Indholdsfortegnelse for August 1, 2025 i The Week Magazine

After that first frisson of schadenfreude wore off, most of us probably felt a little sorry for the couple caught on the kiss cam at the Coldplay concert. Andy Byron, CEO of tech unicorn Astronomer, and Kristin Cabot, the company’s HR chief, both married to other people, panicked and tried to duck out of view when their warm embrace appeared on the jumbotron (see Talking Points, p.16). The apparent affair was revealed to the stadium and soon the public, even though it’s really none of our business. Now their anonymity has been shattered, and googling their names will forever return their ethical lapse as the top result. For people of a certain age—like me, and like anyone who would buy a ticket to Coldplay—the idea that you might go viral…

■ A Seattle woman is suing the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, claiming the aerobatic team’s low-flying jets caused the death of her elderly cat, Layla. Lauren Lombardi says noise from the team’s jets caused Layla extreme distress and aggravated a pre-existing heart condition, leading to her euthanasia in 2024. Lombardi also claims the Blue Angels later blocked her on Instagram, which “violates her First Amendment rights by suppressing criticism of government conduct.” ■ A pregnant Tennessee woman claims she was denied prenatal care because doctors were “not comfortable” treating an “unwed mother.” A new state law lets doctors opt out of providing care that conflicts with their “conscience,” and the unnamed woman said doctors cited their “Christian values” in turning her away. The woman said she appealed to Tennessee Sen.…

Just over a year after picking up free diving as a hobby, Sara Burnett was competing for a world championship, said Lauren Larson in Texas Monthly. Burnett, 41, grew up in landlocked Plano, Texas, but developed a love for water at an early age. “I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t swim,” she explains. “The water is the only place I really feel graceful.” After learning to free dive for fun in 2023, the St. Lucia–based website developer and content writer decided to compete in a tournament in Dominica on a whim. A judge chided her when it became clear she didn’t know certain protocols. “She was like, ‘Read the rule book!’” But Burnett performed well, reaching a depth of 65 meters without a scuba tank, and the judge…

Yasmin Tayag The Atlantic Tanning is making a comeback, but it isn’t just about looking good, said Yasmin Tayag. “It’s about embracing an entire ideology.” The perpetually browned health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is leading a return to baking in the sun as part of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign, and warned in an X post that the FDA’s “aggressive suppression of sunlight is about to end.” (Kennedy was recently spotted leaving a Washington, D.C., tanning salon.) This reversal in health policy aligns with RFK’s conspiratorial views about science and medicine. “In the MAHA world, milk is better when it’s raw, beef fat is healthier than processed oils, and the immune system is strongest when unvaccinated.” MAHA’s latest claim is that Americans have been told “lies” about…

Yoani Sánchez 14 y Medio Now we know what Cuba’s Communist rulers really think about the poor, said Yoani Sánchez. Labor Minister Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, talking to lawmakers last week, unleashed a “bitter tirade against people who beg for money in public or rummage through garbage” to find rotting fruit or moldy bread to eat. “There are no beggars in Cuba,” she said, only fakers out to “make easy money.” No lawmaker dared point out to her that we’re in an “economic crisis” featuring high inflation, blackouts, and food shortages. Many people are homeless. “Fortunately, we have social media.” Feitó’s comments went viral—and that has put unprecedented pressure on the regime. Authorities usually deflect blame by asserting that Cuba’s system is better than capitalism, but there was no defending…

■ Americans who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will see their monthly premiums jump an average of 75% next year, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The rise is largely due to the end of Covid-era enhanced subsidies, which started under the Biden administration and helped ACA enrollment more than double to a record 24 million people. NPR.org ■ The Trump administration has been accused of resisting court orders in a third of the more than 160 major judicial rulings against it. Plaintiffs say administration lawyers have defied rulings, provided false information, and failed to turn over evidence. Judges have often agreed, but none have taken punitive actions to force compliance. The Washington Post ■ Millions of travelers to the U.S. will soon…

“Nothing to see here!” said Vinson Cunningham in The New Yorker. When CBS announced last week it was canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the network called it a “purely financial” decision. Never mind that CBS’s parent company, Paramount, “recently forked over $16 million” to President Trump to settle his lawsuit against 60 Minutes—a deal Colbert, who has mocked Trump on nearly every show for years, called “a big, fat bribe.” Paramount is trying to close an $8 billion merger with a company owned by tech oligarch David Ellison, which Trump’s Federal Communications Commission must approve. Offering up “a nice, juicy Colbert-size sacrificial lamb” sure looks like another attempt to appease Trump. Not surprisingly, Trump cheered Colbert’s ouster, crowing on Truth Social that “his talent was even less than…

Vaccine skeptics such as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have raised fears about aluminum in vaccines, but a major new study says there’s nothing to worry about, reports NBCNews.com. Looking at health data for more than 1.2 million people born in Denmark between 1997 and 2018, researchers compared those who received higher doses of aluminum-containing vaccines with those who got less. They found no link between aluminum exposure and 50 chronic conditions, including autism, ADHD, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. The findings contradict the results of a controversial 2022 study, championed by vaccine opponents, that failed to distinguish between aluminum exposure from vaccines and from elsewhere. They do, however, reinforce decades of data showing that using aluminum salts as vaccine adjuvants—additives to boost immune response—is completely safe. “We are not…

“The real attraction of this novel isn’t its plot but its voice,” said Ron Charles in The Washington Post. The narration is “ironic but rarely biting” as it closely tracks the experiences of Joan, who in 1975 moves from Taiwan to Palo Alto to attend graduate school and, shortly after stabbing her first husband, marries a wealthy and older white American with a family that looks down on her. “The upper-crust satire could feel stale if not for the fresh way Joan reacts to their microaggressions: She has a scientist’s curiosity about these spoiled folks.” Joan also has long dreamed of creating a café where all customers feel less alone, said Joan Frank in The Boston Globe. And in that dream “beats this work’s eloquent heart: the perpetual riddle of…

When It All Burns by Jordan Thomas (Riverhead, $30) This is “one of those books that immerses the reader in the nuances of a world most of us know only through the lens of tragedy and destruction,” said Chris Vognar in the Los Angeles Times. Jordan Thomas spent 2021 working on a team of elite firefighters, and he interweaves “harrowing” action sequences with fascinating forays into ecology, economics, and Indigenous fire-control practices. Written well before January’s L.A. wildfires, this “exceptional” work “sometimes carries the force of prophecy.” How to Dodge a Cannonball by Dennard Dayle (Holt, $29) “Here is an author capturing our current moment by flashing us back to the past,” said Mat Johnson in The New York Times. “Often laugh-out-loud funny as it roasts America’s hypocrisies,” Dennard Dayle’s…

“If you are under 35 and enjoy indie rock, Alex G is close to a household name,” said Mark Richardson in The Wall Street Journal. “If you are over 50 and not particularly invested in new music, you may not have heard of him.” His 10th studio album, which arrives 13 years after he found a big audience at age 19, is also his first on a major label, but as always, “you get a feeling that this is music he needs to make.” While the opening tracks “have the bright, chiming sound of R.E.M. in the early ’90s,” his music still “feels of and for the internet,” shifting from breezy acoustic instrumentation to warped electronics that sometimes distort his nasally voice. In short, the album “has all the immediacy…

Directed by Matt Shakman (PG-13) A space-age superhero team mounts a redo. “They say the third time’s the charm, and when it comes to the Fantastic Four, that just might be true,” said Maureen Lee Lenker in Entertainment Weekly. In both 2005 and 2015, Marvel failed to build decent movies around the superhero quartet, but the new reboot “leans into the comic book kitschiness inherent to the material” and winds up with an action adventure that feels “retro cool.” Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby play married astronauts who’ve become known as Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman since the space mishap that gave them superpowers while turning little-brother Johnny into the Human Torch and friend Ben Grimm into the Thing. The movie eventually becomes a parable about how to be a…

Lilo & Stitch Critics didn’t love Disney’s new live-action adaptation of the beloved 2002 film, but ticket buyers made it one of 2025’s top-grossing movies. The story of an orphaned Hawaiian girl who befriends a destructive puppy-size alien gets a massive infusion of cuteness from a Stitch you’ll want to hug through the screen. $25 on demand How to Train Your Dragon Storywise, the hit 2025 live-action remake of the 2010 animated saga is a mirror of the original. But rendering the boy-dragon duo Hiccup and Toothless in dynamic live action adds thrilling weight to their Viking world. $20 on demand Pete’s Dragon Can’t get enough boy-meets-dragon fantasies? This 2016 take on the 1977 animation about a boy being raised by a dragon is as magical as its Pacific Northwest…

■ PlantNet makes “quick, accurate” plant identifications with an app that’s easy to use. In a matter of seconds, it differentiated “a downy-yellow violet from an eastern redbud, a weeping forsythia from a tall goldenrod.” Unlike similar apps, it doesn’t bombard you with sneaky ads or subscriptions. ■ iNaturalist is a bit more complicated to use and not quite as accurate as PlantNet, but its community is top-notch. “Expert researchers and other experienced users” frequently confirm identifications or provide background knowledge. The app is also great for promoting participation in citizen science projects. ■ PictureThis can offer you loads of details about the plants you ask it to identify. However, there are “two big red flags”: tricky subscription pop-ups that can commit you to bonus content you didn’t want and…

Peronism, after the House Appropriations Committee approved a measure that would rename the Kennedy Center’s opera house the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.” Without giving specifics, Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson said the move would honor the first lady’s “support and commitment in promoting the arts and humanities.” Risk management, after the Steve Miller Band canceled every date of its 2025 North American tour, citing “the combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, and massive forest fires.” In a statement, the band advised fans to “always trust your instincts.” American greatness, after Wisconsin’s Caleb and Justine Roesler became the first U.S. couple to win the annual Wife-Carrying World Championship in Finland. “There aren’t many wives in the world who would agree to this,” said a triumphant Caleb. “She did…

Paris Holiday clawback: French Prime Minister François Bayrou last week proposed scrapping two national holidays to avert a financial crisis. Bayrou said working on Easter Monday and on May 8, Victory Day, could increase government revenue by several billion euros. “The entire nation must work more,” he said. The French have Europe’s shortest workweek, at 35 hours, and also get five weeks of vacation and 11 holidays. That means the typical French person works 100 hours less per year than a German and some 400 less than an American. Bayrou’s proposal requires parliament’s approval, but that looks unlikely, since lawmakers across the political spectrum blasted the idea. The far-left France Unbowed said it would promote “greater suffering for everyone,” while the far-right National Rally labeled it “a direct attack on…

Getting crushed by a 14,000-pound snowplow was an oddly special moment for Jeremy Renner, said Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian. The Hurt Locker and Mission: Impossible actor nearly died at his Nevada residence on New Year’s Day 2023 when, jumping in the way of a snowcat to protect his nephew, he wound up pinned beneath the machine. As he writes in his new memoir, the hulking vehicle “slowly, inexorably, monotonously, ground over my body.” He suffered gruesome injuries—a broken pelvis, eye socket, and mandible; a collapsed lung; and a pierced liver—and believes he briefly died. “What I experienced when I passed was this collective divinity and beautiful, powerful peace,” says Renner, 54. “It is the most exhilarating peace you could ever feel. It all made perfect sense.” But the actor,…

Andreas Kluth Bloomberg The U.S. State Department has a bizarre new mission, said Andreas Kluth: to “make China great again.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently fired about 1,350 State employees, calling them “radical ideologues.” Translation: These career diplomats and civil servants were not MAGA loyalists. Previously, Rubio killed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), decimating its efforts to combat AIDS, malaria, and starvation abroad, and largely shut down the Voice of America and Radio Liberty. Who benefits from Rubio’s reckless assault on the U.S.’s outreach to the world? Not America. Gutting USAID will cause an estimated 14 million additional deaths over the next five years and destroy all the goodwill its humanitarian work created. China is stepping into the void, and now outspends the U.S. in 40…

“All along we’ve had a perfectly good word to describe Black people: Black. We should just use that. To the extent that ‘African American’ was designed to change perceptions of what ‘Black’ means, it hasn’t worked. The grand old euphemism treadmill has done it in. Again and again we create new terms hoping to get past negative associations with the old ones, such as ‘homeless’ for ‘bum.’ But after a while the negative associations settle like a cloud of gnats on the new terms as well. With no hesitation I predict that ‘unhoused person’ will need replacement in about 2030.” John McWhorter in The New York Times…

Kristen Hopewell Politico.eu (Belgium) The U.S. is acting like a “rogue state” in international trade, said Canadian economist Kristen Hopewell. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, his endless threats to “jack up tariffs to massive heights” have blown up the global trading system, “terrorizing countries around the world.” If he keeps this up, he’ll “send the world back to the 1930s, when the spread of trade protectionism and beggar-thy-neighbor policies—spurred by America’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act—exacerbated the Great Depression.” He’s “not even pretending” to abide by the rules of the World Trade Organization, whose 166 members account for 98% of world trade. Instead, he is making a “mockery of the institution and its principles.” Every country that cares about preserving a rules-based trading order that is fair for all…

Alain Destexhe Le Figaro “Violence has paid off” in New Caledonia, said Alain Destexhe. French politicians are congratulating themselves for an accord that will keep the mineral-rich French Pacific archipelago in France by giving it greater autonomy. We’re told this is a “historic compromise.” But it comes after last year’s deadly riots, when Indigenous Kanaks set fires and attacked police to protest a plan to give the vote to non-Indigenous immigrants from France. In effect, the “humiliated” French government has “retreated and handed a clear victory to the separatists.” It compromised on voting rights: Immigrants must live in New Caledonia 10 years to get the franchise. It also caved and allowed for policing according to local customs, even though many Kanak traditions, including restricting women’s right to divorce and to…

The 2028 Democratic primaries have already kicked off in South Carolina, said Brakkton Booker and Elena Schneider in Politico. A host of presidential hopefuls have descended on the early primary state, testing stump speeches, previewing lines of attack against President Trump and the GOP, and aiming to “introduce themselves to a set of influential voters.” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have toured some of the state’s rural counties. In May, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland headlined state party events where they rubbed elbows with South Carolina kingmaker Rep. Jim Clyburn. “As the party scrambles to find a path forward,” said Michelle Cottle in The New York Times, its moderate, highly popular governors “should be the face of the Democratic Party.”…

Plants make sounds when they’re stressed—and some animals respond to them. That’s the surprising conclusion of a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, who found that female moths avoided laying eggs on tomato plants that were emitting ultrasonic noises associated with distress. It may be, the researchers say, that the insects interpreted the sounds as a sign the plants were unhealthy. The same team had previously shown that plants “scream” when under stress from drought or physical damage, emitting high-frequency noises. The sounds are undetectable to human ears, but many animals, including insects, bats, and rodents, can hear them. “This is the first demonstration ever of an animal responding to sounds produced by a plant,” co-author Yossi Yovel tells BBC.com. The finding raises the possibility that other species…

Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s new Amelia Earhart book “reveals what other biographers missed,” said David Kindy in The Washington Post. “In a propulsive narrative peppered with intoxicating details,” the author foregrounds Earhart’s marriage to publishing heir George Putnam, because Putnam was a shameless huckster who pushed the inexperienced aviator into the spotlight and eventually into risking and losing her life in an attempt to fly around the world. Make no mistake: Earhart herself was a strong-willed adventurer “determined to soar into history.” But her demise was the product of a partnership with Putnam, and Shapiro’s account “exposes all sides of their interlocking personalities, virtues, and failings.” “The Aviator and the Showman is a lavish, layered narrative,” said Hamilton Cain in the Los Angeles Times. When Earhart and Putnam met, she was…

The Etymology Nerd is ready to be taken more seriously, said Callie Holtermann in The New York Times. Adam Aleksic, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who’s been posting TikTok videos under that moniker since 2023, has already established himself as a kind of Bill Nye of linguistics for Gen Z language buffs. His videos pack in information as he offers insights about online-fueled slang—such as “gyat,” “delulu,” and “rizz”—at a breakneck pace. “I’ll retake a video if I don’t think I spoke fast enough,” he says. Now Aleksic has written a book, Algospeak, that fleshes out his ideas about how short-form videos and the algorithms that govern their spread have created what he calls “a new inflection point” in the history of human communication. As it always has, language is changing.…

“Don’t Tap the Glass is Tyler, the Creator switching off the anxious side of his brain and allowing simple pleasures to guide him,” said David Renshaw in The Fader. A surprise release that arrives just 10 months after his chart-topping Chromakopia, the 10-track set aims to put bodies back on the dance floor and comes with Tyler explicitly demanding that it not be listened to while sitting still. “Traversing G-Funk, bouncy R&B, Miami bass, jungle, and everything in between,” it’s the Grammy winner’s “most don’t-overthink-it record in years.” And “at a breezy 28 minutes,” it’s also his tightest. Despite its brevity, Don’t Tap the Glass is another sign that Tyler is “on a generational roll right now,” said Aaron Williams in Uproxx. Who else gets to play so fast and…

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (R) Reality catches up with an online reseller. “Kiyoshi Kurosawa has always made films that explore the fault lines in modern society,” said John Powers in NPR.org. In his “strangely gripping” latest thriller, it’s the internet that’s threatening to pull us all under as we watch Yoshii, a young online reseller, exploit so many fellow humans that they finally team up to seek bloody retribution. After a first half that’s “grubbily down-to-earth,” the film plunges into “a tense, exceedingly long action sequence in which Yoshii must fight for his survival.” But Kurosawa doesn’t glamorize the violence or even present us a hero. In fact, “the only character in Cloud who seems happy is the one you suspect may be Satan.” Kurosawa, a prolific Japanese filmmaker best…

Esarora Ice Roller Besides being a great skin-care aid, this “celebrity-loved” roller provides instant cooling. When you remove the gel-filled roller from your freezer, it “stays cold for over an hour” and “helps with aches and pains from head to toe.” $30, esarora.com Source: CNN Freeze Tech Fabric Cooling Mist Surprisingly, “this stuff seriously works.” Spray your clothing with it and you’ll feel cooler thanks to the inclusion of sugar alcohols that absorb heat from the skin as they dissipate. $25, freezetech.com Source: Thrillist Torras Coolify Cyber Neck Fan The graphene surface of this neck fan feels cool to the touch, and its four internal fans push chilled air across your neck, face, and upper back. “Its features and excellent cooling capability make it worth the money.” $279, coolify.torraslife.com Source:…

U.S. automakers and other major corporations reported this week that tariffs are beginning to hurt their bottom lines, said Margot Amouyal and Shannon Najmabadi in The Washington Post. General Motors “is facing a $1.1 billion hit” from President Trump’s 25% tax on imported vehicles and parts, the company said, while Stellantis, maker of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep, “said it faced about $350 million in tariff costs in the first half of the year.” GM said that tariffs could cost it as much as $5 billion for the full year. Both automakers said they won’t raise prices—yet. But other businesses, like oil services provider Halliburton, are becoming more vocal about the tariff impact on profits. Data centers: Stargate project slow to gain liftoff The $500 billion Stargate project is struggling to…

■ Gaming ‘medical need’ for tax breaks A wellness company founded by RFK Jr.’s right-hand man helps customers get tax breaks for dubious medical expenses, said Ron Lieber and Benjamin Mueller in The New York Times. Calley Means, a special employee for the Department of Health and Human Services, is also the co-founder of Truemed, which “helps supply people with letters attesting to their medical need” for certain equipment. But Truemed is willing to stretch the boundaries of what’s considered a “medical necessity” to include Peloton bikes, saunas, and bone broth supplements. “With those letters, the company tells people” they can now buy such items using a health savings account or flexible spending account, which people can fund with pre-tax income. ■ Investors sour on the art market “A bubble…

Chris Hughes Bloomberg A Kraft Heinz breakup was inevitable, said Chris Hughes. “For 10 long years, the company has clung to the hope that the structural combination of stuff that goes on your plate with stuff that goes on the side of it might work.” But pairing Oscar Mayer’s hot dogs with Heinz ketchup never went down well for investors. The private equity firm that had taken over Heinz, 3G Capital, promised it “could run Kraft better,” make research and development more productive, and target “big, bold bets.” It also touted its ability to sell “Kraft products including Lunchables and Velveeta outside the U.S. through Heinz’s international distribution network.” Similar justifications are “made for so many mergers and acquisitions.” And as in many such poorly thought-out combinations, Kraft Heinz is…

Connie Francis’ crystalline, emotion-laden voice epitomized an age of innocence. The most popular female singer of the late 1950s and early ’60s, she ruled the pop charts with sobbing ballads such as “Who’s Sorry Now?” and finger-snapping tales of teenage love like “Stupid Cupid” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” By 1964—when the arrival of the Beatles and a brasher pop sound ended her era of chart domination—Francis had sold 40 million records and scored 35 Top 40 hits. In later life, she voiced frustration at being defined by those “teenybopper songs” and not by her more serious dabblings in jazz, country, and other genres. Still, she said of those early songs in 2006, “I enjoy seeing the reaction of people when I do them.” Born Concetta Franconero in Newark, N.J.,…

Felix Baumgartner not only broke multiple extreme-sports records, he broke the sound barrier. In 2012, wrapped tightly in a pressurized suit, he took a balloon more than 24 miles up and plummeted toward the New Mexico desert below. More than 8 million people watched live on YouTube as he fell so fast that he made a sonic boom, becoming the first human to do so outside an aircraft. He held the record for highest-altitude jump for only two more years, but Baumgartner wasn’t concerned about regaining his crown. “I was the first,” he said. “Nobody remembers the second.” Born in Salzburg, Austria, Baumgartner began skydiving at 16 and honed his skills during his mandatory military service, when he served as a paratrooper. Before he was 20, he was performing skydiving…

On the defensive, Trump has directed Bondi to seek the release of grand jury testimony in Epstein’s 2019 New York criminal case, said Michelle Stoddart in ABCNews.com. But unsealing the records “could be a long process.” Grand jury testimony is secret, and a release would require approval by a federal judge, who’ll consider factors including the potential impact on victims. A judge in Florida has already denied a request to unseal Epstein records there. As lawmakers head home for break, we’re about to learn “what kind of legs the Epstein issue truly has,” said Adam Wren and Dasha Burns in Politico. Johnson clearly hopes the issue will lose steam before Congress reconvenes in September. But it may “follow congressional Republicans back to their districts,” yielding “tense town halls.” Rep. Thomas…

EPA drafts plan to erase climate-change regulations The Environmental Protection Agency has drawn up a proposal to reverse a landmark scientific finding that lets the U.S. government regulate greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, The New York Times reported this week. The 2009 “endangerment finding” established that planet-heating gases including carbon dioxide and methane pose a threat to human lives. It’s the basis for regulations limiting such emissions from vehicles, factories, power plants, and other industries. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin intends to argue that imposing climate regulations on auto manufacturers harms human health because it “leads to higher prices and reduced consumer choice,” sources told the Times. If implemented, the proposal not only would erase current greenhouse gas regulations but also would hamper future administrations’ efforts to tackle climate…

Chuck D isn’t resting on his laurels, said Sarfraz Manzoor in The Independent (U.K.). The frontman of the legendary rap group Public Enemy broke hip-hop ground when he and group co-founder Flavor Flav burst onto the scene with politically charged hits like “Fight the Power” in the 1980s. “When I started writing, I wanted rap music to be revered as much as songwriters like Sly Stone and Bob Dylan,” he says. Chuck D is now 64 and some of the lyrics on his group’s new album—such as “ageism shit is way worse than racism” and “Father Time ain’t never lost…don’t forget Mother Nature still a boss”—might make it seem like he’s nonplussed to be in his seventh decade. In fact, he’s proud to have hit that milestone. “Age is something…

■ In her first public appearance since moving to the U.K., Ellen DeGeneres confirmed this week that she left the U.S. in November because of Donald Trump’s re-election. During an “In Conversation With” event at an English theater, the former talk show host revealed that she and wife Portia de Rossi initially intended their mansion in the picturesque Cotswolds—a region known for its rolling hills and quaint villages—to be a “part-time house.” They changed their thinking after Trump’s win. “We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis,” said DeGeneres, 67. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’” During the talk, DeGeneres raved about how “everything” in the U.K. “is just better.” She’ll get a reminder of why she…

Jonah Goldberg The Dispatch Who’s a real American? asked Jonah Goldberg. That’s been a pet topic for Vice President JD Vance, who is denouncing the “sinister forces who claim ‘America is just an idea.’” America is no mere idea, Vance insisted in a recent speech. “It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future.” To accept that America is an idea, he said, would mean to accept as Americans “maybe billions of foreign citizens” who agree with America’s founding principles, adding, “Must we admit all of them?” Having set up that “straw man,” he went on to argue that it’s “absurd” for the Anti-Defamation League to denounce right-wing extremists if they had ancestors who fought in the Civil War. MAGA fanatics who stormed the Capitol,…

Zbynek Petracek Lidove Noviny The Czech government has reached a truce in the “war on tramps,” said Zbynek Petracek. Tramping, or backpacking, is a century-old tradition originally inspired by stories of America’s Wild West and embraced by young people tired of urban life. Tramps hike into the woods, “sleeping under the open sky” in tents or sometimes even building cabins. It’s long been accepted as a quirky counterculture. But the government lost its patience when backpackers started taking over nature preserves. After the Kokorinsko-Macha reserve counted 138 tramp lodgings within its boundaries, critics began calling for the “quick and complete” destruction of the illegal campsites. Tramps conceded that some of their shelters were eyesores, but they begged authorities to spare the unobtrusive ones, such as encampments hidden underneath rock overhangs.…

Senate Republicans are poised to confirm “one of the worst judicial nominations ever,” said Jackie Calmes in the Los Angeles Times. The chamber’s GOP-led Judiciary Committee voted last week to advance the nomination of Emil Bove—President Trump’s former personal attorney “and for the past six months his enforcer in the Justice Department”—to a lifetime post on a federal appeals court. Democrats stormed out of the vote after the panel’s chair, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), refused to let some of them air objections or to hear from a whistleblower who alleged that Bove told Justice Department lawyers they’d need to consider saying “F--- you” to judges who block Trump’s deportation agenda. That’s not the only time Bove, 44, has shown utter contempt for the law: He engineered the pardons of Jan. 6…

“The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions.” George Washington, quoted in The Ames Tribune “The big money is not in the buying or the selling, but in the waiting.” Charlie Munger, quoted in the Daily Monitor (Uganda) “One can fight a danger only when one is armed with solid facts and spurred on by an unwavering faith and determination.” Eleanor Roosevelt, quoted in The Atlantic “The depressing thing about tennis is no matter how good I get, I’ll never be as good as a wall.” Comedian Mitch Hedberg, quoted in The New York Times “An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, quoted in The Washington Post…

■ New browsers seek to harness AI The AI company Perplexity is the first out of the gate in what will likely be a war of AI-powered web browsers, said Emma Roth in The Verge. Launched at the beginning of July, its Comet browser can summarize webpages, describe images and videos, and research any topic you want. But what makes Comet really cutting edge is its “ability to complete tasks on your behalf.” It automatically sends you emails full of research links, drafts social media posts, unsubscribes users from email lists, and many other mundane tasks. OpenAI is also hard at work on developing its own web browser. Last week, the company debuted the ChatGPT Agent, a tool that can be given access to your entire computer to complete work…

A common virus previously thought to be benign may contribute to Parkinson’s disease, a small new study suggests. Researchers at Northwestern Medicine used a virus-detecting tool to examine brain tissue from 10 people who died of Parkinson’s and a control group of 14 patients who died from other causes. In five of the Parkinson’s cases—but none of the controls—they found the human pegivirus (HPgV), a blood-borne virus not known to cause illness. The patients with HPgV in the brain showed more severe signs of the neurodegenerative disease, and the virus was also detected in their spinal fluid, as well as in blood samples from other Parkinson’s patients in a separate study. There is currently no test for HPgV, and more research is needed to confirm a link to Parkinson’s. But…

Aysegul Savas’ first short-story collection, Long Distance, has just been published, while her acclaimed 2024 novel, The Anthropologists, is now out in paperback. Below, the Paris-based Turkish author recommends six books for readers who enjoy setting. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami (2001). Viewed through drinks at train station bars, walks through sprawling markets, trips to pick mushrooms, and meals at lantern-lit izakayas, the Tokyo of this magical novel unravels piece by intimate piece. The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness (1957). On the opening page we’re told of Brekkukot, “a little turf-and-stone cottage with two wooden gables.” And this is where our narrator, the orphan Alfgrimur, grows up, among cod fishermen and eccentric pastors, and one day meets Iceland’s most famous singer. Like a Sky Inside by Jakuta…

Jessie Murph’s sophomore album “has even more sass and swagger than her impressive 2024 debut,” said Jem Aswad in Variety. A “precociously talented” singer and songwriter who sings with a twang but is “absolutely not a country artist,” the 20-year-old from Alabama follows in Amy Winehouse’s footsteps by making music steeped in the sound of 1950s and ’60s torch singers and girl groups. At the same time, “the flow and attitude of hip-hop are so deep in her DNA” that even her sung verses “hit like rap lyrics.” The “brooding” title track, a rock ballad, “doesn’t just set the emotional tone for the album; it is the tone,” said Caitlin Hall in Holler. While the album includes a top-20 hit in “Blue Strips,” which feels like “post-apocalyptic country pop,” many…

New World Stages, New York City “No show has shaken my confidence in my ability to accurately assess new musicals more than Heathers,” said Zachary Stewart in TheaterMania. When Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s adaptation of the 1989 cult movie debuted off Broadway in 2014, I dismissed it as too cuddly. But now that the show has returned several years after a smash London run, I see it as “the great musical of our nihilistic age.” At a time “when so many people look at the world as it is and want to burn it down,” this dark comedy about three high school mean girls and a psychopathic teen who aims to kill them all off captures the doom loop of cynicism that’s thrown America into chaos. The show reappears…

It’s long been true that great values abound in wine’s $15 to $20 range, and “neither inflation nor tariffs seem to have altered this basic equation,” said Eric Asimov in The New York Times. Below are three you might look for, all right for the season because they’re relatively light in weight, alcohol, and tannins. In a word: refreshing. 2024 Mary Taylor Agenais Rosé ($14). Mostly cabernet sauvignon, this French rosé produced by Christophe Avi “may be the pinkest wine I have ever seen.” It’s also “dry, savory, and full of life.” 2023 Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi ($20). This wonderful Italian white is “citrus-scented with a rich texture and lively acidity” and is “great for summer staples like pesto.” 2023 La Boutanche California Red Blend ($20). This “lightly tannic”…

■ Clean the coils, filters, and ducts. If your AC system isn’t keeping you cool, consider a good cleaning first. Clean the ducts, clean or replace the filters, and “grab a can of foaming coil cleaner” to attack the coils. If you suspect the system needs a refill of refrigerant, leave that to a pro. ■ Clear space around the unit. Trees that shade the house help keep it cool, but the AC unit needs air more than it needs shade, so clear any shrubs or other obstructions that limit circulation. ■ Add booster fans. Help get cool air to your warmest rooms by adding duct booster fans, which start at about $60 each. ■ ‘Supercool’ at night. Avoid overtaxing your unit by lowering your thermostat overnight and starting each…

The Burning Man festival is “staring down a financial cliff,” said Ted Alcorn in Bloomberg Businessweek. “Money is virtually useless” for attendees of the free-spirited annual gathering in the Nevada desert, but the Burning Man Project, the nonprofit that runs the event, can’t do without it. And last year, after the group “spent around $59 million throwing the bacchanal, tickets failed to sell out” for the first time ever, putting the company into a $20 million hole. Though the festival is “salted with billionaires” as well as thousands of highly paid techies, the organization is handcuffed by a noncommercial “guiding philosophy” that bars it from seeking sponsorships. In 2020, it began asking supporters for $20 monthly donations, arguably violating another of its core principles: self-reliance. In a backlash, some devotees…

Jeremy B. White Politico California’s decision to pare back its landmark environmental law is a win for housing affordability, said Jeremy B. White. Ronald Reagan gave birth to the California Environmental Quality Act in 1970 “in an era of bipartisan concern about pollution, runaway development, and environmental degradation.” The landmark law was “modest at first,” but it was soon expanded to include environmental mitigation for “virtually everything.” Thus CEQA became “a handy tool for almost anyone to challenge a proposed project.” It was a cudgel for the wealthy NIMBYs to shut down affordable housing developments. Construction workers’ unions used the threat of CEQA lawsuits to negotiate higher wages. But at the end of June, Gov. Gavin Newsom and like-minded legislators did something unthinkable: “They scaled back the law dramatically, exempting…

Edwin Feulner was the brain behind America’s conservative brain trust. As co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and the group’s leader from 1977 to 2013, he became one of the Right’s most influential figures over a career that stretched from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. Feulner remade the GOP into a party of ideas in the 1980s and aimed to use his think tank to influence legislative votes. Championing free enterprise and limited government, Heritage became known for writing short policy summaries to brief busy politicians before votes. The group drew notice for crafting Project 2025, a detailed blueprint for a second Trump presidency. But that document was just an extension of the Mandate for Leadership that Heritage has issued every election cycle since 1980, when it wrote a framework for…