My Last Column: Finding Hope in an Age
of Resentment
Posted By: BamaMan, 12/11/2024 4:43:01 PM
This is my final column for The New York Times, where I began publishing my opinions in January 2000. I’m retiring from The Times, not the world, so I’ll still be expressing my views in other places. But this does seem like a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past 25 years. What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then and the extent to which that optimism has been replaced by anger and resentment. And I’m not just talking about members of the working class who feel betrayed by elites;
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BamaMan"
This is my final column for The New York Times, where I began publishing my opinions in January 2000. I’m retiring from The Times, not the world, so I’ll still be expressing my views in other places. But this does seem like a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past 25 years.
What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then and the extent to which that optimism has been replaced by anger and resentment. And I’m not just talking about members of the working class who feel betrayed by elites;
An electric vehicle crashed and caught fire Monday night in Autauga County.
According to the Pine Level Fire Department, units were called to a traffic accident with a vehicle fire around 11:15 p.m.
(snip) There is technology that can help reduce the amount of water needed to put out an electric car fire, but the chief said it is too expensive for the volunteer fire department.
“The device that Montgomery fire department has is about $35,000. That’s over a third of my budget each year. And that’s just undoable for us right now,” he said.
Worcester discussed the lithium batteries such vehicles use, saying they can be damaged and emit toxic gases
Staffers at the New York Times are openly discussing the possibility of a work stoppage as talks with management have reportedly hit an impasse over the union’s demands for a salary hike.
The guild representing journalists at the newspaper also wants management to commit to an 8% annual salary increase year-over-year for a period of four years.
But management has countered with a significantly smaller hike — a 4% increase for the first year followed by a 2% boost for the following two years, according to Insider.
California is committing to a plan that will make it the first U.S. state to phase out gas-fueled furnaces and water heaters in homes, a move environmentalists are betting will provide a template for other states.
The Golden State will ban the sale of all new natural gas-fired space heaters and water-heating appliances by 2030, under a proposal unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board on Thursday.
“We need to take every action we can to deliver on our commitments to protect public health from the adverse impacts of air pollution, and this strategy identifies how we can do just that,” board Chair Liane Randolph said.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted to hospital for ‘treatment of a possible infection,’ Supreme Court says
22 replies
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to a hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday “for treatment of a possible infection,” the court said in a statement.
“She underwent an endoscopic procedure at Johns Hopkins this afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August," the statement said. "The justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment.”
The statement said Ginsburg was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. on Monday night after experiencing fever and chills.
At the final debate of the Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden clashed on the coronavirus. Sanders contended the pandemic laid bare “the incredible weakness and dysfunctionality” of the US healthcare system, and called for single-payer reform. Biden countered that Italy’s universal system had failed to protect the Mediterranean nation, and asserted that Covid-19 “has nothing to do with Bernie’s Medicare for All”. At first glance, the ex-vice-president seems right: of course single-payer can’t close the door to a novel virus, any more than it can forestall a deadly earthquake or fend off a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, a national health program with unified financing
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Bill Clinton: I’m Open to Discussing
Preemptive Pardon for Hillary Before Trump
Takes Office 36 replies
Preemptive Pardon for Hillary Before Trump
Takes Office 36 replies
Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that he was open to discussing a potential preemptive pardon for his wife Hillary Clinton with President Joe Biden.
Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “Do you think it would be wise of President Biden to preemptively pardon any potential targets? What about your wife, Hillary Clinton? She apparently is on Kash Patel’s list.” Clinton said, “They’ve got a problem with her because first, she didn’t do anything wrong. Second, she followed the rules exactly as they were written. Third, Trump’s State Department — Trump’s State Department — found — remember how the emails were such a big issue in 2016?
Climate scientists recently discovered that they’ve been underestimating the impact of a particular organic compound in the atmosphere, and the oversight’s significance is so profound that it’s left existing climate models completely obsolete. As Jo Nova writes, “This is so big, it may change the sacred ‘climate sensitivity’ of the whole Earth”.
Isoprene is what’s known as a volatile organic compound, or a VOC, and “has a recognized role in protecting plants against many abiotic stresses” like “heat stress…drought…[and] oxidative stress” with trees being the greatest emitters. (When the chemical isoprene interacts with other compounds in the atmosphere, the products are a number of secondary organic aerosols.)
This is my final column for The New York Times, where I began publishing my opinions in January 2000. I’m retiring from The Times, not the world, so I’ll still be expressing my views in other places. But this does seem like a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past 25 years.
What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then and the extent to which that optimism has been replaced by anger and resentment. And I’m not just talking about members of the working class who feel betrayed by elites;
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has donated a staggering $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fund.
The deal was reportedly agreed last month when the Facebook boss had a surprise dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, which has become the hub for his fledgling administration.
The meeting did caused shock after Trump's angry stance against Facebook and claims that Zuckerberg should be in prison. However, it seems the pair have put their differences aside as the Meta CEO has promised a large paycheck, according to the Wall Street Journal. t's also claimed Zuckerberg gave a demonstration on the company's latest invention, Ray Ban Smart Glasses, then gave them as a gift to Trump.
Kentanji Brown Jackson may not know what a woman is, but she knows what it is to go to bed one night as just an ordinary Supreme Court justice and to wake up the next day as a Broadway star. Yup, she’s hitting the Great White Way (or, maybe, in her case, the Great Black Way) to fulfill a childhood dream: taking a turn in a Broadway musical.
Interestingly, the particular musical she’s chosen, “& Juliet,” is a tawdry pro-transgender show. I think we can now guess how Jackson will vote on Tennessee’s “no ‘gender-affirming’ care on minors” law.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren outrageously sympathized with the killer of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — and others who cheered the murderer on — claiming “people can only be pushed so far,” before condemning the violence. “The visceral response from people across the country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system,” Warren (D-Mass.) told the Huffington Post in an interview. “Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far.” In a subsequent statement, the Massachusetts senator added: “Violence is
During remarks at an Equal Voice Foundation event this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chastised Americans for electing President-elect Donald Trump ratheTrudeau lamented the fact that they had two opportunities to do so—in 2016 with Hillary Clinton and in 2024 with Kamala Harris—but voted instead for Trump both times.
"No, it shouldn't be that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult sometimes, march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first womanr than the country's "first woman president."
MONROE, Mich. — In a packed union hall outside Detroit, a worker shifts the conversation from policy to the personal, quizzing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on his knowledge of Michigan, the state he only recently started calling home. “Mayor Pete — Secretary Pete, I apologize,” one auto worker yelled from the crowd. “Now that you’re a Michigander, who do the Lions play Sunday?” (Snip) Though Buttigieg has publicly and privately stated that he won’t make any decisions about his future until after the Biden administration ends on Jan. 20, he has already fielded calls from Michigan Democrats urging him to
Christopher Wray Is Reportedly Preparing
a Nasty Surprise for Donald Trump and
Kash Patel 24 replies
a Nasty Surprise for Donald Trump and
Kash Patel 24 replies
The good news first: As RedState has been reporting, Christopher Wray is on his way out as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). President-elect Donald Trump called it a "great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice" and promised his new administration "will now restore the rule of law for all Americans."
Trump also signaled his support for Kash Patel, his nominee to succeed Wray as FBI director.
"We want our FBI back, and that will now happen," Trump wrote, as he ended his post, adding: "I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation,
The mysterious drones that have been tormenting New Jersey residents for weeks could be part of a top-secret government program, security experts told The Post Tuesday — as lawmakers push for answers over the troubling sightings.
The feds have been mum about the daily drone activity in Morris, Passaic, Bergen and Hunterdon counties and beyond since the gizmos were first spotted on Nov. 18.
But several experts said the US government might be behind the unsettling flights — which could be part of a super-secret military program meant to test new hardware before it hits the battlefield.
There are certain behaviors we should not tolerate from government officials, elected, appointed, or hired. We shouldn't tolerate any kind of criminal activity or graft. And we shouldn't tolerate petulant displays of childish pique.
That last bit is precisely what we saw during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy threw a tantrum (Snip) DeJoy told McCormick, “You’re talking to yourself” before covering his ears.
What is this guy, 12 years old? I wouldn't have put up with this from my kids when they were three. Why should we put up with this from the United States Postmaster?
When does Barack Obama ask Susan Rice to petition Joe Biden for a presidential pardon for himself? With the pardon frenzy buzzing around the Biden camp, a trial balloon for an Obama pardon has already begun drifting toward the Oval Office.
Biden will be well advised to limit his pardons to members of his own family. In his NBC News Meet the Press interview on Sunday, December 8, Trump explained that he had no intention of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden, despite Biden’s enthusiasm to raid Mar-a-Lago under the authority of Jack Smith, the special prosecutor the Biden administration appointed in an attempt to convict and incarcerate Trump