The Week Magazine November 19, 2021

For the first time in nearly two years, my kids got to hug their grandpa this week. My wife and I are British expats, and so for the entirety of the pandemic Covid restrictions have blocked our U.K.-based family from entering the U.S. But this week, America opened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers. My wife’s dad hopped on the first available transatlantic flight, bringing with him a precious haul of British comics, tea bags, and Marmite. That my kids can once again snuggle on the sofa with their gramps is the latest sign that things might—and only might—finally be getting back to some kind of pre-pandemic “normal.” New daily Covid infections have dropped by about half since their summer high, and new antiviral treatments are being developed that should…

What happened In a major victory for a beleaguered President Biden, the House passed the long-delayed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill last week, providing what Biden called a “once in a generation” investment in the nation’s roads, bridges, ports, rails, and water systems. The vote was 228-206, with 13 moderate Republicans joining most Democrats to support the bill. The late-night passage came after long days of Capitol Hill wrangling that pitted moderate Democrats against progressives, who insisted that an infrastructure vote wait until after passage of the $1.8 trillion social spending act called Build Back Better. With Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deeply involved in negotiations, all but six holdout progressives agreed to vote for the infrastructure bill after moderates promised to support Build Back Better if an independent…

What happened Pfizer announced last week that its experimental antiviral pill for Covid-19 massively cuts the risk of severe disease in vulnerable adults, a potential breakthrough that could help turn Covid into a manageable disease. The company said its Paxlovid treatment, which hampers the virus’ ability to replicate, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent when taken within three days of symptoms developing. A different antiviral pill from Merck, which is currently under review by federal regulators, reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 50 percent. Pfizer intends to request FDA approval for Paxlovid this month and could deliver doses this year if it gets the thumbs-up. The firm this week also asked the FDA to approve its Covid vaccine booster for all adults. A…

In the summer of 2019, Evan Bisnauth’s mom took him to Books With Boroughbreds, a program that lets children read to abandoned dogs, getting them used to human contact. “I spent five hours reading to every dog on the first day,” said Evan, 11. Last year, he started posting videos on Facebook of hard-to-place dogs, hoping they’d get adopted if he shared their stories. So far, every dog he’s featured has found a new home or been picked up by another rescue organization. Helping dogs, Evan said, “has brought me a lot of happiness.” A group of lifeboat volunteers were lined up along the aisle at the wedding of shore crew volunteer Ashley Witcombe and his wife, Cheryl, when their pagers went off: There were six people—including three children—stranded on…

In a Kenosha, Wis., courtroom this week, it was baby-faced killer Kyle Rittenhouse who was trying to beat homicide charges, said Cynthia Miller-Idriss in MSNBC.com, but “what was really on trial” was “citizen vigilantism.” When Kenosha police last year shot a black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back, the resulting nights of angry protest inspired a right-wing paramilitary group to call for armed citizens to protect local businesses. Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old who dreamed of becoming a cop, answered the call and drove across state lines from his Illinois home armed with an AR-15 an older friend had bought for him. When Rittenhouse was confronted by several protesters, and when one tried to grab his gun and another swung a skateboard at him, he began firing, killing Joseph…

Good week for: Spuds, with news from New Zealand of a recently unearthed potato weighing an astonishing 17.2 pounds. Gardeners Donna and Colin Craig-Brown say that as they wait for Guinness confirmation that the spud—which they named “Dug”—is the largest potato in recorded history, it’s “just chilling out” in their freezer. Time and tide, after a trash can bearing the logo of Myrtle Beach, N.C., washed up on a beach in Ireland. “Amazing to think it traveled all the way across the Atlantic,” said beachcomber Keith McGreal. Neo-Marxism, after a member of Vietnam’s Communist Party, who was in the U.K. for the climate summit, laid a wreath on the London grave of Karl Marx and then dined on $2,000-a-plate gold-wrapped steak at the restaurant of flamboyant chef Nusret “Salt Bae”…