Robert Oppenheimer- Communist and Patriot

Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster movie Oppenheimer has revived interest in the physicist popularly known as “the father of the atomic bomb.” Nonetheless, the subject of Nolan’s film remains an enduring enigma. Why did the obviously brilliant Robert Oppenheimer so suddenly and completely collapse under hostile interrogation at the 1954 loyalty hearing? Why, unlike Andrei Sakharov…

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Remembering Anne Heche

For a time, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Anne Heche—who was declared legally dead on Aug. 12, at age 53, after being critically injured in a series of car crashes in Los Angeles on Aug. 5—was one of the most intriguing and coolly magnetic young actors in Hollywood. Her delicate features and lunar complexion could easily lure you off the trail of her crisp intelligence. She was…

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How Reddit Allows Hate Speech to Flourish

When Reddit moderator asantos3 clicked on a thread inside the group r/Portugueses in December and found it full of racist comments, he wasn’t exactly surprised. The group is often home to nationalist and nativist rhetoric, and in this instance, users here were responding angrily to a new law that allowed increased freedom of movement between Portuguese-speaking countries including African…

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Inequality in the U.S. is Finally Lessening

If 2022 was the year the U.S. economy came roaring back like a lion, 2023 is more of a lamb. Modest job growth, consistent inflation, falling home prices, slowing GDP growth—meh.

February was another month of meh, the government reported Friday, with personal incomes increasing 0.3% in February after growing 0.6% in January. In addition, consumer spending grew 0.2% in February.

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Rupert Murdoch to Step Down

NEW YORK — Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Australian media magnate whose creation of Fox News made him a force in American politics, is stepping down as leader of both Fox’s parent company and his News Corp. media holdings.

Fox said Thursday that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies, effective at board meetings in November. His son, Lachlan, will become News Corp. c…

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Fossil Fuel Companies Say Hydrogen Made From Natural Gas Is a Climate Solution. But the Tech May Not Be Very Green

As a committee of climate scientists and environmental officials deliberated over how to drastically cut New York State’s carbon footprint last summer, natural gas industry representatives were putting forward a counterintuitive pitch: hydrogen, made from fossil fuels.

The concept was simple, explained natural-gas proponents serving on the state’s climate-action council. Indus…

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Texas Considers ESG Insurance Ban

Over the past year, the backlash against so-called ESG investing has swept through red states as legislatures enacted laws punishing investment firms that use environmental, social, and governance metrics in their decision making.

As the saying goes, it’s bigger in Texas.

After banning 10 ESG-friendly financial firms from doing business with the state last summer, right-wing …

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Warren Buffett Takes Path With $27 Billion Buybacks

Bloomberg — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., lacking the blockbuster deals that have galvanized the billionaire investor’s renown, embraced a “mildly attractive” way to deploy its vast cash pile last year via a record-breaking level of buybacks — and showed little sign of changing course.

Berkshire bought back a total of $27.1 billion in 2021, …

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The Marvels Post-Credit Scene, Explained

At the end of The Marvels, the audience sees Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) closing the wormhole opened by Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) that poses a risk to the fabric of space and time, causing a rift in the space-time continuum. Toward the end of the movie, Monica explains to Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) that the only way to close it is from the inside. She u…

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Unilever May Launch Ice Cream From Cow-Free Dairy in a Year

Food giant Unilever is planning a dairy ice cream that uses milk that doesn’t come from a cow.

The company is working on a process called precision fermentation that uses substances like yeast and fungi to produce milk proteins in a vat. A product could be available in about a year, according to Andy Sztehlo, head of Unilever’s research and development in ice cream.

If s…

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