World

A University of Amsterdam study concludes that politically conservative Americans are more skeptical of science than previously thought, including that from fields that contribute to the economic growth and productivity they typically value. The findings, published yesterday in Nature Human Behaviour, were based on the survey responses of 7,800 US adults on their views on 35 different scientific fields such as anthropology, biology, and atomic physics by political leaning. The team also tested five interventions designed to increase trust in scientists among conservative participants. The interventions addressed the reasons why people may distrust science, including its perceived misalignment with moral values or the idea that scientists are not part of their group. The intervention...

The political left in the United States, and more particularly the Democratic Party, seems to be in a process of self-immolation. Analogously to historical Protestantism, it is not defined by any coherent, substantive policy or body of doctrine. Instead, it is constituted by assertions of what it is not. And the left is increasingly defined by resentment, fury, and irrational hatred of all things that are not left-wing. Thus, when the left urgently needs to articulate coherent policy in order to answer its opponents, it has no intelligible theory. Rather, it is reduced to screaming at its opponents, stomping its feet, and calling everybody Nazis. Disagreement is genocide. This is not a problem merely for those on the left, but for American political discourse more generally. The politi...

Some of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donors and investors, who collectively have hundreds of millions of dollars in financial ties to the US president, are positioned to potentially profit from any American takeover of Greenland, raising even more ethical questions around Trump’s controversial pursuit of the Arctic territory. The administration is in part aiming to secure rare minerals that are essential for the US tech industry and national security, and to potentially reopen oil and gas exploration: “This is about critical minerals, this is about natural resources,” Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, recently said. A Guardian analysis of campaign finance records and corporate filings show US tech moguls who invested in mining companies operating in Greenland, fossil

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro angrily called for an end to rising political violence just hours after a man broke into the governor’s mansion and set it on fire, forcing Shapiro and his family to flee into the night. It was the latest in a string of partisan political attacks in the United States. “This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other,” Shapiro said. “It has to stop.”While police have not said what might have motivated the attack early Sunday, court documents say the suspect admitted he hated Shapiro and was plotting to beat him with a hammer. “The attacker basically wasn’t a fan of anybody,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. “And certainly, a thing like that c

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to reveal his decision to retire when his current term concludes in Kentucky. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before delivering a speech to his Senate colleagues. “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business right here, as reported by the Associated Press. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.” McConnell's careerMcConnell, who was first elected in 1984, plans to serve

Several US federal agencies told employees not to respond to a demand by President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk to list their accomplishments in the last week or be fired. Federal agencies gave the memo on Sunday, a day after Musk’s team sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees giving them about 48 hours to issue their reports. Musk leads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which in the first weeks of Trump’s administration has laid off more than 20,000 workers and offered buyouts to another 75,000, across large segments of the United States government. Following Musk’s move, Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI and State Department sent their staff emails telling them not to respond outside their chains of command, in a possib

When Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, went to visit some of the classrooms in his district on Feb. 5, the same day that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raided apartment buildings in the city, he noticed significant changes to the environment. Upon walking into one classroom that had over 30 students enrolled, Marrero saw only seven children present. He says that one young student did not recognize him and asked the teacher if Marrero was “one of them” in Spanish—referring to an ICE agent—since he was wearing a suit and tie. In that moment, Marrero recognized that the district needed to act on what he says is their most important core value: “Students first.” So on Feb. 12, Marrero led Denver Public Schools to become the first U.S. school district to s