Posts167

"What Sentencing Could Look Like if Trump Is Found Guilty" Prison time is a possibility. It’s uncertain, of course, but plausible. By Norman L. Eisen April 18. 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/04/20/multimedia/18eisen-zwvc/18eisen-zwvc-superJumbo.jpg For all the attention to and debate over the unfolding trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan, there has been surprisingly little of it paid to a key element: its possible outcome and, specifically, the prospect that a former and potentially future president could be sentenced to prison time. The case — brought by Al… Read more

Donald Trump’s Secret Shame About New York City Haunts His Trial For a kid from Queens who never quite conquered Manhattan, this trial is a fitting homecoming. By Elizabeth Spiers April 17, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/04/18/multimedia/16spiers-gbcz/16spiers-gbcz-superJumbo.jpg With jury selection underway in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Lower Manhattan, the former president’s chickens have finally come home to roost. It feels uniquely appropriate that Mr. Trump will have to endure the scrutiny on his old home turf. New York City residents have… Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLpUMaTwLw What about the time you were rollin' over? Fall on your face, you must be having fun Walk lightly, think of a time You'd best believe this thing is real Now, put away that gun, this part is simple Try to recognize what is in your mind God help us, help us lose our minds These slippery people help us understand What's the matter with him? (He's alright) How do you know? (The Lord won't mind) Don't play no games (He's alright) Love from the bottom to the top Turn like a wheel (He's alright) See for yourself (The Lord won't mind) We're gonna move (Ri… Read more

Three Lone Souls Stranded for Christmas Alexander Payne’s jaunt to the past, with Paul Giamatti playing a curmudgeonly instructor at a 1970s New England boarding school, is crackling with pungent life. By Wesley Morris Oct. 26, 2023 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/10/26/multimedia/26holdovers-review-bpfj/26holdovers-review-bpfj-superJumbo.jpg From left, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers,” directed by Alexander Payne. “The Holdovers” takes place in New England somewhere, in 1970, at a tony, all-boys boarding sch… Read more

Unfortunately for Biden, the former president benefits from something akin to the soft bigotry of low expectations. By Jamelle Bouie Feb. 13, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/13/multimedia/13bouie-pjtw/13bouie-pjtw-superJumbo.jpg “We have to win in November, or we’re not going to have Pennsylvania. They’re going to change the name.” It is unclear whether Donald Trump has forgotten the precise nature of NATO or whether he ever fully grasped it in the first place. What is clear, however, is that Trump — who ostensibly spent four years as president of the United S… Read more

How do you like your pal Putin now, Trump? By Maureen Dowd Feb. 17, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/18/multimedia/17dowd-klhw/17dowd-klhw-superJumbo.jpg Trump sometimes acts as if he prefers America’s enemies to America. When I covered George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 1988, he was so eager to wrap himself in the American flag that he took us to a New Jersey flag factory. That way, he could claim that the G.O.P. was “on the American side” while caressing pieces of striped, red-and-white nylon. At the time, it seemed like a cynical move by Republicans,… Read more

"Trump Came for Their Party but Took Over Their Souls" The defeat of the immigration-Ukraine-Israel package marks the end of the party of Eisenhower, Reagan and McCain. By David Brooks Feb. 8, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/09/multimedia/08brooks1-lzwk/08brooks1-lzwk-superJumbo.jpg How do you turn America into a bankrupt, threadbare, one-horse-town ruled by a gaggle of lawless bullies? I thought I was beyond shockable, but this week has been profoundly shocking for me. I spent the bulk of my adult life on the right-wing side of things, gene… Read more

At last, one thing that all Americans can agree on. By Jennifer Weiner Feb. 10, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/10/opinion/10weiner-image/10weiner-image-superJumbo.jpg Ask the people in your life to name a woman who’s got it good, with wealth and beauty and talent and true love, and I’d bet at least a few of them would name Taylor Swift. Ms. Swift, the 34-year-old pop icon, who made history last Sunday as the only musician to win four best-album Grammy Awards, checks many of the important boxes. She is white and thin and blonde in a world that continues to privilege whi… Read more

Republican cynicism seems to have no bottom. By Paul Krugman Feb. 8, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/09/multimedia/08krugman1-vjkg/08krugman1-vjkg-superJumbo.jpg Almost four years have passed since Congress approved and Donald Trump signed a huge relief bill designed to limit the financial hardship created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The CARES Act did its job. Although around 25 million Americans temporarily lost their jobs — with the job losses mainly caused by fear of infection rather than officially mandated shutdowns — there was far less monetary pain than you might… Read more

There’s no doubt Donald can’t shake off Taylor. By Maureen Dowd Feb. 3, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/02/03/multimedia/03dowd-wcfv/03dowd-wcfv-superJumbo.jpg The idea that Taylor Swift is more popular than me is a joke. Her fans are 13 y~ears old. They can’t even vote. It’s easy to imagine what’s going through Donald Trump’s head right now. I can hear his interior monologue all the way from Mar-a-Lago. He’s fulminating, working himself up to another epic meltdown, like he had over Nikki Haley the night he won the New Hampshire primary. The thoughts pinb… Read more

Trump gives the bitchiest victory speech ever. By Maureen Dowd Jan. 27, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/28/multimedia/27dowd-bzlh/27dowd-bzlh-superJumbo.jpg There's a garment for people who behave as Donald Trump behaves: it's called a straitjacket. If you can imagine the lobby bar of the Manchester Marriott as an Anglo-Saxon mead hall, I can explain how it felt to cover the New Hampshire primary. I will need the help of the late Seamus Heaney, who described what it was like to be quaffing in Heorot Hall while Grendel lurked and swooped through the frost… Read more

"Man Arrested Twice in 3 Days Outside Taylor Swift’s TriBeCa Home" David Crowe was charged with stalking after a neighbor and the pop singer’s guards saw him outside her building. By Chelsia Rose Marcius Jan. 23, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/25/multimedia/25dc-cong-trump-01-fpzb/25dc-cong-trump-01-fpzb-threeByTwoMediumAt2X.jpg David Crowe was seen on Saturday and again on Monday trying to enter Taylor Swift’s home in Manhattan. A 33-year-old man was arrested twice within three days after stalking Taylor Swift outside her Manhattan home, the police sai… Read more

Why, exactly, do so many Americans admire this guy? By Paul Krugman Jan. 11, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/13/multimedia/11krugman-jwlp/11krugman-jwlp-superJumbo.jpg Did Donald Trump just say that he’s hoping for an economic crash? Not exactly. But what he did say was arguably even worse, especially once you put it in context. And Trump’s evident panic over recent good economic news deepens what is, for me, the biggest conundrum of American politics: Why have so many people joined — and stayed in — a personality cult built around a man who poses an existential threa… Read more

The gas that Trump passes comes out of his mouth. By Olla Jan. 13, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/13/multimedia/11krugman-jwlp/11krugman-jwlp-superJumbo.jpg fuckface/SUBVERT-1/Comrade Bullshitsky/the King-of-Pain-in-the-Ass/*it* doesn't stop at being 2-faced (like a 'normal' person would). It uses as many faces as are needed to get through yet-another-day of serving nothing but itself. "Trump lies. Then he lies about lying. Then he lies about lying about lying. Then he lies about lying about lying about lying. Then he lies about lying about lying about lying abo… Read more

Whether she is conscious of it or not, Ms. Swift signals to queer people — in our language — that she has some affinity for queer identity. By Anna Marks Ms. Marks is an editor in Opinion. Jan. 4, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/04/opinion/04marks/04marks-superJumbo.jpg In 2006, the year Taylor Swift released her first single, a closeted country singer named Chely Wright, then 35, held a 9-millimeter pistol to her mouth. Queer identity was still taboo enough in mainstream America that speaking about her love for another woman would have spelled the end of a cou… Read more

Trump portrays himself as Christlike, even as he bedevils America. By Maureen Dowd Jan. 6, 2024 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/06/multimedia/06dowd-bpck/06dowd-bpck-superJumbo.jpg The president must continue to be aggressive in convincing people he’s the best alternative. These are the men that try The Times’s soul. With the disreputable Donald Trump challenging the disfavored President Biden, the 2024 race has become the embodiment of Oscar Wilde’s witticism about fox hunting: “the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.” Bleeding young and nonwhite voters, the p… Read more

"Older and Wiser, Peter Gabriel Is Still Looking Ahead" The songs on “I/O,” the English songwriter’s first album of new songs in 21 years, face mortality while celebrating regeneration. By Jon Pareles Nov. 30, 2023 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/11/30/multimedia/30PETER-GABRIEL-mgqj/30PETER-GABRIEL-mgqj-superJumbo.jpg “At this time in my life, I also wanted to do a bit of living rather than just be a professional musician,” Peter Gabriel said. “I kept making music, but I didn’t get to finishing stuff.” “If I was a butterfly, 21 years would be an eternity,” Pete… Read more

"The Colorado Ruling Is a Rebuke for the Ages" The state’s Supreme Court recognized that some decisions, including whether a president engaged in insurrection, cannot be left to voters. By Jesse Wegman Mr. Wegman is a member of the editorial board. Dec. 20, 2023 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/12/21/multimedia/20wegman-gbkp/20wegman-gbkp-superJumbo.jpg The 'Great Man' himself. How can it be that nearly three years after Donald Trump incited an insurrection to stay in office, interfering with the peaceful transfer of power for the firs… Read more

Liz Cheney gave up power seemingly to prove the point of how worthless it was compared with establishing a real record of what happened on Jan. 6. By Katherine Miller Ms. Miller is a staff writer and editor in Opinion. Dec. 5, 2023 https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/12/05/multimedia/05miller-1-mhcj/05miller-1-mhcj-superJumbo.jpg Cheney is the rare Republican who's put country above party. In so doing, she's become a G.O.P. pariah. There’s a scene in Liz Cheney’s new memoir, “Oath and Honor,” when she was still in Congress, she walks through the Capitol and into the… Read more

CRITIC’S PICK ‘Napoleon’ Review: A Lumpy, Grumpy Little Man Joaquin Phoenix is oddly mesmerizing as the French emperor in Ridley Scott’s historical epic charting his rise and ruin. https://static01.ny.com/images/2023/11/22/multimedia/22napoleon-review-ptkg/22napoleon-review-ptkg-superJumbo.jpg Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in one of the expansive battle scenes of Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.” By Manohla Dargis Nov. 22, 2023 When he was in his mid-20s and first visited the studio where he would later shoot “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles is said to have likened the movies to… Read more