Новости за 24.08.2017

There’s a good reason why Mashable’s Andrew Freedman dubbed Hurricane Harvey—now barreling toward Texas and Louisiana—“the meteorological equivalent of a White Walker from Game of Thrones.” The storm was alive, but then appeared to die as it hovered over the Yucatan Peninsula earlier this week. Over the past two days, however, it has spawned from the dead, emerging even more powerful than it was before. Hurricane Harvey is coming, and those in its path have had little time to prepare.

As Donald Trump bellowed, smirked, and grimaced his way through two high-profile speeches this week, the public ignored him, even as he swung between contrasting poles. That a power vacuum is forming at the top of the American political system can no longer be denied. The people, it seems, are tuning out the president—a sensible enough reaction to Trump’s dysfunctional and embarrassing term in office, but also one that runs the risk of undermining a cornerstone of America’s democracy.

Hans Sloane (1660-1753) owned a spar from a Spanish treasure ship that sunk in the Caribbean Sea. Lying for years the ocean floor, the spar—a pole used in the ship’s rigging—became encrusted in coral. In his vast private collection of object, categorized as Vegetable Substances, Quadrupeds, Antiquities, Medals and Coins, Mathematical Instruments and more, Sloane’s spar was catalogued under both “Corals” and “Miscellaneous Things.”

In the early 1970s, I was a founder of the New American Movement, a socialist group that later merged with another (the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee) to create what is still the Democratic Socialists of America. Earlier, I had been a member of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), but after the organization went berserk in the summer of 1969 and opted for “bringing the war home” through terrorist activity, I had dropped out. In 1971, a bunch of us had come together to found NAM... Читать дальше...

For all his bluster, President Donald Trump has established a fairly consistent pattern of issuing bold threats for the enjoyment of his core supporters and then backing down when the moment of truth arrives or his advisers intervene.

It seemed to happen overnight. When I went to sleep, Mitch Landrieu was the mediocre mayor of New Orleans, facing lethargic public support and intense local disapproval. When I woke up, he was a future leader of the Democratic Party and a 2020 presidential contender. In New Orleans, many dissatisfied Democrats like me are now watching his ascension and wondering what the hell is going on.