, allowing the virus to circulate and perhaps provide a haven for new, more dangerous variants.
The Omicron BA.2 subvariant now accounts for most cases in the country, with the number of BA.2.12.1 subvariant cases on the rise particularly in the Northeast.
The war in Ukraine will “severely” set back the global recovery from Covid-19, according to the IMF.
The Fed’s campaign to raise interest rates — designed to reduce spending and curb inflation — will slow growth, which will have consequences for American workers.
Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
We speak with historian Alfred McCoy about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could possibly end. McCoy argues the European Union is essentially funding the war by buying energy from Russia, and says sanctions will not deter Russian President Putin from war so long as his economy continues supplying energy for the world.
Less than 9% of plastic in the U.S. is recycled each year, according to the EPA. The rest ends up in landfills, is burned or released into the environment.
“I’m back b***hes,” he crowed, then the longtime Trump adviser quickly disappeared.
The old adage that “if it’s too good to be true, it likely is,” definitely applies in this war, as I spent much of the day trying to verify fantastical claims from both sides. I even had to enlist Mark Sumner at one point to help me sort through one rumor of a major Ukrainian breakthrough toward Mariupol. Turns out, no one is making big sweeping gains. It’s all “lay down artillery until defenders get the f’ out, walk in.
Wednesday brought news of a surprise prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, with Russia releasing former Marine Trevor Reed as the U.S. released Konstantin Yaroshenko. The decision to make the exchange came amid the relentless advocacy of Reed’s parents and news of his deteriorating health, with President Joe Biden ultimately making the decision to trade Yaroshenko, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2010.
EarthJustice and the Center for Biological Diversity have teamed up to sue the U.S. Postal Service over its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) order of 50,000 mail trucks, just 10,019 of which will be electric. The order has been controversial since it was initially announced, though the USPS initially requested that just 10% of its NGDVs be EVs and has since ordered a slightly larger amount amid public outcry.
The ongoing far-right strategy of targeting local politics—school boards and city councils and public health boards—to gain traction for their politics of bigotry and menace is clearly a daunting concern.
Grasping for a favorable verdict, ex-cop Thomas Webster has told jurors trying his case in Washington, D.C., that when he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and proceeded to charge a police officer with a metal pole before tackling him and choking him, it was just self-defense.
The 56-year-old and his attorney have relied on Webster’s experience as a former U.S.
“I’m back!” he beams, weirdly adding: “#COVFEFE.
The former president claimed his onetime adviser had “totally destroyed” her husband, whom he called “mentally ill.
“I don’t know if that’s my text message or not, but if you want to talk about a text message, read the text message,” said Greene, who says it vindicates her.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are divided but an aide to the group said that the push from civil rights leaders over recent weeks has “caused members to give greater thought to what could be potential unintended consequences.
The bill approved by the GOP-led House on a 68-12 vote without discussion or debate now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days.
Over the past month, the number of new COVID cases in my social circle has become impossible to ignore. I brushed off the first few—guests at a wedding I attended in early April—as outliers during the post-Omicron lull. But then came frantic texts from two former colleagues. The next week, a friend at the local café was complaining that she’d lost her sense of smell. My Instagram feed is now surfacing selfies of people in isolation, some for the second or third time.
After four decades of training and studying dogs, Marjie Alonso has lost track of the number of pets she’s seen because their humans felt they weren’t acting as they “should.” There were the golden retrievers who weren’t “friendly” or “good enough with kids,” and the German shepherds who were more timid scaredy-cats than vigilant guard dogs.
The government said gross domestic product shrank at a 1.4 percent annualized rate in the first quarter.