Новости за 29.01.2020

The impeachment trial of President Trump has been short on drama. The rules that govern the proceedings effectively preclude it—senators observing the trial sit testily, but quietly, through presentations from either side and submit their questions in writing directly to Chief Justice John Roberts. It’s been left to the two legal teams in the room—the House managers prosecuting the case against Trump and the president’s defenders—to craft those moments that might resonate with the public. Now and again... Читать дальше...

Consider the life of someone with the misfortune of contracting coronavirus in the United States. Let’s call her Mary, and let’s say she works at an airport as a baggage agent, helping travelers locate their lost belongings. At work one day she starts feeling run down and develops a dry cough. It’s just a cold, she thinks. Maybe allergies. Her supervisor’s been on her case all week, so she doesn’t call in sick for risk of testing things. She feels worse as the week goes on. The health insurance... Читать дальше...

It’s not known yet how, exactly, the current coronavirus outbreak got started. The viral pneumonia, called 2019-nCoV for now, belongs to the virus family that also gave birth to SARS and MERS. As with the SARS outbreak in 2002–03, it’s likely this new coronavirus originated in bats, with an intermediary animal that transmitted the altered virus to humans—an event called a “spillover.” As a result, one focus has been on the wildlife and food market in Wuhan, in central China, which Gao Fu, director... Читать дальше...

It’s not known yet how, exactly, the current coronavirus outbreak got started. The viral pneumonia, called 2019-nCoV for now, belongs to the virus family that also gave birth to SARS and MERS. As with the SARS outbreak in 2002–03, it’s likely this new coronavirus originated in bats, with an intermediary animal that transmitted the altered virus to humans—an event called a “spillover.” As a result, one focus has been on the wildlife and food market in Wuhan, which Gao Fu, director of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention... Читать дальше...

There is good reason to think that John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, is in it for the money. Bolton has spent the last several months playing footsie with Congress, teasing that he has secrets to spill about the Trump’s involvement in the Ukraine scandal, but refusing to participate in the impeachment inquiry or trial without a court order. At the same time, he received a $2 million advance for a tell-all memoir about his time in the White House. Bolton wasn’t giving up his secrets for free... Читать дальше...

On Sunday, tens of millions of Americans will tune in to Super Bowl LIV to watch Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs try to crack the nut that is the San Francisco 49ers defense. After the fourth quarter comes to a close and the clock reads triple zeros, the fans, casual and devoted alike, will turn off their televisions or change the channel. They probably won’t think twice about the Kansas City team name or the “tomahawk chop” and redface that Kansas City fans will almost certainly bring to the stadium in Miami. Читать дальше...

Impeachment proceedings may have dominated the headlines so far this week, but the nation’s capital isn’t the only place where rarely used portions of the Constitution are getting new attention. Over 300 miles away, in Charleston, West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. made an unusual pitch to the residents of border counties in Virginia: Leave the Old Dominion and join up with the Mountaineers.

Though I hate to admit my own ignorance, I will: I only just learned about the Plain of Jars, a series of more than 90 archeological sites in Laos, containing hundreds of stone vessels dating from the fifth century BCE. I learned about Stonehenge as a schoolboy, maybe because that site is older; maybe because its existence burnishes the myth of European centrality to human history; or maybe because the United States bombed the hell out of Laos for nine years, transforming the Plain of Jars into a death trap. Читать дальше...