Our modern existence depends on things we can take for granted. Cars run on gas from any gas station, the plugs for electrical devices fit into any socket, and smartphones connect to anything equipped with Bluetooth. All of these conveniences depend on technical standards, the silent and often forgotten foundations of technological societies. The objects […]

How should we define the death of a person? Philosophers and physicians have long pondered this question, yet we still don’t have a satisfactory answer. For much of human history, death was synonymous with the cessation of the heartbeat. However, there are patients in hospitals whose hearts are still beating but who appear to be […]

If I think of him now, I think of the smell of sweating White Castle hamburgers. I lived in Clinton Hill, in Brooklyn, around the corner from a White Castle, a place I had never considered entering because of its vaguely white supremacist name. But he didn’t make the connection, and so when he would […]

The Trump-Russia story is a drama that has unfolded in four acts. Act I: Denial George Stephanopoulos: “Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?” Paul Manafort: “No, there are not. That’s absurd.” — July 24, 2016 Donald Trump: “I have nothing to do with Russia. I […]

Ever since Donald Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, much of the media attention has been on how Democrats need to reconsider their strategy for winning voters in future elections, particularly Obama-to-Trump voters. But the results of the 2018 midterm elections suggest that Republicans have some soul-searching to do as well. They lost […]

The Children’s Hospital debacle took another very public twist yesterday which has added to the Government’s woes in relation to its handling of the project. The landmark project – which has been marked by many photo-calls and PR opportunities – was supposed to be the crown jewel in Fine Gael’s track record. As health minister, […]

“I didn’t need to do this,” President Trump insisted at a Rose Garden appearance on Friday, as he declared a national emergency aimed at shaking loose a few billion dollars in financing for his beloved border wall. The president’s assertion was both ludicrous and self-defeating. If a declaration was unnecessary and the wall on track […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. President Trump declared a national emergency to try and build a border wall that Congress refused to give him. “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we’re going to do it one way […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning, We start today with a possible constitutional clash over President Trump’s border wall and Amazon’s decision to scrap its plans for a campus in New York. The U.S. also has a new attorney general. President Trump plans to bypass Congress The president is […]

The announcement on Thursday that Amazon has canceled its plan to build a headquarters in New York City is no victory. It’s no defeat, either. What it is, to use a Big Apple term, is meh, yet another indication that the dulcet attractions of tech have lost their charm for many and that the business […]