The Opinions

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America Needs More Children. JD Vance’s Shame Game Won’t Get Us There. Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

Despite concerns over the falling birthrate, especially on the right, the Times Opinion columnist David French recognizes that the push to have more families — and bigger ones — has become problematic. In this audio essay, French explains why he thinks the recent political conversation on the topic reveals “the worst form of natalism.”

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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Hiroshima Survivors Were Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Hear Their Warning. Oct 12, 2024

Show notes

This week, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bombing survivors, “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.” Over the summer, in an effort to bring light to this new and terrifying nuclear era, Opinion’s editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, and the writer W.J. Hennigan interviewed Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this audio essay, they share stories from two of the survivors they met, Chieko Kiriake and Keiko Ogura, who were just 15 and 8 years old on Aug. 6, 1945.

To see more photographs and read more stories from them and other survivors, click here.

This piece originally appeared on nytimes.com on Aug. 6, 2024.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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Why I Don’t Regret Paying My Kid $100 to Read a Book Oct 10, 2024

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Mirielle Silcoff received backlash when she wrote a guest essay for Times Opinion about paying her 12-year-old daughter $100 to read a novel. In this audio essay, Ms. Silcoff explains why she doesn’t regret her decision, and why she felt like the experience for her daughter was worth the cost.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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Why Kamala Harris's 'Call Her Daddy' Strategy Might Not be Enough Oct 09, 2024

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Donald Trump has been on a tour of the Gen Z influencer ecosystem, from Theo Von to Adin Ross. In this episode of “The Opinions,” Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, argues that Trump is trying to win the support of young men, a once loyal Democratic constituency. Mr. Pfeiffer says Democrats ignore these voters at their peril, for the 2024 election and beyond: “There is no post-Trump era if Gen Z men become firmly adherents of MAGA philosophy,” he explains.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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I Was a Teacher in Gaza. This Is What Haunts Me Now. Oct 08, 2024

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The last time Mosab Abu Toha, a poet and teacher, was in a classroom in Gaza, it was to shelter with his students and their families, all seeking refuge from Israeli airstrikes. Since then, he and his family have fled Gaza, and they temporarily reside in the United States. In this audio essay, he shares what it means when classrooms cease being places of learning and become a family’s only hope for survival.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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I Live in Israel. I Never Hear About What My Country Is Doing to Gaza. Oct 07, 2024

Show notes

Israeli anger toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been building in the year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Mairav Zonszein, an Israeli-American journalist and analyst, argues that this anger does not extend to the plight of the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and yet, she says, Israelis are stuck in a cycle of “apathy” and “indifference,” unable to fully realize the devastation befalling their neighbors.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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The Real Loser of the V.P. Debate Oct 03, 2024

Show notes

M. Gessen, an Opinion columnist, watched Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate with a sense of dread. In their mind, the question was not who would win the debate but, rather: How much did we lose? In this audio essay, Gessen argues that when we put Trump and his acolytes on the same platform as regular politicians and treat them equally, “that normalization degrades our political life and degrades our understanding of politics.”

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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Thomas Friedman: ‘This Is Code Red Time in the Middle East’ Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

Thomas Friedman, an Opinion columnist and Middle East correspondent, is keenly aware of the many red lines that have been crossed in the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. He says, after Iran’s latest attack on Israel, anything is possible — from symbolic retaliation to the bombing of a nuclear facility. Hear why he believes that “this really is the most dangerous moment in the modern Middle East.”

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com

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Luxury Turkish Travel Is the Least of Our Worries Oct 01, 2024

Show notes

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, was indicted last week for soliciting foreign funds for his campaign and for personal use. Casey Michel, director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, argues that to prevent the further degradation of our democracy, officials need to be more aggressive about enforcing existing foreign interference laws.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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The Only Patriotic Choice for President Sep 30, 2024

Show notes

Listen to Times Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury make the case for Kamala Harris.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

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