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October 24, 2025

Ronald Reagan in the residence living room at the White House. White House, via Zuma

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Notable

When my family lived in the White House, I hated it. Now, I mourn it. “Over the centuries, many presidents have altered the White House, and certainly older buildings need to be updated and repaired. But this is complete destruction.”

— Patti Davis, former President Ronald Reagan’s daughter

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How crypto corrupted America. “Crypto was supposed to free us from the chains of government control, but now it is finally revealing what that freedom really means: removing all checks on the power of the wealthy to do what they want, discharged at last from law, supervision and civic obligation — even if the result is autocracy.”

— Finn Brunton, author of a book on cryptocurrency

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Cherish this World Series. It’s the last one entirely in human hands. “Baseball is a game of bad calls, bad luck, bad bounces, meteorological whim and unforeseen happenstance — all part of what makes it so perfect.”

— Jane Leavy, sportswriter

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Spotlight

The New York Times

Who Should Be Governor of Virginia?

We convened nine leaders to rate the candidates.

ICYMI

How Netflix’s nuclear war movie holds up to the real world. “We live in a nuclear monarchy. Only the president has the decision power to respond with a nuclear attack. It’s a quirk to our democratic system that the commander in chief has unchecked authority over the nuclear arsenal.”

— W.J. Hennigan, Opinion writer

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Listen (or Watch)

The New York Times The Ezra Klein Show Can Economic Populism Save the Democratic Party? Jared Abbott, the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, discusses what it would take for Democrats to better appeal to working-class voters. 1 HR 3 MIN LISTEN

More in Opinion

Guest Essay You Can Kill a Democracy Without a Dictator What happens when the state doesn’t curb predatory private powers? By Will Freeman

Guest Essay The U.S. and China Are One Misstep Away From War Dangerous close calls are rising, but the U.S. and China still lack the communication channels needed to stop a crisis from becoming a war. By Eric Rosenbach and Chris Li

David Brooks The Rot Creeping Into Our Minds Yes, Trump is assaulting democracy, but what worries me more is what has happened to the rest of us — the loss of the convictions and norms that undergird democracy. By David Brooks

john mcwhorter Some of the Greatest American Music You’ve Never Heard Of Why has the genius of these Black innovators been consigned to academic conferences? By John McWhorter

Guest Essay There’s a Pro-Heist Frisson in the Air It’s not that people are salivating at the idea of criminality, but some are amused by the robbery. By Sloane Crosley

Mara Gay The Debate Had a Lot of Housing Talk, but the Next Mayor Needs Bigger Ideas New York has urgent housing needs. Mamdani is leading the race for mayor because of his awareness of this. But all the candidates should have bigger plans. By Mara Gay

In Your Words

Re: “The Thrill of the Heist”

The stolen jewelry is beautifully-crafted art likely forever lost to the public’s eye. That’s sad. But the jewelry is also the cultural representation of a monarchical class living off the toil of their subjects while adding nothing of value to the human endeavor. In that respect, good riddance to it. And yes, the parallel to modern America speaks for itself. — A comment posted by Paco from Vermont

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