WASHINGTON — President Trump has managed to turn America First into America Isolated. In pulling out of the Paris climate accord, Mr. Trump has created a vacuum of global leadership that presents ripe opportunities to allies and adversaries alike to reorder the world’s power structure. His decision…

In Sarah Silverman’s new standup special, “A Speck of Dust,” the comedian deploys vulgarity in the service of a sharp moralism. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL ROWE / NETFLIX “You know who has a tiny vagina?” Sarah Silverman asked, out of the blue, in her 2005 comedy special, “Jesus Is Magic.” “Barbie,” she…

Everyone has that one friend. They're the person in your friendship group, probably picked up sometime between primary school and the your late teens, who doesn't love music but still finds themselves listening to it. Recorded music in particular is an entirely passive experience for them, where…

One liner’s aside, Sen. Al Franken, listens to testimony in 2011. Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times AL FRANKEN, GIANT OF THE SENATE By Al Franken Illustrated. 406 pp. Twelve. $28. Once upon a time, Al Franken was funny. But then he became a senator. Now, in a new memoir, he is ready to tell…

When Donald Glover closes his eyes and falls in a crumpled heap to the Honda Stage floor at the end of the psychedelic "Riot," are we supposed to think that he's actually dead? Later, when the house camera catches him staring up at his drummer, his back to the audience, flashing an awed grin,…

The swiftness of President Trump’s transformation of America’s global image from a proud and valued leader to something more nearly resembling a whiny bully has heads spinning at home and abroad. Mr. Trump was elected on a slogan of “America First” and a promise that the country would never again be…

After a terrorist attack, there are two steps nearly every leader takes: first, condemn the violence; second, appeal for calm. London Mayor Sadiq Khan followed that familiar playbook in the wake of Saturday night’s attacks. Speaking to the BBC, Khan said : There aren’t words to describe the grief…

Paris is beautiful, but when it comes to riding the metro, the city of Love does not seem so charming anymore. No more of this? The situation The experience of using the machine, or waiting for people to finish their order so that you can do yours, is not satisfying — not to say frustrating. I had…

At the University of Washington, students are learning to navigate the hazards of our information-addled age. PHOTOGRAPH BY BERTHOLD STEINHILBER / LAIF / REDUX “Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you,” the Oxford philosophy professor…

I sat across from him and listened. He was trim, tall, bearded (as they all seem to be), a recent transplant, having only lived in Seattle for a year or so and worked at a start-up, after burning out at Amazon (as they all seem to have). He rode his bike around town; he had good taste in food and…

Wonder Woman is a pretty big deal, and it’s something many of us doubted we’d see in our lifetime: a good DC Comics movie. But there’s a lot going on here, and it’s something I think we should talk about, because I don’t want you to hear about Wonder Woman from the streets. I’m kind of joking, but…

Perhaps the aphorism should be changed to “In Google, veritas.” Where do people go with their most intimate worries, thoughts, and fears? Not the nearest water cooler or humblebrag app. More likely, they’ll seek comfort in the relative privacy of a search box. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a former data…

When I broke my electric kettle, Amazon had a new one to me in less than six hours. Do More! What Amazon Teaches Us About AI and the “Jobless Future” We hear again and again that AI and robots are going to take away human jobs. My broken kettle says otherwise. Yesterday, I set my electric kettle…

Sarajevo 1914, Doha 2017? We could be at a historic moment akin to the assassination of the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which resulted in what became known as the Great War. This time, though, the possible clash is between a Saudi-United Arab Emirates force and Iran. Washington…

Getty The Justice Department’s lawyers are getting the founding fathers all wrong. Did George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or James Madison sell agricultural products to a foreign government “instrumentality?” It’s hard to say, since their surviving plantation records don’t speak to the question.…

Shadow Government Believe it or not, the president has a grand strategy. But it's a nightmarish mess. By , Hal Brands January 31, 2017 Believe it or not, President Donald Trump has a grand strategy. According to some analysts , Trump’s endless streams of erratic and apparently improvisational ideas…

“I want to punch them and make them take off their damn sunglasses,” the bartender said. I’d said something uncharitable about the guys at the far end of the room, but the bartender heard me — and shared my disdain. He went on a tirade about how “those tech bros are rude, entitled, and synonymous…

Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images On Friday, Bill Maher said the N-word on live television. By Saturday, as the public apology cycle dictates , he’d said he was sorry. “Friday nights are always my worst night of sleep because I’m up reflecting on the things I should or shouldn’t…

That’s right: this chicken was produced by growing animal cells, as was our juicy Duck à l'Orange . This is the first time in the world that poultry was produced in this method. So what’s the point? Well, poultry products are great. They’re delicious, they have nutritional benefits and they play a…

Rotterdam, a port city whose economy relies on fossil fuels, is leading the charge on climate change adaptation. Josh Haner/The New York Times In the waterlogged Netherlands, climate change is considered neither a hypothetical nor a drag on the economy. Instead, it’s an opportunity. ROTTERDAM, the…

Asia contains the world’s two most populous nations, the country with the largest Muslim population, the two largest economies after America, and the next superpower and peer competitor to the United States. But when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the continent recently, small,…

The Oscar-winning filmmaker opens up about his delightful new film ‘The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography,’ the chaotic presidential administration, and more. Larry Busacca/Getty Telluride Film Festival Few documentarians are in the same league as Errol Morris , the legendary filmmaker…

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a very hot topic these days. Even people who are not technologically savvy can’t wait to get their hands on the next smart door lock, thermostat, sensor, security system, etc… Or, better said, get a hold of new products designed to replace the ‘boring’ physical…

Prodigy, the rapper from Queens who helped define the sound of New York hip-hop as one-half of Mobb Deep, has died at 42. Chad Batka for The New York Times Prodigy, the hard-nosed Queens rapper who kiln-fired New York hip-hop into a thing of unhurried attitude and stoic elegance as half of the duo…

Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Uber, the ride-hailing service that he helped found in 2009 and built into a transportation colossus, after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on at the company. Mr. Kalanick’s exit came under pressure after hours of…

WASHINGTON — Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution by profiting from business dealings with foreign governments. The plaintiffs — believed to be the most members of Congress to ever sue a sitting…

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — I was the only visitor in Greece. As I walked through the tunnel of philosophers, eager young Kazakhs accosted me. “This is the Greek alphabet! It has 24 characters, and it was the original language of science. Here, please, come and take a photo by the sea.” They hustled me…

A buried line in a new Facebook report about chatbots’ conversations with one another offers a remarkable glimpse at the future of language. In the report , researchers at the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab describe using machine learning to train their “dialog agents” to negotiate.…

Mikhail Lesin, pictured at right, in 2002, served in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle before leaving for the U.S., where he was later found dead in what Kremlin critics find suspicious circumstances. Photograph by Itar Tass / Kremlin Press via Reuters On a Sunday night in February, 2007, “Dateline…

This was first published on my mailing list The Looking Glass . Every week, I answer a reader’s question. Photo by Tom How do you say no to bad ideas? And how do you justify something you’ve learnt from experience without making the other person feel that you are overriding their idea just by being…

(Dan Evans illustration) All week, The Ringer will be celebrating Good Bad Movies, those films that are so terrible they’re endlessly amusing and — dare we say it? — actually good. Please join us as we give the over-the-top action movies, low-budget romance thrillers, and peak ’80s cheese-fests the…

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Every now and then someone makes the argument that all really good games eventually do well,…

For viewers who had never heard of Alex Jones before Sunday evening, Megyn Kelly’s much-hyped interview with him on NBC did not paint a flattering picture. In a 17-minute segment — which had generated hours of commentary and a raft of protests before it aired — Ms. Kelly repeatedly challenged Mr.…

For the better part of the last decade, every design decision Apple has made has seemingly been in the pursuit of making its products thinner and more beautiful at the expense of upgradability and repairability. Those decisions helped Apple sell millions of phones and computers, but they also helped…

Why, if David D’Amato is dead, does Jane O’Brien Media and the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling live on? The filmmakers behind Tickled address the conspiracy theories, and reveal a new side to the story – and lawsuits – that simply won’t go away. A Spinoff Exclusive. A precursor: This article…

The conversation surrounding cultural appropriation is not one that will be simmering down anytime soon, and for good reason. Everyone from festival-goers to reality stars to brands has been guilty of the act a time or two, and it's fairly common these days that if an act of cultural appropriation…

(Ringer illustration) All week, The Ringer will be celebrating Good Bad Movies, those films that are so terrible they’re endlessly amusing and — dare we say it? — actually good. Please join us as we give the over-the-top action movies, low-budget romance thrillers, and peak ’80s cheese-fests the…

At 8 p.m. one evening earlier this week, on a dark university campus with no option for grabbing a snack after studying into the night, Wei Li, a junior majoring in computer science at Hefei University, saw a glimpse of the future of retail. Parked in a big open square on campus was a vehicle…

Imagine this scene from the future: You walk into a store and are greeted by name, by a computer with facial recognition that directs you to the items you need. You peruse a small area — no chance of getting lost or wasting time searching for things — because the store stocks only sample items. You…