2024
August
14
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 14, 2024
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Amelia Newcomb
Senior editor

Ever heard of “stunt journalism”? Think of a writer who eschews the role of observer in favor of participation. Think of sports writer George Plimpton, who captivated Americans in the 1960s and ’70s by signing up to play pro football (and hockey and baseball) and join the circus.

In today’s Daily, meet A.J. Jacobs, whose desire to plumb originalist interpretations of the U.S. Constitution led him to don attire and write with quill pens the Founding Fathers would recognize. It’s understanding through living the experience – and having some fun, too.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium committed to send more than 60 U.S.-manufactured F-16s to Ukraine this summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hands a combat flag to a service member next to F-16s to mark the Day of the Ukrainian Air Forces, in an undisclosed location, Ukraine, Aug. 4, 2024.

Today’s news briefs

Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald/AP
Officials address the media before a removal flight by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Harlingen, Texas, June 1, 2023. The flight of 28 detainees was bound for Colombia.
Courtesy of AJ Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs (right), his wife, Julie Jacobs, and son Lucas Jacobs attend the reenactment of the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey in 2023. Mr. Jacobs is holding an authentic 18th-century musket.

Difference-maker

Victoria Onelien/Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps walks through the medical area of the Gheskio center, welcoming patients, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 1, 2024.

The Monitor's View

AP
Liberia's President Joseph Boakai

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Viewfinder

Toby Melville/Reuters
A woman relaxes in front of colorful huts at the beach at Walton-on-the-Naze, England, Aug. 13, 2024. The day before, the United Kingdom recorded its hottest day of 2024.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

We hope you enjoyed today’s Daily. Tomorrow, Fred Weir in Moscow and Ned Temko in London will look at the impact of Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, Russia, from domestic and international vantage points. 

More issues

2024
August
14
Wednesday
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