Home//The Week Magazine/November 1, 2019/In This Issue
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Editor’s letter“Public sentiment is everything,” Abraham Lincoln once said. “With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.” It’s endlessly surprising how often this foundational principle of democratic politics eludes activists and elected officials in both parties’ ideological extremes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has bet her surging presidential campaign on Medicare for All, fired by the conviction that 150 million Americans should be happy to trade in private health coverage for a government-run system they’ve never experienced. (See Talking Points.) But an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll recently found just 41 percent supported a single-payer system that eliminates private insurance, with 56 percent opposed—a consistent finding in public surveys.Opposition to Medicare for All would only grow during a general election campaign, as Republicans target “socialized medicine” with $1 billion in…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019It wasn’t all badWhen a pair of identical twin girls were born at a Georgia hospital, a pair of identical twin nurses were there to welcome them into the world. Tori Howard and her sister Tara Drinkard, 26, have been employed for years at the Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center. But they had never teamed up in the delivery room until Rebecca Williams arrived for a C-section. Her babies, Emma and Addison, were born 3 minutes apart, and Tori and Tara each attended to a twin. “We’ve always worked well together,” said Drinkard.NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch took a giant leap for womankind last week when they stepped out of the International Space Station and embarked on the first all-female spacewalk. Meir, 42, and Koch, 40, spent nearly eight hours outside…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Only in AmericaProcter & Gamble has agreed to remove the Venus femininity symbol from the packaging of its menstruation products in response to complaints from trans activists. P&G said activists have helped it understand that “not everyone who has a period and needs to use a pad identifies as female”; the company will “use a new wrapper design without the feminine symbol.”Officials in Mississippi this week erected a fourth monument to Emmett Till, the black 14-year-old lynched by a white mob in 1955, after three previous monuments were stolen and/or riddled with bullets. The new monument to Till weighs more than 500 pounds and is made from hardened steel covered with a thick acrylic panel that should “withstand a rifle round without damage,” according to the Emmett Till Memory Project.Affordable Care Act…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019How Parton developed her styleDolly Parton is proud of what she admits is her “totally artificial look,” said Véronique Hyland in Elle. The fourth of 12 kids from Locust Ridge, Tenn., Parton began appearing on local TV at age 10 and developed her Backwoods Barbie persona based on what she calls a “country girl’s idea of glamour.” She remembers her mentor, country star Chet Atkins, seeing her heavy makeup, eyelash extensions, and revealing clothing and telling her, “Dolly, you need to tone it down. People are never going to take you seriously.” She stuck with her look. “I was not a raving natural beauty,” says Parton, now 73. “I wanted to be striking. I wanted to be seen.” In Nashville, she quickly earned respect—as an artist and as a businesswoman. In the 1970s, Elvis…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019In the newsMeghan Markle had “no idea” how difficult life as a royal would be, the duch*ess of Sussex confessed this week in a TV documentary. Before she married Prince Harry, Markle says, she was giddy with excitement, but her friends in the U.K. warned her that “British tabloids will destroy your life.” She says she didn’t believe them, until she was subjected to relentless speculation about feuds with her new relatives while she was also adjusting to a new marriage, pregnancy, and motherhood. “I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip,” says Markle, 38. But the American former actress says she concluded that the Brits’ stoic style “is probably really damaging.” She tells her hubby—“H,” as she calls him—“It is not enough to just survive.…You’ve got…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Rural voters aren’t stupidCrispin SartwellThe Wall Street JournalWhy do struggling rural Americans “vote against their own interests”? Social-justice leftists have been asking this question for years, said Crispin Sartwell, finding it unfathomable that “ignorant, manipulated rubes” in red states support Republicans like President Trump, instead of lining up behind Democrats who want to spend more money on food stamps, public housing, and other government assistance. Liberals blame this puzzling phenomenon on “sheer genetic redneck boneheadedness,” or on the manipulation of “malevolent forces” such as Fox News. The fundamental flaw in this analysis is the assumption that rural voters have only material—that is, monetary—interests. It doesn’t occur to the Left that rural people might genuinely value self-reliance and self-respect, and distrust government programs that breed dependency and put decisions about their lives and local…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019I read it in the tabloidsA toy fox terrier that vanished from its family’s Orlando home in 2007 has been found 1,130 miles away in Pittsburgh. The dog’s owner, Katheryn Strang, said she never stopped paying the annual fee for the microchip embedded in the now-14-year-old Dutchess or updating her family’s address as they changed homes. Dutchess was discovered hungry and shivering under a shed by animal rescuers. “Where have you been?” Strang said as she scooped up her long-lost dog. “They are like your babies. You don’t give up hope.”A London woman strolling along a British beach was shocked to discover a shell bearing an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden. Legal secretary Debra Oliver, 60, was walking with her husband when she was “drawn to this curious-looking shell” among the millions scattered on…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019United Kingdom: Johnson wins, and loses, on BrexitThere is finally “a glimmer of light at the end of the Brexit tunnel,” said The Times in an editorial. Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a major victory this week in getting the House of Commons to vote for a withdrawal agreement negotiated with the European Union—something his predecessor, Theresa May, failed three times to do. Indeed, just hammering out a pact with the EU was an achievement. Johnson’s deal does away with May’s dreaded “Irish backstop.” That measure was intended to prevent a post-Brexit hard border between the U.K. province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, but would have kept the entire U.K. bound by EU regulations for years. Under Boris’ deal, only Northern Ireland will effectively stay in the EU single market; goods…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Unified in disgust at the eliteLEBANONMédéa AzouriL’Orient–Le JourLebanon’s long-suffering people are finally rising up, said Médéa Azouri. “In an unprecedented popular outpouring,” hundreds of thousands took to the streets in towns and cities across the country this week to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the entire legislature. Burning tires have blocked roads for days, and schools and businesses have been closed. The initial spur to protest was a proposed $6-a-month tax on WhatsApp voice calls, but the real issue runs deeper. The people are sick of “seeing the same politicians robbing us, treating us like idiots, forcing us to bail out the government’s coffers that they have looted before our own eyes.” Blackouts are frequent, trash piles up in the streets, and young people struggle to find work, yet the elite…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019NotedNearly a third of the world’s electricity will come from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind by 2024, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. But the agency says the 50 percent surge in growth of renewables over the next five years will still fall “well short” of the dramatic changes needed to fight climate change.CNN.comPresident Trump and the Republican National Committee have raised more than $300 million for his re-election so far, more than any other sitting president at this point in the campaign. Trump’s campaign and the RNC have about $158 million in cash on hand, nearly twice as much as President Obama and the DNC had at this juncture in 2011.Politico.comA Chinese photographer won top prize for Wildlife Photographer of the Year…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Innovation of the weekAsus’ new laptop comes with two screens, said Chaim Gartenberg in TheVerge.com. The ZenBook Pro Duo is “not the first two-screen laptop by any means,” but the implementation this time is actually “shockingly useful.” Instead of wasting the space above the keyboard, Asus has filled it with a 14-inch “ScreenPad Plus” display. It’s no gimmick; it’s “a full-fledged secondary laptop screen” that complements the 15.6-inch screen above it. The base of the laptop includes a screen hinge that lifts it off the desk. That makes the dual screen easier—albeit not perfectly easy—to see without always craning your neck, so “I could put a full-screen Netflix or YouTube video up on the main panel while still being able to browse social media” below.…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Slow walker, slow mindPeople in their 40s who walk slowly are more likely to have slower brains, new research suggests. Doctors have long used walking speed as a marker for cognitive capacity in older people, because gait is linked to the central nervous system. But this is the first study to suggest that the same analysis might work for younger folk, reports BBC.com. The data came from a long-term study that followed some 900 New Zealanders from their birth in the 1970s to their 45th birthday, testing their walking speed and examining their physical health and brain function. The slower walkers tended to display signs of accelerated aging in their lungs, teeth, and immune systems, as the researchers had expected. But to their surprise, MRI scans also found that the brains of the…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The Body: A Guide for Occupants(Doubleday, $30)“We humans are ad-hoc creatures, a jumble of work-arounds and jury-rigging,” said John Ross in The Wall Street Journal. We are also so endlessly fascinated with ourselves that several authors have recently written books attempting to thoroughly explain the workings of the human body. Nobody, though, has done it quite as well as Bill Bryson, who “writes better, is more amusing, and has greater mastery of his material than anyone else.” The body’s design, he reminds us, is part miracle, part mistake. Our bones are stronger than reinforced concrete yet light enough to allow us to sprint. But we are unable, unlike many other life-forms, to produce our own Vitamin C, and our long, vertical windpipes make us prone to choking. Bryson reflects us whole, and he’s “brisk, provocative,…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Chosen by Saeed JonesSaeed Jones is a poet whose first collection, Prelude to Bruise, won the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award. His new memoir, How We Fight for Our Lives, describes how owning his hom*osexuality required distancing himself from his mother’s love.We the Animals by Justin Torres (2011). Michael Cunningham rightfully called this autobiographical novel a “dark jewel.” When I was working on my memoir, I often thought about how Torres uses lyricism to color the emotional nuances of the main character’s coming-of-age experiences.The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (2010). Without a doubt, this is the book I have recommended the most in the past decade. Drawing on incredible research and countless interviews, Wilkerson follows three black Southerners who—like millions of others in the 20th century—moved north to escape Jim Crow’s caste…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The new and reimagined Museum of Modern ArtA century after it remade the way Americans see the world, “we are finally beginning to outgrow modernism,” said Jerry Saltz in NYMag.com. This week, the home of the world’s greatest collection of modern art reopened after another dramatic expansion, and the institution’s latest triumph also announces a capitulation. The new Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan has grown by nearly a third, and it still displays Picassos, Matisses, and Rothkos that can take your breath away. But it has decisively turned away from one of the central tenets of the modernist movement: that progress is the goal of all art and that the only artists who matter are those who advance the story, usually by rejecting what came before. To be sure, MoMA “won’t be changing that much.”…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The Morning ShowMaybe the best reason to shell out $5 a month for Apple’s new streaming service is to follow what Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon have done with the new opportunity. Aniston, returning to a lead TV role for the first time since Friends, plays a veteran network star who loses her morning-show co-host (Steve Carell) when, Matt Lauer–like, he is felled by sexual misconduct allegations. That opens a seat for Witherspoon’s Bradley Jackson, an ambitious reporter who sees no reason why America’s mornings can’t find room for only one female star. Available for streaming Friday, Nov. 1, Apple TV+…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Japanese soufflé pancakesJapanese soufflé pancakes are “even better than they sound,” said Daniel Neman in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. To make these “absurdly delectable” breakfast treats you’ll want a set of ring molds, about 3 inches wide and 2½ inches deep, purchased online or from a restaurant supply store. Tuna cans, cut out on both sides, also work.Japanese soufflé pancakes•1½ cups all-purpose flour • 3 tbsp powdered sugar • 2 tsp baking powder •½ tsp salt • 1¼ cups milk • 4 tbsp butter cut into pieces • 1 large egg yolk •½ tsp vanilla extract • 3 large egg whites • ¼ tsp cream of tartar • butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar for serving• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a saucepan,…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The return of luxury dirigiblesIf all goes well, the first commercial voyage of the world’s largest aircraft will be “unmistakably an elite experience,” said Henry Mance in the Financial Times. The Airlander 10, a blimp-like craft that’s as long as a football field, recently completed enough test flights that a Swedish company began booking 2023 trips to the North Pole at $79,000 per passenger. The U.K.-built vessel, nicknamed “the flying bum” because of its funky shape, is one of several airships being developed by firms that are betting that luxury travel can make the new zeppelins more profitable than the previous century’s. The large cabin, at least in prototype form, “resembles a superyacht,” with its own lounge and a bar. But the main appeal is the chance for a bird’s-eye view, from just 1,000…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The 2020 Corvette StingrayThe Detroit News“The world’s elite automakers should be very afraid.” Chevrolet has finally created a mid-engine Corvette, and the “blindingly fast” result is as nimble as a Porsche Cayman, as powerful as European exotics costing four times as much, and “nicer inside than a Lambo.” For decades, “the book on the Chevy Corvette has been that it’s the poor man’s supercar,” delivering world-class power but subpar comfort and handling. Well, “throw out the book”: The new Vette is “a supercar without compromise.”AutoweekThis baby feels “built for Grudge Night at the local drag strip.” Lift the brake pedal with the throttle pinned and the car launches to 60 mph in a breathtaking 2.8 seconds. And the engine roar is “pure American glory.” And yet the new Corvette is as civilized as…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019For hunting ghostsGhost Sensor EM4 Detector is one of several “ghost-hunting” apps that can be fun whether you believe in ghosts or not. It uses a phone’s sensors to detect changes in electromagnetic fields, and the meter’s needle is supposed to move whenever there’s a spirit nearby. The interface makes your phone look like a gadget from Ghostbusters.Ghost Hunting Tools claims to be for fun only, but the iOS app includes EMF meters and EVP (“electronic voice phenomena”) detection—tools used by pro ghost hunters.iOvilus can allegedly detect ghost whispers using “instrumental transcommunication.” Whatever your interpretation, the noises that the iOS app produces sure do sound creepy.Ghostcom Radar Spirit Detector shows you on a radar display where ghosts might be lurking inside a haunted house. It also lets users ask questions of the…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Pharma: Settlement in bellwether opioid caseThree major drug distributors and an opioid manufacturer reached a $260 million settlement hours before the start of a landmark federal trial this week, said Jan Hoffman in The New York Times. McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay $215 million to Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Summit Counties to settle a lawsuit that alleged the “companies had delivered highly suspicious quantities of opioids without reporting them to authorities.” Teva, an Israel-based drug manufacturer, agreed to pay $20 million and “donate $25 million worth of addiction-treatment drugs.” Walgreens, the remaining defendant, declined to settle and will face a separate trial.China: Growth slows across the boardChina’s economy in the third quarter grew at its slowest pace since 1992, said James Areddy in The Wall Street Journal. The country’s GDP growth rate decelerated…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019What the experts sayWhen ‘free’ filing isn’t freeIntuit knows it is deceiving customers with “free” tax-filing services that have made the company billions, said Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel in ProPublica.org. In recent years, Intuit has “unleashed a battalion of lobbyists” to persuade lawmakers to stop the IRS from creating a no-cost tax-filing option that might compete with its TurboTax. The company also hired designers, engineers, marketers, and data scientists to work on how to “monetize free.” To claim some write-offs, such as the student loan interest deduction, Intuit’s so-called Free File requires upgrades—a trap “that can push customers lured with the promise of ‘free’ into paying, sometimes more than $200.” Knowing that customers who’ve already started on their taxes will often pay rather than starting anew, Intuit buries paywalls that pop up…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019One unusual way to dodge angry clientsSabrina WillmerBloomberg.comMoney manager Ken Fisher has amassed a $3.8 billion fortune, promoting himself as a “brilliant stock picker with the help of almost a dozen books, torrents of direct mail, seminars, videos, ads, magazine columns, and more,” said Sabrina Willmer. Investors have trusted Fisher with $100 billion to manage. Lately, he has come under scrutiny following vulgar and sexist comments he made at an industry conference. But for individual investors—whose money makes up two-thirds of Fisher Investments’ assets—the real problem with Fisher’s firm is that it employs aggressive tactics to sell investments with steep fees and lackluster returns. Salespeople make hundreds of cold calls a day from the “dank basem*nt” of Fisher’s headquarters, “sifting through names of mostly unqualified or uninterested prospects” to reel in investors. “The firm’s advertisem*nts say…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The literary critic who revered the Western canonHarold Bloom said he knew exactly which books were worth reading, because he had read them all. The famed literary critic and Yale professor was a self-declared “monster” reader, capable of devouring 1,000 pages an hour. Armed with a photographic memory, Bloom claimed he could recite all of Shakespeare, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the Hebraic Bible. His 1994 magnum opus, The Western Canon, set out the 26 writers—four of them women—who he believed would stand the test of time. Despite his highbrow tastes, Bloom wrote several best-sellers and relished his celebrity. He delighted in attacking feminists, multiculturalists, and African-American literary scholars, lumping their politically aware work into what he termed the “School of Resentment.” “Literature is not an instrument of social change,” Bloom said. “It is more a mode of…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Ambassador’s damaging testimony on UkraineWhat happenedA House vote to impeach President Trump became a near-certainty this week after Acting Ukrainian Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. testified that he was explicitly told that President Trump had suspended $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Taylor’s damaging testimony came days after White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney shocked the president’s lawyers and supporters by admitting in a televised press conference that Trump had conditioned the release of the congressionally approved aid—intended to help fund Ukraine’s fight against Russian-backed separatists—on Zelensky opening an investigation into a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, and not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. When a reporter said to Mulvaney,…5 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Impeachment: Will Republicans turn on Trump?The odds of the GOP-held Senate removing President Trump from office remain slim, said Jonathan Chait in NYMag.com, but after the past few dizzying weeks, that “prospect is no longer a fantasy.” Trump’s abrupt decision to pull troops out of Syria and abandon the Kurds was “genuinely alarming” to Senate Republicans, proving he no longer has adult supervision to restrain him. Then came the president’s ill-fated attempt to host the next G-7 summit at his own Doral Miami golf resort, and revelations by Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Ambassador Bill Taylor that left no doubt that Trump demanded investigations of Democrats in return for military aid to Ukraine. Privately, Republican senators think little of Trump, and they may decide that “ripping off the Band-Aid” and removing him from office…3 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Suspicious deathDenverA mother who raised tens of thousands of dollars in 2017 to fulfill the dying wishes of her 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, was charged last week with first-degree murder and fraud. Kelly Renee Turner allegedly invented Olivia’s rare disorders, made her get needless treatments, and ultimately left her to die in hospice care. Turner, 41, who denies wrongdoing, had created a GoFundMe page for Olivia, her “sweet little princess.” The girl’s handwritten “bucket list” went viral, and TV crews filmed her helping firefighters and dressing up in a Disney fantasy courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But doctors flagged doubts about her medical problems, and her remains were exhumed last year. Turner allegedly concocted a similar scheme for her older daughter, who is alive. Prosecutors, who have not disclosed Olivia’s true cause…4 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Pharrell’s new outlookPharrell Williams has been rethinking his views on masculinity, said Will Welch in GQ. When Williams debuted as a hip-hop producer and performer in the 1990s, he often embraced rap’s braggadocious misogyny. Stars like Jay-Z and Puff Daddy, he says, “were not quiet about being successful. They had created this energy of what success could look like for us as African-American men.” Williams’ mindset changed when he befriended the Japanese designer Nigo and began visiting him in Tokyo. “He bowed all the time,” says Williams, 46. “Tokyo’s way of humility was seeping into my soul. I was like, these people are so kind all the time.” Humility, however, was not easy to master. “It’s an art form,” he says. “It’s something you work at.” As he did work at it,…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Making the flu vaccineGetting a flu shot is a seasonal rite. But why do you need one every year—and why doesn’t it always work?How does the vaccine work?The flu vaccine contains inactive or weakened versions of three or four different strains of the influenza virus. Most people receive the vaccine via injection, but there is also a nasal spray available. The weakened viruses can’t cause serious illness, but they trigger and train the immune system to fight off the invading microorganisms. White blood cells generate an army of antibodies, which attack and destroy the vaccine viruses by attaching themselves to parts of the virus known as antigens. The vaccine antigens have the same shape as real flu antigens, so the immune system now has antibodies that match up with the real flu virus.…5 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Democratic race is far from overJon Cowan and Jim KesslerTheDailyBeast.comJust five weeks before the Iowa primary in 2004, a national poll carried the headline “Dean Pulls Away in Dem Race,” said Jon Cowan and Jim Kessler. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, of course, did not win the Democratic presidential nomination that year; the eventual winner was Sen. John Kerry, who was languishing in sixth place, with just 4 percent support. This should remind us that front-runners at this stage of the nomination process often stumble and fall, while candidates far back in the pack—such as Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar—can catch fire if current poll leaders Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren fail to stand up to intense “scrutiny and pressure.” In past nomination battles, Ed Muskie, Ted Kennedy, and Gary Hart all led the…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Nationalists hijacking WikipediaPOLANDOmer BenjakobHaaretz (Israel)Polish nationalists have been using Wikipedia to rewrite and distort the history of the Holocaust, said Omer Benjakob. In 2006, Polish volunteer editors changed the English-language Wikipedia entry for “Warsaw concentration camp” so that it claimed 200,000 ethnic Poles were gassed to death at the internment center. In fact, that Nazi concentration camp was built on the site of the city’s former Jewish ghetto and housed the Jewish prisoners who were forced to demolish the area. No Nazi gas chambers ever existed in Warsaw. Yet the camp’s “fake history” remained in the online encyclopedia for nearly 13 years and was inserted into dozens of other Wikipedia entries on Nazi crimes. The edits push the revisionist history invented by Polish nationalists, which posits that “the Poles in general—not just…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Mexico: Where the cartels rule the streetsForget the government—drug barons are now the “true authority” in Mexico, said Raymundo Riva Palacio in El Financiero. That much is obvious following a disastrous operation last week to arrest Ovidio Guzmán López, a leader of the Sinaloa crime syndicate and a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Seeking to execute a U.S. arrest warrant, some 35 soldiers raided a safe house in the Sinaloan capital of Culiacán, where Ovidio was hiding out. Adamant that no other member of his family would be extradited to the U.S.—El Chapo is now serving life at a supermax prison in Colorado—Ovidio’s older brother, Iván, quickly deployed an army of cartel gunmen. Some 150 sicarios surrounded the safe house, taking eight troops hostage. Another 200 outlaws caused havoc throughout the city, blocking major roads…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Managing for growthHow to hire and retain the people who will help your business succeedIs hiring harder for small businesses?In a word, yes. With unemployment at a record low, hiring is difficult for everyone, but small businesses, inevitably stretched thinner, can’t really afford to make hiring mistakes. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average cost of a bad hire is about 30 percent of the first year’s salary—that’s close to $25,000 for an $80,000-a-year employee. Small businesses often can’t match the salaries of big corporations; this has been even more of a challenge as the explosion of information on career sites has made workers more aware of what competitors offer. You can step up in ways beyond the salary—from a bonus structure to perks like lunches. “Employers, especially small employers,…4 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Tulsi Gabbard: A Democratic enigma“What was Hillary Clinton thinking?” asked Tom Nichols in TheAtlantic.com. Unprovoked, Clinton started “conspiracy theorizing” on a podcast last week, claiming Russia is “grooming” Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard—the 38-year-old Hawaiian congresswoman who “barely registered in polls”—to run as a third-party spoiler. It was a characteristic “clumsy, self-absorbed move” by Clinton, who probably wanted to get back at Gabbard for endorsing Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders in 2016. In response, an irate Gabbard called Clinton “queen of warmongers” and the “personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party.” Gabbard is no Russian asset, said Jeet Heer in TheNation.com, but she certainly is “an exotic figure.” A mixed-race Hawaiian whose Samoan father belonged to a religious offshoot of Hare Krishna, she’s a combat veteran with an Islamophobic streak and inexplicably…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Social media: Facebook’s free speech pleaFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn’t apologizing to the critics who say he needs to police his enormous platform, said Cecilia Kang and Mike Isaac in The New York Times. “In a winding, 35-minute speech at Georgetown University,” Zuckerberg pushed back against “the idea that the social network needed to be an arbiter of speech,” saying he believed his company must “stand for free expression.” Under fire from regulators and politicians, he defended Facebook’s controversial decision not to fact-check the political ads that appear on the site. But Zuckerberg’s unusually forceful lecture on the ills of censorship—invoking China, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King Jr.—suggested he is trying to reframe the debate “in a politicized environment where the company had been accused of amplifying disinformation, hate speech, and violent content.”It was…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Air pollution linked to ‘silent’ miscarriagesPregnant women who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution are more likely to suffer a so-called silent miscarriage, according to a new study from China. A “silent” or “missed” miscarriage occurs when a fetus has died but there are no physical signs that anything has gone wrong, leading parents to think that the pregnancy is progressing normally. For the study, researchers looked at the clinical records of more than 250,000 pregnant women living in Beijing—which has one of the world’s highest levels of air pollution—from 2009 to 2017. They assessed the women’s exposure, at work and at home, to four types of pollutants: a deadly fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide. Overall, 6.8 percent of the women suffered silent miscarriages during…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Algae blooms spreadingToxic algae blooms that can be harmful to people and deadly to animals are becoming ever more common in freshwater lakes around the world. If swallowed by a human, toxic algae can cause symptoms including numbness, shaking, stomach pains, and fever. Fish can be suffocated by the slimy muck, and dogs that swim in or drink from contaminated waters can suffer fatal liver damage. The blooms are fueled in part by fertilizer and manure runoff from farms, which is rich in nutrients that cause algae to grow wildly. And because the algae thrive in warm water, climate change appears to be exacerbating the problem. Researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science used satellite data to examine 71 large lakes in 33 countries from 1984 to 2013. The peak summertime intensity…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Olive, Again(Random House, $27)Improbably, Elizabeth Strout’s new Olive Kitteridge novel is “even better than the original,” said David Canfield in Entertainment Weekly. Strout deservedly won a Pulitzer for the 2008 book that introduced Olive, a prickly Maine schoolteacher who remains “as indelible and lifelike a creation as you’ll find in contemporary fiction.” Olive is now growing old, but like other characters featured in this collection of interlocked stories, she is feeling her way toward new relationships and self-insight. The book opens with “a vintage Olive story—weird and funny and melancholy”—and only deepens from there. One misfire pops up, said Priscilla Gilman in The Boston Globe. The story “Cleaning,” about an eighth-grade girl who intentionally caters to an old man’s voyeurism, “feels ostentatiously provocative and psychologically implausible.” But as Olive and various…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019In stories of captivityI Will Never See the World Againby Ahmet Altan (Other Press, $16)This short prison memoir “speaks for itself with such clarity, certainty, and wisdom” that the only thing that needs to be said is “Read it,” said Simon Callow in TheGuardian.com. Ahmet Altan is a Turkish novelist who is serving a life sentence in prison for criticizing the Erdogan regime, and this book, assembled from pages smuggled out by his lawyers, insists that the human imagination—his imagination—cannot be contained by bars and walls. “Its account of the creative process is sublime.”A Guest of the Reichby Peter Finn (Pantheon, $29)Some people get lucky in war, said Moira Hodgson in The Wall Street Journal. In a book “as well-paced and exciting to read as a good thriller,” Gertrude Legendre emerges initially as…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Jojo Rabbit(PG-13)A 10-year-old Nazi loses faith in his creed.The zany new Nazi satire that’s being touted as an Oscar contender “risks going wrong in a dozen different ways,” said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. Still, it “manages to avoid at least half of them,” because “the humor is so audacious” and the psychological insights about growing up in 1940s Germany are so startling. The title character is a fully indoctrinated 10-year-old with an imaginary friend who is none other than Adolf Hitler. “Jojo Rabbit is sharpest when it dares to be funny,” but the tone softens after Jojo discovers that his mother, played by Scarlett Johansson, is hiding a Jewish girl in a crawl space of their home.Director Taika Waititi cast himself in the Hitler role, and early on…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Movies on TVMonday, Oct. 28ZodiacDavid Fincher displays his unique mastery of serial-killer dramas in a dramatization of the marathon real-life hunt for the Zodiac killer. With Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo. (2007) 8 p.m., the Movie ChannelTuesday, Oct. 29A Quiet PlaceGet in the Halloween spirit, quietly, with John Krasinski’s hit thriller about a family living in a post-apocalyptic world where sightless aliens hunt humans by sound. (2018) 9:35 p.m., EpixWednesday, Oct. 30Airplane!The Zucker brothers’ absurd disaster-movie spoof rides a flight to Chicago on which the crew falls ill, leaving the landing to a scarred war vet. (1980) 7:30 p.m., ShowtimeThursday, Oct. 31Bride of FrankensteinElsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff play would-be monster mates in a superbly creepy sequel to 1931’s Frankenstein. (1935) 8 p.m., TCMFriday, Nov. 1In BrugesColin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson co-star…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Hard coffee: A suspect fad“Here’s the cold, hard truth about boozy canned coffee,” said Emily Heil in The Washington Post. “Most of it is terrible”—both “super-sweet and overly creamy.” Even the best left us asking, Exactly when is it a good time for a cold drink that combines caffeine, sugar, and alcohol?La Colombe Hard Cold Brew This malt-based beverage from MillerCoors and a legit coffee brand was easily the best of the group. Choose black, no cream, for “minimal sweetness” and the rounded flavors of a quality bean.Pabst Blue Ribbon Hard Coffee It’s hard to say if the flavor is more Nestlé’s Quik, melted Snickers, or malted milk ball, but this dessert-like concoction definitely has “a guilty pleasure attraction.”Cafe Agave Spiked Cold Brew At 12.5 percent alcohol, this wine-based blend was “the booziest of…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Pikes Peak’s famous doughnutsYes, the views from Pikes Peak inspired “America the Beautiful.” But that’s not what I’m here for, said Kastalia Medrano in Thrillist.com. More than a century ago, a local mayor decided that an abandoned weather station at the top of the 14,115-foot mountain would make a great place to sell coffee and doughnuts to tourists, and he was right. Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs, is one of the most visited mountains in the world, and for the more than 750,000 people who climb, drive, or ride a train to the top each year, the hot, fluffy fry cakes sold at the Pikes Peak Summit House are “almost everyone’s first order of business.” About 6,000 are sold each day at $1.29 apiece and are eaten on the spot, for good reason.…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019StrollersBaby Jogger City Mini 2This full-size stroller “packs all the features you need” and “handles like much more expensive models.” It folds up easily, weighs under 19 pounds, and is compatible with many car seats. The two-seat version is a standout, too.$280, babyjogger.comSource: TheWirecutter.comUppababy MinuGreat for city dwellers, this compact and totable 15-pounder has “a sturdy, well-engineered feel,” and its one-handed closing mechanism makes folding a snap. With detailing like its full-grain leather handlebar, it “even looks terrific.”$400, uppababy.comSource: Wall Street JournalThule Urban Glide 2This all-terrain jogging stroller is so well designed, it has earned a place in Sweden’s national museum. Even on dirt paths and gravel, the Thule “provides the smoothest ride with the easiest one-handed steering.” It’s also available as a double.$480, thule.comSource: BusinessInsider.comWonderfold W1“A great choice for…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The bottom lineThe income needed to enter the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers hit $515,371 in 2017, according to IRS data released this week. That’s up 7.2 percent from a year earlier and 33 percent since 2011, when Occupy Wall Street protesters rallied under the slogan “We are the 99 percent.”Bloomberg.comU.S. agricultural exports to China plunged 53 percent in 2018 after China imposed a 25 percent tariff on a variety of farm products; they fell another 8 percent through the first seven months of 2019.Axios.comPalo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity firm with a median salary of $170,929, was the highest-paying company in the U.S. in Glassdoor’s annual salary survey. It was followed by chipmaker Nvidia ($170,068) and Twitter ($162,852). Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences ($162,210), at No. 4, was the only nontech company…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Charity of the weekIn 1876, New York City’s Legal Aid Society (legalaidnyc.org) was founded to help low-income German immigrants. It was the nation’s first nonprofit organization established to give legal assistance to the poor. Today, more than 100 other Legal Aid Societies across the country provide free legal assistance to vulnerable individuals and families in cases involving consumer rights, domestic violence, public benefits, and housing, and help ensure the right to counsel in criminal cases. The Legal Aid Societies of Cleveland (lasclev.org), San Mateo (legalaidsmc.org), and the District of Columbia (legalaiddc.org) have earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. You’ll find additional Legal Aid Societies in all 50 states; most of them are not individually rated, but all do noteworthy work.Each charity we feature has earned a four-star overall rating from Charity Navigator,…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019This is not another tech bubbleDerek ThompsonTheAtlantic.comToday’s IPO implosion is not like the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000, said Derek Thompson. In the 1990s, there was “a mania of stock speculation” fueled by ordinary investors bidding up the price of internet-related companies. When the bubble finally burst, “public investors got hosed.” Now, by contrast, unprofitable startups like Peloton, Lyft, and Uber “are getting slaughtered at the gate,” while WeWork pulled its IPO when investors balked. “This isn’t a picture of mass mania. It’s a picture of public sobriety.” There’s another difference, too: While the news coverage might make you think it’s been a terrible year for tech stocks, it hasn’t been. “Consumer tech grabs most of the headlines. But enterprise tech, whose top clients are other businesses, grabs most of the profit.” Even…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Balloon Boy revisitedTen years ago, the nation was transfixed by the story of Falcon Heene, the boy trapped in a runaway balloon, said journalist Robert Sanchez in 5280 Magazine. His father still insists it wasn’t a made-for-TV hoax.On the second day I visited Balloon Boy’s father, he was standing in the back of a pickup truck, inflating balloons and letting the family dog bite them. Now, 10 years after their helium-filled balloon took off from their Fort Collins, Colo., backyard, the Heenes—Richard, his wife, and their three sons—live in a camper trailer parked on the side of a twisting country road in New Hampton, N.Y.A 160-year-old farmhouse slumps just a few yards away, a spray of mold running up the white siding. The house is a renovation project the Heenes are working…10 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Cheese filmThis week’s question: A French chef is suing the Michelin Guide for downgrading him to two stars and accusing him of using cheddar cheese in a soufflé; chef Marc Veyrat insists he used fine local cheeses that were colored yellow by saffron. “It’s worse than a wound,” he said. If Hollywood were to make a courtroom drama about Veyrat’s quest for justice, what could it be called?Last week’s contest: The average nine-inning Major League Baseball game lasted a record 3 hours, 5 minutes this season, up from 2 hours, 46 minutes in 2005. Please come up with a medical term to describe the fatigue felt by fans when a baseball game creeps into the third hour.THE WINNER: Louisville sluggish Kim Doyle, Woolwich, MaineSECOND PLACE: Bat-atonic D. McSwain, Fort LauderdaleTHIRD PLACE:…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Turkey and Russia strike a deal in SyriaWhat happenedPresident Trump this week sought to take credit for a “cease-fire” in northern Syria that will see invading Turkish troops along with Russian and Syrian regime forces take over territory previously controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish militias. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would halt his military’s advance after striking a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that forced Kurdish fighters to leave a 20-mile buffer zone along the Turkish border. Erdogan wants to push back the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces, which he claims is an offshoot of a Kurdish terrorist group based in Turkey, and to send half of the 4 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey to this new “safe zone.” Under the deal, Turkish and Russian troops will jointly patrol a 6-mile strip along the…3 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Good week/Bad weekGood week for:Bella Hadid, the supermodel, whose face is closer to the ancient Greek ideal of geometrical perfection than any other woman’s in public life, according to British plastic surgeon Dr. Julian DeSilva. With a facial-perfection rating of 94.35 percent, Hadid beat out singer Beyoncé (92.44 percent) in DeSilva’s rankings.Discoveries, after the Paris Zoological Park unveiled “the Blob,” a small, boneless, single-celled being that’s not a plant, animal, or fungus. “It surprises us because it has no brain,” said director Bruno David, “yet it is able to learn.”Tolerance, with a new poll showing that 72 percent of white evangelical Protestants now believe that a person who commits “immoral personal acts” can serve effectively in public office. That figure has skyrocketed, for some reason, from a mere 30 percent in 2011.Bad…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Trudeau re-electedOttawaAfter a bitter election campaign rife with accusations of racism and corruption, Justin Trudeau eked out a second term as prime minister this week but fell short of a majority in Parliament. His Liberals won 157 seats, down from the 184 they took in the 2015 election; the Conservatives won 121 seats. But the Conservatives prevailed in the popular vote, 34.4 percent to the Liberals’ 33.1, and they dominated in western Canada. The results were a remarkable tumble for Trudeau, and they show that he was hurt by the scandal around his interference in the prosecution of a construction giant and the revelation that he had worn blackface on multiple occasions. To shore up his minority government, Trudeau will likely seek the support of the leftist New Democrats, who came…7 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Hopkins’ biggest fanSabrina Greenlee sits in the first row behind one of the end zones at all Houston Texans home games, said Mina Kimes in ESPN.com. That’s so that when her son, DeAndre Hopkins—one of the NFL’s top receivers—scores a touchdown, he can always hand her the football. “That ball symbolizes so much more than people ever could understand,” says Greenlee, who is blind. Hopkins’ father died in a car accident when he was a baby in South Carolina, and Greenlee worked at an auto plant and as an exotic dancer to support four kids. She was in abusive relationships, and in 2002, when she saw her car was missing, her boyfriend told her where to retrieve it. As he apologized to Greenlee, a woman—presumably another girlfriend—came outside and threw bleach mixed…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Remember Hillary’s emails?Paul WaldmanThe Washington PostPerhaps you missed it, “but the most important story of 2016” has finally come to a close, said Paul Waldman. After a multiyear investigation, the State Department has concluded that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private computer server for her emails resulted in no “systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information” by her or other department employees. “You don’t say.” It’s now undeniable that the massive amount of news coverage of Clinton’s emails during the 2016 presidential campaign was an immense “media screwup.” Journalists had already decided that Bill and Hillary Clinton were corrupt liars, and seized on the email story as proof. In a foolish attempt to seem “evenhanded and unbiased,” the press falsely equated Hillary’s use of a private server with an avalanche of scandalous behavior…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Viewpoint“If there is anything to be learned from the Scandinavian example, it is that putting a Scandinavian-style welfare state on stable fiscal footing requires Scandinavian levels of taxation. And that would mean imposing a radical tax increase on the American middle class: Sweden’s top income-tax rate, about 57 percent, kicks in at around $70,000. Its second-highest rate, about 52 percent, kicks in at less than $50,000. A U.S. taxpayer with the equivalent income currently pays a marginal federal income-tax rate of about 13 percent. Because Sweden is well-governed, it treats its tax regime as a question of revenue rather than a question of so-called social justice.”Kevin Williamson in NationalReview.com…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The folly of yelling at scarved womenFRANCELukas GarciaLe Journal de l’île de la RéunionA national outcry over Islamic head scarves is now an annual event in France, said Lukas Garcia, albeit one that’s “less fun than Eurovision.” This latest bout was forced on us by Julien Odoul, a lawmaker with the far-right National Rally who sits in the regional legislature in Bourgogne–Franche-Comté. He caught sight of a Muslim mother acting as chaperone for her son’s school trip to see government in action, and in the middle of a council meeting he demanded she remove her head scarf. When she refused, her son sobbing beside her, Odoul and the other National Rally lawmakers walked out of the chamber. Many politicians and pundits decried Odoul’s rude behavior, yet some took the opportunity to denounce Muslim garb as anti-French,…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Professors are demanding sex for gradesNIGERIAEditorialNigerian TribuneThe rot in Nigerian universities is a menace to the nation, said the Nigerian Tribune. An undercover BBC investigation into West African universities caught Nigerian professors “undertaking prurient negotiations that were quite unbecoming of university teachers”—namely, offering good grades for sexual favors. Reporters infiltrated the faculty club and found an orgy room outfitted like a disco, where girls were plied with alcohol as their teachers danced with them, groped them, and had sex with them. Not even teenagers seeking admission to the university were safe from leering faculty. Such corrupt behavior not only robs students of a harassment-free learning environment, it also deprives Nigeria of properly educated graduates. Society is damaged by “both the lecherous, predatory lecturers and the weak and lazy students who earn good grades through unwholesome…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Medicare for All: Who’s going to pay for it?“Elizabeth Warren is being fundamentally dishonest about Medicare for All,” said Peter Suderman in Reason.com. Like fellow Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Warren supports a government-run, single-payer health-care system that would theoretically cover all Americans. But unlike Sanders, Warren has refused to admit that her plan would require most people to pay higher taxes—including the middle class. It’s estimated that a single-payer health-care system that covered all Americans would cost the government an extra $3 trillion per year—or about $32 trillion to $34 trillion over a decade, depending on the study. By comparison, the current size of the U.S. budget is $4.4 trillion. If federal spending is to grow by more than 60 percent, it will require major tax increases. But during the last Democratic debate, Warren repeatedly dodged questions…4 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Barr: Blaming the secularistsAttorney General William Barr has given a speech that sounds like “a tacit endorsem*nt of theocracy,” said Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post. At the University of Notre Dame, Barr—a Roman Catholic—accused “militant secularists” of seeking to destroy America’s “traditional moral order” by driving Judeo-Christian values from schools, government agencies, and “the public square.” In his “terrifying” diatribe, Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, used apocalyptic, fire-and-brimstone language you’d expect from a fundamentalist preacher, demonizing everyone who doesn’t share his religious values. Progressive secularism, Barr said, has caused “record levels of depression,” “soaring suicide rates,” and the deadly epidemic of drug abuse. “This is not decay,” Barr said. “It is organized destruction.”“Thank God” we have an attorney general who understands that religion is “a public good,” said Rod Dreher…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019What’s new in techChild p*rn accounts tracedThe Department of Justice took down a massive child p*rnography website by tracing digital currency transactions, said Lily Hay Newman in Wired.com. The site, part of the so-called dark web and accessed through a special browser that obscures users’ footprints, had infrastructure in place to support a million users. U.S. authorities arrested about 340 of them and revealed a nine-count indictment against the site’s operator, Jong Woo Son, who is already serving an 18-month sentence for offenses related to child p*rn in South Korea. The site “made money by charging fees in Bitcoin, and gave each user a unique Bitcoin wallet address.” While Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, law enforcement was able to “follow the money” by tracking how the payments were transferred to a wallet linked to…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Steroid shots can hurt jointsA common therapy used to treat joint pain may often do more harm than good, reports NBCNews.com. Corticosteroid shots are routinely used to reduce pain and inflammation from osteoarthritis, a chronic condition that affects more than 30 million Americans. But a new study suggests that the injections could actually accelerate the progression of osteoarthritis, potentially hastening the need for joint replacement surgery. Researchers at Boston University reviewed previous studies on the shots and also looked at data on 459 Boston Medical Center patients who had received one to three corticosteroid injections in the hip or knee in 2018. They found that 8 percent of the patients had developed complications—including cartilage loss, stress fractures, bone deterioration, and even the collapse of the joint—in the two to 15 months after the shots.…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Fast food chemicalsScientists have found another reason to avoid fast food, reports NationalGeographic.com: the chemicals in its packaging. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are water- and grease-resistant chemicals that are used in burger wrappers, pizza boxes, and other containers. PFAS, which are also used to prevent stains in carpets and upholstery, are known as forever chemicals because they can take decades to break down. In a new study, researchers looked at PFAS levels in blood samples from more than 10,000 people. The scientists found five commonly used types of PFAS in 70 percent of the samples and noted that participants who had eaten fast food in the 24 hours before the blood test had noticeably higher levels of PFAS than those who hadn’t. Several studies have linked the chemicals to health…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Me(Holt, $30)Only pages into Elton John’s new memoir, “it quickly becomes clear that few people are more suited to the celebrity autobiography genre,” said Hadley Freeman in TheGuardian.com. The 72-year-old pop legend knows that his life has been ridiculous, and his self-awareness, twisted sense of humor, and willingness to gossip about other stars make him a “deeply appealing” curator of his own story. Given his love-starved childhood, his belated acceptance of his hom*osexuality, and his struggles with addiction and rage, he could have been self-dramatizing. Instead, he treats even a 1970s suicide attempt as an amusingly transparent bid for attention: He put his head in an oven, resting on a pillow, and left all the windows open. “There wasn’t enough carbon monoxide in the room to kill a wasp,” he…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Jokha AlharthiThe book that changed Jokha Alharthi’s life was born of stress, said Aida Edemariam in TheGuardian.com. A decade ago, the Omani novelist was a Ph.D. student far from home, living in a week-to-week rental in Edinburgh and learning to write academic papers in English while caring for her 8-month-old daughter. “I just came back to the flat one night and got the baby to sleep, and just sat there with my laptop,” she says. “And because I love my language so much, I felt the need to write in my own language. So I just started writing.” The result, published in the U.K. last year as Celestial Bodies, became the first novel written by an Omani woman to be published in English, and this spring became the first book written…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The Week’s guide to what’s worth watchingLittle Miss SumoSumo wrestling has always been a male domain. This lyrical short documentary trains a lens on Hiyori Kon, a top young talent who’s as determined to end the ban on women competing professionally in Japan’s national sport as she is to cap her amateur career by winning the world’s top ranking. Available for streaming Monday, Oct. 28, NetflixAny One of UsPaul Basagoitia could once do things on a mountain bike that defied belief. But this documentary focuses on the former slopestyle champion’s greatest challenge: his attempt to walk after partially severing his spinal cord during a 2015 competition. He filmed his bid for recovery from the start and along the way came to appreciate that many other people suffer similar injuries and chase similar miracles, making their stories…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Life-changing tacos in three citiesTacos 1986 Los Angeles“There are thousands of taco stands in Los Angeles, but there is only one Tacos 1986,” said Farley Elliot in Eater.com. This operation “took L.A. by storm” late last year, as its roving stands and one permanent downtown location found a way to unite the city’s street, food, and club cultures under a banner of deliciousness. “Not since Roy Choi’s Kogi BBQ has a taco so thoroughly galvanized this city.” Owner Victor Delgado and charismatic sidekick Jorge “El Joy” Alvarez-Tostado—who professes himself the best taquero in the world—draw customers in with their smiles, their hype, and their willingness to pose for Instagram photos. But Tacos 1986 wouldn’t be one of Eater.com’s favorite new American restaurants if Delgado and company didn’t deliver on El Joy’s boast with treats…3 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Savoring the colorful chaos of Marseille“You can have an unforgettable trip to a French city without ever stepping foot in Paris,” said Sebastian Modak in The New York Times. I recently visited the two cities that rank just behind Paris in size, and while Lyon is gorgeous, Marseilles “had the chaotic energy I didn’t know I needed.” France’s gateway to the Mediterranean and North Africa is a city of immigrants, which probably explains why people in historic, cultured Lyon told me to watch my back and not walk the streets after dark. They had it wrong. Yes, this port city of nearly 900,000 is home to crooked cops, corrupt local officials, petty thieves, and a powerful mafia, but it also feels uniquely alive, as if its diverse citizenry reinvented it every day. The chaos of…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019How to reduce incoming snail mailGo ‘paperless.’ You aren’t just saving trees when you choose to receive bills and statements electronically from utilities, banks, and credit cards. Such routine paper records, when disposed of unshredded, make you vulnerable to identity thieves.Target credit card and insurance offers. Go to OptOutPrescreen.com to block unsolicited offers from these two industries. The FTC-recommended service run by the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry requires that you provide your Social Security number, but signing up will stop such mailings for five years. And you can block the offers for good by mailing in a form.Block catalogs and coupons too. Catalogs, promotional flyers, and donation requests can be stopped by visiting DMAChoice.org. A $2 fee lets you opt out for 10 years. To halt coupon packs, seek out the cancellation forms at Valpak.com…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019WeWork: Founder pushed out amid bailoutFloundering office rental company WeWork accepted a bailout from its biggest investor this week, said Gillian Tan and Michelle Davis in Bloomberg.com. That caps “a remarkable fall from grace” for founder Adam Neumann, who nonetheless will be paid $1.7 billion to walk away despite “lavish spending and self-dealing.” The rescue package, which includes $5 billion in loans and the acceleration of an existing $1.5 billion planned investment commitment, pins WeWork’s value at $8 billion—one-sixth of the figure widely publicized in January. The aid arrives in the nick of time: Hemorrhaging cash, WeWork could not even cover the severance costs of the thousands of workers it intended to lay off.WeWork’s stunning evaporation of value “is the sort of spectacle not seen since the financial crisis,” said Lauren Silva Laughlin in The…1 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Private equity: Profit for investors, risk for workersPrivate equity has gotten too big to ignore, said Christine Idzelis in the Institutional Investor. A new study found “private equity firms now manage $3.4 trillion of investor commitments globally, up from less than $500 billion in 2000.” That growth represents one of the “most profound shifts in the capital markets since the 19th century.” The boom in private equity is occurring as “the pool of publicly traded companies in the U.S. has shrunk by almost half in the past 20 years,” and the fastest-growing startups, such as Uber and Airbnb, are increasingly willing “to spend more of their life cycle on the private side.” Private equity’s basic technique is to buy a public company, often using borrowed money to fund the takeover, said Jason Kelly in Bloomberg.com. “The strengthened…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019Boeing: Pilot’s worries were hidden from the FAABoeing’s 737 Max jet now faces even more trouble, said David Gelles and Natalie Kitroeff in The New York Times. Last week, Boeing gave the Federal Aviation Administration a transcript of messages from 2016 that reveal that the jet’s automated systems had raised alarms more than two years before two fatal crashes. In the messages, Mark Forkner, one of Boeing’s top pilots, complained of “egregious” erratic behavior in flight simulator tests of a troubled automated system known as MCAS. In earlier discussions, Forkner had left the FAA—which agreed to let Boeing drop any mention of MCAS from the pilots’ manual—with the impression the system was rarely used, and he had not told the agency that it was in the midst of an overhaul. “I basically lied to the regulators (unknowingly),”…2 min
The Week Magazine|November 1, 2019The civil rights pioneer who infuriated President TrumpFor over two decades, Rep. Elijah Cummings was a powerful presence on Capitol Hill. Equipped with a resonant baritone and a poetic turn of phrase, the Democrat was sent to the House 13 times by the voters of Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, which includes much of Baltimore. He campaigned tirelessly on issues that affected the poor in his majority-black district, advocating for lower prescription drug prices, criminal justice reform, and help for drug addicts. But it was as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a role he assumed earlier this year, that Cummings shot to national prominence. He launched numerous investigations into the Trump administration, issuing subpoenas for President Trump’s tax returns and summoning the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to testify about hush-money payments to women…2 min
