Aurelia Butler

More stories

  • 150 Shares119 Views

    in Elections

    What Are ATACMS, the U.S. Missiles That May Be Used Against Russia?

    In a major policy shift, the Biden administration has authorized Ukraine to use the ballistic missiles within Russia.For the first time, the Biden administration has authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied ballistic missiles for attacks inside Russia, American officials say, marking a major policy shift.The missiles are known as the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS (pronounced “attack ’ems”). They are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops to support Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia, according to American officials.Ukraine has been lobbying the United States for years to receive the authorization, which comes in the final months of the Biden administration. President-elect Donald J. Trump has said he will seek a quick end to the war in Ukraine.Here’s what you need to know about ATACMSWhat do these missiles do?Why did the U.S. wait?How will Ukraine use them?Has the U.S. used them in combat?What do these missiles do?ATACMS, made by Lockheed Martin, are short-range ballistic missiles that, depending on the model, can strike targets 190 miles away with a warhead containing about 375 pounds of explosives. Ballistic missiles fly much higher into the atmosphere than artillery rockets and many times farther, coming back to the ground at incredibly high speed because of gravity’s pull.They can be fired from the HIMARS mobile launchers that the United States has provided Ukraine, as well as from older M270 launchers sent from Britain and Germany.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 138 Shares109 Views

    in Elections

    After Flurry of Cabinet Picks, Trump Rethinks Candidates for Treasury Secretary

    President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to invite the contenders for the role, including Kevin Warsh and Marc Rowan, to Mar-a-Lago this week.President-elect Donald J. Trump is eyeing a new candidate for Treasury Secretary amid internal debate over who should have the role: the former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh.Mr. Trump is also considering the Wall Street billionaire Marc Rowan.Mr. Trump had been expected to pick either Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, or Scott Bessent, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management and a former money manager for George Soros. And he had been seen as likely to make the selection late last week.But he has been having second thoughts about the top two candidates, and has slowed down his selection process. He is expected to invite the contenders to interview with him this week at Mar-a-Lago.Mr. Lutnick, who has been running Mr. Trump’s transition operation, has gotten on Mr. Trump’s nerves lately. Mr. Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends. A person familiar with the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the battle between Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Bessent as a knife fight, with Mr. Lutnick as the primary aggressor.Mr. Bessent is said to still be under consideration, and has also been raised by people in Mr. Trump’s economic circles as a possible contender to lead the White House’s National Economic Council. Elon Musk, a close adviser to the president-elect, on Sunday called Mr. Bessent a “business-as-usual” choice for Treasury secretary in a post on his social media platform, X, while throwing his support behind Mr. Lutnick.Mr. Trump and Mr. Lutnick met on Sunday, and it wasn’t immediately clear what came of the discussion, according to two people briefed on the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Mr. Bessent has also met with Mr. Trump. The other two — as well as any other new names that emerge — are likely to be asked to meet with Mr. Trump this week, according to one of the people briefed on the matter.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 88 Shares179 Views

    in Elections

    NYT Crossword Answers for Nov. 18, 2024

    Rajeswari Rajamani calls this meeting to order.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — I have an inexplicable obsession with irreversible binomials. There’s no rhyme or reason to my interest; they have just become near and dear to my heart.Irreversible binomials, for those unacquainted, are pairs of words whose order can’t be flipped — for no particular reason other than the fact that hearing these word pairs in reverse gives us the linguistic “ick.” Had I said above, for example, that there was no “reason or rhyme” to my interest, you would have shuddered.Rajeswari Rajamani constructed today’s beginner-friendly crossword around a few such fixed phrases, and the result is thoroughly satisfying. If you get stuck while solving, just remember: Lose or win, it’s how you play the game. (Ick, right?)Today’s ThemeTo do [Personal bidding, in an idiom] (17A) is to be at someone’s BECK AND CALL (“beckon call” is the result of a common mishearing). Note that you wouldn’t phrase it as “call and beck,” because it just wouldn’t sound right.A similar pattern follows: The pair [Who went “up the hill” in a nursery rhyme] (28A) is billed only as JACK AND JILL. A certain [Two-player offensive sequence in basketball] is a PICK AND ROLL. And if you’re listening to [a hard-to-believe story] (59A), you might describe it as COCK-AND-BULL. How these two animals became stand-ins for skepticism remains unclear, but there are some cock-and-bull theories about it out there.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 150 Shares189 Views

    in Elections

    Israeli Strikes in Central and Northern Gaza Kill More Than 30 People

    As Israel’s military wages a renewed offensive in the northern part of the enclave, Al Bureij and Nuseirat in central Gaza came under attack.Israeli airstrikes pummeled two areas in central Gaza and a town in the north of the enclave on Sunday morning, killing more than 30 people and wounding several others, according to local rescue and emergency services.In central Gaza, a strike on a home in Nuseirat killed four people, the Palestinian Civil Defense said in a statement. Strikes in nearby Al Bureij killed 13 people, according to Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, an emergency rescue group. He said that several others were wounded and that rescuers were still searching for people under the rubble.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes in central Gaza, which came as it is waging a renewed offensive in the northern part of the enclave. In an effort to stamp out what the military has called a Hamas resurgence, Israeli troops, tanks and armed drones have bombarded northern Gaza almost daily.On Sunday, the town of Beit Lahia again came under attack. Mr. Basal said that an Israeli strike on a house there killed 15 people, and that another strike hit a residential building where dozens of people were sheltering. Information on casualties from the strike on the residential building was not immediately available because rescue teams were unable to reach the area, he added.When asked about Beit Lahia, the Israeli military said that it had carried out several strikes on “terrorist targets” in the town overnight and that there had been continuous efforts to evacuate the civilian population from northern Gaza, where its forces have been operating for over a month.Gaza’s Civil Defense said it was forced to cease rescue operations in the north late last month because of attacks by the Israeli military on its members and destruction of its equipment.Gabby Sobelman More

  • 113 Shares159 Views

    in Elections

    Blast Hits Central Beirut for First Time in Weeks

    The attack came as Israel’s military has been pounding an area just outside the Lebanese capital with some of the heaviest waves of bombardment in months.An Israeli airstrike hit the Lebanese capital on Sunday, a rare attack inside the city that comes as Israel’s military has been pounding areas outside it where Hezbollah holds sway.Israel’s intensified push on the battlefield appears aimed at pressuring the Lebanese government and Hezbollah to accede to terms for a cease-fire for Lebanon worked out between Israeli and American officials, in what Israeli analysts describe as a strategy of “negotiations under fire.”Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed in the strike on the capital, Beirut — the first to hit the city in weeks. The infrequent attacks inside the capital have tended to target individuals belonging to Hezbollah, and the attack on Sunday appeared to be no exception.Mohammed Afif, the head of Hezbollah’s media office was “coincidentally present” when the building was struck, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency.As the de facto spokesman of Hezbollah, Mr. Afif was one of the group’s few remaining figures with a public profile. His role had gained newfound prominence in recent weeks after Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September along with much of the group’s top command and leadership.The strike in Beirut on Sunday destroyed a seven-story building in the neighborhood of Ras al-Naba, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported. It said that search teams were working to rescue a number of people trapped under the rubble.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 125 Shares199 Views

    in Elections

    On ‘S.N.L.,’ a Peaceful Transition to Trump’s Cabinet of Curiosities

    Sarah Sherman plays Matt Gaetz as well as the widow of P’Nut, the conservative darling of the rodent world, while Charli XCX and pals serenade a mom-to-be.An amicable White House transition meeting between President Biden and President-elect Donald J. Trump provided the template for the opening sketch of this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” and it also gave “S.N.L.” another opportunity to rearrange its musical chairs of who’s playing whom in the Trump administration, with new roles for Sarah Sherman (as Matt Gaetz) and Alec Baldwin (as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.).Dana Carvey, the “S.N.L.” alum who has lately been impersonating Biden on the show, returned to play the part, promising a “respectful conversation” with Trump, played by James Austin Johnson.“Yeah, get a load of me,” Johnson said. “Instead of being rude and crazy like usual, I’m doing quiet and serene. Which, in many ways, is a lot scarier.”After shooing away the reporters who were covering their meeting, Johnson said forlornly to Carvey that he was not looking forward to returning to the White House. “So many of the carpets are stinky and sticky at the same time,” he explained. “Sort of like being at a Regal Cinemas. Now I have to live here for the next four years. Possibly longer.”Carvey responded that he had many wonderful memories of his time there: “Dr. Jill hosting foreign leaders,” he said. “My dog attacking every single one. I brought my party together so much they teamed up and kicked me out. Wait a minute — maybe I hate it here, too.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 63 Shares159 Views

    in Elections

    Slaying Dragons for 20 Years

    World of Warcraft was first released two decades ago. You might not have played World of Warcraft, but you probably know of it. The game, which turns 20 this year, inspired an Emmy-winning “South Park” episode and a (not-so-great) movie. Its fans include celebrities like Henry Cavill and Mila Kunis.WoW, as the game is known, was social media before social media. As a teenager, I would log on as my undead mage character mostly to hang out with my friends. What we did together was certainly different than how people use today’s social media; I do not typically hunt giant dragons on Facebook or Instagram. But it was a chance to socialize with the people I had met in the game. It was also, as a 16-year-old, the only space I felt safe being openly gay.The game was truly huge. When it was released 20 years ago, so many people tried to play that the servers struggled for weeks to handle the demand. At its peak, WoW had more than 12 million monthly subscribers worldwide, making it one of the biggest games of its time. More than 100 million people have played it at one point or another.Perhaps most impressively, the game is still going. It got a new expansion, called The War Within, this year. Imagine everything that has changed in the world since 2004, when phones were still dumb and the biggest movie of the year was “Shrek 2.” WoW has endured all of that.My colleagues wrote about World of Warcraft’s 20th anniversary in this lovely story that published today. We’ve included excerpts from their reporting below. I recommend reading the whole piece, which has many more interesting stories that we couldn’t fit in the newsletter.A welcoming space for womenA World of Warcraft fan in costume in 2014.Jae C. Hong/Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 88 Shares189 Views

    in Elections

    Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail

    That was quick.Donald Trump is planting the seeds of his own political demise. The corrupt, incompetent and extremist men and women he’s appointing to many of the most critical posts in his cabinet are direct threats to the well-being of the country, but they’re also political threats to Trump and to his populist allies.To understand why, it’s important to remember a cardinal reality about Trump’s political career. He has now won two general elections when he was the only alternative to an unsatisfactory status quo, and he lost the one when he was the unsatisfactory status quo. If he can’t govern well, his populist partisan realignment will come apart before it can truly begin.One of the most maddening aspects of the 2024 election is the extent to which so many voters viewed Trump as a mostly normal political candidate. MAGA Republicans see Trump as a singular figure, but an immense number of voters thought the talk about Trump was overheated, in both directions.If you’re like most Americans and don’t follow the news closely, it’s easy to see why you would see Trump in more conventional terms. A Politico analysis of the Trump campaign’s ads showed that “the single most-aired ad from his campaign since the start of October is all about inflation, Medicare and Social Security — arguing that” Kamala Harris “will make seniors already struggling with high prices ‘pay more Social Security taxes,’ while unauthorized’ immigrants receive benefits.”That is a normal, conventional political message. Trump’s ads attacking Harris’s past support for taxpayer-funded transition surgery for people in prison and immigration detention were also an appeal to the mainstream, an effort to label Harris as extreme.One of the challenging realities of American politics is that while vast numbers of Americans participate in presidential elections, only small minorities of voters actually stay engaged. And the priorities of the two groups are not the same, far from it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More