The Week Magazine May 5, 2023

Does gender have a biological basis? Or are “male” and “female” merely socially conditioned “performances”? Or is gender purely a subjective experience of identity that has nothing to do with chromosomes, genitalia, and internal plumbing? Gender has become such a radioactive issue that even asking such questions can be taboo, and trigger condemnation, professional cancellation, and threats of physical harm. As Conor Friedersdorf says this week in The Atlantic, many Americans have become “reluctant and even terrified” to publicly voice opinions on this issue, which trans activists and right-wing culture warriors have turned into a battle of dogmatic extremes. (See Best U.S. columns, p.12.) On one extreme, academics and some progressives now insist that everyday language be policed to avoid offending trans people. “Women” is out. Instead, say “pregnant people”…

What happened President Biden officially announced his bid for re-election this week, asking Americans to let him “finish the job” by giving a second term to the oldest president in U.S. history. The 80-year-old Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, cast himself as a bulwark against far-right forces that are attacking democracy and eroding Americans’ civil liberties. “When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” he says in a three-minute video titled “Freedom.” The video, which opens with scenes from the Jan. 6 Capitol assault and pro-choice demonstrators outside the Supreme Court, promises that Biden will protect Americans against “MAGA extremists” bent on cutting Social Security, outlawing…

A team from the Chadian government and the Wildlife Conservation Society spotted the first lion in Chad’s Sena Oura National Park since 2004. Lions were believed extinct in the protected area, and only between 23,000 and 39,000 of them are left in their natural habitat globally. In West and Central Africa, they are critically endangered. The big cat, a lioness, was captured on camera in February. Most lions, especially females, live in prides, so it’s likely this one is not alone. “Our team,” the WCS said, “believes there are more lions out there.” Nanuq, a 1-year-old Australian shepherd, got lost on a family trip to Savoogna on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island. A month later, citizens of Wales, a tiny village located 150 miles northeast, started posting photos of what they…

What happened The House this week passed a GOP debt limit bill, intensifying a high-stakes fight that threatens a national debt default. The “Limit, Save, Grow Act,” unveiled last week, proposes $130 billion in discretionary spending cuts and freezing spending at 2022 levels in exchange for a $1.5 trillion hike of the $31 trillion debt ceiling, which was breached in January. The bill names few specific cuts but proposes to recover unused Covid aid, tighten work requirements for Medicaid and food stamps, block student debt cancellation, and halt spending on climate programs and Internal Revenue Service upgrades. The White House rejected what it characterized as Republicans’ attempt at “hostage taking” to force steep, unpopular cuts, and urged the House of Representatives to pass a “clean” debt-ceiling hike without budget…

What happened The use of the abortion pill mifepristone will remain legal through 10 weeks of pregnancy in most states, after the Supreme Court issued a stay blocking lower-court decisions that would have limited access to the medication. Used in over half of abortions in the U.S., as well as in the treatment of miscarriages, mifepristone has been taken safely by millions of Americans. But earlier this month, Trump-appointed judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk ruled that the process by which the Food and Drug Administration initially approved the drug in 2000 was flawed and that the drug should be recalled. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked that ruling but imposed some restrictions on the drug’s use. If the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled to allow access during the…

“‘We’ll be back on Monday.’” Those, it turns out, were the last words Tucker Carlson ever spoke on his top-rated Fox News show, said Andrew Marantz in The New Yorker, and like so many of the words that preceded them, they weren’t true. This week, Fox fired “the most influential voice in right-wing media” without warning or explanation, beyond a “terse” statement that the network and Carlson “have agreed to part ways.” The shocking ouster of the race-baiting nativist and conspiracy theorist was reportedly ordered by Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch with the blessing of his father, Rupert, and came just a week after Fox agreed to pay a staggering $787 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems for promoting Donald Trump’s false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election…