Новости за 23.12.2015

On November 21, at around 7 p.m., narcotics officers in vests that said police (but not full uniforms) served a no-knock warrant to 933 Neal Street in Northwest Atlanta. The resident, Kathryn Johnston--88 years old by some accounts, 92 years old by others--pulled a pistol on the intruders. The police fired on their assailant. When it was over, three officers were wounded and Johnston lay dead. The warrant, alleging drug activity at her address, appears to have been issued in error. And, although the FBI is investigating... Читать дальше...

I recall my first “Mexican night” dinner at a British university: boiled chicken breast with a side of white rice topped with stewed tomatoes and seasoned with what was probably cardamom. I suppose they could have called it “Mexican-inspired masala-inspired British chicken,” so that none of us could mistake the dish for “cultural appropriation,” but the truth is that a hard-working and underappreciated dining staff were just trying to do something fun, new, and inclusive. I suspect the dining... Читать дальше...

In the new issue of The Atlantic, Peter Beinart argues that America is inexorably moving left. Republicans might retain their grip on statehouses and in Congress, and perhaps even win the White House, but when it comes to domestic policy, he writes, “the terms of the national debate will continue tilting to the left. The next Democratic president will be more liberal than Barack Obama. The next Republican president will be more liberal than George W. Bush.”

Concussion isn’t angry enough for a polemic, and it isn’t interesting enough to be an uplifting Hollywood message movie, which means it’s just competent enough to fail on two separate, parallel fronts. There’s nothing offensive about Concussion, and if you know absolutely nothing about Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) or the NFL’s grotesque history of ignoring, then disputing the disease, you might find certain sections of the film informative, even revelatory. But the odds are you won’t even make it to that point... Читать дальше...

On Saturday, December 12, thousands of onlookers in a Paris suburb witnessed the rarest moment in the fight against climate change. A hall full of officials, activists, and experts were cheering and hugging one another after from nearly 200 countries reached the first meaningful agreement on greenhouse gas emissions, ever. The achievement didn’t come easy, but the Paris climate conference gave many in the climate-change movement a sense of optimism that’s eluded it for decades. 

The morning I wrote this I took public transportation to work. I hopped on the bus around the corner from my house, then the train for a few stops farther. I took mass transit because it was convenient, because my card was already preloaded with the cash that diverts from my paycheck, and because the ride gave me 20 minutes to start the day browsing Twitter.

Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder November 24 in the death of Laquan McDonald. A video released by police shows Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times.