Readers discuss a David French column about a Tennessee legal case. Also: Crime and remorse; ultraprocessed foods; ageism in politics.

They make us love them. No matter how closed our hearts, no matter how battered and crusted over with scars.

Assessing newer voices, and future strategies.

Their economic models produced a disaster, but they doubled down.

An epidemiologist on what public health officials can learn from meteorologists.

We need a new language to talk about the chemicals and plants that change our consciousness.

I was held captive in Gaza. Healing will only happen when all the captives have been brought home.

The Biden administration should approve the proposed $14.9 billion deal with Nippon Steel.

Readers discuss a guest essay arguing that running government like a business would be disastrous. Also: Liberalism; a tech court; aging gracefully.

It’s a source of today’s intense political animosity.

America can’t go backward on drug policy.

We owe it to the right whale — and to so many other species — to reconstruct what our own history has taken from them.

It’s a simple question with a complicated answer.

The continent’s parlous economy and ascendant far right foretell a grim future.

His win did not upend the rules of American politics or render him immune to political misfortune.

Why religious trends in the later 2020s might be different from the trends of the 2010s.

For decades, the film industry seemed to forget how to mint new male matinee idols. Then came a much-needed windfall.

The scholar Elaine Pagels discusses her research about ancient accounts suggesting that Jesus’ father might have been a Roman.

Readers discuss a guest essay by a woman who finds things to cherish in caring for her dad.

Children deserve better than to feel left in the dark against their will.

A surprise congressional standoff remind us that big, discordant changes could be coming.

It was a cushion for workers hurt by free trade. Why did Congress let it lapse?

In search of a New World answer to Narnia and Hogwarts.

Readers discuss his role in the government shutdown negotiations. Also: Trump austerity; G.O.P.’s future; clean energy; guns and young people.

The film feels like an artifact of a more optimistic feminist moment.

The Drone Age is already upon us and the skies are going to get a lot more crowded.

Jigar Shah and Robinson Meyer discuss how the decarbonization rollout can continue during the second Trump administration.

Opinion writers discuss potential legal issues and executive power in a second Trump term.

Remote work is increasingly a privilege enjoyed by the most affluent Americans.