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      Shouldn’t Trump Voters Be Viewed as Traitors?

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      The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on whether voters should be held accountable for their chosen candidate’s behavior.From my perspective, the attack on the Capitol spurred on by Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, the efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 election with false electors and unfounded court cases and the persistent effort to discredit those election results without evidence amounted to an attempt to overthrow a pillar of our democracy. More to the point, 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 includes crimes against the nation described as treason, misprision of treason, rebellion or insurrection, seditious conspiracy and advocating the overthrow of government. I hold anyone voting for Trump at least morally guilty for the consequences of Jan. 6 and everything that follows the recent election. Would you agree that people who vote for Trump in light of these circumstances are themselves guilty of treasonous acts? — Name WithheldFrom the Ethicist:Something like three-quarters of Americans, surveys over the past year report, think democracy in America is threatened. To go by exit-poll data, those voters supported Trump in about the same proportions as those who thought democracy was secure. In a study published last year, researchers at U.C. Berkeley and M.I.T. provided evidence that democratic back-sliding around the world — with citizens voting for authoritarian leaders — is driven in part by voters who believe in democracy but doubt that the other side does. The researchers found that such voters, once shown the actual levels of support for democracy among their opponents, became less likely to vote for candidates who violated democratic norms. The general point is that not understanding the actual views of people of other parties — and assuming the worst of them — can be dangerous for democracy.Trump voters, for the most part, don’t think he committed treason. And your position can’t be that unknowingly voting for someone guilty of treason is itself treasonous. Perhaps you think that they should believe him to have been treasonous. Similar issues were aired when Henry Wallace, otherwise a highly dissimilar figure, ran for president in 1948. He had denounced the Marshall Plan, wanted the Soviet Union to play a role in the governance of Germany’s western industrial heartland and — detractors thought — was a Stalin apologist.Historians can debate whether he was a voice of conscience or a pawn of America’s adversaries. But suppose you were among those who viewed him as a traitor. To have extended the indictment to his supporters would have been to criminalize political disagreement. Besides, if voting for someone who has done bad things makes you guilty of them, most voters are in deep trouble. It’s easy to be inflamed by someone with a habit of making inflammatory statements. But there may be a cost when you deem those who vote for the other side as ‘‘the enemy from within.’’ That’s a term that Trump has freely employed, of course. You’ll want to ask yourself whether protecting democracy is best served by adopting this attitude.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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      Nigeria Boat Capsizes, Killing at Least 27

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      Rescuers were searching for survivors after the vessel, taking passengers to a food market, capsized along the River Niger, officials said.ABUJA, Nigeria — At least 27 people were killed and more than 100, mostly women, were missing on Friday after a boat transporting them to a food market capsized along the River Niger in northern Nigeria, the authorities said.About 200 passengers were on the boat traveling from the state of Kogi to the neighboring state of Niger when it capsized, said Ibrahim Audu, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency.Rescuers had managed to pull 27 bodies from the river by Friday evening, while divers were still searching for survivors, according to Sandra Musa, a spokeswoman for the Kogi state emergency services.The authorities have not confirmed the cause of the sinking, but local news outlets suggested the boat might have been overloaded. Overcrowding on boats is common in remote parts of Nigeria, where the lack of good roads leaves many with no alternative routes.Most previous deadly boat accidents in Nigeria have been attributed to overcrowding and the lack of maintenance of the boats, often built locally to accommodate as many passengers as possible in defiance of safety measures.Also, the authorities have not been able to enforce the use of life jackets on such trips, often because of the lack of availability or cost.Justin Uwazuruonye, who is in charge of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency operations in the state, said rescuers had trouble finding the location of the capsized vessel for hours after tragedy struck.Such deadly episodes are increasingly becoming a source of concern in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as the authorities struggle to enforce safety measures and regulations for water transportation. More

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      Justice Dept. Girds for a Test of Its Independence

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      President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to install loyalists have left officials fearful that he intends to carry out his threats of retribution but hopeful that rule-of-law norms can hold.It was an early case of Donald J. Trump seeking retribution through the Justice Department.In the first year of Mr. Trump’s first presidency, Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed a top federal prosecutor to review whether the F.B.I. had failed to fully pursue investigations involving Hillary Clinton, including an inquiry into the Clinton Foundation’s ties to a Russian uranium mining operation.The appointment of the prosecutor, John W. Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was championed by many on the right eager to turn the spotlight away from Mr. Trump’s ties to Moscow. But when Mr. Huber’s work ended years later with no charges or public report, Mr. Trump publicly called him a “garbage disposal unit for important documents.”As Mr. Trump begins filling out his administration and putting his stamp on Washington again, few issues loom larger than the resilience of the Justice Department’s tradition of independence and its commitment to the rule of law.Mr. Trump’s grievance-laden campaign rhetoric has left many current and former agency officials fearful that he will seek to turn it into a department of revenge aimed at foes inside and outside government.They said they worried that Mr. Trump’s past experiences with the Justice Department mean he is less likely this time to settle for an investigation like Mr. Huber’s — one that leads to little punishment or pain for anyone.In an interview, Mr. Huber characterized his work during Mr. Trump’s first term as a sign of the Justice Department’s ability to withstand any political pressure.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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      California Man to Reunite With Family 25 Years After He ‘Vanished With No Trace’

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      Marcella Nasseri saw a man who resembled her long-lost brother in the news. Fingerprint scans solved the decades-old case.For years, Marcella Nasseri searched for the remains of her brother, who she believed had died after he mysteriously disappeared in Doyle, Calif., 25 years ago.Now, Ms. Nasseri’s brother, who vanished in August 1999, has been found and identified in the Los Angeles area and is being reunited with his family, the authorities announced on Tuesday.It all started when Ms. Nasseri saw an article in USA Today from May that asked the public for help identifying a patient who had been found sitting on a curb in south Los Angeles nearly a month before. He had been staying at emergency facilities including St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood near Long Beach, Calif., for weeks.The article, which explained that the patient could not communicate, included a photo of the man — with gray hair and blue eyes, believed to be in his mid-60s — lying in a hospital bed.Ms. Nasseri believed the patient was her missing brother, Tommy. She added an undated photograph of her brother as a younger man in a GoFundMe post earlier this week. Tommy had more dark hair than the man in the hospital bed but his arched eyebrows, rounded nose and deep-set eyes showed a resemblance between the two.In an attempt to have her inclination confirmed or denied, Ms. Nasseri contacted the local authorities. Derek Kennemore, the deputy sheriff of Lassen County in Northern California, then pushed for a detective with the Missing Persons Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department to obtain the fingerprints of the unidentified patient, according to a statement from the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office.“The Detective was able to positively identify the man as the one reported missing in 1999 from Doyle,” the statement said.St. Francis Medical Center, the county sheriff and Ms. Nasseri did not respond to requests for comment. Tommy’s condition and how he disappeared were not immediately clear.“He just VANISHED with no trace,” Ms. Nasseri said in her post. “Not even his vehicle was ever located.”Now, the two are working to be reunited. Ms. Nasseri lives in Lassen County, about 600 miles north of Lynwood, Calif., where her brother is staying. For the cost of a possible medical transfer as well as items like men’s clothing, pencils and paper so he can draw, Ms. Nasseri sought $500 in donations on the crowdsourcing site.After two days, the page had raised nearly $7,000.Some of the money, Ms. Nasseri said, would also go to buy her brother a device so he could listen to some of the songs that she remembers him loving — including one especially prescient tune by Cyndi Lauper.“If you’re lost you can look and you will find me,” Ms. Lauper sings in one of the tunes that appeared on Tommy’s list. “Time after time.” More

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      Notre-Dame Shines, and World Gets a Sneak Peek, on Macron’s Televised Tour

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      “You’ve achieved what was said to be impossible,” the French president told workers at the Paris monument, which will reopen after the 2019 fire.President Emmanuel Macron of France toured the Paris cathedral five years after it was damaged in a devastating fire. The landmark is expected to reopen to the public next month.Pool photo by Christophe Petit TessonThe world got its first glimpse on Friday of the newly renovated Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.President Emmanuel Macron of France took viewers on a live televised tour of the cathedral’s dazzlingly clean interior and rebuilt roofing, five years after a devastating fire that was followed by a colossal reconstruction effort.“I believe you are seeing the cathedral like it has never been seen before,” Philippe Jost, the head of the reconstruction task force, told Mr. Macron.The French president and his wife, Brigitte, gushed with admiration and craned their necks as they entered the 12th and 13th-century Gothic monument alongside the mayor and archbishop of Paris.More than 450,000 square feet of cream-colored limestone inside the cathedral have been meticulously stripped of ash, lead dust and centuries of accumulated grime, leaving its soaring vaults, thick columns and tall walls almost startlingly bright.Mr. Macron’s visit before the monument is scheduled to reopen next week was an opportunity for him to shift focus away from the country’s political turmoil and budgetary woes. It will put the spotlight on a bet that he made, and that appears to have paid off, to rebuild the cathedral on a tight five-year deadline.“You’ve achieved what was said to be impossible,” Mr. Macron told an assembly of over half of the 2,000 workers and craftsmen from around France — and beyond — who contributed to the cathedral’s reconstruction. 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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      UK Lawmakers Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying After Emotional Debate

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      In a landmark decision on Friday, Parliament voted in favor of allowing assisted suicide for the terminally ill in England and Wales.British lawmakers on Friday voted to allow assisted dying for terminally ill patients in England and Wales under strict conditions, opening the way to one of the most significant changes in the country in decades.After five hours of debate in the House of Commons, they voted by 330 to 275 to support a plan that would allow people with a terminal illness, who are expected to live no more than six months, to be helped to die.The vote was not the final word on the legislation, because it will now be scrutinized in parliamentary committees and amendments to the bill may be put forward.But it is a landmark political moment, setting the stage for a significant social change that some have likened to Britain’s legalization of abortion in 1967 and the abolition of the death penalty in 1969.Assisted dying is legal in a handful of European countries, Canada, New Zealand, and in 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The decision follows weeks of fraught, often emotional public debate in Britain over an issue of ethics that has transcended party political affiliations.This is a developing story. More

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      The ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ Author Wants Us to Give Thanks Every Day

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      The world is a gift, not a giant Amazon warehouse, Robin Wall Kimmerer said. In her new book, “The Serviceberry,” she proposes gratitude as an antidote to prevailing views of nature as a commodity.Every summer, the botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer takes a group of students on a two-week field trip deep into the woods and bogs of the Adirondacks.For their final exam, students prepare a feast from foraged plants, dining on a wild menu of boiled cattail kebabs, roasted rhizomes, stir-fried day lily buds, lichen noodles in a gelatinous broth of boiled rock tripe. For dessert there are serviceberry and cattail pollen pancakes, smothered in pine-scented spruce needle syrup.Before digging in, the group recites the Thanksgiving address — an invocation within Indigenous Haudenosaunee communities that gives thanks to the earth and its abundance.“We start the class with a Thanksgiving address to share our sense of gratitude for the plants, and we end the same way,” said Kimmerer, a professor of environmental biology at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, who is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. “So we learn about the gifts of plants and how to receive them.”Kimmerer often says that plants have been her teachers throughout her life. As a little girl, she stashed shoe boxes of pressed leaves and seeds under her bed. Later, as a young botanist, she studied the mysteries of moss reproduction. Throughout her decades of research and environmental advocacy, as she’s pushed to bring Indigenous knowledge into ecological conservation work, she’s learned about the delicate web of relationships between plants and their surroundings.Now, as a renowned plant ecologist and best-selling author, Kimmerer is teaching millions of people how to learn from plants.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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      Can Exercise Help a Hangover?

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      If you overdid it last night, here’s how to know whether it’s wise to sweat through it.Electrolyte drinks, ibuprofen, a bagel overflowing with bacon, egg and cheese — everyone has their own way of nursing a hangover. There are also plenty of products that claim to make the experience less miserable, with little evidence to support them.But what about exercise? Some people swear that a workout can help cure, or blunt, a hangover. If it can, what type of movement could be most helpful?“There’s very few settings where exercise is not beneficial,” said Dr. Andy Peterson, a team physician at the University of Iowa. It’s “the closest thing we have to a miracle drug in medicine.”That includes hangovers — with some caveats — he said. Here’s what experts advise if you are thinking about sweating through a rough morning.How does a hangover affect your body?After a night of drinking, several things happen to your body at once, said Dr. Shaan Khurshid, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. You might be dehydrated and you might experience sleep disturbances, digestive issues or a spike in anxiety.While hangover symptoms and their severity can vary a lot between people — and even for the same person at different times — no one is going to be at their physical peak after drinking a substantial amount of alcohol, Dr. Khurshid said.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