The Week Magazine October 28, 2022

I was talking to a neighbor the other day about Covid, and he said with vehemence he wasn’t getting the new booster. He’d already had Covid twice, despite being vaccinated with the original two shots in 2021. Since Covid hadn’t killed him, he said, why bother with more shots? I reminded him that more than 1 million Americans have died of Covid, and that boosters have been proven to dramatically reduce the risk of serious illness. That led him to launch into a riff on “Fauci” laced with conspiracy theories; if that damn Fauci wanted him to get boosted, well, hell, forget it. These views, of course, are shared by tens of millions of people who’ve absorbed the same deluge of disinformation, and who’ve bought into the deadly notion that…

What happened In its ninth and possibly final hearing, the Jan. 6 committee laid out evidence last week that the U.S. Capitol assault was part of a monthslong, multipronged plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election and reinstall Trump in the White House. Weaving together new evidence and testimony from previous hearings, the panel made the case that Trump knew he’d lost but launched a predetermined plan to hold on to power by pressuring state election officials to reverse Biden’s victory. When that plot failed, he summoned a mob of followers to Washington, including the violent Proud Boys militia, and directed them to march on the Capitol, then watched in satisfaction as they mounted an assault on the building, injuring more than 100 police officers and…

Selena Schuster and Timmy Matykiewicz first met as toddlers and became best friends while attending special education classes together. This month, some 400 of their fellow students at Illinois’ Sandburg High School chose the pair as homecoming king and queen. The two were crowned in a ceremony and shared a perfect dance while decked out in their crown and tiara. “My heart was bursting,” said Timmy’s mother Amy. “That day [Timmy] would pick up the phone and say, ‘I’m king!’” Each Wednesday morning, Portland residents cheer on a caravan of 170 children riding their bikes to school, as music pours from a portable speaker. They’re led by gym teacher Sam Balto, parent volunteers, and a 65-pound goldendoodle, who serves as the group’s unofficial mascot. Balto previously launched a “walking school…

What happened Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law this week in the four Ukrainian provinces illegally annexed last month, even though Russia lacks full control over the regions. His decree allows for the “temporary resettlement” of the population, and it could presage an effort to dragoon Ukrainians there into the Russian army. Putin also imposed travel restrictions on seven Russian regions close to Ukraine, adding more security forces and stepping up vehicle searches. The clampdown came as Russian forces continued to pummel Kyiv and other cities with missiles and Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones, knocking out nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations and killing dozens of civilians. The GPS-guided drones, which can be launched from as far as 1,500 miles away, only rarely slipped past Ukrainian air defenses. But…

What happened The Biden administration is turning to a Trump-era immigration policy to limit an influx of Venezuelan migrants at the southern border. In recent weeks, about 1,000 Venezuelans have crossed the border every day, and almost 160,000 were taken into custody in the last year. Under a U.S. plan introduced last week, Venezuelan migrants who arrive at the border will be sent back to Mexico immediately. A more limited number—up to 24,000—who apply from abroad will be eligible to enter the U.S. legally under a humanitarian program. The quick deportation of migrants who arrive at the border relies on Title 42, a public health policy used by the Trump administration. Venezuelans who hope to gain one of the legal spots will need a U.S. sponsor and the ability…

With his shaved head, goatee, tattoos, and signature hoodie, the 6-foot-8 John Fetterman doesn’t look like a stereotypical U.S. senator, said Audrey Fahlberg in The Dispatch. But now it’s Fetterman’s health, not his appearance, that “could determine which party takes control of the 50-50 Senate.” In mid-May, just days before clinching the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat, Fetterman, 53, suffered an ischemic stroke that knocked him off the campaign trail for 13 weeks. When he returned, polls showed him with a double-digit lead over Republican rival Mehmet Oz, a wealthy surgeon and TV host who has stumbled through a ham-handed campaign highlighted by his complaint about the cost of “crudites.” But that lead has now fallen to 3 percent, after reports that the stroke has left Fetterman…