1
false
In Alabama, West Point Cadets Explore Polluted Civil Rights
West Point cadets and faculty learn how environmental problems in prosperous places sometimes end up shunted to communities still fighting for full civil rights.N.Y. / Region
Video: A Nurse Deploys to Fight Ebola
Lindsey Hallen, an emergency room nurse, prepares to travel to Sierra Leone, where she will help care for Ebola patients.Countries with Widespread Transmission
| Country | Total Cases | Laboratory-Confirmed Cases | Total Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guinea | 2825 | 2525 | 1829 |
| Liberia | 8362 | 3127 | 3556 |
| Sierra Leone | 10186 | 7825 | 3083 |
| Total | 21373 | 13477 | 8468 |
World
Clashes Between Yemeni Forces and Houthis Break Out in Capital
Heavy fighting was reported near the presidential palace and other parts of Sana, and there was no immediate word on the whereabouts of the leader.false
Christie Speech Points to a Presidential Path
Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State speech will provide a framework for a potential presidential race.
"“So are you going to run for president?” asked Sheila C. Bair, the former head of the F.D.I.C., who conducted the interview.
“No,” Ms. Warren responded flatly."
I would like to elect her.
She can't win nationally.
Hating Good Government
It’s
now official: 2014 was the warmest year on record. You might expect
this to be a politically important milestone. After all, climate change
deniers have long used the blip of 1998 — an unusually hot year, mainly
due to an upwelling of warm water in the Pacific — to claim that the
planet has stopped warming. This claim involves a complete
misunderstanding of how one goes about identifying underlying trends.
(Hint: Don’t cherry-pick your observations.) But now even that bogus
argument has collapsed. So will the deniers now concede that climate
change is real?
Of
course not. Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate
policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the
obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s not really a debate in
any normal sense. And this situation is by no means unique. Indeed, at
this point it’s hard to think of a major policy dispute where facts
actually do matter; it’s unshakable dogma, across the board. And the
real question is why.
Before I get into that, let me remind you of some other news that won’t matter.
First,
consider the Kansas experiment. Back in 2012 Sam Brownback, the state’s
right-wing governor, went all in on supply-side economics: He
drastically cut taxes, assuring everyone that the resulting boom would
make up for the initial loss in revenues. Unfortunately for his
constituents, his experiment has been a resounding failure. The economy
of Kansas, far from booming, has lagged the economies of neighboring
states, and Kansas is now in fiscal crisis.
So
will we see conservatives scaling back their claims about the magical
efficacy of tax cuts as a form of economic stimulus? Of course not. If
evidence mattered, supply-side economics would have faded into obscurity
decades ago. Instead, it has only strengthened its grip on the
Republican Party.
Meanwhile,
the news on health reform keeps coming in, and it keeps being more
favorable than even the supporters expected. We already knew that the
number of Americans without insurance is dropping fast, even as the
growth in health care costs moderates. Now we have evidence that the
number of Americans experiencing financial distress due to medical
expenses is also dropping fast.
All
this is utterly at odds with dire predictions that reform would lead to
declining coverage and soaring costs. So will we see any of the people
claiming that Obamacare is doomed to utter failure revising their
position? You know the answer.
And
the list goes on. On issues that range from monetary policy to the
control of infectious disease, a big chunk of America’s body politic
holds views that are completely at odds with, and completely unmovable
by, actual experience. And no matter the issue, it’s the same chunk. If
you’ve gotten involved in any of these debates, you know that these
people aren’t happy warriors; they’re red-faced angry, with special rage
directed at know-it-alls who snootily point out that the facts don’t
support their position.
The
question, as I said at the beginning, is why. Why the dogmatism? Why
the rage? And why do these issues go together, with the set of people
insisting that climate change is a hoax pretty much the same as the set
of people insisting that any attempt at providing universal health
insurance must lead to disaster and tyranny?
Well,
it strikes me that the immovable position in each of these cases is
bound up with rejecting any role for government that serves the public
interest. If you don’t want the government to impose controls or fees on
polluters, you want to deny that there is any reason to limit
emissions. If you don’t want the combination of regulation, mandates and
subsidies that is needed to extend coverage to the uninsured, you want
to deny that expanding coverage is even possible. And claims about the
magical powers of tax cuts are often little more than a mask for the
real agenda of crippling government by starving it of revenue.
And
why this hatred of government in the public interest? Well, the
political scientist Corey Robin argues that most self-proclaimed
conservatives are actually reactionaries. That is, they’re defenders of
traditional hierarchy — the kind of hierarchy that is threatened by any
expansion of government, even (or perhaps especially) when that
expansion makes the lives of ordinary citizens better and more secure.
I’m partial to that story, partly because it helps explain why climate
science and health economics inspire so much rage.
Whether
this is the right explanation or not, the fact is that we’re living in a
political era in which facts don’t matter. This doesn’t mean that those
of us who care about evidence should stop seeking it out. But we should
be realistic in our expectations, and not expect even the most decisive
evidence to make much difference."
6
Opinion
Judges, With Hat in Hand
Even elected members of the judiciary are not lawmakers or political leaders, and they should not be put in the position of asking donors for money.N.Y. / Region
Icy Rain Tests the New York Region’s Unwary
Forecasters and emergency services alike seemed to have been caught off-guard by the icy surprise in the New York region.Sports
UConn Women Crush a Rising Conference Challenger
Moriah Jefferson had 15 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds to lead No. 2 Connecticut to a 92-50 victory over South Florida.| Date | Opponent | Time | TV | Result |
| Fri. Nov. 14 | at California-Davis | 10:00 PM ET | ESPN3 | W 102 - 43 |
| Mon. Nov. 17 | at
6
Stanford |
9:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | L 86 - 88 |
| Sun. Nov. 23 | vs. Creighton | 1:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 96 - 60 |
| Fri. Nov. 28 | vs. Charleston* | 8:30 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 85 - 24 |
| Sat. Nov. 29 | vs. Vanderbilt* | 8:30 PM ET | W 91 - 52 | |
| Sun. Nov. 30 | vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay* | 8:30 PM ET | W 89 - 53 | |
| Sat. Dec. 6 | at
2
Notre Dame |
3:15 PM ET | ESPN | W 76 - 58 |
| Fri. Dec. 19 | vs.
25
DePaul |
7:30 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 98 - 64 |
| Sun. Dec. 21 | vs. UCLA* | 5:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | W 86 - 50 |
| Sat. Dec. 27 | vs. Southern Methodist | 1:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 96 - 45 |
| Mon. Dec. 29 | vs.
10
Duke |
9:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | W 83 - 52 |
| Wed. Dec. 31 | at East Carolina | 2:30 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 89 - 38 |
| Sun. Jan. 4 | vs. St. John's (NY)* | 1:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | W 70 - 54 |
| Wed. Jan. 7 | vs. Tulsa | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 98 - 60 |
| Sun. Jan. 11 | at Southern Methodist | 3:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 87 - 28 |
| Wed. Jan. 14 | vs. Temple | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | W 92 - 58 |
| Sun. Jan. 18 | vs. South Florida | 1:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | W 92 - 50 |
| Wed. Jan. 21 | at UCF | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Sun. Jan. 25 | at Cincinnati | 3:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | |
| Wed. Jan. 28 | vs. East Carolina | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Sun. Feb. 1 | at Temple | 2:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | |
| Tue. Feb. 3 | vs. Cincinnati | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Sat. Feb. 7 | at Memphis | 3:30 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Mon. Feb. 9 | vs.
1
South Carolina |
8:00 PM ET | ESPN2 | |
| Sat. Feb. 14 | vs. Tulane | 4:00 PM ET | CBSS | |
| Tue. Feb. 17 | vs. Houston | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Sat. Feb. 21 | at Tulsa | 3:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Mon. Feb. 23 | at Tulane | 8:00 PM ET | ESPN-FC/ESPN3 | |
| Sat. Feb. 28 | vs. Memphis | 2:00 PM ET | CBSS | |
| Mon. Mar. 2 | at South Florida | 7:00 PM ET | ESPN2 |
Opinion
Haiti’s Economic Imperative
The country’s economy cannot remain dependent on nongovernmental organizations and aid agencies.U.S.
Gunshots Fired From Vehicle Speeding Past Biden’s Delaware Home, but Driver Gets Away
Neither the vice president nor his wife was home when several shots were fired out of a moving vehicle on Saturday night, federal law enforcement officials said.The Secret Service is not at fault.
11
Opinion
Money for Drug Research
Edwin Andrews of the MGH Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital writes that our progress in scientific research “is being slowed by Congress’s parsimony.”Science
2014 Breaks Heat Record, Challenging Global Warming Skeptics
Extreme land temperatures were accompanied by an unusually warm ocean surface virtually everywhere except around Antarctica, scientists reported.Opinion
Our Ecological Boredom
A rewilding of the land permits, if we choose, a partial rewilding of our own lives.Opinion
Your Annual Checkup
Doctors and patients debate an assertion that the yearly exam is “basically worthless.”World
Indonesia’s Execution of Foreigners Prompts Diplomatic Storm
Brazil and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors to Indonesia after a Brazilian and a Dutch citizen convicted of drug offenses were executed.Opinion
Human Rights and the 2022 Olympics
New reforms will get a rigorous test as Kazakhstan and China vie for the title.Business Day
Rethinking the Nail Salon by Glancing at the Starbucks Model
MiniLuxe, applying best practices from other industries, has eight locations in the Boston area and is preparing to expand nationally.U.S.
Holder Fortifies Protection of News Media’s Phone Records, Notes or Emails
The revisions make it much more difficult, though not impossible, to demand phone records, notes or emails from news organizations.Opinion
After PTSD, More Trauma
I was a veteran who needed therapy. What I got was another kind of battle.World
Filipinos, Their Faith Strong but Shifting, Hail Pope
Pope Francis’ arrival Thursday marked the first papal visit in 20 years to a country whose Catholic Church is struggling with profound social and political change.|
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