CATEGORIES

Trump, Who Freed Drug Offenders, Also Wants To Kill Them

DONALD TRUMP CAN’T seem to decide whether he wants to execute drug dealers or free them from prison. The former president’s debate with himself reflects a broader clash between Republicans who think harsher criminal penalties are always better and Republicans who understand that justice requires proportionality.

Congestion Pricing Hits a New Roadblock

SINCE 2019, NEW York has sought to establish the nation’s first congestion pricing zone, which would charge drivers fees for rush hour trips to improve traffic flows and raise funds for the city’s dilapidated subway system. That plan to toll drivers entering lower Manhattan’s gridlocked streets recently hit another roadblock: New Jersey.

The Bad Law That Made Good Bars

WHEN YOU STEP into the Raines Law Room at The William hotel on East 39th Street in Manhattan, you’ll find a series of tastefully decorated lounges. Softly upholstered chairs, tufted leather couches, and low-light sconces create an atmosphere that’s more swanky club or private living room than hotel bar. But although there’s a boutique hotel with a few dozen rooms above (rates run anywhere from $275 to well over $1,000 per night), the Raines Law Room is a bar.

Control Your Card-board, Control Your Life

SINCE ALBERT JONES filed his U.S. patent for corrugated paper packing material in 1871, cardboard products have played the cart to globalization’s horse. Cheaper and lighter than a crate and more protective than paper or straw, cardboard has made myriad goods affordable and deliverable to just about anywhere. From carrying glass vials of medicine at the turn of the 20th century to entire couches at the beginning of the 21st, cardboard is a linchpin of modern life.

The Right To Give

IN JULY, PHILLIP Picone, a Houston activist, stood before a jury of his peers, charged with the heinous crime of feeding the needy.

The Joy of Capitalism

MARKETS DON'T JUST MAKE US RICHER; THEY MAKE US HAPPIER.

TAKE NUTRITION STUDIES WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FOOD AND DRINK IS A MESS.

California Is Taxing Itself to Death

FOR DECADES, CALIFORNIA has been a desirable destination for Americans lured by the promise of riches, stardom, or at least a good place to surf.

The 'Monstrous Beastliness' of Urban Policing

OAKL AND, CALIFORNIA, IS “the edge case in American policing,” journalists Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham declare in The Riders Come Out at Night. “More has been done to try to reform the Oakland Police Department than any other police force in the United States.”

Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?

A neuroscientist takes on determinism.

'Black History is American History'

Morgan Freeman on his new documentary about the first Black tank unit to serve in combat in World War II and the gaps in our national memory

America's BEST Customer Service 2024

HOW WE SHOP HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY in recent years. Here's a telling statistic: online grocery delivery services are now valued at over $286 billion with projections of continued growth. But companies still need to offer excellent customer service, even if that looks a little different than it used to.

Nia Vardalos

WHEN MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING OPENED IN 2002, IT MADE ITS STAR and writer, Nia Vardalos, a celebrity overnight. \"I'm somebody ordinary that something extraordinary happened to.\"

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT DIET IS WRONG

Despite a proliferation of diets supposedly based on science, most theories about what to eat and why are flawed

China's Plan to Rule the World's Smart Devices

Police, firefighters and other first responders in the U.S. rely on Chinese communications devices. Spies may be listening in

'I Knew They Were Scumbags'

How federal prison guards confessed to rape-and got away with it

I thought my mother was an only child. I was wrong.

The Ones We Sent Away

Owls Aren't That Smart

But they have uncanny powers.

THE RESILIENCE GAP

In 2008, when I was a writer for the blog Feministe, commenters began requesting warnings at the top of posts discussing distressing topics, most commonly sexual assault.

THE RISE OF BRONZE AGE PERVERT

HOW A FASCIST BODYBUILDER CAPTURED THE IMAGINATION OF THE FAR RIGHT

How America Got Mean

In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.

KILLER APPS

Is social media making America's murder surge worse?

Lost Histories of Coexistence

James McBride's new novel tells a story of solidarity between Black and Jewish communities.

Inside the Revolution at OpenAI

Sam Altman doesn't know where artificial intelligence will lead humanity. But he's taking us there anyway.

The Man Who Transformed American Theater

How August Wilson became one of the country's most influential playwrights

CHANGING CLOTHES

Inside Stella McCartney's quest to transform the fashion industry from within

DÉJÀ VU

IT'S GETTING LATE EARLY IN THE GOP PRIMARY, AS THE FRONT RUNNER'S RIVALS STRUGGLE WITH THE CAMPAIGN'S CENTRAL QUESTION: HOW DO YOU STOP TRUMP?

BAJA IN THE BALANCE

The campaign to preserve a region, and a local fishing industry

THE NEW ROMANTICS

A decade after Fifty Shades, pop-culture romance has become alarmingly wholesome

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE WITH HOPE

AS YOUNG PEOPLE SINK INTO A PARALYZING DESPAIR OVER EXTREME WEATHER AND IMPENDING CATASTROPHE, SCIENTISTS AND ACTIVISTS TRY A NEW MESSAGE