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      A Unique Night at the Opera

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      At the Metropolitan Opera with Angelina Jolie. Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, you’ve probably heard the voice of Maria Callas. As opera’s defining diva and one of the greatest performers of the 20th century, she is omnipresent in our culture, nearly 50 years after she died.Now Callas is the subject of “Maria,” a film starring Angelina Jolie, which opened this week in select theaters and goes to Netflix on Dec. 11.“You’ve been hearing Maria your whole life,” Jolie told me. “You just didn’t know it was her.”As The Times’s classical music reporter, I wanted to understand how a Hollywood A-lister prepared to play an opera star. So I invited Jolie to the Metropolitan Opera in New York one recent night for a performance of Puccini’s “Tosca,” a signature opera for Callas. You can read my story about the experience here.Jolie’s every move is tracked by the tabloids, especially since her 2016 divorce from Brad Pitt, which is still playing out in court. She at times seemed uncomfortable with my questions. But she spoke candidly about living in the spotlight; the loneliness she sometimes feels; and why she took seven months of voice lessons for “Maria,” which is directed by Pablo Larraín.In today’s newsletter, I’ll tell you more about Callas and examine the parallels between Callas and Jolie.La DivinaCallas was born in New York to Greek immigrants in 1923, and became renowned for her silky voice and her ability to give her characters the nuances of real people. Known as La Divina to her admirers, she inspired cultish devotion, and fans would sometimes wait in line for days to get tickets for her performances.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

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      Barstool Conservatism, Revisited

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      Despite Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, his political coalition was already expanding in consequential ways. Not only did he make notable gains among Hispanic and African-American voters — gains that only increased this year — but he also attracted the support of a loose grouping of mostly young, male voters whom I described around that time as “Barstool conservatives.” This year, as I had predicted, they appeared to swing hard for Mr. Trump.“Barstool conservatism” was a reference to the media company Barstool Sports and its founder, Dave Portnoy, who became a folk hero of sorts in 2020 after raising millions of dollars on behalf of bars and restaurants whose existence had been threatened by Covid lockdowns. Apart from Mr. Portnoy, Barstool conservatism’s most representative figures today are the podcast host Joe Rogan, the retired N.F.L. punter turned ESPN personality Pat McAfee and various mixed martial arts fighters.Barstool conservatism is libertarian in the sense that it values autonomy and ambition but not doctrinaire about it in a way that would be recognizable to, say, the editors of Reason magazine. It is a world of fantasy football podcasts, betting apps, diet trends (keto, paleo, carnivore) and more nebulous “lifestyle” questions about the nuances of alcohol and cannabis use. The outlook is culturally rather than socially conservative, skeptical of racial and gender politics for reasons that have more to do with the stridency of their proponents than with any deep-seated convictions about the issues themselves.As a social conservative with an antipathy to libertarianism in all its forms, I viewed the rise of Barstool conservatism in 2020 with foreboding. And rightly so. This year Mr. Trump ran what was, in effect, a pro-choice campaign. He signaled support for legalized cannabis but not for a traditional conception of marriage. He may have selected JD Vance as his running mate, but otherwise he took social conservatives for granted. Barstool conservatives had the upper hand throughout the campaign, as underscored by the emphasis Mr. Trump’s team placed on Mr. Rogan’s endorsement.I have long been inclined to make certain hard and fast distinctions between Barstool conservatism and Trumpism of the sort that Mr. Vance represents, which I associate with opposition to abortion, pornography and cannabis, and support for traditional families, shoring up the power of organized labor and protecting religious freedom. In theory these two conservative tendencies are diametrically opposed. Until recently I would have suggested that only Mr. Trump could possibly unite them, by sheer force of personality.But since this year’s election I have been on an informal listening tour of young men in the part of rural Michigan where I live, which is a nice way of saying that I have spent a lot of time talking to people in bars. What I heard from mechanics, waiters, high school teachers and others often surprised me. The future of American conservatism now strikes me as more complex and less ideologically predictable — and less dependent on Mr. Trump — than I had thought.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

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      Today’s Wordle Answer for Dec. 2, 2024

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      Scroll down for hints and conversation about the puzzle for Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.Welcome to The Wordle Review. Be warned: This page contains spoilers for today’s puzzle. Solve Wordle first, or scroll at your own risk.Wordle is released at midnight in your time zone. In order to accommodate all time zones, there will be two Wordle Reviews live every day, dated based on Eastern Standard Time. If you find yourself on the wrong review, check the number of your puzzle, and go to this page to find the corresponding review.Need a hint?Give me a consonantLGive me a vowelEOpen the comments section for more hints, scores, and conversation from the Wordle community.Today’s DifficultyThe difficulty of each puzzle is determined by averaging the number of guesses provided by a small panel of testers who are paid to solve each puzzle in advance to help us catch any issues and inconsistencies.Today’s average difficulty is 4.5 guesses out of 6, or moderately challenging.For more in-depth analysis, visit our friend, WordleBot.Today’s WordClick to revealToday’s word is GUILE, a noun. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, it means “slyness and cunning in dealing with others.”Our Featured ArtistChristina Chung is a queer Taiwanese Hong Konger American illustrator, raised in Seattle and Singapore and currently based in Brooklyn. Her work focuses on intricacies, color and symbolism, drawing inspiration from the natural world and powerful storytelling.Further ReadingSee the archive for past and future posts.If you solved for a word different from what was featured today, please refresh your page.Join the conversation on social media! Use the hashtag #wordlereview to chat with other solvers.Leave any thoughts you have in the comments! Please follow community guidelines:Be kind. Comments are moderated for civility.Having a technical issue? Use the help button in the settings menu of the Games app.See the Wordle Glossary for information on how to talk about Wordle.Want to talk about Spelling Bee? Check out our Spelling Bee Forum.Want to talk about Connections? Check out our Connections Companion.Trying to go back to the puzzle? More

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      Republicans Would Regret Letting Elon Musk Ax Weather Forecasting

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      One way Donald Trump may try to differentiate his second term from his first is by slashing the federal work force and budget and consolidating and restructuring a host of government agencies.For people who care about weather and climate, one of the most concerning proposals on the table is to dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The authors of Project 2025, a blueprint for the administration crafted by conservative organizations, claim erroneously that NOAA is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry” and should be “broken down and downsized.” An arm of Mr. Trump’s team, the Department of Government Efficiency, to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, wants to eliminate $500 billion in spending by cutting programs whose funding has expired. That could include NOAA.With the rising costs of and vulnerability to extreme weather in a changing climate for the United States, dismantling or defunding NOAA would be a catastrophic error. Rather, there is a golden opportunity to modernize the agency by expanding its capacity for research and innovation. This would not only help Americans better prepare for and survive extreme weather but also keep NOAA from falling further behind similar agencies in Europe. While the incoming administration may want to take a sledgehammer to the federal government, there is broad, bipartisan support for NOAA in Congress. It is the job of the incoming Republican-controlled Congress to invest in its future.NOAA was established via executive order in 1970 by President Richard Nixon as an agency within the Department of Commerce. Currently its mission is to understand and predict changes in the climate, weather, ocean and coasts. It conducts basic research; provides authoritative services like weather forecasts, climate monitoring and marine resource management; and supports industries like energy, agriculture, fishing, tourism and transportation.The best-known part of NOAA, touching all of our daily lives, is the National Weather Service. This is where daily forecasts and timely warning of severe storms, hurricanes and blizzards come from. Using satellites, balloon launches, ships, aircraft and weather stations, NOAA and its offices around the country provide vital services like clockwork, free of charge — services that cannot be adequately replaced by the private sector in part because they wouldn’t necessarily be profitable.For most of its history, NOAA has largely avoided politicization especially because weather forecasting has been seen as nonpartisan. Members of Congress from both parties are highly engaged in its work. Unfortunately, legislation introduced by Representative Frank Lucas, Republican of Oklahoma — a state with a lot of tornadoes — that would have helped NOAA to update its weather research and forecasting programs passed the House but languished in the Senate and is unlikely to move forward in this session of Congress. However, in 2025 there is another opportunity to improve the agency and its services to taxpayers and businesses.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

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      A Power Vacuum in Gaza Could Empower Warlords and Gangs

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      Hamas’s weakened position could leave the territory without any governing institutions.A picture taken during a tour organized by the Israeli Army shows a Palestinian truck arriving to pick up aid destined for the Gaza Strip arriving from a drop-off area near the Kerem Shalom crossing on Nov. 28.Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSince the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, the war in Gaza has been dogged by a persistent question: What happens after the conflict ends?Recent events point to one worrying scenario: Gaza, without a centralized governing authority, could be dominated by warlords and organized crime.Wartime is notorious for giving rise to black markets and criminal gangs, and the conflict in Gaza is no exception. In one troubling episode in November, armed gunmen looted a convoy of 109 United Nations aid trucks. Over the last year, a contraband trade in tobacco has become a particular problem for humanitarian aid convoys, with organized gangs ransacking aid shipments for cigarettes smuggled inside them that can sell for $25 to $30 each.The Israeli military is determined to wipe out Hamas, but Israel has not laid out a plan for the day after the conflict stops. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has resisted calls for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza.Hamas was a repressive regime that used violence against its own people. But because it also ran the local government in Gaza, its weakened condition threatens to leave the territory without any governing institutions.Such power vacuums create ideal conditions for so-called criminal governance, in which criminal mafias, sometimes linked to families or tribes, take over much of the traditional role of a government within their territories, competing with weak official institutions. It may even devolve into outright warlordism, in which territory is carved up between armed groups into self-governing fiefdoms.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

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      Trump Picks Chad Chronister, a Florida Sheriff, as D.E.A. Administrator

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      The announcement of Sheriff Chad Chronister came after President-elect Donald J. Trump said that he would impose tariffs that would stay in place until Canada, Mexico and China halted the flow of drugs and migrants.President-elect Donald J. Trump on Saturday chose Chad Chronister, a veteran Florida sheriff, to be his administration’s top drug enforcement official, tasking him with delivering on campaign promises to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the country.Appointed sheriff of Hillsborough County in 2017 by Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican who is now a senator, and re-elected twice, Sheriff Chronister has served on state and regional law enforcement boards, including the Florida Statewide Drug Policy Advisory Council.“For over 32 years, Sheriff Chad Chronister has served the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and received countless awards for keeping his community SAFE,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post announcing his choice.Mr. Trump repeatedly highlighted the opioid crisis during his campaign, framing it as a major national security threat. The president-elect has threatened to impose damaging tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada in an effort to curb migration and the trafficking of drugs, particularly fentanyl, across U.S. borders.As head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sheriff Chronister will play a central role in addressing the escalating tensions surrounding fentanyl being brought into the United States.In response to the announcement, Sheriff Chronister posted on social media, “It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated” for the position by Mr. Trump. He added, “I am deeply humbled by this opportunity to serve our nation.”The D.E.A., an arm of the Justice Department, said in its fiscal year 2025 budget request that 2023 was the highest year for fentanyl seizures since the agency’s inception more than half a century ago. In addition, the agency confiscated more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. The agency has more than 10,000 employees, with offices in the U.S. and in more than 60 different countries. It has a budget of more than $3 billion.For comparison, Sheriff Chronister’s department in Florida, one of the largest sheriff’s offices in the state, has a 2024 budget of about $600 million and oversees more than 3,500 employees.Sheriff Chronister’s father-in-law, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., received a pardon from Mr. Trump in 2021. Mr. DeBartolo, a former owner of the N.F.L.’s San Francisco 49ers, pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion plot. Though he avoided prison, he was fined $1 million and was suspended for a year by the N.F.L. More

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      Trump Says He Will Nominate Kash Patel to Run F.B.I.

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      President-elect Donald J. Trump turned to a firebrand loyalist to become director of the bureau, which he sees as part of a ‘deep state’ conspiracy against him.President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he wants to replace Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with Kash Patel, a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation’s law enforcement agencies “to heel.”Mr. Trump’s planned nomination of Mr. Patel has echoes of his failed attempt to place another partisan firebrand, Matt Gaetz, atop the Justice Department as attorney general. It could run into hurdles in the Senate, which will be called on to confirm him, and is sure to send shock waves through the F.B.I., which Mr. Trump and his allies have come to view as part of a “deep state” conspiracy against him.Mr. Patel has been closely aligned with Mr. Trump’s belief that much of the nation’s law enforcement and national security establishment needs to be purged of bias and held accountable for what they see as unjustified investigations and prosecutions of Mr. Trump and his allies.Mr. Patel “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution,” Mr. Trump said in announcing his choice in a social media post.He called Mr. Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American people.”Mr. Patel, a favorite of Mr. Trump’s political base, has worked as a federal prosecutor and a public defender, but has little of the law enforcement and management experience typical of F.B.I. directors.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

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      A College Volleyball Team’s Season in the Spotlight Comes to an End

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      The San Jose State women’s team, which has a transgender player, lost to the tournament favorite Colorado State, concluding a season that transcended sports.After months at the center of a debate over a transgender woman’s right to compete in women’s sports, San Jose State University lost its conference championship volleyball game on Saturday, bringing a close to a roller-coaster season upended by an issue that has transcended sports.On a court not far from the Las Vegas Strip, the Spartans fell to the tournament favorite Colorado State University in the Mountain West Conference tournament, failing to advance to next month’s N.C.A.A. tournament, where the spotlight on the Spartans would have grown even brighter.The Spartans advanced to the final without having played in a single previous game at the tournament. It had a bye in the first round and moved straight to the semifinal, where its opponent, Boise State, for the third time this season boycotted the game in protest over the Spartans’ transgender player.That player has not spoken publicly, and The New York Times is not naming her because she has not publicly confirmed her identity. The university also has not confirmed whether the volleyball team has a transgender player, citing educational privacy laws.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.Pashtana Usufzy More