Congressional Republicans Have Two Bad Options
How to make sense of their stumbling progress—perhaps—toward a major fiscal bill
Airport Detentions Have Travelers ‘Freaked Out’
Fears of being detained are in overdrive, even if the Trump administration insists that they’re overblown.
How the World Became Awash in Synthetics
It started in 1934, with a PR crisis.
Trump Is Hiding Behind His Lawyers
The president wants to seize new powers, yet he’s also eager to hand off responsibility for hard decisions.
Breakfast Is Breaking
The classic American version hasn’t changed much in a century. Now it faces an identity crisis.
The Comic Who’s His Own Worst Enemy
The Rehearsal takes the prankster’s quest for self-betterment to new extremes.
Harvard Begins to Confront Its Anti-Semitism Problem
A 300-page report makes for dismal reading.
The ‘Significant Risk’ That Republicans Tank the Economy
How the GOP’s indecision in Congress could crash the markets
Parenthood Cannot Be Optimized
Amanda Hess’s new book examines a surplus of experts and gadgets that promise to perfect the experience of raising children.
We’re Back to the Actually Internet
Fact-checking is out, “Community Notes” are in.
The Pro-Family Policy This Nation Actually Needs
If the Trump administration wants more babies, it needs to embrace a different kind of parent.
Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?
An emerging critical consensus argues that we’ve entered a cultural dark age. I’m not so sure.
How to Prepare for the Trumpcession
I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m stocking up on ibuprofen.
How to Define Old Age
Why would the World Health Organization want to call “old age” a disease?
The SNL Sketch That Captured Millennial Anxiety
The guest host Quinta Brunson was the perfect fit to introduce “Forever 31.”
Skin a Rabbit
A short story
Along the Valdez Trail
A trip into Alaska’s Copper River Valley in 1902
The Most Infamous Narcissist in Literary History Gets a Smartphone
A new stage production of The Picture of Dorian Gray conveys the cost of posturing online.
Good Lord, These Muscadines
A poem
How Scientists Can Be Good Citizens
We have a responsibility to ensure that our discoveries are used in the public interest. That isn’t always easy.
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