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Werner Herzog’s Ode to Gorbachev
Werner Herzog is in love. His eyes glimmer, his smile is unforced, and his much-parodied Teutonic drone cannot conceal his affection for his subject, the ailing 87-year-old man who once ruled the...
View ArticleThe Venezuela Coup’s Risky Dependence on Foreign Opinion
The Hawthorne effect refers to the tendency of individuals to behave differently when they know they’re being observed. It’s on prominent display right now in Venezuela. On April 30, National Assembly...
View ArticleSky High Is the Only Good Superhero Movie
Today at my local United Artists megaplex there are 45 total film screenings. Thirty of those screenings are superhero movies, 24 of them Avengers alone. But even without the biggest piece of content...
View ArticleCruel or Not, the Death Penalty Is Definitely Unusual
It came as no surprise when a Georgia jury sentenced Tiffany Moss to death on Tuesday. After three hours of deliberation, Gwinnett County jurors previously found the 36-year-old woman guilty of...
View ArticleAmerica Needs to Hear From Robert Mueller
Attorney General Bill Barr is doing the job that President Donald Trump appointed him to do, even if it’s not the job that’s in the public’s best interest. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 488-page...
View ArticleTrump’s Possibly Illegal Border Posse
Twelve days before the November 2018 midterm elections, the President of the United States ordered active-duty military forces to assist in immigration enforcement on the Southern border for the first...
View ArticleDemocrats Can Win on Immigration
We already know the kind of campaign Donald Trump will run in 2020. Sure, there will be improvisational flourishes based on who ultimately prevails from the Democrat’s battle royal—stale riffs on Joe...
View ArticleWhy Aren’t Women a Bigger Force in Indian Elections?
It is the largest election in the world, with 900 million registered voters. Initiated on April 11, India’s national elections will continue until May 23. And for the first time, pollsters suggest that...
View ArticleDown and Out in the Gig Economy
In 2009, in the paranoid middle days of the recession, I enacted a boomerang-child stereotype: I moved back home into my parents’ basement. Raised in privilege (son of lawyers, private schools, no...
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Writing for the End Times
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” So reads the opening verse in the Gospel of John—the fourth, deviant gospel—which was probably composed 70 years after the crucifixion of...
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Mighty Mouth
On the morning of July 24, Senator Joseph Biden, his face contorted with rage, stared out from the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers. At a Senate Foreign Relations...
View ArticleThe Green New Deal Costs Less Than Doing Nothing
Ninety-three trillion dollars is a lot of money. It’s more than the entire globe’s gross domestic product.It is also, if you ask many Republicans, how much the Green New Deal would cost over the course...
View ArticleDemocrats Must Make an Example of Bill Barr
The Democrats almost got this right. On Wednesday, they shredded what little credibility Bill Barr had left during a five-hour hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that, at times, bordered on...
View ArticlePower Plays in the Anti-Semitic Blame Game
Last month’s shooting at the Chabad of Poway, a California synagogue in a suburb about 20 miles north of San Diego, killed one woman and injured three others. Before picking up his assault-style rifle,...
View ArticleWaiting for Peak Trump
There’s a certain rhythm to Donald Trump’s presidency over the past two years. First he does something even more egregious than usual, like defend violent white nationalists or side with Russian...
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The Emptiness of Adam Gopnik’s Liberalism
When I heard last year that Adam Gopnik was writing a “stirring defense of liberalism” titled A Thousand Small Sanities, I had many questions. How would he turn liberalism into a story about his kids...
View ArticleWhat’s Really Behind Greece’s Demand for World War Two Reparations?
In April, Greece’s parliament voted to try to claim reparations from Germany for World War One and World War Two. This is not the first time Greece has explored the idea, which became popular during...
View ArticleGame of Thrones: Another One Bites the Dust
Each Monday, members of The New Republic staff will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones, now in its eight and final season. Join Josephine Livingstone, Alex Shephard, and Ryu Spaeth as they...
View ArticleWhat Happens to Hurricane Victims When Congress Can’t Function?
Greg Brudnicki usually spends his work week in Panama City, Florida, where he’s the mayor. But last week, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask Congress for help, because the city he’s in charge of...
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Amy Hempel’s Powerful Brevity
In “The Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried,” Amy Hempel’s first and most anthologized story, the narrator fails her terminally ill best friend, almost entirely in subtext. She visits the beachside...
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