New York Times Opinion
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“I made the mistake of watching Attorney General Pam Bondi testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday,” John Weaver writes in a letter to The Times. “If I was concerned about the state of our union before, now I’m downright depressed.”
Opinion | Pam Bondi’s Performance Before Congress
Readers react to the attorney general’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. Also: “Freedom from fear”; the Melania Trump movie; humor that’s not funny.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 6:51 PM
“I made the mistake of watching Attorney General Pam Bondi testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday,” John Weaver writes in a letter to The Times. “If I was concerned about the state of our union before, now I’m downright depressed.”
We need self-defense because the failures of the institutions that claim to protect us — courts, government, hospitals, the police — “often land hardest on immigrant, poor, queer, Black, Indigenous and brown women,” writes Rana Abdelhamid, a self-defense teacher.
Opinion | Self-Defense Is More Than a Kick and a Punch
I sometimes wish for a world where being a martial artist was just about the sport and not about saving our own lives.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 6:16 PM
We need self-defense because the failures of the institutions that claim to protect us — courts, government, hospitals, the police — “often land hardest on immigrant, poor, queer, Black, Indigenous and brown women,” writes Rana Abdelhamid, a self-defense teacher.
Too often over the past year, the Department of Homeland Security’s behavior has been lawless, the editorial board writes. “The current crisis isn’t just a test of the balance of powers. It’s a test of the Bill of Rights.”
Opinion | ICE Is on a Dark Path. Congress Must Act Now.
Congress must stand firm against President Trump’s assault on the rule of law.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Too often over the past year, the Department of Homeland Security’s behavior has been lawless, the editorial board writes. “The current crisis isn’t just a test of the balance of powers. It’s a test of the Bill of Rights.”
Younger generations “have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents,” writes Louise Perry. “Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.”
Opinion | Why Gen Z Doesn’t Love ‘Harry Potter’
The wizarding worldview is naïve.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Younger generations “have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents,” writes Louise Perry. “Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.”
President Trump's administration “has taken dozens of actions to undermine elections that, together, show that an attempted election ‘takeover’ may be underway,” Sean Morales-Doyle writes.
Opinion | Trump Can’t Cancel Elections. He Could Undermine Them.
Mr. Trump’s attempted election takeover is already underway.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 3:46 PM
President Trump's administration “has taken dozens of actions to undermine elections that, together, show that an attempted election ‘takeover’ may be underway,” Sean Morales-Doyle writes.
“Mass detention and brutal mistreatment send a message to the rest of the world — this is what happens if you’re in the United States without documentation,” our columnist David French writes.
Opinion | Mass Detention Gets a Lift From the Courts
A very dangerous ruling in New Orleans.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 2:46 PM
“Mass detention and brutal mistreatment send a message to the rest of the world — this is what happens if you’re in the United States without documentation,” our columnist David French writes.
“It’s a mistake to look at Trump’s election as a failure because of this complicated breakdown of any morality,” E.J. Dionne Jr. says on “The Opinions.” “There is still a strong moral sense among Americans, and you’re seeing it in the backlash against the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.”
Opinion | Trump and the Death of Shared Morality in America
In this installment of The Conversation, David Brooks says goodbye to The Times, and offers his parting thoughts.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 2:21 PM
“It’s a mistake to look at Trump’s election as a failure because of this complicated breakdown of any morality,” E.J. Dionne Jr. says on “The Opinions.” “There is still a strong moral sense among Americans, and you’re seeing it in the backlash against the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.”
“Something will go wrong with someone’s A.I. system. Hopefully not ours,” Dario Amodei, the C.E.O. of Anthropic, tells Ross Douthat in a conversation about the near-term future of artificial intelligence.
Opinion | Is Claude Coding Us Into Irrelevance?
Dario Amodei shares his utopian — and dystopian — predictions for the near-term future of artificial intelligence.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 12:43 PM
“Something will go wrong with someone’s A.I. system. Hopefully not ours,” Dario Amodei, the C.E.O. of Anthropic, tells Ross Douthat in a conversation about the near-term future of artificial intelligence.
“Barcelona natives complain of a ‘tourist-industrial complex’ that draws wealth out of their city, sending it into the coffers of real-estate developers and off to migrants’ homelands in the form of remittances,” Christopher Caldwell writes.
Opinion | Spain’s Approach to Migration Is Overrated and Harmful
It appears democratically unworkable and may be stoking populism.
nyti.ms
February 12, 2026 at 6:15 AM
“Barcelona natives complain of a ‘tourist-industrial complex’ that draws wealth out of their city, sending it into the coffers of real-estate developers and off to migrants’ homelands in the form of remittances,” Christopher Caldwell writes.
“President Trump is unrivaled in American history in one respect: None of his predecessors ever cashed in on the presidency as he has,” our columnist @nickkristof.bsky.social writes.
Opinion | Trump Is Best at Cashing In on the Presidency
New disclosures underscore that the White House is enveloped in a culture of corruption with no precedent in American history.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 11:05 PM
“President Trump is unrivaled in American history in one respect: None of his predecessors ever cashed in on the presidency as he has,” our columnist @nickkristof.bsky.social writes.
“So President Trump wants to name Penn Station in New York and Washington Dulles International Airport after himself,” David Sundelson writes in a letter to The Times. “No surprise: Narcissism has no limits, and perhaps we should go along, so New York can have its Gateway tunnel.”
Opinion | Rename Penn Station and Dulles Airport After Trump?
Should two major transportation hubs be renamed for the president? Also: When children watch TV; a hope for long life.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 10:24 PM
“So President Trump wants to name Penn Station in New York and Washington Dulles International Airport after himself,” David Sundelson writes in a letter to The Times. “No surprise: Narcissism has no limits, and perhaps we should go along, so New York can have its Gateway tunnel.”
“The outward deference of tech oligarchs to Trump seems to have outlasted the so-called vibe shift of young, Black and brown voters, many of whom have since abandoned him,” David Wallace-Wells writes.
Opinion | Affordability and the ‘Epstein Class’ Will Define American Politics
The fight over inequality will define the 21st century.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 9:38 PM
“The outward deference of tech oligarchs to Trump seems to have outlasted the so-called vibe shift of young, Black and brown voters, many of whom have since abandoned him,” David Wallace-Wells writes.
“We are seeing the widespread evidence that ICE operations cause deep psychological trauma and chilling effects for both immigrant and U.S. citizen children," Sophia Rodriguez writes in a letter to The Times.
Opinion | ICE in America: Dread and Danger
Readers describe the agency’s disturbing effects on children and detained immigrants.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 7:20 PM
“We are seeing the widespread evidence that ICE operations cause deep psychological trauma and chilling effects for both immigrant and U.S. citizen children," Sophia Rodriguez writes in a letter to The Times.
Reposted by New York Times Opinion
It's astonishing to witness the improvement in public education--reading, math, attendance, grad rates--in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. But we're busy fighting culture wars rather than scaling up what these three states have done. Please do read: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...
February 9, 2026 at 12:49 PM
It's astonishing to witness the improvement in public education--reading, math, attendance, grad rates--in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. But we're busy fighting culture wars rather than scaling up what these three states have done. Please do read: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...
“Kennedy’s hyperbole is dangerous advice. Spreading incomplete and misleading information adds to our culture’s widespread misunderstanding of mental illness and the ongoing stigma these families face,” Jessica Grose writes.
Opinion | What Kennedy Doesn’t Understand About Schizophrenia
Diet alone will not cure mental illness.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 6:10 PM
“Kennedy’s hyperbole is dangerous advice. Spreading incomplete and misleading information adds to our culture’s widespread misunderstanding of mental illness and the ongoing stigma these families face,” Jessica Grose writes.
“There is a lot of wonder to be had in the dedication that precedes the Games,” Kelly Corrigan writes about the Olympics. “Devotion, the opposite of smash and grab, is slow and full of faith.”
Opinion | Thanks Olympics. We Needed This.
The Olympics have brought a much needed injection of awe, a welcome breather from a barrage of disturbing news.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 5:22 PM
“There is a lot of wonder to be had in the dedication that precedes the Games,” Kelly Corrigan writes about the Olympics. “Devotion, the opposite of smash and grab, is slow and full of faith.”
“I once believed I could help the people building A.I. get ahead of the problems it would create,” writes Zoë Hitzig, who recently quit her job as a researcher for OpenAI. “This week confirmed my slow realization that OpenAI seems to have stopped asking the questions I’d joined to help answer.”
Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw.
Ads on ChatGPT aren’t a bad idea. But they have to be done the right way.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 4:25 PM
“I once believed I could help the people building A.I. get ahead of the problems it would create,” writes Zoë Hitzig, who recently quit her job as a researcher for OpenAI. “This week confirmed my slow realization that OpenAI seems to have stopped asking the questions I’d joined to help answer.”
“The sense of my own imperfection and my need for help played a large role in my return to the Catholic faith about a decade ago, which is one reason the Lenten season means so much to me,” Christopher Beha writes.
Opinion | My Conversion to Skeptical Belief
I try, on the next day and the next, to imagine I still have ashes on me, that I am constantly being called to live up to the beliefs I claim to hold.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 2:39 PM
“The sense of my own imperfection and my need for help played a large role in my return to the Catholic faith about a decade ago, which is one reason the Lenten season means so much to me,” Christopher Beha writes.
“It’s true that Chinese universities have made remarkable strides, and some of them host superb centers of research and education” — however, they aren’t nearly as dominant as many rankings suggest, Ariel Procaccia writes.
Opinion | No, China’s Universities Are Not Better Than America’s
They churn out research papers at a rapid pace, but the quality of these publications has too often been in question.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 2:13 PM
“It’s true that Chinese universities have made remarkable strides, and some of them host superb centers of research and education” — however, they aren’t nearly as dominant as many rankings suggest, Ariel Procaccia writes.
“There is the power inherent in giving victims of wrongdoing a chance to tell their stories, not as one perspective among many but as part of the official record,” our columnist Jamelle Bouie writes.
Opinion | We Have to Face What ICE Has Done to Us
Any serious push to account for the actions of this government must include recompense and repair for its victims.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 12:11 PM
“There is the power inherent in giving victims of wrongdoing a chance to tell their stories, not as one perspective among many but as part of the official record,” our columnist Jamelle Bouie writes.
The “niceties” that Trump’s advisers disparage, Leighton Woodhouse writes, “are the values of Christianity, the faith the Trump administration purports to defend and uphold.”
Opinion | Donald Trump, Pagan King
The president is returning to an ancient world, before morality mattered and when human actions were governed only by power.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 11:18 AM
The “niceties” that Trump’s advisers disparage, Leighton Woodhouse writes, “are the values of Christianity, the faith the Trump administration purports to defend and uphold.”
“This is the nature of the Epstein files,” Molly Jong-Fast writes: “It’s the record of what a global class of very privileged, accomplished and self-important people want to get gifted.”
Opinion | Jeffrey Epstein, the Devil’s Concierge
He knew how to give self-important people what they thought they deserved.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 10:03 AM
“This is the nature of the Epstein files,” Molly Jong-Fast writes: “It’s the record of what a global class of very privileged, accomplished and self-important people want to get gifted.”
Right now, “left-wing discourse on A.I. feels like a collection of irritable mental gestures in search of a consistent theme,” our columnist Ross Douthat writes.
Opinion | The Left Needs a Sharper A.I. Politics
The future may put progressive theories of work and human nature to the test.
nyti.ms
February 11, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Right now, “left-wing discourse on A.I. feels like a collection of irritable mental gestures in search of a consistent theme,” our columnist Ross Douthat writes.
Human-rights issues typified by cases like Jimmy Lai’s “aren’t distractions from more important business,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes. “They are the business.”
Opinion | Jimmy Lai and the Future of Freedom
The West has abandoned dissidents as a public cause.
nyti.ms
February 10, 2026 at 10:57 PM
Human-rights issues typified by cases like Jimmy Lai’s “aren’t distractions from more important business,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes. “They are the business.”
“The younger, more naïve me really did buy into a lot of the legalization arguments,” German Lopez says in a conversation about the underregulation of marijuana in the U.S. “Over time, we saw more and more problems pop up,” he adds. “More people now use pot daily in the U.S. than use alcohol daily.”
Opinion | Marijuana Is Everywhere. That’s a Problem.
Legalization of the drug without much regulation has led to public health challenges.
nyti.ms
February 10, 2026 at 5:23 PM
“The younger, more naïve me really did buy into a lot of the legalization arguments,” German Lopez says in a conversation about the underregulation of marijuana in the U.S. “Over time, we saw more and more problems pop up,” he adds. “More people now use pot daily in the U.S. than use alcohol daily.”