The Real Threat to American Democracy | NYT Opinion

For the past two years, Americans have been overwhelmed by a deluge of headlines suggesting democracy in the United States is under threat: Voter suppression. A shortage of drop boxes. Election deniers seeking key state offices. It can be difficult to gauge what stories suggest a truly terrifying threat to democracy, and which are simply…

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Arson at an Abortion Clinic Foreshadows a Post-Roe Future

Roe v. Wade being overturned is not the first obstacle for this independent abortion clinic in Wyoming. An arsonist lit Wellspring Access Health on fire last month, just weeks before they were set to open. Now, Roe v. Wade has been overturned and their clinic is in a state that plans to ban abortions except…

“Bolsonaro’s New Ally in Questioning Brazil’s Elections: The Military” – Jack NICAS

The New York Times, June 12, 2022 Despite little evidence of past fraud, President Jair Bolsonaro has long raised doubts about Brazil’s electoral process. Now the military is expressing similar concerns. RIO DE JANEIRO — President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has for months consistently trailed in the polls ahead of the country’s crucial presidential race.…

“Bolsonaro Said His ‘Specialty Is Killing.’ He’s Been True to His Word” – Vanessa BARBARA

The New York Times, March 31, 2022 SÃO PAULO, Brazil — “I’m an army captain,” Jair Bolsonaro said in 2017. “My specialty is killing.” He has been true to his word. In just over three years in office, Mr. Bolsonaro has overseen an administration notable for its disregard for human life. There are, most immediately,…

How the Catholic Church Hid Away Hundreds of Irish Children | Times Documentaries

Ireland wanted to forget, but the dead don't always stay buried. One woman made it her mission to unearth the truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoulaehrD_I Some 9,000 children died in Ireland's church-run homes for unwed mothers, a government report published on Tuesday found. This is equivalent to 15 percent of all children who were born or lived in the 18 institutions investigated…

“Democracy is for the gods” – Costica BRADATAN

The New York Times, July 5 2019 It should be no surprise that humans cannot sustain it. “Why do democracies fail?” We’ve heard that question a lot in the past few years, in books, on opinion pages and cable news shows, and in an increasingly anxious public debate. But I almost always find myself answering…

“In praise of failure” – Costica BRADATAN

The New York Times, December 15, 2013 If there was ever a time to think seriously about failure, it is now. Costica Bradatan is an associate professor in the Honors College at Texas Tech University and the religion and comparative studies editor for The Los Angeles Review of Books. He is the author of the forthcoming Dying…

“The problem of the absent God” – John WEIGHTMAN

The New York Times, May 23, 1976 These two books are almost twins, although at first sight they may appear very remote from each other, since they emerge from very different cultural backgrounds. Both authors are now in their early sixties and use French as their literary language, though it is not in the full…

“Gazing Into the abyss” – David BROMWICH

The New York Times, january 19, 1975 E. M. Cioran fled Rasinari, Rumania, to settle in Paris. France, in 1937. He was then in his twenties, just out of the university, and exile—the necessary condition of sympathy for a prophet—seems to have been his first and final calling. Alone and unfettered, he dwells in a…

“When Adam ate the apple, God lost His head” (Peter Caws)

The New York Times, March 14, 1971 E. M. Cioran, two among whose half‐dozen books are now, with the publication of “The Fall Into Time,” available in English, is a brilliant and original exponent of a rare genre, the philosophical essay. The taste for such writing, and especially for Cioran's, can for most of us…